Ep. 207 - A Box Full of Parts

"Finding a career focus is normally a long-term process - not a decision made by an 18 yr old.  

Career choices are not for the most part logical and rational - the good ones are much more intuitive and clarified by life experience.  That's why those of you who are already 35-40+ are in a better position to make good career decisions.  What have you done in the real world has been preparing you to make clearer, more meaningful decisions than what you could possibly have done at age 18-20.  Career decisions made at 18 seldom define the most fulfilling options 20 years later.  Life is the ultimate educational experience that helps us make good decisions.  And keep in mind that academic institutions are often safe, socially acceptable places to hide out while procrastinating having to make real choices."  - Dan Miller

• Have you found your career path?
• Are you confident that you are now on the perfect path?

Links:   

• The Rudder of the Day  - by Dan Miller  
• 48 Days Eagles Community
  • Dan Miller's 48 Days Eagles Community helps driven, smart, creative individuals like you who are willing to take action to break free from monotony, find your true purpose, and create not only work, but a full life you thrive in.

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• t.me/allaroundgrowth    

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• https://t.me/allaroundgrowthpodcast  

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hey there everybody. Do you ever feel like a box full of parts that don't seem to match? Well, it's an interesting question, and we're going to get into the reason why behind that question shortly. But before we do, I'd like to welcome you to the show. This is episode number 207 of The All Around Growth, a show that provides insight and tools to building the lives and homesteads of our dreams. My name is Rob Kaiser and I am your host. Today, the content or the fodder for discussion comes from The Rudder of the Day, a book by Dan Miller, who is also the author of the book he's most known for, 48 Days to the Work You Love. And on the 20th edition, released this year, retitled to 48 Days to the Work and Life You Love. And this comes from his book, Rudder of the Day. Finding a career focus is normally a long-term process, not a decision made by an 18-year-old. This is actually a quote from a career workshop attendee. The young man went on to describe how he had the ability to do a lot of things, but had never found a clear focus for his career. In the spring of each year, we always see a great number of college graduates who present the same feeling. Now that I have this degree, what am I supposed to do? Having a degree does not necessarily lead a person in a clear direction. That's why we know that 10 years after graduation, 80% of college graduates are working in something totally unrelated to their college degree. Rather than being alarmed by this fact, we simply need to put the degree in perspective. A college degree is not intended to create a narrow career path from which there is no escape. In a broader sense, it is part of the maturing process. It shows self-discipline. It expands one horizons and options. It provides new social contracts, and it likely stimulates some possible career alternatives. My own college degree was in psychology. The motivation for that had more to do with my desire for personal understanding than a basis for a career. Five years after that degree, I went back for a master's degree in clinical psychology. Then I sold cars, started an auto accessories business, bought a health and fitness center, and consulted on small business issues. Eighteen years after that master's degree, I began my doctoral program in religion and society. It was then, at about age 42, that I began to assimilate my academic and life experience into the most effective application, life coaching. I did not have the necessary personal experience or knowledge prior to that time to relate to the struggles of the inevitable transitions most of us travel through. Quote, a person is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. John Barrymore. Career choices are not for the most part logical and rational. The good ones are much more intuitive and clarified by life experience. That's why those of you who are already 35 or 40 or older are in a better position to make good career decisions. What you have done in the real world has been preparing you to make clearer, more meaningful decisions than what you could possibly have done at the age of 18 to 20. Career decisions made at 18 seldom define the most fulfilling options 20 years later. Life is the ultimate educational experience that helps us make good decisions. And keep in mind that academic institutions are often safe, socially acceptable places to hide out while procrastinating, having to make real choices. Enjoy the journey. Before we ask ourselves a couple questions that provide some direction for today and direction for the show, we'll read from the Bible. Guide me in your truth and teach me. For you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Have you found your career path? Are you confident that you are now on the perfect path? And that's what we're gonna talk about as we hit the road on the commute this morning. And like I said, it's a rainy morning, so bear with me if there are any distractions or things of that nature. But as is quite typical, the questions for today, the questions that provide us some discussion for the day, are very much in line with the general MO of the show Providing insight and tools to building the life and homestead of your dream. And I oftentimes wonder if some people that tune in expecting this to be a homestead show. Here's some content like this, and wonder what the hell this is all about. Well what this is is like what many podcasts are, I presume, is one's personal experience about the topics of their choice. And in this case, it's exactly that, building the life and homestead of my dreams. Now I'm not at a point where I can homestead full-time, so I have to work, or I choose to work, because I think that's the best way that I can maintain, or the amount of income that I need right now. Or at least the amount of income that I want. Because the homestead is a work in progress between my parents and myself. We are working very hard to get that paid off. There is that's another story for another day, but my own personal financial situation is such that I am not in a position to where I can feel comfortable leaving full-time employment. So I remain with my employer full-time, which is where I'm headed right now. And boy, dramatic long pause, huh? And I've been there seven seasons. And the question have you found your career path? Are you confident that you are now on the perfect path? Well, earlier we read that we know that ten years after graduation, 80% of college graduates are working in something totally unrelated to their college degree. Now what's interesting is that was pretty much the understanding in our family was that you were gonna go to college. Well, I did that. And I was encouraged to study what I I loved. So um initially I had a partial scholarship to a small school in Pennsylvania. I didn't even finish the season. Playing college football was one of the worst experiences of my life for a number of reasons. At that point, if you have a scholarship and you quit the team, you lose your scholarship. So I had to transfer, preferably to a state school. I transferred to Ohio University and began studying philosophy and English literature. Needless to say, it didn't take very long for me to realize that that was not going to result in much of a career path unless I desired unless I desired to become a dedicated academic and teach the very crap that I was learning. And that thank God I had enough sense at that point in time to realize that that didn't sound like a very appealing option because of all the debt that I would incur. Eventually, I dropped out of school number two and began working at a garden center. And that's when I got turned on to the idea of ag tech schools, that I could actually get a college degree in horticulture. That would give me an applicable skill set and make my parents happy. So after I learned that I managed to get a degree, it looks like there may be an accident up here. I see some lights. So be advised there may be a bit of hesitation shortly on this rainy morning. But we we read earlier about that percentage of people that have a degree and don't work in a field associated with that degree, and luckily I've been working in a career path that's associated with, affiliated with the degree I went to school for back in the late nineties.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

