Kimanzi Constable's Blog, page 69

3 Lessons I Learned From 3 Different Jobs

I have been self-employed for the last eleven years but before that I worked at many different large companies. Going through these different jobs I was miserable, not necessarily because of that specific job but because it wasn't the right fit for me.

You may be in a similar situation right now, learn these lessons from that job and use them to help you find the job or business you have always dream about. It all starts with what is the right fit for you. The business I'm in now is still not the right fit for me but it pays the bills, I just couldn't see myself doing this for very long (10 years later). However, there are guys that are in this business that absolutely love it and I tip my hat to them, the point is everybody is different and you have to figure out what's right for YOU. 

I didn't realize it at the time but I really did learn some valuable lessons from these jobs that I still use today:

Always work hard and do a good job even when no one else is looking. The very first "real" job I had was working at Burger King (I also met my wife at this job). I was 16 years old and when I got this job I felt like an adult. Here is an excerpt from my first book about this job: "When I turned sixteen, I got my first "major" job at a large fast food company. At that time, this was the greatest thing that ever happened in my life. It was so good I could look past all those things that would bother you about a job now. For example, the attitudes of older workers—they hated their job and should be reading this book. Our bosses constantly yelled at us, treating us like we were one of his or her children. I also remember the free meals, clowning around with friends, the fact that I was in an "official" uniform. Do you remember your first real job? I think it's important to try to recapture that unadulterated joy. As a side note, I'm grateful for this job because I met my wife while working there." As a child I learned to work hard and do a good job from my parents, this job adding the element of when no one is looking. There were workers there old enough to be my parents but when management was away, all they did was play. They were rude to customers, they didn't clean up, they spent time in the break room gossiping. As a 16 year I didn't fit in anyways but if I did, I still wouldn't have joined them. I continued to work hard when management was gone, and even though we all thought no one was watching, management would review the security tapes (we didn't even know they had cameras). One day a few weeks later there was a big shake up where some people were fired and I (at 16 years old) was actually promoted to shift leader! I was 16 but these older workers had to do what I said, can you guess how much they liked that? Even if you're the only working hard, even if everybody else at your job is slacking off and seems to be getting away with it, do a good job and work hard. Trust me, you will be rewarded in the end!
Be a leader even when your leader isn't a leader. When I turned 18 years old I went to work for a printing copy called Quad graphics. Quad was unique because you would work 3 days on week and 4 days the next week, all 12 hour shifts. The days you worked were painful but it sure was nice to have off 3 or 4 days in a row! This job required a lot of independence because of how big the factory was. A manager couldn't hover around and check on everybody because there we too many people, so you had to have "little" leaders at each station. The problem was when something would go wrong with the machine people would kind of look around at each other and not really know what to do. Eventually somebody would be called in but in that time of confusion valuable printing time was wasted, ultimately hurting the bottom line. Now I'm not going to sit here and tell you I wasn't ever confused or that I was always on top of things, I was after all 18 years old. However, most of the time the machine would break, I would either fix any small problems ( learned a lot about these machines from workers that had been there for 30 years) or go to a machine where I know someone who could fix the problem. Even though I was just doing my job I was eventually promoted to running my own machine. Also, when there was a problem on another machine, people would come to me to see if I knew a quick fix. I'm not telling you that at your job you have to be the one with all the knowledge about everything but you do have to be the one to step up when there's a lack of leadership. I don't know about you but more and more there is a lack of strong leadership these days. Will you step up?
If you make a mistake, pick you head up and work harder (even if you get yelled at). Right now I deliver bread for a large bread company. It's my job to get a bulk amount of bread and distribute it into each store as needed based upon the sales the night before. Every week I would do a different route so it was hard to know where to put bread into stores I would just do for a week at a time, sometimes I would put the wrong bread into the wrong stores. When the route owner would come back he would call and tell me how the route was and sometimes I would get yelled at for putting the wrong bread in the wrong stores. After some of those calls I would be furious, telling myself they don't understand how hard it is to figure out what stores to put the bread in. But then one day I woke up. After some reading I was inspired to build the best business I could, so I looked at those calls as my first challenge. Instead of getting mad, I would challenge myself to make the next call from that driver the best call I've ever had with them. It started with setting myself up ahead of time, before I would get a few details on the phone and run their route cold turkey, now I leave them a packet to fill out that asks all the vital information I need to know to do the best possible job. By having that information I was able to convert all those angry calls into calls of gratitude and calls where they ask to book me for more time. For those drivers that refused to fill out the packet, I let them know up front that without that information I would do the best that I could but the responsiblity would fall on them for not giving me enough information. Have you made a mistake at a job or in your business? Use this as your fuel to next time do the best job that company has even seen. Use that bad experience in your business to turn things around and do such a great job that the customer tells everybody they know about your business.

Are there lessons you could use from your past or current jobs? Use them to take you to the next level. Work hard, be a leader and get up from a fall, you will become so valuable you'll have people fighting to get you to work for them!

