BORN FOR THIS: The Work You Were Created To Do

BORN FOR THIS

You are an INDEPENDENT CREATIVE

LET'S BREAK THIS DOWN!

Based on your answers, it sounds like you prefer a solitary workstyle. A lone wolf by nature, you thrive in environments when you work alone and are solely responsible for your results. To perform at your best, it’s important for you to have time away by yourself to think and let ideas percolate. You don’t always work as efficiently or creatively when constantly surrounded by other people or forced to collaborate; you can become distracted by other people and sometimes have difficulty delegating or splitting up discrete parts of a task or project with others.

Information wants to be free, and so do you! You need a job where you can be in control of your hours, your schedule, your deliverables, and your results. It’s your way or the highway, and that’s the way you like it. As far as you’re concerned, the best kind of boss is no boss; you don’t do well reporting to anyone.

Not only do you prefer to work on your own, you also prefer to work at your own pace.We all know who wins the race between the tortoise and the hare—and for you, slow and steady often wins the race. Rather than motivate you, deadlines and deliverables paralyze you. Rather than energize you, stress, well, stresses you out! You are patient and thoughtful and are probably best suited for lengthy, ambitious projects where your role is thinking long-term instead of short-term.

Being the independent, creative sort who marches to the beat of your own drum, you’re not always driven by the traditional incentives typically doled out in a corporate workplace Sure, everyone’s got to make enough cash to pay the bills, but you’re not particularly motivated by money or flashy perks. More important is that you receive satisfaction from your work.

THE WORK YOU WERE BORN TO DO...

You are unlikely to find the work you were born to do in a traditional company or organization. You’re much more suited to a solo career whether as an entrepreneur (see Chapter 9 of the book on how to start a “You, Inc” business), an artist or writer (or other type of creative—see Chapter 11 on how to become a "DIY Rock Star"), a freelancer, an employee of a small startup that lets you work from home or from a shared workspace, or any role where you can be both self-empowered AND self-employed.

Other good careers for youinclude those that require a lot of patience and long term focus, like an academic, a scientific researcher, or an independent strategy consultant. As a an idealist at heart, you might also find the work you were born to do in the nonprofit sector, policy or politics, or social entrepreneurship.

TIPS

• In any employment agreement, always negotiate for maximum flexibility. Be prepared to demonstrate that you will be more effective when being left to create your own schedule and working environment.

• Since you don’t like to be tied down, it’s especially important to create your own independence, either through a full-time business or your own or just a “side hustle” (see Chapter 8) that produces extra income.

• When scheduling your work hours, be sure you include plenty of time to work alone and independently. Be careful about letting meetings fill your calendar. To avoid “meeting creep,” schedule yourself first and then add any additional commitments