I Wish I Had A Better Job

Feb 20, 2008 - 10:08 AM PST

A lot of quarterlifers compare their jobs to their friends’ jobs. And most of us know someone who landed what we deem the perfect job. They’re in their 20’s making six figures or a lot more. They own a house, have a spouse, drive a nice car, go on awesome vacations and seem to have it all together. The best thing about these friends is that they often pick up the tab at the bar, because they can afford it. Sometimes we spend our time when we’re bored at our jobs or – ummm, when we don’t have jobs -- thinking about how much better off we could have it and how greener the grass must be on the other side. Even if that other side requires 70 hours of work a week, not having time for all of the things we love and seriously jeopardizing our mental health, we still dream and make our job progression a competition.

Keeping up with the Joneses is not new. I am not even sure when that terminology came about or who the Joneses are, but I do know it was a brilliant marketing scheme that keeps most of us doing whatever we can to compete with our friends. The major problem with this is that it can often distract us from finding what we want to do with our lives. It’s usually not a fulfilling, thought out approach to pursuing what means the most to us. And I know there are some eyes rolling on that one, because some of you may only care about making the most money you can and living in a world of dripping diamonds and bling. But the truth is most people I know with the best jobs are also looking for greener pastures, because in some ways there may always be someone more successful. Some of our fancy suit-wearing friends spend their hours looking out the window wishing they had as much time as we do to do what they want, rather than wearing out their fingers with their “free time” at home or on vacation on their crackberries.

It seems to be pretty universal in your 20’s to not be ultimately thrilled with the job you have. And if you are on the top of the world with your job, then good for you. However, if you’re not then now is the time to really think about what you want to do. You are young enough to take different jobs, to get a ton of different experiences, but you have to have the guts to take the risk. If you spend any large portion of your day dreaming of something you aren’t doing, then you may want to experiment with finding a way to do it. Sometimes you have to say screw it and make a big decision. You will usually have people who doubt you for going against the norm and doing something most people won’t. It may seem overwhelming, because you feel other people have more experience or more focus, but you can get that as well if you’re willing to do the work. We live in a pretty quick fix society where most people think you get to do what you want mainly because you just want to and not because of the work that goes into it. If you’re going to make a career leap and deal with the constant competition of your friends, then remember it may not be as easy as you think, but the reward could be huge.

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