Looking for more than a job

For the beginning of the year I have a ritual I have been performing for so many years now: look for a new job. In my case, a new project or client, or perhaps a publisher for a book. Still, I have to look for a new job, no matter how I name it.

And that has been for 20 years... almost. It is not for the faint of heart.

Well, I did have a proper job for 3 months, in a good consulting firm in Bogota. It was nice to have some secure money at the end of the month, but it didn't last long. We got into an economic crisis and the clients ran away. Then they asked me to look for clients too, but if I had to go after clients, I would that for myself, not for the company.

And I had some long-term projects, which was also a kind of a blessing. I had the opportunity to work with the biggest company in Colombia and other big ones.

Still, most of the part, I have been looking for a job and to change that, I decided to start a blog to share many points of view and perceptions I don't share with companies and managers.

I feel the last 20 years of my life have been the most creative ones. Also, I traveled lots of miles during this time and I was able to create a beautiful network of people from whom I can learn and, from time to time, I can teach a little thing here and there. I can't regret.

When a person has a job, it seems the job has the person: it enslaves him or her, not allowing the person to think outside the box where she or he has to spend most of the years. Nothing against the job as it is not its fault. But why to allow the self to be chained to a chair?

What about consider any job you have - a fixed one or a very volatile like mine - as not a job, but a place to learn and to be able to be much more? What about think about the job as a way to expand our perception of life?

One of the best TV series you can watch - without sex and violence - is Undercover Boss. At one of its episodes, the company CEO was invited for some food at an employee's house. He was so touched to learn what that woman was doing he helped her with a promotion and some facilities: she was paying the house where they lived, helping some relatives who were not able to find a proper job and still able to smile and work in a very efficient way.

Expand your mind now about your own work, see your routine with student's eyes and see your co-workers as a disciple ready to learn something from others. At some point, be the master yourself and teach them the precious wisdom you have got until this moment. At other times, just enjoy being there.

Remember that job is a means for you to express yourself and to contribute to the society, but it will never be your master. And your life will just look like the life of someone who does not have to work...

Without the need of looking for a new job every year! Take care.