Escape from Cubicle Nation

Highlights

Section 1: Opening up to opportunities

Many people fall into careers without any plan, they just get pulled along with the tide.

They assume these jobs are safe but they aren’t, times like 2008 happen and people never fully get back on their feet from a long stint of unemployment.

Humans are meant to be out in the wild, not stuck in a zoo. Paul Graham quotation: “Lions in the wild seem about ten times more alive. They’re like different animals. I suspect that working for oneself feels better to humans in much the same way that living in the wild must feel better to a wide-ranging predator like a lion. Life in a zoo is easier, but it isn’t the life they were designed for.”

We have to be honest about situations that aren’t working for us, and not try to force ourselves into them.

We’re all subconsciously afraid of ending up living in a van down by the river, but in reality, this never ends up happening.

Fear is natural, it’s how you respond to it. Most successful people feel fear as well, they just recognize it and move past it instead of giving in to it. Three steps to overcoming it:

1. See what truth is in the fear, if any
2. Get comfortable being uncomfortable, get used to being a little afraid
3. Develop a strong safety net of people who lift you up and help you feel safer

You need to find your original creative spark in order to get back to it, which requires detoxing from the corporate mindset. To do that;

1. Clear your plate, trim out the fat in your schedule to give yourself time for your own projects
2. Get back to beginner mind, try being a novice at something
3. Take some time off, rest, be less hard on yourself, let yourself drift away from the cubicle mind

Section 2: The Reality of Entrepreneurship

I didn’t find much of value in here.

Section 3: Make the Money Work

Not much again here

Section 4: Make the Leap

Dealing with friends and family is hard. Sometimes when you’re really happy and enjoying life it annoys people who aren’t.

You can’t convince all your friends and family that it’s a good idea, so you just have to do it and let them catch up mentally.