«By the time you make it, you’ll realize there’s nothing to make.»
Nobody told me this when I was grinding through my ‘Big4’ years.
There was always a carrot dangling ahead. Senior, team leader, manager, partner… The promised land was always exactly one step further. And every time I reached a milestone, I’d look around and think: this still isn’t it.
Harvard researcher, Tal Ben-Shahar, called this the arrival fallacy. The belief that once everything is finally perfect (the title, the salary, your manager, the culture), you’ll be able to breathe.
I hear it every day from the international professionals I work with:
«By 35 I need to have it figured out.» «Once I save X euros, I’ll finally be able to choose» «I really need to make it, and retire», »everyone around me has already figured it out!»…the list goes on.
They’re chasing a promised land they can almost touch. Convinced that once they get there, peace will follow.
It doesn’t.
Once they reach one milestone, they’re already scanning for what’s missing, what could go wrong, what’s next. And many of them end up disengaged or burnt out. No wonder.
Even today, when well-intentioned people tell me «Enrique, you made it, you have your own successful business!» I feel a strong resistance to that.
I haven’t made it. I’m moving in the right direction. I’m enjoying the work. And what tomorrow brings, I don’t know. But I’m excited to find out.
So should you stop chasing? No.
But maybe shift what you’re chasing for.
Think of your career as a road trip. You know the general direction. You don’t know the exact destination, or when you’ll arrive. And that’s the point. You’ll discover beautiful scenery, make unexpected turns, solve problems you didn’t see coming, meet people who change you.
There is no endpoint. There is no «I made it.»
And the sooner you stop postponing your happiness until you arrive, the more you’ll actually enjoy the ride.
