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=== IV – Conclusion ===
🔭 '''11 – Escaping Tunnel Vision: Reconsidering Our Best-Laid Career and Life Plans.''' Cousin Ryan, expected by his family to become a physician, felt doubts before applying to college about committing to pre‑med and wondered about economics instead; he pushed ahead, completed medical training, and later, as a neurosurgeon, admitted he would have chosen differently. His path shows how sunk costs tempt people to keep investing even when the fit is wrong, a familiar pattern of escalation of commitment. A second trap, identity foreclosure, appears when a person adopts a career label early and then closes off exploration, treating a job title as the self. Rather than asking children “what do you want to be?”, the chapter reframes the prompt to “what do you like to do?” so possibilities stay open as interests change. The practical stance is to think like a scientist: treat a career direction as a hypothesis, run small tests, and look for disconfirming evidence before doubling down. Drawing on Herminia Ibarra’s work in Working Identity, it favors acting and experimenting into clarity over waiting for perfect self‑knowledge. Low‑risk trials—shadowing, project sprints, or job crafting—generate data about enjoyment, strengths, and fit without burning bridges. To keep plans flexible, the chapter proposes a twice‑yearly career checkup that asks whether learning has plateaued and whether the work still matches evolving values and skills. Identities anchored in principles (curiosity, service, integrity) travel better across roles than identities anchored in a single occupation, which makes pivots less threatening. The larger lesson is to prevent grit from calcifying into stubbornness by continually testing whether the path still deserves persistence. Psychologically, rethinking works by loosening attachment to a chosen identity and interrupting sunk‑cost reasoning so evidence and curiosity—not inertia—steer the next move.
== Background & reception ==
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