Sex and Cash Week, Part I: The Late Bloomer
Life has a way of bringing us the change we seek not when we want it, but when we’re ready for it. We still have to set the stage though. After introducing the Sex & Cash Theory in yesterday’s post, I want to use this week to go deeper. There are several manifestations of how to apply this theory to develop a career that both provides and fulfills. First, we’ll take a closer look at The Late Bloomer.
You probably know Ken Jeong as the straight-man OBGYN in Knocked Up, Ben Chang from his six seasons of Community, or from his most notorious role as the insane, flamboyant, drug-addled Mr. Chow in The Hangover trilogy. And just three years before he popped naked out of a Mercedes trunk on the Las Vegas strip, you could have found Dr. Ken Jeong treating the celebrities he now works with at Kaiser Permanente — Woodland Hills Medical Center.
Ken grew up smart and disciplined — a member of the High IQ club, violinist in the school symphony, and graduating high school at age 16. He was well on his way to becoming another kid who politely followed the doctor track. A few years later, he had his undergrad degree from Duke, his MD from UNC Chapel Hill, and one more thing no one expected — a yearning for acting and comedy he developed in a sophomore drama class.
“Acting was like a lover I never got over, like the girl you meet at a Meatballs summer camp but your parents show up before you can kiss her,” he told the Hollywood Report in an interview last year.
While in residency at Oschner Medical Foundation in New Orleans, Ken stoked his passion for comedy, doing open mics when he could and opening for big-name comedians back in Raleigh as a side hobby and outlet from the stress of medicine. His mentor in the hospital told him he didn’t necessarily have to choose between medicine and comedy, so for a long time, he didn’t.
Ken’s friends and wife encouraged him to keep pursuing comedy. Not to be reckless and abandon the career he had built, but to keep doing something he had shown a genuine love and talent for. In another interview with the Columbus Dispatch, Ken said, “Comedy was a hobby. It was like my golf. I had another life.” And that’s the magic of using our free time to pursue something that actually has a chance to grow into something sustainable.
Once Ken finished shooting Knocked Up, which went on to gross more than $250 million, he had real evidence that this could become his new career. He still cared about medicine and had a gift for it, but this is where his heart took him. With the support of his wife and family and the experience and validation he gained shooting a feature film, he took the leap and never looked back.
The Late Bloomer is the first permutation of the Sex & Cash Theory. It’s a wonderful strategy for mitigating the risks of a complete 180 degree change in careers. There’s a ton of pressure that comes from something that drastic — quitting a well-paying job to become an artist before you have a portfolio or start your own company before you have a business plan. For many, that pressure is too much to take and their creativity is crushed by the fear of failure. By building experience and validating your plan in your free time, you’re able to avoid the negative effects of pressure, give your art room to grow organically, and make the leap when you know you’re ready to fly.
If you enjoyed this article, stay tuned this week as we’ll be looking at several more archetypes and discussing Sex & Cash in depth on this week’s edition of the HofTalk Pod.
Take care of your needs and your commitments friends, but find the time to invest in your passions. We make our own luck and you never know when life will give you the green light.
