Differentiating arm-chair interests from potential careers

Work, Careers and Money
1

As I’ve looked through this forum, I’ve found others like myself - locked in a job that suits my existing knowledge, but with little potential for challenge or expansion of knowledge, and with increased feeling of purposelessness. I currently have a degree that is of little use in a field in which I would not excel, with enough student loans to keep me busy for the next decade (sounds almost cliched :smiley: ).

I have interests in a wide variety of fields (from ancient Greece to neuroscience), but no way to determine which are simply “arm-chair interests” and which I would like to further as a career either in research or in some sort of business setting. Is there a difference? In other words, if I have an interest in a specific subject, what would be the purpose in maintaining that interest if not to develop it into a full understanding of the subject?

The hard part, of course, is the learning involved, and that has become my stumbling block. How do I differentiate an interest in a research field from a desire to do research in that field, so that I can decide whether or not to take the huge step of a full-out education in the field? And before I could even get that far, I would have to determine which interest to further. Or should I just stick with what I know? Maybe these questions have no answers.

I will check out that book recommended by athena for pam’s plight.

2

Or should I just stick with what I know?

The answer to that question is easy: No. :smiley: If you are not fulfilled in your current career, you owe it to yourself to find something else. Of course, you have the rest of your life to consider, too. So, don’t quit out of the blue (since you have student loans to pay regularly), and make sure you like the new career a lot before you embark. But you at minimum know for sure that you want to change; you can now work the specifics out.

There are three things to think about with careers, in order of importance: do you like the field, just because you do? Do you like the day-to-day, year-to-year kind of work it involves? And does it pay enough to satisfy you (a corollary being, Will it remain a viable career in the future)? I think people either stumble into or out of careers because one or more of those are already, or aren’t, being satisfied.

If you do not like the field “just because you do,” or put another way, if you only have a passive interest the unified field, it’s not suitable as a career. You will get bored or burnt out. If you find the grind annoying or unbearable, that speaks for itself: every day will soon become hell. And with money, if you don’t make as much as you’d like (or at least enough to support yourself), your interest in it is only suitable as a hobby (Hello, Civil War reenactment people!).

In order to find the answer to those questions for one of your interests, there is no way but the experience way. Just follow your increased or decreased interest gradually. If you like what you’re doing, or find out, or see, keep doing it! If not, forget it and do whatever else is interesting to you. Eventually this increased involvement in your interest will reach a point where you are looking at ways to make money doing it. At that point, it’s not really much of a change at all, but more a logical outcome, to “switch” careers.

One last note: If necessary, it is important to only do the things you have the most interest in right now. I have had a tendency to pursue too many interests at once. I add just one more, then one more interest, until it is actually impossible to do anything. If you have that problem, the fix is to ignore your other interests completely and keep in your mind, “These things are what I really like right now. I mean, they’re so interesting!” or fun, or beautiful! Or, if you are strong willed, casually browse the other stuff online, or in a book. However, I personally haven’t had much luck with “casually.”

3

In other words, if I have an interest in a specific subject, what would be the purpose in maintaining that interest if not to develop it into a full understanding of the subject?

“Full understanding” and “a career” need not mean the same thing. For instance, I love golf with a passion, and I have at times gone through periods where I played 4 to 5 days a week. It is sufficient to say that I have a full understanding of the game of golf. But this doesn’t mean that I have to have an interest in earning a PGA Tour card and becoming the next Tiger Woods. Likewise, I love spending time at art museums and reading literature. The last thing that interests me is becoming a painter or writer. What I have personally found is that the difference between a casual interest and a serious, career-oriented interest is that the former tend to contribute to my understanding of the latter, which is a larger, more important, and more encompassing interest or value.

I know that I am interested in the valuation of businesses, trading and investing, and understanding financial markets because I tend to find my other interests as derivatives, in the service of this higher value. Didn’t Rand say (paraphrasing) that she was primarily a novelist, but had to develop a philosophy in order to write novels? At OCON this year, I think I remember Peikoff saying (anyone please tell me if I am paraphrasing incorrectly) that his primary interest is the study of cultural change and movements, and that he had to become a philosopher in order to service that interest.

Sorry, I know it’s probably not that much help. For me, this is not an easy question to articulate an answer to; it is a lot easier to just say “You’ll know it if you find it, because it will just feel OK”. Maybe someone will have a better answer for you!

4

I feel you Brian, I have some similiar problems, but I’m figuring out how to deal with them.

