Gen Y Wants Sex and Spiritual Freedom

Not money.

Says Brazen Careerist

“financial freedom” means freedom from having to do a job you don’t like. But this thinking comes from the baby boomers who felt compelled to climb ladders doing jobs that destroyed their personal life.

Today we don’t do that. Many people of ladder-climbing age today don’t believe it’s worth the trouble. Today you can hold out to get a job you love at the beginning of your career....

Financial freedom is becoming an outdated goal for today’s workers..... plenty of research shows that.... it’s futile to make money a career goal since you’ll never feel like you have enough.

You know what really determines our happiness levels? Not money, but how optimistic we are and how often we have monogamous sex....

So let’s stop talking about financial freedom and start talking about learned optimism.

How does this relate to careers?.... Part of creative production is the manic optimistic self-confidence that what you are thinking of is a great idea.

Once you make the switch to thinking like an optimist you will have real freedom — freedom to do what will be fulfilling and accommodate your personal life instead of what will make you rich.

Keep your silly ways
Or throw them out the window.
The wisdom of your ways,
I've been there and I know
Lots of other ways.
What a jolly bad show
If all you ever do
Is business you don't like
-- Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Sex & Drugs & Rock and Roll

Comments

[Chris Taylor]

I think they've missed the point. Financial freedom isn't the ability to buy lots of crap, it's the ability to do what you want with your time, when you want to do it.

My ideal job is one that would allow me to:

1) Fly small aircraft and sail 40-50t ketches around the Caribbean and Mediterranean

2) Build and sail a full-size replica of an 18th century British frigate

3) Do a little archaeology in Egypt and Israel on the side

4) Revise this list bi-annually and replace each item with something new

Realistically I can't construct a business model out of those desires. Pilots don't make a wad of cash unless you've racked enough hours to start flying the line for a major airline. I don't want to fly jets for an airline, I like flying GA aircraft -- and not for pax or cargo. I like sailing but I wouldn't want to be a charter captain ferrying people around on their vacations. I don't want to study archaeology for years to get diplomas and then compete for a tenured position at a university so I'll have enough seniority and funding to go on digs overseas.

Financial independence, though, would allow me to study all of those interests, obtain as much (or as little) degrees and certifications as I wanted, and do it all on my own time. And then start doing something new in a couple of years when I've done those things and my interest has waned.

These guys who think you can find a job doing what you love must have very small horizons / ambitions. The stuff I love doing changes every 2-5 years, and it's never in the same industry.

[Chris Taylor]

You just love to get me in trouble on your other (Recruiting Bloggers) site, don't you? =)

[Dan Schawbel]

I agree with this post, but I feel that it is increasingly competitive to get a job that you want, because everyone has the same idea and you need your network to tap into those unique jobs.

Dan Schawbel
Personal Branding Spokesman
www.personalbrandingblog.com