You are young. You know very little about the industry and work you are doing. Everyone has to pay their dues in order to develop emotional maturity. Just grunt it out. Life is 90% showing up and 10% careful planning.
In the meantime I would take stock of what is out there while beginning to network. Read the top 10 books on your field and read all the journals you can. Read blogs on your field. Read biographies. Then plot your strategy to get where you want.
There are really three kinds of work:
1. Repetitive.
2. Directed by someone else but open ended.
3. Self-planned and directed.
Work then is valued in terms of:
1. Adds only marginally to the bottom line.
2. Leverages an income stream.
3. Whole new source of revenue.
You can leverage yourself by:
1. No one else
2. A handful of direct reports
3. Building entire teams and training them
And finally:
1. The tide is coming in ( economy failing )
2. Tide going out (economy booming)
3. Boat is leaving ( your field is in high demand )
4. You have a nice boat ( your sector is taking off )
There are very few positions where you can be self-directed and can work through others in a time of expansion. But that is really the nice place to be. That's where I am at.
You have to go through a lot to get to those places. Even then there is a lot of BS. A lot of it. And its boring to get through. You have to put forth maximum effort even though it is sheer drudgery sometimes.
And once you get there there is still BS and drudgery.
