Earlier today I picked a quote off Seth Godin’s blog. It read “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.” This presents yet another reason to consider the differences and interconnectedness between a career, an industry, a field and a job.
I, like most of you with any natural talent whatsoever, thought, planned and dreamed of a career as a musician. As logically as 2+2=4, a love for music + playing drums = musician. If you’ve read my story, you know it worked too. For almost 20 years I WAS a musician. Or, like I said in part I, was a musician who worked in the recording and live music industry as a drummer playing freelance for a number of artists and producers.
But then my career began to fade and 2+2 stopped = 4. Not all at once of course, but over time the math didn’t work. I just couldn’t make a sufficient living as a music lover playing drums. My math told me it was time to leave the arts.
What I lacked was options, but only because of my limited perspective. I failed to realize that 2+2=4 can also be written as 1+1+1+1=4. I didn’t realize that I could plug all the facets of my love for music into anyone of thousands of different combinations of careers, industries, fields and jobs.
Whether you’re starting out, in the midst of your path, or fearing and/or wrestling with the end, take the time to think about the math you’re using.
Oh, and one more thing, new careers, industries, fields and jobs are being invented everyday. Who knows, you may have the idea that will unlock the power of the internet to legally and effortlessly serve the needs of music lovers everywhere.
