Big Ideas: Traditional notions of a profession are giving way to multiple jobs.

We are spending our time trying to find meaning and purpose with our lives. Many of the projects we work on are not jobs at all.

We are in an age of abundance where people are finding that more work and more consumption are not satisfying. Many of us are choosing to work less.

Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten has a great article, Job2.0- The End of Profession,  on The Next Web Entrepreneur .

Boris writes;

For a while now we have been moving from the Job 1.0 into the Job 2.0 phase. In the Job 1.0 era life was simple. You were born, studied something (in college or on the street) for about 10 years and then start practicing what you learned until you retired. When people asked you what you did you answered ‘Plumber’, ‘Architect’, ‘Photographer’ or ‘Dentist’ and people would know what you were talking about…
The Job 2.0 era gives us all an opportunity to have more than one profession at a time. Plumbers don’t just do plumbing anymore. They have to be in marketing and PR as well and offer more related services than just plumbing to satisfy market demand. Architects aren’t just designing buildings anymore. They also design cities, furniture, books and gadgets.

Boris believes the first reason for our shift to these multiple ‘jobs’ is;

Our tools are becoming increasingly more powerful but also easier to learn. The learning curve for a lot of skills has decreased immensely over the past years.

The second reason he mentions is the internet because;

Now, with the internet at your disposal you don’t need millions of fans to be a star. You just need a small but loyal following.

I agree with Boris that the “the learning curve for a lot of skills has decreased immensely over the past years.” However, what it really means is that there is more competition at every skill level and you have to be increasingly exceptional to standout. Everyone is good now, so good is no longer enough.

I also agree that a ’small but loyal following’ are all that is needed for decent success, although collecting those fans is getting increasingly harder. When everyone blogs, blogging is no longer enough. When everyone can get thousands of twitter followers or facebook fans then the value of those followers diminishes.

We all have access to the same tools, skills and marketing channels now. A Filipino graphic designer that a decade ago would have worked for a few dollars per hour is now competing with New York artists. There is a democratization of technology, skills and marketing channels. Hyper-competition means that there are diminishing returns to additional effort. Why work harder if it doesn’t really make much of a difference?

I would almost argue that it is not “Job2.0″ at all. We are moving away from the industrial age notion of having to work 40 plus hours a week for a living. Many of us are spending more time on projects and hobbies that have little chance of earning us a living. We are volunteering more, travelling more, learning more and experiencing more.

The Age of Abundance

We are richer than ever. Most people are no longer working for food, shelter and clothing. Obesity is a bigger problem than lack of food in richer countries. We keep moving to larger and more posh housing and we are more likely to discard unfashionable clothes than wear them out. We have an over-supply of every product and service. Even previously ‘rich’ illnesses of obesity and heart problems have shifted predominantly to the poor in developed nations.

Corporations have trained us to be consumers wanting infinitely more goods and services. Increased consumption requires more work to pay for our excesses. More purchases are not making us happier so more people are juggling multiple roles, as author Ian Sanders describes, to bring satisfaction to our lives. Much of what we do in our free time (blogging, design, music, sports, volunteering, etc.) is not about having a ‘job’ at all. We are doing things that bring us enjoyment, not necessarily income. In this age of abundance, more and more people are willing to trade income for time. I argue that we are not entering Job2.0 but actually something more akin to life 2.0. We all need to earn a living, but if we keep our expenses down work can be a much smaller part of our lives. I think this is evidenced by the increase in people retiring early or like myself, taking mid-career breaks to travel the world and work on other projects.

How much is enough?

More people are starting to realize that if they get off the consumption band-wagon they can actually work less and experience more.

Goods and services are abundant but time, attention, values and health will always be scarce. Where do you want to focus the bulk of your time? Is it more important constantly work to afford the latest trendy gadgets and fashion or would you rather spend your time doing things you enjoy with people you like? For the sake of the environment and our own sanity, I hope more people start to embrace Life2.0 rather than Job2.0.

