Reasons why thinking you will make money now and do what you love later will not work.

I wanted to be a writer when I went to college. Ok, I finally admitted it, although if you looked at the long list of English electives this science major completed, you would have had a hint before now.

The Wrong Advice

Well-meaning people counseled me not to pursue a writing career because it seemed risky. Instead, they convinced me to pursue a more practical career. Their most compelling argument was the I could earn a good living now and then do what I really wanted to do later. It was well-intentioned advice from people who cared about me — and it was dead wrong.

I have realized that many young people are making a mistake by choosing to take jobs that pay well now, so they can do what they really want to do once they are financially set. It sounds like good, sound advice. It isn’t. The truth is most of those people will never pursue what they want to do — -a sad state of affairs that makes their lives, and the world in general, a little smaller.

The sad fact of the matter is that most people who put off what they want to do until later in life will never get around to doing it. It’s hard to put a number to this fact because so many of those people will give up their ideal later in life for reasons we are about to cover.

Make Money Now, Do What You Want Later

Here is what we do know. There has been an attitudinal shift in college students from the 1960s to today. The American Freshman Survey has tracked college students since the mid-1960s. In the sixties, most college students (86%) listed their number one goal for pursuing higher education as “developing a meaningful life philosophy.” Today, the majority (74%) of college students list their number one priority as “becoming well off financially,” while only forty percent said pursuing meaning was a top goal. The danger is that by following a salary rather than developing a philosophy of living, these students may be missing out on a more fulfilling life.

When asked, many graduates will say some version of, “This isn’t really what I want to do, I’m just going to do it long enough to make enough money to do what I really want.” It’s a line that may be the mantra of a lost generation.

You Risk Losing Twice

The reality is that it’s not as easy to change from a money-focused career to a meaning-focused life as young people may think. By pushing this approach, they risk throwing away their best potential.

To get good at doing anything, you need to throw yourself into it completely. No holding back. Yet, it is hard to show this kind of abandonment when you are thinking, “This isn’t what I really want to do.” That thought in the back of the mind keeps people from entirely investing in the job they do have, and that is too bad.

Cal Newport, in his book So Good They Can’t Ignore You (Amazon), tells us that the way to achieve success is to think of ourselves as craftsmen. As Newport explains it, the craftsman mindset “. . . asks you to leave behind self-centered concerns about whether your job is ‘just right,’ and instead put your head down and plug away at getting really damn good.” But you can’t do that if you think that your current job is just a temporary means of earning enough money to do what you want to do. By working in a job to get the external reward of money, rather than pursuing intrinsic motivation (things like autonomy, mastery, and relatedness to others), you cut yourself off from the possibility to excel at that work.

The result is that you cut yourself off from reaching your full potential on two front; the job you have and the job you want but are not pursuing. By focusing on external rewards in the position you took to make money, you have created a mental block that keeps you from forming a craftsman attitude and excelling at that work. While, as the same time, you are waiting to start what you really want to do, which means you are wasting your potential on this career as well. In the end, this doomed strategy is keeping you from achieving your potential in two separate areas at the same time.

Enough is Never Enough

Of course, the goal of working at the money job is to save enough wealth to free you up to pursue your real interest. The problem is that “enough” is a very abstract concept. Because it is abstract, it is impossible to know when you have achieved it. For that reason, people get caught up chasing after “just a little more.” No matter how much you have, just a little more seems like the right amount. It’s the problem of a constantly moving goalpost. You keep working toward a finish line that moves back each time you advance.

The biggest reason the goalpost keeps moving is the fear of losing all you have accumulated. What if the stock market crashes? What if I get sick and have medical bills? What if I fail at what I really want to do and can’t get my old job back? The fear of loss keeps that goalpost moving. You keep looking for a guarantee in a world that does not offer them. This fear of loss keeps you thinking, “just a little bit more.”

The Danger of Lifestyle Creep

Then there is the problem of lifestyle creep. As you work in that good job, you will have coworkers who don’t share your goal of saving money to pursue your real goal. Those people will be living the lifestyle their careers afford. Being surrounded by people doing this will put pressure on you to do the same. It’s hard to resist the desire to keep up with the Joneses. Whether it is the big house in the suburbs, the nice car for the long commute, the clothes to dress your part, the private school for the kids, or the vacations in pricy locations, it is hard not to conform.

In the worst-case scenario, this need to keep up with others means borrowing money (home mortgage, car payment, etc.) like the rest of them. Now, rather than accumulating wealth, you are going into debt. Indenture is the exact opposite of what you need to be doing if you are only using your job to get the money to pursue some more significant goal.

Others Will Come to Depend on You

As you work in your good job, you likely won’t want to put off life for a decade or two. That means you will want to get married and start a family. And you should want to do that, having a family is one of the great joys of life. But it also means that more people will be dependent upon you. Reliant on you for a place to live, food, clothing, college tuition, and all the other myriad cost that go along with raising a family. Wanting to provide for those you love may keep you working in a dependable, if staid, job until your children have completed college and moved out. This can add decades to your plan — decades where you are not developing your potential at the position you hold or the one you want to obtain.

A Little Advice

I don’t want to paint an entirely depressing picture. I want to give some realistic perspective on the dangers of taking a job to earn money now so you can do what you wish to later.

My advice would be to give what you really want a try at the beginning of your career. You won’t have settled into a lifestyle at that point. You won’t have others dependent upon you and your income. Most importantly, you will have decades ahead of you to make up for the losses if you fail. If your dream career does not work out, you can pursue that good job, knowing it will be your career. That knowledge will enable you to fully invest yourself in that career so you can craft your ability and be successful.

Pursing your dream right away is not the advice most people will give you. However, it is the advice you need to consider. The world does not need more people working in jobs just to pursue extrinsic rewards like getting rich. When people focus on those rewards rather than internal rewards, they tend to cut corners. I have to wonder how much of the upheaval in the finance market has resulted from workers who want to earn their riches quickly so they can get out of a “good job” they dislike to pursue the thing that matters to them.

Conclusion

The world needs people to come alive. To bring out their unique talents and abilities. If that means taking a “good job” out of genuine interest, then do it. If that means pursuing a riskier strategy, consider doing so early in your career when you have less to lose. Because it is tough to put it all at risk later in life, no matter what you promise yourself today.