10 reasons why you quit your job in 2013

This is a translation of the acclaimed TechCrunch article by James Altuscher , an investor, programmer, author of articles and a little entrepreneur . His latest books: I was blind, but now I see 40 alternatives to college . Read it on Twitter @jaltucher .

People read TechCrunch because they want to create something, they don’t want to follow orders all their lives and they want financial freedom. Let's be honest. These three points seem attractive. God bless you. I hope that when you find them, you can save them. For most people (for example, ME), you just need to go on a roller coaster, because we are stupid. But some people are smart.


Getting what you need is difficult, but for the reasons I will explain below, you now have no other choice . Myths about corporate security, about climbing the corporate ladder, about buying gold watches, about getting applause from your colleagues are no longer there. Not because the economy is bad. And because innovation and the global economy are better than ever.
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But do not expect a quick effect.

You cannot make money without selling something substantial. You can not do something significant without showing your imagination. You cannot have imagination without indulging in the idea of ​​creating something valuable for other people.

And now it's too late. The course of history has finally completed its next chapter. But stop talking about it. I will tell you why you should quit your job. Why you need to put ideas in motion. Why do you need to build a foundation for your life, otherwise in the near future you will not have a roof.


Jabba's New Employee

1) The middle class is dead. A few weeks ago, I visited a friend of mine who rolls trillions of dollars. Not a joke. Trillions. If I called you the family for which he worked, you would say: “They have a trillion? Oh, well? ”But this is what happens when $ 10 million lies under 2% for more than 200 years.

He said, "Look out the window." We examined all the office buildings around us. “What do you see?” He asked. - "I dont know". “They are empty! All rooms are empty. The middle class is devastated. ”And I looked closely. Entire floors were dark. There were floors with one or two offices, but most were empty. “All this has been outsourced or technology has taken over the scribes,” he said.

“Not everything is so bad,” he said. “More people joined the upper class than last year.” But more and more people become temporary employees than ever, he said.

And here is a new paradigm. The middle class is dead. The American dream never really existed. It was a marketing ploy.

So it was. Fannie Mae, the largest mortgage provider in the last 50 years, had the slogan: “We make the American dream a reality.” It was just a marketing slogan, always. How many times have I cried because of him. And then they destroyed this dream.

2) you will be replaced. Technology, outsourcing, a growing temporary job industry, productivity growth — all replaced the middle class. Working class. Most jobs that existed 20 years ago are no longer needed. Maybe they were never needed. The entire first decade of this century has passed for the CEO in their park avenue clubs crying with cigars in their teeth: “How will we fire all this dead weight?” 2008 finally gave them a chance. “This is all economics!” They said. The country came out of decline in 2009. Four years ago. But jobs have not returned. I asked many of these CEOs: you just used this as an excuse to fire people, and they winked and said, “Let's just leave everything as it is.”

I am on the board of directors of a temporary employment company with $ 600 million in revenue. I see that this happens in all sectors of the economy. All fired. Everything now is just toilet paper.

In the furnace.


Robots - a new middle class

3) Corporations do not like you. The top news executive editor called me to lunch to ask for advice on how to increase traffic on their website. But before I could speak, he began to complain to me: “Our best authors continue to put twitter signatures in their articles and then, when they get more readers, they start asking for a boost.”

“So what's the problem?” I asked. - “Don't you need popular and respected authors?”

When I say “major news release,” I mean MAIN.

He said, “No, we just want to make news. We don't need stars. ”

In other words, his main task is to destroy the career aspirations of the most talented people, people who swore allegiance to him, people who worked 90 hours a week for him. If they only worked 30 hours a week and were a bit more mediocre, he would be happy. But he does not love you. He wants you to stay in his hole, and he will occasionally throw food to you in exchange for your excrement. If someone reading is a reporter and wants to contact me personally, I will tell you who it was. But in principle, they are all the same. Each of them.

