A friend of mine has moved jobs, again. This is the third move in around a year, as they are apparently struggling to find a position that suits them. They are talented and have experience, but I think the main problem is that they are also very picky - because they don't have anywhere near a desperate need for an income.
This is a good position to be in and one I want to be in also, as I would like to have more freedom to pick and choose what I am willing to do for an income. However, there are risks associated with this also because, the problem with not needing to work is, many don't.
This doesn't sound like much of a problem, does it?
I mean, why work if you don't need to work? Why do things that you don't like to do, or put up with a less than ideal boss if you don't need to? After all, the benefit of being able to pick and choose what work we do, means being able to choose not to do all the things we don't like doing.
There are several problems with this.
No ideals
Firstly, all jobs are less than ideal. Every job is made up of a range of tasks on a spectrum of what one wants to do or not. Some jobs have a really attractive high-point experience, but are surrounded with a lot of "low-point" activities that have to be done to have the possibility to participate in the highs. Most jobs have waves of "good and bad" tasks to do and which valence each have, depends on the individual doing the tasks. I hate paperwork - I have colleagues that love paperwork. I still have to do paperwork.
What this means is that in order to have the good experiences, we have to be willing to at least "put up with" some level of tasks that we dislike. It might be practical tasks that are prerequisites, or the task might be putting up with a terrible boss, but there is always something.
When we choose to not do something, there is an opportunity cost, meaning that not doing takes away our options to do other things. This isn't a problem, as limitation is required, but sometimes what we miss out on is not always intuitive, meaning that we might not realize we are limiting ourselves to reach areas we may actually want to be.
Reliantly "free" to choose
Now, this is a pretty big issue to think about when choosing not to work, as we have to consider what is giving us this superpower. If you have millions in the bank and never actually have to have an income again, pick as you want. However, if your freedom is actually reliant on dynamic conditions, it is good to think about some middle ground, before burning bridges.
For example, my friends ability to choose is dependent on her partner earning well and being in a very secure position, but "security" is never guaranteed, so if for example their working conditions change or they got divorced as a couple, the financial security disappears and then, they are subject again to the "have to" of work, and after all that freedom to choose, they might be pushed quickly into having to take something with far less possibility, far lower highs and far more lows than they previously had - and turned down. I have found, this can be pretty rough to come to terms with for many people.
For a closer to "crypto home" example, I know many people who have chosen to quit their jobs and live off crypto at the highs and then struggled through the lows, often ending up with or near nothing before heading back to work. I assume, that in itself can be spirit-breaking when realizing that as the next wave of bullrun starts and a person would have ended up comfortable for life - they now have to work instead. Which sucks.
A loss of Rep
Now, you might not care what people think of you - but reputation does matter in the employment arena, or at least, an impression of a reputation matters. It becomes a red flag when people are constantly chopping and changing jobs, and if people are changing due to not wanting to do the low tasks, it doesn't really make for good reference recommendations. While "not needing to work" under certain circumstance nulls the need to impress, if one does need to find work, it can come back to haunt.
People say "forget the past", but the past matters in that informs the present and indicates the future. Personally, I would be very wary hiring or recommending someone who changes their jobs too frequently, as they are either too picky with their conditions (and nothing is ideal), or they are forced out one way or another. Often, it is a case of both, where a persons demands based on their feelings of entitlement, cause others to become "less than welcoming".
I heard a story just last week of a person going for a job and when asked to give information about themselves, they would respond with a question of their own. Rather than asking about the job or the team, all of their questions concerned things like breaks and holidays. Yes, these things are important and are a decision maker for many with options, but perhaps saving it for the second round of interviews would be better - rather than being excluded in the first.
Too many options?
Many people (my friend is one) also suffer from a problem of having too much opportunity, making a decision to commit hard and lowering the bar required to exit once a decision is made. It is like a dating app, where there is always another option waiting and when the choice ends up being "not the one", it is easy to start scrolling once again. The problem is much the same too though, as eventually, suitable options dry up.
I know of a couple of people who have been playing the "employment dating game" for the last decade and now they are in positions that they could have been in at the very start, a random job that is further from their ideal than they have declined in the past. At least in my experience, this has left some of them feeling quite bitter about the world and with the sense that it is unfair and they are victims of the system.
The deadend of privilege
Perhaps they are, like all of us, victims of the system, - but this is something we all need to negotiate for ourselves. When we make our decisions on what we do, we are also making the decisions on what we can't - so if we end up in a corner, it is possible that it was us who held the brush and painted the floor. It is much easier and feels better however, to blame others, the market, the establishment, the rich, the privileged - but often we do not see our role in these systems and, our own privileges.
Myself, I want to get into a position where I don't have to work also, but I am also the kind of person who will likely work all of my life, regardless of what resources I have available. Yes, I want to pick and choose, but understand that just like people, there is no prefect, everything comes with some level of upside and downside. It isn't just about finding a balance between the two to maximize, it is about working out what we value and whether we want the upside enough, that we are willing to work on the downside. Our inability to evaluate what we value is one of the reasons that many of us "win" what they want, but still aren't happy, as we aren't actually winning at what we value, even though we are maximizing what we think we should value.
Not needing to work might be high on many people's hierarchy of wants, but considering that if the journey matters, we are always under construction. This means that we are all works in progress, but avoiding what we don't like, is going to leave us feeling eternally incomplete.
Always searching. Never content.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]