Finding a good job

Jobs, gigs, an employment…

For some, it is some sort of slavery… for others, it is a way of realizing the true potential.

What is it for you?

OK, there are some places or careers that shouldn’t exist, either because they are very underpaid or useless. But there is a way to make those meaningful.

There are other jobs that make you feel the best in the world… they can be made even more meaningful.

First, align your job with your VALUES, those qualities you don’t write into your curriculum, but they are what will link whatever you do with what you are. It does not mean you have to leave it, but reflect upon how to include them into your activities.

Second, what is your PURPOSE in life? If you are working, but that is not making your purpose clearer or greater, then you won’t find full satisfaction. If that is the case, it is time to rethink your work position, career or attitude; there is something wrong. Don’t leave it, just think, reflect and act.

The last thing is your FUTURE VISION: can you see how this present position contributes for you in terms of fulfilling your aim and goals? Part of the reason work is unfulfilling is the fact that you don’t realize how it fits in the picture of your life… Think of it, there is always something you can learn or assimilate even from a very bad job.

You do this and whatever you work will be good for you and for others.

Even small things that happen to you contribute to your personal development – Reason 31

My first job was such that I don’t ever include it in my curriculum.  However, I learned so much from it; small lessons that help me to keep organised in a very fast-paced world.

There is always something that will help you to be a better person, if you just take the time to look for that, no matter what it is.

Leaders do take their time to look at everything that happens to them and by doing that, they are able to transform a seemingly useless situation into opportunities for personal growth.

Take for instance a person like Steve Jobs[1], arguably one of the most important leaders in the field of technology.  In his speech at Stanford, he summarised his experiences in life; casting light on at least one thing that wouldn’t look as important, but had a huge impact in computing as we know today.

When he could not afford college, he took classes which would not be considered so relevant to his profession: calligraphy.  That changed a world where computers were not supposed to offer aesthetics and Jobs thought differently, and he was right about it.  Not only does his computer offer a good image for writing or for graphics in general, but all personal computers in the world have now that aim, following Jobs’ example.

If you are a leader, remember how in a few years these things you are doing that may seem boring or irrelevant may turn part of your life and your gift to the world.

(Excerpt from the book 82 Reasons to be a Leader)

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[1] Steve Jobs is arguably one of the most influential people for the 20th and 21st centuries.  He is the founder of Apple Computer and an inspiration for many of the inventions that are part of people’s day-to-day lives.  For his well-known speech at Stanford University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

Do you have patience?

In a very fast-paced world, some virtues are not so cool and patience is one of them for it is connected to slow-moving men and women, weak individuals or very old people.

In fact, patience is connected to the reality of the world. If it is not for patience, your parents would not have expected you to be born – after all, NINE MONTHS!! So many things you can do during that time!!!!

For example, food and maturity come from a season and it is hard to be sped them up. When humans mix science with nature, results are not pleasant to everyone and there is a big wave in the world trying to revert that we did to our own food; same thing applies to maturity, which has its process and it is different to each person.

My observation is that patience is not the problem. The real challenge is how to discern between having patience and being slow. It is not that simple… Let’s take the example of a career.

On one hand, patience will help you to develop it in a pace that won’t stress you out but it will guarantee a good result at the end of the road. You will be focused on learning more than having immediate success as you know achievements will come along the way.

However you cannot just wait for things to happen. You will be pushed, threatened, taunted and even blackmailed by your bosses, co-workers, spouses and relatives to go for it! After all, your youth won’t last forever and maybe is already fading away…

Patience is good, it helps with health and it helps you to reach those goals you want to get, but it is not enough. No virtue or value is enough, they all need a partner. In the case of patience, its partner is perseverance that will help you to not accommodate to the situation but break reality and start your own change process.

OK, if you leave patience aside, you will be hurt as you will succumb to others’ and yours own desires, instead of waiting for the right season when fruit will be ripe. But if you don’t engage patience with perseverance you will live a very dull and boring life, and it is quite possible many of the things you are expecting won’t happen. After all, it is not only sowing seeds, you have to water and take care of whatever you have sown too.

Just perseverance without patience… Well, your life will be a big adventure, but you will probably miss some opportunities to just relax and flow with the flow.

At the end of this wonderful journey we all live, the most important thing will be the sense of balance. Life is all about balance… So, go and start it right now. Patiently…

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.

Beyond the lack of job

After about two years plus, I feel I am again getting job, with companies employing me and my skills. Yes, during those years I have got small things, never starved, but it was never something big enough for me to change that computer or "go dental".

It was when I realised I was not getting enough to call that an income, that I have decided to start this blog - that is the reason for the name, as I understood at that point my focus was really not to get a job. It was - and is - much more than that.

This period, which I am still living, has been one of the most productive periods of my life. I am now positioning myself as a provider of knowledge and wisdom, more than just blogging or "twitting", "facebooking", etc. I have clarity about myself, what I want for my life and what I want to give the world.

It has been a time of deep reflection about what my real values are, what is really important for me and what is not. It has been a time where despair brushed my life, but I reacted meditating more, studying more and reflecting even more (and yes, guys, sending cv's and proposals were also part of that time...).

I won't miss this time when it is over, I must be honest, but probaly I will miss the energy it generated.

Now, wouldn't be wonderful if everyone who is now complaining they don't have a job do the same? Yesterday, watching an old tv series, one of the characters was saying that you should so something - if not for money, then help the community.

That time - the time when you lack a job, you are sick, you are alone - that time is so valuable for your own growth. As I said before in this blog, it is the time of sowing, and now I see that with hard work, it does not matter much what kind of hard work you are doing, crops come even before time.

Take care.