Totally! Such a great point. It's funny you bring up college. I'm a professor and I see this ALL THE TIME with students. They go to college because "that's what you do." But they have no clue why they're there. And I totally agree with you line about "backwards rationalizes."

The other aspect of this, as I mentioned in the piece, is that we often think we want something, then get into a situation and realize it just wasn't what we expected. People often have no clue what they really want until they "see it" or get into the right situation. So the "grit" ideal of passion and perseverance for the long term is great. Except that it rarely plays out in real life (people change), and probably unfairly punishes some personality types.