Essays · August 17, 2008
Is career planning really time wasted ?
Miswanting
“We are poor at predicting what will make us happy in the future.”
The idea of making mistakes about what we might want in the future has been termed ‘miswanting’ by Gilbert and Wilson (2000). They point to a range of studies finding we are poor at predicting what will make us happy in the future.
The article talks about how people suck at predicting what will make them happy and thus career planning also is not really worth it. A sandwich study is quoted as evidence. Now generalization is always fun and entertaining but I am not sure if I fully agree. This article serves well to satisfy people for whom things didn’t go the best way because they can just say “it couldn’t be planned any way”. Just because we are not perfect at planning does not mean we don’t look forward to a specific kind of future. Not planning is equivalent to lack of desire…something not possible in us humans. Now I really doubt the guys who have left a significant mark in their life and that of others got there without much thinking. You cannot become climb the Mt. Everest or get to be an astronaut just sitting and waiting for the right epiphany.However some do confuse wishing with planning. Wishing is just expressing what we want while planning is getting down on the bench and preparing. I hope the article isn’t confusing career planning with the former, because without careful career planning and preparation, worthwhile careers are difficult to come by.