h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ferino - I mean that's what I (and a lot of people) want, I've yet still haven't got a plan though. If you've got the freedom to travel, work your ass off and DO IT!

Fiz - Exactly! You've done things! You've tried careers and crossed them off the list!! I'm a bit late in life now to spend time experimenting.

Bob - I've used that against Papa! In that there's no point in doing a 'proper' career like accountancy cuz I could still be made redundant (for the 3rd time) and be up the swanny! If I work in a career and get made redundant, I at least want to have spent the time working being stimulated and happy, even if I get nothing else out of it in the end!

My questions are to try and find answers for all those 'lost' souls out there as well as me. Everybody's different, and different things work for different people, but many things help lots of people, and your 'focus' may inspire somebody else. (Clear as mud??! Gawd I'm just tired! )

If you've discovered an ambition later in life (25 onwards) - how did it happen?
What makes you 'knuckle down' and get on with the thing you need to do to improve your life in the future?

Big for all contributors!
Q

Njan - it seems your change has come about though meeting a 'partner'. That's lovely for you! And good luck in the States!

I'm trying to find out what's motivated people into a career / plan / focus / vocation of their own accord, rather than doing it because of somebody else.

What motivates you??!!

Q

What motivated me was

1) fear of unemployment
2) desire to earn enough money to be able to travel
3) wish to do a job that was challenging and interesting

Pretty classic stuff.

sprout -

I've got your 2 and 3 but also want enough money to have my own house.

What motivates you on a day to day basis though?
Are you now in a job you enjoy? How did you get there?
What revs you up again when you just feel like you 'couldn't be axsed!?

(Those questions are also open to anyone.)

Q

I've only had a couple of summer jobs so far in my life, but when I was struggling in those I often took comfort from looking at the clock and thinking 'That's an hour gone. I've just earned myself another £5.50". That's short-termism in the extreme, but you don't expect much else from that kind of job.

That's quite a good one, but doesn't really motivate you to work, just motivates you to be in the job!!

(Hence my "GET BACK TO WORK!" name tag!)

Q

Getting to spend all day on H2G2 helps me a lot

I'm quite good at doing no-brain jobs. I can just switch my higher mental functions off for hours on end and sort packages, or pick faulty products out of a line, or whatever the task is.
I suppose it helps if you're interested in the end product or the next task.

I once worked on an assembly line in a tumble dryer factory... I was there for 3 years and after a short while you can get quite proficient at your job...

With the line having a set target for each day (ours was 480), I spent a few months on the first station putting together the base... wheels, motor, battery etc... I could do this so fast I would normally have completed my work by dinner time and would spend the rest of the afternoon just placing them on the line... this was quite a form of motivation!!!

Until I was repremanded for having a six foot high wall of bases around my work station causing a health and safety hazard

A quick answer to your questions as I'm working

Yes I am happy with my current job - I took quite an orthodox route - university, graduate job etc etc - but I know others who have taken much more off the wall options and have still arrived at this end point.

I think being happy in a job sometimes needs a bit of realism - the perfect job, like the perfect relationship does not exist (IMO) - every one has the odd off day, you just need to get through em, go home and have a

motivation? Self respect/pride in a job well done - knowledge that a job badly done will create more hassle than a job well done? respect from ones peers? A bit of all of those I guess.

On the bad days - I find that if I'm having a stressful time the adrenalin kicks in and I just deal with it. More tricky is if I'm bored or feeling off the ball. Then I often find that just doing a routine task - sort out the filing, or clear your email intray gets you past the moment.

I'd say that the perfect job is more likely than the perfect relationship. Footballers, for instance, get paid to do something they love. However, it's still not very likely at all.

I think it's normal in this day and age for people, especially those of university attending age, to not be clear as to what they want to do with their life. Most of us have some sort of vague generalization, and I'm betting that carries through middle age for most people.

I myself know I want to stay in academia in some way, whether that means getting my Master's (and/or Doctorate) in English after I finish my BA in two years or actually becoming a professor or secondary teacher at some point down the road. I like learning - and the three month vacation in summer - far too much to give it up. I would like to survive on writing, but I'm not so naive to think that writing a book or two will give me anywhere near enough to survive on, so I've got to have something to pay for food and rent while I write.

