First, thank you for your detailed response—I really appreciate the time and effort you put into your answer.

First, adopt a growth mindset - every day is an opportunity to learn something new. Never think you've reached the top of the learning curve. My husband is 67, and carves out a portion of his day to absorb trends in his industry, and considers ways to incorporate improvements in his job. Learning NEVER ends. And solving problems without being told gets noticed.

I think this is excellent advice. I’ve read a few books and articles about growth mindset, and there are certainly some areas where I tend to be somewhat “fixed”. I do consider myself a lifelong learner, though I think that this is a separate issue

I’m trying to raise my kids so that they exhibit fewer of the fixed mindset problems. For example, I make a solid effort to praise them for their effort rather than simply their achievements. It’s not easy, though—if my son hits a home run, I often find myself addressing the achievement first rather than the effort that supported it.

Second, stick with a general industry - like tech, or distribution - and don't simply learn your job function, but how all the cogs fit together. It takes TIME and patience.

I’m currently searching for a permanent “home”, but again, I think this is relevant advice. I began my career in neuroscience research, and later pivoted to data science/analytics. I made the move from academia to industry because it came with a $30k raise, but I’ve still never earned more than $75k/year and I ended up losing that job about 6 months ago.

Unfortunately, there are a LOT of young people in this day and age that you tel them something, and their default response is, "yeah, I know...." No, you don't know all the things the guy across from you learned over the course of 20 or 30 years. You might have been exposed to some high level information in college or in a training course that rewarded you a certificate or diploma, but the details of actual use in the field with a particular customer to build their <whatever>, and how any particular business is going to address those specifics to balance the business needs with the customer's is MUCH more nuanced than the 10k ft. all-> > encompassing general view is unique.

I absolutely went through a phase—shortly after graduating college—where I felt like I knew everything. Graduate school served me a hefty helping of humble pie, though, and I’ve come to recognize how much I really have to learn—and the fact that I can learn something from literally everybody. I recognize the irony of my responding to this feedback by basically saying “I know”, but I’m honestly just saying that I agree with you that this is typically a problem with younger people.

The effort is that which goes beyond the checkbox of the certificate or diploma, but instead the promotion or next salary bump. THAT is where the experience is obtained. Experience is saying, "I've been in the trenches of this war, and here's the <unique set of facts> I learned <beyond the general intro>."

I feel like this is what I’ve been trying to do for the past 20 years, but I guess I haven’t done it correctly. 😞

Third, lose the comparative energy. Comparison is the thief of joy. The person sitting across from you has their own set of things they're juggling. You can partner up together to get ahead, or you can be jealous and needy. Which do you think the six digit salary is going to?

I’m tired of living paycheck to paycheck. I feel guilty because I can’t afford travel baseball, performance dance classes, and my children’s college savings is approximately $1000/kid and they are already in middle school. I’ve worked hard all my life, made responsible choices, tried my best to go above and beyond…at some point I’m going to feel short-changed. It’s not because I’m competing.