Gifted are those who find at very early ages of their life about what they want to do in life. Even otherwise, if you have some one who finds out your talent and tells you to go in a certain direction, I would say you are lucky. People who fall under these two categories have a clear cut path in their life to travel. In fact they control the way they live rather than life controlling them. They decide what to do at different stages and ages of their life, they do not get distracted from their goal and achieves it finally. Even if not achieved, there would be a sense of satisfaction end of the day on the attempt. Of course there would be some hardships in reaching the destination but they strive towards that.
Well, the other side of the story is about the “I don’t know what I want to do” people. Somehow these people spend most of their life time in searching what they really want to do. During the course some succumb to the so called practical pressures life puts on and they stop their search. They start cribbing about what they are doing (but can’t get out of it also), after some time start adjusting to it and later settle down to it saying “I love what I am doing now” (Read, “I don’t have an option dude”). The remaining crowd keeps searching for what they want to do in life. In a typical middle class Indian scenario, they are most likely to have spent around two decades of their life in doing what the majority of the crowd does. If taking science as major in your higher secondary is what majority do, say “Science is exciting” and enroll for the courses. If the next buzz word is engineering degree, go for the kill…Spend lakhs of money in earning one…”Computers are exciting you know”, “Communication engineering is gonna change the way we live”, “Mechanical engineering is an evergreen field”…You get to say any one of these statements based on the course chosen.
After 4 years of spending time at the college, you don’t have your basics strong, no core engineering skills developed, again you do what the majority of the crowd does…At this time in the country its joining some IT company…And it goes on from there on keep doing what the crowd does…aim high during the first year of job, then slowly start disliking the job, look for promotions every year (doesn’t matter if you haven’t acquired skills for the next role), switch 3 companies in 2 years, slowly decide that you have to be in the managerial line and it goes on…
So when does one break out? As long as there is a comfort factor of staying in a job and getting a minimum 30 grand salary every month, these people belong to the so called elite crowds of the country…the crowd that is driving the economy…the crowd that has the most spending power in the country…Something needs to really hit hard at the person to stop cribbing about the dislikes of the job and start doing what he wants to do…and to find out what he wants to do, the only way out is to do different things I believe…by that way one day or the other he would figure out what his real interest his…but what if that one day is too late…? If at the age of 35 I find that my interest is in cinematography, it could be too late to enter in to that field and be successful…and if I had committed other things in my life I wouldn’t be able to take many risks…
Of course at every time you could develop a liking to what you are currently doing even if that is not the thing you want to do. There is absolutely nothing wrong in that. But I am not sure how much of a satisfaction that would drive in you end of the day. It is just a trade off. I believe it is just about sacrificing your interests (if you have found) or having stopped the search due to some practical difficulties (some other priorities in life).
Raghu's Ramblings 
At the age of 5 being a bus driver could have been an attractive option, but how many of us stick to it?My point is, you are right wen you say tat with age our flexibility to switch professional field diminishes, but do you really think there is a field that can give one a eternal satisfaction?@ 20s our likes/dislikes are constantly changing, it settles down only in 30s. Even in 1990s the average age for young entreprenuers used to be mid-40s, compared to mid 30s in 2007, so take your time bro, eventually you will be where you want:).Intersting thought to ponder: Even though @ 35 you realise cinematography is your “perfect job”, If by chance someone had guided you to become a cinematographer at the age of 20 something, would you have realised that is your “perfect job” then?
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Point taken…but settling down at 30 shouldnt be like compromising your likes for practical difficulties…one would definitely need a lot of energy to keep the passion going against age…“…would you have realised that is your “perfect job…” – If my talents were tapped at an younger age and i was in to the field i liked i wouldnt have time to think about or wonder if this is the perfect job…i would be doing what i wanted to do and i would find as much time to devote for it..
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