The article is Schwarzenegger-style motivational nonsense.
That sounds a lot more harsh than I want to, as the advise in itself is solid. Yes, you should very much plan for happiness if you can.
The problem is the silent majority that actually doesn't want a career. At all. They work out of necessity, not to find meaning. They just want to live. American optimism has slowly and carefully made this attitude unacceptable to express, hence the silent majority.
But the underlying reality is still there. People don't want to work. That's why you pay them. If you believe the people at your work are there for meaning and joy, give them fuck-you-money and see how you find yourself alone the next day.
If I may turn a bit morbid for a minute, I've attended too many death beds already. I've never heard any of them spend a single breath on work or career. Isn't that telling, if work is supposedly purpose and meaning, and you spent most of your life on it, it's not even worth mentioning?
Anyways, it's still solid advise to switch to a field or role that fits you, in case it currently doesn't. The problem is, work sucks everywhere. It's not the field or the actual tasks, it's other things. You have no control over your time, your colleagues, the quality of management, and most of your time is spent on reporting and communicating rather than actually working or doing things that bring actual joy.
Everything is factory-like, financialized, metric porn. Even the academic world is like this now, and so are non-profits.
That sounds a lot more harsh than I want to, as the advise in itself is solid. Yes, you should very much plan for happiness if you can.
The problem is the silent majority that actually doesn't want a career. At all. They work out of necessity, not to find meaning. They just want to live. American optimism has slowly and carefully made this attitude unacceptable to express, hence the silent majority.
But the underlying reality is still there. People don't want to work. That's why you pay them. If you believe the people at your work are there for meaning and joy, give them fuck-you-money and see how you find yourself alone the next day.
If I may turn a bit morbid for a minute, I've attended too many death beds already. I've never heard any of them spend a single breath on work or career. Isn't that telling, if work is supposedly purpose and meaning, and you spent most of your life on it, it's not even worth mentioning?
Anyways, it's still solid advise to switch to a field or role that fits you, in case it currently doesn't. The problem is, work sucks everywhere. It's not the field or the actual tasks, it's other things. You have no control over your time, your colleagues, the quality of management, and most of your time is spent on reporting and communicating rather than actually working or doing things that bring actual joy.
Everything is factory-like, financialized, metric porn. Even the academic world is like this now, and so are non-profits.