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Bette A. Ludwig, PhD 🌱's avatar

So often we push hard to reach the end goal thinking it’s what we want only to realize it’s not. Sure, degrees and experience can open doors but if you’re constantly walking through the wrong ones or the ones that don’t make you happy you end up more and more out of alignment. And that’s exactly what leads to burnout and job dissatisfaction.

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Laura Huang's avatar

Very well said! I often think of alignment as less about reaching a fixed destination and more about the courage to recalibrate as we go. Like you said, degrees and milestones are valuable, but only if they serve the authentic direction we're meant to pursue. True fulfillment often lies in recognizing when the route you're on is someone else's definition of success, not your own. Burnout happens not because we're working hard, but because we're working hard toward goals that don't genuinely resonate. Thanks for highlighting that!

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Ravi Seshadri's avatar

Brilliant, and stirringly honest, original. But that is Laura.

In this age of fleeting attention spans, it would be sad to follow someone else's plan or accept somebody else's endpoint as a goal. We must stay true to our own and follow the path, however weird or wild it might appear to the world. When we reach, we'll know we got where we wanted to.

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Laura Huang's avatar

Thanks, Ravi! You're absolutely right. True fulfillment comes when we trust our own compass rather than someone else's map. The quirky, winding roads often lead us to the richest, most meaningful places.

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Katherine Silk's avatar

I agree that reverse-engineering rarely works -- and leaves out false starts or mis-steps in the individual's journey.

It also leaves out the countless other people who followed similar steps, but didn't succeed for one reason or another.

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Laura Huang's avatar

Exactly, Katherine. Behind every polished success story lies a trail of trial, error, and countless unseen setbacks.

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