Comments on: Rethink Your Career

By: fishboyridesagain

fishboyridesagain — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:28:25 +0000

Jim,

You should at least recognize that you moved from amateur to professional in the world of blogging. There has to be some facet where “do what you love and the money will follow” is true. (“amateur” is based on the Latin root word for “love”.)

Is there a way to combine this phrase with a sense of productivity? I’m trying to be more productive with my hobbies. I am interested in a lot of things, but if I am equally happy with several activities why not do the things that will also result in an improved version of me? Who’s to say if these improvements won’t help me with my career?

By: zapeta

zapeta — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:32:51 +0000

It is so easy to get lost in the day to day and lose sight of your goals. I think it is very important to to keep a list of goals and a time frame to accomplish them…brainstorming and mind maps are a great tool for this.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:22:06 +0000

Yep, but if you do what you love, at least you were doing what you love even if you didn’t get the money.

By: centsandthecity

centsandthecity — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:50:59 +0000

Those mind maps are great. I’m definitely going to give that a try.

By: Kevin@OutOfYourRut

Kevin@OutOfYourRut — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:06:48 +0000

I think that if you’re doing what you love, the money will “appear”, because you’ll do what you need to sustain your passion.

That isn’t to say that the money will magically appear out of the sky, but that you’ll do what you need to do to enable your venture. It might mean doing some sort of side work you DON’T enjoy in combination with cutting your living expenses to the bone, but you’ll make it work.

By: eric

eric — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:15:01 +0000

Good idea on career week. I’m sure now is as good a time as any to bring it up.

By: jsbrendog

jsbrendog — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:13:12 +0000

agreed. I was miserable at my old job, quit, took a month off, and found a new job and haven’t looked back. granted this was yrs ago and I didn’t get fired but it all comes down to the emergency fund and looking at the positive.

i realized I would find something I didn’t hate and having the flexibility to take that month off and recharge before I went looking was exactly what did the trick.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:50:55 +0000

Losing my job was one of the best things that ever happened to me…once I got over the financial impact.

By: hoht

hoht — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:00:30 +0000

I like the brainstorming web, my professor was just teaching that to us today.

By: CreditShout

CreditShout — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:23:47 +0000

This is a great idea, I do similar exercises a lot actually, just to keep me in touch with my goals and aspirations. I think a lot of times we get so entangled in our every day routine that we don’t “look up” and see whats really in front of us and where we are heading. Losing your job isn’t necessarily always a bad thing as you said because a lot of the time it forces you to take a good look at where you are now and where you would like to be.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:33:29 +0000

Jim, I like how you don’t sugarcoat the facts. I see too many people pimping the “if you do what you love, the money will come” dogma. Some are the success stories, while others are just joining in the crowd mindset. Personally, I’m with you in that the money might come if you do what you love, but it’s not the “given” that they make it sound like. Well said.