EARN vs LEARN

This was about the time I was three months into my first project at the workplace. I had found the work to be really boring; involving a lot of documentation, and very little fight from the technical perspective.

Skipping a couple of levels of hierarchy, I had barged into the cabin of the Vice President of the Business Unit I was part of, and had demanded an immediate release from the project, and the reason I had cited was "There is not much to learn in the current project...".

The VP had looked to me with a gentle smile, and had remarked calmly,

"This is the issue with many of the young graduates who join any firm. You all are young, ambitious, have fire in your bellies, and are out there to change the face of the world.
You get so involved with your work, that you forget that work is only one aspect of your life. Always remember to keep the two things - EARNing and LEARNing as separate.

You come here not to LEARN, but to EARN. You come here to do only a job. Do not necessarily depend on the company to provide you with any LEARNING. Learning is a very private aspect. Become a student of Life; learn from all things around you. Do not restrict your learnings to any one single place.

If you learn to keep these two things separate, you will go on to become a successful executive "

At that point in time, I had felt that the VP was just washing off his hands talking some high gibberish stuff;

But now, after 5 years in the Industry, across a couple of companies, and some white hair on my head, I have realised that whatever the VP had to say was spot ON.

Very often, what happens with young graduates who join corporates straight out of college, is that they are on the look out for challenges at the workplace to prove their worth, and when they are not adequately satisfied with the work, they go in a state of depression.For them, success at the workplace means everything; even if it means having less time to pursue their hobbies, to do the stuff they would otherwise have done.

They say, Maturity comes with experience; and I agree (atleast) wrt the above discussion...