Karl Pillemer’s book, “30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans”, continues to be a thought provoking read. It strikes me that, unlike what currently passes for “reality” TV, this book is in fact a picture of reality lived. Despite that, my first read of Chapter 3, Lessons for a Successful and Fulfilling Career, left me uninspired. Ok, so I kinda know all that, I thought. Wow, have I been in the workforce too long already?? As I thought through the life illustrations of the lessons again, I realized that it’s not whether you know this stuff; it’s whether you live it. And isn’t that the way it is with so many things in life? It’s not whether you know and understand it, what’s important is whether you live it.

Still, Lesson 1 does not seem so earth shattering: Choose a career for the intrinsic rewards, not the financial ones. Wouldn’t the world be a happy place if we could all do that? Ignore the fact that others may depend on us for financial support; ignore the fact that we need a safe place to live, clothes to wear, food to eat, and health care to protect our bodies. Maybe the work that provides us with intrinsic rewards does not help us with all that. So, we need to pay particular attention to Lessons 2 & 3; these are lessons we can live.

Lesson 2: Don’t give up on looking for a job that makes you happy. Life changes; circumstances change. There may be a time in your life when you are able to choose a job just for the intrinsic rewards. Even if it seems unlikely now, it may be very possible at some point. The best illustration of this lesson comes from the life of an eighty-nine year old man whose original dream was simply not possible. “In the early 1940s the military was almost completely segregated and the air force did not allow blacks to enlist. But what if, as a young black man, your dream in life was to fly and to serve your country?” (pg 61) Well, you enlist anyway and are rejected. You keep pursuing, enroll in flight school when it’s available to blacks, and fail to pass two times. You enroll a third time, pass and become a World War II combat survivor. Towards the end of your life, you reflect, “I’m very proud of the life I’ve lived…” Nothing more to say; Lesson 2, lived.

Lesson 3: Make the most of a bad job. Given life’s realities, it is very probable that you are not in your dream job right now. But, you need a job and are fortunate to have one. The experts in Pillemer’s book would encourage you in two directions. First, no matter what the task, do your best. You always have a responsibility to your employer to work productively, but the experts would encourage you to do your best for yourself: “do it well, because you feel so much better personally if you’ve done a good job.” Secondly, find the learning! It’s easy to say that every day you live is an opportunity to learn something, but what if you’re in a discouraging job and just don’t want to be there? A former management consultant exhorts, “They’ve got to find the learning. Always look for opportunities within the job you’re doing, and accumulate knowledge. What have you learned from this lousy job? Don’t just blow it off. Consciously work at it because then you’ll use that knowledge. Believe it’s the learning experience you need at that time.” (pg 69)

Don’t give up, find the learning. What learning can you find on the way to your dream job?