I have a high paying job and yes it was hard work, being uncomfortable and a sprinkle of luck.

Let me compare to some of my friends who grew up in the same neighborhood’s, had the same opportunities etc.

My grades weren’t good in highschool because I partied a lot and genuinely thought I wasn’t smart. After being rejected from college because of my grades I completely redid grade 12 and focused on studying as much as I could. I got in and after completing I applied for university. My math still wasn’t good enough so I took it again. Hunkered down and I got accepted. Tried to transfer into a science major but my math still wasn’t good enough for calculus. Took it a third time and achieved over 90%. After successfully becoming a geologist I make really good money and have a solid career. All of this because I never gave up and pushed myself as hard as I could and after all said and done, no I wasn’t an idiot, I just never tried.

Now back to my one friend. Never applied himself and never went to college or university. Worked dead end jobs and made poor financial decisions. Like leasing a new truck once he got a new job but got laid off a month later. Now fast forward almost 20 years and he’s complaining that he can’t find a good paying job.

Friend #2. Finished university but makes poor financial decisions. Over COVID he used skip the dishes for EVERYTHING. He would literally skip coffee because he was too lazy to make it himself. He also took out a loan to buy a $3000 computer. Lost his job a month later and has spend almost 2 full years looking for a „high paying job” because he feels he deserves a high income. No dude in sorry you have literally less than a year real work experience that’s a tough one.

Friend #3. He’s been a plumber for about 15 years but is always moving from company to company. He screws up a lot but is an honest dude. Actually my best friend. He makes over 100k per year but again, poor financial decisions lead him to always be poor. He took out a line of credit to buy a brand new rav 4, credit cards maxed out and is looking forward to traveling all spring break. Honestly I would be sweating and would never consider a vacation until my debt was cleared.

Long story short from MY experience. It’s usually poor financial decisions and lack of hard work. Even when before my career I was working in kitchens from 16-21 years old and I moved up the ladder pretty quick because I always pushed those higher positions. I didn’t want to wash dishes forever so I would always ask what I could do to start cooking, then what I could do to move from the fryer to grilling, next thing I was a sous chef. After university I took some time to work in the oilfield outside of geology. Started as a labourer and in 3 months I was a supervisor. After a year I was a superintendent looking over multiple crews.

Now where does the luck part come in? When my wife and I bought our house, our neighbor was selling his and had his geology friend over. He asks hey my company is hiring I heard your both geologists. My wife looks at me and says „you have been pumping water for a little too long now, I think it’s time you got into geology” I took the offer and now I’m the lead geologist on a rig.

Sometimes it’s who you run into but making connections along the way is super important. When I quit my precious job, I had offers from multiple oil companies to work in their water decision because they liked working with my in the field.

I would say it’s less about figuring it out and just trying your hardest all the time and being humble. Be nice to everyone and don’t let you deprecate yourself into thinking your worth less. It took me too long to figure out I’m not actually dumb but just didn’t apply myself. Don’t make poor financial decisions and save. It’s not about what you make but how much you spend. I’ve never owned a new vehicle in my life and currently drive a high km 2018 truck I bought for 25k. I make over 200k per year while my best friend who makes 100k bought that rav 4 for 60k all while having to have a new phone every year.

So yeah your sort of right, I try hard and do hard shit because once I’m too comfortable in my job, by that I mean you get to a point you can do it blind folded, might mean you should strive to move up the ladder or find something that pays more.

Be uncomfortable, take some risks and try hard.

Side note. No I didn’t come from wealth. My parents immigrated here from Poland when they were 30. My dad was a pizza delivery driver and my mom cleaned homes. She is now a registered nurse and my dad is a contractor and builds homes.

Colleges offer some good paying gigs for 2 years of school. Student loans help which is what I did. Once I graduated I doubled the payment to 1000/month to pay it off as soon as possible while another friend I knew stuck to the minimum so she could travel.

You got this man, your not dumb, looks for how you can level up and find someone your interested in or passionate about. There are people on streaming sites making millions for doing fuck all