Related posts:

1. Abundance Breaks More Things than Scarcity Economic success is no longer a product of the scarce...
2. Focus is More Important Than Knowledge Any type of knowledge can be found online with a...
3. The Future is about Finding Meaning in Everything We do and Buy It is clear that we are reaching the top of...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Companies are flocking to social media and crowdsourcing platforms in the hopes of finding cheaper or more effective ways to market their wares. This is understandable for we all need to make a living, however, I think the real promise of social media is bigger than just a financial transaction. People give their time and money for reasons above and beyond financial gain.

Crowdfunding site Kickstarter is a great example of non-financial motives for giving. Kickstarter is a platform to fund creative ideas. It is not investing, project creators retain complete ownership of their projects.

“Project creators inspire people to open their wallets by offering products, benefits and fun experiences.”

The great thing is that people do fund projects for “fun experiences.” There are many people completely willing to part with a little cash in order to play a small role in a community. And yes, each project is a community because like minded individuals are connecting around a single idea.

At the time of writing this post, Bud Caddell has attracted $6377 in funding from 88 backers for his book project, The Bucket Brigade: How Everything in the Attention Economy Actually Works and 10 Rules to Profit from it. Pledges of $25 or more get their name and URL in the book. More than $100 earns editorial membership. Backing of more than $500 gets “special attention from me (Caddell) far beyond the production of this book.”

Think about that for a moment, if you donate more than $100 you also get to edit the book for free. Caddell’s successful funding proves that money isn’t the only motivator. I think this is a positive and very powerful cultural advancement. Some professional connections and engagements are more valuable than a mere financial exchange.

That to me is the real power of social media. We are connecting around ideas and beliefs and not only trying to sell each other something. As we develop as societies and continue to climb Maslow’s Hierarcy, money is becoming less of a motivator.

Caddell was only asking for $5000 in funding, which is not a lot of money to write, edit and publish a book. Clearly it is not only about the money for him either. Lumi Co. on Kickstarter said,

“Kickstarter is an incredible platform. Its obvious purpose is funding, but we find ourselves gaining so much outside of collecting pledges. For us, Kickstarter has been a powerful tool to connect with a community passionate about our work.”

Many of us blog, upload videos and pictures, contribute to open source projects like Wikipedia and Linux with little or zero financial benefit. There is definitely more to life than money. Being part of a community and connecting with fellow humans has value in and of itself. We really are putting the ’social’ into social media.

Thanks to Edward Boches for inspiring this post.

Related posts:

1. Abundance Breaks More Things than Scarcity Economic success is no longer a product of the scarce...
2. Is Venture Capital Dead? With open source software and inexpensive technology, the start up...
3. Great Animated Explanation of Dan Pink’s Book Drive Money motivates people only if you don't pay them enough...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Here is a fantastic hand drawn animated explanation of Dan Pink’s latest book Drive by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA)

I have selected some excerpts of the animation but I highly recommend the 10 minute video for the content and the entertainment of watching the artist illustrate in fast motion.

For simple, straight forward, rudimentary tasks, bonuses work as expected; the higher the pay the higher the performance.

When a task gets more complicated, requiring some conceptual, creative thinking; larger rewards lead to poorer performance.

Money motivates people only if you don’t pay them enough to want to do the work.

There are three factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction:

• Autonomy – our desire to direct our own lives
• Mastery – our urge to get better at stuff (Like playing a musical instrument.)
• Contribution – making a difference (Linux, Wikipedia)

More and more corporations have a transcendent purpose. Partly because it makes coming to work better and partly because it attracts better talent.

We are purpose maximizers, not just profit maximizers.

I think we are all looking for more meaning in our work and lives but the research that Dan Pink offers is somewhat counter-intuitive on the surface. Money turns out to not be a very good motivator for more creative and cognitive work.

The question for each of us is whether or not we can create inspiring projects and businesses that attract talented employees and volunteers while giving everyone the freedom to choose what they want to work on. Could you create the next Wikipedia or Linux?

Related posts:

1. Unbooks: Leo Babauta of ZenHabits is an Early Pioneer of the New Model of Book Publishing Book publishing is an archaic industry long over due for...
2. Derek Sivers Offers a Great Lesson in Leadership: A First Follower is Needed to Create a Movement A great video clearly demonstrating how a movement is created...
3. Crowdfunding is Much More than Just Raising Capital Companies are flocking to social media and crowdsourcing platforms in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It is safe to say that we conquered the cheap revolution. Everything from MP3s to food to automobiles are cheaper than ever. Food production has declined from 97% of our economy to less than 3%. This is an age of affluence.

