Mitch asked me the other day why I don’t work for a startup. I do, me. It’s very the Brand You (by Tom Peters ) of me. I’ve now spent almost 5 months “unemployed”. (At Social Tech Brewing Co on Thursday I heard a bunch of other great euphemisms including “on sabbatical”, “self-employed”, “on vacation”, “seeking funding”, “raising capital”, “pre-series A round”,”government funded”, etc.). I haven’t had any trouble finding paying work or keeping busy (check out BarCampToronto ).
This is my attempt to put me first . To try and do what I love . I haven’t taken the approach that Mary Hodder did four years ago, but I think I should.
It doesn’t mean I don’t do a lot of hard, trying, difficult, long work, but I have to say, the overall goal, the project, the commitment, must be something I love. And frankly I haven’t worked for a second in the past four years. And I work all the time. Because it’s not work. Down with work that you hate! Do only work that you love. And the work will pour in, you will have more choices that you know what to do with, the quality will be high, the satisfaction will be high, your life will change, and your free time will become so much more satisfying.
The next question is what do I love to do. Paul Graham’s essay How to do what you love? essay is a great starting point for changing your mindset about work. Figuring this out is going to be difficult. It’s scary, uncomfortable and challenging. But it’s important.
Finding work you love is very difficult. Most people fail. Even if you succeed, it’s rare to be free to work on what you want till your thirties or forties. But if you have the destination in sight you’ll be more likely to arrive at it. If you know you can love work, you’re in the home stretch, and if you know what work you love, you’re practically there.
This must be the home stretch.