Scott Schimmel (00:02.754)
A few years ago, I spent this like season of life trying to understand the challenges that young people face as they transition to adulthood, specifically college to career. Every single one of them shared the challenges that they faced in figuring out life on their own. In fact, they all said the same thing. I mean, hundreds of times I heard this. I don't know what to do yet.
I just know it has to be meaningful. I heard that over and over and over again. I don't know what I want to do. Or sometimes it was, I know I don't want to do this and I don't know what's next, but I know it just has to be meaningful. There's a book that came out, it's like 25 years ago, almost 30 years ago. It's called Half Time, From Success to Significance. I really have nothing wrong with the book, except I hate that the book exists. The whole idea.
When the subtitle is from success to significance, it's written for successful executives at the towards the end of their career. So imagine someone 60, 55, 60, 65. And now they're going to read this book and realize you've spent all this time focusing on yourself, climbing the corporate ladder, building your bank account. And now it's time to do something with that inner angst, the same angst that I hear and see in young adults.
It's time to finally either put that to rest or fulfill that need. And I really can't stand that idea. In fact, I don't remember what year it was, but I somehow got the author's email address was introduced to the guy. And I wrote an email saying that like, I'm going to put you out of business. I can't stand the fact that you exist. It's just so sad to me. It's such a wasted life. Needless to say, the guy never wrote back, never responded.
It's interesting though to me to find research and research has been done And I've got if you want citations if you're a nerd like me, I can send you some links Real deep rigorous thoughtful research has been done to figure out What does it? specifically mean To live a life well to make the pursuit of your life orient around things that will also provide you a great sense of
Scott Schimmel (02:24.398)
Fancy words would be affectation, other words, feeling good about your life. Well, the research shows over and over and over again, study after study, that serving other people makes you a happier person. You will feel better if you put others before you. And so back to this concept of young people figuring themselves out, so often I still hear from, whether it's parents, teachers, or the kids themselves,
that the advice they're given is just go get a good job. In other words, make self -sufficiency, earning money your top priority and worry about the other stuff later. It's the same reason. It's the same exact reason that that book, Half Time exists. And I'm here to challenge that notion. I'm not saying that paying your bills is a bad thing. In fact, I think it's a part of growing up and I think it's a part of growing into...
not only responsibility, but feeling good about yourself, being responsible for yourself. It fills you with pride, boosts and builds your self -esteem. I think it's hard to imagine life done well if you can't pay your own bills. What I'm saying, though, is to put right next to it the tension that and the fact the actual researched fact that you will do better in life. You will feel better about your life. You will actually earn more money over time.
if you find a way to put other people first in your life. So when push comes to shove, when a young person can't figure out what they want to do, can't quite narrow it down. My encouragement is to spend a lot of time exploring how they might put other people first, whether that's specifically in a nonprofit career, that's kind of the traditional thought, or to imagine the career paths and pathways that are open to them, maybe because of their interests.
their natural abilities, their connections. Let's say it's finance. Let's say it's accounting. Let's say it's law. Let's say it's anything, education. What are you going to do through your career to put other people's needs first? What problems, human problems are you going to solve by being an accountant? What are you going to do for the sake of others who don't have a voice through your law career?
Scott Schimmel (04:49.39)
Like that we would bring the tension of that question to their lives. So when your kid isn't sure about who they are and what they want to do, help them listen to themselves by asking them those questions about what they're going to do to serve others. There are thousands of ways, endless ways to make money while doing good. Let me say that again. There are thousands of ways.
to earn money, to pay your own bills, to be self -sufficient while doing good in this world. And I would rather err on that side. I do not want to send people off into this world that make money and yet feel a deep void and have to wait until they're 60 to finally live out their calling. I would rather solve that problem from the front end. So young people, kids, young adults, college students, what are you going to do?
What are you going to do to serve others? Not only is it, uh, like thoughtful to do, but it's going to make you happier along the way. When in doubt, serve humanity.
