Courtney Witzman

ENC3315
Professor Owens
27 April, 2015
Why Success is an Unrealistic Goal for Your Twenties
This generation is getting to that age where we feel like we should really be doing
something with our lives, but were just not exactly sure what that something is. In times like this
who do we turn to? Google, of course. If you were to search what are your 20s for? on Google,
youll end up with a lot of content by a lot of different kinds of people who are all basically
saying one of two thingseither A) your twenties are for doing whatever you want to do or B)
your twenties are for becoming successful. Some twenty somethings may like the idea of just
continuing on with doing whatever they want for the next ten years, and if the internet says its
okay, then it must be, right? However, most of us twentysomethings are going to choose option B
and immediately begin to map out our 10 year plan to success.
The data collected at the Department of Writing and Rhetoric (DWR) symposium shows
that the most common goal among college aged students for their twenties is to succeed (see
figure 1 below). This leads to the question, what does success mean to a twenty something? A
survey conducted among 20 college aged students shows that over half said that success means
having a job you are passionate about and love doing (see figure 2), or doing what you love
(DWYL), as Steve Jobs would say. While DWYL is a fine goal to have, it doesnt seem like
something most 20 years olds could actually achieve. 20 adults aged 30 and over were asked if
they had a job that they loved, and if so when did they start it? Less than half of the participants

could say that they truly loved their job, none of which started their jobs before the age of 30 (see
figures 3 and 4). Considering these facts, to say that your goal for your 20s is to become
successful is unrealistic.
Femal Mal

Tota

Succeed
Explore/Travel
Financial Security
Prepare for the

e
33
31
28
37

e
22
22
24
15

l
55
53
52
52

future
Independence/"agen

21

12

33

cy"
Discover your best

15

16

31

self
Try new things
Give back
Be Creative
Play

12
18
13
5

12
6
6
2

24
24
19
7

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Meg Jay is a psychologist who specializes in twenty somethings. Her book, titled The
Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter And How to Make the Most of Them Now, is
supposed to help people like us (twenty somethings) achieve success within the next 10 years. In
a talk at TED 2013, Jay was asked what mistakes twenty somethings are making career wise. In
response, Jay said that twenty somethings need to make sure that they have a job in their 20s that
will lead to a career later in life, as opposed to having a placeholder job. With this answer Jay
is saying that it is unlikely that a twenty something will find success as it is defined in Figure two
before the end of their 20s. In the same TED talk, Jay says that even she, being the successful
woman she is today, did not have a job that she truly enjoyed doing in her 20s.
While you may not have known who Meg Jay was before now, our generation is pretty
familiar with the 1990s television sitcom Friends. While Ross has a great job (that he enjoys)
throughout the series, Monica, Chandler, Rachel, Joey, and Phoebe are all excellentand
relatableexamples of twenty somethings who werent successful until they were thirty
somethings. Monica works in a Broadway style diner for nearly three seasons until she is given a
head chef job. Even after she lands her dream job, her entire staff hates her, making it difficult

for her to enjoy what shes doing. Rachel hops from job to job the entire series, and it isnt until
the last season of the show, when the whole gang has transitioned into their 30s, that we see
Rachel in a position that she truly loves. Phoebe never achieves her dream of becoming a singer
and works as a masseuse for the entire series. Joey is a struggling actor who doesnt ever seem to
really get his name out there. And Chandler? Well were never really sure exactly what it is that
Chandler does, but it is insinuated that what he really wants to do is write comic bookswhich
he never does. This isnt to say that the friends arent trying for success, because they are. But
what it does show us is that, while we may try our hardest during our 20s, it isnt likely that all of
that effort will pay off until later in life.
There are also a lot of real people who had to wait until later in life to achieve success.
Vivian Giang and Max Nisen write about successful people who were not-so-successful twenty
somethings in their article What Extremely Successful People Were Doing at Age 25. The
article gives 17 examples of very successful and well known people who were struggling just
like we are in their 20s. Mark Cuban was just a bartender in Texas living in an apartment with six
other guys at the age of 25. J.K. Rowling had only just started writing Harry Potter and the
Sorcerers Stone when she was 25, and her book wasnt even published until she was 32, after
being rejected by several different publishing houses. Tina Fey was a child care registrar for the
Y.M.C.A. and did not begin her career as an actress until the age of 30. Starbucks CEO Howard
Schultz was a Xerox salesman in his 20s and hadnt even heard of the Starbucks company until
he was 29. Giang and Nisens article is comforting to the struggling twenty something. To know
that so many well-known people were so, well, not-known in their 20s is even kind of inspiring.
None of this should be frightening. In fact, everything that was just laid out on the table
should be a comfort. Just because success is an unrealistic goal for a twenty something does not

mean that it is an unrealistic goal overallas proven by Mark Cuban, J.K. Rowling, and Tina
Fey. Take Meg Jays advice: if you want to be successful, go out and get a job that will lead you
somewhere. It might take longer than planned to get to that somewhere, but at least youre on
your way. Like Rachel showed us, working as an assistant for the person whose job you really
want is good. That job is paving the way for another, better job and that job will pave the way to
the job. The dream job. Dont be discouraged by the fact that being Steve Jobs is something that
only Steve Jobs can do. Like Nathan Heller said in his article Semi-Charmed Life, the twenty
somethings are alright. We are alright. Were going places. Scary, unknown, exciting places that
we never thought we would go. And one day, when were forty somethings, some twenty
something college kid will be following in our footsteps.