Alan Seeks A Boss

I found some websites yesterday talking about finding a boss that you'd love to work for instead of simply finding a job. I fell in love with the idea! Everyone out there looking for work is doing it the same way - all applying for jobs online, competing with dozens or even hundreds of others for the same position.

I've been doing the same thing for the past 4-5 months, just like all the other job seekers out there, but it hasn't worked for me this time around. So far, of course. This time around thee environment has been phenomenally bad. It's been on my mind that I need to try something different.

I then found this article talking about How many job ads are fake, and it reminded me of how many times I've wasted my time applying for jobs that aren't actually real. I shared it to friends on Facebook with these comments:

The number of times I've applied for jobs that have ended up being fake over the past year has been shocking, and seems to be an increasing trend. I've personally seen position descriptions for jobs that require specific experience only internal staff have, because they've already got an internal person in mind and are simply following the process they're obliged to follow.

And of course there's also the jobs I've applied for which have been advised to me are 'market tests', advertised simply to see if there's any interest in a possible role that they've got no budget for yet. I've appreciated those agents that have told me to not waste my time, but always been angry at those agents pushing for your interest in a fake job so they can prove to their client that there is interest, and hopefully get them to create the job. It's only after the client doesn't go through with it that the agent advises my application was for a fake job.

It's been a really frustrating time, trying to find work. It inspired me in February to try and create work instead, and I started my own web design business. But then yesterday I was inspired to find a boss I want to work with, instead of finding a job that I might not like. The result has been really exciting!

So I was inspired to do something to create the kind of change that I want. I worked on it into the night last night, going to bed around midnight, and then continued it today, until I was finally happy with it about mid afternoon.

www.alanseeksaboss.com

All I need to do now is share it out to the world and have it go viral so that hundreds of excellent bosses can see it and decide they want to apply for the role of being my boss!

Please help me with this by sharing it out to the world!

Use Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr... I don't care what you use, I just hope you can help me reach as many people as possible!

It would be awesome to be able to find a great and rewarding job by seeking a boss to apply for the role. It's creative, it's fresh, and it's exciting to think about how this might turn out!

Life comes first

One of the things that has always been important for me is to maintain my enjoyment of life, and I've always treated my life as more important than my work. I have never lived to work, I've always worked to live. It's often resulted in me feeling a bit sad as I've seen workmates work 10 or 12 hour days because their work has been more important to them than the rest of their life.

I know it's everyone choice as to what they do in their life, and how they want to do it, but I'm also aware of how much they're missing out on in their life because they're far too busy working. They miss spending quality time with their children, and they miss important events like school plays or even birthdays. Or some occasion important to their wife, or their husband. All because they feel they have to work their asses off in order to get paid so they can pay the bills.

I've never bought into the programming that I exist only to please the managers or the companies that I've worked for over the years. Thankfully most of the managers I've worked for have been of similar mind to me, and have done their 8 hours a day and then gone home. But there's been a few here and there who have done their 12 hour days and make it quite clear that they expect their subordinates to do the same.

Most people are too afraid for the security of their job that if they're asked to stay back or even if it's implied, then they'll work extra hard to make sure they keep that job.

And meanwhile, life passes them by, and all those things that they wished they could have been part of, are all gone.

It's never been me, and I doubt it'll ever be me. I think it's also why having my own business appeals to me so much, because I can set my own hours, and my own time, in accordance with what's important to me and the rest of my life. If I need to do a few 12 hour days, then I can at least schedule the work around the other events that I need or want to be part of.

Freedom.

Most people don't know what it's like. They don't know that they can take control of their situation and create freedom for themselves rather than continue being slaves, while forcing them to miss out on their life. They don't know that they could find a different job that gives them more freedom. Or they could start their own business and create the freedom for themselves.

Freedom is a luxury most people don't have, but they could have - if they really wanted it. But for one reason or another, they don't really want it. They prefer the sweet illusion of stability than the harsh reality of insecurity.

I think the harsh reality of insecurity has become a pattern throughout my life, but I'm happy that I've always had the time for all those occasions and people that are truly important to me.

As I move through my life, I'm going to continue focusing on making sure that my life is more important to me than my work. I'll always work to live, never live to work.

Which side do you lean towards? Do you live to work, or do you work to live?

Back home from the holiday

It was a brief holiday my wife and I had, traveling up to Sydney yesterday for the Bruce Springsteen concert, staying overnight, and coming back home today. Just like the concert was, it was a wild and wonderful ride.

We caught up with a good friend of mine, who's been a very good friend since I met him in August last year.

I met a very friendly fella at the restaurant tonight. He’s a regular there, he was there last night too (it’s a good restaurant, I went back to it tonight), and we got to talking. Very interesting conversations for almost a couple of hours.

As a result of all those very interesting conversations we shared, for hours every night, he and I became so close that I invited him to my wedding, and it was my honour that he was able to attend.

And then I was honoured that he was also able to attend my birthday a month later, in late November.

It's rare to find someone in your life that you can establish a strong and immediate connection with, but when you do, you really should treasure them. I certainly do.

[Tweet "Treasure those rare few people in your life who help you become a better person."]

