Getting
ahead, moving up the corporate ladder, building a career, etc.
— these are all legitimate, valid, and even admirable
desires, if pursued for the right reasons. But where does that
corporate ladder lead to? I still recall being warned by one
professor, in the context of research some eleven years ago, to be
careful of which totem pole to climb. Thinking on that warning some
more, don't we find that all totem poles lead nowhere
except to some arbitrarily higher elevation of some arbitrary spot in
the ground?
And
as for getting ahead: ahead of whom? And to what end? It's cliché to
say that life is not a race, but if life were a race, then the
end of the race would be called old age, and the prize would
be death. So why would anyone want to hurtle down the race
track towards that?
These
questions doesn't imply that people should lead stagnant lives
without goals, or without improving themselves. In fact, a person can
become better by simply trying to become better all the
time. What seems to become problematic is when we look for
destinations, careers, and other people's lives, to not just aspire
to, but to plan to achieve as a goal. I mean it seems
problematic to crystallize a part of someone else's life, a
life that that someone is still living, and then make it a
goal to attain it.
To
see what I mean by crystallization, here's two people who have
careers that I'd love to have:
1)
I look at someone like Peter
Norvig, Director of Research at Google, and I think, "wow,
I wish I could be like that. I want to be Director of Research! That
must be such an awesome job — even he says it's 'the best job in
the world at the best company in the world'!"
Look at his resume — Division Chief at NASA, Sr. Scientist at Sun
Microsystems, researcher at UC Berkeley, and was a Prof. at U of
Southern California. I wonder how anyone, and especially how I, could
build such a career!
2)
Take a look at Chris
Bishop, Distinguished Scientist at Microsoft and a Professor at
the University of Edinburgh. "Wouldn't
I want to be that 'when I grow up'!"
He used to do research in theoretical physics too! Plus look at all
the honours he's got, like being elected VP of the Royal Institution
of Great Britain. How can I be successful
like him?
Notice
that out of these two people's lives, I've taken a very select aspect
of it to crystallize into a portrait — in particular the
titles, honours, and a minuscule portion of what they might be doing
daily. Then I wonder how I can become that portrait.
The
portraits are seductive — prestige and money! — but practically
unattainable. They're like the "photoshopped" images of
super models that are practically impossible for anyone to be in real
life.
You
could probably come up with several examples that apply more
forcefully
to
your own life too. Any particular sports figure with fame and fortune
you wish you could attain? Fancy the career of Lloyd Blankfein, the
CEO of Goldman Sachs, and wish for a career that leads you to where
he's at now? Want to travel the globe and be a famous travel writer
like Paul
Theroux? Want to be a rock star?