Long-term goals

I just want to briefly share with you a response I received from an interview question recently:

What are your long-term career goals? I want to be successful – to me, that means being able to provide and go home every day and be happy with my day’s work. I don’t want an extravagant life, I just want happiness for me and those I know. I want to come to work and be happy and enjoy the people I work with. I want to learn as much as I can. I love to learn. I want to be completely independent. I want to strive to be as happy as I could be. I would also like to be challenged.

I thought that was beautiful and well said. When he said, “I don’t want an extravagant life, I just want happiness for me and those I know,” I smiled. That is what I want, too. 

But sometimes, I get distracted from what I want by the noise around me. People pound to get more, bigger, better. People work too much to buy nice things they don’t even use or need. People turn into worse versions of themselves after procuring money or fame or prestige. There is no end to it – once you get a raise, you want another one. Once you have more money, you buy more expensive things and still live just within your means. People rarely save any more, they spend the moment they get money because the things it can buy is what makes them happy.

I don’t need an extravagant life. I am rich enough already. But I do want happiness. That is something I will pound to get. I just have to remind myself sometimes what’s important. And most recently that reminder came in the form of a job applicant.