You earned a degree, checked off the internship box, found a good job in your new field and are busy living life in your career when suddenly it hits you! "This isn't at all what I want to be doing for the rest of my career!" In today's episode we discuss the sunken cost fallacy and why it's never too late to start over.
Goli Kalkhoran attended Berkeley Law in hopes of advancing social change as a federal public defender. It wasn't too long after realizing her lofty goal and earning her "dream job" that Goli realized that it wasn’t nearly as fulfilling a career as she had hoped. Instead of sticking with the vocation she had invested so much time, effort and money in, Goli left law, founded photo booth company Usie Booth, and now hosts the podcast “Lessons from a Quitter.”
In this episode, Goli discusses how she concluded law wasn’t a good fit for her, how she went about changing careers, and why you should push back against the fears and anxieties telling you to stay where you are.
THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS EPISODE:
(2:40) - Goli explains what originally drew her to a career in law.
(4:46) - We get into why law school is so difficult compared to other academic paths.
(6:52) - Did taking law at Berkeley specifically put extra pressure on Goli?
(8:20) - What about law pushed Goli to find a different vocation?
(12:10) - Goli’s advice for those finding a law career to be a struggle.
(14:19) - Her theory as to why the vast majority of employed people feel unengaged by their work.
(16:42) - Goli explains the “sunken cost fallacy” and why it holds people back from making important changes in our careers and lives.
(19:20) - How to calculate “opportunity cost” in our careers, and comprehending the upper limit of happiness that money can bring to our lives.
(26:24) - How do we identify what kind of work engages us, and how to we proceed from there?
(29:54) - Goli opens up about the pushback she received from others when she announced she wanted to change careers, as well as how she dealt with it.
TWEETABLES:
“The problem with law school is that a lot of people just end up going because they have no idea what else to do.”
“And that’s the best description of what being a lawyer is: you’re just in a room by yourself reading and writing these very long and boring motions.”
“You need to be honest with yourself about what part of the job you don’t like.”
“A lot of times, we don’t tend to see our own superpowers.”
“The minute you actually start opening your eyes to other things and really admitting to yourself ‘I am unhappy and I want to try something else,’ you just start seeing opportunities.”
“When you start realizing the insanity behind these fears and what it keeps us doing, I think it gives you more courage to be like ‘You know what? I don’t care. I’m just gonna try something else and if I fail I fail’.”
Guest Links:
Goli's Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/lessons-from-a-quitter/id1412305413?mt=2
Goli on Twitter: https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast
Goli on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter/
Resources:
Kahneman Happiness & Money - https://qz.com/1211957/how-much-money-do-people-need-to-be-happy/
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