“It is the first of all problems, for a man to find out what kind of work he is to do in this universe.”
-Thomas Carlyle
I want my work life to be radically different in 100 days.
That is, in 100 days, I want to be able to walk into my workplace and quit. To clarify, being able to do it doesn’t mean I have to quit. However, I want to be in control. If I am going to be there, I want it to be out of choice, not necessity. I want them to need me more than I need them. And that is not the case right now.
Why, in a job market with 10% unemployment, am I looking to walk away from a decent job in 100 days? Good question. Here’s two reasons:
1. It’s not my calling.
I am not supposed to be a banker. It is not me. It’s is not what I am called to do. I believe that something we commit 40+ hours of our life to every week should be something we are passionate about and that matters. Providing equipment loans to small businesses is not something that I particularly care about, or that matters. At least, not to me.
When I was 15 years old, I made pizzas for a living. Eventually I waited tables, ran a cash register, and worked in a warehouse. Once, I worked for a company that built trusses. I hauled lumber off of a conveyor belt. I hated it. My third day there, it hit me: I was preventing someone whose greatest assets were their arms and legs from having a job. I quit that day and went to work selling cars. My greatest asset has always been my mouth. It’s also gotten me in a lot of trouble. But, I digress…
Every one of those jobs were vocational experiences on the pathway to discovering who I am, but they were not my calling. We all have to spend time in trenches for a season. Finding out what we aren’t called to do is part of the process. Since I know I am not called to be a pro-basketball player, I don’t have to spend time working on my free throws.
Vocation is the work that I am called to. It’s my destiny. It’s the thing I would do for free because I love it so much, but eventually do for a fee because I am so good at it. It is significant and engages my passion.
2. The recession is going to get worse.
I believe that the financial meltdown is not over. We are officially in the post-bust economy, and things are never going to be back to the way they used to be. I have to forge ahead, and not depend upon the financial masters of the universe to look kindly upon me, and grace me with employment into my golden years. Those days are gone.
I have to prepare and be self-sufficient. If economic armageddon should happen to visit the United States, I want to be ready. Those who say “It can’t happen here” don’t know history, and don’t understand economics. I am going to be ready if the S.H.T.F., and that means I need to have alternate streams of income, based on marketable talents and abilities I currently possess.
I need to have a Plan B. My Plan B is not going to be some other job that I am not passionate about, that I don’t enjoy, and that in the scheme of things doesn’t matter. My Plan B is not to trade one dead-end for another. My Plan B is to make the transition from a career to my calling.
Don’t worry, I am not going to trade in my job for a spot on the unemployment line. In fact, the entire reason for this is so that I don’t have to end up there, no matter what the economy does. So, I am going to lay out my entire plan, my strategy. The whole hair-brained scheme. If it works, then maybe it can serve as a pattern that other people can use to get free from the rat race themselves. If it doesn’t, then at least I can say I tried. Which is more than most people can say.
