An Interview with Seth Godin: Finding career stability

Today I sat in on a great webinar organized by @BrazenCareerist with Seth Godin. He's such an inspiring guy, having written many books about how to cut in this changing economy and job market.

Below are a few of the highlights from the hour long chat:

Write down all the things you're interested in, circle one and do it until you get through The Dip challenges. 

Choose your goal, write down the date/time you'll acheive it, pick a friend to keep you accountable, see if you succeed. Without parameters (date/time/goal) we aren't pushing ourselves. We should be able to measurably fail or succeed.


Seth Godin's advice to college grads: Don't look for a job. Look for art, a path and keep your overhead low. Make a dent in the universe.

There is a price to pay for being human and the price is that you have to confront your fear.

Stand by your ethics in business and in life.

If your job can be described and written up in a manual, someone can do it cheaper.

The "right" Dip (period of suffering and paying your dues) is one you can accomplish and one that you're proud of.

If your ideas don't make you nervous, then you're not working hard enough on your ideas or your goals.

You can either whine about your day job or make things happen.

Learning to follow rules and getting rewarded is someone else's vision of being successful in your life.

There is no work/life balance - you just decide what you are doing and do it. You decide what your standard is for both. If Ronald Reagan can work no more than 7 hours a day while running the country, you can accomplish anything you want and still have time for family. 

Unstability can lead to breakout. You can do your best work when the things that are important are unstable but everyday life is completely stable.

Make a list of all the people whose gigs you want. Find out how they got them, then carve your own path.

Learning to follow the rules and hoping to be rewarded for doing so is learning how to fulfill someone else's vision.

Most people who have done something exceptional did not need a graduate degree.

These are some great nuggets to sit and chew on. I'll definitely be thinking about these while I struggle through my quarterlife crisis.

For more on Seth, you can check out his blog or follow him on twitter. 
Also check out the write-up that Brazen Careerist did about the event.