Businessman sitting at desk in high tech startup office working on computer
Very early on in my life, I set my sights on one day becoming a doctor. Like many people I cross paths with who eventually decide to change career paths, I somehow decided on my career path when I was a little kid. That goal ended up shaping a lot of the educational decisions I made from junior high school all the way through college.
Eventually, I did get into medical school only to drop out two weeks into the program. The experience taught me that achieving your goals doesn’t always result in happiness.
Setting and achieving your goals is encouraged and celebrated in books, movies, and popular media. From a very young, most of us are taught that life is all about overcoming obstacles and dealing with setbacks that stand in the way of you reaching the finish line. Yes, reaching your goals is admirable. However, too rigidly setting goals also has some drawbacks.
Reduces Openness To Other Ideas
Young man with arms crossed
For most of my life, I held the belief that achieving your goals was a good thing. However, I look back on those pre-medical years with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I’m proud of myself for being so goal oriented. For setting an admirable goal of one day becoming a doctor, provided me with a clear direction and forward trajectory that focused all my educational and professional efforts during those years.
On the other hand, I wish I would have been a bit more open earlier on to other paths forward in my career and life. When you set rigid career goals, you limit your creativity and flexibility. You may become so obsessed with achieving your goal that you automatically swat away any other opportunities that come up along the way. Also, if your circumstances or interests change, you might still stubbornly cling to your original goal even if it doesn’t make sense for you any longer.
Increases Stress and Pressure
A male doctor is sitting at his office desk, he has his head in his hands and looks depressed and ... [+]
The more years I became invested in pursuing a career in medicine, the more compelled I felt to successfully gain admission into a competitive medical school. I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself to get good grades, score well on the Medical School Admission Test (MCAT), and land a spot at a prestigious institution.
Those were some of the most professionally anxious years of my life probably because I couldn’t imagine any other path forward for myself. Therefore, I felt compelled to make it work out no matter what it took.
Putting all your eggs into one basket can be very stressful. The pressure to achieve one single goal can be overwhelming and draining. Worse yet, if you don’t achieve your goal, it can feel like a tremendous failure with no fallback option.
Reduces Diversity Of Activities
adult student sitting on the floor reading a book
My undergraduate years were very singularly focused on doing everything I could to get into medical school. Although I did engage in some extracurricular activities, I was resistant to investing any time into anything that wasn’t moving me toward medical school.
Consequently, I don’t feel I invested enough energy into my life outside of the premedical curriculum as much as I could have. Everything from dating to dabbling in other subject areas to just relaxing and having fun seemed like a distraction.
There’s a fine line between dedication and fixation. Overly rigid career goals can limit your personal growth because you may ignore other ways you can broaden who you are. You may miss out on learning new skills or taking on new challenges that could help you grow in the long run.
Narrows Your Professional Circles
Working, Brazil, Employee, Arguing, Training Class
Even while at a liberal arts university with six different colleges and over 100 different academic programs, I didn’t proactively connect as much as I could have with students and staff in the journalism, music, or communication schools. On top of that, I spent all my summer vacations in college doing medical research and taking pre-medical classes. First, at Northwestern University. Then, at the National Institutes of Mental Health. Then, at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. I was surrounded by the same types of people all the time—those focused on the world of medicine.
Having a broad, diverse network can give you some valuable insights, advice, and support to help you make the right decisions for your career. However, when you set a rigid career goal bounded to a narrowly defined sector, industry, or role, you may not make as much of an effort to network with individuals outside of that world. You can miss out on connecting with people in different fields or industries.
Stifles Exploring Other Career Paths
Blurred motion of woman wearing red pullover walking in underpass, Vienna city.
Up until the point of leaving medical school, I never really gave myself full permission to explore other career paths. Sure, I spent a year after college dabbling in a few other jobs. However, it wasn’t until I let go of the idea of pursuing medicine that I was able to open my eyes to the possibility of feeding my other interests in my life like journalism, marketing, and entrepreneurship.
Setting rigid career goals can prevent you from exploring other career paths. You may become so focused on a specific career path that you might overlook other fulfilling options for your professional life. Especially as you become more invested in one career path, always remaining open to different career paths can help your career evolve as you yourself inevitably evolve through your various life stages.
Goal Setting Is Helpful, But Has Its Limits
In this photo a woman dressed in warm clothes is walking on a narrow dirt path.
Setting clear goals for yourself is certainly helpful, but rigidly and stubbornly sticking to one path for the sake of finishing what you started may not serve you well in the long run. In the end, it’s all about striking a balance between your desire to achieve your goals with your openness to other opportunities that may still align with what you want for your life.
Just remember that a goal is never truly set in stone. You always can choose to let it go. You can choose to pursue something else, especially if you realize your original reasons for pursuing that goal no longer matter as much to you. While achieving a goal is certainly worth celebrating, remaining open to other paths forward may ultimately be the best way to honor your values, passions, and interests.
For me, letting go of my original goal of becoming a doctor opened up a whole new career path for me in business, which has been rewarding, fulfilling, and meaningful. I know from personal experience that holding onto a goal is easier than moving on from a goal, but if you can bring yourself to do it, you may ultimately feel much happier about the professional road you chose instead . . . and never look back.
