Worst Career Advice I Have Ever Heard In My Life
“You can become what you want to become.”
“You can do anything you want to do in your life. No one will pressurize you to become something you don’t want to.”
This is what I hear from most people. But not every one of them actually means what they say.
Some give freedom to their kids to chose their own path because they value their decisions, some don’t do because they think their kid can only become what they want, some want to give freedom but unfortunate circumstances don’t allow them so.
My parents never said anything when I was in 12th standard. They never pressurized me to become something they wanted. I was free to choose on my own.
Though my mom wanted me to be a doctor, she never insisted me on this. So I chose to become an engineer. After going mid-way, I find out this is not what I want to be. I don’t want to be an engineer as it doesn’t interest me. I found my passion in writing and want to make my career out of it.
But I can’t blame my parents. I can’t blame them because where I was standing wasn’t because of them. They didn’t tell me to do engineering. It was my decision. It was my choice. Not it was my decision to walk on a different path.
Are my parents supporting it? Not completely. They don’t know what I am doing. They think it can get me nothing. I can never pay my bills. But that’s a whole different story.
Here I want to talk about that when people say that you can be anything you want, they actually mean — you can be anything you want to become. Here are your options — Doctor or Engineer. Nothing else. What an irony!
In exceptional cases, if they really allow you to be something you are passionate about, you will be stuck with a time limit. If you can’t do anything within this time, you can’t be anything. You will be a disgrace to your parents. Everyone around you will mock you. You will become a laughing stock.
No one wants this life. Someone wants to be a writer, an artist, a musician, a singer, and whatnot. This is what makes them happy.
An important message to everyone
Stand by your words. If you permit your child to be anything, don’t shackle them to the chain of time or options. Let them take risks. Let them fall and stand again only to rise. This is what entrepreneurship is all about. If you don’t let your child challenge themselves, they can never get out of their comfort zone.
They will be stuck in a 9–5 job, they don’t want, working for someone, they don’t know.
No career advice can be worse than this — be what you want to be — if you don’t truly mean it.
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