I was invited to LSE last week to talk to some law students about alternative career paths. Visiting again had its nostalgia. There are a few new buildings, including a new law common room, but the whole smell and feel took me right back to when I studied there over a decade ago.

It felt therapeutic almost, sitting on a panel with two others, explaining my own journey from night porter at a ski hotel in Austria, to teaching law in Bonn and returning to London work in government.

It got me thinking about what I wish I had known. 

Alongside the stuff about success and failure, I think my younger self would have benefited from a broader understanding of life that went beyond a career path.

A good life well-lived balances work and sacrifice with enjoyment and pleasure, time for self with the joy of family, friends, and community.

It takes more than just self-awareness to observe the scales and adjust the weights. Re-adjusting when things aren’t right can be uncomfortable.

Another aspect of life is ‘becoming’. A good life well-lived is a creative pursuit. This isn’t a ‘find yourself’ type of activity. It is a ‘create yourself’ one. It involves developing the mind and body through experiences, some new and some habitual. The former takes open-mindedness and being a yes-sayer, the latter requires doggedness and a healthy long-term perspective.

This is the great journey of life. A career can be a big part of it. But for it to be somewhat enjoyable and meaningful it must find its place within this wider schematic.