From the MRW Water Cooler
Q: Mike (and forum readers),
I think the best idea I can come up with is to follow your dreams. Do whatever it is you want to do, not what someone tells you is a better idea. Get the word out that skilled trades are as important (if not more) that white collar jobs.
-Bryan
Hi Bryan, and Welcome
I will do all I can to tell anyone listening that a four-year degree is not the only path to enlightenment and happiness.
But I wonder sometimes, if the best way to achieve a dream is allow it to follow you, and not the other way around. I suppose if my options were limited to following my dream or following an order, I’d go for the dream. But too many people, in my opinion, follow their dreams straight into a mountain of debt or a sea of regret. Dreams can be fickle.
I’ve mentioned before that one of the things I learned from doing this show was the idea that following your passion is not nearly as important as bringing it along for the ride. I’ve talked to more than one entrepreneur who laid out this basic same strategy –
1. Step back and look what direction everyone else is heading.
2. Go the other way.
3. Look for something that no one else wants to do.
4. Start doing it.
5. Get really good at it.
6. Find a way to like it.
7. be happy.
I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met who wind up dirty and successful as a result of this approach. It’s a bit mercenary, to be sure. But there are many roads to a happy career, and this is one not often taken.
Mike