It was one year ago that I YOLO’d Myself into Unemployment. While I’m not normally one who lives in the past, only a fool refuses to learn from it. Thus, I’m going to share a lot of the valuable lessons that I’ve learned over the past 365 days. Keep in mind that this is purely anecdotal yet earnest. As always, I expect razor-sharp pitchforks, a sea of dislikes, and angry bots.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned from the past year is to bet on myself. After a surprisingly short self-inflicted unemployment, I entered an industry that I understood very little about. I was still able to quickly get up to speed on what was going on. Not only that, but I’ve also solidified my reputation to the point that a promotion is likely coming in the next nine months. This experience has reinforced The Greatest Lesson I Learned in College because it showed that the human brain is truly plastic and I’m capable of learning damn near anything. Shout out to my old organic chemistry professor!
Almost as importantly, I’ve learned that leadership is in such short supply. I’ve seen it time-after-time since I’ve started my new job nine months ago. The vast majority of people yearn for direction from an external source, and I see it everywhere now. The masses crave someone who can boldly state what needs to happen, and assuage their anxieties along the way. In short, people desperately want “The Man”, and I don’t give two flying fucks about how many pitchforks that statement just sharpened. I’ve had frontline employees thank me for my leadership, and no amount of your rage-induced ad hominem attacks will change that.
My ability to be The Man is more than enough to cover whatever engineering shortfalls that I have. As discussed previously, my value isn’t in my ability to calculate torsional strengths, rather it’s in prioritizing and executing. More so, my job is crushing excuses and, most of all, being a professional calmer-downer. An AI can’t do any of that (especially that last one) because these things inherently rely on human-to-human connection, hence I don’t fear for my job security. Even if I turn out to be wrong and I wind up unemployed, my brain is plastic enough that I can quickly learn, adapt, and thrive (see above).
The experience has actually made me a lot less career-oriented in a way. I no longer give a shit about sub-sections within sub-sections of a particular industry, because I’ve seen first-hand how adaptable I truly am. My number one goal in life (no, not that one) is a net worth goal and not a career one, which is an important distinction to make. The career is a means to an end, nothing more. And now that I’ve seen that I can accomplish my number one life goal without the 19-hour workdays or the seven-day work weeks (which are actually twelve consecutive workdays if you think about it), I given less and less of a fuck about securing the next promotion or other petty bullshit. My lack-of-a-fuck given about this minutiae has also helped me to stay detached and execute regardless of what’s happening. I honestly don’t really care what solution gets implemented. Shout out to Mark Manson!
I’ve also seen the role purpose plays in life through the actions of myself and others. During my self-inflicted unemployment, I still clung to my fitness routine and even accomplished a fitness goal, and maintained my writing. Now gainfully employed, I still make time for writing and fitness as top priorities. A lot of this motivation has carried over into my new job. As much as I don’t want to get preachy, it seems that I stride past most folks I encounter and it’s like I’m mentally at least a few steps ahead of them as well. Honestly, I feel that I can’t be fucking stopped, especially when the masses constantly zombie through life.
Moreover, I have left the village completely to absolutely zero consequences whatsoever. The mild engagement my articles got on BlueReddit hasn’t been missed, and the visitor count on my website has basically compensated for it entirely (shout out to the angry mob!). Not only do I receive less low-value calls than I did before, but the ones I do get are of better quality. As such, I have some other prospects lined up in case my current job doesn’t pan out (though having all of my ducks lined up isn’t strictly needed; see above). I’ve realized that my network isn’t the necessary parachute that the career pundits have told me that it would be. Instead of a parachute, it’s been more of a headlamp; convenient and can illuminate the way, but not the vital tool it’s advertised as. The village keeps you safe, not strong…
All of this sums up to say that not giving a flying fuck and YOLOing absolutely work, and that I should do it way more often. Maybe I should stop seeking venture capital and just go after it already. Perhaps the pitchfork-wielding pundits are going to pay me a visit and tell me that I’ve learned the wrong lesson from this experience. They’ll probably also tell me how privileged I am or how arrogant I’m being right now. However, I don’t give a rat’s ass what they have to say. Seriously, what the fuck do they actually know anyways? Their track record is worse than Jim Cramer’s.
Seriously, do I look worried to you?
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