Oct 01
Cut the Fat (Part 1 - Don’t Do What You Don’t Like)
For some reason last night, I was thinking to myself about how much my life has changed in the last 5 years.
Of course there are the “big” things like getting married and having a kid, but there are also the “smaller” things like changing professions and starting this blog.
And I know for a fact that by “cutting the fat”, I’m the happiest now that I have been in quite sometime.
“If it hurts when you do that, don’t do that.”
You know that old thing right? Where the person goes into the doctor’s office and says it hurts everytime they lift their arm. The doctor then replies, “Well if hurts when you do that, don’t do that.” Simple advice that I think personally I wasn’t following for a long time.
When I look back over the past couple of years, I realize now that I used to do a bunch of stuff that I really hated. Stuff that I did because I thought that I had to.
- Stuff like working at a job I absolutely couldn’t tolerate.
- Stuff like pursuing academic goals that didn’t mean much to me, goals I didn’t need for my profession anyway and in the end would’ve lead me somewhere I didn’t want to go.
- Stuff that basically got me away from where I ultimately wanted to be and clouded things up so badly that I forgot where I truthfully wanted to be.
What Changed?
Personally for myself, I stand back and take a good look at “how things are” every 2 and a half years. I don’t know why I use that time frame, but it works for me. The last time I did that, I took a good look at myself and what I was doing and just concluded that I wasn’t where I wanted to be. So I did what I think anybody should do. I cut the fat.
“Cut That Meat!”
What exactly did I do? I basically changed everything I didn’t like.
- Academically - I’m always a student. I think everyone in the computer/internet medium is I mean, the industry changes too fast to not be. For me, I was killing myself burning too many late hours writing essays and studying Chem formulas… But the bigger thing was, I had finally concluded that I didn’t want to go where a degree would end up taking me. I believe for a large part degrees serve to show that you’re qualified to be hired to work for someone else. I didn’t want to work for someone else though and I already had the computer skills employer wanted. Thus the school fat was cut.
- Professionally - I was working at Best Buy, a retail giant in the US. It sucked. I love helping people, but unfortunately the policies of that job prevented me from doing that. In end, I hated going to work, and wasn’t making nearly enough money to justify me going anymore so I stopped. A week later after I polished up my résumé on Monster I had a cushy office job.
- Personally - I have so many passions that are important to me, and it used to be that I wasn’t spending anytime developing them. No more. I got back to what was important to me and it made all the difference in the world.
Conclusion
I’m not yet where I want to be, but I’m a whole lot closer than where I was and consequently a whole lot happier. Don’t spend too long doing things you don’t like, it’s really not worth it.
Tomorrow we’ll take a look at how you figure out WHAT fat you need to cut!
October 1st, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Just in time too. Most people start thinking about where they are .. especially when the holiday season closes in. I have a similar policy, “If it sucks, drop it.” haha
October 1st, 2007 at 3:47 pm
@Brown - I like your policy and it seems a lot more direct than the hemming and hawing I usually do. Ha ha.
October 1st, 2007 at 4:21 pm
And why in the name of holly cat do you mention this blog as being a “small thing” ?
:-P
October 1st, 2007 at 9:25 pm
[...] Don’t do what you don’t like to do by Bush Mackel [...]
October 1st, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Bush, I think what some people lack (myself included) is the courage to decide on when you are tired of putting up with something you’re not enjoying. It’s an ongoing balance between “how much am I not enjoying this?” vs. “should I tough it out a little longer because it’ll hopefully get better?” There’s always that hope that things will get better, but the wisdom that we need is knowing when they really won’t.
Good, thought-provoking post, buddy!
October 2nd, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Bush, this and the second part of the post are truly wonderful posts. I feel the same way about so many of the things you discussed here. The two and a half year life review is a great idea. One year is just too short a time and two and a half just makes sense. Any longer is no good because why should anyone wait any longer to make changes that will make them happier?!!!
Awesome post - I really enjoyed this. Thank you!
October 2nd, 2007 at 8:12 pm
@Valentin - … I don’t know. That’s really a good question. I guess we’ll have to see where things go if I up its status. I will say though that I’ve had a lot of websites up to this point, and it is definitely the one I’m most proud of.
@Mark - I’m glad you’ve apparently found some value in this one. But in regards to what you’ve said, I know exactly what you’re talking about. And that’s probably why I evaluate things every 2 1/2 years. For me, that’s more than long enough to say, “This isn’t working, time to change.”
@Teeni - Hey buddy, I’m glad you did. (#):) The more I think about the 2 and 1/2 years, the more I think that I reserve that long time frame for jobs. Because (at least for me) by then I should know if I want to go any further with it, I can evaluate raises and all the like. (That’s if I make it 2 1/2 years).
October 5th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
[...] Mackel is just the man when it comes to inspiration. He has a 2 part series on cutting the fat out of your life, not doing what you don’t like.. Here is part 2 on figuring out what to [...]