If by chance, you grew up in an asian family like me, you were probably raised from the time you were able to talk and understand anything that you have to become rich and successful either in medicine, engineering or IT. If you were the eldest child, chances are you were also told that you have to take care of your parents and siblings.
All this is common in most families. But if you were from slightly lower end of the socio-economic scale, you also had the added expectation to not want anything and definitely not ask for it. Just grow up and buy it for yourself with your own money.
Then you grow up, and somehow you manage to find a decent job. I’m only talking about common things here. I’m not talking about things like how you might have gotten into not the best college because that’s what you could afford or that’s what you managed to get into. We’re not even talking about the fact that you or may not have been a great student. You might have just been mediocre like most people.
But that’s fine. You’ve got a good job now. Yet, it’s no longer enough. You’ve got to be the best at your job too. And it’s not your parents who want this for you. They were just happy that you finally got a job that they could tell their relatives about. But it’s you doing that to yourself now. You want to keep going and keep being the best even though you never were and you don’t know why. Why can’t you be like so many of your other colleagues, who just seem happy to get married, have kids, buy a car and a house and be like everybody else.
No, now you want to go up and keep going. And that’s not happening. Because you’re still mediocre. Just because you want it, does not mean you can have it.
The better positions and roles are for happy people.