What do you wake up for every morning?

[Fizzo20]

Hey guys, so if you don't know me already, my name is Faraaz, 19 years old. I was actually quite interested to hear what you guys are all up to in your daily lives.
So far, I have realized that a lot of you fall into the 18-25 year old range, among others. For some reason I always pictured eurodrivers user consisting of mostly 30+ people.
Personally, I went to high school and never really figured out what I wanted to do after I graduated. I took a year off to work... then ended up taking another year because I still didn't know what I wanted to do... and cause I tend to be a lazy f uck at times. So here I sit, halfway through my second year off, agitated and annoyed that I've wasted so much time. Albeit I enjoyed the hell out of it and had money to play with (still not enough lol) Right now I work for a manufacturing company that builds control panels for oil/gas companies. Some of you may have head of Spartan Controls. I work in the Spartech manufacturing division. Definitely a cool job with lots of opportunity for success, but it's just not my calling. Currently I'm really trying to figure out a career path as I miss school and crave a feeling of satisfaction for myself. So I have some questions for you all.
-I wanted to know what school you go to, what you're taking. And/or what you do for a living.
-What brought you here, and how do you like it?
-Would you change anything?
-If you could be 19 again, what would you do?
-Any suggestions for me? I love working with my hands (as most gearheads do) and really like communication technology, the concept of engineering, computers (not hardcore though) I find business/econ very interesting as I love to see how money flows, who gets it, and who gives it. (that's what she said) I also always loved physics & math in school. HATED english.

Anyway, thanks for reading and quite interested to see what you guys have to say.
-Faraaz

[dwvw]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

If I could go back to my 19 year old self, I would tell him to buy BreX shares when they IPO, then sell them before the bottom falls out, then be an international man of mystery.

In all seriousness though, most people no longer have lifelong careers. Do what makes you happy, until it no longer does. Some of the things I would do, would be work for someone like Carnival Cruises for a year, work as a ski patroller, roady for a band. Fun stuff that will give memories not just money. That can come later. That's what I woud do anyways.

[martin13]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

I am 19, I do go to school and I have no idea what I am going to do with my life. I would love to build a shop on an acreage and restore old cars for the rest of my life but I know I can't do that without making some money first. Unlike you, I hate math and enjoy english. Cars come naturally to me, I am mechanically inclined and love to work with my hands. Who knows what will happen next...

[BolideVW]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

I am 19, I do go to school and I have no idea what I am going to do with my life. I would love to build a shop on an acreage and restore old cars for the rest of my life but I know I can't do that without making some money first. Unlike you, I hate math and enjoy english. Cars come naturally to me, I am mechanically inclined and love to work with my hands. Who knows what will happen next...

Couldn't have said it better myself. I am only 18 and not as mechanically inclined as you martin or probably many of you, but I still do very much enjoy it. I think for me it is more of a passion/hobby and not something that I would like to do everyday though. Throughout this semester I haven't put much effort into school and to be honest, I really haven't learned much either. But one thing I have learned for sure sitting through those seemingly monotonous and dry classes, is that I could not sit at a desk all day no matter how much money you are willing to pay me. I understand it sounds slightly cliché, but I would much rather do something I like. Therefore next semester I will be changing my education path and start the road to becoming a paramedic. I think this might be good for me since it is a hands on type of thing, I usually enjoy helping others and I am good with dealing with people (working in a nursing home probably contributed to this). Like dwvw mentioned above, I might also take a year off at some point to be a ski patroller, at least it is somewhat related to what I will be doing at school anyways. Maybe when I am older and not so willing to be working somewhat of a physical job I will do something more in the professional sector, but for now I want to get out there and get some real world experiences. But heck, what do I know...I'm only 18

[Kor]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

Starting your own business doing something you know how to do is the best advice I can give a young dude such as yourself.

[Slamtastic]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

Does Spartan have an apprenticeship program for instrumentation? Theres a good demand for techs right now and it involves everything that you described doing. You can also branch off into many different fields: plant maintenance, sales, construction, programming.

[P Arkus]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

I'm the modern day Van Wilder of night schooling. Been doing it for a better part of a decade while working full time. I punch numbers and count beans all day. Working full time and going to school in the evenings seems like it sucks, which in all fairness does, but it has its benefits too. I build my education along with my Career, I have a great job, make decent coin, and my company pays for all my schooling (no student loans = HUGE benefit). I'm 27 years old. Its definitely not a career choice/path for everyone, but the way my life is going, I wouldnt change it for the world...

...well thats a lie. I still wouldn't mind hittin a nice Lotto Max

[MechEngg]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

When I got done high school i had zero idea what i wanted to do. I took a year off, worked at Sears warehouse and from that experience i decided that i never wanted to do just a physical labour job again til i was 65 years old like some of the guys there. Pay capped off at $20/hr for management, which is the starting salary for any office position out there. I had to think long and hard about what i wanted to do, and after thinking all year i finally decided i wanted to do something mechanical and with design, hence choosing mechanical engineer.

