Comedian Paula Poundstone once said, “My father always told me I needed something to fall back on. But I knew if I listened, I’d fall back.”
I thought of that this morning when I read Connie Hozvicka’s blog post about that very thing.
Connie, who did a pair of marvelous workshops at the Joyfully Jobless Jamboree, is brand new to the Joyfully Jobless life. Like most of us, she’s had to challenge some not-so-helpful conventional wisdom.
What creative person hasn’t been told You Need Something To Fall Back On? Read Connie’s take on it here.
Here are ten other bits of wisdom that haven’t been widely circulated. It’s my personal list of things self-employment teaches me each and every day.
1. To think creatively and see that there are opportunities to approach the most ordinary tasks in creative ways.
2. To be an enthusiastic problem-solver.
3. It’s okay to be uncomfortable. In fact, comfort zones are much scarier.
4. Expanding is more fun than shrinking.
5. Right livelihood alters the way we think about work.
6. We can be more, do more, have more than we originally thought possible.
7. Imagination is a power tool.
8. If we ask better questions, we get better answers.
9. Personal responsibility is heady stuff.
10. Lifelong learning is a joy.
“There’s an unexpected pleasure attending the life of a voluntary student,” said Oliver Goldsmith. I think he was talking about us.
Interesting about comfort zones being scary. Unemployment is a kind of comfort zone, too. I think about that as I go into my 6th month in this state of affairs. After a while you start to give up believing that things will be any different for you so your current state of affairs becomes normal if not comfortable. It’s just as hard to break out of one’s comfort zone when trying to find a new “right livelihood” while unemployed as it was to find a new normal while employed.
The one I’m connecting to the most right now is ask better questions, get better answers. It’s so fun to follow where that leads. What an adventure! And who amazing.