We had lunch yesterday, and it was great to catch up. After lunch, Fanfan and I went to our nearby hotel and checked in, chilling out a bit before heading off around 5pm to the venue where we'd be seeing Bruce Springsteen.

It was less than a year ago when I saw him last, when he last played in Sydney. To have him return only 11 months later is just... well, it's just awesome.

I'm too tired to talk about it as I'm writing this. I'll write up a review over the weekend to go along with THE TWO HOURS OF VIDEO I FILMED OF HIS CONCERT!

Oh my.

As I discussed in my post, I'll be seeing Bruce Springsteen in less than 2 weeks, I was going to be taking my 'better-than-my-smartphone' camera:

This time around I’ll take my super-zoom camera and see if I can get some better photos than I did last time, when I used my phone.

I didn't take any photos. I took video instead. I think about two hours of video.

I managed to get all of his songs that he sang on video, but not ALL of those songs. Some songs I recorded all of, others I just recorded some of. Unfortunately, I ran out of space on the SD card halfway though his very final song, Dream Baby Dream, which I thought was sad, but I was happy it didn't run out halfway through the concert....

One of the things about Bruce Springsteen is that he puts his very soul into his music and his singing. It's very much apparent when you see him live. And he's been doing this since he started in 1972.

[Tweet "Bruce Springsteen shares his life's purpose with us. Inspirational."]

We got home (the hotel) from the concert and into bed by about 1:30am. We woke up this morning around 8, checked out of the hotel and went to a nearby cafe for a coffee and croissant. The weather was lovely, nice and sunny and a pleasant temperature. A nice change from the torrential downpours yesterday.

After breakfast we went off to Bondi, where I took some lovely photos and my wife enjoyed a swim in the Icebergs Pool.

I'll share some of the photos later too, in their own post. Not tonight. Need to write this and then sleep the sleep of the dead.

Why the sleep of the dead? Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but after the Bondi trip, we went somewhere else in Sydney and caught up with one of Fanfan's old friends from China and had lunch with them for a couple of hours, and then drove back to Canberra for three hours.

As soon as we got back, we had to freshen up and go out to dinner with another friend.

And now it's 11pm, and I'm so tired. But you're important to me. So I needed to write to you to give you an update. I hope you appreciate it.

"Why are holidays so short?"

That's what my wife asked me today, when she was talking about how she was sad that we had to go home after our brief two day holiday in Sydney.

And of course I had to describe that during our brief holiday, I was still 'working'. I did a brief amount of web design work in the hotel room yesterday, and I had a call with my client today about some of the templates - and I was working while we were on holiday.

I explained that today, we were living my dream. To be able to travel, enjoy ourselves, see the sights, relax, experience new and wonderful things, while relaxing, and while still working at the same time.

Today we were living my dream. And I want to continue finding and creating opportunities to make that dream a reality.

Time for sleep. Goodnight!

Have you heard of Lifestyle Design?

What is Lifestyle Design? Well, it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It's the art and practice of designing your own lifestyle. Hopefully exactly as you want it to be.

The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design (LD). - Tim Ferris, The 4-Hour work Week

Most men work their entire life in a job they hate, to support their family and earn enough money to retire. And then they have a few years where they're playing golf or lawn bowls before they die of boredom. For most women it's working, then raising children until they leave home, and then playing lawn bowls until they die of boredom.

Just the thought of any of that makes me feel like I'd rather throw myself off a tall building right now than go through that kind of hell.

Which is apparently exactly what most Scanners feel when they think of such things.

I think that people who prefer following their heart, and changing their mind all the time, and can be happy doing that, are the types of people who choose to design the lifestyle of their choice.

Instead of accepting the life that others want them to live, they'll choose the life that's most meaningful to them - even if they don't get all that much money from it.

If they can design a lifestyle for themselves that pays their living expenses while allowing them to live a life that is rewarding and fulfilling and feels like heaven on earth, then they're 'living the dream'.

Everyone desires to live the life of their dreams, but not everyone does what they can to achieve the life of their dreams. Not everyone designs their life to get the results they want.

Lifestyle Design is about creating a plan of how you want to live, and then making choices about your life and your work that fits into that plan.

The end result will hopefully be a more rewarding and fulfilling life, based on your design.

I think that I've been doing an element of Lifestyle Design for many years now, but not really succeeding at it. It's obvious to me I'm doing it wrong, but at least my experiences are helping me learn how to improve upon what I'm doing.

What I need to work on for myself is the design of a lifestyle that gives me what I need, and gives my wife what she needs, and my future family what they need.

I have to take into consideration my responsibilities related to the choices that I've made, and the people that I've brought into my life, that I've made myself responsible for as a partner and future father. (No, Fanfan is not pregnant, but we're working on it.)

Any lifestyle designs I work on needs to be for a lot more than just me and my own selfish needs. My choices, my responsibilities, my design.

A worthy project, I think. Designing a life that helps all of us find reward and fullfillment.

Have you been designing your own lifestyle? Have you been living a life of your dreams? Or are you still trying to work it out for yourself? Share your story or your thoughts below.