What do you get for the person that has everything?

After you get your three automobiles, four TVs and computers in every room of your house what is left to buy?

There is a growing movement of perpetual travelers living an anywhere lifestyle by living cheaply and shunning material possessions. Many, including myself, are finding that it can be cheaper to travel and live abroad just by getting off of the consumerism bandwagon.

Cutting out a significant part of consumption means that it is possible to work much less as well. It was less than a century ago that 40 hour workweeks were legislated in the US. Prior to that, it was normal for even children to work 60 plus hours per week in terrible working conditions.

We were able to cut back  from 60 to 40 hour workweeks, what will happen when we cut back to 30 or even 20 hours per week of work? France is on the forefront with a 35 hour workweek and several weeks of vacation per year. When will it arrive in other developed nations? More importantly, what will we do with the extra time?

The Meaning Economy

Umair Haque said, (via Taylor Davidson)

Today, the meaning is the message. The “message” of the Internet’s social revolution is more meaningful work, economics, politics, society, and organization. It promises radically more meaning: to make stuff matter, once again, in human terms, not just financial ones.

It is clear that we are reaching the top of the pyramid of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. All of our physical needs have been met ten-fold, now we are focusing on self-actualization and finding real meaning in our lives.

That meaning is not coming from buying more things or having more leisure time. Quality of life is not measured by how many calories we consume, how many hours we spend in front of the TV or how many stamps we have in our passports. What are the new metrics? What is the next incarnation of the American Dream?

The End of Work

Consider all the non-economic value that is being created by bloggers and users of social media around the world. There are millions of people contributing free content and services without direct or immediate personal gain. If that is hard to imagine, spend some time on Wikipedia and try to formulate a guess on the number of volunteer man-hours that have been invested.

There will always be economic exchanges between people, however I think we are just starting to see the value of non-monetary transactions. We give because it gives us pleasure, not because it puts money into our bank accounts. Personal development, stronger relationships and contribution are becoming more important requisites than just a paycheck. More people will be working less simply because traditional industrial age employment is  becoming less necessary.

I have heard a lot of disagreement with this contention but consider technological advancements in every industry. Less man hours are required to produce everything imaginable. Even Henry Ford’s assembly line cut the man hours required to build a car from 12.5 to 1 hour and 33 minutes. Those freed up hours have always been employed to produce even more goods and services however, there is a limit to the amount we can consume and to what the environment can sustain. Perhaps this will finally be the first generation to consume less than the previous.

In the future, I think the turning of the 21st Century will be marked as the start of the quest for meaning. I wonder how long it will take to purge our industrial age mindsets from the collective psyche?

Related posts:

1. The Future of Education Traditional schools are not able to keep up with changing...
2. Forget Job2.0 – Cut your Work Hours and Start Life2.0 Traditional notions of a profession are giving way to multiple...
3. Great Animated Explanation of Dan Pink’s Book Drive Money motivates people only if you don't pay them enough...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Any type of knowledge can be found online with a quick internet search. In an age of ideas we no longer need to ‘know’ anything. We just have to be able to search for that knowledge online. What comes after knowledge? Focus.

PSFK has a great quote from David Dalrymple of MIT,

Before the Internet, most professional occupations required a large body of knowledge, accumulated over years or even decades of experience. But now, anyone with good critical thinking skills and the ability to focus on the important information can retrieve it on demand from the Internet, rather than her own memory. On the other hand, those with wandering minds, who might once have been able to focus by isolating themselves with their work, now often cannot work without the Internet, which simultaneously furnishes a panoply of unrelated information — whether about their friends’ doings, celebrity news, limericks, or millions of other sources of distraction. The bottom line is that how well an employee can focus might now be more important than how knowledgeable he is. Knowledge was once an internal property of a person, and focus on the task at hand could be imposed externally, but with the Internet, knowledge can be supplied externally, but focus must be forced internally.

Related posts:

1. The Quality of Idea is More Important than Followers to Spread It Don't worry about building up a following. Focus on improving...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.