In elementary school, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, just as many other kids, I said I wanted to be a scientist. But many years later when I was graduating from college, I didn’t know where I was heading. There was no longer a great role model guiding my life. I got frightened, especially when many classmates constantly asked me: what do you want to do after graduation? What are you passionate about? I didn’t know.
I got even more frightened when I remembered a study done by Yale University in 1953 on the importance of goal setting. In the study, only 3% of the graduates responded that they had long-term goals. Twenty years later, those 3% were much richer than the other 97%. OMG, if I don’t have a role model to whom I can aspire, how can I make enough money to buy an apartment and get married?
From the first grade, our teachers and books told us that we must have a goal, to have a role model. If we have this role model, our life will be successful. But if we don’t, our life will be a failure. Is it really so?
Several years ago, it was confirmed by Yale University that the 1953 study never occurred. It’s a total fabrication. In a TED talk– “stop searching for your passion”, the speaker Terri said passion is not a job. She wants us to throw the idea away that our life can be successful only if we can find our passion. Throw it away. I believe the same goes for role models. When young we might have a yardstick of success and have a role model. But it’s natural that we change our role model over time and it’s also natural that we can’t find one at some point in our life.
#Last modified on 2025-06-03 • Suggest an edit of this page