You are confused because you have been standing still.

You are confused because you have been standing still

“Confusion” is the most frequently mentioned word. You’re in college, not sure what kind of job you’ll do in the future; after working for a few years, your career hits a bottleneck, and you don’t know where to go; about to graduate, unsure whether to pursue graduate studies or enter the workforce… I’ve always felt that most “confusion” is actually a very good thing, because it shows you have choices. There’s a popular overused joke that says when people are hungry, they only have one wish—to eat until they are full. But once they are full, their wishes become unlimited. Think back to your childhood; your only goal was the 小考 (small exams), 中考 (middle school exams), 高考 (college entrance exams). Most people don’t need to feel confused because there are no choices—they must cross that single-plank bridge. Now that you’ve crossed that single-plank bridge, you realize there are thousands of roads and countless possibilities ahead of you. For most people, confusion might be because they simply can’t see where the car is. The question is usually, “How do I know what I’m good at?” “How do I know what I want?” Many people think it’s because they don’t understand themselves well enough, so they stay in place, trying to explore and understand themselves through inward reflection. That’s not wrong, but most of the time it feels like falling into a dead loop. The root cause of “confusion” is a lack of sufficient information to make decisions, not that you aren’t thinking enough. For example, many people find college major courses boring. When they hear about classmates’ employment, they feel they don’t like that kind of work. For most people, these thoughts might just pass through their minds without further exploration, and the “confusion” problem doesn’t really exist. Another group of people then start to feel “confused”—they don’t like their major but don’t know what to do. What if they switch majors and still don’t like it? My answer is: don’t stand still, start running. Use every opportunity to access information that interests you. The earlier you get exposed to different information, the richer your experiences, and the higher the chance you’ll make the right decision. Standing still only keeps you the same as yesterday. Madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. —Albert Einstein So, if you’re still in college, read more books. The school library is free. Participate in more short-term internships of different types; companies will even pay you. If you’re feeling confused, step out of the syllabus, step out of campus. If you’re already working, read more books—they’re much cheaper than cosmetics. Join activities outside your circle, meet people from different industries, learn a new craft you’re interested in, or explore a new professional field. Perhaps you’ll find that your next career stage comes from your continuous learning. (The picture below is of the famous architect Tadao Ando, who was a professional boxer before becoming an architect, and never received formal architecture training.) Having the time to quickly try and error is the greatest advantage of youth. At this stage, your cost of making mistakes is very low. When you get older, have a family, and accumulate those sunk costs you can’t let go of, you’ll realize that this kind of life isn’t what you want. The cost of making mistakes then becomes too high. That’s why more people tend to seek stability, complain about life, and feel trapped by it, yet are unable to escape. After all this talk, I just want to say: