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Try things at 24, commit at 27
Stacking credentials
Stacking credentials looks like banking, then private equity, then business school, then maybe consulting or a hedge fund. Each step sets up the next one, with the next step laid out and nobody ever deciding what they want to do. Eventually the path runs out and leaves whatever options remain.
Committing too fast
Committing fast has its own cost. Someone goes to medical school at 22 because they think they should be a doctor, without deciding whether they want to spend their days doing what doctors do. By the time residency ends and the money starts, they are in their early 30s with a lot of debt and a decade put toward a path they might not have chosen after thinking about it at 21 or 22.
Taking shots on goal
In your 20s you can take several shots on goal in work and in relationships. A job tried for two years can be left if the market outlook is bad or you're bad at it or you don't enjoy it. Two or three different jobs build a broader skill set, like a Swiss Army knife. At 50 or 60 it matters little whether you found your thing at 23 or 27, and finding it at 27 beats committing to the wrong person or career at 23 and landing in a divorce or the wrong place ten years later.
Why do people misjudge how much they will change?
In a 2013 study in Science, psychologists Jordi Quoidbach, Daniel Gilbert, and Timothy Wilson surveyed more than 19,000 people aged 18 to 68. People of every age described how much they had changed in the past decade, then predicted little change in the decade ahead. The researchers called this the end of history illusion. It means a choice made at 22 often rests on a picture of who a person will be at 32 that turns out to be wrong.
How long does medical training actually take?
In the United States, a doctor typically completes four years of college, four years of medical school, and then a residency. Residency lasts three years for fields like family medicine and internal medicine, five years for general surgery, and seven for neurosurgery. Some doctors add a fellowship of one to three more years to specialize further. Training usually runs into a doctor's early 30s before a full attending salary begins.
Why might varied jobs build stronger skills?
Stanford economist Edward Lazear studied Stanford MBA graduates in a 2005 paper in the Journal of Labor Economics. He found that those who later became entrepreneurs had held a wider range of roles in their careers than those who did not. His jack-of-all-trades theory says that running a business requires being competent at many skills rather than excellent at one. Employees in specialized roles tend to build depth instead.
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