Should I Settle for a Career in My Mid-20s?

David Senra, reading the close of Phil Knight's Shoe Dog, says men and women in their mid-20s should not settle for a job, a profession, or even a career. Seek a calling, even if the meaning is still unclear. Following a calling makes the fatigue easier to bear, turns disappointments into fuel, and makes the highs unlike anything felt before.

Knight wishes he could relive the whole thing. Short of that, the ups and downs are worth sharing so a young entrepreneur, athlete, painter, or novelist going through the same trials might press on. It is the same drive and the same dream. Hit pause and think about how to spend the next 40 years, and with whom. Iconoclasts, innovators, and rebels will always have a bullseye on their backs. The better they get, the bigger the bullseye. Entrepreneurs have always been outgunned and outnumbered. They have always fought uphill, and the hill has never been steeper.

In the same passage, people who urge entrepreneurs to never give up are charlatans. Sometimes you have to give up. Knowing when to give up and try something else is genius. Giving up does not mean stopping. Never stop.