What's one experience you could use to help you in the future? What's one lesson you would add? You chance to contribute is with a comment:

P.S. Here is the winner of the Kindle Fire give away with his prize:

Joseph Lalonde

 

 

Fighting The Enemy Of Change: Doubt

Have you made the commitment that you're making changes in your life this year? Have you seen what living the life of your dreams is all about and decided that enough is enough; you're going to make this the most productive year of your life?

Good, but watch out!

There's a silent enemy that doesn't want you to succeed, it's always there lurking in the shadows, that enemy is doubt.

When you've finally had enough and start to make changes, you better believe doubt will try to derail all your progress. As you're making progress and things start to slow down you hear that little voice in the back of your head telling you that you're going to fail: DON'T LISTEN TO THAT VOICE!

Doubt isn't always from you; it will come from anywhere and everywhere. I remember when I first started to make changes and I told my extended family about some of my goals, let's just say they didn't roll out the red carpet.You should be prepared to have the same experience.

It's in our nature to doubt and it's definitely in our nature to resist change, you know this from personal experience. The beauty of a commitment to change is that it's our way to fight our nature and to destroy doubt.

If you are going to successfully fight doubt you have to realize something: you're going to fail. Not everything we do in this journey to change and accomplish our goals and dreams will work or work how we want it to.

Sorry to interrupt but if you haven't already……

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More than that realize that when you fail it's not the end of the world, you have the ability to get back up and try harder. Nelson Mandela said: "The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

It might seem life shattering when things don't work out how we want them to but usually they're not, it's mostly in our heads. Stop listening to those voices or the voices of other people and push forward.

Doubt will also root its head when you have a lack of patience. I know how it is; I've been in your shoes. When we make changes in our life we want them to happen yesterday, tomorrow takes too long! For some of us the changes we're making are huge and life altering, do you really think you could do this overnight? It took a while to get these bad habits we want to change and it's probably going to take longer to break them.

Even when you have made significant progress you'll still have doubts. For me personal this year has been amazing. I am released my second book and have been able to do some guest posts on large blogs. I even got the opportunity to do two interviews (it's weird hearing your own voice) but after all that, even with my book selling well, I still hear the voice of doubt trying to derail me.

It's in my head telling me that what I'm doing is still not good enough; it tells me that no matter what I do it won't be good enough. I hear doubt telling me that my book sucks, that I sounded horrible in the interviews, that I'll be stuck working my day job forever: SHUT UP DOUBT!

I've learned to ignore doubt and to ignore people who want to be negative towards my dreams. I've learned that this is my life, not theirs, I have to make these changes because they are right for my life.

How's your year going?

I hope that you're also having the best most productive year of your life, that's what change is all about. As you move forward and make progress just realize that doubt will be there and will try to slow you down.

The good thing is we've had enough and are pushing forward this year no matter what!

What doubts do you have? Will you let them stop you? (I hope not!) Your chance to beat doubt is with a comment:

No One Cares, Now What?

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Do you remember the excitement you had the first day you discovered what your dreams are? It was pure joy, you wanted to scream it from the roof tops, I'm going to………

After that initial excitement wore off it was time to get to work, so you did the smart thing and did the research on what it would take. When you started to see what would all be involved, you got a little discouraged, this wasn't going to be some easy tasks, it didn't matter though, you were determined to live your dreams.

So you worked hard and made sacrifices to get to your dreams and couldn't wait to release your dream to the world. You couldn't wait to quit that job that you really didn't like and live everyday working on something you truly believed in.

I remember when I first discovered Dan Miller and read his books, I was pumped and I knew what he was saying was the truth. I believed that I could "find or create work that I loved", I just had to figure out what that was. I thought and prayed long and hard and thought my calling was to be an event planner, so I had an opportunity right away to put this to the test. My sister was getting married and she asked me to plan the wedding, I learned pretty fast that this wasn't my true passion or what I was called to do.

It was chaos and I was at the head of it, everyone knew this was my first time but dealing with everything involved in event planning made me quickly realize that this was the job for someone else. In case you're wondering, she hired someone else and the wedding turned out better with out me planning it!

So it was back to the drawing board, and I prayed longer and harder and believed the Lord was leading me to my true calling. Through some different circumstances with work I needed to vent and the best way I usually vented was writing. I had always loved to write when I was younger but had never dreamed of doing it when I got older. So I started a small blog about work and the things that were happening.

As I wrote the blog, two amazing things started to happen, a few people said they liked it and the writing just seemed to flow. I realized that I had a lot to say and that maybe I could put it in a book……

To make a long story short I had been reading the success stories of people like John Locke and Amanda Hocking and their success with self publishing, so I decided to see if I had a book in me. I still remember how excited I was when I first started writing and as I neared the end of the book I started lining things up. I found an amazing editor and ebook formatter. I found an awesome graphic designer (he designed this site and all my covers, email him at f@ffffff.co ) and I had all the basics set. All I needed to do was release the book to the world.

