In just the last 10 years, the world of work has been changing significantly. In addition, the ‘options’ now being pursued are greater in number and increasingly varied. The concept of ‘an alternative career’, a ‘side hustle’ or ‘doing something different’ are becoming increasingly common.
After all, it has been widely-documented that millennials are the generation who value meaningful work over material rewards and career ladders. What’s more, there are now ways of working which offer more autonomy and purpose, whilst providing more freedom and possibility to pursue life outside of work. Don’t get me wrong, there are no easy path or any ‘career mecca’ (if you think there might be, you’ll be sorely disappointed). It will take effort and hard work, often work over and above your regular day-job (if you choose the ‘side hustle’ route), as well as certain mindset shifts: the typical one-size-fits-all conveyer belt from school -> university -> graduate job isn’t, as we are led to believe, the only way nor necessarily the best way.
Credit: Escape The City
Here are the resources which helped open my eyes, and might do the same for you:
1. The Escape Manifesto (link here)
Written by Rob, Dob and Mikey, the founders of Escape The City who, themselves, landed in corporate jobs which they eventual realised was sucking their souls and not for them. The manifesto is full of insights in every chapter, from describing ‘The Travelator’ through to providing real-life case studies of individuals who have successfully transitioned into work that is more “them”.
2. The 4-Hour Work Week (link here)
Written for a good friend of Tim Ferris who hated his investment banking job, the FHWW has become somewhat of a cult classic. Tim Ferris describes the art of lifestyle design, and the increasing number of people across the world who are playing by new rules and joining what he describes as the “New Rich”.
3. The $100 Startup (link here)
Chris Guillebeau is a remarkable guy (and fellow introvert) who is a blogger, entrepreneur and traveller, or travel-hacker to be more precise (plus a true multi-potentialite if ever there was one). Chris has inspired thousands of individuals worldwide through his blog, books and recently-launched daily podcast (find out more about all of these on Chris’s website). He advocates being authentic, living by our own values and on our own terms, doing the work that we were “born to do” (to quote one of his most recent books). The $100 Startup was the first of his books I ever read, and is filled with case studies and actual incomes of businesses started with $100 and less.
Chris also runs an annual conference called World Domination Summit (WDS) in Portland, Oregon; I went in 2015 and it was incredible (you can read my account of my experience, here). I intend to go back again for sure.
Meanwhile, Chris is coming to London this February to feature as a guest on World Escape Day (run by Escape The City, an organisation led by the authors of The Escape Manifesto). You can book your ticket for that here.
Honourable mentions…also go to Escape The City (see paragraph above) and Live Your Legend.
These are both global communities, with Escape The City originating in the UK, and Live Your Legend in the US. Both offer community-elf support for individuals who are at some stage in their journey of moving towards work that they care about (whatever that might mean or look like to them).
Over to you…
Have any resources played an important part in your quest for finding work that excites you?