I want to be an architect so I can design amazing buildings.
I want to be a lawyer so I can help people and win big cases.
I want to be a rock star so I can make music.
These professions seem so fulfilling. They seem fun. They’re things I would pay somebody just for the opportunity to do. They seem . . . glamorous.
The reality is that 99 percent of the work in any field isn’t glamorous.
If you want to be an architect, there’s going to be years of reviewing drafts and doing the math on other people’s designs. Even if you reach the Frank Gehry level and get to design the super interesting, cutting edge buildings like the Disney Concert Hall, most of your time is still going to be spent doing less fun work, like making sure your building doesn’t fall down.
If you want to be a big trial lawyer, there’s going to be years of reading and writing, researching, pouring through documents; excruciating, soul-crushing work. And that’s before you ever step foot in a courtroom. Then it’s years more just to get competent.
Hell, even if you look at the life of a rock star, 99% of it is sitting in a van with four smelly dudes, traveling to gigs, handing out CDs, busting your ass to build a following, or, if you’ve really made it, staving off the boredom and trying not to develop a heroin problem.
It’s hard to remember that the grass always looks greener on the other side. When we look at successful people, we see the final product. We see the polished metal building, the huge jury award, the face-melting guitar riff. We don’t see the hours of agony that went into making those things come to life. In order to be a really successful designer or lawyer or rock star, you’ve got to REALLY want to design buildings, or help people, or make music. You’ve got to love the glamorous 1% of your job so much that you’re willing to put up with 99 days of somewhere between mild discomfort and pure agony for every one day of ecstasy.
It’s tempting to chase the glamorous lives other people appear to be living. Just remember, for every hour of glamor, there were 99 spent down in the mud.
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