In order to find the answer to those questions for one of your interests, there is no way but the experience way. Just follow your increased or decreased interest gradually. If you like what you’re doing, or find out, or see, keep doing it! If not, forget it and do whatever else is interesting to you. Eventually this increased involvement in your interest will reach a point where you are looking at ways to make money doing it. At that point, it’s not really much of a change at all, but more a logical outcome, to “switch” careers.

I agree with this completely. I might just be because I’m a business student, but everytime I get an idea I try to fantasize it to the point of being able to develop something profitable out of it. For instance, I like comic books and super-heroes. So I started making up my own for fun, and now I’m realizing that I might be able to develop it into something real and sell it. But I’ve only developed, or thought about it enough because I’m so interested and passionate about it.

The real question is do I want to pursue this, or something else? Which brings me to something like this…

If necessary, it is important to only do the things you have the most interest in right now. I have had a tendency to pursue too many interests at once. I add just one more, then one more interest, until it is actually impossible to do anything. If you have that problem, the fix is to ignore your other interests completely and keep in your mind, “These things are what I really like right now. I mean, they’re so interesting!” or fun, or beautiful! Or, if you are strong willed, casually browse the other stuff online, or in a book. However, I personally haven’t had much luck with “casually.”

My line of thinking for this problem is following the whole fact that knowledge is hierachical. I’m identifying the “basics” of something and working my way up through to the top levels. For instance, Accouting; I’ve taken a few accounting courses, breezed through some, barely made it in others and was glad when I was all said and done with it. However, I’m getting two degress, one in Management and one in Finance. After my first Finance class, I was really hooke and interested in the subject, even though it was incredibly difficult. But, I needed to know Accounting to know Finance. Once I made the connection that “subject I don’t like is required for subject I do” the boring one becomes more interesting and more of a priority. So now I’m looking into different Accounting books, trying get better at it.

The point is that, knowledge builds… so throw yourself at knowledge and subjects that you can build off of easily.

5

Sorry, I know it’s probably not that much help. For me, this is not an easy question to articulate an answer to; it is a lot easier to just say “You’ll know it if you find it, because it will just feel OK”. Maybe someone will have a better answer for you!

Unfortunately, this is the last thing someone wants to hear who is looking for an answer ("…How will I know?), but essentially it is how I feel, too. After ages of poking around, certain things came to feel like the best.

6

Thanks for the great replies! I’ve been thinking about trying different things in areas of interest, either voluntarily or at my expense (such as temporary field work) but never went through with anything. I think it’s time to start exploring my interests with hands-on experience.

7

I’m reading through that book on Amazon and I thought you’d all appreciate this quote:

If you think it’s selfish to put yourself first like this, think again, because when you’re doing work you love, it’s a gift to the world as well! Picasso wasn’t trying to help anybody. For that matter, Einstein wasn’t either, not when he was working on the theory of relativity. They just wanted to do their work. That work seemed very important to them and they couldn’t get their minds off it. Their efforts were personal, self-absorbed, even selfish – or at least, no one’s welfare was in mind when they worked.

8

As I’ve looked through this forum, I’ve found others like myself - locked in a job that suits my existing knowledge, but with little potential for challenge or expansion of knowledge, and with increased feeling of purposelessness. I currently have a degree that is of little use in a field in which I would not excel, with enough student loans to keep me busy for the next decade (sounds almost cliched B) ).

I have interests in a wide variety of fields (from ancient Greece to neuroscience), but no way to determine which are simply “arm-chair interests” and which I would like to further as a career either in research or in some sort of business setting. Is there a difference? In other words, if I have an interest in a specific subject, what would be the purpose in maintaining that interest if not to develop it into a full understanding of the subject?

The hard part, of course, is the learning involved, and that has become my stumbling block. How do I differentiate an interest in a research field from a desire to do research in that field, so that I can decide whether or not to take the huge step of a full-out education in the field? And before I could even get that far, I would have to determine which interest to further. Or should I just stick with what I know? Maybe these questions have no answers.

I will check out that book recommended by athena for pam’s plight.

I would say it starts with realistic assessment of your abilities. Of the things you are interesting in, what do you have the least and most aptitude at?

9

I would say it starts with realistic assessment of your abilities. Of the things you are interesting in, what do you have the least and most aptitude at?

I disagree. It’s good to understand your abilities and strengths and weaknesses, but this will only tell him what he has achieved so far. Maybe the right way for him is to venture into new territory where, at the beginning, he’s like a fish out of water - having to learn how to survive and develop new abilities. I think the most important questions are: What does he want? What does he need to do to get it? Is it worth going for it and if so, how is he going to do it? However I think a realistic assesment of ones abilites(among other things) is important to answer the “how”, in order for it to have solid grounding in reality - like having a working game plan instead of just wishfull thinking.