80,000 hours is the amount of time an average human being spends working, or in other words, pursuing a career. And these are the hours that define the two most important aspects of a person’s life – success and happiness. So, what do we do – listen to the head, or follow our heart?
Choosing Between Head and Heart
Advice like “do what you love and love what you do”, “hard work and perseverance pay off” is very common in one’s childhood. As we step into the realms of what is called the “real world”, making career choices is not easy. They are conflicting – should we go by the logic of the head and aim for financial rewards, growth, and success? Should we follow the dictates of our heart to pursue our passion and dreams?
My perspective is that our head and heart go hand in hand. Our head may tell us to opt for a career with more materialistic gains; our heart may tell us that we won’t be happy if we choose it. We may be pleased with the career path we settle on but is it worthful if we’re not financially stable? The career options in what interests us, and its payoffs must be carefully balanced so as to avoid disillusionment later. Most often, we succumb to the rationale of our head, and end up missing our chance at achieving the greatness we were destined for.
Keeping our defining factor as- where we want to be twenty years down the lane- is one way to avoid uncertainty. One thing that would emerge as common would be to make our life more valuable and to make it count. We should list what’s important to us, ask ourselves if this would add value in other’s lives. Once that is figured out, it is the brain that will churn out the possible ways to get there.
About the Author
Kavya Chugh is a second-year college student pursuing Psychology Hons. at Kamala Nehru College, DU. She is passionate about writing among other things such as dancing and singing and is currently also working on her own novel. An equally ardent change-maker, she has been volunteering with Wishes and Blessings since June 2021 and wishes to contribute to society through both her actions and words.