6 Keys to Getting Paid for Being You: An Anti-Career Guide

"Don’t worry about what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive."
-Howard Thurman

In the song "My Roller Coaster," singer/songwriter Kimya Dawson recalls her mom saying "I hope someday you get paid for being Kimya Dawson."  Here’s the song if you want to listen:

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Given how some parents encourage children to adopt unwanted professions or identities, Kimya’s mother’s statement is powerful.  Kimya’s mother hoped she would get paid just for being Kimya.  Kimya now gets paid for playing anti-folk concerts across the U.S. and for being her beautifully quirky and authentic self (you may have heard her 6 songs on the Juno soundtrack).

In a world of increasing competition and economic downturns, we’re working more hours for less pay, taking fewer vacation hours, and generally burning out.  Perhaps this explains the popularity of alternative career books, stay-at-home jobs, and psychiatric medications.  The societally scripted routes to success are failing us.

Here are 6 keys to getting paid for being you:

1. Realize Your Potential: Everyone has grown up in a specific place in time, has had unique experiences and perspectives, and is singularly qualified to solve specific problems and make unique contributions.  Everyone has something lying dormant within them that stands to come alive and wreak havoc upon the world in beautiful ways.  Whether they know it or not, everyone has something that: (1) they can be passionate about, (2) they can do better than anyone else in the world, and (3) is so inherently valuable that others would pay for it.  Searching for the things you’re uniquely qualified for, however, is often counter-productive, because these things usually find you after you’ve come alive.
2. Fall Off the Bandwagon: In The Matrix, "Neo" takes a red pill that makes him see his world’s faults.  In our world, a simple pill can’t do this and we need to work hard to see the societally constructed treadmill of life for what it is.  Falling off the bandwagon often involves midlife and existential crises, or just a deep sense of apathy and hunger for more.   Chances are, if you’re getting paid for being someone other than yourself, then this won’t be a problem.
3. Look Inside: Many of us have been implicitly encouraged to look outside ourselves, find talents and skillsets deemed valuable by the marketplace, and then produce those talents on demand.  This is unhelpful; the best approach is to be aware of external problems and issues while listening to ourselves and following our strengths and passions.  As Howard Thurman says in the introductory quotation, "Don’t worry about what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive and do that because what the world needs are people who have come alive."
4. Come Alive:  When we’re living with complete authenticity, we no longer have to search for our passions, callings, or vocations because these things instead find us.  It often starts with tinkering around the house, spurts of creativity, and high levels of excitement. It starts with a vision that no one else has to buy into because you endorse your own irrationality. When you’ve come alive there’s no need for others to pat you on the back and encourage you.  You’re too busy being you to even care.  When you’ve come alive, your passion, creativity, and enthusiasm will make confidence a non-issue.
5. Stay True to Yourself: Many people are willing to quit their jobs, go into debt, and make other large sacrifices to attend university in preparation for a new career.  Far fewer people, however, are willing to quit jobs or transition from full-time to part time work for unsanctioned and "crazy" ideas.  If going back to school is what you need to do, then do it, but most of the time you have all the solutions within.
6. Make time: Authentic development of you and your passions takes time.  If you work 4 jobs, are on 6 committees, and are ruled by busyness then you’ll have little time for developing your unique skills.  My advice is to do whatever necessary, short of neglecting children and significant others, to free up time for the important.  You might need to drop off several committees, stop checking email, and significantly decrease your work hours.  Most people can thrive on much, much, less than they have and can create real opportunities when they give up false security blankets.  The good news it that these sacrifices are usually worth it.

These 6 keys may or may not lead to millionaire or multi-millionaire status.  They will, however, bring you to actualize the value inherent in your own unique abilities and passions, and this value will be more than worthy of remuneration.

“Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what he loves.”
–Blaise Pascal

[tags]career guide, quitting your job, employment advice, realizing your potential, Kimya Dawson, coming alive, Howard Thurman[/tags]

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