12 Tips from Toronto - November 2013
I wrote this when I was 28 and was considering some changes to my life. I was on career break in Toronto at the time. Hopefully you find it helpful.
I understand you may not be willing to read this note in its entirety, so I've split it into 2 sections, as below.
Tips 1-12 will cover off on everything I’ve learned recently that will hopefully be of help to you
The story following the tips aims to better explain how I've come to learn these things and will hopefully help to better embed some of these ideas.
1) Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want - “Just ask man. Cut the foreplay and just ask”. This was one of Tyler Durden’s first lessons for Ed Norton’s character on his path to enlightenment in Fight Club and it’s my first and most important lesson for you. If you ask, you’ll be surprised at how many people are just waiting for the opportunity to make an impact in your life. If you don’t think you know anyone that seems willing to help, then think again… If you still can’t think of anyone then I’m advertising my willingness to TRY to help you work through anything you like. I ACTUALLY WANT YOU, MY FRIENDS, TO DO ME THIS FAVOUR. More than likely, I won’t be the best person to help you but I’ll probably be able to recommend someone who is better up to the task.
2) If you find that you are too busy at the moment to spend time with your family & friends, FVCKING STOP and consider whether this will get better in a day/week/month/year. If the time period seems too long, you better be sure that you’re passionate enough about your current endeavour to admit it’s more important than the most important people in your life… at least for the period that you’re willing to endure it.
3) Become inquisitive, consider your options, try something new and START READING FOR FUN AND INTEREST. If reading is too difficult, consider audio books or videos. Ask your friends if they can recommend anything and if they can’t, check out the links I’ve added below. If you want anything else, refer to note 1 – just ask man. Chances are that I can probably lend you a book from my growing collection. I only started reading books properly in 2011. IT IS THE BEST THING I HAVE DONE.
4) Don’t be afraid if your self-directed education won’t lead to a formal qualification. It will most likely lead to you working out what actually interests you and will help give you some direction. In my experience, I think that this can often be more important… but it’s best to work this out BEFORE you make the investment in your new formal education path.
5) Don’t feel like you need to do something just because everyone else around you is doing it. Be willing to ask yourself whether it’s right for you at this point in your life and to ask those people whether it’s actually improving their life. Be willing to ask them again if you think they’re bullsh1tting you. And don’t be satisfied with maybe.
6) If you feel like your career is not giving you enough purpose in life, actively seek out ways to do something that you care about instead, or as well. You can most likely do both. For me, I found myself looking for ways to better help others around me, and because I spent a lot of my time at work (like most of us will), I generally tried to do this with the co-workers that I related to best. I came to realise that building strong connections with my peers was a NEED in my (and most likely your) life that wasn’t entirely being fulfilled by a typical day at work, and I struggled to fit it in outside of work as well. Once I started trying to take more of an interest in other people’s lives, I became a happier person for it. I’ve written this note hoping to transfer my attention back to you instead of just focusing on those in closest physical proximity by default.
7) Don’t be afraid to take a pay cut if you think it will improve your life enjoyment and/or your future career prospects. Most of you are still at the point where you can minimise your expenses to allow for a similar amount of fun money/disposable income/savings for the future and you will likely have at least 50 years to regret it if you don’t change your path now. Even if your new career path won’t let you make as much money and may even mean that you need to retire later in life, at least you might be happy enough with what you’re doing at 45/55/65 that you’re not rushing to retire ASAP.
8) If you’re saving money or holiday leave, work out why you’re doing it and whether you’re saving enough to reach your goals. If you’re not, reconsider your spending/expenses/leave balance and/or your goals.
9) If you don’t have enough leave balance for the holidays you’re hoping for, consider taking unpaid leave. I took 6 weeks at the start of this year and it made me realise that it’s not the end of the world if I don’t have an income for a little while. Holidays from Australia are particularly expensive, so if you’re investing such a considerable amount of money just for flights, make the most of the trip while you can.
10) If you want to consider working/moving overseas or in a different city and you have a little bit of spare cash, just do it. I’m happy to help you if you’re considering Canada and if you’re considering Sydney, HK, the USA or the UK then you probably know someone (or I can recommend someone) who can help you. If you can, try to sort out employment contacts or at least have some conversations before you leave. In my experience, it takes longer than expected and if you’re unsure about the next steps in your career like I was, it takes even longer… it’s taken me FIVE months! Even though it’s cost me more money than it would have otherwise for me to do this at home, I think the change in scenery and interacting with a new group of friends has helped me to change my perspective and more clearly consider my decisions.
11) Don’t be afraid to meet new people and expand your network… and don’t be afraid to introduce these new people to your old friends. Yes people can be protective of their relationships, but casting a wider net will allow more of each individual’s needs to be met with less reliance on each individual, and it may even lead to people having needs met that they never even realised they had before. A wider network is always better in the long run… your mates WILL get married/have kids/travel for work/move overseas and it’s better if you know a wider group of people who can step in and pick up some of the responsibilities that they can no longer address... even though they would love to!
