I’m actually keeping my day job, in fact, I will be switching day jobs pretty soon. This is more a write up on the book, the podcast and the workshop by Cathy Heller
I don’t even know how, but I stumbled on to this book on the Kindle. I gave it a read which lead me to listening a lot of her podcasts, and also participating in her 5 day workshop (listening to the recordings and joining the facebook group).
She makes a lot of good points in the book and I can think of a lot people that can benefit from what she shares.
She does make it clear that she doesn’t advocate just quiting your day job and free falling. She talks about very practical ways and processes to help you validate and develop your idea and really think about how to monetize what you want to do because at the end of the day, everyone needs to make a living. And yes, in the free workshop she does at some point spend time to sell stuff, but you know what, that’s ok. She needs to to make a living too!
At this point in my life, I think I am quite happy with what I do for work, only because I had been doing something entirely different the past 10 years. It’s only in the recent 2 years that I am doing what I really love doing for work. I want to keep coding until I am sick of it.
In the mean time, since I am not as drained from doing 8 hr work that I enjoy, I have the mental energy left to do other things I love at the end of the day. I’m trying to use it wisely and spend it on finding out what other things I like doing.
Cathy talks about how we continue to develop ourselves. That our passion is not something we discover, it’s something that we develop. Maybe someday, my passion will evolve into something else, and I want to make sure that I am doing as much as I can, trying out as many things as I can, so I can easily pivot to things that I know will bring me happiness.
I highly recommend reading the book, listening to the podcasts and watching the 5-day 2020 Vision Challenge (that will only be up until 21 January 2020). If anything, there’s a lot of tidbits that make me think about how I am influencing my own children’s development and attitudes towards making a living. I want them to grow up doing things that they want to do and cultivating their talents and their passions.
Here are some things i have picked up on the workshop so far:
On finding your purpose
- Everyone has a purpose, something that they have been put on this earth to do
- Belief fuels action, action fuels results
- make a list of 5 things “alternate lives” you would have wanted to have and do stuff to try them out
- 4 archetypes or roles you could have around the things you like to do: Maker, Teacher, Curator, Investigator
- “the dress” analogy – you have to put it on, zip it all the way up and walk around it to really know
- your purpose is not discovered, it’s developed. Have an inkling: TRY IT OUT
On making your thing
- Give yourself permission to be mediocre, get messy. Just MAKE stuff.
- It’s not about getting it right, it’s about being in the process
- You become the sum total of the 5 people you spend the most time with
- get feedback, get a focus group together
On finding and building your audience
- Your audience is you, Before
- Give away value and build intimacy: 7 deposits 1 withdrawal
- Ask your audience what they need, build trust first. Empathy is what will make you stand out
The Third Door:
being in tech 