Pocket Changed - Work Category

These are posts having anything to do with the world of work.

Are You Living Your Life for Retirement?

by Caleb Wojcik on June 15, 2011 · 25 comments

A while back I heard a story of a coworker who was turning 55 and retiring the same week. At first I thought, “Good for them! Many people can’t afford to retire that young and work into their 60′s and 70′s.” But then I caught myself thinking conventionally. Since when is it the norm to give your life to a company for 30 or 40 of your prime years and then retire?

Why not build a life, job, or business from which you never feel the need to retire?

My coworkers mentioned that the retiree had this birthday on their radar for roughly 10 years. They made a plan to retire at 55 and stuck to it. I can admire that.

At the same time though, I thought about my life and I know I can’t do that to myself. I’ve worked just over three years in Corporate America and I’ve always felt constricted. I can’t imagine spending another 30 years in a culture based around being told what to do, when you can get promoted, and how much money you are allowed to earn.

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Why You Need To Go To The World Domination Summit Next Year

by Caleb Wojcik on June 6, 2011 · 57 comments

The short answer to why you need to go to the World Domination Summit in Portland, OR next year (2012) is simply that:

The people there will change your life.

Not just anyone you might know that happens to be there, but every single person you talk to has an interesting story to share and wants to hear yours too. You can expect genuine compassion from everyone you interact with. To help demonstrate the mood of the weekend more in depth, I have two experiences from “the day after” that demonstrate the feeling of being at the conference.

As I was driving into work this morning I made the normal commute as I drove away from downtown Seattle. Usually, I would be in the zone, listening to a podcast, driving the speed limit, and focused on the road. But as I was driving, I looked at opposing traffic headed towards their 9 to 5 grind just like me.

There was a huge difference between them and me though. All of suburbia was stuck in gridlock traffic, while I had an open road.

I simply smiled and thought, “You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing.”

I’ve known for a while that I need a big change in my life and I’m choosing to work towards it everyday to get there. To me, being “different” is really just about being the real you.

The other thing that has continually happened to me today (probably because I am exhausted and need a nap) is I keep hearing an alarm going off. It’s the same sound that wakes me up each morning, but there is no actual alarm going off. Every time I hear it, it reminds me that its time. Time for action.

When I was at the World Domination Summit, alarms were going off in my head all weekend. I met so many amazing people that are living their lives how they want to live them, not how they are expected to. Immediate feelings of support were shared with me when I told them of my future plans for adventure. They’d ask, “how soon?” and I wanted to say tomorrow. The time for action is now.
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22 Ways to Quit Making Excuses and Hop Off the Complain Train NOW

by Caleb Wojcik on May 27, 2011 · 8 comments

“Whoa is me.”
“My life is so hard.”
“I’m having a pity party and you’re all invited.”
“I can’t follow my dreams because I don’t have any money.”
“I’m stuck on this life path and I can’t change it.”
“This is the only job I will ever be able to get with my past experience.”

Does this sound like you? Even if you aren’t saying these things, you may very well have thought them before. I know I have.

“The world isn’t interested in the storms you encountered but whether or not you brought in the ship.”
- Raul Armesto

When you are on your deathbed are you going to focus on how much you hated your day job for forty years, never got to follow your passions, or regret putting off that trip to Fiji? Or are you going to think back and smile at how hard you worked to rise above the challenges life handed you and tell stories to your grandchildren about how much fun you had fighting for your dreams to come true? I know which future I want.

“How much do you have to lose? Take a look at the guy 10 years ahead of you. Do you want to be that guy?”
– Dan Andrews

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How to Quit Being a Cog in the Machine and Build Your Own Business

by Caleb Wojcik on May 11, 2011 · 6 comments

As I see it, there are just two different ways to live your life and develop your career.

Be a cog in a machine
Build your own machine

All through my life I just assumed that I would go work at a single company for 40+ years, save 8% each year, get a pension, and retire at 65 to do what I enjoy. This was “normal” and it seemed to be the American Dream. Even though I got good grades in school and was “street smart”, I can’t help but look back at my younger self and yell, “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”

I went through college with the assumption that working at a good company was the best option financially, professionally, and personally. A steady paycheck and benefits would be all I ever needed. Boy was I wrong.

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Can’t Take It Anymore

by Caleb Wojcik on May 9, 2011 · 10 comments

If you are trapped, fed up, or at the breaking point in your life, today’s post is for you.

