Thanks Dave,

I guess one has to be careful about what one wishes for, it may just come true.

Steve

Hello Dave and Everyone,

It used to be where people who had a passion for the law and medicine were the people who would go to Law school or Medical school, and, working 24/7 to do it, was part of the whole package. Now, it seems, that going to Law school or Med school is simply what a lot of bright young people do when they really do not have a "passion" for anything, in particular, but want that "degree" that will open the doors of opportunity, so, maybe, it is not about work ethic it is about lack of real interest or passion for their profession.

have a great day all, ruth

Aloha Dave

I am not sure if you have heard of Byron Katie's The Work. In essence what she teaches is The Work is changing your thinking because it is not the situation that disturbs you but your thoughts about it. She takes you through four questions and then a turn around.

Here is a wonderful clip about money: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HeFdBJNkq4

We manifest through vision and the more we practice The Work the more we connect to that place. Today we have the awareness our thoughts are things. The material world of the past and the present are shaking hands while the future is taking place in the present.

Byron Katie's The Work is taught in prisons. I hope you check her out. love patty

Yes, it's changing.

The South Asian kids, like their southeast Asian, Chinese-American, and African- American counterparts, have to find out who they are. And in many cases, the emptiness of not knowing who you are is the necessary first step that creates the longing for some serious exploration of your own identity.

Unfortunately, gone are the days when a person signs on with one company, makes a career and lifelong friends there, and retires after successfully raising a family with his single-company career.

In fact, you practically cannot do that nowadays if you try, because of all the downsizing, merging, takeovers, relocations, etc, done by the companies themselves. How many of us have experienced being perfectly willing to show up for work everyday, only to be told we are laid off, the plant is closing, operations are being outsourced, etc.

The hard reality is that for an intelligent person (which you have to be to get a law degree), it is obvious that putting your loyalty in a single company is most likely futile, because when it comes to the bottom line, the company will dump you like a hot potato with no second thought about it.

Before employers whine about people leaving them, they should do some serious soul searching: what are the companies doing to earn the loyalty of their employees? Most of the time, the answer is : NOTHING.

"You're doing a great job, unfortunately we have to cut down on your benefit package, or unfortunately, we have to ask you to take a pay cut to remain competitive, or unfortunately, we are moving operations to a new city" or "sorry you have to work every night and weekend, but the company really needs you right now" doesn't exactly reward employees, if you get my drift. It takes more than the occassional Atta-boy and computer-generated birthday cards signed by dozens of people that the employee probably doesn't even interact with every day.

Careers are being made much faster by lateral movement, as shown by the software industry. Get skills with one company, and market those skills to other companies.

The straight-line career is dead, and in fact, most companies no longer even hire top management and executives from within the company anymore. They are all seeking the "rock star" CEO or employee who has a wide variety of experience on his resume and shown he is willing to work with the highest bidder for his talents.

No wonder anybody who actually loves his wife and kids is having second thoughts.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by 'less prestigious, jobs’. I'm not sure the attitude you write about to work is exclusive to South Asians. Across many countries and social set-ups, more and more people are realising that there is no point in driving yourself into an early grave, or allowing your life to be dictated by your employer, sacrificing what you realise is actually important to you at the end of the day.

I find that you get to a stage in your career where you take a decision as to whether you want to go up, stay at the same place-or do what you really want to do with your life-and take a risk. If you want to go up-it means making choices and essentially putting the hours in, potentially leading to problems in your personal relationships.

Having experienced working environments cross sector, government, non-government, private, consultancy-there is a certain amount of commonality in the employee who works all hours. Frankly, no-one needs to work 15 hours a day in the office. Infact it’s illegal to work more than 37.5. hours a week in Europe. However, we tend to get sucked into the sentiment that inorder to be perceived to be delivering and dedicated; you have to work that 15 hours a day. It’s not the case. You don't have the personal time that you used to have-you're always on call (the bane of the mobile phone). Generation Xers (are we talking about 20 somethings?) are very different to my generation (late 30 somethings). We studied what we wanted to (not necessarily what we should have-to get into mainstream careers), we took years out (travelling, experiencing life) before we started working, we didn't think about mortgages until our mid 30s (some still don't including myself). However the younger generation has this 'burn out' mentality that they have to achieve everything by a certain age. You even have the 'quarter-life' crises, where at 25, people are experiencing serious dissatisfaction in their work, personal lives etc, because they feel they have achieved everything and what more is there to do.

To be productive in a work environment, you have to have a balance in your professional and personal life. You need to switch off and you need to realise, that the world will not stop if you don't send your e-mail by close of play. We've all been there, stressing about deadlines, meetings etc.

Even working in the same type of sector after a while can become stagnant. Sometimes people don't have the energy to fight the system or have an epiphany that change management (for example) is something they don't really care about. As for huge salaries, you have to pay the price, you sell your soul. Perhaps people are taking risks more and more, because they realise that at the end of the day there is more to life than work-and that you rule work not that work rules you.

Very thought provoking - esp. the comparison with Gotham's post. What an interesting study of Indian culture and our changing priorities. We don't have to struggle the way our parents had to and hence we are assimilating?!