What Should Janet Do?
By Michael Werner
I recently received the following email from a Dream Jobber, who hates her job and is looking for a way out. She’s a lawyer, but this could be about any career and any person.
Let’s see if we can help her.
Michael,
Are your for real? Oh, let it be true.
If you could only help me!
I made a break after a fifteen year career in nursing to go to law school. I am now a practicing attorney and I HATE IT! I feel stuck in a career because friends and family are so proud of me. How can I tell everyone I envy the road construction workers I see on my way to work and most days would gladly trade places with them.
If I knew how to go about it, I would like to write.
Suggestions?
Janet
Here’s how I will answer her:
Janet, thanks for writing and telling me about your dilemma. I guess if there’s any good news, take consolation in the fact that you’re not alone. A lot of people hate their jobs, many for the same reasons you do. And, like you, they feel trapped for reasons that go beyond their core being — perhaps it’s the perceived need for money, or the need to fit in, or because that’s what the family just expects you to do.
So, Janet, you can stick with what you’re doing and blame those around you, or you can suck it up and do something about it. You, and no one else, own the outcome of your life — as wiser people have said many, many times… you can’t always control what happens to you, but you CAN control how you react to what happens to you.
So, by “doing something about it,” I mean to take a step, and then another step, towards what you want to be doing.
Writing, is it? Great, there are something just short of a gazillion opportunities to make it as a writer. Loads of ‘em. All over the place.
But, to get started, you MUST start thinking and acting like a writer, even though you’re wearing your lawyer suit.
Here are some ideas, and small steps to get you started:
- Take a writing class.
- Find and go to a writers’ conference.
- Join a book club.
- Join a writer’s club.
- Buy and read books and magazines about writing.
- Start a blog or website about writing. Here’s one for you, so you can use your legal credentials to help you. Each week, find a weird or oddball case going on someplace — describe it and then talk about it. Do one every week. More if you can. In 52 weeks, put ‘em all in a book and call it something like Janet’s Guide to the Weirdest Cases of All Time.
Most importantly, Janet, you must surround yourself with other writers. They will inspire and nurture you and lead you . . . and it’s pretty likely you’ll run across lots of others — just like yourself — who’ve made the break from their former careers and lives.
Anyone else have an idea or two for Janet?
Over and out,
Michael
Michael Werner runs Dream Jobs Dialog and is also the CEO of InfoSource, Inc., a company trying hard not to be like Microsoft.
