Tag: The Great Resignation

I Don’t Want A Team

Building a team is often described as the big win in levelling up a content creator’s success. If we delegate the tasks we don’t want to do, then we can double down on what we love doing.

But running a team is the kind of office work I chose to remove from my life.

Substituting doing something I don’t want to do, with managing someone else doing it seems like a compromise. What happened to Hell Yeah, or No!➹?

Perhaps I can transform some of the have-to’s into want-to’s. Previously, I got sick of trying to make a website do complicated things, and settled for something simpler. This allowed me to focus on the core challenge of writing. I’m much happier.

My content creation is meant to be logotherapeutic. So it needs to be kept up close and personal.

Either love it or cut it.

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Loafeur

Solo-preneurs of the world, Disunite!

It sounds like the revolutionary call for the workers to unite. But the path of the greater resignation is one of independence.

The word saboteur➹ is derived from workers wearing wooden shoes called sabots who interrupted production. But sabotage is a negative behaviour.

A nice pair of slippers, on the other hand, is part of the creative loafing experience.

The shoe called the loafer➹ got its name because it’s easily slipped on, without the work of laces and knots. That sounds like a metaphor for the independent, creative career I have in mind.

So maybe those who choose the path of the greater resignation are loafeurs.

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This Blog Is A Form Of Logotherapy

In a book I’m reading about ikigai➹, the authors have introduced logotherapy. The two ideas are related, being about having a purpose to live for.

It seems relevant to the journey of my great resignation, which is how this blog got started.

The Five Steps of Logotherapy

(1) A person feels empty, frustrated or anxious.

(2) The therapist shows them that what they are feeling is the desire to have a meaningful life.

(3) The patient discovers their life’s purpose (at that particular point in time).

(4) Of their own free will, the patient decides to accept or reject that destiny.

(5) This newfound passion for life helps them overcome obstacles and sorrows.

Once the patient has established their purpose, they can press on with life, breaking the mental chains of the past and overcoming obstacles along the way.

Where Am I In This Process?

(1) I started this journey by quitting a job and a lifestyle that I disliked. The hope was that I’d find a working life that satisfies. I called this hope my great resignation.

(2) I’m trying to replace a work life, with a life-work. That’s why I was reading about ikigai. So I already have the direction of travel.

(3) Step three is my work in process. I know that I want something greater than the great resignation. I’m just not sure how it’s going to work.

Writing is Thinking

I started this blog with the statement “I Am A Writer“. The intention was to push myself to write, even though I didn’t have the ideas clear in my head. Writing would be the act by which I figured things out, because writing is thinking.

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Loafing

I really like this word, loafing.

Is it a privilege of social class, or a measure of success? Maybe it’s just a state of mind.

Ernie J. Zelinski➹ talks about creative loafing, a constructive state of creativity.

Loafing makes me think of Richard Branson wearing a sweater instead of a suit. Something about success that doesn’t need to impress.

Perhaps it’s part of the greater resignation I have in mind. A successful career, filled with creative flow, and without hustle.

I’ve started wearing slippers, during my ‘work’ hours, as a reminder to loaf more and be creative.

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No Hustle

Hustle culture isn’t why I triggered my great resignation. That’s not a lifestyle that I crave.

Hustle is outcome-focused. Compare this to the practice as described by Seth Godin➹. I want to live for the practice, not for the outcome.

“Journey before destination”, as Ali Abdaal➹ might say.

“You’re a winner when you have a zest for life, when you wake up every morning excited about the day.”

Ernie J. Zelinski➹, The Joy of Not Working, page ix, Ten Speed Press
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A Greater Resignation

The Great Resignation Isn’t So Great

When I had a permanent employment job that I disliked, the phrase ‘great resignation’ sounded very appealing.

I assumed it was about the opportunities made possible by the creator economy. That people could quit the world of fixed employment for a company and all the culture and practices that go with that lifestyle. We’d take the new opportunities to work for ourselves.

Instead, it turned out that this ‘great’ resignation was about people quitting their jobs to find another permanent employment with better work conditions. I found that to be a thin vision.

I want to work on my own terms and to take ownership of my day. For work that makes my life feel ‘great’.

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Is This My Great Resignation?

It’s a question, because it isn’t great yet.

I don’t have much evidence of future success. I haven’t gathered the statistics on blogger success rates. That’s not the point. The point is that this change, away from permanent employment, is what I felt driven to do.

Previously, my work life had always moved in the direction of greater freedom. From living at home in a small town; then university in a big city; then a job with my first real money; then backpacking abroad; to discovering I could travel the world as a freelance consultant.

Then everything collapsed and I needed to return to a regular day job. It felt like prison. I’d heard about the creator economy and then the great resignation. It sounded more like the great escape. So I jumped. Back to the family home, to my old bedroom, with two years’ cash if I eat a lot of brown rice.

At least I’m back on the path of freedom.

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