89,440
That’s a big number. Huge. That’s the approximate number of hours you will spend working a job over a 40-year career.
That’s a ton of hours to spend doing something you don’t enjoy. A lifetime.
In 2004, that number terrified me. I was working in public relations at a really reputable firm but doing something on a day-to-day basis that totally drained me. I’d think about the next 40 years and break out in sweats. Not that the job was particularly bad. But the nature of the work could not have been more incongruent. I couldn’t take it.
Fast forward to today and now that number invigorates me. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my hours doing more of what I do. I teach leadership development, coach managers, and help people maximize their potential. I’m the founder and lead at Proof Leadership Group, a leadership consultancy focused on training leaders in education.
I love what I do.
I’m driven by a very simple belief: I believe you should enjoy the time you spend between 8am and 5pm. Plain and simple. And that’s really not too much to ask.
And here’s the best part — it’s totally in your control. You get to choose. No one forces a career on you. You pick it. Better yet, most of us have the ability to also choose how we use our time at work, which means we control our energy.
Now I’m an idealist, but I’m also a realist. You aren’t going to love all 89k hours. You also are likely going to loathe more of those hours in the front-end of your career than in the back end.
That said, you get to decide when it’s time to move on to something more meaningful. And here lies the rub.
How do you identify what is going to be more meaningful? How do you know? Is there anything you can do to mitigate risk and at least try to control your destiny? Absolutely.
First, you should know that you can’t control everything. The thing that stops most of us from jumping is the inability to see the end from the beginning. We can’t see the pathway, but that’s because it doesn’t yet exist. The pathway often only emerges as you take steps toward doing what you love.
But you can control a large portion. The key is self-awareness.
It’s starting with the one thing you do know. The one thing you can control. You.
You have certain talents that are unique to you. They’re hardwired into who you are. Each time you use them you feel energized, satisfied, and whole. I know this for a fact. I’ve discovered my talents and devoted my career to developing them and using them. You have them too. Imagine if you could figure them out and harness them for energy every day. You would essentially be getting paid to be you. Paid to wake up every morning and go to work and be who you already are and anything else is icing on the cake.
The goal of this site is to help you figure out the part you can control: self-awareness, talents, risk, fear, creativity, vision, goals, and generally winning in your career.
This site is not going to tell everyone to quit their jobs and make a million blogging remotely and living in the Andes because that’s not for everyone.
That’s a ton of hours to spend doing something you don’t enjoy. A lifetime.
In 2004, that number terrified me. I was working in public relations at a really reputable firm but doing something on a day-to-day basis that totally drained me. I’d think about the next 40 years and break out in sweats. Not that the job was particularly bad. But the nature of the work could not have been more incongruent. I couldn’t take it.
Fast forward to today and now that number invigorates me. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my hours doing more of what I do. I teach leadership development, coach managers, and help people maximize their potential. I’m the founder and lead at Proof Leadership Group, a leadership consultancy focused on training leaders in education.
I love what I do.
I’m driven by a very simple belief: I believe you should enjoy the time you spend between 8am and 5pm. Plain and simple. And that’s really not too much to ask.
And here’s the best part — it’s totally in your control. You get to choose. No one forces a career on you. You pick it. Better yet, most of us have the ability to also choose how we use our time at work, which means we control our energy.
Now I’m an idealist, but I’m also a realist. You aren’t going to love all 89k hours. You also are likely going to loathe more of those hours in the front-end of your career than in the back end.
That said, you get to decide when it’s time to move on to something more meaningful. And here lies the rub.
How do you identify what is going to be more meaningful? How do you know? Is there anything you can do to mitigate risk and at least try to control your destiny? Absolutely.
First, you should know that you can’t control everything. The thing that stops most of us from jumping is the inability to see the end from the beginning. We can’t see the pathway, but that’s because it doesn’t yet exist. The pathway often only emerges as you take steps toward doing what you love.
But you can control a large portion. The key is self-awareness.
It’s starting with the one thing you do know. The one thing you can control. You.
You have certain talents that are unique to you. They’re hardwired into who you are. Each time you use them you feel energized, satisfied, and whole. I know this for a fact. I’ve discovered my talents and devoted my career to developing them and using them. You have them too. Imagine if you could figure them out and harness them for energy every day. You would essentially be getting paid to be you. Paid to wake up every morning and go to work and be who you already are and anything else is icing on the cake.
The goal of this site is to help you figure out the part you can control: self-awareness, talents, risk, fear, creativity, vision, goals, and generally winning in your career.
This site is not going to tell everyone to quit their jobs and make a million blogging remotely and living in the Andes because that’s not for everyone.
You will determine what’s right for you in the context of your situation. If you’re cash-strapped with loads of debt and you have a stable job, the right choice may be to stay put, pay down debt, and find creative ways to job-craft your day-to-day work to do more of what you love while building a hobby into a business. For others, you may have loads of savings and be on the edge of the cliff and just need that extra push to make the jump. I’m here to push you over the cliff.
Regardless of your situation, we all have one thing in common – we get to work to make a living.
Let’s make it count.