I'm not actually passionate about anything--can I still be successful and make good money?

[LookinForMayberry]

Originally Posted by Magic Qwan

I'm going to come clean and say nothing really excites me. Nothing, not even things I used to love, gets any reaction from me, and I just want to sleep all day but can't because I'm an insomniac. I also perform poorly at work as a pharmacy tech, but always barely keep my job or get another job fairly quickly. I'm looking to get a masters of social work, because, to the extent a depressed person can want something, I want to help others and be useful. That said, I am mostly picking it because it is only another 2 years of school, pays better than pharmacy tech, and gets me out of the pharmacy, where I'm clearly more of a liability than an asset with my innattention to detail. I have explored other careers I could change to, but keep coming back to social work because it seems "least bad" and "most like what I do in my spare time, anyway". I can think of several compelling reasons not to do social work, but its better than what I do now and I know I need to work. Should I go for it anyway?

There's a lot to be said for being dispassionate, but you seem to be describing lethargy and you definitely have all the symptoms of depression. I would say you are burned out on your line of work and should change. Given what you said, I doubt that social work is your solution. From my experience with others in that line of work, it can be draining unless you are truly driven.

You might consider finding a counselor to help you get to the source of your depression/lethargy. Self-analysis is rarely productive. Meanwhile, identify the keywords of the aspects of your work history and see where you can find those aspects elsewhere, preferably where you can leverage your education and experience.

It wouldn't hurt to sit down and list what you hate about what you do and who you are. Ask yourself what changed, if you once enjoyed those things. You may simply be evolving and have outgrown your current self/life. It happens.

[thor8712]

Originally Posted by ohio_peasant

There’s a philosophical point to be made here. American culture extols total dedication to work. Those who are content with half-measures, are losers. And losers shouldn't eat, breath or occupy space. Sure, there’s also work-life balance… mostly aimed at family matters. And then there’s the raw appetite for money. So… the person who’s not enthused about having a family, not particularly oriented towards money, and not entirely agog over maximal assiduousness in productive labor – especially if that person is reasonably intelligent, has no particular handicap or malady, and has already made reasonable progress in higher-education – deserves by popular affirmation to be ground down to fertilizer.

So what’s the philosophical point? Apathy isn’t necessarily such a gross evil. Nor is it imperative to fulfill one’s potential, complete the 5-year-plan in 4 years, come in ahead of schedule and under budget. Enthusiasm for life itself, let alone the mere vocation of work, is not foregone or obvious.

And what’s the practical point? When we’re young, we’re essentially forced to suck it up… get a job, punch the clock. But then… save money. Cut corners. Invest aggressively. Minimize entanglements, possessions, aspirations… and punch out as early as possible.

Graveyards are full of the work-obsessed and those who otherwise lived up to the expectations of American society rather than doing what they want. They are just bones now, and nobody cares about them or what they did in life.

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by phantompilot

...I agree, and I think historically our culture does do that, because that is the Puritan ethos. But I'm grateful for that heritage. It made what we have today possible. Is the American attitude to work really so harmful to Americans? I don't think so.
...

We are the only nation in the top 30 most populous nations that is ALSO ranked in the top 30 most productive as measured in per capita GDP.

These are all fair points. America has been remarkably successful, avoiding many of the inefficiencies that plague large nations, and especially those with imperial aspirations. That Puritan work-ethic has been instrumental in both entrepreneurial creativity, and rote employee alacrity. Max Weber wasn’t wrong.

But it has also resulted in numerous cultural contradictions, especially in our modern post-industrial world. Many people, possibly including the OP, would have conceivably been productive and successful employees, were they to have been better groomed and corralled into some agreeable line of work. But our individualistic culture rarely offers such direction. We are expected not merely to work hard, but to be enterprising and clever in trying to find the right work. Second, those who have failed to find such successful match, who flail and flounder, are greeted with seething opprobrium. Even slight blemishes can be disqualifying. Calvinist Puritanism notwithstanding, employment candidates – especially in the professions – are expected to be sinless.

Working long hours, I’d argue, isn’t particularly onerous or undesirable. But in my observation, the American workplace is strictly-business. The European workplace is somewhat more of a social club, where not only does the workday involve more banter and convivial goofing-off, such as tea-time and so forth, but that workmates often become social buddies. In the American workplace, this is largely passé, left perhaps in the mid 20th century, with its martini-lunches and so forth. Now it’s expected that private life revolves around family, and workmates are at most casual acquaintances. Thus, one finds work to be an antiseptic, austere place.

I do however disagree with the assertion about American efficiency. This is definitely waning. European-style bureaucracy has gone fully American, and then some. Americans continue to be stalwarts of job-dedication, but so much of that job is now regulatory-compliance, shuffling of paperwork, mandatory training and so forth (again, I speak mostly of the professions). We’ve combined the legendary German pedantry for documentation, with Greek-style self-defeating infinite loops.

As for the OP, and the immediate purpose of this thread, it seems to me that so much of modern business is busy-ness. The OP might find him/herself quite at home in some bureaucratic job. I say this not to be curt or insulting, but because in so many jobs, the standard is that of compliance, not competence; and an intelligent person could perform the job with one proverbial eye closed. Maybe this isn’t conducive to job-satisfaction, but it does at least imply that one could persevere more or less successfully, without too much taxing oneself.

[detshen]

Originally Posted by Magic Qwan

That was my thinking. I also looked at it, and Federal Government pays really well.
I could start as a GS 9, move up to GS 11 after a year, then get a LCSW and be a GS 12 a year after that. Then I'll be making all the money I could concievably need to buy a fun life, though I could be wrong.

An issue with Social Work is high rates of burnout. It's a difficult and often frustrating job, you will find yourself dealing with very difficult situations on a daily basis and often lacking the necessary resources to do the job. There are options such as going into private practice as a therapist but that is not easy, it require skill at providing therapy and the ability to handle the difficulties and insecurities of being self employed.

You need to research carefully and go far beyond the salary schedule. Interview current social workers and talk to everyone you can find before jumping into grad school.

[eileen824]

Wow. Just wow. I agree with your posts ohio_peasant. You so articulately explain the dilemma of most workplaces today, I can't add a thing. I just wish it wasn't true!