I set a release date and promoted it every where on the face of the world (not literally but pretty close) and was ready to see the sales and ready to give my notice at my job. I was convinced that I did everything right and would see some awesome return for my money, so the release date of August 12 came and the book was officially out to the world. Can you guess what happened?

The first day the book was out, I promoted it all day and felt "good", I would check the sales every 10 minutes but didn't see any, I thought it took three days to get results back from Amazon. After about a week there wasn't a single sale, a big fat zero! I was already tired and discouraged from the journey to get to this point but this put me over the edge! I worked so hard to write and put out a professional book that the "average" worker could use but no one cared!

Going through this really thought me a few lessons about dealing with disappointment:

Things aren't always going to go as you want them to. This should be obvious to us but it's seems to elude us at that moment. I wanted to sell 10,000 copies that first day and quit the next day, it didn't and there's a reason for that. I'm a Christian and I believe the Lord definitely has a plan, it may not be the plan we want but it's the plan that we need (even if it takes us a while to realize). Be prepared if things don't go as planned, don't let it discourage you into quitting. You can't quit!
When it seems like no one is listening, practice. I was so passionate about that first blog and I did get good response but not a lot of people. I was mad everyday when I looked at the stats but I started to see that writing for no one as time to practice and get better with my writing. When you are releasing your dreams to the world and it seems like no one even cares about it, get better at it, practice until you become the best. If you have a quality product people will eventually see it and respond to it, you might have to rework your marketing but it all starts with great quality or great content. So practice and become the best, don't worry about whose listening or who cares.
Don't give into doubt! Doubt will be one of your biggest enemies when it seems like no one cares or you failed, don't listen to doubt. It's hard enough when you are following your dreams, doubt makes it 100 times harder and doesn't go away. Doubt wants you to fail and give up but if you have prayed to the Lord and have peace about what he wants for your life, then you have to ignore doubt and push forward, you just have to!
Rework your plan but don't give up! In my case I did a lot of good things and was convinced from the Lord of the path that I am on, I just had to look at what wasn't working and rework my strategy. I was a little naive and impatient, sometimes it just takes time, we have to be patient! So when it seems like a big flop, do a little post game analysis and see what you could do better, if you are releasing a book or a product, rework your marketing. You can make it work, it will just take some more hard work, determination and creating a new game plan. It all starts with prayer and peace from the Lord, so pray! Please, please don't give up, life is too short to be miserable from a unfulfilling life, don't give up! This year has to be different, this has to be the year of following your dreams and passions, too many years have passed where we have given up, not this year!

So where are you at? Have you figured out what your dreams are? Have you started the process? Have you tried and no one cares?

If you haven't figured out your dreams, then pray and listen, this will be your hardest part of the journey.
If you have already started, examine your plan, make it the best it can be, but be prepared if things don't go your way
If you have released your dream to the world and no one is listening, be patient and pray. Don't give up, go back to the drawing board and rework your plan. You can do this, I have complete confidence in you!

Where are you at in the process? Any advice from your experience? Your chance to help is in the comments:

 

What It's Like On The Other Side: An Interview With A Human Resources Manager

Hello to those visiting from the blog of Michael Hyatt, welcome! If you are new, don't miss out on what Tales of Work is all about:

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Have you ever wonder what goes on after you've submitted an application or resume to a company? Have you ever wondered how many people are applying for the same job as you? Have you ever wondered what you filled out wrong or why you never got a call back from a company you were trying to get a job at?

If you have ever wondered any of these questions or are just curious about some of the inner workings of a company, then I have a treat for you. A friend of mine has extensive experience in the human resources department and has agreed to give us a look on the "other side":

Tami Boyd (http://www.facebook.com/#!/tami.boyd)

What experience do you have with Humans Resources? I have worked for almost 6 years in HR. Much less in recent years since I am a busy SAHM of 3 young children. I do have a per-diem position that allows me to keep my resume active by working a couple of hours a week doing what I love. I really enjoy all aspects of the recruitment process from reviewing applications/resumes, calling job seekers, pre-screening applicants and interviewing. I also love training.

 

What did you go to school for? I have a bachelor of science in business administration. I took many HR electives since it was a personal interest.

 

On average about how many applications or resumes do you see in Human Resources? Not really measurable at this point since right now I'm not working much. When I was involved it varied based on advertising and need.

 

How many of those applications or resumes do you actually look at? When I am looking for candidates for a particular position I look at several and for these things:

Do they meet the minimum requirements that are posted for the position? I hire for positions that do require certain educational degrees and state licenses.
Do they have relevant work experience in the field to which they are applying?
Are they a 'job hopper'? You can smell them a mile away! Work 4 months here, 2 months there, 7 months at another place.

 

What's better to send an application or resume? Submitting a cover letter and resume are usually the first ways to show interest and apply for open positions. Lots of places have discontinued the use paper applications. If you are chosen to continue in the interview process you will receive an e-application sent to your email.

 

What's one mistake you would tell people to avoid? One is hard, but I will try. Be sure that you resume is professional and accurate. I see many resumes that are full of spelling errors, punctuation errors and other glaring mistakes. I have had many resumes from people who are missing vital things…like their phone numbers and names. I actually got a resume that must have been written using an online template….the name at the top of the resume actually said 'FirstName LastName'. Really people? Do you think that is going to land you a job?

