[Ipg-smz] Thoughts on a Career Pause

[Tom Henderson]

Questions to answer:

1. Where do you get your joy? What sparks you, motivates you to get up 
and burn psychic energy in the morning and can propel you through good 
times and bad?

2. What are your monetary/sustenance needs?

3. Where do 1 and 2 intersect?

People and tech have always been interesting to me, although I'm an 
introvert. All along, I've also been a writer and enjoyed documenting 
what I did. My editors will tell you I'm not completely perfect at the 
art of communicating to civilians, but I indeed have little fear of 
technologies, indeed enjoy embracing what I believe to be useful (rather 
than useless) tech. Ex: gaming is useless to me as I'm not a gamer. I'm 
a classically-trained data processor, but enjoy python. My early life 
was in QA, which gave me decent critical values. Several thousand 
articles, reviews, and a dozen or so books later, I look back (now in 
semi-retirement) and know that part of the reward was the journey (and 
my children/grandchildren/family).

You're not crazy to stay where you are, until something else is up to 
speed. See #2. Being motivated by hunger is compelling, and no fun. Best 
to accentuate the positive, rather than be motivated by fear. Anxiety is 
what often holds us back, and so the mirth of pursued interest is always 
the better propelling emotion.

Tom


On 5/29/19 11:03 AM, Liam Kelly wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I'm thinking to leave my position as editor of a crypto-centric blog 
> to pursue a few different options.
>
> Likely I won't find anything as well-paid as this for a few months, 
> but I've been at this publication for a few years now and I have the 
> impression it's time for a bit of progress.
>
> The idea is to leave editing to the side and gather as many bylines as 
> possible in hopes of landing a staff position at a larger publication.
>
> But I was curious about a few things:
>
> - If not writing, what other skills would *you* develop during a 
> similar break?
> - Am I crazy to leave a position in which I'm paid a flat rate to both 
> write and edit?
> - And, finally, any general thoughts on some personal experiences 
> related to this subject.
>
> I've got savings, a handful of smaller clients that I've been working 
> with, and a dreadful feeling of stagnation. All of this has culminated 
> in this plan.
>
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions, relevant stories, and/or links 
> to things I should read before making the "leap."
>
> Best,
>
> Liam J. Kelly
>
-- 
Tom Henderson
ExtremeLabs, Inc.
+1 317 250 4646
Twitter: @extremelabs
Skype: extremelabsinc

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