Job security is killing…my dream

AKA - why I am embracing my inner explorer

On February 12, 2016, I will be 39 years old. I will also be leaving a “secure” federal career of 15 years in pursuit of my passion to help others realize wellness, health, satisfaction and integration in their thriving life. How did I get here? Why would I risk the rational path to a comfortable retirement?

Turns out that finding (or re-finding) my inspiration for learning has catapulted my desire to reach for more integration in my life. It’s not that working for the federal government wasn’t fulfilling overall or that it wouldn’t allow the flexibility to create. In fact, a few years ago I was fortunate to find my dream job - a unique blend of creativity, passion, motivation and an unparalleled “freedom to fail” that embodied my growth mindset. I realized, however, there was a chasm between what I thought my dream job should be and the satisfaction of striving for something bigger, creating something even more important, and helping as many people as I can before my end of days - to matter.

Enter courage and clarity (more like foolhardiness and self-deception). My biggest questions after achieving my dream job were; What’s next? What path do I take after this job is done? I should mention it is a sunset position that disappears in less than a year so the end is real and palpable. Had my career flat-lined? NO! I found inspiration as I was reading What Do You Do With An Idea? by Kobi Yamada to my 4 year old. I came to the realization what my new destiny looked like - to change the world! The message in this book resonated with me in a way I haven’t experienced in a very long time.

This book laid bare my fears of pursuing my dream, my current insignificance in making the world better, and the simple fact that I had suppressed my ideas at the expense of a presumed state of security. I began caring for and spending time with my ideas. The more I read, the stronger the pull to create solutions to my problems developed. I drank the Kool-Aid of entrepreneurship and dove head long into creating and planning my business. Holy S%&$, all this from a book written for kids.

I found there is an endless landscape of possibilities for those that dare to find their “why,” for those that break from the status quo, for those that are willing to risk something (everything) in order to solve important problems - a life’s work indeed. I am willing to risk everything for what I believe in because it fills my soul with joy. At least what the conventional understanding of “everything” is - money, security, retirement.

The reality is that our evolutionary brain (the lizard brain)is telling us that there is danger lurking around every water cooler, under every desk, and behind every cubicle wall. Fortunately there are very few things that will actually hurt us in our modern life. Even in business we are more protected than at any time in our history. It is safe to dream, it is safe to risk, it is safe to try, and it is safe to fail. Failing is not the end, it is just the beginning of a new experiment with the increased understanding of what didn’t work this time.

I think Seth Godin had it right in The Icarus Deception when he described one’s biggest failure as not pursuing what you consistently dreamed of but were too afraid to do - the road not taken. In that spirit, I choose freedom and refuse to live a life that is not my own.

Remember, it is the job of the status quo and convention to stop our momentum, and it is our job to push through and thrive in all aspects of our lives.

Thanks to many authors of outstanding works such as What Do You Do With An Idea, The Icarus Deception, Disrupt You, Originals, Mindset, The Motivation Manifesto, Start with Why, Emergence, and on and on. Without the inspiration and insight found in these volumes this would not be possible.