Ash over at The Middle Finger Project recently wrote an article on NOT following your dreams. “They” (who is They anyway?) say to be controversial in your blog posts in order to be successful and I know she’s using a bit of hyperbole for the sake of argument. I mean, the website is called The Middle Finger Project! I get a lot of what she’s saying: too often we just follow the pack even when we say we’re following our dreams, we need the experience and insight of others to help refine our path, and even rejecting the status quo can be a clique of its own. So now what?
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There is a childhood song which goes “Make new friends, but keep the old ones. One is silver and the other’s gold.” I think that adage can be valuable in life and business as well. I have a confession: I get excited about projects quickly and easily. Sometimes I say yes too quickly. A successful business, and life for that matter, is about sustainability over the long haul. Passion is important, a plan is crucial.
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Looking for a guaranteed plan to assure your own failure? Here is the secret to un-success (not to be confused with my Secret To Success)
- Say yes to every interesting prospect that comes in front of you. Take little or no time to assess the long term sustainability, scalability, or profitability. Don’t bother to ask how it fits in with your other projects, or your goals, or even your skills. Success isn’t the goal: just saying yes is!
- Pursue every passion you are interested in. No need to prioritize, see one project to completion before starting another, or asses your availability and ability to handle the extra work. Starting something you care about is all that matters here, failure is not even an option.
- Work on something because you are good at it. Who cares if you are interested in it, if it will fulfill you, or if it fits into a larger plan? If you are good at, do it. No questions at asked.
After you complete steps 1 – 3, you’re well on your way to success failure. Want to aim for success instead of failure?
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Many of my friends (and many Americans, for that matter) are in the process of searching for new jobs. Of course, I changed “career paths” last year when I left a television network to work for myself. I find that while many folks are looking for what to do, not as many know exactly what they’re looking for. What are you doing with your life? I mean, what are you really doing?
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Do you feel burned out? I think burnout happens across age, profession, and country. That feeling of giving and giving and still feeling like you need to give more; of your brain turning into mush; and of imagining your hairs must be standing on end because that’s how fried you feel.
While working for a national television network, there were days–weeks, even–when I felt completely frazzled and at the end of it, burned out. Now, even working for myself, I still find myself flirting with burn out. Turns out working for yourself is not an antidote to burnout. So what is? How do we keep from driving ourselves crazy?
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