Are you sure about this? Because if so, this is an important thing to know about yourself and definitely has an impact on the nature of the advice you should listen to.
Are any of these things something that is for the betterment of your field or humanity in general, or are they just about you?
People do better when they are serving a greater purpose or cause. Thats where the energy, passion, and creativity required to go from good to great lies.
So what’s your purpose? Your raison d’etre?
Not intended in a harsh critical tone, but more of an honest, earnest self searching way.
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I lurk here, and I don’t really say anything. You already have a lot of voices speaking truth and wisdom into your life. But I can’t let this slide…
Based on where you go to school, that’s saying something: You’re better than most people, the world over.
I know. I went there too. I was below average.
But guess what: I now hold a PhD in my field. My research is well-respected in the US and abroad. I have a career that provides the type of life I want for me, my wife, and my children. And I’m actually living that life.
Pwn is right: You have bulldog-like determination. Use it.
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It all feels like one big memorization game to me.
Because the current school system in most of Western society is designed to create good citizens who will listen and adhere to rules well, not foster creative thinking and allow everyone to use their individual skills to the greatest benefit.
This is an ironic criticism coming from me, since I operate in a “law enforcement” capacity and believe in rule of law and upholding society, but schooling at the elementary and secondary levels (can’t comment on post-secondary, unfortunately) is set up to make good automatons, not good human beings.
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You summed up my thoughts perfectly. School seems of great importance at the moment and it’s easy to fret about a slight drop in grades.
Remember you are at highly selective school and the average GPA at the university overall is still likely around a 2.5 (unless grading has gotten lax since I was an undergraduate). So you are ahead of the curve when it comes to both where you get your education and how you are fairing against the general school population.
I had only a 3.17 coming out of undergrad and I was still able to find my way to an excellent graduate school.
What year of college are you in? I would take a hard look this semester and see if where you want to make a difference and your education are truly lining up (as folks above said). Don’t study what you are curious about, we have the internet for that. What do you want to do besides make money?
This opens up a fantastic discussion ala Nietzsche regarding what education is desired FOR a general population vs an outlier. Do we necessarily WANT a country full of creative thinkers, or is it actually better to have a majority that is good at following simple instructions and to instead privately educated the future leaders.
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Oh man, we could go on about that one for ages; another point of similarity between us is interest in philosophy, however those thoughts are always way to long and complex to type on my phone.
Returning to your point, I’m of two minds: on the purely pragmatic side, it makes way more sense to have a body of labour that can just get the job done, and they can save their creative thinking for personal time and hobbies.
However, that is a remarkably sad existence, and we appear to be capable of far more than that.
This then leads us down the rabbit hole of what exactly makes a good society? How does happiness play into productivity? Are people more willing to work hard if they feel like they’re working to their full potential in a way that best suits their individual skillsets? Are we working towards a point where we can leave menial tasks to true automatons and allow people freedom to pursue creative thinking in all aspects?
Fascinating stuff. Too much to type, though.
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We gotta sit down for drinks of milk, honey and egg whites sometime.
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I’ll take the whole goddamn egg, thank you very much.
I think we have this already. Like me, for example. I’m your basic sentient automaton. I have a marginal education that is required to follow directions and carry out mundane tasks. I was never selected or groomed in any way for anything else.
But there are others who are selected and groomed educationally, socially, and otherwise to be the leaders of their generation.
Then there are the outliers who be shear brilliance, determination, or what ever X factor go much further than their humble beginnings would indicate.
I wouldn’t waste that on a beverage, haha.
Oh there is absolutely a presence of it. It’s more the question of the rightness of it.
That is a much bigger and better question.
Better bring a lot of milk!
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You’ll have to forgive my ramblings that are about to follow, but I’ll try to get them into a coherent form.
What if this isn’t true? What if you are far more than a “basic sentient automaton”, and it’s simply due to the arbitrary framework that’s been established in the current education system that makes you feel this way? What if you could’ve been capable of far more, but because you were constantly forced into a box you didn’t fit into, you eventually got chipped away and made to feel less-than? How many other brilliant minds or great potentials have been squandered because they were told they were dumb or weak or whatever because they couldn’t fit the mold and were never encouraged to try other paths, simply because the way early education is constructed with very specific parameters?
I’m speaking in a general sense, not to you specifically, but your sentiment is one shared by many people, and I feel a deep… sadness about it, I suppose.
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Me too. I exist within an environment of tremendous ambivalence, where the dissonance between what I think and feel is virtually always in direct conflict with the world as I see it.
It’s pretty hard to rectify.
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@SvenG Thank you.
Wow!
In regards to training and nutrition, my “determination” is based on fear.
… yep…
@cyclonengineer My GPA is fine, the issue is the other stuff. I am not a TA like a lot of my friends, my projects keep getting stalled and I’m doing less work yet don’t really feel like I can handle more
@T3hPwnisher @kdjohn @SkyzykS
My fear is being a cog. In particular, working a dead end desk job or ending up as a tutor at a company like one of my mum’s
That is why I consider those hobbies useless. If I’m an accomplished researcher, I’m contributing to advancing the field, if I get really really rich (probably not going to happen), I’ll be comfortable and get utility from buying stuff for family members
Another issue I have is that my field has a very low barrier to entry. Anyone can do it- Actually, most of you guys are better than me at it just because you guys are older and have more experience. I love it and plan to continue, but I feel inferior to my friends who are doing more complex things
I’m thinking more about guiding principals. Like, this is how I serve my community, vocation, etc.
Maybe more later though. Gotta make the world a better place, one weld at a time. 
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I genuinely don’t understand why this is your fear given that, when discussing your life plan, it appears your goal is to work until you die.
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