Aside from the debatable statement about the usage of the
term LOL, these are the ideas that stood out to me:
There
will always be good jobs.
I have firsthand experience with this because I was asked by
my employer before to hire somebody as a VA locally, then found out there are
very few applicants who had the right mix of skills and attitude plus the
resources to hold an online job.
I ended up hiring none.
I then discovered
that there were lots of people looking to hire somebody with very
specific set of skills according to their project demands and qualifications,
and having the same difficulty as I did.
So it’s not really the lack of jobs. It’s the lack of drive
for people to learn valuable skills that makes employers want to pay them for.
Waking
up excited for work.
Believe me, this may have different meanings to anybody. And
different reasons too.
I know that this imply pursuing a career you are passionate
about, thus being excited to go to work every day and actually enjoying
overtime.
I’d like to say working for something you don’t necessarily
like but don’t necessarily hate either could still cause for you to be excited
for work.
A huge pay check may work for some.
I totally understand the importance of working for something
that will not make you hate your life in your 20s. But you could, also,
eventually love what you are doing in the long run.
I was absolutely clueless about networking and
troubleshooting 6 years ago. As I trained to be a technician, it became
valuable and interesting to me. But I decided I still hate softwares. But I
love them now.
Waking up excited for work, I think, is the best thing that
could ever happen to you in your career.
Self-education
I read blogs and other stuff online but I don’t really know
that there could be an amazing abundance of tutorials and other learning
materials readily available to you if you want!
I mean, I sort of know that.
This book just made it very clear that you can definitely
teach yourself things simply by having the drive to improve. Starting off with
deciding what skills you think you should enhance.
Free
Work
No, it didn’t catch me off guard.
I simply think it’s brilliant.
One other interesting thing Charlie introduced was –
Graduate School.
In my country, going to graduate school is useful, usually.
Especially if it’s a pre-requisite to what you are trying to become. The
industries to those with a master’s degree haven’t really changed. Or maybe
they have, I’m not sure.
People go to graduate school because they want to have less
competition. They think that if they have higher educational attainment, they
have better chances of landing a really good job.
I will not disagree with that.
But for me, the way I see the trend of the working world,
companies require less and less educational background but more and more skills.
I would agree with Charlie when he compared the costs of Graduate School
between doing free work.
I think the best thing about Free Work is that it gives you
an answer about what you’re going to do for the meantime, to get busy, while
waiting for employers to reply to your job applications.
What
kind of lifestyle do you want to create?
Quitting my job of 5 years is one of the most difficult
decisions I have to make in my life.
And I did it all because I want to follow my heart. And my
heart dictates that the lifestyle I really really wanted to have is to be
beside my kids where I can be part of their lives and be physically present.
It is amazing to read what Charlie said about crafting the
lifestyle you wanted and at the same time deciding what kind of industry you
want to be part in. And that these two need to overlap otherwise you will be
miserable.
Well I am no longer in my 20s. But I’m also not 35 yet. J J J
