99 Problems, But the Job Ain't One
It’s that time again. We all start to contemplate the year behind us and the year to come. For my last blog of 2014, I wanted to influence you as best I can to do something that I know will change your life, something I should have done 15 years ago.
Quit your job!
Yep, you read right, pull a Jerry Maguire and grab the fish and go. Leave the safety net of whatever you are currently doing, and go for that thing you know you really want to do. I am pushing you hard, because I wished someone had pushed me. I realize that I took with me lessons and experience that I use today to do my work in training others, and so will you. We should take lessons from all experiences good and bad. But unless you are working undercover for the CIA in a job that you hate, you are just a regular person working in a job that you hate. You deserve to be happy and to gift the world by doing what you were meant to do.
When I look back at all the years I spent disgruntled and self loathing over a job that did not complete me, I have nothing to say except, “I am sorry.” I am sorry to all the people I worked with, the leaders, my managers, my clients, my colleagues, my family, friends and the all the customer service folks I was rude to. I am sorry because I am sure you all felt the wrath of a girl trapped in a world where she did not belong but chose to stay.
Insert “humble pie” here. It was no one’s fault but my own.
I get it. Leaving the security of a job is scary. It’s a huge risk.
One of the things my improv training has taught me is to “follow the fear”. A quote from the late Del Close, a pioneer of modern improvisation. It took years of practice, but walking over the edge into the unknown has become a part of who I am. Improv training helped me to start thinking of fear in a whole new way, and I am sure it had a lot to do with my final plunge that brought me to where I am today.
Mike Bonifer, a fellow improv trainer for business sums fear up like this:
On the other side of our fear is the potential we cannot see or realize as long as we let our fear cloud our vision or keep us from taking action. Read Mike’s article.
My wish for you in 2015: Put fear in its place, grab it by the horns and hold on tight. Don’t stay in a job that doesn’t complete you and fill your heart with all the good stuff. If I had known what was waiting for me on the other side of fear, I could have already taken over the world. Wait! I don’t want that job either. I’ll settle for making the world a better place by helping people use the art of improv in work and life.
It’s never too late or too early to let your job be your passion. Don’t let fear win in 2015. You got this.
Kristy West is the Founder of BraveSpace She began studying Improvisation in 2000, and has trained with some of Atlanta’s top Instructors and Theatres. Combining her love of the art of improv with her business experience in corporate work environments, Kristy has a true passion for helping organizations apply improv skills to be better at life and work!