Should You Seek Your Own Path At The Risk Of Failing?

It is easier to choose a path that has been laid out by your family. In addition to having the benefit of sound advice and a possible network to rely on, one often has a professional culture simply by having grown up in an environment that frequently evokes these ideas. This is why it is generally easier to be a doctor if you are the son of a doctor, or to take over the family business than to start a new one from scratch.

Should one choose to follow the path of one’s elders or, on the contrary, to find one’s own? Isn’t it too dangerous to go it alone when you don’t really have an advantage over others?

It is more gratifying to succeed when you are at the origin of your success. However, experimenting with different paths for too long can be risky. You can be successful, but you can also be unsuccessful.

Which is better? To have the regret of not having chosen one’s path because of a certain conformism or because of a family determinism or to not have really succeeded even if one had the audacity to launch out?

The answer is difficult. Both situations are unpleasant in their own way. If I had to make a statement, I would say that it is okay to take risks when you are younger because it gives you experience and helps you to open up the horizon of your possibilities. The older you get, the more I would be inclined to advise a conservative stance to consolidate what you’ve learned and not to jeopardize what you’ve built up to that point.

To want to find one’s way is quite noble but one must put all the chances on one’s side by taking into account the possible “unfair” advantages one has (cf. I am responsible).

The younger one is, the more one can launch out in ways where one does not have a particular advantage. However, the older you get, the more strategic you have to be, in my opinion, by concentrating on the areas of expertise that you have identified and worked on and in which you have a real added value compared to the competition.