Experts' Top 5 Career Regrets

Every once in a while the things other people say can help us set a road map for our own lives. We just have to know how to listen. 

Recently, the Harvard Business Review blog posted blurbs from five professionals - an investment banker, a photographer, a millionaire entrepreneur and a Fortune 500 CEO - about their biggest professional regrets. 

This is what they said:

Worth it . . . or not?

Indulgences can be oh-so-worth it, or a total bust. 

I admit, I'm a splurger.

I'm generally pretty balanced when it comes to spending my cash, but every once in a while I just get a hankering to buy things.

Sometimes the mood is so strong I tell myself I should just to plan ahead then blow an entire paycheck all at once. How much fun would that be?!?!

Is it Possible to be too Hardworking?

Why we keep working at jobs that are unsatisfying. 

For as long as I can remember I’ve gotten through tough times in life by putting my head down and, as my dad would say, “gutting it out.”  

I’d continue to go to a class even if I didn’t like the teacher or the subject because at some point the semester would end and it would all be over. 

I lived in a crappy apartment that my roommate had chosen because it was only a 1 year lease and if I could get through that year we could move into somewhere without upstairs neighbors who vacuumed at 2 in the morning . . . and with windows.  

I’ll even occasionally log one more painful mile jogging up a hill because eventually I’ll reach the top and that will end also. 

This was my own brand of Scarlett O'Hara optimism.  A sort of “tomorrow is another day,” philosophy that I thought was at least a little virtuous.  But recently I’ve started thinking this strategy might fail me when it comes to my career. 

Why hello there . . . and welcome!

Hi friends.  Welcome to my blog! 

I've spend a few months writing posts and exploring what it feels like to put my thoughts into words.  But I realized I haven't yet introduced myself or explained what I'm doing here.  So, about that . . . 

Don't Listen to the Career Services Department if They're Giving you Crappy Advice

Go straight to the source with an informational interview.

Who should you ask? (source)

Because even the most well-intentioned people can lead us astray, it is important to be thorough in your research – career-related and otherwise.

Take, for example, my friend Carl*.

In college, Carl decided he was interested in a career in computer forensics and investigating cyber crime.  So Carl followed conventional wisdom and visited his school’s Career Services Office. It turned out to be the wrong decision.