You keep forcing yourself to get up each morning to go to the job you dread sitting at all day. You tell yourself that someday soon you’ll escape this place and go do something you are passionate about. The problem is that you are great at daydreaming of escape, but you fail to properly plan to do it or take action.

You continually focus on the day in the future when you no longer have to answer to the man and let years past you by without ever getting any closer to your freedom. You thought that saving a few dollars each month in an escape fund and getting out of debt would give you the guts to go out on your own. You were wrong.

No matter how much money you saved and had in your parachute, you couldn’t take the leap. You fear what would happen if you fail. Could you get another job if you quit this one? What would your family think? Would you have to go deep into debt?

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New to Pocket Changed? Start Here!

by Caleb Wojcik on April 27, 2011 · 4 comments

Today is the four month anniversary of Pocket Changed! In honor of the past 120 days, 82 posts, and who knows how many words typed, I thought I’d do a bit of a recap of the some of the best posts and create a starting point if you are newer to Pocket Changed.

If this is your first time here, welcome! Read what Pocket Changed is all about and find out why I write. For a complete listing of all articles, head to the archives.

My Financial Journey

My life has been financial rollercoaster from my childhood to today. Be sure you check out the full story about my financial journey.

First Step

Your first step to improving your financial picture should be to check out my series on the 10 Financial Foundations. Also check out some of the best things that I recommend to start change your life for the better.

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Spend Money to Make Money

by Caleb Wojcik on April 20, 2011 · 6 comments

When I was working to get out of debt after college I focused entirely on how to be more frugal. I wanted to save money as fast as possible. I thought that the best way to do so was by focusing on my spending and I completely ignored the earning portion of the equation. What took me a long time to realize was that sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

If I would have invested more time, energy and money into developing income streams other than my desk job, I may have been able to get out of debt sooner. Instead, I ate cheap dinners, limited entertainment spending and avoided purchases I really wanted to make. I scrimped and saved until I had enough to pay off my debt.

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Destination X Review: Your Guide to Accomplishing Anything + Contest

by Caleb Wojcik on April 18, 2011 · 0 comments

We all have dreams for our life that we want to come true. The problem is that these dreams are sometimes nothing more than vague ideas like “traveling the world” or “being debt free”. Just having a dream is not enough to make it come true.

To reach your dreams you really need to analyze exactly what they are, why you want them and lay out a plan to get them. If you want to accomplish anything, you need to determine goals to reach along the way. Without these sub steps you can wander aimlessly in search of the future life you want.

To help with this, my friend David Damron over at Life Excursion is launching Destination X: Your Guide to Accomplishing Anything. This digital experience is an inexpensive guide for taking your dreams or passions in life and turning them into actionable goals.

(If you can’t see the video above, watch the Destination X Review on Vimeo.)

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Stand Up to Conformity at Your Job

by Caleb Wojcik on April 13, 2011 · 4 comments

Conforming to society is one way to live your life. You can get a job that someone dredged through before you got there. Going through the motions as you answer to your boss. Complaining to your friends and family that you hate your job, but that you have to keep working there. Buying things to make you feel better about yourself because you “deserve” them.

“If they give you lined paper, write the other way.”
- Ray Bradbury

The other, better way to live your life is to go against the grain. Stand up to authority when they are being abusive. Tell people what you really think at work instead of being timid all the time. Advocate change in the world around you. It is better to be hated for who you are than loved for who you aren’t.

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The Story of a Man

by Caleb Wojcik on April 6, 2011 · 11 comments

The young man spent his whole life trying to impress other people. He always got straight A’s in school for his parents, worked hard in college to find a stable job for his future family and put in overtime at the office for his boss. At times he would think to himself how much he didn’t enjoy the path his life was on, but he dismissed the thought quickly because he was “doing well” in the view of society.

He kept his head down for a few years staying on track in his career, completing graduate school and putting his life’s energy into a job that he wasn’t passionate about. Some days he would come home from work and feel the need to escape from the reality of what his life had become. He would waste nights thinking back to how much he missed the free time he had in college, watching countless television shows or playing hours of video games. Thousands of dollars would be spent on electronics, trips to see friends and eating out to try and make him happy enough to forget his grueling, boring day job.

The man would lie down in bed after the long day was over and think, “I feel like I am just treading water in the middle of a giant ocean.” His life was not going in the direction that he ever thought it would and he didn’t see any way out. By living a life based on other people’s expectations he had created a life that felt like a prison cell. He was trapped and needed to escape. Read the full article →

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