Are You Wasting 2000 Hours per Year?

Did you know that this year you will work right around 2000 hours? WHAAT? Does that make you want to cry? What about learning that you will work 80,000+ hours in your lifetime? Kill me now? You can determine all of this with some simple math: Having a full-time job means working 40 hours a week, for 48ish weeks per year. Most people will work for 40 years of their life. Add it all up and life doesn’t look so sweet no more.

This sounds like a pile of bad news right?

It doesn’t have to be! The good news is that working 80,000 hours can be an amazing part of your life… but there’s a simple catch:

You have to enjoy what you are working on. Your work has to inspire the passion you have inside. Motivation shouldn’t be difficult to find, since mastery is one of the greatest driving forces you’ve got. These 80,000+ hours can be some of the best of your life, if you set it up that way.

So what is the key to this issue?

Social Dynamics.

Social Dynamics teaches you how to create options for yourself. The possibilities are limitless. By developing these options, you have the ability to work for a company you love, or maybe even start your own (like me!).

Let’s talk about going the route of entrepreneurship.

I get asked all the time: “Cam… how were you able to quit your steady job and dive in full-force into a new career that gave you no promises? How were you able to get beyond the blind faith and take the leap?”

Allow me to share my story:

Back in 2008 I was working full-time at a retail store in Calgary, Alberta. The job was ok; I didn’t mind it but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. (Who wants to be 40 years old managing a retail store?) It also didn’t fit into my lifestyle very well, because back then I was going out 7 nights a week, workin’ on my pick-up skills.

During the month of September I was getting progressively closer and closer to quitting my job. I knew I had absolutely no interest in getting another “normal” job… but going the entrepreneur route was very intimidating to me, like it is for everybody else. I knew I was getting close to quitting so I started my preparations. I sat down and wrote out my goals, because I wanted to make sure I had a clear vision. (I needed at least some sort of idea right?) I knew I wanted to work full-time as a dating coach for a company my friend had back in the day (no longer around).

Once I had all of this figured out (as much as I could), I took my Father for lunch. This wasn’t a step I needed to take, but it was just smart. My Father has always supported me no matter what, and I knew if he could see I had an actual plan (and goals to go along), he would be on my side and help me out if necessary. This wasn’t much of a Plan B, just a little bit of insurance that would be stupid not to have. We decided it would be best if I quit my job in a few months, around November.

One day while driving home for lunch I just decided I was going to quit, and that was that. I drove home, called my Father and told him what I had decided. He didn’t really object, because he knew I had made up my mind. I printed off my resignation letter, and put it in as soon as I got back to work. Step one complete.

My last day was October 11th, 2008. I had worked at that job for exactly one year, and that was enough for me. I had never been so excited in my life… but to be honest, I really had absolutely no clue what I was doing; I just knew I had no interest doing anything else.

When I quit and started down the entrepreneur path, my situation was pretty poor. I already had one credit card maxed out, and another that wasn’t doing very well. I was living in an apartment downtown paying $1000 per month for rent. I had absolutely no income coming in, and no prospects or leads whatsoever. Looking back I have no idea what I was thinking.

I remember waking up every day well rested from sleeping in, heading straight to the Macs convenience store for coffee, and then back home to get some writing done. Life was awesome. This was such a major step for me that I thought it would be cool to celebrate. I would go out at night and buy over priced martinis. I ate out a lot. I didn’t watch my money at all. For the whole month of October I didn’t make a dime. My “business partner” (not Kevin) was kind of blowing me off, and working some odd construction job. I was getting weird vibes about the whole situation… but I really didn’t have any other options.

End of October came and I still hadn’t made any money. Rent was due right away. I didn’t have any room on my credit cards, because I maxed them out buying $10 martinis every night. I was fucked. With no other options I had to call my Dad and ask him to bail me out. The goal setting I had done with him before allowed me that insurance, so he hooked me up and saved the day. But now all of my outs were gone.

Completely ashamed I vowed to never ask for rent again. I burned all of my bridges. I no longer had any Plan Bs. The only option I had was to sink or swim.

So what happened from here? Check out the conclusion in Part 2.