David Herz for the Work You Love

Everyday I dread going into work. How do I politely quit my job?
It's no longer satisfying to me. I cannot support a product that does not work and deal with situations from end users that could have been avoided if only the development team put in more work. I don't want my team to be left hanging though as they are short on people as it is. Suggestions?

Here's the thing. You're saying this to us, not your boss. You don't know how much some bosses want to know what the hell is going on if someone would just tell them.

Let your boss know how it is for you and what you see. People pay consultants big fees to come into companies just to ask you and then tell your boss.

So I suggest you take on The Rich Employee mindset (it's a great book by the way, and all of a buck on kindle so folks don't have to think too much about buying it).

So I'd let your boss know, and offer to help him get it sorted out. Maybe he's looking for someone just like you to light a match under the proverbial butt of the development team. Tell him in no uncertain terms you are willing to be that person. If you just suggest it, he might start looking for someone else and not consider you for the job.

And if your boss isn't interested, why should you have any interest in staying.

You have a choice here, “Either get busy living, or get busy dying.” You seem to be doing the latter. I think the former is more fun.

Can anyone advise graduates who are ambivalent and uncertain about what roles to take up as a career?

Yes I can, and here goes.

You will be happiest when you are working in areas that you enjoy. Start by making an inventory of your life up to now. Note all the stuff you loved doing. Note particularly the stuff that so engrossed you that you lost track of time, went to bed thinking about it, and got up excited to work on it in the morning. Don't leave anything off, or consider anything too small or too silly. Note all the skills you've developed up to now. Which ones do you most enjoy using?

Walk away from the list and come back to it a day or two later. Keep looking and noticing. See if there are any skills and areas you might want to combine into a job.

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If I'm 40, is it too late for me to develop a portfolio of skills from scratch that can eventually earn me $10k a month?

No, but you'll have to change your mindset. You write like you need to acquire a whole new skill set of some sort so that you can eventually make a decent living.

The truth is you already have the skill set you need. I am sure there is something that comes ridiculously easy to you. I'll take knife sharpening as an example.

Let's say you can put a razor's edge on a dinner knife without leaving any stray marks on the blade. People want that. They live years with dull knives because they don't want to scratch up their good silver. You teach people how to get a sharp blade, without stray marks, then you do affiliate marketing for the system you use, then you sell them awesome knives. Maybe you branch off into a fine cutlery or silverware business.

The point is that you already know how to do things others don't. Figure out which ones excite you and that you'd love to share your knowledge about.

There is one on-line marketer (Russel Brunson) who started by showing people how to make potato guns.

There are people who do fivver 99design arbitrage, and make a good living at it.

It's just a question of being creative with what you already know. I think a great place to start would be at Altucher Confidential - Ideas for a World Out of Balance. He's got some great advice for keeping you at the top of your game and creating the life you want.

Anything is possible, but why would you want to, unless you see work as a zero sum game just to pay for the time off of work.

Maybe you'd be better to find a job that you absolutely adore, one that if you actually spent eighty hours on, you wouldn't notice it and would still be excited to go back, one that's so good, that you'd be itching to go back if you actually had a month off.

Now that might just be worth your time, unless you need the month off to care for your sick mom or something crazy like that.

I want to get a job instead of going college. How should I convince my family?

Sometimes you can't, but you can ask them to be patient with you. You can ask them to respect your decisions. You can show them how many people have successfully created their own education outside of the formal structures with which we are familiar.

If you are in the United States, you can also make a good case it's not a sound investment.

Probably the best thing to do would be to share with them your plan. What are you “Yes” planning to do. For instance, if you want to learn a new skill, show them the Coursera/​Udemy/​FutureLearn/​Khan Academy learning plan and then how you will add value to businesses such that they will want to hire you.

Take this as your first test of marketing. Demonstrate to them how your years of business experience gained in lieu of college will actually put you ahead of your peers, and then figure out how you will market yourself for the jobs you want.

Last remind them they were young once too. Maybe if you go out in the world, and discover something you really do want to study, you'll do that much better and be able to go so much deeper because you actually have some experience to draw on.

Parents just want what's best for you. If you can show them that you've really thought it through, and you believe this is it, they should give you some space about it.