Book explains why the 20s affect the shape of your career Share Bookmark Print Rating By LILIAN OCHIENG’ [email protected] Posted Friday, July 12 2013 at 01:00 SHARE THIS STORY 1 inShare Related Stories Book explains why the 20s affect the shape of your career Are you in your 20s, fresh from college, already working, or looking for a job? You may want to read The Defining Decade, a book by clinical psychologist Meg Jay. The author seeks to inspire young people in their 20s into discovering their inner working powers, in ways that even some authors have found intriguing. For example, Rachel Nalebuff, the editor of My Little Red Book, confesses: “Before reading The Defining Decade, I didn’t know enough about the importance of our 20s to be concerned that I could mess it all up. Now that I do, I could worry myself into paralysis, or, as Meg Jay, suggests, grab life by the helm, even if I still have no idea where I’m going. Without a doubt, The Defining Decade will leave you eager to embark on what I now see can be the most exciting odyssey of one’s life.” According to Jay, the things people do and do not do in their twenties will have an enormous effect across years and even generations to come. That’s how important this age is, in her view. She writes, for instance, that, “In the 21st Century, careers and lives don’t roll off an assembly line. We have to put together the pieces ourselves.” She continues: “Be intentional. Get to work. Pick your family. Do the math. Make your own certainty. Don’t be defined by what you didn’t know or didn’t do. You are deciding your life now.” Many people in this age are either enrolling into college or just entering the job market. A lot of them can easily get confused and end up lonely when they fail to achieve in life. Jay’s additional advice is that at such an age, one needs to be realistic about their skills and goals. She argues that at 20s, people already know their weaknesses and strengths. It is therefore the best time to work on one’s dreams. Her book tells people at that age to put together endless possibilities of concrete plans that they nurtured and dreamt of as kids. The 20s is the period to best pursue aspirations. That’s why she refers to the age as the “defining decade”. The book suggests that every friend you have in your life during this period should be what you exactly need. Kenyan psychologist Pius Mureithi agrees to the definition of the 20s as the defining decade. He explains further that this is the period in which self-identity, vocational identity and independence among other issues occur. The book urges people of this age to stop believing that work will always come easy so long as they follow their passion. Mr Mureithi finds the statement very applicable. “Jay is very correct when she writes that 20-something should stop thinking of the idea of the perfect job. This is like thinking that once you get married, you will live happily ever after,” Mureithi argues. The book further dismisses as careless, the attitude among youths that one should quit the moment they don’t like a job. It comes from the ill-informed assumption that an alternative will easily be found. In reality, and Mureithi stresses this, that’s hardly ever the case.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 08:08:17 +0000
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