 

Does it help or hurt a candidate's chances if they call back inquiring about their resumes or application? Inquiring as to the status of an application is a common thing. It's all about how it's done that is important. First off, when you apply for a job you need to remember that it's usually not as important to the hiring manager as it is to you. They have a job to do and are usually very busy people. If their day is busy it may take a while to check references (and wait for the references to call them back). It is ok after about a week to call and ask for the status of your application. By law they are not required to tell you anything, but in some cases they will tell you if the position has been filled or if you are should sit tight and wait to hear something. If an applicant is annoying and demanding during the interview/application process they will probably be annoying and demanding if they were to be hired for the job. So yes, it's ok to check, and that sometimes will make your name come to the top of the pile…but just be VERY careful and professional when doing this.

 

Should they make a follow-up call and if yes, how soon should that be? Most seem to prefer different methods other than an actual call. For professional positions it is common to send a card thanking the manager for the interview. Thanks can also be communicated via email. It should be done within the week following the interview so that the interviewee is still fresh in the mind of the interviewer.

 

What are you mainly looking for in an application or resume?

Be a Good Worker! Solid job history that is relevant to the open position.
Be Qualified! Meeting the basic requirements for the job. It's annoying to recruiters when people apply to positions for which they aren't even closely qualified for
Be Professional! In the resume / application – if the applicant can't spell their city/street name correctly I'm pretty sure they won't be able to fill out paperwork professionally etc.
Be Honest! I am blown away by the amount of people who lie on their resumes and applications. Most employers have a statement that they must sign on the applications that they are being truthful on the application. If this is violated it can be a reason for not hiring the individual or for their employment being terminated.
Be concise! Resumes that are pages long with huge paragraphs listing every little task you have ever done at every job you have ever had aren't appropriate. Keep it clear, concise and professional! Keep it to one page if at all possible.

 

What's some practical advice anyone who is looking for a job should know? Be prepared for interviews. First impressions are very a key to your success. This starts from the second you answer the phone when you are called and asked to interview. If you give out your cell phone number on your resume please be careful how you answer your phone. I often get people answering the phone like this "what" or "talk". As you can imagine they are often quite embarrassed and they change their tune very quickly once they hear who I am. When you go to an interview dress nicely. It's always safer to overdress than to be under dressed. Know how to respond to behavioral interview questions. Research this ahead of time so that when you are asked questions you won't be sitting there looking dumb and speechless. The internet is full of sample behavioral interview questions. Be confident and do a little research about the company before you have your interview. This can be done by simply reading over the company's website and becoming familiar with the industry. Lastly, do not act too desperate and don't every bash your former employers when interviewing!

Wow, as I read through this I was blown away by how practical this advice is. If you are looking for work or are looking to move onto the job of your dreams, please use this information, it could help get you that dream job!

I want to give a HUGE thanks to Tami Boyd for answering these questions and for giving us so many great nuggets to use!

Do you have any advice to add to the discussion? Do you have a story to tell about applying for work? The comments is the place to help us all out:

The Winner Is……

This video was shot on my I Phone, so forgive the quality!

The winner is …….. Joseph Lalonde (http://www.jmlalonde.com/)

Thank you to all that bought the book, I hope even though you didn't win that the book will be a "win" for you! I would love to know your thoughts about the book, so when you're done please email me at kimanzi@talesofwork.com and give me your thoughts!

Again, a really big THANK YOU to everyone who bought the book!

Featured On The Blog Of Michael Hyatt, Now I'm Going To Disneyland!

To my loyal readers:

Thank You Michael!

Today I have the honor of guest posting on the blog of Michael Hyatt, this is a HUGE honor to which I'm extremely grateful! Please check out the post and say "HI" in the comments. I would also ask that you share the post on all your social media pages, I would owe you yet another favor!

To those visiting from Michael Hyatt's blog:

First and foremost, HI and WELCOME, I'm glad you're here! What we talk about at Tales of Work is finding your true passion in your work and practical tips to deal with the issues we face everyday in our work (traditional or self-employment).

40 hours a week (maybe longer for some) is too long to spend at a job or business that makes you miserable. When we feel this way about our work, it will affect every other area of our life. Even in this economy we can find work that compliments our life and the things that are important to us!

My most popular posts are below and on the side bar, check them out, if you like what you see, please consider signing up for updates.

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When you subscribe, you'll get a copy of my manifesto which has now been downloaded over 10,000 times. It's a little inspirational ebook that will inspire you to change those things in your life that you have always wanted to change but haven't.

Don't miss out on a chance to win a Kindle Fire!

