Comments on: An Interview with Jonathan Fields, Career Renegade

By: Career Corner « Marywood Alumni Online

Career Corner « Marywood Alumni Online — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:51:15 +0000

[...] Inside Career Renegade [...]

By: Clara

Clara — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:36:16 +0000

Convention wisdom can get in the way of your dreams, but I agree with Nathan. It can be tiring taking action that gets you nowhere. Sometimes you need someone to take you by the hand.

By: Jonathan "Not the cookie lady's son" Fields

Jonathan "Not the cookie lady's son" Fields — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:44:27 +0000

@ Nathan – Indeed, that’s one of the great challenges in keeping the momentum going when you’ve got multiple interests and passions. I’ve found it helps to move the ball forward on a few fronts until you have enough information to determine which one has the least likely opportunity for passion-driven prosperity, then putting that one aside. Then, rinse and repeat.

The challenge with that is that when you’re trying to keep 5 balls in the air at once, you risk dropping them all. So, if you feel that happening, I’d just pick the one that feels most intuitively right, shelve the others and give that one everything you’ve got

By: Nathan Hangen

Nathan Hangen — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:07:59 +0000

Great interview. The problems I’m dealing with now are not so much taking action, but finding which actions are the most productive. You hit a point where some projects sound great, but just aren’t worth the time, while others you didn’t think would work are kicking ass.

It can be hard to find a rhythm in phases like that.

By: Jonathan "Not the cookie lady's son" Fields

Jonathan "Not the cookie lady's son" Fields — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:34:11 +0000

@ Craig – It’s different for each person and often depends on how far into life you are, who’s depending on you and how much skin you’ve got in the game.

By: Betty Road

Betty Road — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:55:51 +0000

Very enlightening-thank you! Betty

By: Craig | BloomVerse

Craig | BloomVerse — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:11:12 +0000

@Jonathan

Great point. Would you say that inertia is the bigger hurdle prior to starting a venture? In my experience, it takes facing that particular challenge to even get the ball rolling. The fear usually creeps in more heavily after engagement (the “Oh God, what did I get myself into?” mindset).

By: Jonathan "Not the cookie lady's son" Fields

Jonathan "Not the cookie lady's son" Fields — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:43:59 +0000

@ Brian PAPA – Thanks for the kind words. One of the rules I live by is “your legacy starts at home.” Plus, I just love hanging around my daughter while she’s still young enough not to realize what a serious dork her dad really is, lol!

@ Craig – No doubt, fear is always a huge issue. But, interesting enough, I sometimes think inertia is the bigger challenge. People just become so comfortable in their routines, it often takes something massive to interrupt a pattern that’s been followed for decades and become open to the possibility of creating a new one.

@ Writer Dad – Actually, these days, I leaning toward the title, “Official Sponge!” Loving spending a lot of time learning from people who are so much smarter than me.

By: Writer Dad

Writer Dad — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:25:27 +0000

Jonathan, you might not be a guru, but you ARE a leader of the highest order. The old rules don’t matter. They’ve all been shattered. Still, the common denominator is there. Even on an entirely different playing field, it is still hard work that fills the coffers. For any creative person who values their time, yours is a model to follow (loosely of course, as all models are meant to be broken. : > ))

By: Craig | BloomVerse

Craig | BloomVerse — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:24:58 +0000

Brilliant insights here! What I’ve noticed in dealing with several people in pursuit of “non-traditional” career paths (i.e. doing what they love for a living) is that one of the top reasons why they give up is because they allow fears to take the wheel. Even with invaluable information and innate creative genius at their disposal, they can collapse under emotional pressure. The fears are usually born from hearing so-called “conventional wisdom” from external sources as talked about in the post. The key is appropriately dealing with feelings and emotions that are guaranteed to get stirred up when following your dreams. Take care of them, utilize your resources, and the probability of success is actually great.