The Jump - #5 - June-ly 2024
Problems are Adventure Fuel, Embrace Job Shadows, & The Bear a MUST WATCH
Welcome to the 5th installment of The Jump. It offers monthly musings and tips to inspire your career adventures. We all need help fueling life’s vocational journey.
We often miss the daily inspiration that surrounds us. It could be listening to music, reading the news, or taking a walk. These quick thoughts can offer powerful contemplative points in time. They can catalyze your career.
In this edition, I’m talking about the power of children’s books, job shadows, and The Bear. We’ve got…
A children’s book quote on problems
A tip inspired by Sea World
FX’s The Bear as career fuel
A Children’s Book Quote
“I don’t know how it happened, but one day I had a problem. I didn’t want it. I didn’t ask for it. I really didn’t like having a problem, but it was there.”
Kobi Yamada from What Do You Do With a Problem?
I read A TON of children’s books with my kids. Children’s books should be relabeled. Ya know, maybe we just call them books. They are filled with wisdom all of us wise adults tend to forget.
This quote is from the book What Do You Do With A Problem? written by Kobi Yamada and illustrated by Mae Besom. It’s wonderful. It’s also the perfect message for our own career adventures.
How often are you presented with a problem? Daily? Monthly? I bet at least weekly.
What do you do? Do you stew, curse, or fret? Definitely. Do you get anxious, sometimes even avoid it? You bet.
There’s a better reaction: to embrace it. Don’t try to wish it away. It won’t magically disappear. Yes, you’ll worry about it. You’ll try to avoid it. You might even be afraid. Embrace those feelings. Then, take action.
Every problem you encounter is an opportunity to grow your career. That’s the whole point of the book.
The author’s leading message in the book was…
For Shale and Ever. May you have enough challenges to keep life interesting and plenty of love to make it all worthwhile. ~ Dad.
Said like a true career adventurer.
Job Shadowing > A Window to New Paths
We recently went to Sea World. Orcas soaked us. Dolphins flew and flipped. Yet, one of the best parts was learning more about my wife’s career adventures. She shared a tip we all should remember to use: embrace the job shadow. This tool should be used by mid-career pros too.
While watching the dolphins, one of the trainers shared her Sea World origin story. She attended Sea World as a kid. She remembered watching the dolphins just like we were. The experience inspired her to become a dolphin trainer.
My wife has a similar memory. She remembers the allure of a career as a marine mammalogist. She dreamed of a future studying and working with dolphins. Yet, she didn’t take that path. A simple job shadow helped her decide not to go further.
One teenage summer she shadowed an employee at the Cincinnati Zoo. She enjoyed the time spent with the animals. She didn’t enjoy everything, though. She spent a large amount of time in the lab filled with test tubes and beakers. Far more time was spent doing this than “playing” with the animals. So, she concluded mammalogy wasn’t in her career cards. It was simple. Time spent in the lab outweighed the other elements.
It’s easy to be enamored by certain careers. We oftentimes only see the performative elements of things. We don’t spend enough time examining the full picture.
No adventure is perfect. Be sure to understand the daily grand of a dream not just the performative perception. Then you can make an informed decision. One of the best ways is with ethnographic job shadows.
You can even do these when you are mid career. When I was a golf course superintendent, a club member in his late forties shadowed my boss and me for a day. He was interested in changing careers and wanted a deeper look at day-to-day life on the course.
The Bear as Adventure Fuel
You should watch FX’s The Bear. It offers up more than just evening entertainment. It is a career adventurer’s chronicle.
If you’ve never seen it, here’s a quick overview. Carmy Berzartto, a world-class chef returns to Chicago to take over his late brother’s Italian beef stand called The Beef. Carmy is determined to transform the shop into a world class restaurant with a group of unseasoned, but passionate employees.
I’m a Chicago native, thus my affinity for the show may be a bit biased. Regardless, the show is delightful for more than just the classic underdog story it tells. It displays a team of people exploring a variety of different career paths in the world of high food. It’s inspirational. Watching it makes one want to explore new paths. It even extols embracing job shadows!
So, be sure to add it to your streaming list.
Other notes
Since May’s The Jump I’ve released an additional podcast episode and discussed my dad’s side hustle as a Normandy / D-Day tour guide. highlights and links to these pieces are here:
Product Growth Leader - Listen to my interview on the Career Adventurer Podcast with Grant Hunter, Co-Founder of Product Growth Leaders. Grant shares his experience starting at GE and then leaping into a product management career. Plus, he talks wisdom from Nanny McPhee.
Career Optionality - My dad is an expert on Normandy and D-Day. This year is the 80th anniversary of D-Day. I write about his side hustle, but also how it is an example of career optionality we all can apply.
Thanks for reading The Jump! Like and Re-stack with you own thoughts to spread the word!
Paul G. Fisher
The Career Adventurer
Find the posts valuable? Share it with others!