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Are you where you envisioned yourself to be?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Rumpleforeskin, Oct 5, 2008.

  1. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    Sam,

    If it makes you feel any better, you are not alone.

    Probably doesn't help much...but maybe it will, a little bit.
     
  2. BigSleeper

    BigSleeper Active Member

    I had only one place I wanted to go after college, and it happened very quickly and easily. The summer after I arrived was the happiest I have ever been in my life. But in the years since, I've been devoid of a goal. As others have mentioned, life happens, responsibilities mount and the focus shifts to present. Not a great feeling to have most of the time, but at least I'm still exactly where I want to be.
     
  3. TheMethod

    TheMethod Member

    I thought I'd be making six figures out of college. Man, that's been a rude awakening.

    Really, it's gone much better than I ever imagined. I've been lucky. Been in the right place at the right time with the right bosses.
     
  4. TrooperBari

    TrooperBari Well-Known Member

    I'm looking out at the Jakarta skyline as I type this, so you could definitely say I'm not where I thought I'd be.

    Never really made anything in the way of plans for my career. There are places I'd like to be and things I'd like to cover, but I'm not upset I've yet to reach that level. I keep going to new and interesting places and doing something I enjoy, so it's hard to complain about where I am professionally.

    Personally, my life is a mess, but at least I have an enjoyable distraction five or six days a week.
     
  5. pallister

    pallister Guest

    Jakarta, Tennessee?
     
  6. TrooperBari

    TrooperBari Well-Known Member

    Nope -- the real thing. Worlds away from Nebraska, to say the least.
     
  7. IGotQuestions

    IGotQuestions Member

    In terms of salary and working for a great section, I've exceeded personal expectations at this point.

    But in terms of job satisfaction at this moment? Never in a million years did I think I'd want out of the industry as badly as I do today.
     
  8. Goldeaston

    Goldeaston Guest

    But how would you have gotten there?
     
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Slowly.
     
  10. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    In high school I was aiming for one of those cushy civil service jobs like sanitation department, where the paychecks were steady, the benefits decent and retirement age obscenely early. I figured I'd coach some ball in my spare time. Then I took my one and only journalism class and the professor screwed up everything by recommending me for a job.
     
  11. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

  12. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    When you're through with this scribblin', Jones, there's always Wall Street. They exist on that aspiration alone. ;)

    Guess I'm a lousy juggler. First phase after college, it was all career, fitting real life around the job and usually letting the job bleed into every aspect of my existence. Second phase, started to churn, take classes, question what this career ultimately could offer long-term. Third phase, focus on family -- wife, kids, home -- and job for first time became more means than end (dwindling opportunities in and ambitions of our newsroom facilitated that, and moving for a job would have meant yanking young'uns out of school).

    Now fourth phase, kids well on their way, crave something that gives back more than this biz or at least allows more of a real life. Best times now are with family and friends, all manner of self-enrichment stuff, rather than covering that next event or finishing that next feature. Not ready to retire by a long shot, another 17 years at least, but not willing to jump through arbitrary and needless hoops job-wise. (BTW, quality and quantity of my work hasn't slipped in any way, from all available feedback, so shifting priorities doesn't necessarily mean phoning it in.)

    So I guess I've craved more, too, all along the way, but the "more" has been in a variety of areas, each in its time. Craving only in the jobs category would have been pretty boring, chasing that for 25, 30 years and more at the expense of other things. This business entices the "jack of all trades, master of none" types and I think that applies to overall lives and areas of interest, too.
     
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