12) Be flexible – If opportunities arise that you didn’t expect, resist your urge to err on the side of caution. Yes, run the numbers, do the feasibility studies, build the model if you have to! But make sure you second guess yourself if you keep saying no.
I think that’s enough of the bullet points. If you want to see how the above have linked into my experiences and to learn a little bit more about me, then read on. If not, thanks for reading this far and taking the time to share in what I’ve learnt from my recent reading and experiences in my time off. I hope you can also add to (or disagree with) anything I’ve mentioned above.
THE STORY
I've been on career break from my role as a management consultant at KPMG for 6 months. More accurately, I’ve only been engaged in full time work for 3 months in 2013 and actually unemployed for half a year. (Tips 3 - 5)
My time off was not made possible because I had earned a lot of money previously (I had been earning less than the Australian average full time worker every year since I left University) but primarily because my parents were willing to subsidise my expenses by sharing in the love, shelter and food provided by our family home. I was also willing to save in the hope that it would allow me a brighter future. But I was saving for saving’s sake. Most likely to pay for a house/engagement ring/wedding sometime before I’m 30 and I really had no idea how much I needed or how long it would take me. I’m sure plenty of you feel like you’re in a similar situation. (Tips 5 & 8)
This year I decided to spend most of those savings not on your usual “safe” investment like a house but instead to fund my own personal development and invest in my life experiences. Haha yes, YOLO. (Tip 5)
This year I spent 5 weeks in South America and 1 week in Hong Kong with groups of my closest mates enjoying a combination of travelling, exploring and partying. (Tips 2, 8 & 9)
I spent 2 weeks road-tripping the East Coast of Australia from Brisbane to Adelaide with my girlfriend, Jess, and I have been living with her in Toronto, Canada for the past 5 months. (Tips 8 - 10)
I did this because this is my 10th year out of high school and I realised I’d been saving my cash and holiday leave in the early years of my career because I was busy improving my skills and building a reputation for myself around various offices as a decent worker and as a half decent guy. I decided I probably needed to focus on something more than just my work and my colleagues. The group of my best mates in my oztag team that I’d spent more than 5 years alongside at school may remember me leaving the team because I couldn’t be sure that I could make all (or any) of our mid-week games. At this stage, I gave up what was the most convenient way for me to see my mates each week. Once I did this I watched those interactions walk out the door, and I never properly replaced them. This was obviously a mistake. (Tip 2)
I was made redundant from my first finance role at WHTM in September 2008 when markets were crumbling and I was less than 12 months out of university. I was recruited into my second finance role at RBSM two months later because one of my ex-managers at WHTM was willing to recommend me. If she didn’t help me I would have had basically no choice but to take a shitty job in a call centre at a large investment management firm because of the widespread employment freezes that were prevalent at the time. Her willingness to use her network to help me meant that I actually landed a role which helped me to build on my previous skills (Tips 1, 11 & 12)
At RBSM, I developed my skills over the next 2 years until I realised that I was just coasting and in need of a new challenge. I was looking to expand my career at RBSM and, fortunately for me, a number of people within the firm were willing to help me do it by acting as personal coaches and mentors. (Tip 1 & 6)
This was the first time in my career that someone was willing to act as my mentor - setting aside time every couple of weeks to ask me challenging questions and to answer any questions I had. In less than 6 months I had another mentor, this time it was someone who was looking to employ me in a position where I could help him with his key issues at work and he could help me build my skills. After over 18 months of mentoring and negotiating options to create a new role for me in the firm, I realised that I may not be able to pursue the career that I wanted within the firm, or it may at least take me longer to achieve than I had hoped. People would likely have had to leave their roles for me to have any opportunities for upward mobility. (Tips 1, 3, 4 & 11)
After my recent experience as a consultant, I now also realise they were probably likely to reduce the number of roles and opportunities in the area whee I was looking to be employed because they were on the cost side of the business. Perhaps some of you feel that you are in a similar situation right now? (Tip 3)
I came to this realisation once my mentors started demanding answers to the difficult questions that I had failed to ask myself, and could keep failing to ask myself for the rest of my life and career. (Tip 3)
Fortunately for me, after my initial approach and a few hours of discussion, another member of the firm was kind enough to offer to set me up with a meeting with his previous employer (KPMG) because HE THOUGHT IT WAS BEST FOR MY FUTURE. This was not something that I had worked out for myself, this was an option that he was introducing to me and something he was willing to help me achieve. He also mentioned that I may need to take a pay cut to make it happen, but he was willing to help me list the pros and cons of the decision. (Tip 1, 7, 11 & 12)
At this time he had worked at RBSM for less than 12 months. He was offering me this option despite the fact that it wasn’t best for his new firm in the short run and it was more than likely going to cause an unnecessary disagreement with his new employer. (Tip 1 is at work here in showing people’s underlying need to help others)
Fortunately, I was able to get the role after having to tell RBSM that I was interviewing with KPMG, which was one of his conditions for helping me. In my last 2 years at KPMG I have worked on some really interesting projects; I have learned (and worked) at a frenetic rate; and I have met the goals that I was hoping to meet when I left RBSM. These included:
Improving my skillset, efficiency and ability to learn quickly;
Building my network and improving my ability to learn from and work with others; and
Building a work experience base that would allow me to become more employable overseas.