4) Money is not happiness. A frequent question that is asked to me at least once a week on Twitter: “Should I get a job that I like, or should I find a job that pays more money?”

Leaving aside the question “Should I get a job at all”, let's talk about money for a second. First, science: research shows that an increase in wages results in a near-zero increase in “happiness” above a certain level. Why is that? Because of the simple fact: people spend everything they earn. If your salary increases to $ 5,000 dollars, you spend an extra $ 2,000 on accessories for your car, you start a novel, you buy a new computer, a bigger sofa, a big TV, and then you ask, “Where did all the money go?” Even if nothing You don’t need the above mentioned, you need one more thing: one more salary increase, so go back to the corporate casino for one more turn of the payroll roulette wheel. I have never seen anyone put off wage surpluses.

In other words, do not stay at work for measured salary handouts. It will never lead you to what you need - to freedom from financial fuss. Only free time, imagination, creativity and the ability to disappear will help you create the value that no one has ever created before in human history.

5) Count right now how many people can make an important decision that will ruin your life. I do not like when one person can create or destroy me. Boss. Publisher. TV producer. The buyer of my company. At one point, I will have to grovel before them. I hate this. I will never do this again.

The only way to avoid such a situation is to diversify your activity, when no particular person - a buyer, boss or client - can make such a decision that can make you rich or destroy you, fulfill all your life dreams or destroy them. I understand that this will not happen in one day. Start planning to create your own destiny now, instead of letting people who dislike you control it. When you count, make sure that the number reaches 20. In this case, when the roulette wheel is rotated, the chances of winning numbers will be on your side.

6) Does your job meet your needs? I will explain the concept of “needs” as I always do, based on what I call “daily practice”. Are your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs met?

The only time I got a job that suited me was when I had to work a little and I always had time on the side to write articles, start a business, or have fun with friends. At other times, I worked too hard, communicating with people that I didn’t like, which constantly destroyed my creativity. When you are in such conditions, you need to develop your exit strategy.

Your hands are not made to write notes. Or send papers via fax. Or hold the phone, talking to people that you do not like. In a hundred years, your hands will rot in your grave. You should find the best use for these hands now. Kiss your hands so that they can create magic.

Some may argue, "not everyone can satisfy all these needs at work." It's true. But since we already know that the salary does not make you happy, you can easily change your lifestyle and work to at least satisfy more of your needs. And the more these needs are met, the more you will create the conditions for bringing true abundance into life.

Your life is a home. Abundance is the roof. But the foundation and plumbing play a primary role, otherwise the roof will fall, and the house will become uninhabitable. You create the foundation by following Daily Practice. I say this not because I sell something, but because it works for me every time my roof collapses. My house was bombed out, it was cold there and the burning winds were stinging my face, but I managed to build everything anew. This is my personal experience.


Another day at work

7) Get into your retirement plan. I don't care how much you reflect in your 401k declaration. Its end. The savings myth itself has disappeared. Inflation will eat most of your 401k. And in order to cash in on this retirement plan, you have to live a really long time doing things you don’t like to do. And finally, you are 80 and you live in a cave, leading a sluggish lifestyle, barely warming up at night.

The only retirement plan is to find yourself. Start a business, project or new lifestyle, in which you can forget about constant thoughts about money. Some may say, "Well, I'm just not an entrepreneur."

It is not true. Everyone is an entrepreneur. The only skills you need to be an entrepreneur are: the ability to fail, the ability to have ideas, promote these ideas, run these ideas and be so persistent that even when you fail, you learn and move on to the next idea. Or be an entrepreneur at work. "Hired Entrepreneur". Take control of who you report to, what you do, what you create. Or start a business on the side. Create some value, any value, for someone, for someone, and see how this value is implemented in your career.

What other choice do you have? Staying at work, where the boss is trying to pull you down, eventually replacing you, will pay as much as just to survive, will rush from compliments to insults, so you will be caught on the bait fish, he will pull the bait. Is this your best bet? You and I have the same 24 hours every day. And so you will spend them?

