3 career tips from famous dads

Forget gift clichés like ties or tools or the beer-of-the-month club; if you have a dad in your life, what he'd probably like most this Father's Day is for you to listen to his advice for once. You could probably use it. Of course, if you can't stomach letting the old man know you need his help, pop culture offers plenty of stand-in father figures who can tell you what to do with your life and career.

(Photo Credit: F. Schmutzer/Wikimedia Commons)

1. F. Scott Fitzgerald to his daughter Scottie: "Do I really understand about people and am I able to get along with them?"

Things not to worry about:

Don't worry about popular opinion
Don't worry about dolls
Don't worry about the past
Don't worry about the future
Don't worry about growing up
Don't worry about anybody getting ahead of you
Don't worry about triumph
Don't worry about failure unless it comes through your own fault
Don't worry about mosquitoes
Don't worry about flies
Don't worry about insects in general
Don't worry about parents
Don't worry about boys
Don't worry about disappointments
Don't worry about pleasures
Don't worry about satisfactions

Things to think about:

What am I really aiming at?
How good am I really in comparison to my contemporaries in regard to:
(a) Scholarship
(b) Do I really understand about people and am I able to get along with them?
(c) Am I trying to make my body a useful instrument or am I neglecting it?

(F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters, via Brainpickings)

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2. Albert Einstein to his son, Hans Albert: "Mainly play the things on the piano which please you, even if the teacher does not assign those."

I am very pleased that you find joy with the piano. This and carpentry are in my opinion for your age the best pursuits, better even than school. Because those are things which fit a young person such as you very well. Mainly play the things on the piano which please you, even if the teacher does not assign those. That is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don't notice that the time passes. I am sometimes so wrapped up in my work that I forget about the noon meal....

(Via Flavorwire.)

3. Sherwood Anderson to his son, John: "Above all avoid taking the advice of men who have no brains and do not know what they are talking about."

The best thing, I dare say, is first to learn something well so you can always make a living. Bob seems to be catching on at the newspaper business and has had another raise. He is getting a good training by working in a smaller city. As for the scientific fields, any of them require a long schooling and intense application. If you are made for it nothing could be better. In the long run you will have to come to your own conclusion.

The arts, which probably offer a man more satisfaction, are uncertain. It is difficult to make a living.

If I had my own life to lead over I presume I would still be a writer but I am sure I would give my first attention to learning how to do things directly with my hands. Nothing gives quite the satisfaction that doing things brings.

Above all avoid taking the advice of men who have no brains and do not know what they are talking about. Most small businessmen say simply — 'Look at me.' They fancy that if they have accumulated a little money and have got a position in a small circle they are competent to give advice to anyone.

(Via Flavorwire)

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