My new book came out last Friday, as a part of the release, you have a chance to win an Amazon Kindle Fire. If you decide to buy my new book (The Difference Between Living and Existing: A Nine Month Plan To Radically Change Your Life) or my first book (Tales of the Everyday Workingman and Woman) from my website and share that you bought the book on any of your social media pages, your name will be thrown in a hat. Tomorrow (3/10/12) my eight year old daughter will pick a name out of a hat, I will email that person and tell them that they one! I will record all of this and put the video on my site. I know the books will help you out tremendously, so think of the Kindle Fire (if you win) as a pleasant bonus!

Stay connected, I would love to get to know you!

I would love to keep in touch with you and get to know you, who doesn't need one more good friend, right? You can stay connected with me through all the social media buttons on the top of this website or just click on the links below:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/KimanziC

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Again, thank you for visiting and I hope you will come back and get involved with the Tales of Work community, we're always looking for awesome new people! Stay connected and let's change this world together!

A Case Study On Work (Part 1)

Here at Tales of Work we obviously talk about our work and every aspect of it, we try to give helpful, practical tips for your job or business. For the next two posts I conducted a little case study about work from several different individuals in a wide variety of jobs and businesses. My hope with this little case study is for you to see some of the different things others are doing for work and to inspire you to find or create a job or business that matches the things that are important to your life.

 

If you have a story to tell or would like to be a part of future case studies, email me at: Kimanzi@talesofwork.com I would love to hear your story and/or feature it here on the blog. Please visit the blog's or website's or social media pages of everyone that so graciously took part in this case study, they have some awesome and inspiring material that will help you! So without further a due:

Loren Pinilis (http://www.lifeofasteward.com/)

 

When you were young, what did dream about doing when you got older? It seems I changed my dream every few years. It went from a paleontologist to an architect to a composer to a recording engineer to an entrepreneur to starting a ministry related to a Christian perspective on time management.
What do you currently do now for "work" (traditional employment, self-employed, homemaker, other)? God has blessed with family connections that have allowed me to be self-employed and serve the family business as my primary client. I do a bunch of miscellaneous work from public relations to graphic design.
Is this your "dream" work? It's an excellent way to provide an income and still remain fairly flexible and self-directed. That gives me time to focus on other pursuits, such as the ministry that is my true dream job. I certainly enjoy my work now and wouldn't mind doing it for many years to come as "tentmaking" for my ministry.
Do you believe it's possible for anyone to find work that they love? I don't believe it's possible for everyone as they are right now. A lot of unfruitful desires, motivations, and perspectives will need to be addressed first in many people. I think it's more about looking at yourself and starting to change there before you start setting goals and going on the career hunt.
What advice would you or are you teaching your children about work? I have a 3-year old and a 1-year old, so our teaching is pretty limited right now. We try to get them to clean up toys, "help" with chores – and of course we try to model to them what hard work looks like.
If you were giving a speech to a high school class, what advice would you give them about work and their future? Two things: 1 – Your life is not your own. You were bought with a price. Live like it. 2 – You may not believe it, but your life will only get busier. Use your time in high school and college to learn as much as you can about God, theology, and scripture.

TC Avey (http://tcavey.blogspot.com/)

When you were young, what did dream about doing when you got older? Growing up I had many dreams, in fact I bounced around frequently!  I guess that's why I have two college degrees in completely different things.  In the back of my mind however, I always wanted to be a writer. I even prayed that God would help me achieve that dream but then I never pursued it.  Instead, I chased after the American dream of success.  All that lead to was me being dissatisfied with every job I had.
What do you currently do now for "work" (traditional employment, self-employed, homemaker, other)? Life is crazy beautiful. I'm happy to say I have left the rat race and am currently pursuing my dream of becoming a published author.
Is this your "dream" work? Working towards my dream is more rewarding and fulfilling than anything I have ever endeavored to achieve.
Do you believe it's possible for anyone to find work that they love? I think we all have to honest with ourselves when making dreams and working towards them. Example:  Say you are a 5'7″ guy who weighs 140 lbs and you want to play point guard for the NBA it's probably not going to happen.  Say you want to be a brain surgeon but you hate school, can't stand studying, rarely finish homework and don't have the GPA to get into med school-it's probably not going to happen. Take my dream.  With so many self publishing options today, writing may appear to be an easier career path than ever before.  BUT, it's still tricky, in fact it may be even more difficult because there are so many options available and more people than ever are desiring to get published.  On top of all the competition, even if an author does get published, it doesn't mean they will have good book sales because there are so many options of reading material available to the consumers.  Add to all this that neither of my college degree's has anything to do with writing!  I'm climbing an uphill battle, but it's still doable.  I am honing my craft by blogging, by reading blogs of published authors/agents/editors and those who aspire to be published.  I am also writing my book and researching the best publishing options available for me personally. So I guess I should say, yes, it is possible to work at something you love.  Just be realistic and willing to put forth the necessary work.
What advice would you or are you teaching your children about work? I plan to teach my kids the value of hard work, disciple and integrity. I believe those are key to being successful in everything.  I will live by example so they will know not only the concepts, but the actual steps necessary to live a life of productivity.  Anything worth having is worth working for. If things are handed to you, you don't truly appreciate it. 
If you were giving a speech to a high school class, what advice would you give them about work and their future? Don't make excuses for not achieving your goals.  Take ownership and responsibility for your life and your choices.  Don't say, "I'm going to try"- just do it!  You don't TRY to brush your teeth- you brush your teeth! Also, surround yourself with like-minded people.  The old saying, "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future" is true.  If you want to be a brain surgeon, don't hang out with the kids who are re-taking the 10th grade for the third time- hang out with the honor students (even if you don't have their grades, their study habits will rub off on you). Realize you don't have to have everything figured out.  Be flexible, be open and be honest with yourself.  Lying to yourself is the greatest disservice you could do. Finally, don't focus too much on worldly possessions or status.  Those things don't last.  Make sure you are developing your Spiritual life more than you are your physical.  Having a firm foundation in God will help you through whatever difficulties come as you pursue your dream. Life is short, make the most of it! 

