What if you loved your job?
What if you were fired up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week about your work? What would that be worth to you?
What we do for a living plays a huge part in our happiness. It consumes the majority of our week and it can charge our lives and feed our souls or it can drag us down and suck us dry.
Then throw in the immense changes happening right now. This economy combined with rapid fire escalation in technology have left a lot of us reeling. We've seen entire industries (and thus jobs) melt before our eyes.
Advances in the internet and information sharing have turned the music industry, news industry and maybe now even the book publishing and film industries upside down--leading to the loss of once coveted careers of record producers, musicians, journalists, studio execs and editors. And issues with the economy have upended the auto, real estate, and consumer products industries, leading to mass layoffs and the end of job security as we know it.
Playing it safe by taking a traditional job at an established company with good benefits (aka handing your life and talents over to a corporation to manage) may now turn out to be one of the riskiest things you can do.
Ditching old school
But with those losses have also come tremendous opportunities. The internet and social media and the crash and burn of the old school economy has been the great democratiser. There is now opportunity for each of us to make things happen without the permission of the established gatekeepers and without the need for lots of start up money. In fact, the gatekeepers are becoming increasingly irrelevant and that scares the heck out of many industries which have, until now, controlled the flow of all aspects of information and products to the public.
But not anymore.
We can now do things and go places never before possible. We can start that business, publish that book, write that article, record that song, direct that movie, launch that radio show, put out that press release...and take it all directly to the people.
So you can see this as the worst of times, or the best of times. Things are going to change with or without you. You can either call yourself a victim and wait around for the government or your family or your God to bail you out...any of which may or may not happen. Or you can choose to see and act on the incredible options that have never been available before. Options that will make you jump out of bed and rise to meet the day and your work. Your life's work.
A couple of months back I interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk, uber successful internet entrepreneur and the best-selling author of "Crush It! Why Now Is the Time To Cash In on Your Passion." Regardless of whether Gary's personal style or approach matches your own, there is no denying the success (and therefore freedom) he has created for himself and much of his message is irrefutable. You can break out...but to do it you have to do what you love, be authentic, and hustle. Are you willing? (Gary also has some advice for people who do not consider themselves entrepreneurs at heart.) Listen below.