Many,
many people seem to think that sometimes you’ve just got to knuckle
down and take that sucky job because you need the money. You can be a
student paying your tuition, a new graduate paying off your student
loans, a new home owner struggling to make the mortgage or any number
of other situations that mean you depend on a steady income.
But does that really mean that you must accept being unhappy at work? There is one question you must ask yourself:
Leaving a bad job may cost you some money. Sure. But what will keeping that job cost you?
Being
unhappy at work steadily saps your energy, will power, self esteem and
motivation. The longer you stay in that situation, the harder it gets
to see any positive alternatives and to take action and move on.
And
it doesn’t just affect you at work, it also affects you outside of
work. When work is something that gives you no pleasure, has no meaning
for you, gives you no victories or appreciation and is simply no fun,
your life outside of work is likely to suffer too.
"i am always doing that which i cannot do, in order that i may learn how to do it."
-pablo picasso
picasso: one of the great innovators of our age and, who knew it, sage to entrepreneurs. of course, every artist is an entrepreneur in disguise, if he or she wants to sell work and live off the profits. however, it does seem that success in one's own business does depend on just how closely the quotation above resembles your daily life. what follows is a list of the things i have done in the past months that i had never known how to do before:
Blogher selected today, Oct 24, as a day for bloggers to focus on a topic that related to women. bloger's act and mother's act selected postpartum depression. this is a huge issue for women. it is strange for me to write about this issue, being both single and child free at the moment. still, i do feel that i have experienced a little of what this experience is like, albeit on a lesser scale.
here's what i think postpartum means for the creative person:
ok. i am still submerged in tim ferriss's book, so don't think the soap box has been stowed safely away. he has some advice about productivity in his book, the four hour workweek. i decided it might be a good idea to try it out.
what i found: this guy knows what he's talking about. read on for how i got a ton done today following ferriss's advice.
above: check ferriss out on google author chats via youtube.
sometimes it is necessary to get out of the house. and for those of us who have no commute to force us to do it, it is even more necessary. today i took advantage of a resource that i too often ignore: lacma. as it is only a 10 minute walk away, i plan to make more frequent use of my membership in the future. here's why the working from home population needs trips out to get brains tickled.
it may be that your whole life is at stake based on this choice.
milda, my co-host and co-writer over at literature life, spotted this link to cnn's helpful resource on working from home. it includes tips on setting up a home office as well as hints on tax write-offs and so on.
ps- remember not to go cooking the books without consulting a tax professional. i recommend stacey winkler, who is my personal wizard.
image: caroline donahue for remabulous via flickr. it's my work space right about novel time last year. i'll need to update this image in a week or two...
There's
a common misconception that a person's skill is their talent. Skills,
however, are not talents. Talents, on the other hand, require skills.
People can have skills and knowledge in areas where their talents do
not lie. If they have a job that requires their skills but not their
talents, organizations will never tap into their passion or voice.
They'll go through the motions, but this will only make them appear to
need external supervision and motivation.
If you can hire people
whose passion intersects with the job, they won't require any
supervision at all. They will manage themselves better than anyone
could ever manage them. Their fire comes from within, not from without.
Their motivation is internal, not external.
ok. sometimes a good laugh is the best medicine. one of my friends and i have recently discovered a mutual joy and love for exotic facial hair, both real and false. (probably best not to inquire further on this one.) i could not resist sharing the following delights from the discoveries as of late...
the above fantastic delight is extended as we explore the fact that there is out in the world the following site:
www.worldbeardchampionships.com
make sure you stick with this one. enlarge the pictures, check out the sidebars and don't stop until you have found the joy of joys: the handlebar moustache club. i will not share the link to it- you must search and discover yourselves.
have been listening to esther and jerry hicks' power of deliberate intent in the car lately, clear evidence to some that i lived in san francisco and did, in fact, leave my heart there. still, as i said in the podcast last week, it does have more practical use than those who tout the secret, a presentation that has never resonated with me, even though the hicks do participate in it. i prefer their message by itself.
one thing that i have been experimenting with lately is the hicks' idea of "segment intending." here's how it can get you through a better day:
i read her book, everyday zen, a number of years ago and i find that the ideas in it are still vivid and inspiring. when i went through a book selling frenzy at a used bookstore in oakland, it was one of the ones i was ready to let go of. someone else had claimed it even before the bookseller had assessed it and given me money for my stack! if you haven't read it, i highly recommend it. today in my inbox, the following quotation from the book was waiting for me from my zaadz buddhist newsletter, which i love for days when i feel a little ragged or not quite as together as i'd like to be:
Practice
can be stated very simply. It is moving from a life of hurting myself
and others to a life of not hurting myself and others. That seems so
simple--except when we substitute for real practice some idea that we
should be different or better than we are, or that our lives should be
different from the way they are. When we substitute our ideas about
what should be (such notions as "I should not be angry or confused or
unwilling") for our life as it truly is, then we're off base and our
practice is barren.
Alexander Kjerulf 
Stephen Covey 
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