Driving home every day from the office, I pass the digital freeway marquee signs that estimate the time remaining before reaching my exit of choice. Once, I decided to test their accuracy: Six minutes, you say? Wrong. Even with traffic moving along smoothly, the estimates fail to consider the slow, plodding drivers. You know the ones I’m talking about—they set the cruise at 55 in the far left lane, making it impossible to pass or get ahead. The destination is finally reached—in twice the time.
I’ve recently been reflecting on freeway time estimates. At the moment, yes, I’m grateful to even have a job. But I’m talking about the longer-term view of this career trajectory. Moving into my 16th year of gainful employment in my chosen profession, I’m nowhere near where I wanted to be at this point. I had hoped to be just above the middle-management ceiling by now. My estimates have not proven accurate. And when I see the others ahead of me, I can’t tell whether they’re in a hurry themselves to advance. Can I pass them? Or will they be in the passing lane, cruise set at a more conservative speed? Am I stuck at a slower pace?
I don’t have answers right now to these questions, or solutions to help put my career on a faster track. It hasn’t felt like an appropriate time to be thinking about it. But I’m going into an appraisal meeting later this week, so it’s on my mind. And now I’m frustrated.
“And were not little children / and we know what we want / and the future is certain / give us time to work it out.” —Talking Heads (1985)
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