Thank You!

I want to thank Loren and TC for being a part of this case study, they put a lot of thought into their answers. Their answers have a lot to digest so I suggest you go through them a couple of times!

The Takeaways:

I think one point to pay special attention to is what TC said in response to the first question, she pursued other things instead of her passion for writing and in her words:

 "Instead, I chased after the American dream of success. All that lead to was me being dissatisfied with every job I had." 

This is the message we are trying to spread at Tales of Work, pursue your passion, the key is what Loren said:

 "I think it's more about looking at yourself and starting to change there before you start setting goals and going on the career hunt"

We're tempted to look at the "good" paying jobs and think that the money will take care of everything else, nine times out of ten it doesn't. Life is too short to settle at a job or business where you're not happy, at a situation that doesn't match the things that are important to your life.

If you read Loren's answer he brings up a good point, his true passion is ministry and his current work situation compliments that passion, it gives him the freedom to pursue that passion. This is what we all should be looking for in our "work" and we all can find this, it's not going to be an easy road but the reward at the end of the journey makes it all worth it!

How would you answer these questions? Do you like what you would have to say? Your chance is with a comment:

 

 

A Case Study On Work (Part 2)

 

This is part two of our case study on our work, the past, present and future. After reading the first post, did you ask yourself these questions? What did you want to do when you were younger?

When we're kids we have all kinds of dreams and that's good, when we get older we found ways to dismiss most of those dreams as fantasy when the fact is we can use some of that childhood innocence.

I hope the first post made you think but more than that, I hope you took away something that you could use to find work that will compliment every other area of your life. We spend 40 hours of our week at work, more for some of us, if you think you can spend that much somewhere and not have it affect the other area's of your life, you're lying to yourself!

So here are the last interviews in our case study:

Michael Greig (http://www.mikecheck.ca/)

When you were young, what did dream about doing when you got older? As a child, I wanted to be a police officer. I wanted the thrill of car chases, busting bad guys and dirty cops. I definitely had a childish view of what the job really is. Had somebody suggested to me that I was far more likely to be sitting on the side of the road in a cruiser doing the day's paperwork perhaps I would have seen it as a little less glamorous. I also wanted to fly airplanes. I am proud to say that although I do not fly for a living, I fulfilled this dream last year in completing my private pilot license.
What do you currently do now for "work" (traditional employment, self-employed, homemaker, other)? I work as a truck driver/crane operator. I am employed by an excavating company and spend my time in a gravel truck, crane truck or lowbed tractor-trailer moving equipment.
Is this your "dream" work? My dream specifically? No, not at all. I think there is a part of every small boy who would love to play with excavators, bulldozers and other misc. equipment all day but for me, it wore off very quickly. I sort of fell in to this line of work and got married, had a daughter (#2 is on the way!) and it is now far more difficult for me to make a change than it would have been before all of that.
Do you believe it's possible for anyone to find work that they love? Definitely. The problem is most people put money over happiness. It's as simple as that. I am guilty of this as we speak. I could quit my job tomorrow and get into something far more suited to me but it's difficult. I will have to give up my Android phone, dinners out etc. in order to do so. Although I am willing to make that sacrifice, being intentional about my work from a younger age would have made it much, much easier. That said, I don't know that I had much direction before spending 7 years in a unfulfilling career.
What advice would you or are you teaching your children about work? Income generation is a necessity, there's no getting around that. In my mind, there are 2 options. Build a business that can function without your constant presence (see: 4 Hour Work Week) and use the resultant free time to pursue your passion in a way that helps others, or pursue something that you love as a paid career. Everybody is different. Online entrepreneurship isn't for everybody just as race car driving isn't for everybody. But you love something. Be intentional and do what you love, stay at home as long as you need to while you're working toward a career that fulfills you and don't ever let money cloud your vision.
If you were giving a speech to a high school class, what advice would you give them about work and their future? Be intentional about what you will do with your life, you WILL spend 40 to 50 years working on and eventually be remembered for something…Make sure that it's something that is important to you. Don't ever take advice, especially advice discouraging you from action, from somebody unqualified to give it. This applies to investments, business…EVERYTHING! There will always be some people intent on stopping you from doing anything out of their comfort zone. Kindly thank them for their time and move on. Don't let the squeaky wheels discourage you. When you meet the right person that you want to marry, don't hold off. Anything that you wanted to accomplish as a single person can be accomplished with a loving partner and even children. Yes, I said anything. You may not get another chance. Never forget that your time is your most valuable asset. You may not wake up tomorrow so make the most of today. Give until it hurts!

