By Brent Webber
Faculty member, School of Business at American Public University
I love studying people and learning about what makes a human’s inner clock tick. The conversations I have had in pursuit of this interest have made me question my direction, our cultural wants and needs, and how we have evolved as humans. I have also often bluntly asked myself: What am I doing?
All too often, the inner energy that fuels a human is money and social acceptance. I have seen it far too often. I vividly remember working at 2 World Trade Center in NYC and talking to colleagues about what their future held. There was often talk about retirement and the dreams that would follow once that day arrived.
I was in my 20s at the time and looked around at the people in the conversation and thought about several things quietly to myself: Why wait until retirement to do the things that you love? Why do so many people desire and dream to do what they love once the prime of their life is gone?
I discovered that most of the answers to these questions are found in a human being’s willingness to bow to expectations and a fear of how they will be perceived by others. As a result, our dreams and inner talents are often ignored at the behest of others that we allow to guide our life’s compass.
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We worry about complying with stereotypes and fail to realize that making atypical choices might be how we find the most happiness. Many people fear being defined by our peers as the loser of the daily battle of capitalism. I found that the desires of most people revolve around the goal to be perceived as the person that ultimately got ahead of the pack.
As you delve deeper into the inner conscience of co-workers, you might find that the typical professional facade is built around the perception that everything is OK and that the career path that they have chosen is what is right. Being right is also often defined as what is expected.
Careers are often fueled by economic and social pressures to meet a specific life pattern created by the need for social acceptance. In the end, what is defined as right by so many is actually very wrong.
As I changed my direction in life, former colleagues have often asked: What are you doing!? (This seems to be in reference to grandiose career goals that some people may have expected me to achieve based on my background and earlier accomplishments). Maybe the best parried response should be for me to ask these same people: Maybe the question should not be what I am doing, but what you are doing?
Break the mold, spread your wings, and be the exception to the norm. Do not let career conformity create a façade that looks like someone that you are not.
“to be nobody-but-yourself– In a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting” — E E Cummings
About the Author: Brent Webber is an instructor in the School of Business. He previously worked as an Equity Trader on Wall Street, worked at 2 World Trade Center in a reinsurance capacity and holds an MBA in Insurance and Risk Management. Some of his happiest times are spending days in the outdoors by himself learning from the simple things that wild animals teach him about life. His interests include fishing, hiking, and photography. His photography work can be found at: www.montanawildlifephotographer.com
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