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comment by Lu
Lu  ·  4296 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What should I do with my life?
The relevant question in looking at a job is not What will I do? but Who will I become? What belief system will you adopt, and what will take on heightened importance in your life? Because once you're rooted in a particular system -- whether it's medicine, New York City, Microsoft, or a startup -- it's often agonizingly difficult to unravel yourself from its values, practices, and rewards.

What is the value-system and culture of your profession/wokplace? This question really sunk its teeth into me, perhaps because the answer has the potential to be soo fundamentally at odds with who I am. We all know the cliche aphorism "You are not defined by what you do". While this may ring some truth, I must admit I am a little reluctant to accept that what you do for a living and your character or personhood operate independently.





b_b  ·  4295 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I think finding a career that helps to define you is actually a good thing, because it means that you probably care about your work and will have an easier time succeeding because of it. A surgeon, for example, is a surgeon; he doesn't just do surgery. I think the same can be said for an artist, or a college professor, or a pilot, or any number of professions that one gets into because they have a passion for the field. I think it breeds a sense of duty and a kind of earnestness that can't be replicated by just doing to get a paycheck.