 

Joseph Lalonde (http://www.jmlalonde.com/)

When you were young, what did dream about doing when you got older? Two things come to mind when I think of my dreams when I was young. The first is video game design. Playing video games was my favorite thing to do growing up and I thought it would be awesome to design and create games that people would play. The second thing is writing. To be honest, I don't remember dreaming about writing but I know it was there because of an assignment I recently found. During high school we had to create a career plan. I recently uncovered the folder and was shocked to see I had chosen writing as the career.
What do you currently do now for "work" (traditional employment, self-employed, homemaker, other)? Currently, I am employed in traditional employment but have dabbled in self employment. In fact my current position came from my self employment days. I was let go from my position in sales for a bookstore. Not long before I had read Dan Miller's 48 Days To The Work You Love and I started to craze something more. After the bookstore, I decided I would go into the computer repair business. After a couple of years of struggling with the business, I got a phone call from a friend who said they needed some help with the IT work at their company. I agreed and started to work there part time. Eventually my friend left and I took over for him.
Is this your "dream" work? For a time I thought this would be my dream work. But it is not. 
Do you believe it's possible for anyone to find work that they love? I do believe it is possible. You have to look for it. You have to work for it. You have to pursue it.
What advice would you or are you teaching your children about work? Going to a job you dislike or hate everyday is not worth the paycheck. Find something you love and make an opportunity out of it.
If you were giving a speech to a high school class, what advice would you give them about work and their future? The old model of work is fading. Being paid for your presence will be obsolete. You must make yourself indispensable. 

 

William Haeflinger (http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1176278399)

When you were young, what did dream about doing when you got older? I had dreams of being a pro ball player.
What do you currently do now for "work" (traditional employment, self-employed, homemaker, other)? I deliver bread as an independent operator.
Is this your "dream" work? I want to get into barbecuing.
Do you believe it's possible for anyone to find work that they love? It is indeed possible to find work you love.
What advice would you or are you teaching your children about work? I teach my kids to keep their minds open and go after what they want in life.
If you were giving a speech to a high school class, what advice would you give them about work and their future? I would tell high schoolers to go after their dreams with all they've got and not settle cause life is too short.

Thank You!

I want to thank Mike, Joe and William for their honest and insightful answers and for participating in this case study.

The Takeaways:

The one thing that I hope you take away from this case study is to pursue your passion, don't just go after the money. Nobody is telling you that this will be an easy journey but it will be worth it in the end. It starts with figuring out what you're passionate about and how that work uniquely fits you.

Are you happy with your work right now? Yeah I know, you got bills to pay. Stephen covey says to look for "and" solutions, you can pursue your dreams and you can pay your bills. It all starts with a plan.

Do you have a plan? We're all curious, let us know in the comments:

 

Your Chance To Win A $200 Kindle Fire!!

Spread the word!

I truly believe you will get tremendous value from this new book but I wanted to give you a little bonus.

So this is the deal:

If you buy the book directly from this website and share that you bought this book on any of your social media pages, you will be entered for a chance to win an Amazon Kindle Fire.

One week from today, all of the email addresses will be entered into a hat, my 8-year-old daughter will pick one name. I will email that person telling them that they won, I will also verify that they shared that they bought the book on their social media pages. I will video record all of this and put the video here on the site on Saturday (3/10/12).

Don't worry, I will NOT share any email addresses publicly, you're safe that way. So that's it, spend $2.99 for a chance to win a $200 Kindle Fire. Even if you don't win the book can truly help you radically change your life! It's a win-win situation!

What Could You Do In Nine Months?

If you were 100% focused on how wisely you used your time, and focused on accomplishing a goal, what could you do in nine months?

Right before the wedding

About two years ago I was getting ready for my brothers wedding, I was his best man. As I was putting on my suit I had to acknowledge in my mind some things that I really didn't want to acknowledge. Let me tell you honestly, it was extremely hard to get my suit on and not pop a button!

I went to the wedding and the whole time I felt really uncomfortable, the thoughts that were running through my head took away from the experience of the wedding. After the ceremony we took wedding pictures, no big deal there. The problem came a few weeks later when I finally got a chance to see the pictures.

At the moment I first saw the pictures, I couldn't deny it anymore, I couldn't make anymore excuses, the cold truth was evidenced in my hand, I was FAT! Now I hate to use that word but I just want to tell you what I thought at that moment. At the time of his wedding I weighed 332 pounds, it's hard for me even to write that number.

Seeing the pictures was my wake up call, enough was enough, I had to do something about this. I went out the next day and joined a gym, I would to that gym for 3 hours a day, 6 days a week, I was determined to lose the weight. I started an intense diet that only allowed me to eat one meal a day (about 1,200 calories). All of this was pretty extreme and I lost 132 pounds in 5 months, and I'm dead serious about that time frame.

