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The Pathfinder: From Lawyer to Musician
- From Fox Network National News
According to experts, losing a job can often motivate people to re-evaluate their lives.
"Getting laid off is a powerful kick in the pants toward actually designing a
future career from ground up," said Nicholas Lore, author of The Pathfinder:
How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success.
"Some people know they aren't in the right job," he said. "This is like a wake-up call."
Teddy Kim, 31, of Jersey City, N.J., practiced law but was frustrated by the long hours that left no time for his creative side. He quit the practice to join his wife's self-titled band, Laura Harley, that now performs at various New York area clubs.
"It wasn't what I wanted to be doing," he said of his previous job. "It was one of those situations where you lose your nerve and go with something that's safe instead of what you'd rather be doing."
Now, instead of practicing law, he practices guitar. Kim admits the transition has been nerve-wracking at times. "It's a little bit intimidating where the street musicians are better than you," he said.
But hesitations about making drastic professional changes are normal said Lore, who describes it as an "attack of the 'yeah buts.'"
"You think over and over about why you shouldn't do it," he said. "You have to have a bigger commitment to having personal fulfillment in your work than you do to listening to the 'yeah but' voices in your head."
But Kim won against those voices and is happier for it. "You can spend a third of your life surrounded by people you don't like, doing something you don't like and it grinds you down," he said. "I couldn't see myself going in that direction. I don't think any job is worth that."
To find your calling Lore advises people to examine their interests and the kind of environment that brings out the best in them instead of "crushing them like a lot of corporate environments."
Of course, doing what you love doesn't always pay the bills. But Lore said money worries shouldn't stop people from making a change.
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