I pretty much duplicate Amy, except it's chemistry for me, and not English.

My record of achievement explains about how much I wanted to be either a librarian or a museum curator (right next to the section saying I was going to study maths physics and chemistry a levels).

When I applied to university it was with a vague idea of becoming an environmentalist and changing the world (I nearly ran away to join the newbury bypass protest...ironic seeing as I drove down it today)

At uni I decided every easter that I hated uni life and I was wasting my time and that I needed to drop out and get a job in McDonalds, until I realised that it happened every easter and then actually spent a whole evening working at mcdonalds.

After uni everything had changed and my priority was getting a job (any job) near home. I applied for the civil service fast stream thingy, got through to the final interview and then realised I was wasting everyones time because I would never work in london and I couldn't move on a whim - which was their main motivation in recruiting graduates. Instead I started temping to pay the rent...and then - 2 months after graduating - the huge crippling mortgage. And then the temping job accidentally led to my current job working for my old uni...and its an ok job - I don't think it will last forever. I intend to use it to get some more professional qualifications and then maybe get a better paid job as a statistician.

Of course if I could choose a job, an ideal job, I would much rather be a careers adviser..but I've got no experience (apart from the radio 1 one life message board) and I'm better at talking to teenagers than I am adults so I'd probably make a complete a**e of my interview.

Alternatively I'd like to run a sweetshop...or work in a cinema...I find it easier to be friendly and helpful to strangers than close friends and work colleagues..but the money is not enough so it isn't an option.

Whatever my job I have to save a lot of money in a pension or similar...hubby wont be able to work forever and he can't get a pension and he can't get life insurance so at some point in the future I am going to be the sole earner and eventually I'm going to be on my own with a very large mortgage...what my focus will be then I can't tell you because I don't know...but I expect it will involve a completely fresh start and I expect I will become a mad old lady who shouts at people in the street...but I would quite enjoy being a mad old lady - I thing its my true vocation everything else is a delaying tactic

Fiedlers: What club did you play?

Thank you all for your replies!

I know it's highly unlikely I'll get a 'dream' job, I'd be happy with 60% perfection/40% crud!

I wanna know how people push themselves forward!


Q

I don't know about you Queegle, but I don't think it's you as I reckon it can be quite difficult to find that niche in life. That is, that particular raison d'etre for why we're here.
The way I see it (with my twisted sense of logic ) is that there is one huge freeway stretching out before you to as far as the eye can see, highly mechanised & well constructed with no other traffic or obstruction en route. This is the easiest & most obvious road to take. However, all around this freeway are other routes to confuse & distract you & tempt you away from the best route. Some spiral in a Spaghetti Junction formation twisting around and away from the main road; then there are further roads across the landscape in various states of disrepair and misuse winding amongst the moss & grass until at last you reach the one which disappears into thick undergrowth and marshland and is impossible to pursue. In other words (& if this makes any sense, you're a better person than I am! ), there's a choice for each one of us but the freeway represents the obvious one! It plays to your strengths, inclinations & tendencies that are more likely to propel you through life.

Clear as mud?! Yep, thought so!!

I think it's fairly common. You need a dream first, then the focus.

Many do not have the dream others have for them. That can cause a paralysis at any point, early or late.

The other side, has just as many people who know what they want. Many of them are not willing to put the time and effort in to get it.
Some spend their lives being angry about *it* not being handed to them.

Buzz - I think I got ya!

I totally agree with you abbi. People are responsible for their own lives. I have a rough idea of what I want, but find it hard to focus.

I'm trying to find out if there are people who have been in the same sort of position as me, then had a that's given them the drive to push themselves more.

What's good for self-motivation?

Queegle

U will think it is corny but here goes....*follow your bliss*

You have to care to become focused. You do not have to love your job if it allows you to do something you DO love!
You can work to live or live to work. That is a distinct choice in itself.

As an example: If you desperately want to help people. You can do that as work or do it as pleasure or both.

Just like; you can eat to live, or live to eat.