8) Excuses. "I'm too old." "I have no creativity." "I need insurance." “I have to raise children.” Once I was at a party. A stunningly beautiful woman came up to me and said: “James, hello, how are you !?”

WHAT? Who are you?

I said, “Hi! I have everything in order. ” But I had no idea who I was talking to. Why does this woman talk to me? I was too ugly. I had to play a few minutes in conversation to find out who she was.

It turned out that it was the old-fashioned woman who six months ago quit her job where we worked together. She cried, taking her things from the office when she was fired. She was forever disheveled and looked about 30 years older than she really was, and at that time her life was rolling on her feet. So far ... she did not understand that she got out of the zoo. In the George Lucas film, THX-1138 (this was the name of the main character), everyone’s desires are suppressed, and all people live underground because the earth is “radioactive." Finally, THX decides that it is better to die on earth than to suffer forever under the earth, where he is not allowed to love. He was not free.

He made his way to the ground, dodging all the guards and policemen. And when he got out, it was sunny there. All the people on earth are beautiful, and they are waiting for him with open arms and kisses. The preposition "but there is radiation!" Was just to keep it down.

“It's easy for you to talk,” many say to me. “One of us MUST do this!” And the beautiful woman before me also had to do it. “What are you doing now?” I asked her. “Oh, you know,” she said. "Consulting". But some people say: “I can’t just go out and consult. What does that even mean? ”

To which I respond: "Yes, I agree with you." Who am I to argue? If someone insists that they should be in prison, even if the door is not locked, I am not going to argue. They have the right to remain in prison.

9) Moving with children's steps is normal. “I can’t just KNOW!” People say. “I have to deal with debts.” I understand. Nobody says to quit today. Before people run a marathon, they learn to crawl, then move in small steps, then walk, then run. Then they train every day and maintain health. Then run a marathon. Damn, what am I talking about? I can't run more than two miles without a fit of agony. I'm a rag.

Make a list right now. Every dream. I want to be a best-selling author. I want to reduce my material needs. I want to get rid of many troubles, the victims of which I have been all my life. I want to be healthy. I want to help all the people around me or the people who come into my life. I want everything that I do to be a source of help for people. I want to be near only those people whom I love and who love me. I want to have time for myself.

THIS IS NOT GOALS. This is an installation. What do I need to do every day to practice following these settings? It starts at the moment when I wake up: “To whom can I help today?” I ask the darkness when I open my eyes. “Who would you like me to help today?” I am a secret agent, and I am waiting for my task. Ready to receive. This is how you make little baby steps. This is how you ultimately run to freedom.

10) Abundance never comes from your work. Only after leaving the prison, in which you are imprisoned from birth, you will be able to reach abundance. You do not see it now. It's hard to see the gardens when you're locked up in prison. Abundance comes only when you move through your installations. When you truly improve the lives of people around you.

When every day you wake up with this desire for improvement. Do better to your family, friends, colleagues, clients, potential consumers, readers, people you do not even know, but would like to meet you. Become a beacon of cultivation and then, when it starts to get dark, all the ships will move towards you, bringing their inexhaustible wealth.

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Do not believe me. Stay with the boss who hates you. With a job that keeps you on the chain, enticing you with constant salary increases and career advances. Stay in a culture that quietly replaces the entire middle class. This is not someone's mistake. These are the tectonic plates of the economy, destroying the whole provincial culture that has been going on for almost 100 years.

As long as you do not set yourself up for success and for all that this choice entails, you will be locked up in prison. You will look into your partner's eyes, looking for a hint of whether he or she loves you. But gradually the light will fade away, the heat of the other body will become cold, and once again you will fall asleep dreamlessly in this darkness.

[You can read James on Twitter @jaltucher . Or read his blog .]