Comments on: Where are all the people who don’t know what they want to be when they grow up?

By: Tom Volkar

Tom Volkar — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:34:48 +0000

Paul - Your instincts are good. I hope she listens to you. Have her come over here and get a sense for how to really inspire folks. I also have some great free business startup resource here at CoreU Coaching.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:31:30 +0000

Tom,

Always great to read your contributions to the world. No doubt you are clear on what your passions are and I love to see you going for it.

I have a friend who is starting her own business and talks about it on Facebook. Her friends and family are advising her to be firm and I commented that rather than being a strong leader, she should be an inspiring leader. That was met with some pushback because folks just don’t see it as realistic. They felt that employees will slack off, if you let them!

I’m left wondering why you’d want to have an organization like that.

By: Tom Volkar

Tom Volkar — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 15:11:51 +0000

Red – Welcome and thanks for your thoughts. Seems like I have a new supporter in you because that is exactly what I do. I guide the pursuit of right livelihood. If that’s something you’re interested in yourself then contact me and we’ll discuss it. I also don’t think that we are limited by what’s out there. Many of us need to create our ideal work in the form of a business that brings us alive.

By: Red

Red — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:07:04 +0000

I’ve read with interest all the postings which have lead me to my present thinking: Am I not missing the point? Allow me to expand. If the persuit of meaningful employment -and this means different things for different people- is determined by the possibilities that are out there, then why are we all sitting here talking about it? Shouldn’t we be getting on with looking, testing, discovering or just simply trying? The possibilities that are out there are as such defined by how we perceive our limitations. I think the key word here is guidance and if anyone is able to offer this in a professional capacity (whatever “professional” means), then I’d support that.

By: Tom Volkar

Tom Volkar — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:38:01 +0000

Carla … welcome, since I’ve never had a job and doubt that I ever will I haven’t found LinkedIn to be that productive. I’m there and you can offer me a connection if you like. Perhaps I’m using under-utilizing it. I have found that FaceBook works better for a self-employed soloprenuer like myself. There are groups there that you can join and interact with folks of the same interest.

By: Carla

Carla — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:54:22 +0000

Tom,

I’ve just come across your blog and am enjoying catching up on some of your posts. I’m doing a bit of soul-searching about careers right now and this being the age of Web 2.0, I’m blogging it at http://40-nowwhat.blogspot.com/.

Just wondering if you’ve tried Linked In (http://www.linkedin.com/)? I have used it for my business a bit, but I do know a few people who really work it and get a lot of leads.

Carla

By: Tom Volkar

Tom Volkar — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 16:13:21 +0000

Jan, I appreciate you for demonstrating the courage to share your dreams and your trials. A key aspect of support is the story we tell others and ourselves. Regardless of our present moment challenges, we would all be better served to tell the story of the sunny side of our lives.

One thing you can do right now is begin to imagine a wonderfully supportive environment in the upcoming Unconditional Support Experience that you have decided to join. Imagine greater clarity and wisdom coming as a result of your immersion into a social group who wants nothing but the best for you. At the same time begin to remove yourself from environments and people who put you down or make you feel bad in anyway. The result will be feel amazing.

By: Jan

Jan — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 03:16:31 +0000

Hi Tom,

I feel like I continually struggle to have the authentic me accepted. I work for a social service agency & really enjoy that work. But how they pay has caused me so much stress because of instability that I’m starting a temp position Monday utilizing my extensive customer service experience in addition to continuing my work at the social service agency. Ideally, I think I’d like to have a farm, raising Alpacas & adopting retired Greyhounds. I know that I have the ability to be a Healer of some type too. I really want to half of my life to be so much better personally than my first half. I know I can do anything I want to do. I just need more people supporting my beliefs!

By: Tom Volkar

Tom Volkar — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:45:57 +0000

Ah, but that’s life isn’t it? Refining the ability to adapt to our environments is a very critical life skill. It can be done and I’d rather ask, what’s good about it?

That line of thinking always allows me to see an opening that I couldn’t earlier. Thanks for your thoughtful comments Dave. Hope you visit again soon.

By: Dave Miller

Dave Miller — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:22:05 +0000

Thanks for the advice Tom. I was more trying to answer your question, “Why do people work at jobs they hate?” I guess I should have summed up the answer as: Sometimes the job changes.

I don’t know anyone who consciously seeks out a job they won’t like. But what frequently happens is the job changes (BTW, yes I’ve read “Who Moved My Cheese”). Working for yourself is a possibility but then there are people like me who enjoy working in a larger group. The price we pay besides our actual toil is that we don’t control our destiny or environment in that sort of situation.

Working for yourself isn’t a guarantee either although you have more control of yuor day-to-day activities. I know of several people who set out to work on their own only to find out that the skill they had was no longer in demand (an example would be folks who used to do small appliance and/or electronics repair: now it’s cheaper to buy new than to fix).

The bottom line is that there are no guarantees. It helps to stay on top of what is happening to your environment but things outside of your control can change. The trick is to recognize the change and act proactively but that’s not always possible and seeing what’s changing can be difficult.

Cheers,
Dave