The debate of choosing a career path based on passion or money could be a never-ending discussion. Nonetheless, it is also interesting to rethink behind the curtain of the debate. How could some people be highly and rapidly advanced or accelerated in certain jobs, such as prodigies? Is it merely a gift or talent that plays a significant role in their career advancement? While several factors might contribute to the seemingly instant achievement of an individual’s career, it is likely the combination of gift and hard work that enables such accomplishment. This post is more of a view based on personal observations and is open for further discussion.
First of all, it is imperative to note that multifactor could be attributed to an individual’s career achievements, particularly the rapidly promoted person, including biological, socioeconomic circumstances, professional environment, and educational background. It is undeniable that at least these factors would influence one’s decisions, as mentioned by Sapolsky (2023), including when picking a job. The environment and background where an individual grows up might affect his will, character, and mindset, which might further affect the decision-making process and the outcomes. The synchronization of these backgrounds might allow an individual to accelerate in his career, assuming he already knows his talent and passion.
To put it in context, the trade-off between following passion or money when picking a career would not appear if someone has settled on monetary aspects. For example, suppose there is an individual from an upper-middle income family who does not have to worry about money and being in a sandwich generation would have more flexibility to choose a career in research following his passion. Now, let him also come from a family whose members are involved in academia i.e. come from a relatively intellectual and concern about education. While the synchronization of economic and social factors might not necessarily warrant success in the respective career, they might enhance the probability of the rapid advancement of the individual’s career in research as they influence the mindset, habit, and decision-making process. This would further enable the individual to focus on doing something he is passionate about and more likely to produce the best outcome in his career.
When some of those factors are not fully synchronized, it might impose consequences on the other factors to compensate for imbalances. To illustrate, suppose the individual in the previous example comes from a lower-middle income family i.e. being in a sandwich generation. The trade-off between passion and money when picking a job might appear, leading to a suboptimal career choice as he is more likely to (temporarily) sacrifice his job aspiration for a more stable, higher income, at least in the early period of his career.
As a closure, it might hold that more factors synchronized might lead to a higher chance of advancement in one’s career. The combination of talent, passion, hard work, and determination might be necessary for accelerating in any job. However, it might be thoughtful to carefully consider that one’s achievement might be substantially influenced by the environment and background where the individual comes from. This realization could be an encouragement to wisely decide the optimal choice for the optimal outcome subject to one’s circumstances.
Reference
Sapolsky, R. M. (2023). Determined: Life without free will. Random House.
hope. 