AlwaysCurious
Contributor
Hi there, greetings from Germany
Just arrived here and registered almost immediatly after reading some of the sticky topics like this one.
I´m 38 years old with a degree in physics, am married to a lovely wife and having a most wonderful baby girl with her. Right now I´m on the slow lane being a line manager within a big company. Working nine to five on a job that is more or less pleasing but certainly not fullfilling. To be honest, I feel underemployed and could do the thing in half of the time.
So what options are there? I could try to climb up the ladder in management getting higher salary and higher responsibility with minimal risk. Getting there has got more to do with networking and politics than with my personal performance or my skill, though. I do think, that I could do a much better job than most of my peers and bosses when it comes to management and real leadership. But what hinders me to put every effort in there is that I´m not convinced that this is the way to go for me. Do I really want much more stress for 5-10% more money? This honestly wouldn´t bring me any further to fastlane. Moreover I´ll doubt that this will be any more fulfilling than my current job.
Other options are to break out of that and to set up something own, be it in my spare time or as a full time engagement. But I´m too anxious/lazy/uninformed to do so. I could go on like now forever and could still live a more comfortable life than the average. If that was enough for me, I wouldn´t be here :smxB:
I grew up in a very conservative family. My parents started from nothing and that´s why financial safety and avoiding any risks was the highest goal. Of course this had a big impact on my character and personal development. I also don´t want to risk anything I have reached by now - be it the regular income which means financial safety for my family, the educational future for my daughter or even the relationship with my wife. Clearly I don´t have got true entrepreneurship (yet?). I never wanted to own millions or a Ferrari, my dreams were always modest. I live a sheltered life and I am quite content with the things that I already reached. But then I look at me from a distance and say: Come on, that can´t be true. I´m 38 and have reached my goals in life already? No! There definitely has to be more. There definitely is more. At least I feel much more possibilities inside of me. So where to find those?
You see there are two sides within me fighting each other: On the one hand the risk avoiding, lazy, boring, content and conservative me and on the other hand the self assured, vibrating, optimistic, childish and always curious me. I do want to help the latter one to break out, but I´m always unsecure and doubtfull if the risks are worth it.
Maybe it is not my ultimate goal to be on the monetary fastlane, who knows, but does that really matter? I am convinced that this is not the case. More important is to live the life you want to, the one you are destined for. When I read excellent posts in here about how to find out what is important in life, I think I can learn a lot mostly about myself. If this is prerequisite to getting a push forward to something you call "fastlane", well, that´s fine with me. So I´m here looking for opportunities, for other people´s experiences, for inspiration. What could I do to improve without letting anything go that is of real importance to me?
Ok, next thing is to do some kind of homework, finding out who I am though this could take a while. Being honest to yourself is always a hard task.
Maybe some of you are feeling the same conflict, feeling that life has got more for you, being ready to explode from energy but at the same time being hindered by lack of self assurance or the fear to lose everything. Would be nice to get some feedback.
See you.
Just arrived here and registered almost immediatly after reading some of the sticky topics like this one.
I´m 38 years old with a degree in physics, am married to a lovely wife and having a most wonderful baby girl with her. Right now I´m on the slow lane being a line manager within a big company. Working nine to five on a job that is more or less pleasing but certainly not fullfilling. To be honest, I feel underemployed and could do the thing in half of the time.
So what options are there? I could try to climb up the ladder in management getting higher salary and higher responsibility with minimal risk. Getting there has got more to do with networking and politics than with my personal performance or my skill, though. I do think, that I could do a much better job than most of my peers and bosses when it comes to management and real leadership. But what hinders me to put every effort in there is that I´m not convinced that this is the way to go for me. Do I really want much more stress for 5-10% more money? This honestly wouldn´t bring me any further to fastlane. Moreover I´ll doubt that this will be any more fulfilling than my current job.
Other options are to break out of that and to set up something own, be it in my spare time or as a full time engagement. But I´m too anxious/lazy/uninformed to do so. I could go on like now forever and could still live a more comfortable life than the average. If that was enough for me, I wouldn´t be here :smxB:
I grew up in a very conservative family. My parents started from nothing and that´s why financial safety and avoiding any risks was the highest goal. Of course this had a big impact on my character and personal development. I also don´t want to risk anything I have reached by now - be it the regular income which means financial safety for my family, the educational future for my daughter or even the relationship with my wife. Clearly I don´t have got true entrepreneurship (yet?). I never wanted to own millions or a Ferrari, my dreams were always modest. I live a sheltered life and I am quite content with the things that I already reached. But then I look at me from a distance and say: Come on, that can´t be true. I´m 38 and have reached my goals in life already? No! There definitely has to be more. There definitely is more. At least I feel much more possibilities inside of me. So where to find those?
You see there are two sides within me fighting each other: On the one hand the risk avoiding, lazy, boring, content and conservative me and on the other hand the self assured, vibrating, optimistic, childish and always curious me. I do want to help the latter one to break out, but I´m always unsecure and doubtfull if the risks are worth it.
Maybe it is not my ultimate goal to be on the monetary fastlane, who knows, but does that really matter? I am convinced that this is not the case. More important is to live the life you want to, the one you are destined for. When I read excellent posts in here about how to find out what is important in life, I think I can learn a lot mostly about myself. If this is prerequisite to getting a push forward to something you call "fastlane", well, that´s fine with me. So I´m here looking for opportunities, for other people´s experiences, for inspiration. What could I do to improve without letting anything go that is of real importance to me?
Ok, next thing is to do some kind of homework, finding out who I am though this could take a while. Being honest to yourself is always a hard task.
Maybe some of you are feeling the same conflict, feeling that life has got more for you, being ready to explode from energy but at the same time being hindered by lack of self assurance or the fear to lose everything. Would be nice to get some feedback.
See you.
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum:
Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
