Fame and Fortune

I am sure that fame is not arrived at through pursuing one's dreams, as everyone claims. If this were true, there would be more famous people than homeless people.

I was watching a show on MTV tonight called The Buried Life, where four guys (Canadians, I might add) set out in an RV to cross off items on their list of "stuff we've always wanted to do but probably won't ever get the chance to". The items vary from asking out the girl of their dreams (in this case Taylor Swift) to getting married in Vegas to making a million dollars in one day. They get away with this crap by also promising to fulfill other people's more practical and socially beneficial dreams when they complete one of theirs. It's a fun show that I find worth 30 minutes of my time.

It got me thinking: What does it take to become a talking point amongst regular people? Watching these guys clown around on screen, and thinking of other reality TV stars and celebrities of their ilk, I realize that they have something a bit different from the average. They click together, fill the necessary niches that any successful guy group has, and probably have a keen sense of film-making and editing. So they had this idea. And they did it. And somehow they are now famous.

But they're like 23! (I'm not really sure how old they are, but they look about my age.) It CAN'T be that all four of them have dreamed of this idea for years, and they knew that it would be a kick-ass, popular sensation. I doubt they had a business plan. What they had was a perfect blend of characters, one that unintentionally combined for success, and this simple chemistry propped the whole crew up through the dreaded beginning stage.

Imagine these guys sitting around a college campus or dormitory, coming up with this idea. How many other college students have come up with a comparable novelty? Why aren't they famous? They may half-heartedly pursue it for a short time, but more often than not motivation wanes and the idea fizzles out. Maybe the idea wasn't great in the first place, but these concepts must evolve as they are undertaken fully, and that's where the genius lies. I highly doubt that the guys on The Buried Life had this all sorted out before they set out to film their show. Maybe they dreamed that it would become a national sensation, but it's hard to imagine that they actually believed themselves. It's easy to imagine that they were just in it to have a blast.

We all want to be famous, or at least for someone to recognize us on the street. We've all got that dream of seeing ourselves on TV or in a magazine or authoring a book. And we're told our entire lives that "we can become whatever we'd like if we work hard at it" and to "not let anyone tell us what we can and can't do". But no matter how hard we work, more likely than not, we will never become reality television stars or celebrities, which is what many people would like to "become".

My point is this: Consider all of the ideas similar to The Buried Life that went forward, did not become famous, but satisfied it's participants nonetheless. For example: This blog. I write it because I believe it goes towards improving my long-term writing abilities, but also because it's kind of fun. In all likelihood, it will not become famous or noteworthy, because it isn't new or different. It's an idea that I undertook for the purpose of being able to express myself, and because it's something I somewhat like to do. There are no repercussions if nobody ever reads it or gets inspired from it, so it's a win-win. I think that creative undertakings where fame and fortune is a vague subplot and in which failure doesn't exist, are how stars are accidentally born.

Today, everyone's so focused on becoming the next big thing, a stressful endeavor in and of itself. Look at some ideas that took off, like Facebook and Reality TV. These didn't occur through careful planning and quick, efficient work to get ahead. It seems to be that they came about mostly through luck and trial and error. We can't try and try and try again to innovate. It has to come through an individual or group passion that evolves into something entertaining to others. So stop worrying about getting ahead of the curve, and let the world spin as it may. In my opinion, acting this way will get you there faster anyways.

Goodnight Moon

Each night, there exists a minute or two when I lay down for sleep on my back in my warm bed, tuck my hands behind my head, and melt into an utter state of relaxation. Not until recently have I experienced this moment of bliss. It's as if the weight of decisions made that day leaks out of my body and adds to the pillowy softness of my mattress. It's a wonderful feeling, although it comes at a very odd point in time.

Why would this be happening now? I've been bitching and moaning for the past 3 months about jobs, living arrangements and just about anything else I can think of. To be honest, I'm at peace with my situation. I've somehow been able to enjoy the minimal amount of work I do and not felt the burden of finding something better. And instead of being scared of the last sentence, I'm okay with reading it over again. Some things aren't meant to be pushed that hard, and this job search is one of them.

What's the use of pushing so hard for something more when I'm content with what I've got? Eventually, I know for a fact that the contentedness I feel now will drift away, and at that point I will more doggedly pursue a new location and a new line of work. But until then, setting limited weekly quotas for such onerous activities as applying for jobs, researching grad schools, studying GMAT's and networking leaves me most at peace.

And it all culminates in the minute or two when I compress the day into my head before bed. I summarize it and recreate it and look forward to the next one. Life ain't so bad.

Podcasts

Have you ever browsed through the free podcasts available to anyone on iTunes? These wonders of technology now allow the day's news to come to you instead of you going to today's news. You know that commute to work, the one in which you get tired of listening to talk show radio or the same music over and over again? Now, instead of wasting time at your computer checking out the day's news, you can listen to it on the way to work. Even better, you don't get to pick what news topics you read. Instead of guiltily clicking on the web browser tab that links you to last night's story about who won Dancing with the Stars, certain podcasts choose the day's top stories. Simple, easy, straightforward. Voila.