I was lucky to have been presented with some fantastic role models as mentors, leaders and managers and the appearance of new graduates presented me with an opportunity to pass on all of the things I had been taught and some others I had learnt along the way. I was also lucky enough to be involved in a program that was seeking mentors for school students from grades 10-12 (Tip 6)
I jumped at the opportunity because I realised how much myself, and all of my school mates, would have appreciated someone outside the schooling system to help us at a time in our lives where we had absolutely no idea where we were heading or what to expect when we arrived there. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably still trying to work that out! (Tips 6 & 11 – I struggled to give him as much help as he needed but I was willing to introduce him to anyone)
I was also lucky enough to meet Jess, my girlfriend, and as she was soon leaving Australia I was also prompted to achieve my goal to work overseas a little earlier than I expected. She was also the primary reason that I decided to move to the east coast of Canada, despite more of my friends having worked before in the UK and most Aussies knowing only the West Canadian ski slopes. (Tips 1, 2, 5, 10, 11, 12)
I am currently on career break from my 3rd role out of University because I needed to take some time out to ensure that I was making the right decision in carrying on down my chosen career path. I had been keeping myself busy working without ever really setting aside enough time to consider exactly what I wanted. (Tips 3 - 5)
I was worried that any time spent outside of my role where I wasn’t earning money or receiving formal education would be wasted. After all I’ve learnt on my 6 month break, I am happy to admit that I was wrong. I am also happy to admit that this time off WILL actually work against me on a resume, but it has helped me to better decide where I should be sending that resume in future and has solidified my reasons for working, apart from just paying the bills. (Tips 1-12)
Yes, it’s been scary moving to a new country. (Tip 12)
Yes, it was potentially irresponsible to spend what would otherwise be my house deposit on a year of learning, travel and exploration. (Tips 5 & 12)
Yes, it was difficult taking a break from a career that I KNEW would be filled with great colleagues, achievement and financial rewards if only I just hung in there on the path to partner.. (Tips 5, 8 & 12)
BUT I AM SO GLAD I TOOK THE PLUNGE!
I may have set myself back a little financially, but after all the books I’ve read that point out that, above a certain level, money can’t buy happiness (although it can buy options like the ability to take a 6 month career break) I am more than happy to have spent this time and money in realigning my goals and efforts for the future.
My next (and hopefully final) career path will involve me needing to build a client base here in Canada. I have no option but to build something off my tiny base network of friends and acquaintances that I’ve spent less than 5 months here getting to know.. and mostly while I wasn’t sober (better fulfilling the stereotype of a drunken, ignorant Australian).
At this stage, I plan to start working here as a financial planner in a market that lacks the default option of compulsory superannuation to save people from their willingness to spend all and more of their income. It’s a role that is suited to my current skill set and will better allow me to work directly with people, rather than what I often felt to be faceless corporations, and hopefully I’ll also be able to provide you with some tips along the way if you’re interested in hearing about them.
I haven’t worked in this role before and it will be a steep learning curve, but I stopped being afraid of steep learning curves a little while ago, so I’m sure I’ll be able to work it out eventually after fumbling for a while.
Just a quick tip here to anyone who might be in a client service business where the worker bees have limited visibility of who they’re actually serving as the end client. Make it personal, look to get them involved in meetings so that they can see their purpose in helping another person. And if you can’t do this, actively show them who it is they’re serving, even if it’s just an online photograph. If your manager is not doing this, convince them to start considering it. Numerous studies have shown that this small change can significantly improve worker sentiment AND client outcome.
I know that the odds are stacked against me in even making a start here, and in 5 years time you may even be able to point and laugh at my failures and foolishness. Regardless of what happens though, I’m sure I’ll be supported by the networks I’ll build and strengthen both in Canada and Australia over the next few years, and hopefully they’ll be more willing to help me because I will have already been successful in my efforts to help them.
Hopefully you’ll have learnt something from my experiences so far, and hopefully we’ll be better able to work together to improve the lives of our friends and families throughout the remainder of our future.
Oh, and just to point out that’s it’s easy to find interesting things online (as if you didn’t already know) - see below videos.