Have you reached your potential?

[big-all]

i have no regrets in life
i have been thrown carp in life treated unfairly several times
would i choose a different path if i had the chance who knows ??
as an individual you should live your life for you and your family without any consideration for what others expect or think as long as you are a caring compassionate human being in society
i have never seen the norm or "keeping up with the jones" as important what others think or there values are there problem
i am not a rebel or a antagonist i am a helpful social local community person as are my freinds

 

[kingandy2nd]

I'm thinking specifically about:

Job/career
Family/personal life

When you consider your life to date, and thinking about the two things above, do you feel you have reached your full potential in these areas i.e. are you largely content?

Me ...

Job/career
I've been in my current role (IT related) since the early noughties. Nearing 50, if I'm being honest I haven't pushed myself enough in terms of career progression. This is largely because, for the first decade and beyond, I was content with my role. However, looking back, once I was a few years in, I should have pushed myself to go for promoted posts. To address this, I'm now working towards a postgrad qualification to tick that box (most vacancies now mandate these or similar), and next year I'm going to put myself out there and see what comes up. Still within the same sector.

If I'm being really honest, but this is good old 20/20 hindsight, I kind of wish I'd never gone down the IT route. I wish I'd explored a career in psychology or a related field. Wouldn't consider changing now, too far in with things like pension and by the time I qualified (if indeed I did) I'd be starting off on the bottom proverbial rung. So, rightly or wrongly, I'd stick to what I know for the next 9-10 years then RETIRE

Family/personal life
That's an easy one. Was never interested in settling down with anyone or having kids, held that view into my 40s. Long story short, I now regret my life choices in this area. Although I appreciate you shouldn't view things through rose-tinted glasses, I do wish I'd had kids. Again, at 50 or close enough, I wouldn't consider it now. As for a partner, I think I'm too set in my ways but might look for a companion at some point to do stuff with in my retirement.

So on balance, I've probably not reached my potential in either career or family life. Having said that, I'm relatively content and much better placed than many on this planet, so overall no grumbles.

Right, over to you

Hey mate,

You’ve posted a couple of threads reflecting on love and life. Nothing wrong with that, nor with reflecting on your life.

But equally sometimes it can run deeper. I hope all is ok, and you’ve got some real life friends / family you can chat to if you need to. (Not saying you do, just if you need to).

Everything in life is relative, someone’s success might be considered someone else’s failure, and sometimes someone’s success can only come from another’s failure.

You can only influence the future and not the past, and it’s never too late to change yourself if you wish.

Take care buddy

 

[Doug99]

Joined the Royal Navy at aged 16 onto the bottom rung of a promotion ladder. Took me 20 years to get to the top rung (could have done it sooner but I was enjoying hands on engineering and getting my hands dirty - Managers don't). I was then offered and accepted a Queen's Commission and jumped to another low rung but of a different promotion ladder. After another 10 years, and a couple of more rungs, my work/life balance was such that I didn't need any additional stress (or money) to enjoy life.
Retired after 36yrs service and now a part time civil servant counting down to full retirement.
As for the OP - I peaked professionally at 30yrs, but continued to enjoy the job for the full 36.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Hey mate,

You’ve posted a couple of threads reflecting on love and life. Nothing wrong with that, nor with reflecting on your life.

But equally sometimes it can run deeper. I hope all is ok, and you’ve got some real life friends / family you can chat to if you need to. (Not saying you do, just if you need to).

Everything in life is relative, someone’s success might be considered someone else’s failure, and sometimes someone’s success can only come from another’s failure.

You can only influence the future and not the past, and it’s never too late to change yourself if you wish.

Take care buddy

Cheers for that. Yeah, nearing 50 I have been reflecting on my lot over the past while, but I'm fine. tbh I sometimes like to pose what might be considered slightly deeper / more philosophical questions, not just here but to family, friends etc. I think that's why, albeit with hindsight, I wish I'd gone down a different career path e.g. psychology.

I'm also guilty of being an over-thinker which is a difficult thing to shift given it's part of my make-up.

 

[motorbiking]

schoolboy dyslexic told wouldn't amount to anything.
1st class Degree
was an Advanced Motorcycle coach for Plod wannabe bikecops (hobby job)
Made enough to retire at 45 (IP Law specialist) which I did for a bit.
Getting divorced - so now back working (running a team of legal council)
A couple of nearly grown up kids
Yachtmaster Commercial - (Sailing is what I love)

enjoying my best life with my GF who keeps me young

 

[kingandy2nd]

Cheers for that. Yeah, nearing 50 I have been reflecting on my lot over the past while, but I'm fine. tbh I sometimes like to pose what might be considered slightly deeper / more philosophical questions, not just here but to family, friends etc. I think that's why, albeit with hindsight, I wish I'd gone down a different career path e.g. psychology.

I'm also guilty of being an over-thinker which is a difficult thing to shift given it's part of my make-up.

Glad to hear you’re fine mate.

Nothing wrong with thinking about stuff.

Careers are funny things, you start down a path and before you know it you’re earning reasonable money and have a lifestyle to maintain, and more often than not you get stuck following that (or a similar) path because doing someone completely different means starting again on the bottom run of the ladder and you can’t keep the lifestyle you’ve become accustom to.

From people I know (and it’s not a huge sample size), people only end up with a massive change in career or lifestyle in certain circumstances 1. Come into money (redundancy payout, inheritance), 2. Significant change in outgoing (kids leave home, mortgage is paid off, etc). 3. Have a significant other that earns enough to allow the other person’s income to matter.

 

[Notch7]

I'm also guilty of being an over-thinker

Sounds like my wife, she seems to have endless ways to find things to worry about…..it doesn’t help that I’m not a routine person and will quite often forget to lock doors at night……drives her mad. Thankfully I’ve managed to stop her switching off the kettle at night - used to drive me up the wall turning kettle on and it not boiling.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I'm past retirement age, but I still enjoy working (well, everyone needs a hobby...). I feel that there are far too many people in this world who are driven by ticking boxes and bucket lists. I doubt that they bring anyone happiness.

Have I reached my potential, though? I'm not even sure what that means. Apart from my original trade qualifications I've gathered a number of other "bits of paper" over the years, including a degree in my fifties and a second degree level qualification in my sixties (both relevant to the industry I work in), so I've probably reached my potential there. TBH at work I am satisfied that I can handle pretty much every problem that comes my way these days and keep the job running without getting stressed (well, most of the time). When I'm actually on the tools I can match (often better) the younger guys for quality, and on quite a few tasks I can also match them for speed, too (experience matters), but I realise that I'm past my physical peak, something which bugs me. So I'm past my physical potential.

But as my physical "prowess" wains I find greater pleasure in making sure that I get the job done right, even if I'm not doing it myself. So potential is really not something I consider, job satisfaction is.