Arnett Confessions Of A Heretic Analysis

I read Arnett’s unconventional path to becoming who he is in the present time, a developmental psychologist. Throughout “Confessions of a Heretic,” Arnett takes the reader through his career journey and the multiple jobs that he held throughout the years until he finally arrived at his current destination, a job he believes to be fulfilling. For this reason, I believe that by taking us through his professional journey, he describes a career with a heart. As I read this article, I also, reflected on myself and how this can be applied to my career trajectory over time.
To begin, it is important to note that Arnett does a good job of describing what Kopelman et al. define as a “mindful negotiator.” By this, they refer to a person who “engages …show more content…
His career is self-directed and aligned with his values, even though he didn’t like the jobs he held before, when he was presented with job opportunities they were aligned with his values, he just grew tired of them, but he eventually found the one job that aligns with his lifestyle. Secondly, he holds positive emotions towards his career, despite criticizing the techniques and domains used in the psychology world, so he has developed his own. Finally, his career fits well with his broader life, beyond work as he works from his home office everyday where he gets to spend time with his wife, his “mutual confidant, sounding board, and lunch partner” as he calls her (Lerner et al., 2014)(Kopelman et al., …show more content…
I have always had many varied interests, which has made it very difficult for me to settle on a specific thing, making it difficult to sort out my immediate priority: choosing a major. However, thanks to help of others, I have finally settled on one, that I believe offers enough flexibility to explore very different fields, and which will aid me with what I decide to make my lifelong career in the future. Just like Arnett’s career journey, I’m expecting mine to be very loopy, because of my many interests. Reading his account, and having heard from other people that is okay to take risks, gives me some comfort, but also makes me realize that people have many different professional experiences. Unfortunately, as well, I wouldn’t be able to take similar risks to the ones Arnett took throughout his life, considering he is a white, middle-class, man and I come from a completely different background; I’m not white, I’m not middle-class, and I’m not a man. We also didn’t grow up around the same time period, so the job availability during his time, is not the same as the one in the present or near future. Nonetheless, taking these considerations in mind, I am hoping to eventually find, a satisfying career that enables me to get up everyday and be joyful to get my day started and get to work, rather than have a job just for the mere fact that pays well or because it offers financial