ABSTRACT
When I entered the university as a management student twenty years ago, I observed that many of the students had it all fi gured out. 2 They prepared for the business life ahead of us and didn’t seem interested in exploring other things. At the time I never understood why, but now that I have reached middle age it has become clearer. The students believed they knew already what their main concerns in life were going to be-they didn’t need to explore and pursued instead their known concerns, focusing their efforts on the competitions for the prestigious educations, job offers, and eligible romantic candidates. Why waste effort on other things? Devoting oneself to a handful of issues is the obvious, ancient strategy for a high expected payoff. Yet this focused approach is likely to become more common.
