Watch or listen: Inspiration in unexpected places
Link to video below.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson, host a weekly podcast on YouTube called IMO– an acronym that I never remember because I’m old and I’m not cool, but it means “in my opinion.” I like to hear them bicker like siblings. Episodes feature celebrities and public figures but it’s not self-promotion. Topics include parenthood, mental health, personal growth. They do bring up some topics that could be considered “political,” but it’s a totally natural conversation like you’re having a drink with them.
Josh Johnson is one of my favorite comedians. He’s also a host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central. Josh seamlessly blends everyday life with hot news topics around the world, educating you about those complex political scenarios with a lot of levity but also bringing it around to relatable, real life situations. He’s someone that you can listen to in the background, but his facial expressions really add to it.
Recently, he was a guest on IMO. I watched it last night, and I shared it on LinkedIn because it really struck me as inspiration in this job search process. He does a great job of spinning any “political” questions back to his core message: his personal focus on community and people. He credits his ability to find the positivity and the humor in any situation to his community: his friends and family, who are big influences in his comedy. I connected with his story about his grandmother’s reaction to the $25 cost of soup at a restaurant. That’s my reaction to any restaurant’s price for a salad.
At 14:52, Craig starts a promo of one of the episode’s sponsors: Indeed.com and their “career scout” feature. This was more than a commercial; Craig spoke to his career journey and how this would have helped him.
Craig acknowledges how awful it is to look for a job but says, “Think outside the box when it comes to your path.” Easy for him to say, right? But his advice is valuable for those of us in transition: lean into our strengths and curiosities. He credits networking to “opening doors I never would have pictured for myself.”
Josh’s interview starts at 4:53 and starts with a great example of his normal stand-up routine: his challenges traveling there in bad weather.
He talks about his journey: moving to Chicago after college because he knew that he had more opportunities there than he did in Louisiana. He held odd jobs while he pursued writing and comedy.
While his college degree never helped his career directly, it does influence how he approaches his live shows now.
Surprisingly, Josh describes himself as an introvert and how uncomfortable he is when he meets new people – but recognizes that networking is critical to grow your audience.
As a job seeker, there were quite a few moments that caused me to pause. I’ve been forced into my position of looking for a job; I was laid off. But throughout my life, I know that everything happens for a reason, and I was unhappy. I know that it’s time to reflect on how I define a “career” and what I’m really looking for in my next role.
But in the meantime, I need to pay my bills. After 10 years in retail management, it would be easy to walk into a retail store and be hired that day. But when I was in retail in my 20s, my friends and family judged me so much because I wasn’t in a cubicle using my college degree – even though my salary was higher than my friends’ salaries in professional roles. I was surprised to hear that he encountered the same reaction when he decided to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. I would think people would think that was really cool.
Some questions to ponder:
What are you looking for? A “career” or just a way to finance the life that you want to live?
Why is a career so important? What is your definition of a “successful” career?
How do you define “success” for yourself?
“I think career trajectories are a lot like parabolas, and so to assume that there’s just going to be an upward slope for the rest of your life isn’t just unrealistic, it just breeds a sort of like dissatisfaction and unhappiness over time, and so I think that knowing that if these are all of my sort of my like, pillars, and they’re all being upheld at the time. Then that is success.”
Josh Johnson
One of the podcast sponsors is Shipt. Since I can’t drive, I’ve used Shipt for years. A future post that I’ve planned will be to interview some of my Shipt shoppers:: like a former teacher who left his job as a teacher to do Shipt full-time because he made more money.