And that question, have I found have I found the right career path?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

I'm going to say yes. I started off working in a retail garden center. I worked there for years. I went to school. I had an internship that took me out to Colorado where I worked at a larger tree farm. Left that place, worked at another tree farm with a retail operation. Moved back here. Moved to North Carolina. Worked at a landscaping company. Arboretum. Moved back to Ohio. Work for Davy Tree. And for the past well over a decade, I have been working in very much of a nerd-like capacity within the green industry, and I've feel like I've found my niche where I can work with plants, work with computers, do it all at the same time. Are you confident that you are now on the perfect path? Question number two. No. No. No. I'm I'm I find myself constantly seeking more. Constantly seeking opportunity. Initially I was excited about working here because I saw the opportunity. And despite some of the challenges that were here, I was constantly creating opportunity as my employer was receptive to it. Yes, you want to take on rebuilding the web design and you know save some money there and do it better? Yes, okay, do it. Learn how to do it. Go for it. Get tasked with implementing an entirely new software program. I can interface with QuickBooks and then custom rewrite it based on our specific needs and how we've been doing our accounting and bookkeeping. Yeah, sure. But at this point in time, the company keeps growing. I feel like I've hit a plateau. And I feel like in the long game called Life, there's a better use of my time. So what I'm doing now in the interim, connecting with people in a community such as 48 Days, the Eagles Community, which is a community created by Dan Miller, who wrote the book of which Rudder of the Day that I'm read of which I'm reading from today. Where was I going with that? I don't know. I don't know guys. Excuse my mental brownout. Feel like I was talking about feeling as though I was on the right path, but I was also trying to conclude the thought, thinking about where I'm going to park because there's a lot of activity going on. Normal parking area. There's dump trucks and excavators. Anyways. I'm doing so through the 48 Days Eagles community, a community created by Dan Miller, author of this book. That's where I was going with that. And we've got this community here from listeners from the All Around Growth podcast at t.me slash allaroundgrowth. If you like what you hear and you want to connect with more of us, you can find us there. And guys, I'm going to shut it down with that. I hope you have a wonderful day, a wonderful Friday, a wonderful weekend, and we will talk with you later. Bye bye.