Chapter 14 – Fear of starting anew

Dad -

Thank you for keeping up with thirteen chapters of my tips, ideas and ways to teach you and your friends where the business and marketing world is going. I’m proud of anyone willing to constantly learn new things, and I know it’s especially hard to do so when you’re fighting unemployment, obsolescence and the stress of so much at once.

I bet you and those like you have taken copious notes, read the recommended articles and did extra research to understand everything that was being said. You were taught that hard work, long hours and tons of preparation are absolutely essential for success. I was taught the same thing by the same system.

But that system has betrayed all of us. For years we’ve been tasked with reacting to problems and preventing them where possible. Our entire point of working was to prevent changes from grinding the money-making machine that is the mainstream job market to a halt.

Dad, it’s time for you, those you work with and those you work for to stop preparing. You can’t possibly know everything about the new business world. There are too many blogs, too many theories and too many points of view. Hell, many of these people’s jobs are to make up new points of view in hopes you’ll read it and then click on ads. There’s no substance to their ideas, they’re just another cog in the machine that makes up advertising on the internet.

I know you’re tired. I know all this tech stuff is a helluva lot to handle and I know that you’d really love a job working for a company that produces great products, pays you a livable wage and has a never-ending supply of problems for you to solve.

It’s time to stop preparing. It’s time to make mistakes. It’s time to embrace who you are, to embrace what makes you different.

You’re an outdoorsman. You hike, camp and hunt every single year. In fact, these three things define you more than anything else but your family. It’s who you are, what you love to do and it’s something you do well. But, like too many people your age or who were taught to tone down your personality for the sake of fitting in, your unwillingness to embrace yourself is killing job chances.

I’ve recommended–as have your other instructors–that you blog about your experiences. Talk about how hunting makes you feel accomplished, how motorbiking brings you closer to your middle son and how being in the wilderness provides a respite from who you pretend to be in the business world.

Dad, I’m not done with this book. There’s a lot more I can share to help you and your friends out, but there isn’t a test at the end, so you can stop studying. It’s time to try and it’s time to fail. It’s time to learn and it’s time to teach.

You’ll never be ready. I’m not ready now. But it’s time for you to start doing. You may never have another job again, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful and well paid.

All I ask is that you accept that making mistakes is part of the game. You’ll bounce back, better off because of it. You always do.