I wish I hadn’t taken the job for the money.
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“Despite all the controversy currently surrounding student loans, roughly 86% of students still view college as a worthwhile investment.”
The following article is written by Daniel Gulati, a tech entrepreneur based in New York, and is reprinted with permission from hbr.org. It is unedited by AskMen.
4. I wish I had used my time at school more productively. Despite all thecontroversy currently surrounding student loans, roughly 86% of studentsstill view college as a worthwhile investment. This is reflected in the growing popularity of college: In writing Passion & Purpose, my coauthors and I found that 54% of Millennials have college degrees, compared to 36% of Boomers. Although more students are attending college, many of the group’s participants wished they had thoughtfully parlayed their school years into a truly rewarding first job. A biology researcher recounted her college experience as being “in a ridiculous hurry to complete what in hindsight were the best and most delightfully unstructured years of my life.” After starting a family and signing up for a mortgage, many were unable to carve out the space to return to school for advanced study to reset their careers.
5. I wish I had acted on my career hunches. Several individuals recounted windows of opportunity in their careers, or as one professional described, “now-or-never moments.” In 2005, an investment banker was asked to lead a small team in (now) rapidly growing Latin America. Sensing that the move might be an upward step, he still declined. Crushingly, the individual brave enough to accept the offer was promoted shortly to division head, then to CEO. Recent theories of psychology articulate the importance of identifying these sometimes unpredictable but potentially rewarding moments of change, and jumping on these opportunities to non-linearly advance your professional life.
Far from being suppressed, career regrets should hold a privileged place in your emotional repertoire. Research shows (PDF) that regret can be a powerful catalyst for change, far outweighing the short-term emotional downsides. As famed psychologist Dr. Neal Roese recently stated, “On average, regret is a helpful emotion.” It can even be an inspiring one. But it means that we must articulate and celebrate our disappointments, understanding that it’s our capacity to experience regret deeply, and learn from it constructively to ultimately frame our future success.
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This article was reprinted with permission from AskMen.
For more like this from Ask Men, try:
3 TIPS FOR REINVENTING YOUR CAREER
12 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY ON THE SIDE
Photo credit:Brandon Warren/flickr
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