Life is your Career

Don’t tell me you’ve got the answer cause then another one will come along soon
        –The Answer by Bad Religion

We live in a society that is enamoured with the idea of shortcuts. If there is a quicker, easier way to do something then that’s what people want. Lose 10 pounds in a week! Make $10,000 a month from your home! Meet the spouse of your dreams in 5 easy steps! The headlines of our instant gratification society call out and pander to the desire for the easy solution. Even when something is not obviously a sales pitch, it often ends up making some out as being easier than it really is. Take blogging for example. I’ve read tons of articles on how easy it is to blog and make a living through it. Now I’m not interested in making a living from blogging, but I do enjoy refining my writing skill and from hearing my readers thoughts and learning from them. However there is no way that blogging is easy. Writing one article is no problem, but continually writing interesting posts as well as all the web site skills takes a lot of work. There is no simple quick fix to it. It’s not an easy solution.

This is how all things in life are. If you want something then you are going to have to work hard for it. A minimum of effort usually ends up leading to a minimum of results. And as for those easy solutions that people are always trying to sell us… if there was one that really worked don’t you think that everyone would already be doing it? The hair replacement ads are my favorite… if someone came up with an effective way to regrow hair then that person would be a multi-millionaire and everyone would want that product. But the easy solution is again just smoke, mirrors, and marketing.

So what does this mean if there is no easy solution? It means that we have to be prepared to give our all if we really want to accomplish a goal. If you want to excel at a sport then be prepared to practice for hours and hours. If you want to start you own business then be prepared for the hard work you’ll need to put in. If you want to meet new and exciting people you have to be ready to step outside of your comfort zone. It also means that in life it is difficult to be a jack of all trades. If you do everything reasonably well then you’ll be faced with a large amount of competition that can do it better than you. However if you avoid looking for easy solutions and pick one thing about which you are truly passionate, then you can put in the hard work needed to excel. It’s through excellence that we gain happiness and achieve our goals.

There is always going to be another quick way to better yourself that someone is pushing. But next time you see one of these, think back on other easy solutions you’ve tried. How did it go? How did you feel? I always felt frustrated when I didn’t get the results I was promised and that had seemed to simple. That’s the truth about what we get by taking the easy way out - frustration. So do some soul searching and pick a few things to be great at and start the hard work of doing what is necessary to be your best self.

It ain’t coming you have to find it
        –Let’s go by Rancid

I’ve never been much of a gambler. For me the pleasure of winning a hundred dollars is nothing compared to the intense suffering of loosing a single penny. As a result the only time I gamble is when it is with someone else’s money (no I don’t steal it… they get to keep any winnings I make). My personality isn’t geared for playing games in a casino when I know the house is going to have an edge against me.

The only game I will play at all (even with other’s money) is poker, because that’s the one time I feel like I can have a better than 50% chance at winning. If I feel that I’m up against better players at the table and don’t have a chance beyond just luck, then I stand up and leave the table. Playing to win for me involves having an edge over all the competition. Why compete at something where you know you’re already at a disadvantage? I wouldn’t challenge Lance Armstrong to a cycling race with money on the line - that would be stupid.

The same advice of only playing when you have an advantage can apply to career as well. Why do something if you know there are many people who can do it better than you? If you want a business to suceed you need to provide a material perceivable advantage over your competition. If you’re going to open the 30th coffee shop in town then you better have a coffee shop that is somehow different and more desirable than all the others. If you don’t, then one of them will make the changes and leave you in the dust. The same goes for picking a career working for others too. Recently a friend of mine asked me why I didn’t get a job working in the wine industry. Wine is my hobby and I like to think I’m reasonably knowledgable about it. I certainly enjoy it! However I know there are thousands of people out there who are far far more knowledgable about wine than I am, and if I went into the wine industry I would be relegated to the ranks of the mediocre. That’s not something I am willing to ever be. I don’t have an edge, so I’m better off finding an area where I have that material percievable advantage over the masses of competitors.

Play to win. When you’re looking for careers, first think about what you enjoy doing…. but then make sure you think about your own skills. Find that overlap between what you love and what you’re good at - that’s what you should be doing.