Some podcasts are informative. Some are funny. Some talk about news, some about sports. There's a podcast for just about anything. The difficult part is deciding which one you would like to listen to today. Before I got into podcasts, driving a long distance was a hassle. The same old music got boring and cell phone tickets got expensive. It's the easiest way to multitask. Can you listen and drive? Good, I have the perfect product for you.

And then, just like that, you forget to download your new podcasts. That drive you once excitedly anticipated becomes so much longer. So be careful not to leave those juicy podcasts at home, or you may find yourself twisting that radio dial again, scolding yourself for your ineptitude.

Hearing just became your most valuable sense.






This has been a plug-for-no-reason production.

Working Without a Job

I have now had 6 different job titles without established functions. There's nothing more debilitating to ones feeling of self worth than to be at "work" with nothing to do. Now a seasoned pro, I've come up with a list of necessities for surviving a jobless job. Here they are:

1. Know who knows that you don't do anything while at work. Avoid them at all costs.

2. Practice your "busy face" at home. This usually consists of furrowed eyebrows, pursed lips, and upward-looking eyeballs, as to better see your brain hard at work up there.

3. Consider your current location. Find a more interesting one i.e. vending machine, bathroom, hidden corner.

4. If at a computer, utilize right hand for mouse clicking and left hand for lap cell phone usage. If intruder enters, focus on computer screen and click furiously while doing your best to hide the cellphone in your lap.

4.5 www.sporcle.com

5. Really draw out the simplest tasks assigned to you. Try to understand every facet of your assignment i.e. If you need to make a simple Excel spreadsheet that should take 6 minutes, take as long as you need to find the best built-in Excel formula to accomplish your task. Jazz it up a bit. In doing so, you'll become more familiar with Excel, waste time, and put off another hour of boredom. (Disclaimer: Only use this if you are fully certain there will be nothing for you to do afterward.)

6. Become friends with coworkers who won't ever have anything for you to do. The general lack of caring for what the other person does can lead to a fun "working" relationship.

7. Make an intricate and detailed schedule of what you will do after work and for the upcoming weekend. Never follow it.

8. Write raps and e-mail them to friends. (True story)

9. Dress as nicely as possible to insinuate that you are THERE FOR A PURPOSE!

9a. Be on time. It's counter intuitive, but tardiness is a slippery slope sliding towards not showing up at all, at which point everyone will just assume you've been fired... from a job with no function. That's depressing.

10. Most importantly, stop trying to network your way into jobs, because those people kind enough to take you in never realize the burden you will inevitably become. Just grit your teeth and apply to real jobs. Stop procrastinating and just do it already DAN!!!!

Corporate vs. Nonprofit Tradeoff

I've been wondering lately if it's legitimate to believe that corporate work is undertaken for your future well-being while nonprofit work is undertaken for other people's well-beings. Is it fair to categorize them that way?

Private sector work is so focused on growth and expansion and getting bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter that sometimes it seems like they have lost perspective on most social issues. But public sector work can be so tedious and slow, as bureaucracy severely hinders speed of execution and ease of tangible results.

Here's how I see it: People working for big corporations often have profit or promotion incentives, and thus work more hours with gritty determination, and in doing so earn more money, but also cut down on leisure time and a kind of direction or meaning in their lives. Nonprofit and government sector workers do not make as much money as private sector workers, but have an easier time separating work from play, and generally have some sort of social aim. This a huge simplification, but let's just say it's the truth because simplification is nice sometimes.

But getting back to it, there's been this nagging quandary in the back of my mind lately. It basically reads: "Is it selfish to want to work in the private sector and make more money as opposed to working in the nonprofit sector for less money, but with a positive societal contribution and a chance for self-satisfaction?" Do I want to live for myself or for others in the US or in the world who are worse off than myself?

It's a difficult decision, because on one hand money is everything, but on the other hand, it would probably get old after a while. Isn't it easier sometimes just to use what you've got instead of lusting after the next best thing? If this were the case, it would seem safe to say that I should work in the public sector against something I despise in a manner that I enjoy. But I've also been infused with a competitive instinct that leads me to want to be better, work harder and have a higher number (meaning yearly salary, and ensure people know it with accompanying material wealth) than the next person. That's a hard urge to curb.

In the end, Third Eye Blind said it nicest: "How's it gonna be?"

Don't Ever Believe Your Resume

I was looking at my resume the other day, and realized that most of what was on there just was not true. Did I actually organize and operate 2 community service days with over 25 volunteers each? Yes, if you consider that "operate" means following the instructions of someone else and if "25 volunteers" actually refers to 10 people who are required to be there and 4 people that cooked lunch and 5 people that were supposed to show up but didn't and 6 dogs that kind of helped out a bit. Is the key to a good resume to have what you say about your accomplishments be plausible, but not accurate?

The funniest part about all of this is that I actually... start to... believe... that my resume speaks the truth. Why not? There's no reason not to. Nobody will ever know otherwise! It's like a story that has been passed down through generations, and been exaggerated each time. By the end, great grandpa Chester walked 15 miles a day to school in negative temperatures with no shoes on his feet and a 50 pound pig on his back for lunch. And everyone knows it can't be true... Or can it? See what I mean?

I've found from experience that there's a fine line between flat out lying and just exaggerating a little bit what actually happened. It's important not to cross that line, because if a recommendation letter unwittingly contradicts something you've said... Employer 1, Dan 0.