Accidental Ikigai

or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Work

(as originally published in inc. magazine)

I recently received an invitation to deliver a speech to a conference full of young adults. The topic: ‘Preparing for Professional Life’.

This struck me as patently vague, but interesting and in my wheelhouse, considering some of my recent work on career management.

I hopped on the horn with the event planner to see if she might help me tighten up my slippery grip on the topic.

“Happily.” She said. “Specifically, we’re looking for someone to give them a point of view as to what matters most… as they prepare for professional life.”

Me (now awash in twice the ambiguity): “…”

Her: “It is of course a paid speaking engagement.”

I said what any self-respecting entrepreneur would: “Happy to help.”

1. Follow the Money
“If there’s a steady paycheck in it, I’ll believe anything you say.”
~Winston Zeddemore (Ghostbusters)

1994: As the first person in my family to attend college, I was light on rich uncles to help me ‘prepare for professional life’. Working class kids like me were relegated to the freshman guidance counselor, a public defender of sorts.

“I’m good at math and science, but I really love the humanities. I’m conflicted.” I confessed.

The counselor nodded appreciatively. “Well, our engineering undergrads typically start at $45k. Our humanities majors typically go to grad school, which costs about $45k.”

This sounded less than awesome.

Seeing my scowl, she offered: “I’d also add that it’s easier to drop out of engineering than into it.”

And so began my first semester as an electrical engineer.

Exercise: Figure out what the world wants. What the market demands. Google up a list of today’s most lucrative professions, or better still, some research on tomorrow’s emerging global needs. Here’s a quick, off-the-cuff list I threw together: