Sean Aiken's One Week Job

Sean Aiken of OneWeekJob.com, uncertain about what career choice to make after graduating university, decided to take job hopping to the extreme by trying 52 one week jobs. He has since managed to parlay the first website outlining his intentions into a book deal, speaking engagements, a documentary and an on-going project helping recent graduates try different jobs. Those of you reading my IdeaEconomy.net blog will likely know that I love a great idea; by that measure Sean Aiken is pure brilliance! He has proved that a good idea, talent and hard work can accomplish amazing things. Sean offers some background details about his success with the project in this interview.

How did ‘One Week Job’ get started?

When I was looking for a job, I saw all of these important sounding job titles but I had no idea what the job would actually be like. I was scared at the thought of committing to one, not liking it, and then feeling trapped in the position. In my last year at Capilano University, my dad gave me some advice on finding a career, he said, “Sean, it doesn’t matter what you do, just make sure it is something you are passionate about. I’ve been alive nearly 60 years and I’ve yet to find something I’m passionate about besides your mother.” It made me realize how many people are in similar situations – doing the same job for the past 20-30 years and not necessarily enjoying what they are doing. I promised myself that I would take the time to find something that I was passionate about and that would make me happy. I thought the One Week Job project would be a great way of testing out different careers. I think a mistake that many people make when deciding on a career is to focus on the title and ignore the characteristics of the particular career and it’s associated lifestyle. We may spend a bunch of time and money on school or required designations only to show up at the workplace and find out it’s not for us. My thinking was that if I could somehow try out different jobs then I’d be able to learn about the characteristics I wanted in a career, and the type of workplace situation I’d need to be happy before making the full commitment.

How did you find the first companies to work at?

I created the website with the help of my best friend and web developer Ian MacKenzie. On the website I wrote that anyone, anywhere in the world could offer me a job for one week. I explained my motivations behind the project, my background information, how to offer me a job, and then I sent an email out to all my friends and family and asked for help to pass it along. It slowly picked up momentum and the offers began to come in; however I rarely knew where I was working a week in advance – it was always last minute!

How did you get so many companies interested in hiring you for a week?

I think the idea resonated with many people because it’s something that everyone can relate to, whether you recently graduated looking for your first job, or in an older generation looking for a career change, at some point in our lives we all must ask ourselves, “What do I want to do with my life?” I think many employers wanted to help out as they related to my circumstances, thought it was a unique idea, expected to receive exposure from the website, or some liked the aspect that all my wages were going to charity.

Was one week enough to really gain an understanding of what the jobs are like?

I think it’s a misconception that it takes several years to learn whether a job is right for you. A lot of information can be gathered quite quickly. Granted, yes, a job might become more rewarding with time — once you really learn the ins and outs and how you can contribute and be successful at it. But It wasn’t my goal to find the perfect job in one week. It would have been awesome if I had, but it was more about learning from other people and putting the pieces together — well, figuring out what the pieces were.

What were your most and least favorite jobs?

My most enjoyable jobs were the weeks where I was working with some great people. It was not necessarily the job I was doing but my coworkers that made the experience memorable. The ones that stand out are: Cancer Fundraiser (Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation), Pizza Maker, Fashion Buyer, Advertising Executive, Steam Whistle Brewery. The least enjoyable week was working in a swamp picking cat tails. It was plus 35, tonnes of bugs, smelled bad, and really long 12-hour days. All in all not too pleasant.

You finished the jobs in March of 2008, what have you been doing for the last two years?

Writing the book which was recently published, working on the documentary which will be out this spring (view the trailer at oneweekjob.com), and speaking to students/companies about my experiences and what I learned. We also just started the One Week Job program which grants others the opportunity to have a similar to experience to mine.

‘One Week Job’ really is a marketing phenomenon, how did you accomplish so much?

• First step was creating the website and outlining my goals, and why I was doing what I was doing.
• Second, I landed a sponsor at Week 5 to help pay with travel expenses as my wages were donated to charity.
• Third, Week 6, the first major media outlet covered the story.
• Fourth, the book deal happened around Week 37.
• Fifth, all of the small milestones in between with trying to find a new job, a new place to stay, and organize travel plans each week for an entire year.

Sean Aiken's book The One Week Job Project

How did the book come about?

I was extremely lucky in that when the New York Times picked up the story, I heard from several publishers directly asking if I’d thought about writing a book.

How did you get the great support for the book from all the famous authors?

I emailed them and asked real nice.

Please tell us about the people working on One Week Job?

Ian MacKenzie is my best friend, filmmaker, web editor, new media producer guy. He directed the upcoming documentary (view trailer on website). There were a few companies we worked with for the documentary.

How are you making money now?

The publishers provide an advance against royalties so that an author can live while they are writing the book. I make money by doing talks at conferences or schools.

Is the book going to make you rich?

Time will tell. Although I remember reading a quote from bestselling author Seth Godin – it was something to the effect of “those who write books to get rich are fooling themselves.”

Is One Week Job making you rich?

Nope.

What comes next? What is the future for Sean Aiken?

The book about my experience is called The One-Week Job Project. Published by Penguin Books in Canada and Random House in the US. The book is a memoir of my year. It begins from graduation, and me struggling to find an answer to the question “what should I do with my life?” How this developed into the idea to start the One Week Job Project, the different jobs I had, all the advice I received from my employers on finding a career, and the story of my personal journey making the transition from school into the working world. We recently finished post-production on the documentary that will be available this spring. We just started the One Week Job Program that provides others the opportunity to have a similar experience to my original journey. We’re giving three individuals $3000 each over the course of two months this summer. They’ll perform eight different one-week jobs and blog from the website. Anyone interested can apply at oneweekjob.com. I’d like to help other people interested in starting the One Week Job project in their country. Currently there is interest in the UK and potentially in China. Also, I’m planning an extensive college campus tour around the country next fall to share my story and all that I learned in making the transition from school into the working world.

Links
One Week Job
Follow Sean Aiken on Twitter

Corbett Barr at FreePursuits.com recently posted  a fantastic video that is closely aligned with my personal life view. The TED video is of Srikumar Rao who outlines how to be happy in life. I briefly summarized the video below, but I didn’t include the great examples that will help convey the message. Watch the video, it is worth it.

Brief Summary

Srikumar Rao

Everything we do in life in someway is a quest for happiness.

There is nothing that you have to get, do or be in order to be happy.

Happiness is your innate nature. It is wired in your DNA.

We have a mental model that says we have to get something in order to be happy.

IF this happens, THEN we will be happy.

The IF-THEN model itself is flawed. But instead of realizing that, we spend an enormous amount of time changing the ‘IFs.”

Recall a scene of spectacular beauty that took you outside of yourself into a place of great serenity like a rainbow or mountain range. The reason that happened is that you accepted the universe exactly as it was. You didn’t say that is a beautiful rainbow but it is a little off to the left. If I could move it 200 yards to the right it would be ever so much beautiful.

We all want to achieve things in life. We all want certain outcomes in our life.  Actions are within our control but the outcome is completely out of our control. Sometimes we get the outcome we want and sometimes we don’t.

We typically invest in the outcome. The alternative is that you invest in the process. Don’t focus on the winning. When it is over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? And if you did the best that you were capable of then the score doesn’t matter. If you did the best that you were capable of, you will find the score to your liking.

Passion exists inside you, it does not exist in the job. If you do not find a way to ignite it within you, you will not find it outside. If you ignite the passion where you are, you will find the external world rearranges itself to accommodate the new person you are becoming.  As you do that, you will find that miracles happen on a regular basis.

Seth Godin’s Linchpin

Godin’s latest book Linchpin is also related. I have written a brief summary of Linchpin and have a couple of links to a free mp3 and eBook that Godin created on my IdeaEconomy blog. Please talk a look if you are interested.

Excellence

Godin and Rao both speak about something that I have been calling excellence. I really feel that the only route to happiness and success is striving to do the best that you can. You don’t have to be the best to be happy. You just have to do your best. At the end of everyday ask yourself, ‘did I do the best that I was capable of?‘ I find that when I can answer that question affirmatively, then I am pretty happy with my life regardless of what occurred or was accomplished.

Lifestyle Design is Dead - Long Live Lifestyle Design!

Corbett Barr of FreePursuits.com asked a brilliant question in a recent post: “Is lifestyle design dead already?” There is still a fantastic discussion brewing there that I highly recommend for anyone interested in the subject. The fact that so many people are discussing the topic indicates that the moniker ‘lifestyle design’ is growing old despite the fact that designing your own lifestyle is getting easier with more opportunities than ever.

There seems to be at couple of immediate assumptions with ‘lifestyle design.’ The first is that all work is some indentured servitude. Employees are all ’slaves’ sacrificing themselves to someone else’s benefit. The second is that self-employment is some sort of utopia where you bring in wheel-barrels of cash while having the freedom to do whatever you want.

If you don’t like your job, just quit

I have been self-employed for most of my life, but I know that I was never a slave to the short-term jobs I had in the past. My employers provided me with a wage I deemed fair in exchange for work. Both sides found value in the proposition. When I no longer received enough value from the jobs I had, I quit. I always had the freedom to choose. No one forced me to work. I doubt anyone is forcing you to work in a job you dislike either. I also happened to enjoy most of the jobs I had. There is something to be gained in any type of work if you are open-minded enough to want to improve yourself.  I would love to find a job in a creative environment working on cool projects. Not for the money, but just to be working closely with talented people on interesting things. The first assumption above doesn’t make any sense to me.

Entrepreneurship is not all fun and games

I have felt like a slave in my own company. When you are the owner, your job doesn’t end just because the clock says you are finished. There are problems and customer needs that have to be addressed. I ended up keeping my last business for several years longer than I would’ve liked out of an obligation to my customers. I wish it was just a job because I would have had the freedom to get out long ago. Self-employment is great, don’t get me wrong. It is just a lot more work and headaches than any job you will have. Many people talking about how great self-employment is probably haven’t had their own company with employees yet.

‘Lifestyle design’ = work as little as possible

I personally have eliminated the term ‘lifestyle design’ from this blog’s tag line because I think it is getting associated with quitting work to travel. Everyone seems to be looking for short cuts to a good life. I personally don’t think making a couple thousand dollars a month from niche sites and drinking buckets on Khao San Road is a particularly meaningful existence. Backpacking is a lot of fun but I wouldn’t want it to be a long-term lifestyle.

Are we all entitled to a good life?

What I find most disappointing is that so many people feel they are entitled to a great, easy lifestyle with little work or sacrifice. The idea of working to provide for your family and improve the lot of mankind is a foreign concept to many. I realize that we are more affluent and comfortable then ever in history, but the laziness is getting to be too much. Who is going to build our houses, make our clothes, take out the garbage, teach children, take care of the elderly and do all the other very real and valuable work in society?

Maybe the lifestyle designers feel that drudgery should be outsourced to cheap overseas workers? They feel above the degradation of work so spend their time searching for easy passive income. Many of these same people find no hypocrisy in outsourcing to low wage countries for subsistence wages. Isn’t there something fundamentally wrong with that notion?

I am still naive enough to actually want to make a difference in the world. I want to excel in various pursuits and create value for others. That can’t be done in four hours a week. Greatness in virtually every field still takes a lot of work. There are no short cuts to being a great athlete, musician or writer. Why do people think their are going to be short-cuts in creating value for others? Sure there are examples of people making disproportionate returns on their effort, Wall Street comes to mind, but I don’t think it is wise to expect those over-sized profits for the rest of your life. Easy come, easy go. Lasting sustainable value takes time to build. I could be wrong though. I keep reading about get rich quick schemes regularly so maybe I am the only stupid one working long hours?

The Zero Hour Workweek

Of course, pundits will say that if you enjoy something enough then it is no longer considered work. To that I call bullshit. I love to run but it is still a chore to get my shoes on and get out the door. I love the feeling after having finished a good workout but getting started is not much fun. I love to play guitar. However, making serious improvement requires a level of effort and motivation that is difficult to sustain. Practicing scales for an hour or two everyday is not particularly enjoyable. Great musicians do it because the importance of excelling at their craft is worth all the pain and sacrifice. It is still work. I love sharing my ideas and connecting with others on my blogs, but it still takes a lot of work to research, write and edit decent posts. I too want all the rewards without the effort, but that would be foolish to expect something for nothing. Or is it?

It is easy to say that you want to make a living as a musician when you are only practicing an hour or two a week. That amount of playing is always fun. Just like all the lifestyle design dreamers who long for an easy life making huge passive income doing things they love. It sounds really nice when you are getting started but it starts to look a lot like work after you realize the easy money is not so easy after all. The opportunities are there and they always will be for those willing to hustle and adapt. I personally believe their are more opportunities than ever. I also know that every successful person I have encountered is not afraid to put in the hours to continuously learn and really strive to improve. There are no overnight successes unless you are talking about Chris Brogan; 11 years to an overnight success.

Is lifestyle design dead?

I don’t think so. We are fortunate enough to live in affluent societies where we expect more out of work than just a paycheck. Most of us are striving to find meaningful and fulfilling work. That takes conscious lifestyle planning or design. I will continue to use the term because I feel there is a common understanding about the idea that we indeed have the freedom to shape our own lives more than ever. With that said, I can’t wait for the get rich quick, miracle diet, speed learning, quick and easy version of ‘lifestyle design’ to die a quick and painful death. Expecting a lot for a little effort is for dreamers. People who are willing to put in the work to master their dreams and lifestyle goals are infinitely much more than the hype behind the phrase. Designing your lifestyle is for people with vision, courage and work ethic. If you want the miracle ‘lifestyle design’ pill I am sure you won’t have much trouble finding someone to sell it to you for only $97 per month. Hurry it is only a limited time offer!

The last couple of decades have seen a profound shift in western ideas  and values of work, life and play. The rules have changed to the point where there are no longer any rules. In fact, we all have the opportunity to create our own rules if we so chose. There are no templates or life paths to follow. The world has become untemplated.

A great group of people have joined forces to blog about the opportunities to create any lifestyle we imagine.

• Adam Baker
• Andrew Norcross
• Carlos Miceli
• Cody McKibben
• Dariane Nabor
• Jun Loayza
• Monica O’Brien

They have just launched a new site, Untemplater.com and have a free PDF manifesto on offer. I am really excited about this new online community because I really think we are on the cusp of a major revolution in all facets of our lives. Old templates and career paths just don’t work anymore. Untemplater promises to help us chart our way through entrepreneurship, lifestyle design, vagabond travels, personal finance, motivation and the future of the anywhere, anything lifestyle.

The world is changing fast but it is always helpful to reflect on the history that brought us here.

A Century of Change: ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’

With constant technological and societal change it is sometimes easy to forget how much the world has changed in one very short century. Your great grandparents probably didn’t have electricity, running water, motorized vehicles and all the derivative goods and services that flow from those basic luxuries. Think about that as you go through your day. Could you exist without electricity, technology, automobiles and running water?

One hundred years ago times were much more difficult. Traveling a dozen or so miles to a nearby city was a chore. There was a constant struggle just to provide enough food to survive. Endless back-breaking physical work was required just to exist with little left over for entertainment.

The Golden Ages: Individuality was a Small Price to Pay for Wealth

The rise of mass corporations in the 1950′s offered security and upward mobility. People were happy to forgo their own individuality and dreams for the sake of rapidly rising standards of living. Being a faceless corporate drone was far superior to the depravity of World War II and earlier experiences with the great depression. Risk taking was foolish when high paying salaries were so easy to come by. A single income was ample to buy a comfortable house with all modern appliciances and furniture. It truly was the Golden Age and people had lots of children to prove it.

Those children were the baby boom. Families with children spend more money so the economy was great and everyone prospered. Women were housewives and men were salaried workers. Work may not have been intrinsically rewarding, but no one cared because life was so good.

The Baby Boomers

Then all those babies started growing up. When the working age population is small, job opportunities and salaries are great. When the boomers flooded the workforce there was a lot of competition for limited jobs and decent opportunities were scarce. Unemployment was high and times were tough.

However, those boomers had their own children causing a second baby boom. More children meant families spent more money and times became good again. That lasted about two decades, then those second baby boomers started entering the work force and times started getting tight again. Those workers are now commonly referred to as generation X. I am of that generation.

When I graduated university job opportunities were limited. I missed the boom oil years my parents enjoyed and probably graduated at one of the worst times. There were no executive and V.P. positions offered to limited experience graduates. Everyone started at the bottom of the corporate ladder and expected a long climb to the top.  Entrepreneurship was still somewhat of a strange word often met with derision. Looking back it really is amazing how much demographics influence the economy.

The Age of Opportunity

Now in the Internet age, the rules have completely changed again. The Internet, technology and resultant flattening of the world have completely reshaped the playing field again. The costs to start companies and reach a global market are essentially free. Start up incubators like Ycombinator and TechStars,  are proving that  talented and motivated teams can build multi-million dollar businesses in a few months with 15 to 20 thousand dollars of start up capital. This is the age of ideas and opportunity. Age and experience are meaningless. Only creativity, talent and hard work can bring success.

Costs of travel, electronics, clothing, food and most goods are cheaper than ever.  We know longer need to keep on increasing our consumption. Things do not bring lasting happiness, only experiences and human connections do. This is the first time in history when it makes sense to stop increasing our material possessions and focus on finding meaning and purpose in our lives.

The time has come to break free of old limiting patterns and templates and create our own paths the world. Untemplater.com is the community to follow for this new untemplated lifestyle.

Volunteering Global, Interview with Sarah Van Auken

International volunteer opportunities can be a fantastic way to see another part of the world and make a difference in communities that need it.  The problem is finding the right cause to volunteer for. Volunteer expert Sarah Van Auken offers some great advice in this interview.

Please tell us a about your website, Volunteering Global

Volunteering Global is a site that educates individuals about service opportunities worldwide. There are two main parts – the list of volunteer programs and the blog. Currently, there are 420 individual service groups listed, with information on costs, accommodations, type of work, and other basics that people might want to know. The blog covers general travel and about volunteering, whether it involves safety tips, packing advice, stories from returned volunteers, or even highlights of specific service programs.

What volunteer experiences have you had?

Most of my volunteering has been U.S.-based, so I’ll highlight work that my friends and I have done as an example of the types of projects available worldwide:

• Tracking and tagging nesting sea turtles in Costa Rica
  Repairing damaged trails throughout Appalachia
• Researching small mammals in Mongolia
• Helping with HIV/AIDS affected families in Kenya
• Building and repairing homes in New Orleans
• Educating children in Peru

Most volunteer opportunities actually cost money, why is that?

Most volunteer organizations are nonprofits, so their funding comes from their participants and donations. Fees usually cover food and housing, transport to and from the project site, tools and other supplies, and training and support. Costs vary depending on the experience the person wants. Some groups arrange a “luxury” style of trip, such as a hotel stay, cultural excursions, and entertainment in addition to a volunteer project, while other opportunities are available for a person to get down and dirty and focus entirely on the project at hand. Trips range from $5 per day for the more rustic and hands-on experience, to $6,000+ per week for more indulgent ventures.

Is it possible to find free volunteer opportunities?

Unfortunately, there are very few organizations that cover travel expenses, though many offer tips and resources for fundraising.

There are two main types of no-cost trips: free and sponsored. Free trips usually last six months or longer, though the volunteer must cover his airfare and personal expenses. These often are available for individuals with minimal training, but who can work on a long-term basis. Think of it as an unpaid internship.

Sponsored trips are those in which airfare and other travel expenses are covered by the host organization. These range from a few days to over a year, and usually ask that their participants have specific abilities – such as dentistry, grant proposal writing, or other scarce skills – that are needed in the host country.

It is possible to find short-term opportunities at a minimal fee, but it takes more extensive research to find them. If cost and timeline are an issue, start the program search early and don’t get discouraged!

Is it possible to have a long term volunteering career without having lots of money first?

Absolutely! The free and sponsored trips mentioned above sometimes include a small stipend for those who volunteer for six or more months. Generally, the longer a person volunteers, the less expensive the program becomes.

Not only does a career break allow the individual to give back and to experience a new culture, but it also offers valuable job training and education. Many volunteer programs are offered for mid-career professionals who would like to help with marketing and fundraising, small business development, teaching, and other projects that translate well onto a résumé later.

Many organizations charge hefty fees to coordinate volunteer work, are those fees worth it?

It depends on the volunteer, the agency, and the community. Most of the more expensive organizations are placement groups, meaning that the volunteer doesn’t actually work with that establishment – he works with a host. Think of it as a volunteer travel agency. If a person doesn’t realize this, and wants something different than what the organization offers, then obviously he will feel cheated.

On the other hand, David Clemmons recently wrote an article highlighting a negative experience in which the volunteer felt her trip was a rip-off; I’m inclined to agree.

As for the community aspect of the program, it is of utmost importance to know that the community is being impacted positively by the volunteer work. Some of the best work is being done by volunteer organizations that actively involve community members. The goal should be to eventually pull out of the area and allow the locals to sustain the project on their own.

A great website to check for information on best practices in volunteer travel is Voluntourism101.

Can you recommend some good organizations and volunteer opportunities?

Here are some programs working in every region worldwide:

Africa
IVHQ
Uganda Wildlife Education Centre

Asia
PEPY Ride
Volunteer for the Visayans

Europe
Sunseed Desert Technology
Naucrates

North America
Asociación ANAI
Bike & Build

Oceania
Earthwise Valley
Tolga Bat Hospital

South America
Voluntraveler
Teach Huaraz Peru

Can you recommend some good directories or websites of volunteer opportunities?

Volunteering Global (that’s me!)
Idealist
Volunteer South America
Voluntourism Gal

Are there any black lists of companies to avoid?

I’m not sure I know of any that have been outright blacklisted, but two problems seem to pop up most often with troublesome projects: Lack of funding information, and “hug-an-orphan” programs.

Most organizations will be happy to provide their funding information for you, including where your money goes and who supports the project, e.g., volunteers or local businesses. If they’re not forthcoming, then you should probably move on.

“Hug-an-orphan” and similar projects also should be avoided. This is summed up very well in an article by Saundra Schimmelpfennig of Good Intentions Are Not Enough.

There are many, many great volunteer organizations out there, so if you are uneasy about one, then don’t become discouraged. Just keep looking, and you’ll find something that fits.

Where will you be volunteering next?

I would love to visit Peru next – but really, I’m willing to go anywhere!

Links
Volunteering Global
Volunteering Global Blog
Follow VolunteerGlobal on Twitter

Juggle: Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life by Ian Sanders

I have recently had the opportunity to read an inspiring book on lifestyle design and the future of work called, Juggle: Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life. Author Ian Sanders has some great ideas about the some of the biggest career and lifestyle design issues we are all facing. The book is loaded practical examples about how to live a “portfolio lifestyle” including quotes and interviews with Gary Vaynerchuk and Saatchi & Saatchi CEO, Kevin Roberts.

“You can choose to become a Juggler, to throw the rules out of the window, to create a life where you mix stuff you do for love and stuff you do for money. A life where you re-define success not by a salary package alone buy by freedom, enjoyment, flexibility and lifestyle. Where work is an extension of You, reflecting your personality, your talents and desires; where you juggle different projects to be stimulated as well as to earn a living.”

Think PassionS NOT Passion

Many of us are looking for our true calling in life. If only we could find that one thing that we are so excited about, work would be become joy. With endless career options available, it is hard to narrow it down to one single choice. Ian Sanders has a better way to look at it. We all have a plurality of interests and goals, rather than shutting off different parts of our lives we can really have it all. Ian provides many examples, including his own, of people with multiple callings. Not only is it possible to pursue several interests simultaneously, it may also make financial sense:

“That plurality is not just driven by our tastes and passions. There are also good economic reasons to have broad talents. A business with multiple products generating multiple revenue streams or an executive with strengths in more than one area have the potential to be more recession proof.”

“Forget Work/Life Balance, it’s more Work/Play Integration”

We are all seeking some type of balance in our lives. Family is everything but we also need to earn a living and our careers can be a great outlet for personal development and growth if we choose wisely. Ian Sanders argues that balance is not the answer; a more effective approach is work/life integration.

“There’s no neat divide between home and work. When you’re working, you still think of personal stuff, and when you’re not at work – in the shower, in the car, doing the shopping – that’s when you’ll have clarity for problem solving or thoughts for topping up your to-do list.”

“Whether it’s the shower, the run or having a coffee- that’s when we have ideas, sparks of inspiration, consistently and effectively. And that’s how -for me – work and play are interlinked, not neatly separated.”

“Work is not a place you go, it’s what you do, it’s part of your DNA.”

A lot of us seem to be hung up defining work by where it is done; you can work in a cubicle, work at home, work as a nomad, work from abroad. Why should work be defined by place? Here are some great quotes:

“Work is no longer somewhere we clock in and out of; it’s a mindset that we dip in and out of.”

“It’s not where you did it, or what hours you worked. It’s just about results.”

“We are nomadic, working from airplanes, trains, wherever. There are no rules and no walls to where and how we work.”

Are you Real?

Another key point in Juggling is about celebrating who we really are. Authenticity is everything. It is okay to be an accountant by day and play in a punk rock band at night. If those are your passions, than why not do both? When anyone can go a quick Google search and find out everything about us, it is no longer possible to segment or hide the different parts of our lives. We are everything we do.

“Juggling is having the confidence to carve out your own areas and proclaim ‘this is who I am’ regardless of perception and conforming to convention.”

The Juggler’s Manifesto

(From the end of the book. Included with permission.)

1. FORGET SPECIALISM, discover the value of being across more than one discipline. Sticking to just one thing limits your potential; place no limits on what you do and become more fulfilled.
2. BE PASSIONATE about all you do; let your passions and desires inform and shape your work life.
3. BE ADEPT AT GEAR-SHIFTING, from segueing from the huge to the tiny, from work to play.
4. MAKE TIME FOR PLAY. Being a successful Juggler is about working hard but also mixing up work and play, and using playtime as your inspiration and stimulation.
5. BE A CHAMELEON, FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTABLE. Rethink all you do, be happy to change the rules again and again. Don’t stay entrenched in rigid ideas of how things should be done.
6. THE BEST PLAN IS A NON-PLAN. Success in the knowledge economy is about making it up as you go along.
7. USE YOUR INSTINCT (every time) in making decisions, in deciding what to do and what not to do.
8. RE-DEFINE PERSONAL SUCCESS not by a salary package alone but by more important currency such as, did you get to see your kids’s sports day, do you work with a decent bunch of people, did you take enough holiday this year?
9. GO BEYOND A JOB TITLE and carve out a unique You-role. Do it your way, be authentic. Take control.
10. DEVELOP A PERSONAL BRAND to unite and communicate your strengths.
11. WORK HARD BUT WORK SMART. Whilst success relies on you working hard it’s also about doing what you love; and when you do what you love, it doesn’t feel so much like work.
12. HAVE LOTS OF SELF-BELIEVE AND SELF-CONFIDENCE. Have a positive outlook, be an optimist. Don’t whinge!
13. BE A PIONEER, with no fear of the unknown. Be happy to learn new stuff, embrace new ideas.
14. HAVE PURPOSE IN ALL YOU DO. Focus on making a difference and leaving a legacy.

I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling to find meaning in their work and seeking a more fulfilling life. Ian Sanders shows how we can have a plurality of rewarding careers AND a great family life at the same time.

Links
Juggle Summary on ChangeThis.com
Ian Sanders’ Books
Ian Sanders Blog
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You think your job is bad? These guys were laying asphalt in 35 degrees Celsius!

Most of us hate our jobs. We hate dealing with irate customers, inept bosses, lazy co-workers and work that is mind-numbingly tedious. Work sucks so we fantasize about magical places where we can do whatever we want and make wheel-barrel loads of money, maybe even get our picture on the cover of a magazine somewhere. That is the life the life of the entrepreneur. Digital nomads or location independent professionals have it even better. They get to travel to exotic locations around the world while earning a great income from anywhere with an Internet connection. Ah… the good life indeed!

Is the Grass Really that Green?

The problem is that starting your own business or working from another country still involve the very thing you are trying to escape: WORK. In fact, working for yourself generally has more responsibilities and requires more hours and effort than working for others.

I have been running my own businesses and living abroad for more than a decade, so I can definitely recommend both choices to anyone. However, I feel it is healthier to approach big lifestyle changes like entrepreneurship and a nomadic lifestyle from a personal growth perspective, rather than just escaping your job routine.

If you are unable to find good in the work you are currently doing, it is unlikely that you will find it in starting your own business or trying to work from exotic locations around the world. Work is work, no matter if you are your own boss or you are doing it while traveling. If you had difficultly motivating yourself in the past, those same problems will likely continue to exist in your own ventures

I believe that people who can  justify mediocre effort to themselves in one area of their life find it easier to make excuses for all areas of their life. Musicians and athletes in particular understand the necessity of endless hours of practice so they typically put that same effort into their work and businesses. People willing to put in a minimum level of effort in their work, are also probably quick to give up learning foreign languages, practicing musical instruments or exercise. Work can be a chance to showcase your quality as an individual if you rise up to the opportunity. Here are some ways to make any job more personally rewarding.

Dealing with Boring Work

When your work is repetitive and dull, look inward to focus your thoughts. Concentrate on exactly what it is you are doing. Really feel and appreciate every breath, every moment. This is the essence of mediation. You do not need to burn incense and travel to Tibet to get in touch with your spiritual side. Buddhism is about being present in everything you do, eating, cleaning, breathing and yes, even work. Monks do endless hours of tedious chores because of the meditative value. Be thankful that someone is paying you to do that at work.

Enjoying Physical Work

I love physical work. I worked construction for a couple of summers in university and there is just such a feeling of accomplishment when you finish a task or project and your body is physically tired. You don’t get that feeling from working behind a computer. Embrace the physicality and feel it in your muscles. Be thankful that you don’t need to go to a gym to stay in shape.

Placating a Domineering Boss

Some managers can be jerks. They may be on a huge ego trip. They may be incompetent. They may hate you. Sure you could humiliate your boss. You could put in substandard work or slack off. You can denigrate your boss every opportunity you have. That just brings you down to the level of your superior. Rise above difficult situations by delivering more than is expected and giving your boss all the credit. Ignore negativity and criticism and just strive to deliver your best. Nothing is gained by fighting and creating more animosity. It is very hard for anyone to continue being a jerk when they always get kindness in return. Kindness works! Try it for a month and see for yourself.

Pursue Excellence

Work and life require effort. The more you put in, the more you get out. When people say a job is boring, it usually means they are not striving to learn new things and improve the quality of what they are doing. Study more about your company and your work. Learn new skills. Try to become great at what you do. Mastery has a way to turn most work into a personal journey of self-improvement.

Cultivate Relationships

Use your time in a company to connect with as many people as you can. Become genuinely interested in other people around you. Remember their names. Help whenever you can. Give for the sake of giving. Humanity is all about relationships. Be friendly and supportive to those around you and see what a difference it will make in your life.

Serve Customers

People often forget that the purpose of every company is to create value for customers. We all have little difficulty complaining when we get lousy service and low quality goods from a business; Flip that around and consider your own attitude towards work. When you buy from a company, do you expect courteous and conscientious service? Are you delivering that same level of service in your job or business?

Future job and business opportunities often arise from previous employment. Great effort and talent gets noticed sooner or later. What kind of personality traits and work ethic would you want if you were looking to hire, invest in or partner with someone? Start demonstrating those qualities now and your future opportunities will explode. These skills and personality traits will serve you even better if  you choose to venture out into your own business.

Interview with Marketing Genius Charlie Hoehn

At 23 years old, Charlie Hoehn has already managed to work with marketing God Seth Godin,  Ramit Sethi of Iwillteachyoutoberich.com, Tim Ferriss of The Four Hour Workweek phenomenon and is currently on tour with movie director Tucker Max. Charlie has also published the  brilliant free ebook, Recession Proof Graduate to wide spread notoriety. The message of the the book is pure genius in my mind because it is simple yet innovative. Charlie masterly blends creative thinking with hard work to get exceptional results.

On the same page as the ebook, Sethi and Ferriss talk about Charlie’s initiative and talent that created those opportunities. If that endorsement isn’t good enough, check out what Seth Godin had to say. Clearly Charlie Hoehn is destined for great things. I am absolutely thrilled to have had the opportunity to interview him here.

Please tell us about your Seth Godin virtual internship.

The first thing he told each of us to do was start up our own personal blog. I did NOT want to do that at all, which is still funny to me, because my blog has opened up more doors than I ever thought possible. I didn’t want to do it, because I thought blogs were for anti-social nerds and I felt like I didn’t have anything interesting to say. But it worked out really well once I got comfortable with writing online.

I remember Seth told us that we had to start and lead a tribe, and we could go in any direction we wanted to. So I partnered up with Aidan Nulman, a really smart and creative kid, and we decided that we were going to start up the first free online film school. Our goal was to have all the content generated by members. It didn’t work at all, we failed miserably. The thing I learned from that experience is that it’s really easy to get people to join something, but it’s almost impossible to get them to participate on a consistent basis. Conversion rates, as they’re called, are way lower than people assume. For instance, less than one percent of the people who visit my site leave a comment. An even lower percentage subscribe. That’s just how it is, but I didn’t know how hard it was to get people to commit to anything online until I did the internship.

I asked Seth for some final parting wisdom after we met for coffee in New York last year. He told me that the best thing I could do was to start something. Anything. Even if it was just an ebay store. He promised that doors would open eventually, as long as I started something. And he was right. The way you build momentum is to walk down a path, but most people stand still their whole lives or turn around when something gets too hard.

How did you get the attention of someone like Seth Godin?

I was actually rejected from the internship initially, but Seth decided to do a virtual internship with all the people who applied and didn’t get in. Initially, there were about 70 people who were onboard to do the virtual internship for the summer. I knew there was no possible way that all of them would stay on, and sure enough, about 80% of them stopped contributing after the first two weeks. There were about 10 of us who truly stuck it out and consistently participated during those four months, and I was one of them. It’s not easy to get on your computer and work a few hours every day with people you don’t know, on projects you’re unsure of, at an unpaid virtual internship that may not be going anywhere. It’s much easier to say screw it and hunt for local jobs. But the few of us who kept working hard got his attention pretty fast, and we were all rewarded at the end when he plugged us on his site. A bunch of the folks on my blogroll were kids I met through that virtual internship, and they’re all very sharp, creative, and talented people. It’s probably one of the best network building experiences I’ve ever had.

What did you do for Ramit Sethi of Iwillteachyoutoberich.com?

I’ve helped Ramit with a bunch of stuff. I did all the videos on his site, I helped him create the marketing plan for his book (and some other products he’ll be releasing), I executed the marketing plan to help him get to the New York Times best-seller list, etc. Now he and I are working on a few really cool, highly valuable products that he’ll be releasing over the course of the next year or so.

How did you land that opportunity?

I initially emailed Ramit to ask him how I could get in touch with Tim Ferriss, since I knew the two of them were friends. The thing that I should mention, though, is that I didn’t ask Ramit for a favor in that initial email. Instead, I talked about how I was a huge fan of iwillteachyoutoberich.com, and explained to him how his posts had actually made a huge impact on my financial life. Because I genuinely was a fan of his stuff, he was much more receptive to me. He asked me to shoot him my resume, and then asked if I’d like to work with him. I said absolutely, and wrote back with a list of three things that I thought would improve his site. One of my suggestions was that he should start doing videos, because his sarcasm can be kind of ambiguous in his posts, so you can’t really tell if he’s being funny or if he’s just a jerk. But if you see him talking in a video, you instantly understand his sense of humor. So he made his first video a few days after I made the suggestion, and it ended up getting like 10,000 views or something in just a few days. Now he does videos all the time.

What are you doing with Tim Ferriss and his new book?

I don’t think I can really go into detail about this just yet. It’ll be very cool, though.

Ferriss is famous for not checking his email, how did you connect with him?

I had both Ramit and my buddy Jeff Widman recommend me to Tim within a week, I think. It happened organically, though. I didn’t tell either of them to put in a good word for me or anything. They just did it on their own, which was great. There’s no better way to market yourself than to have someone else do it for you.

It’s pretty funny, because I basically shot myself in the foot right away with Tim. He gave me a little project to do the first time we talked on the phone, and his words kept cutting out so I didn’t really hear what he wanted me to do. Instead of just telling him I couldn’t hear him and to send me an email, I decided I’d heard enough of what he’d said and could fill in the gaps. When I sent him the completed assignment, he called me and said, “Umm yeah, I have no idea what the hell this is.” I’m an idiot sometimes.

Please tell us about the work you are doing with Tucker Max.

Right now, I’m on tour with Tucker going around the country and screening his movie on college campuses. My duties on the tour are to shoot and edit footage at every stop, and set up all the audio equipment before each show. Sounds easy enough, but all the video stuff is extremely time-consuming. The other video guy, Greg Kissner, and I don’t get much sleep.

Before the tour, I helped Tucker a little bit with the marketing plan for his movie. When I first read his whole plan, I was seriously impressed — it was airtight. Like I said, I only contributed a small amount. The guy clearly knew what he was doing, and he actually picked up where Seth Godin left off and taught me a few things about marketing online.

How did you get involved in that project?

A bunch of people bookmarked Seth’s post about the virtual internship on Delicious, and I noticed Tucker was one of them. I emailed him, saying I was one of the interns, and asked him about the possibility of working together. He emailed me a few days later, saying that it took him a couple minutes before he realized that I was the guy from Hoehn’s Musings and that he read my stuff. Now, at the time, I had like 12 readers subscribed to my blog. So right away, I’m thinking, “What a jerk, he’s messing with me already.” Turns out he actually was one of the few people who consistently read my site. Anyways, I did the same thing for him that I did with Ramit — wrote him back with a bunch of ideas on how I thought he could market the movie. Some of my ideas were good and some were awful, but I guess he liked where my head was at and he put me to work.

You wrote a fantastic ebook, Recession Proof Graduate, what is the message of that book?

I think the message of my e-book is that work should be something you truly care about. You have to find meaning in what you do, otherwise your spirit will crumble. I push free work so hard because it forces you to figure out how you would spend your time if you weren’t being paid. I just don’t understand it when people my age act like they’re excited about getting a sales position at Verizon or whatever. That’s just being excited over a consistent paycheck. Seriously, who cares? In less than a year, they’re going to want to kill themselves. I wanted RPGrad to remind graduates that their lives were in their control, and that they actually could go out and make things happen for themselves if they were willing to try something different. Like I said in the e-book, the recession is not the obstacle. The obstacle is all the antiquated tactics for finding work.

Why did you offer that ebook for free?

A few reasons. First, I wanted it to be read by as many people as possible. An e-book on Slideshare is great, because it’s so easy for it to spread. People just click a button and share it with all their Facebook friends or Twitter followers. If I had charged for it (and believe me, I thought about it), I could have made some money but it wouldn’t have taken off. Only a small percentage of people buy e-books, so charging would have been a bad long term decision. Instead, I offered it for free and look what happened — it was read by more than 30,000 people in just a few weeks.

The second reason I gave it away for free was because I needed to gauge whether the subject matter was in demand or not. I’d been planning on writing a real book for about a year, but I wanted to do a test run and see if it had any pull.

What opportunities have come about from Recession Proof Graduate?

A bunch of random stuff. I had one of the first 10 employees from Google offer me a job, and another person at Google Zurich tell me they’d sent the e-book to all their interns. A few companies have contacted me about helping them with their online marketing plans. I’ve had offers to translate the e-book into Russian and Slovak, which would be pretty cool if those people follow through with it. And I had one guy ask if he could use my e-book at all of the business seminars he runs in South Africa.

But none of that has been nearly as rewarding as all of the emails I’ve received from graduates who have had their sense of hope renewed. A bunch of people have thanked me for RPGrad at the various stops on this tour, as well. It’s very weird being recognized for an e-book, but it’s really cool to see these people face-to-face and hear their stories about how they’re doing free work, or how they’re chasing after work they actually care about now instead of looking for jobs on CareerBuilder.com.

You obviously are not having difficulty finding great work opportunities, what do you think all the unemployed people out there are doing wrong?

It’s the sense of entitlement that drives me nuts. We’re in a recession, and I still hear people my age saying they’re above certain jobs and that they deserve more money. I understand graduates wanting to be successful in the real world, but they haven’t earned that yet. Most grads typically have no skills and no experience. So why do they think they deserve what their parents have and worked their asses off for? Why would they even want the societal definition of success handed to them so easily? Isn’t success more rewarding when you actually have to work for it?

What graduates need to do is figure out what’s important to them personally. Once you figure out your priorities, you can focus solely on attaining what you want and ignore everything else. For me, I care less about money and more about remarkable experiences. So I try to find work that interests me, and gives me a sense of fulfillment.

What is the future of Charlie Hoehn?

I honestly don’t know. Right now, I’m a dog chasing cars. I’m basically just doing whatever interests me, and it’s worked out really well. I might just keep doing that and see where it takes me. Travel is a really high priority, and I definitely want to live in another country like Argentina or Denmark for a while. I have no plans to get married or have kids anytime soon, if that’s what you’re asking. I actually might write another e-book called, “Why you shouldn’t get married right out of college, you idiot.” The title needs some work, though.

Links
Hoehn’s Musings Charlie’s Blog
How To Hack Someone’s Mind Charlie shares his secrets about how he connected with Ramit Sethi
Recession-Proof Graduate Charlie’s Free ebook on how to find great work opportunities and differentiate yourself.
@CharlieHoehn Follow Charlie on Twitter

Whose Idea of the Perfect Lifestyle Design are you Following? (Image by Bobster855)

Everyone is searching or at least hoping for a great lifestyle, but what is a great life and where did we get the idea from?

The Perfect Lifestyle Design

If your idea of a perfect life is living on a private island with naked models rubbing coconut oil on your… body, while your outsourced staff handle all your work leaving you to manage those naked models, then we have the same dream. I mean, perhaps you have set your expectations a little high and you are bound for a lot of disappointment regardless of how much you accomplish in life.

The Perfect Spouse

In an advertising dominated world of impossibly beautiful celebrities, read that as Photoshopped, it is easy to set completely unrealistic expectations for what we expect from life. If you are waiting for a spouse that is always happy, never complains, loves to go for long walks, listens to all of your problems and licks you all over, you may want to consider a companion of the canine persuasion. Ruff!

The Perfect Career

The same is true of a career. If you demand a high salary for easy work with lots of vacations allowing you to work from home doing fun creative things all the time, it might be a good idea to brace for a long bout of unemployment. Allan Bacon of Avocationist offers a good related article called The Myth of the Perfect Job. In the post he compares a friend’s high expectations,  “Top 10 list of requirements for any prospective girlfriend” to that of looking for the perfect job. If you are not happy being unemployed and single, it might be beneficial to be a little more accommodating in what you demand from life.

Is a Perfect Life a Fairy Tale Story?

Carlos Miceli of OwlSparks inspired this article with the following quote from Kurt Vonnegut.

“People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories.”

Carlos’ blog post also links to a longer article by Derek Sivers that provides some more background for that quote. It is a great read but don’t go away until you have subscribed to my newsletter.

Good! You are still reading.

Sivers’ article is about a presentation by Vonnegut  in New York City. Vonnegut explains that stories are dramatic; they have have big downs, followed by big ups leaving the heroin better for the experience. Stories have to be exciting or no one would care. The problem is that real life is not a novel or Hollywood movie.

We watch movies about finding the perfect love or the lifestyles of the rich and famous and we think that is what we are entitled to. It is the American Way! When reality doesn’t turn out so glamorous we dump our spouse, job or business and try again. Real life is not quite that exciting. I don’t care what color your underwear is, you are not superman.

My Life is Exactly Like Cinderella, Only Different

Reality is more like getting up in the morning, going to work, coming home, spending time with family and then doing it again the next day. Even if you own your own business doing work you love, it is still a relatively flat existence compared to the emotional roller coaster of a good story.

Here is another Vonnegut quote from that Sivers’ article;

“But because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think our lives are supposed to be filled with huge ups and downs! So people pretend there is drama where there is none.”

We spend our lives jumping from one story to the next. Perhaps we wanted to be a rock star, then maybe we wanted the Snow White love story,  after that we jumped to Tim Ferriss’ idea of the Four Hour Workweek. (Corbett Barr has a great article called, The 4-Hour Workweek is Full of Hype, But That’s Not the Point. Okay, go and read the article but come back quick.)

Chasing impossibly perfect goals only sets us up for disappointment. Life is not a car chase in an expensive automobile with a beautiful model that worships you. Reality has us taking out the garbage, trimming our toe nails and going to the doctor to get that rash checked out; not exactly the script for the next Hollywood block buster.

