‘I’ve had 44 jobs: Here’s what I’ve learnt from them’

This is what Gary Waldon learned from having 44 jobs - and why he’s a self-confessed jobaholic.

Now-author Gary Waldon’s book is called Mastering the Art of Reinvention.

After having 44 jobs in my life, I feel like I should be attending a support group where I introduce myself: “Hi, my name is Gary, and I am a jobaholic. It has been 120 days since I last changed jobs.”

After all, 44 jobs is surely not the norm for many people, maybe I do have a problem, however I am grateful for the opportunities this variety has offered me to reinvent myself.

My experiences include being a schoolteacher, an aerobics instructor, a milkman, a consultant, an actor, a personal trainer, a failed start-up founder and most recently an author.

Gary advocates taking action rather than waiting to see where life will take you.

I have even set up a bank for famous people, star gazing moments include meeting Oprah’s bankers and partying with Chris Hemsworth.

Embarrassingly I was once even a topless waiter for the male revue Manpower — unfortunately it seems my dad moves weren’t sexy after all.

After so many diverse jobs and experiences here are the top six reinvention lessons I learnt along the way:

● Change is unavoidable, accept it. I have been fired and failed numerous times in my career, so change is no stranger to me. As humans we need change to keep us stimulated and interested, so accepting it is part of life is a great first step.

With the right mindset we can be open to the possibilities and quickly adapt to reinvent ourselves to our new world.

● Give yourself a reality check. If you want to avoid making the same mistakes then review your experiences. Even from my worst jobs, with psychopath bosses, I learnt so much. It is often from the toughest experiences we learn the most. One easy model to use for your reality check is to make a balance sheet of our lives by assessing the good, the bad and the ugly that led us to this point.

● Empower yourself. A change in jobs, or for that matter any change, means we are stepping into a world of uncertainty. This is why so many people get stuck in their lives, their fear of the unknown appears worse than where they are.

A more productive use of our energy and brilliance is to identify what we’re passionate about and then start figuring out how to get there. You might miss your old life, but you can’t go back and, even if you could, you have changed and evolved. It will never fit you like it once did.

● Take action, do something, anything. When I am between jobs, and let’s be honest, with 44 jobs there have been down times, I find I can start to wallow. But once I get bored with my own inaction or the responsibilities of life such as mortgages and feeding myself become all too real I know I need to pull on my big boy pants and get back into the real world.

Our actions and thoughts are often the only things within our control, so taking a planned approach to achieving our goals is critical to keeping us on track.

● Try, then try again. OK, tough love time. You are likely to fail along the way and end up somewhere different from where you thought you would be. Just like an infant learning to walk, you’re on a journey of reinvention, trying new things and learning from your mistakes. Getting your head on straight is about building the necessary resilience to try (and try again) and be kind to yourself when you fail.

● Enjoy the journey. Any change often leaves us wishing for the past or dreaming of the future. The problem with this is that the past is the past and no longer exists and the future is yet to happen so may not happen the way we dream it will.

His journey has taken him from being a school teacher and milkman to a start-up founder and author.

The only reality is the here and now, so finding ways to enjoy where we are is important. It may be having a laugh, taking a break or just going for a walk.

Some of my most memorable times are laughing hysterically with my mum in her last days as she succumbed to cancer.

Finding enjoyment in the world during tough times helps make room for more positive thoughts and actions.

Each of my 44 jobs helped me learn about the field I was working in, but even more about myself.

They helped me reinvent myself to become more confident, adaptable and, yes, even more employable.

I now approach life problems and opportunities from many perspectives offering up solutions that I would never have come up with if I had stayed a milkman.

Mastering the Art of Reinvention.

Try, then try again.

Regardless of what we experienced that led us to the point of no return, accepting the reality and possibilities of our life-changing event will help us walk into our future with confidence and purpose.

If you want to leave your life up to chance, go buy a lotto ticket and wait for your one in a billion numbers to come up.

Or take back control and accept change is inevitable, but reinvention should be intentional.

You got this!

Gary Waldon is the author of Mastering the Art of Reinvention ($32.95). He is a transformation specialist who works with people from CEOs, CIOs, business leaders and professional athletes to teachers and those who need to reinvent themselves when life changes. For details, go to garywaldon.com

Originally published as ‘I’ve had 44 jobs: Here’s what I’ve learnt from them’