Ambition within control is a good thing. Perfectionism out of control is not. Ultimately that type of behavior, when not under control, will lead to burnout. So, the one thing you can do is to talk to him about knowing himself, identifying how much stress and anxiety he is under and learning how to put the brakes on that ambition and reset himself when needed. But, many ambitious people can be very different. He has to find something that he can do, that typically feeds the ambition but is refreshing and does not draw from his reserves. For example, I know some people like him, who have competitive pastimes that will feed the ambition to be better, but do not drain them the way their professional ambition does. So they take breaks to pursue the pastime for a while, then go back to the work world. Your son needs to figure out what recharges him and make sure to take breaks when he needs them.

Anonymous wrote:elon was pretty close, 23?

Elon was 27 when he sold his first start-up (and he did graduate from Penn).

I am being literal...you don't see it much at all for a kid that is 20. 25+ is a different story.

It's like an acquaintance who goes on and on how gifted the kid is. The kid is in therapy, IEP, and otherwise weird.

elon was pretty close, 23?

How old was he when you started raising him?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At 20, mist successful people have already earned few millions, done TED talk, made it to TV etc. They aren't hopping from college to college in some psychological pursuit to feel valuable.

Not in the field he wants to go in. Also, TED talk is a joke. Several of his high school friends did a ted talk.

You said he is working on Wall Street…what field does he want to go into that isn’t Wall Street related?

Anonymous wrote:At 20, mist successful people have already earned few millions, done TED talk, made it to TV etc. They aren't hopping from college to college in some psychological pursuit to feel valuable.

This is a ridiculous statement…probably .01% of all successful people have achieved this at 20…sure Mark Zuckerberg did this (on paper)…but Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and basically everyone else did not.

Anonymous wrote:Perfectionism. He would benefit from therapy. It reminds me of a friend who was the same way - once he got into a group of brilliant people at faang, was marginally happy for a month. Then their whole group got laid off.

Agree. Sounds like a bit of anxiety thrown in, too. Therapy would be a good idea. Also maybe he can find a volunteer activity that will be meaningful. He needs ways to get out of his self-rumination.

Anonymous wrote:At 20, mist successful people have already earned few millions, done TED talk, made it to TV etc. They aren't hopping from college to college in some psychological pursuit to feel valuable.

Not in the field he wants to go in. Also, TED talk is a joke. Several of his high school friends did a ted talk.