Redefining success: How have your career priorities shifted as you've grown older?

Man, this hits home. I used to be all about the fancy title and corner office. Pulled 80-hour weeks, missed family events, the whole rat race thing. Then my dad got sick last year. Spent a lot of time in hospitals, thinking about what really matters. Realized I couldn't remember the last time I took a real vacation or had dinner with my kids without checking emails. Ended up taking a step back at work. Less pay, but more flexibility. You know what? I don't miss the stress. Sure, the ego took a hit at first, but I'm actually enjoying work now. Plus, I'm finally learning my kids' friends' names! Success for me now? It's about having time for the people I love and work that doesn't make me dread Mondays. Still figuring it out, but dekhte hain baaki :)

totally get this. recently switched from a high-flying corporate job to teaching. the pay cut hurt, but bro the joy of actually making a difference? priceless. success now is measured in 'aha!' moments from my students, not zeros in my paycheck.

After working for almost a decade and losing my father to COVID, I've gained a profound perspective on life. I have no regrets because I spent a lot of time with my father. My only regret is that he was only 58 when he passed away. He dedicated his entire life to ensuring a better future for us and had just recently retired (in his company, the retirement age was 56-57). He was my hero, and that void will never be filled. This experience has taught me the importance of being present and cherishing time with loved ones. Don’t compare yourself to others; live a modest life. Enjoy traveling because, at the end of your life, you won’t remember the hours spent at the office or the recognition received there. True recognition lies in the eyes of your family—the joy on your mother’s face when she sees you, the smile on your wife’s face when she hugs you, and the satisfaction in your heart as you watch your kids grow up and being there for them. You can earn anything but never the time spent with loved ones, creating cherished memories.

Abey yaar, pehle sochta tha success matlab Bandra mein flat aur business class flights. Ab? Success matlab office ke badhbu wale toilet mein 30 minute tak phone chala ke bhi kisi ko shak na ho. Promotion ke sapne chhodo, lunch break mein beer peene ki ninja technique sikh li toh zindagi jeet li samjho!

Agree, we enter into this state of mind post working 13-14 hrs shift during our 20s and post 8-10 years we claim the need of retirement. But as we carry humongous responsibilities, we move towards a company where work-life balance can meet.

I have a point to share. What is the position that you would like to see yourself as? Try to reach that position. Once you have reached your target position , serve and enjoy the position , take 2 steps back. I know someone who had served as director and a level below CEO and decided to go back as Senior Manager as his children were professionally settled. Hope I made sense 😃

That's the phase, when work from home is a must needed thing...😊🤗 Than hikes or promotions..🫣

Got into the unnecessary “salary kitna badega?” in my 20s. I wasn’t this out of college. I wanted to do _some_ work to start _somewhere_. But very quickly realized I was underpaid and someone reporting to me was earning more than me. Brought this up and then the rat race started. I used to love what I was doing, up until that point. I didn’t care about the time, the scope, the effort or the reward. All I cared about is the work itself and its impact. This rewarded me - for a good 3 years. I got the hike, recognition, reward, promotion and what not. I was the “go to” guy who people approached for anything new. In parallel, I saw Tier 1 college folks who used to consult with me and few other folks get the same things. This took me back a bit. At one point, I was building something small at 2AM to cut a redundant, manual operation that someone does twice a week and it just HIT. Why am I doing this and for what? I had 4 unread Whatsapp messages from my very good friends, 6 notifs from Instagram where people sent me reels, multiple youtube videos on “watch later”, a fully loaded Netflix watchlist and here I am trying to automate something which nobody asked for because it will improve the “overall productivity”. Nobody cares. I love coding & breaking down how products and business are built. But doing this overtime for a corporation for whom I am an employee ID was unnecessary. I cut down heavily. I used to work 9-ish AM to 2-ish AM with multiple breaks in between. But I would always have at least 6-8 hours of productive work to show. I restricted this to a strict 10-7PM. Withdrawal is hard and the urge to do more kept kicking in. I started talking to friends more. Started blocking Personal Time on my calendar and treated leisure as a routine. I started utilising my leaves. I had a LOT of leaves because I rarely took one. Took random weekdays off and just went out to chill. At this point, I came down from working 2x to 1x. I lost most of the things I had in this journey. The Tier 1 folks were prioritised because management probably realized I would’ve been a single point of failure. Tier 1 folks still come to me, but I’m not available after 7PM 🙏 I might not earn enough, I might fall behind my peers. But I have good friends and I code because it’s fun! I sit with my friends, talk about businesses and products and tech for hours on a wednesday and I’m healthy, have a shorter watch later list and I’m happy! 😃

I am in my 20s and just landed a job. I always feel like I am in the right place or not. I mean I am working for generative AI but I wanted to do development. I am not confident enough to ask anyone for a developer project as a freelancer.

I am facing a similar situation but. And I am willing to take a paycut for my future sake. But I am not getting the opportunity. And I really need to make a switch to be sustained for the future. Is it too late for me. I am scared for my future as the situation are not favourable

True. Retired by 35 to spend time with grand children.

I semi retired at 39 due to this exact point. Realised if I won’t stop the rat race now, it would be too late. I have been working non stop since age 13 due to family financial conditions, funded my own education and went to IIT and then started first job with 1 crore family debt to pay. Ran all these years very hard and maybe have had fastest career growth in my entire IIT batch and reached at senior executive level. This took a huge toll on my health and family life as well. Decided to step down last year and work on independent freelance consulting projects as I’m good at what I do and have a strong network and made enough money for myself and my kids. 100% increase in life satisfaction as I now work for just 30-40-% of time in consulting while earning 60-70% of what I used to make in full time job. Totally worth it !

I had recently gotten an opportunity at work to take ownership of a project and I had the rat in me wanting to take that up ( which would have meant more headache and not necessarily a higher pay check). I was willing to take it up because somewhere I had been feeling like I wasn’t getting the recognition for the work I had been doing because I didn’t have the ownership. But my husband put things in perspective. The work life balance is good right now. With the hours I need to put in with this arrangement I get to give a lot of time to my family whereas if I take up the ownership it will be a lot more work and no time for home. And “I think I like this little life” ;)

I want be a farmer now, have seen enough already.

Why this hike percentages are <3% ?

I used to think it's a sprint. I need to win this race. Clocking 80 hrs a week, working and upskilling over the weekend, being a Yes man to the boss was all part of the game. Slowly I realised this is a never ending game. It is actually a marathon, last man standing will win. Now I want to give more time to my family, my health. In the end projects will not matter, the company won't matter but family and health will.