S2 E71 — My Top 13 Worst Jobs of All Time

Not everyone loves the work they do. Not everyone can make a living doing what they love to do.

“5” Steve Zahn, 51: “Aligning to the belief systems of those around you is a survival mechanism. Sometimes, the right answer is hard to see because everyone around is agreeing to the wrong answer. But don’t worry; things are shifting.” Scorpio

Hi and welcome to Saturday’s Episode 71 in Season 2 of “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 27th day of June in the summer of 2020.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.

Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E70 — Persistent Failure; S2 E69 — How Can You Tell Who’s an Engineer at a Party?; S2 E68 — Take More Breakthrough Showers

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E71 — Isn’t There a Placebo for This?; S1 E70 — Lingering Fear My Cover Was Blown; S1 E69 — Anniversary Trip of a Lifetime Deep in the Heart of Tuscany; S1 E68 — Overcompensating for Disappointing Results?

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

Not everyone loves the work they do. Not everyone can make a living doing what they love to do. The trick is to find how to navigate through your career(s) using your most enjoyable skills and talents do something, working for yourself or someone else, which is in high demand and pays well.

Here’s what I’ve only recently come to understand about “why” out of a total of 33 jobs I fell into or choices I made led to my best and worst fits. First the 13 worst fits …

Worse Fits	Better Fits
1. Manufacturing
2. Gas Station Attendant
3. US Army
4. Auto Insurance Agent
5. Retail Sales Big Ticket
6. Vocational Rehabilitation Services
7. Professional Training Company
8, Independent Contractor Outplacement Firms
9. Consultant Life and Mutual Fund Company
10. University Extension Instructor
11. Consultant Leadership Academy
12, Director Electronics Distribution Company
13. Consultant Professional Services

For a more detailed description of why I felt each of these jobs landed on my “Worse Fits” list, check out my previous episodes.

Worse Fits

1. 1. Manufacturing — I felt brain dead. no intellectual stimulation. No affiliation with co-workers. No variety.
  2. Gas Station Attendant at a 24 hour Mobile — nothing in common with fellow workers, mind drifted, same routine
  3. US Army — not loyal, not much in common with lifers, got to know minorities better, but more challenging work in preventive medicine; hated standard operating procedures, “There’s the right way, the wrong way and the Army way.”
  4. Auto Insurance Agent — Learned about reoccurring income as a business model for professional services, just not into the amount of sales effort and prospecting for leads.
  5. Retail Sales Big Ticket — Hard on my feet, low amount of shoppers, didn’t feel like it was in their best interest to buy from this department store; more a consumer advocate. Learned about tricks of the trade, bi-polar character.
  6. Vocational Rehabilitation Services — three private companies offering B2B services for insurance companies. Didn’t like opposing sides. Close micro-management. Clients had back injuries and required work modifications or a transition into a different job classification.
  7. Professional Training Company — Focus on customizing suite of supervisory training programs. Seemed old school, been that done that, couldn’t engage my attention and I didn’t sell new business, but it made sense to my growing knowledge management “Robin Hood” sense or repurposing what you’ve done to grow revenue. But, I also learned I wasn’t cut out to turn out and deliver supervisory courses for clients like a university hospital, a transportation agency, or even to three technology companies. I lost interest in management training in slow moving mature organization types while craving the adrenalin rush of working in Paradoxy-Moron companies. It just didn’t satisfy the idea packaging talent I developed when the ideas were old and trending towards commodity knowledge.
  8. Independent Contractor Outplacement Firms — I activated Plan B as an independent contractor delivering outplacement group training sessions and coaching at two firms. For the second I held down the fort while the founder underwent heart surgery. He recognized my heart wasn’t in his business and his pressure to sell. I was much more interested in conceptualizing which trends — demographic, social, technical, economic, political — through their interconnectedness would produce major opportunities for new products, services and careers.
  9. Consultant Life and Mutual Fund Company — Can you interject innovation into a century’s old mature company? It was a complex, complicated maneuver with tons of new knowledge and new ideas packaging. But, I yearned for a return a more Paradoxy-Moron organization that thrives on high degrees of disruptive innovation, independence and speed.
  10. University Extension Instructor —teaching reengineering and continuous improvement as an idea packager thrilled and challenged me, but it represented a hell of a lot of work for low pay.
  11. Consultant Leadership Academy — Medical laboratory that didn’t present the challenge of high degrees of disruptive innovation, independence and speed.
  12. Director Electronics Distribution Company — regional distribution company tried first grow nationally and then internationally. They ran into complications with the technology required to translate currencies for product ordering. Instead the acquirer from Europe already had systems in place. Less about innovating and more about sales. The joke told internally was “How do you tell who’s an engineer at a party? They’re the ones looking at their shoes. How do you tell who’s the sales engineer? They’re looking at your shoes.”
  13. Consultant Professional Services — Advised software startup who seemed to be the Swiss Army Knife of surveys with additional functions and features that could fit almost any requirement in the human resources development profession. Their niche was their ability to conduct a survey and generate findings almost immediately instead of weeks which increased the probability that leadership development could be initiated right away.

Does this list make me a winer, instead of a winner? Or does it show something else? And just what is that something else? Next we turn to the twenty jobs, organizations and projects I worked on that provided a better fit for me.

Evidence

Is there a better way to describe what seems to be at the heart of those companies and clients that made the Top 13 Worse Fit list? The belief systems I encountered along the way struck me as a form of tribal warfare. What is it about these 13 compared to the remaining list of Better Fit? For me, that is.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“3” Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “What drops into your life doesn’t need to be labeled ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ just yet. For now call it, ‘what’s happening’ and know that you’ll make more sense of it on a later day.” Aries

Isn’t this what I’m doing by writing the introduction to “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit”? At the time of each of these 33 projects and employment opportunities I hadn’t considered that there may be different Organization Types which attracted me or repelled me yet.

“4” Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “A million people could see the very same thing you see today and have a different view of it than you. Your unique point of view will allow you a discovery or invention.” Taurus

This WorkFit project and manuscript originated with a small team of human resources experts — so not quite a million — but by harnessing the perspective of those professionals allowed me to develop my original research through further discovery.

“5” Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “Secrets tend to hide in plain view. They will be discovered readily by the people who most want to know. Many are too self-involved to understand the thrill of deciphering puzzles. Not you.” Leo

Give me a good fictional book of mystery or a complex and complicated challenge to work through and I’m a happy camper.

“3” Steve Kerr, 54: “The truth has power. It speaks to the gut and brings about emotional responses like laughter, tears and experiences of profundity. You’ll feel this today as you witness and tell the truth.” Libra

So, I’m a strong believer in the power of truth, but don’t you agree it has been drowned out by those who have alternative agendas and conspiracies to spread?

“5” Steve Nash, 45: “Your opener may seem humble and unimpressive, but that’s because you’re still setting things up. You’re a strategist at heart and, like a chess master, you’re already working several moves ahead.” Aquarius

Yes, I am a strategist at heart. While I may be working several moves ahead, I can easily get lost without finding my way back to the board. Too many pieces in too many combinations in too many timeframes become too confusing.

“5” Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “To take advantage of one opportunity, you have to leave all other experiences behind. You hardly ever think of what might have been, but today, a slight glimpse at an alternate path will intrigue you.” Pisces

Ok, you’ve got my attention. Where is this intriguing alternate path about which you speak?

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll

1. - - @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 3911 to 4073.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

1. - - Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION