James Altucher: 10 important reasons to quit your job

Well-known entrepreneur and writer talks about the new rules of the game.

I was scared when I got kicked out of school. I didn't want to spend my life in prison. I didn't want to work 9 to 5 (I understand that not all work from 9 to 5 definitely bad). But I didn't want to go, even at work, which I like. I was afraid that day will not be able to do what you want.

When I was in school, in the afternoon I went to the Museum. I talked with friends. I tried to write novels. I was playing the game — sometimes all day. But the job meant a trap. I had to work until late at night. I didn't have a car, so home I had to hitchhike. I had to suck up to the boss to my job to give a raise or to not give a boring job.





I didn't like it when you boss me around. I didn't like to be afraid of the authorities. I was locked up in his office, to sit all day and write something. But I was constantly caught and cautioned. Hated when the "warning" stand for what you live the life you want to live — even if you do all those pointless tasks.

Sometimes I was given a task: "Write the user manual for the chip that we produced". I wrote this statement, and like any other statement, written by a 22-year-old man, that was bullshit. Or was such a task: "watch my car while I go to the airport." And then I had problems when police fined for illegal Parking.

I got into trouble. And I was scared the whole time. My life was nothing interesting. Yes there is, my future seemed even less interesting.

The boss called me into his office. He was 25 — not much older than me. But he aimed to become a billionaire, and I was just a nobody. He asked: "aren't You proud of my work?" I blushed, and he looked at me and said, "Answer the question". But I didn't answer because I was not proud of his work. And in the end fired me. That day I had to get home by hitchhiking.

I started to have depression. I felt useless. I thought that I'll disappear, leaving nothing behind. I was afraid of.

Now we live in a new world. In which you are not required to have a job. Where there are opportunities that await you — we just have to reach hard to reach them.

Here are ten reasons not to have a job today. And it is also reasons for hope.





1. One work = only one source of income

According to the U.S. tax service, the average millionaire has seven different sources of income. Work is just one source of income. And almost half of this income the government takes to Finance the war and pay what you could never pay yourself.

And your boss withdraws from this income money not only on insurance, but on your Desk, your computer, and, in fact, your right to work for him — he has to learn from you more values, than is your work, so he could make more money than you (believe me, I know all of this — I was also a chief). You are chained to your work that you might live — but not to succeed.

2. Imagine that your work is your business

In business, usually multiple sources of income. You spend several hours per week for each product lines. But the work takes at least 60 hours a week. More than 40 hours in the office, plus 10 hours on the road, plus a pointless exercise in which you are immersed, that is not so unpleasant to go to work the next day. You are constantly reminded that tomorrow is back to work, so you spend 2-3 hours a day in order to forget this painful fact.

If you saw their work as a businessman examines a particular source of income, you would say: "This is a bad business. You need to switch to something else".

3. Your work is "the walking dead"

I spoke with Robin chase, founder of Zipcar service. "Someday — maybe in ten years all cars will not need drivers. In the automotive industry and in related industries number of employees will be reduced by 90%, and all these people will have nowhere to go", she said. Another friend of mine Steven Kotler, author of Tomorrowland and Bold, told me that even therapists are not needed. "Soldiers returning from the war, talking with the computer therapist, who determines whether they have PTSD or depression. Lawyers, psychotherapists and middle managers will soon be replaced by artificial intelligence."

So who will be left? Will those 0,1% who will redirect your capital instead of hiring workers who put the product on store shelves, conduct psychotherapy, take care of your legal and accounting problems, they just buy robots.

"What happens with these 90%? I asked Robin. But she had no answer. — They need help!"

But who will help them? The answer is no. No one cares. If you don't quit your job, your job will throw you.

4. You have no friends

I have worked in many places. I admit that I'm somewhat pathetic character. But I have remained friends since that time. Most of those people were nice to me because I was sitting in the next booth and listened to them complain about life to my friends and girlfriends, and then they hang up. Then they came to my booth and complained about other employees. Everyone was gossiping. It was dull. And sometimes passed by a chief, and all was still as at attention.

Then I came to a new job, and I had other friends.

I hope that now the friends I meet for real with friends. Because we've become friends through our shared interests and our similarities — and I hope, with sympathy for each other.

5. Income evaporate

In the last 25 years the real income of Americans aged 18-35 years fell from $36 000 to $33 000. Why? And who knows.

And then the TV talking heads claim that you should start to make savings. Meanwhile the cost of living has increased. How to save if life has become more expensive, and less money?

I don't blame anyone. It is not the government, not wall street, not anyone else. Jobs was a myth from the beginning. The industrial revolution standardized society, the workers came to the factory at the same time, had the same skills, tighten the same nut with the same speed and got paid every two weeks.

Then came the Internet economy, in which work is globalized. We live in an economy of ideas, where wealth is transferred from people who work, people who have ideas.

And it's not bad. Just is the course of history, and change is always inevitable.

6. Deflation

The economy is also a huge change. The last hundred years we have been concerned about inflation — prices are increasing all the time. But "all the time" is incorrect. Thanks to discoveries in the field of biotechnology healthcare cost in the end will be reduced, and the emphasis will shift from treatment to prevention. When machines will do without drivers and to refuel with electricity, the cost of machinery and energy will be reduced. Thanks to computers and robots, many tasks will run more efficiently (and not people). The price of computers is falling. Thanks to 3D printing and drones will drop the cost of delivery. And thanks to the virtual reality of the cost of many goods will be reduced to a minimum.

Technology has reached a level where the benefits arising from it, and reduce the costs for the purchase of this technology. Which is great (we pay less for what we like). And that at the same time bad — you no longer need, and you can no longer pay.

This is not some distant future. The future comes now. And it will be even worse/better, whatever the decisions invented by the government.

7. There are alternatives

That's the magic of any business that thought up now:

a) some groups of people have excess "capacity" (extra room in the house that never used. Or the free space in the car);

b) there is another group of people who are willing to pay for this excess capacity;

C) there is a "platform" which acts as an intermediary between "a" and "b" and solves all money issues, problems, provides logistics, etc. (this is Airbnb, Uber and hundreds of similar companies).

The economy is "overcapacity" is spreading. There are many ways to get into a group. And a lot of platforms, not just Airbnb and Uber, but Alibaba, Ebay, Etsy, Infusionsoft and hundreds of others.

Start to study excess capacity in their lives and ways of its monetization. It may be mental excess capacity. Don't underestimate what you have in mind or in the garage. We live in an "economy of ideas", so it is necessary to develop these ideological muscles.

Do not buy online-courses, seminars, and other nonsense that you are selling self-titled guru. They only sell false hope. Just write down 10 ideas a day to develop their ideological muscles. They will appear, trust me.

8. Where to start — some ideas

I was afraid, because a lot of people wrote me and told me that don't know what to do if they lost their jobs. Then I wrote a letter to the head of the world's largest platform for freelancers Freelance.com Matt Barry. I asked how a person can earn $2000 over the weekend, with only a few months of preparation. Matt immediately replied (I want to note that we do not have with them no business, and there are lots of similar sites, so I'm not promoting this site). He wrote (thanks, Matt!):

"Each project needs to focus on the needs and demands of the employer. However, here's like a list of projects that allow freelancers to make $2000 or more for a few days:

1 video/animation: video projects for KickStarter or Indiegogo or animated explanatory video for the launch of a new product or service is quite easy and fast to do online

2 — programming: for example, online stores (Shopify, Magento); the last time we see the rise of projects in e-Commerce and Commerce in social networks

3 — test sites, or automatic collection of information from websites; companies often need to conduct a minor revision of the site before starting, it is important to make sure that everything works as it should, so they hire people for thorough testing

4 — development and design of websites (including WordPress) – you can rely on the templates that quickly and effectively

5 — illustrations for children's books: extremely popular work on our website, which is well paid. Many authors trying to publish books on their own, and illustrators can focus on a variety of styles

6 — texts: we see a lot of requests from people who need help with business plans or with editing their books. This is especially popular queries from people who are not so fluent in the language, but I want the text looked good

7 — 3D rendering and architectural design: a very marketable skill on our website; studios are willing to pay well, when they at the last moment be needs workers

8 — development of architecture of software

9 — application development: staff members are not always available, especially on weekends, whereas freelancers can always hire urgently to finish the project

10 — Photoshop and other design work — PowerPoint, infographics, brochures, presentations".

I'm not saying you have to do (and what you get). But the possibilities (including to learn this) is.

9. Where to get education

lynda.com, Khan Academy, Coursera, Udemy, Codecademy, Udacity, Skillshare is just the short list. They will not help you to do your basic work, but just settle for the idea of additional sources of income that can replace your job. I took a course on most of these sites. My 13 year old daughter is learning on Codecademy.

10. A stable salary is fake

A stable salary is the worst thing that can happen to you. A stable salary is no feedback about how well you are doing. You always get the same amount every two weeks. No, income must be a source of feedback. If it grows, you can develop the components of your income which really work. If it falls, you can change what is bad. This is how people make a lot of money.

A stable salary is an addiction that causes people to be deceived and think that they are fine (until they were fired). Feedback is knowledge. And knowledge multiplies happiness.

11. Be happy with less (bonus)

A year ago I threw almost everything I had. If the item does not fit in one backpack, I have it no more. Some people need the two backpack or suitcase. Or ten. I'm not saying that is good or bad.

But some people need a certain amount of money in your Bank account. Or they always wanted to have them in my closet hung (unnecessarily) kind of thing.

 



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Appreciate rather than objects of history and experience. Today the story is available for free. If this is not your story, listen to stories of others. Imagine a story about what happens in the interval from the current time before the last time you close your eyes. The story will be spoken at your funeral. What happens in this story? You will shift the paper from the table on the table? Or will you serve people who do not deserve it? Or be friends with non-regular people who gossip behind you? Or taking orders from the big bosses? As a child you wanted to draw, to write, to achterstraat, to cause people to laugh. How long are you going to postpone this moment? published

 

Author: James Altucher

 



Source: ideanomics.ru/articles/5313