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Let your next career move come to you.

people who become supersuccessful

one of my first ever line managers (only a year older than me) has just Become Supersuccesful (like objectively, not tier 1 in fookin Chambers specialising in Who Actually Cares - clients say "she exists and that's what we need in a lawyer for these deals")

she was a nice woman but she was abso rubbish as a manager and not particularly great technically - didn't give a fck about anything except the next promo, left the team to flounder, we were quite stressed out a lot of the time (although she was never a dick to us when things went wrong, which they often did, so points for that)

but she found a benefactor early doors who ushered her up several rungs in a flurry and now there she is

I would rather it was her than many people because she is nice and it's good when nice people prevail but we probably are in a state of chaos globally speaking because of this trend of wtf seniority 

I think anyway

I tend not to be envious or think too much about the conventionally successful people (whether they "deserve" it, etc.)--I don't aspire to that kind of success myself and my attitude tends to be a slightly dismissive "more power to them". (I dunno, you may call it sour grapes though.)

I am, however, envious of people who manage to transcend their role/career and achieve success in a less conventional fashion--e.g., the guy in my law school class who became a successful writer/translator of sci-fi.

I am definitely not envious - I would not be a contender for a range of reasons - I am worried there are no comforting swanlike grownups in the room any more. I think that's why stuff like covid gets cocked up so much.

save in handful of creative and sporting endeavours career success does not come from ability (although there may be a minimum requirement) , it comes from a combination of luck (being in the right place with the right people at the right time) and, more importantly, wanting it enough.  Successful people do not prioritise the job they are doing well,, they prioritise their personal brand.  I see it over and over again.

If by supersuccessful you mean she’s something in politics, a field of activity you seem obsessed with despite its utter banality, who cares. I’d rather be a band 1 ranked lawyer than an MP, 100%.

generally tho, I couldn’t give much of a toss about what other people do

save to enquire; when you say she found a benefactor, do you mean an older guy who she lets fvck her in return for favours?

a role that is recognisably impressive to the layperson and techy specialist alike, decent cash, lots of swooshing around, when you speak people shut up and listen

I agree re no long hours - those people who do 4 hours a week and bring in £££ make me GREEN

I'm not sure it's all about personal brand. Used to think that, but now I think the key to success is the willingness to make decisions and actually act on them and compel other people to act on them to. 

People who do that will move upwards a long way - it really matters little if the decisions are good or not, it just matters that you created motion. 

being a sci fi translator would be a completely awesome life - which languages?

He's the one who translated The Three-Body Problem into English. There was an NYT story about how he suggested to the author that the novel (in its English translation) should actually start with the Cultural Revolution episode (which is not how the original was written). According to the NYT, the author's reaction was "that was how I had wanted to write it initially but was told that leading with that episode would be too politically sensitive" (paraphrasing).

I could never figure out if the incredibly weird and stilted writing of Three Body Problem was because of translation, or the translation was accurately reflecting the nature of the original. 

the irony is that highly motivated successful people tend to be less content than those less motivated and successful because they will always be looking up wishing for more.  It may be possible to get rich working a few hours here and there but very few people do because if you have the motivation to get rich in the first place you almost invariably want to get richer.   Very few very highly remunerated people work part time - they all work around the clock.   There are some exceptions I accept but they are few and far  between.

There's a lot of cope in that belief imo. Very successful people often work all the time because their jobs are fundamentally interesting - it's not a hardship. 

They have constant novelty and variety, the ask on them is generally to listen or to talk, they meet new people all the time, and there's typically very little actual "work" involved (in the sense of sitting and doing tasks).  All the things that make work grinding and tedious barely exist for them. 

This doesn't apply to lawyers of course, they're just mental. 

"They have constant novelty and variety, the ask on them is generally to listen or to talk, they meet new people all the time, and there's typically very little actual "work" involved (in the sense of sitting and doing tasks).  All the things that make work grinding and tedious barely exist for them. "

Possibly, but as somebody who would hate to have a job talking to and meeting new people all the time I find that hard to relate to.

I think it is possible to RAKE it in doing not very much at all but you gotta be in the old boys' network to find these opportunities and otherwise there is a lot of hard work and people who do those jobs tend to be endogenously driven (i.e. it's not necessarily that the job is interesting, although sometimes it is, it's that they crave the approval of the great invisible approver in the sky).

having to sit still at your desk for 8 hours a day would drive me properly insane (used to in my younger, pretending to fit in days) whereas I think that's NBD for The Successful

I would genuinely rather spend the day writing a piece of legal advice than meeting people all dayeven if it is a marketing junket rather than directly work related.

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