5000 times a year, the average 20 something wonders – am I making it, or faking it?

We all have our tag-line fronts, giving petulant aunts and over enthusiastic strangers a vague but impressive representation of ourselves.

“Im fronting a project as a Dynamic Applications Developer. It’s a multilateral stratagem, designed to provide analysis and facilitate industry-wide solutions.”

It’s not that we haven’t achieved a lot or aren’t telling the truth. The problem is, none of us has any confidence in ourselves professionally. And that’s because of years of rejection and unpaid intern abuse; a symptom of an unstable world economy.

Expats who leap from nation to nation changing jobs have it the worst of all, because the number one detriment to potential hires is too little time working at one company. 

Employers want to see that you have stuck it out exploring one path, at one company for X amount of time, evolving and growing as a valuable commodity. This is how to earn their trust. After all, they don’t want to hire you and then lose you to a stunningly uncompromising need to go frolic the Serengeti.

And worst of all, as an expat, former, or current traveler, it’s really hard to come to terms with the stable, progressive lifestyle everyone else is living. But what I have come slowly to realize, is that there is no right way to do things – and more importantly, nobody really has it all together.

No matter how convincing our tag-line descriptions, hiding behind all of us is a little voice that wonders if we are doing well enough. Doing it right.

Everyone wishes they could change some aspect of their life, past present or future. Maybe they wish they had pursued acting in their youth, or gone out for baseball.

Maybe they saw their lives completely differently 5 years ago and can’t quite put a finger on why.

What I’ve learned, is that when you find those things you believe in, be brave, because it’s better to look back and know you tried your hardest than to never try at all.

Most importantly, don’t compare yourself to others. It only leads to confusion and false impressions. Have faith in what you can do, because people will only take you as seriously as you take yourself.