Busy bees! I’m back with some more speculation on my burnout, and dare I say some clarity on my values, personal aspirations, and career next steps. I did this with the help of some hard conversations, online discourse & social media content–by that I mean, countless reddit threads, Youtube and TikTok videos, and self-help articles–and *gasp* AI.

Did I say that?

If you grew up in the 90s, you probably heard Steve Urkel’s voice reading the sub-heading of this section in his nasal pitch (or was it just me?) The sheepish delivery of his classic “Did I do that” line sets the tone for how I came to my own sheepish realization (though, it was more like a slap to the face) that I have been saying I’ve wanted to make a change for quite some time now.

I have an old college friend who I keep in touch with every few months. She’s brilliant, a self-starter, and impeccably well-rounded. She competes in national pickleball tournaments and moved across the world to study to be a vet, which she now is (in reverse order!) This time, it’d been over a year since we connected.

So I’ve set the stage now: I’m chatting with a friend who you know is a do-er. As we sat on our respective virtual ends–her on the tennis court; me on my couch–she and I traded anecdotes about our lives. It’d been a long stretch since we chatted last, and about 2 years since I last saw her in person, during which I’d made the trek to her side of the world.

In the last year or so, my friend had left her old vet job working with large animals, taken a well-deserved break, started a new job, and was now working part time. Remark number one, made me rethink my current job situation–once she started part time, she couldn’t imagine going back. Her contract with this clinic was nearing an end, and they were keen on her staying full time. She, however, was looking forward to taking another break before starting something new (for which she’s had plenty of offers for, something I can’t say about our current job market in the US).

When the conversation naturally shifted to me, and what I’d been up to, I didn’t have much to say for myself. Did I broach the subject of burnout, my perpetual corporate-induced anxiety & depression, and my endless search for meaning? Nope. I didn’t say much, we confirmed I was still doing the same thing, same company, but investing in hobbies, traveling more. I skirted the topic and maybe whined a little about the corporate slog and how I wanted to do something more creative. Remark number two hit me like a train of bricks, “Oh yeah, I remember you’ve been saying you want to do that for a while now!”

Believe me when I say she probably didn’t mean anything by it. It was pure observation. We hadn’t had a video call in over a year and here I was, saying the same thing last year, and the year before. It was a heavy dose of reality, and it made me rethink my part in all this. Sure, the work, my colleagues, and general culture behind “increasing shareholder value” has contributed to my mad descent, but I owe it to myself to have some agency. Sometimes I hate being so self-aware.

Reddit iS your Google Search

I took action by way of Google, which is really a search phrase with ‘reddit’ tacked onto the end.

This search led me down a rabbit hole of commiserators and advice. The book Bullshit Jobs came up a few times, so I started with David Graeber’s STRIKE! article: On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs. It was eye-opening, and it resonated deeply with me. I purchased the book next, which I’ll be spending the long weekend reading. His article speculates that much of modern day jobs is unnecessary, and his book goes on to dive into that theory. As part of this underlying theory, he posits that if you think your job is meaningless, it probably is. 👀

In parallel, I’ve watched video after video on TikTok and Youtube on leaving behind the 9-5, escaping the corporate grind, and quitting without a backup plan (unwise obviously).

Most recently, I stumbled upon this guy & and his cat, who quit his corporate job, liquidated his 401k and bought a sailboat. He spent a year learning how to sail, fixing up his boat, and is now sailing to Hawaii from Oregon with his kitty. He’s a modern day inspiration and a real example of sticking it to capitalism–though arguably now he’s gained large enough of a following to be making a profit (and I hope he is!) I binged the last 22 days of his journey like it was Netflix, moved to tears by his resolve and positive attitude. Apparently he reaches Hawaii today in a day.

All this to say, this countless content (thank you Internet?) has helped me form a narrative and half-baked strategy for what I want to do next (take a break lol).

AI as a career coach

I’d heard of people using ChatGPT as a career coach, or therapist by providing specific, targeted prompts. I set out to try myself and was frankly impressed with the results.

My conversation started something like this:

Which led to this golden nugget:

Our good friend had articulated things about me that, while possibly obvious to close friends, I couldn’t succinctly articulate myself. In particular, Mission alignment matters as a core inclination, and Tolerating “value theater” as a growth lever. I didn’t even know there could be a term for the latter, but that’s what it is, value theater.

I probed ChatGPT a bit more about my growth levers, how it’d picked up on them–for which it had clear examples to point to–and we ultimately reached the conclusion that I should consider seeking a career in fields/companies with missions more closely aligned with my values. I mean, obviously, right? But it took a machine to distill this information to me from the jumble of thoughts in my head. What’s more, we kept working to identify my values and potential fields and companies. More so than ever, I’m interacting with it to enhance my job search. We’ve done resume tailoring to specific job posts, cover letter writing, and producing recommendations of companies/jobs I’d align with.

Whether I find a job in this market is a different story 🙂

Side note: Is ChatGPT better than Gemini? I’ll let the following interaction I had with Gemini speak for itself.

🤣

Next up

I’ll be doing my homework next, putting together a plan to move forward: calculate my finances, double down on the job hunt, and identify a few side gigs I want to explore in my time off (blogging more, obviously; e-commerce; freelance work), plus, travel. I think I already know deep in my heart that I’ll quit my current job–the only thing holding me back is me and my fears. I’ve put a deadline on it, in any case. I could push on, do it for the paycheck and enjoy the benefits, but the truth is, I’ve outgrown my time here, and it’s time to move on.