I must say there is no end to the excitement when you are working with kids. It’s difficult not to love a job where your main requirement is to ensure that the kids are having fun and learning. Although my opinion may change by the end of the week - so far I have somehow managed to avoid diaper changing duties. Not sure if I will be able to keep that up!

As soon as I arrived at Nature’s Childcare I felt comfortable. The staff are awesome and the kids have been so welcoming. I think I knew that everyone working there would be great people before I arrived. One, because you have to be in order to love working with kids. And two, because when I arrived I saw they went to the trouble to paint a welcoming picture on the front window, complete with a drawing of me. Very cool!

After getting a tour of the center, I was thrown right into it because a local news crew came by and wanted to get some footage of me with the kids for their story. So, within 15 minutes I was in front of a class reading a book to the kids I had just been introduced to. The kids took it easy on me responding well to my attempt at matching voices to the various characters and it was fun.

Kids are great. They are scared, shy, and stare at you with a blank face when they first meet you, then five minutes later they are your best friend and want to talk to you about everything. It’s amazing some of the random things they say. After a few days at the center, I can imagine that it must be difficult to start the day in a bad mood. The kids are always so happy to see you. How can you not help but smile when as you enter a room, your adoring five year olds fans run toward you, shout your name with excitement and give you a big hug?

I have spent most of time this week playing games with the kids, reading stories, coloring, dancing… on Tuesday we braved the snow storm and took some of the kids on a field trip to Boondocks, a fun park nearby the center. We ate pizza and played in the huge indoor jungle gym. Although the sign said, maximum height 48″, I couldn’t help but join them.

It’s been awesome this week working in an environment where everyone loves what they are doing and are clearly in the profession for the right reasons. As the director of Nature’s Childcare keeps re-affirming: “We are poor in our pockets, yet rich in our hearts.”

-Sean

This is jumping back a bit in time, but I was finally able to complete the episode from Sean’s week as a Stock Trader in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Enjoy!

This week I am working as a Pre-School Teacher at Nature’s Childcare in the small town of Meridian, Idaho.

Nature’s Childcare opened a year and a half ago and has about 150 children. I will be working and teaching 4-5 year old children, along with another teacher, hands on educational projects such as art, cooking, reading, and math.

Today I arrived just in time for nap-time, followed by snack-time, and I was able to spend the afternoon meeting the different age groups, reading stories, coloring, and of course a tea-time was in order.

Though I haven’t had much experience with children this young, I have really enjoyed the opportunities I have had to work with kids over the past year. I have always thought that I would be happy as a teacher and think that it would really suit my lifestyle - I am sure I will have a lot fun this week!

-Sean

When I first learned about the possibilities of being a full-time paid Motivational Speaker , I thought, wow, now that’s an easy gig!… deliver 65 or so one hour presentations around the country each year and get paid pretty penny to do so.

Ask Eric what he thinks about this, and he will tell you a whole different story. He would say that with all the organization, negotiating, writing, preparing and following-up with clients for these 65 or so presentations, he is oftentimes working 60+ hours a week. All of a sudden, it doesn’t sound as appealing.

On top of this, he has all of the other administrative tasks that comes with running a small business. If clients have never heard of him or don’t know how to find him, they are not going to hire him and he will be out of business.

Before this week, I never realized how much work it actually is. I must say, I have a new found appreciation.

In the past 43 weeks I have had the opportunity to work with many people who own their own business. Most of them say they wish they had done it sooner, that they would never again work for someone else, and that they love the freedom. I can appreciate that, though, my one observation is I found most of these people work crazy hours each week and don’t have much time to take for themselves. Yes, you do make your own schedule, leave when you want, and work when you want, yet, when you are aware that the extent of your input is directly related to your bottom line, it appears challenging to ever stop thinking about work. I imagine it can be difficult to simply relax, take a vacation, enjoy a movie or a good book, because there is always something that could be done.

I think it would take a lot of discipline to say, “Well, that’s it, I am done for the day” and to make sure you budget enough time to do the other things you love doing. Or more importantly, the things that you may not like doing though have to get done anyways. This must become even more difficult when you actually love your job.

Growing up I often heard that life has a lot to do with balance. I think it’s a difficult idea for many in my generation to deal with - sometimes you simply have to do what you don’t want to do in order to allow time for what you do want to do. I have certainly never been a fan of that, though as I get older and supposedly more mature, I begin to realize there just might be some truth to that.