It was a very difficult 4 years, but now that it is done and i have the job i wanted, i am excited to get up every morning and go to work. Projects depend on me, people depend on me. I like sharing my knowledge with people and i get to at my job. And it also lets me focus on my work at work, and when i get home i get to focus on my hobby, cars. I would NEVER combine my passion and my job. It would make me far less passionate about cars, it would seem more like a task than doing it for the pure enjoyment of it.

Think about what YOU would like to do, suggestions from others are just that, suggestions. Take them all with a grain of salt, decide for yourself what you want to do.

[witchcraftz]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

I am really good at software engineering, so I did a BSc in IT but I dropped it because after doing study/work together I realized that it was fun/easy for me but I hated it as a job. I ended up going for a BA Business after having wasted my first 3 years.

So here I am working as project systems administrator (basically doing Project coordination) work at an engineering company and I love it.

[RONDAL]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

Oh to be 19 again. Man if I could go back and tell 19 year old me some advice it would be these two things;
#1 don't be in a rush to grow up. I'm not saying don't be responsible about progressing your life, but what you want at 19 isn't what you're going to want at 22, which isn't what you're going to want at 27 and same goes for 47 (though i'm not at the latter yet). Enjoy the opportunities youth affords you, you've got the rest of your life to be old and mature.

#2 don't close doors before you have to. ya you get fed a bunch of bollox around that age about the "world being your oyster" and all that. but thats only the case if you do something with what you have in front of you. If you make decisions like not continuing post secondary education you're closing doors. You want to keep as many doors open at 19 as you can. Remember #1, what you want at 19 isn't what you want at 27. If you decide to go about closing things at 19 you're going to make things a lot harder on yourself at 27.


I remember when i was 18, thought i was going to be a pro mountain biker and live in whistler for the rest of my life. Couple of serious injuries later and I was back at university. after a year and a half burned out, just wasn't having fun. decided i was going to drop out and wanted to do auto trades. parents weren't too impressed but didn't force me to go back. made me pay rent though and get a job. worked at 2 dealerships and a detailing place so i could be around cars. had every kids dream job driving brand new exotics from the docks to the dealerships and cleaning them. I thought my job was sick, drove porsche's and lambos around all day and made them look good. Until the day this guy dropped off his brand new 996 porsche turbo for like the 3rd time that month for a detail. Thing was covered in coffee (again) on the inside from being spilled. Threw me the keys and said "have it clean again by 4?" I worshipped those cars, it was that thing i really wanted. And this guy treated it like a corolla that he didn't give a s#it about. It was that point I decided i wanted ot be the guy throwing the keys of the porsche, rather than cleaning them.
Got my ass in gear, put in my applications for UofC to change up the landscape, moved out here, finished up school, started working DT for an oil and gas company, and just decided to go back and do my MBA in london part time.

[RONDAL]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

i find this midly amusing that right after writing that i headed to Harvard Business Review and this is what their story of hte day was:

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/12/the_...r_regrets.html
What do you regret most about your career?

I had just finished a guest lecture on business and innovation at Parson's School for Design, and a particularly attentive front-row audience member kicked off question time with the curliest one of the day. I answered quickly with the hope of getting back on target. But judging from the scores of follow-up questions and the volume of post-lecture emails I received, a talk on career regret would have been the real bull's-eye.

Ever since that afternoon, I've been on a mission to categorically answer the awkward but significant question of exactly what we'd do if we could magically rewind our careers. The hope? That by exposing what others are most disappointed about in their professional lives, we're maximizing our chances of minimizing regret in our own.

To this end, I sat down with 30 professionals between the ages of 28 and 58, and asked each what they regretted most about their careers to date. The group was diverse: I spoke with a 39-year-old managing director of a large investment bank, a failing self-employed photographer, a millionaire entrepreneur, and a Fortune 500 CEO. Disappointment doesn't discriminate; no matter what industry the individual operated in, what role they had been given, or whether they were soaring successes or mired in failure, five dominant themes shone through. Importantly, the effects of bad career decisions and disconfirmed expectancies were felt equally across age groups.

Here were the group's top five career regrets:

1. I wish I hadn't taken the job for the money. By far the biggest regret of all came from those who opted into high-paying but ultimately dissatisfying careers. Classic research proves that compensation is a "hygiene" factor, not a true motivator. What was surprising, though, were the feelings of helplessness these individuals were facing. Lamented one investment banker, "I dream of quitting every day, but I have too many commitments." Another consultant said, "I'd love to leave the stress behind, but I don't think I'd be good at anything else." Whoever called them golden handcuffs wasn't joking.

2. I wish I had quit earlier. Almost uniformly, those who had actually quit their jobs to pursue their passions wished they had done so earlier. Variable reinforcement schedules prevalent in large corporations, the visibility of social media, and the desire to log incremental gains are three reasons that the 80% of people dissatisfied with their jobs don't quit when they know they should. Said one sales executive, "Those years could have been spent working on problems that mattered to me. You can't ever get those years back."

