Since the 1950’s, the need for “knowledge workers” has increased rapidly throughout our society. The transition from the “manual worker” to “knowledge worker” has moved faster with the advent of machines, computers and the overall infrastructure of the modern business today; run by electricity and global communication. Where this has brought upside in the world we live in; there is still one downside: the price of achieving career success.

With the massive opportunities to work for major and global corporations today, universities and colleges have sprung up all across cities through a variety of countries. America, Japan, India and Europe contain some of the most prestigious schools in the world today. In the pre-industrial society, if you were the son of a farmer, you would grow up to be a farmer. Your parents would teach and develop you on skills of farming and taking care of the family, as attending school was next to impossible. If you did not perform as a farmer on a family-owned farm, you would be letting down your family. If you are not performing today as a knowledge worker in a medical or computer programming environment, you are impacting the business and others. The universities and colleges that exist today are designed to reduce the risk of failing in a working environment; unfortunately, we still perceive that getting into educational institution is bullet-proofing your career.

The “fear of failure” runs strong through everyone in the “knowledge society”. Leaving high school we have the opportunity to narrow down what we want to do as a career. Do I want to learn neuroscience, genetics, become a manager, be an entrepreneur, work in social services, be a teacher? These “career questions” help us drive towards our goal – continuous study and strong grades to be accepted into a university, the study sessions that go on late at night attributing to sleep deprivation, the stresses of information retention and letting personal tasks fall through instead of school tasks to compete with others in the class. This fierce competition to be the best then follows us into our career, and as a knowledge worker, the continuous studying help us achieve our goals and be successful.

Is this wrong? No it is definitely not, what we need to realize though is there are a lot of career minded professionals that reach a point past their forties where they have achieved everything they wanted to achieve in their career. The manager is now an expert in management, the blogger an expert in blogging, and the teacher an expert at teaching. This “loss of direction” can be disconcerting for many professionals as they have “moved out of the competitive zone”.

What you can do at your plateau to enrich your life again!

Start to develop relationships with others that you do not need to compete with. Maybe it’s building your interests in a book club, or attending seminars on issues not relate to work such as government or environmental issues. Be part of a Rotary Club, lead a Toastmasters group or just spend time volunteering and begin to move from “building a career” to “building my legacy”.

Planting the seeds in order to personally contribute and achieve will help you re-focus and understand that life is not always about work and the quest to be successful compared to others, but to be successful by helping others be successful, whether you relate to them or not.