Sterling Terrell

smart ideas from books

Between Life And Death (Work)

Between Life And Death (Work)

Between life and death is probably the drudgery of doing the same thing, in the same job, every single day.

I mean, does anyone truly seek this monotony?

This is what Naval was talking about when he spoke of the fact that if someone is telling you what to do, where to be, and how to act – you are not truly free.

Rich Cohen talked about this with the mob.

Unless you must, you work for yourself.

There is no intermediate state between ice and water but there is one between life and death: employment.

-Nassim Taleb, The Bed Of Procrustes 

Find A Better Job

Find A Better Job

The best time to find a better job is right now.

Why?

Because everything will rarely line up like it should.

This is another great example of following a system, rather than striving for a particular goal.

What if every conversation was leading to a possible job interview, instead of only worrying about that stuff when you were forced to?

Then he offered me some career advice. He said that every time he got a new job, he immediately started looking for a better one. For him, job seeking was not something one did when necessary. It was an ongoing process. This makes perfect sense if you do the math. Chances are the best job for you won’t become available at precisely the time you declare yourself ready. Your best bet, he explained, was to always be looking for the better deal. The better deal has its own schedule. I believe the way he explained it is that your job is not your job; your job is to find a better job.

-Scott Adams, How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big

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