Who wins when you follow your parents’ career advice? They do. You may.
There are two kinds of motivations and rewards:
Intrinsic – you get internal rewards like fulfillment, enjoyment, feeling you accomplished something worthwhile, like a kid in a sandbox.
Extrinsic – you perform to get an external reward – a trophy, money, a higher position on the chimpile, a bigger this or that, like a dog doing tricks for a treat.
Many parents urge their kids to pick something secure, professional, well-paid and prestigious. When you succeed on their terms, they get is those sweet intrinsic rewards: they did their job as parents well. They are proud. It is satisfying (for them.)
So, what do you get? All too often just the extrinsic rewards: success without satisfaction.
NOTE TO PARENTS: why not support them to have both?
There are two kinds of motivations and rewards:
Intrinsic – you get internal rewards like fulfillment, enjoyment, feeling you accomplished something worthwhile, like a kid in a sandbox.
Extrinsic – you perform to get an external reward – a trophy, money, a higher position on the chimpile, a bigger this or that, like a dog doing tricks for a treat.
Many parents urge their kids to pick something secure, professional, well-paid and prestigious. When you succeed on their terms, they get is those sweet intrinsic rewards: they did their job as parents well. They are proud. It is satisfying (for them.)
So, what do you get? All too often just the extrinsic rewards: success without satisfaction.
NOTE TO PARENTS: why not support them to have both?
How can you say you are successful if you are not fulfilled in your work?
Rockport Institute has coached thousands of mid-career professionals through career change over the last 31 years. Most picked their first careers for all the wrong reasons. They went for the external rewards without paying enough attention to the internal, intrinsic rewards. All I can say is: DON’T DO IT. You can have both success and satisfaction. You don’t have to settle for one or the other.