What To Do With Your Life

In which John answers the oft-asked question, "How do I figure out what to do with my life?" Along the way, he discusses adulthood, careers, movies, and the meaning of life and stuff.

HERE ARE A LOT OF LINKS TO NERDFIGHTASTIC THINGS:

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[RyanStorey]

"My goal is to not wake up at forty with the bitter realization that I wasted my life on a job I hate because I was forced to choose a career in my teens.." -Daria Morgendorffer

[Lauren-hinrichsen]

Whenever I'm having a mid-mid-life crisis (quarter-life crisis?) YouTube somehow always manages to direct me to the right 8-year-old Vlogbrothers video and for that, I am very grateful.

[TJAnderson]

"study broadly and without fear"
Next on my career to-do list: Comic Book writing and Olympic curling team.

[philomathstudies]

I'm laughing because one night I DID look up at the night sky and decided I wanted to get a P.h. D in astrophysics 😂 And so now that's what I'm doing

[oroplay]

This would be a lot easier to swallow if it wasn't a $40, 000 decision.

[bibekgautam]

"You're staring at the night sky one night and decide you wanna get a PhD in astrophysics."

kinda touched me!!

[djhero]

I think John Green is now my favorite person.

[yesreneau]

That part about avocados was on point.

[OscarOffTheCuff]

im 19 and scared I'm gonna come back to this video in a couple years still unsure, , ,

[marissamanos]

I love that you said we can do multiple things. At only 28 years old I have been a Disney World security guard, a bartender, later a special ed high school teacher, and lastly I joined the Navy as a gunner's mate just to put one more thing under my belt. People look at my like I'm crazy because I have changed my career so many times. The truth is I like to try many different careers. I already have a college degree but I figure I have til I am about 30 to nail down what I really want to do (and I know what that is now) but I look back at all the fun memories from other jobs, and am reminded of the skills I attained. So many people put pressure on me so young to decide on what to do/ go to college, and at 18 I had no idea. New nerdfighter and big fan (thanks to my awesome brother who convinced me to start watching and reading the books). 

[Sara-jcxw]

He literally just answered and if not, solved all the internal conflicts I have been having in the last two years. ❤️❤️

[mugiseyebrows]

"if you're studying archeology you're probably not gonna be electrical engineer"
haha, guess what

[DrumWild]

I'm almost 52 and have no idea what to do with my life, specifically for work and money. On the up side, death is looking better by the day.

[puddingfishcakes]

This is exactly what I needed. Thank you.

[rmdodsonbills]

My experience is that your options don't narrow nearly as much as you might fear. I mean, yes, choosing a major like medicine or the law will definitely push very strongly in a particular direction, but I majored in Spanish (plus History; it's complicated) then I spent most of my career in IT. Despite spending most of my career in IT, a big chunk of that was in teaching it to other people. Despite spending so much time teaching technology and working with it, I've spent the past 10 years doing so in social services and more particularly putting those skills toward ending homelessness. Also, I specifically chose a non-teaching degree while attending a teacher-prep-focused college, and still ended up in the classroom and writing curriculum. My mom got a teaching degree, then spent multiple decades raising children, and then went whole hog into the workforce. My dad did a number of different things in his career, from teaching, to self-employment, to chemistry, to eventually ending up as a computer-aided draftsman, which was kind of his first love. And back to me again, my first major was Business Administration which I stopped because accounting was boring, and now, after spending multiple decades working for other people, I'm running my own business, doing my own bookkeeping, etc. Almost none of the choices you make are unchangeable. And while you can't go back and run a different path, you absolutely can choose a different path from where you are at any given moment. And head back to your original path again later if you wish. But if the question is "what do I do with my life?" my advice is whatever else you do, choose something you think you will enjoy. And don't be afraid to change course.

[clareogara]

this video truly helped me, as I am a high-schooler trying to understanding the cloud of ambiguity that is adulthood. Your statement about narrowing your choices as you age also reminded me of a stunning quote from the novel Tell the Wolves I'm Home:

“I really wondered why people were always doing what they didn't like doing. It seemed like life was a sort of narrowing tunnel. Right when you were born, the tunnel was huge. You could be anything. Then, like, the absolute second after you were born, the tunnel narrowed down to about half that size. You were a boy, and already it was certain you wouldn't be a mother and it was likely you wouldn't become a manicurist or a kindergarten teacher. Then you started to grow up and everything you did closed the tunnel in some more. You broke your arm climbing a tree and you ruled out being a baseball pitcher. You failed every math test you ever took and you canceled any hope of ever being a scientist. Like that. On and on through the years until you were stuck. You'd become a baker or a librarian or a bartender. Or an accountant. And there you were. I figured that on the day you died, the tunnel would be so narrow, you'd have squeezed yourself in with so many choices, that you just got squashed.” -Carol Rifka Brunt.

Also I was wondering if you could make some kind of video giving advice to new NerdFighters?

[koletonnelson]

I had something of an epiphany on this a while back. and the answer is quite simple: whatever you enjoy. And I MEAN whatever, so long as it does not infringe upon others enjoyment (ergo, an it harm none, do what ye will).

It's built on my realization that our existence in this reality, final or otherwise, is completely, absolutely, and utterly meaningless; unless you GIVE it a reason. If becoming a doctor or a parent or President would be fun for you, and if the payoff is, in your eyes, worth the sacrifice, then DO that.

At the same time, spending your entire life playing video games and hanging out with friends is just as valid. Nothing matters, so just enjoy yourself while you're here. So long as you can look back at your life and say "I had fun", you could not possibly have done anything better.

To summarize: The meaning of life is to have fun. And nothing else matters.

[amfla]

Wow. The algorithm has brought me back a whopping 8 years ago. This is almost vintage YouTube and aging well.

[PoseidonXIII]

I feel so extremely fortunate that Hank and John Green were introduced into my life, I fear who I'd be without knowing about them or the beautiful things they say.

[vickhallam]

Im starting college soon and I am absolutely terrified and this morning there has been some existential crisis happening, but this helped, actually it made me cry for some reason but then it helped, is this what the rest of College is going to be? Existential Crisis, slight excitement, and unexplained tears? Goodness.