3. I wish I had the confidence to start my own business. As their personal finances shored up, professionals I surveyed yearned for more control over their lives. The logical answer? To become an owner, not an employee in someone else's company. But in the words of Artful Dodger, wanting it ain't enough. A recent study found that 70% of workers wished their current job would help them with starting a business in the future, yet only 15% said they had what it takes to actually venture out on their own. Even Fortune 500 CEOs dream of entrepreneurial freedom. Admitted one: "My biggest regret is that I'm a 'wantrepreneur.' I never got to prove myself by starting something from scratch."

4. I wish I had used my time at school more productively. Despite all the controversy currently surrounding student loans, roughly 86% of students still view college as a worthwhile investment. This is reflected in the growing popularity of college: In writing Passion & Purpose, my coauthors and I found that 54% of Millennials have college degrees, compared to 36% of Boomers. Although more students are attending college, many of the group's participants wished they had thoughtfully parlayed their school years into a truly rewarding first job. A biology researcher recounted her college experience as being "in a ridiculous hurry to complete what in hindsight were the best and most delightfully unstructured years of my life." After starting a family and signing up for a mortgage, many were unable to carve out the space to return to school for advanced study to reset their careers.

5. I wish I had acted on my career hunches. Several individuals recounted windows of opportunity in their careers, or as one professional described, "now-or-never moments." In 2005, an investment banker was asked to lead a small team in (now) rapidly growing Latin America. Sensing that the move might be an upward step, he still declined. Crushingly, the individual brave enough to accept the offer was promoted shortly to division head, then to CEO. Recent theories of psychology articulate the importance of identifying these sometimes unpredictable but potentially rewarding moments of change, and jumping on these opportunities to non-linearly advance your professional life.

Far from being suppressed, career regrets should hold a privileged place in your emotional repertoire. Research shows (PDF) that regret can be a powerful catalyst for change, far outweighing the short-term emotional downsides. As famed psychologist Dr. Neal Roese recently stated, "On average, regret is a helpful emotion." It can even be an inspiring one. But it means that we must articulate and celebrate our disappointments, understanding that it's our capacity to experience regret deeply, and learn from it constructively to ultimately frame our future success.

[CGY_GTI]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

I'm 18, graduated from high school in June, and now I'm taking engineering at MRU. I'd say I'm more or less like you when it comes to classes that I like though. English wasn't my favourite, I don't mind math, I hate bio, but I really enjoy chem and physics. I've been set on engineering for quite a while now because I like the right classes for it, and because I'm a car nut.

Edit: Now that I'm on winter break though, my job keeps me pretty busy. I work at my uncle's company, Spalding Hardware Systems, and I really enjoy it. Fortunately, they're very flexible with me... If I have a day off school and don't need to study, then I can just show up and find something to do within a couple of minutes. Just yesterday I was working on building an entire keying system for every door in a 42 story building. It's not what I want to do for a career, but I enjoy it when I have days off and over the summer.

[stuvy]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

I sell parts at a semi truck dealership. I love my job, and get paid decent. I remember a time when I made minimum wage ($4.85 per hour) and thought just imagine if I made like $10 and hour, as I look back now I think how the **** did I survive on $10 and hour?

When I was in highschool I was doing my first year auto technician apprenticeship, I finished 3 years and got sick of doing a hobby as a career. You begin to hate your hobby and your job. So I quit, did some work, went to school and finished a parts apprenticeship. I look back now and think if only I would have stayed in school and done something else. But I still like my job, and really wouldn't change much about it.

[Canadian Turbo]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

Some good advice in this thread so far; I as one of the much older than 19 crowd I have also gone through a few changes over the years. I got a degree in what I enjoyed in school despite the fact that it was not the best for career prospects and afterward took an opportunity to do something different and work in the family business. Through those years I built that up fairly well and got more education to better support what I was doing, then I decided it was time for a change and I dropped down to part time and put myself into a Masters program in a slightly varied program.

As that all happened I helped my wife go through school and now her career has taken off and hence the reason I have moved to London and now I am just finishing my MSc and will see where that takes me. I think education is very important for career but also personal development, but if you are not ready for it wasting the time and money can be a mistake, but you can always find a way to go back. Another suggestion I have is to travel; see the world and more than just your back yard there are so many rewarding places, experiences and people out there so try and see some of them and it might just help you find the way or at least have fun along the journey of life!

[T-Dubbs]

Re: What do you wake up for every morning?

ive bounced around alot for schooling.
i wish i stuck with my original goal, so that i would be finished by now.
you just gotta pick something and stay with it (if you choose school)

you can get a decent job with almost any degree.
i have a friend with and Art History degree that makes 80k/yr working at an engineering firm........
School isnt for everyone thou, my parents didnt finish any university, and they have done quite well.

you just need to find your niche