Another version of that mistake is not knowing what really works for you, and striving for some other goal. It’s not as bad a stepping on people, but it limits your potential.
By accident, I fell into my perfect work in my first two jobs and was very effective. I finally recognized at age 32 that developing software worked best for me. It allowed me to refuse all promotions to management positions.
From my first job out of college in 1969 to retirement in 2017, I never had a project fail. From my first project, my goal was “to develop software to make your job easier and you more effective.” I had to listen carefully to do that and put myself in your place.
