OK, OK. I’ll fess up. I’m a contrarian-aholic. Ask my wife of 33 years and she’ll tell you it’s true. When everybody else goes one way, I go exactly the opposite direction just to see whether the crowd is right or wrong.
I question pretty much everything, even when things don’t beg a question. That is a part of my Given Talent (as we call it at Stuck in a Rut - www.stuckinarut.com). I’ve been that way since I was a kid and I’ll be that until the day I die. That’s why I’m so fascinated with Albert Einstein, whom I consider the Rock Star Contrarian. (Einstein’s discoveries came largely from him questioning the obvious, such as gravity and light).
OK, now that I got my contrarian-aholic confession out of the way (whew!), let me tell you what this has to do with you.
I’ve been around the job market for about thirty years, most of it as an executive for some fairly large companies. For the past five years, I’ve been immersed in the career field helping hundreds of clients through a process we call The Clarifier at Stuck in a Rut.
About a decade ago, I began to question the job system itself because I saw signs it wasn’t working very well. I had some nagging questions that begged answers, and nobody seemed to be asking those questions.
“Why is it that so many people end up in jobs they don’t love?”
“Why is it so difficult to change occupations once you’re established?”
“Why do jobs tend to start out fun but get boring once you’re settled in?”
These questions haunted me. They applied both to blue collar workers and to highly paid executives. No matter what their background or pay level was, most people couldn’t wait until they didn’t have to work anymore. If they won the lottery today, they’d quit their job tomorrow. Why, why, why?
I found statistics that encouraged more questions. The Conference Board found in 2005 (and again in 2007) that 86% of people don’t love their job. This figure remains relatively constant regardless of the level of education or pay.
We’ve got a problem, Houston! The job system is broken. What else would explain why six out of seven of us are in jobs we don’t love? Even worse, why is it people blindly follow this broken system like a bunch of lemmings marching lockstep toward a cliff.
What are the answers to these questions? The obvious first answer is to stop thinking like lemmings and start asking questions like intelligent humans. Ask questions that beg answers even though nobody else seems to be asking them. Ask questions like:
- Why does everybody do resumes the same basic two ways even though the purpose of the resume is to stand out from the crowd? Wouldn’t it make sense to try a different way?
- Why are we taught to keep our personalities out of our resume, when what we want is a job that fits our personality? Wouldn’t it make sense to bring our personality out in the resume?
- Why are we intent on identifying ourselves by our job title, when that very act is why people brand us by our occupation? Wouldn’t it make sense to identify ourselves by who we truly are, and to make really sure we know who we are?
- Why do companies insist on hiring only those with past experience, when statistics show 86% of people don’t love what they do (and the other 14% aren’t interviewing). Wouldn’t it make sense to hire people whose natural born abilities make them a perfect fit regardless of their past?
Ask the questions. Seek the answers. Being a lemming doesn’t pay off. Just because it’s the “norm” doesn’t make it right. It just means everybody else is doing it that way. That’s all. Isn’t that reason enough to try a different way?
If you want to get into something that fits you, the real you, it takes a different way of thinking. Stop thinking like a lemming and start thinking like a human. Start now!!
Have some fun with just being YOU!!
Author:
Dave Dutton - Founder of stuckinarut.com -