Dan Miller wrote the NY Times best-selling book: "48 Days to the Work You Love" which talks about finding or creating the work of your dreams in 48 days, pretty crazy, right?

We can accomplish some amazing things when we decide to focus and have a plan

Are there things in your life right now that you want to change or are you lying to yourself like I was? Just like it was for me, that nagging feeling doesn't go away and it's there for a reason, sooner or later you're going to have to deal with it. Losing weight was the right thing to do for me, I could give you study after study as to why, but more than that I needed to do it for me. I wasn't happy with how I looked, I wasn't happy with how I felt, and it wasn't a good example for my kids. So I got on a plan and I had unwavering focus and guess what? It worked. Whatever changes you want to make for your life are totally possible with a plan and focus, the only thing really holding you back is YOU (and me). As a Christian I knew my Lord wasn't happy about my weight, I was overindulging and I felt that the verse in Romans 12:1 applied, my body was far from a temple.

Making changes in your life gradually (here is an excerpt from my new book):

"Two years ago I decided I wanted to change my weight, so I hit it very hard and lost 132 pounds. The problem was I didn't do it gradually. I would go to the gym for four hours a day and ate 1,200 calories a day. Yeah, I lost the weight super-fast, but I was always tired, always cranky. I didn't do it gradually, so I didn't learn some valuable lessons, and as a result I gained all the weight back and more. Going slow teaches you the importance of never going back to what you just changed. If you move to fast you might end up hitting a bump, falling down, and then getting so frustrated that you give up. Go slow; look at it as a marathon and not just a quick race.

Remember that you are radically changing things forever, so go slow and make sure it's done right and in a way where you won't have to go back and change your changes! By taking things gradually, you see things more clearly, seeing the "bumps" before you hit them!

You'll naturally be impatient, naturally want to steamroll forward. You can do this and probably make some progress, but in the end you'll have missed the lesson which will blind you from seeing things creep up back on you. For me, I didn't learn to moderate my workouts, so when I lost the weight I had a false sense of how much working out I needed to do.

Even now, learn from my mistake and learn each lesson as we go through these months. Learn how to make these changes gradually, learn what got you to where you were. Use this information to fight any attempts by yourself or anyone else to drag you down. We're not going back there, right?"

One of the reasons we constantly go through a seesaw cycle of starting to make changes and quit, is because we move too fast and don't learn the valuable lessons that will keep us from going back. I can tell you this for a fact, that's why one year after losing that weight I gained 144 pounds right back! (It really hurts to tell the truth!)

 Nine months to radically change your life!

Some of what I've shared with you today and in other blog posts is why I wrote this new book. I had written my first book as a part of chasing my dreams to get away from a job that I hated, it took me away from my family with the odd hours and days. It took me away from going to church and being involved in ministry opportunities, when I talked to my Pastor and told him I was going to quit, he said praise the Lord. He felt like the job incumbered my life and kept me away from the things that are important to me. I wanted to get the message about your work affecting your life out to the entire world!

Between the first book and this new book was a good amount of time where I started and stopped three different books, I just didn't have peace about each of the books. Then my wife and I felt the Lord talking to us about some things that we needed to get right and change in our life. We followed the call and starting making changes in our lives and as we we're doing it, I felt inspired and called to tell others how to make changes that stick, loosely based off of what we're going through.

So this new book was born and that's why I hope people can relate to it. I'm not some millionaire who hires ghost writers to write about something he doesn't know about to make money off of you and me. I'm an everyday, average guy who has struggled with the same issues for a long time and has finally had enough. I know what you're going through because I'm going through those same things. I have seen a little success and feel my calling is to give back and show you how you can do it and why you should do it.

Is it God's will?

I talk a lot about finding work that you love and some of my Christian friends talk about the Lord opening and closing doors, Dan Miller wrote an awesome post that really explained this well: http://www.48days.com/2012/02/22/god-closing-doors-calling/ you have to be really honest with yourself and really listening to the voice of our Lord.

If you take nine months to radically change your life, you can change the world (another excerpt from my book):

"Changing the world starts with you!

When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits,

I dreamed of changing the world.

As I grew older and wiser I discovered the world would not change –

So I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country,

But it too seemed immovable.

As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt,

I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me,

But alas, they would have none of it.

And now I realize as I lie on my deathbed, if I had only changed myself first,

Then by example I might have changed my family,

From their inspiration and encouragement I would then have been able to better my country,

And who knows, I might have even changed the world."

This is an inscription on the tomb of an Anglican bishop in Westminster Abbey.

Do you realize the impact of one changed life?

In the New Testament we saw how 12 ordinary men's lives were completely transformed by Jesus Christ, those 12 men radically changed the world!

Can we see change like this in our time?

Why haven't we?

Can you radically change your life in nine months?

What impact will it have on you, your family, and the world?

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS STOPPING YOU?