Simon Sinek does a brilliant line on Gen Z and what he perceives as their inability to focus on their careers over a longer period of time.
He talks about that metaphor where he says that “the Gen Z can see the summit of the mountain, they just can't see the mountain”. It's a good analogy. I don't think it just applies to Gen Z, it applies these days to many people, everybody who wants to get rich quick or wants it now, who thinks the job they should have is an influencer because they can sit back, play a computer game and have people watch them and earn a s**t ton of money or whatever.
What people don't understand is that it's necessary to pass through places to get to other places; it's necessary if you want to be a dentist to go to dental school. You're not going to be a dental school or be the dental school; you're just passing through.
In order to get to dental school, you had to do your A levels (or different in Scotland). You weren't going to be those things; you were just passing through that town to get there. You had to have some bad stuff, some stress, some difficulty to get to the next level; that was part of the deal.
Part of the deal was your adjustment, understanding that you had to study, understanding that you had to put other things aside, understanding that you had to do the work to get the reward. Understand that this too will pass, and you will be through the other side.
The real clever guys had a lot of fun, in spite of the stress and the difficulties of A Levels in school, and dental school and all those things. The real, clever guys understood that they were passing through to a better place.
All of this stuff is difficult; building a career is hard. All those years I spent driving to Ilkeston from West Bridgeford and Nottingham, a drive I never wanted to make, to a place where I never saw myself staying in the long term (ended up being 11 years).
I don't regret it. I would go back and do the same again, because there were so many highlights, so many brilliant things that happened, but in the end, I was just passing through.
In a few weeks' time, I'll be 54. I'm in a new house this year. I've got a new knee. I have masses of new quests, projects, and evolutions to go through just next year, forgetting the years after that. I'm still just passing through. I don't think this is my final destination. I'm interested to see where that is.
Blog Post Number - 4347