One Life Manifesto: Job

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Chapter 3 of the One Life Manifesto: Job.

After discussing my struggles, I want to get into an issue that affects quite a few people: getting a job. I really want to get into the process of getting a job because I know a lot of you out there are graduating from university and you are looking for a job. Or you are in a career that you don’t like and you are looking for a job. Or you are self-employed but now you are looking for a job. Whatever your circumstance, you are looking for a job.

Unfortunately that is not how you get a job.

Looking for a job is “desperation”. You are trying to get rather than give. If your current mindset is to get a job, your actual mindset should be: how do I give service. How do I help others? How do I bring value? Maybe you just finished four years of university. What did you learn? What did you do? What projects did you complete? How is that going to help the other person on the other end of the table?

If you are looking for a salary, you are looking for a 9-to-5. Looking for something to fill your Mondays to Fridays. You are already approaching it from the wrong angle. You should be looking for ways to help others. You should be looking for ways to improve someone else’s circumstances and you should be doing that without expectation of reciprocity. Without expectation of reward.

They don’t teach you this in school because they don’t understand the importance of genuinely helping others first. School is structured in a way to get you that degree and job at the end of the tunnel. That’s not right. If you are lucky, you will get the opportunity to help somebody and make a difference. Then perhaps an opportunity will present itself where a job will be given to you. Somebody will appreciate your willingness and desire to help them increase their value, to increase their wealth.

See, you already have a job to do before somebody even gives you one. Your job is to increase the wealth of others. That is your job, if you want a real job. Your job is already present: provide value.

Be careful about help. You can help somebody on the street. Provide them a sandwich, provide them with a blanket or what-not. But that is not increasing their wealth. That is actually taking away that person’s independence. It’s taking away that person’s ability to fend for themselves.

You want to look at an individual who is already more than capable of handling themselves. Consider future employers – they are more than capable without you. But if you demonstrate the value you can bring to the table without any expectation in return they might just say thank you. If you go out of your way to produce work that is of high-quality, you will be rewarded, as long as you don’t expect it.

So, to anyone that’s seeking a job. Stop. You already have one. You are just not doing a very good job at it.

The people that are moping that they don’t have a job have been waiting for months and months and months and still have not received a job. I have some news for you. No one in this world owes you a job. No one in this world owes you anything. You are non-existent. It is your job to make an impact and make a difference. You may not receive anything in return and you need to accept that.

You might need to live off very little until you figure out how to provide tremendous value. I am 100% certain that there is something that you know that somebody else doesn’t. You have that opportunity to teach others what you know. Teach others.

It could be a very long journey for you if you keep seeking without delivering. Give rather than take. You spend the majority of your hours on job boards, searching for that next big opportunity. You are in the mindset of old-school thinking, where if you apply you will just get a job.

Today there are more channels for job applications than ever before. Social media, more job boards, more people talking about openings on the Internet, more openings in-person at events. There are hidden job openings everywhere. There are visible job openings everywhere. But the problem is that you are competing if you decide to only look at what’s visible.

There are 200 other people out there, applying to that job online. Why would you try to compete with others? Did it work competing with others when you were in school? Did you do better when you were competing with others in school or did straight studying and sheer determination and sheer focus on your path get you the success you needed in school? Likely the latter.

School is an individual process. They hand out the degree to you with your name on it at the end of the day. It is your job to provide the correct answers. Provide the correct knowledge. That comes from study. That comes from learning. That comes from execution on your own. The competition is irrelevant. The competition isn’t providing you with answers. At least not the correct ones. They will deceive you.

Focus on your path. Focus on the delivery of your value whether it’s in school or whether it’s in the job hunt.

I wish that it wasn’t called job hunting or career search. I wish it was “value provision”. I am in the process of giving value. That’s more attractive and lucrative. If you are willing to sit outside my doorstep and provide the answers, provide the work, provide the value, I will eventually hire you. That employer will eventually hire you. But the moment you waiver, the moment you expect something, the trust is broken and they will not look at you as a unicorn. They will look at you as the herd. The herd of applicants that they receive every day.

Your job is to stand out as the unicorn every day. To stand out above everyone by doing different things that bring value to the employer.

The minute you approach your journey in the job search the way I have described is the moment you will start seeing success. The moment you start seeing yourself as the stand-out, as that unicorn, will be the point when you become the person that people want to talk to. Accept that you may never get anything in return. To fully accept that and continue the hustle and continue the work ethic will no doubt get you to where you want to go, the way you want it to go. You will be much happier. You will be doing something you enjoy because you decided to explore the process of bringing value to the table.

Focus on how you can bring value to the table. The best job is the job that’s given to you without you having to produce your resume. Your next job shouldn’t have been received based on your resume. If it is, this means that you are showing off. Skills that are written to impress and show off may be premature. You are not a celebrity. You are starting out. You need to work harder than what a piece of paper says. Before your degree or resume, you need to provide the answers. Before you can show any paper.

Speak with your mind, not with the surface accolades that an employer will see. Head straight to the top and provide value to the decision-maker. Not to some lowly front-line employee who won’t appreciate the time that you are giving as they are in the same boat, looking to climb a ladder, looking to grab what they can. Head straight to the top and be known as the value provider. You will leapfrog ahead of the competition as you set your own path.

This perspective is the way society should approach the process of helping others. It is job creation indirectly because there is usually always an exchange. When somebody does something good for others, there is definitely a thing called Karma and the world has a tendency to work itself out. You bring the world to yourself by doing good things for others without expectation of reciprocity.

You need to put aside your selfishness. Try to provide value to see results. If after a year, two years, five years, you continue to provide value and yet don’t receive a break, it means you need to work harder. You need to look at ways that show that you are genuinely interested in providing value. Because if you were genuinely interested and you did that enthusiastically without expectation, everything would work out perfectly fine for you. Your life will be satisfied. Patience will be your greatest virtue in your hunt, in your process of providing value to others. Keep providing that value at every touchpoint.

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