I am a huge fan of lifestyle design. We owe it to ourselves and the world to create challenging and rewarding lives for ourselves. However, I think it is more important to focus on the journey and take satisfaction in the daily work on our life paths. Goals are great to accomplish, but that satisfaction is momentary and fleeting. Real happiness comes from the striving, not the attaining. Don’t wait until you have the perfect lifestyle design, to enjoy your life. Find meaning in the process, search for the satisfaction in everything you do and find the good in the people around you. You might actually discover that you already have the perfect lifestyle design.

What is the perfect lifestyle design to you? And better yet, is it what you really want for yourself, or are you just following someone else’s story line?

You Think Your Job is Bad?

Are you fired up at the end of the weekend to get back to your job first thing Monday morning? Not likely. There appears to be a universal hatred of work. Employees of the world are seeking ways to escape the “rat race” or get out of the “9 to 5.” Is work really that bad?

Let’s do a little test. Consider these four following work situations.

Example 1: Work to Save Money

Imagine that you paint houses for a living and your own house needs painting.  Doing the work yourself will save you money compared to hiring outside contractors. You may prefer to paint yourself because you will do a better job than others. This will also give you the freedom to do it how and when you want.

Example 2: Work for Friends or Family

In another situation, you paint your grandmother’s house for free. She offers to give you some money, but you refuse as a token repayment of all the kindness you have received over the years. You can’t charge your grandma!

Example 3: The Employee

You are hired by a company to paint a house. You may or may not like your job, you probably have no connection to the customer and let’s assume that your boss is a jerk that is trying to pay you as little as possible.

Example 4: The Business Owner

In the final example, you own your own small painting company. You have a couple of workers that have trouble showing up to work on time and try to do as little as possible. Despite their poor performance, these two are among the better workers you have hired over the years.

The Work Test

All four of these examples comprise the exact same type of job: painting a house. Only the conditions around why you are painting change. Now for the test. Will the quality of your work change in each example? Will you spend more time on your own house, than you would on your grandmother’s? Will you work harder in your own company than you would working for someone else? What is your attitude to the exact same type of work in each of the four examples.

If you are honest with yourself, certainly there will be changes in your attitude and motivation for each situation. It is not the work itself that is changing, only your motivations for doing the work change.

“If it is worth doing, it is worth doing well.”

There are people that would give their full attention to all four jobs. For some, there is great satisfaction in doing good work regardless of the conditions. Of course, money is important and we all need to earn a living, but there is no denying that some people gain deep personal satisfaction from doing everything to the best of their ability. These people tend to excel at school, sports and in their careers.

All Work Sucks

On the other extreme, there are others that wouldn’t bother to start any of the painting projects and couldn’t care less about the outcomes. They don’t have the time. They don’t like their grandmother anyway. Their boss is working them too hard. Customers are too demanding. “What do they expect, I am only human.”

These examples can be broken down further. If you are a hired worker like in example 3, you will probably work harder and be more motivated if the economy is down and jobs are scarce. If jobs are plentiful and there are many opportunities to find other higher paying employment you will probably have a different attitude to your employer and the work you are doing. This rock star attitude was very evident last year prior to the market crash. Companies couldn’t find enough workers to competently do the work at any price.

Your attitude towards work will also change in your own company. If you are new and struggling to get clients you will go out of your way to deliver quality service. If business is booming, you will be in a position to turn down work and only accept the highest paying, easiest work.

Perhaps you might not willing to help out granny if you are too busy making money on other lucrative projects. Even your own house could be left partially finished for months on end because you don’t have the motivation to get the job finished.

Work means different things to different people. For some it is a way to contribute. For others it is a necessary evil just to pay the bills and survive. Another group might avoid any kind of work at all costs. Work itself is neither good nor bad. Your attitude determines whether it is a positive or negative experience.

Work is not all fun and games.

I have written several times on my disagreement with what many call “passion” in work. I believe in doing things you love, but the reality is that nothing is enjoyable all the time. Anything done to an extreme gets boring and can grow into something you despise. When you eat that first piece of fine gourmet chocolate you feel ecstasy, maybe the second piece is still good. If you keep on eating you will eventually get completely sick of the smell of that disgusting treat. When it comes to work, most of us are puking out Belgian chocolate in the company bathroom.

My disagreement with the “passion” argument is mostly semantic. Of course, I believe in finding something you love to do. The problem in my mind is that most people don’t know of anything that keeps that engaged and excited all the time.  I don’t think the objective should be to find work that is 100% bliss all the time, it should be to maximize our happiness and contribution to the world. There will always be lousy parts but our successes and the goals we accomplish will make up for all the bad times.

Work is a Gift for Others

I think the key thing to remember is that work is done in the service of others.  Whether it is paid or not, the greatest contribution we can make to mankind is to create value for another individual, animal or even ourselves. Businesses grow when they create more value than the charge the consumer. Businesses die if they can’t consistently produce more value than they charge. Work is about creating value.

When that employee in your favorite cafe can’t be bothered to clean the tables because they feel their salary is too low, they are essentially telling you to get lost. When United Airlines baggage handlers are mishandling luggage that was entrusted to their care, they are saying that United’s passengers are assholes. Sure those employees hate their jobs, that is obvious, but why should paying customers bear the force of that resentment?

Work is not bad

If you can’t be bothered to put in a decent effort into your job, then quit and do something else. No matter what work you do and whether it is paid or not, you are in service to your fellow man. You can be a jerk or you can go out of your way to create great experiences for everyone you deal with. Lasting success does not come from a single lucky break. It is that hardworking courteous paperboy, that goes on to being a great employee in a fast food restaurant, that then puts in the practice and effort to excel at sports and at school, that works hard in university and then puts in 60 hour work weeks in their own company, that gets bought out by Google. Success is the accumulation of a lifetime of effort. It is all about the journey, not the destination!

Chris Brogan has become a celebrity in online marketing because of his work ethic and care for delivering great service all of his life. President Obama, didn’t just get lucky in the last election. He has been grooming himself for a life in politics many decades before he had a shot at becoming the leader of America. Obama started his presidency back in high school or even earlier. I still fondly remember the guy selling the flattened pennies at the top of the Empire State building. He made a squished piece of copper an entertaining experience. My wife and I watched him for 10 minutes. He could have been smoking a cigarette and looking at the clock all day but he chose to give that job his full attention. His dedication to delivering a quality experience was completely above and beyond his job description. I am sure that he touches the lives of thousands of people everyday.

Putting in mediocre efforts in any job or hobby, says one thing: you are mediocre. What are you going to do when your grandma needs her house painted? Will you do it to the best of your ability or will you tell her that it is not your job and stay at home to watch re-runs on TV?