I really enjoyed my week with Eric. We had many interesting talks about life, careers, my generation, and he was able to provide a lot of great insights causing myself to ask some very important questions. On my last day Eric received an email from a client who is interested in having both Eric and I speak at a presentation in the summer in Dallas. Could be fun!

-Sean

Last week I did an interview via satellite with the Today Show in Australia. Here is the interview:

52 jobs in 52 weeks

This comment was left by Izabella Tabarovsky, a career exploration and transition coach. I found it very interesting so thought that I would share.

———–

Hi Sean,

I can’t tell you how much I’m inspired by your project and your message. Your statement in “My Generation” sounds like a manifesto I would sign a hundred times over! Really, wake up, people, realize that you were not supposed to waste your lives working in boring, soul-destroying jobs where you leave your spirit at home along with your values, passions, and creativity! There is more to life than that, and it is your responsibility to apply all the gifts you were given - not just the ones your company wants you to use for its own purposes.

This is a subject that really gets me going, because I’ve spent most of my life looking for that amazing feeling of connection in the work that I do - the feeling where work feels like play, where you can’t wait to get up in the morning and get back to work, where you’d do what you’re doing even if you weren’t getting paid for it. I, too, tried out many different occupations and did a lot of soul-searching to discover who I was and what I had to contribute. Now, at 38, I finally have it, and I’ve made it my mission to help others find their true path.

One of my favorite authors, Marsha Sinetar, who wrote the bestselling career exploration classic “Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow,” says: “Work needs to fit my personality just as shoes need to fit my feet, otherwise I’m destined for discomfort.” And also: “Our right work is just as important to personality health and growth as the right nutrients are for our bodies.”

I’d take it even further. In my view, our right work is an essential part of our spiritual growth. To search is more natural than not to search. It really is a part of being human. So to all of you who are still searching - don’t give up! It’s all part of the journey, pieces of the puzzle. One day they’ll come together, and then you’ll know that all was not in vain!

I’ve commented on your project on my blog for my readers, and I look forward to continuing to track your adventure. I really feel there is a quiet (or maybe not so quiet) revolution taking place in our society - a revolution in how we as a culture view work and our relationship with it. Your generation is definitely leading the way, and people who are older are beginning to wake up as well. As a career exploration and transition coach, I’m going to do all I can to help that along!

Izabella Tabarovsky
www.projectcreativevision.com

Eric had a presentation yesterday in Boulder, Colorado. It was in front of about 200 teens from 14 different high schools in the area, all members of their respective student councils. (He doesn’t speak to youth very often any more, so this was a rare opportunity for them, and for me)

Although it may seem at the time that our high school years last forever, he demonstrated how quickly they pass by and how precious that time really is. He spoke about the importance of making the most out of these influential years as they help form the foundation of your future.

Eric told these teens about how Visions, Decisions, and Collisions impact their lives. We first must develop a vision for what we want to achieve. This causes us to make decisions, or the choices that provide the means to achieve that vision. But it’s those collisions with other people that really count.

About half way through his program, he surprised the audience and introduced me as the one week job guy. I was then given the chance to share my story with the students and to experience first hand what it’s like to be a motivational speaker - standing in front of a large group, all eyes directed at you, feeling the nervous rush, sweaty palms… and deliver a meaningful message; something that they would take away and hopefully make them think and act slightly different from when they first walked in the room.

I have been given the opportunity to speak to youth a couple times over the past 43 weeks about my experience and all that I have learned throughout the past year as a result. Eric gave me that opportunity yesterday in front of 200 student council leaders from 14 large high schools throughout Colorado, and I realized yet again how much I enjoy doing it.

It went really well and I received a very positive response with the kids. Many of them came up afterwards to meet me and ask questions about my different jobs. It was really special to see their faces light up with excitement and to hear that sharing my story had a positive impact and resonated with so many of them.

We often don’t realize the impact we have on others. I think this becomes even more true as a motivational speaker. There is a lot of responsibility. The stakes are high and you never know how someone is going to be impacted by your presentation. What you are saying better be true and be something practical that they can incorporate into their own life no matter what background or home situation they are coming from.

As Eric said, standing up and speaking to a group is a privilege, not a right and I can see how much pride he takes in this role and realizes it’s importance.

I am often asked, “Sean, you are 43 weeks in, what do you think you will end up doing?” I don’t know I can put a definitive title on it, though I want to affect change in some capacity, I want to know that what I am doing means something, makes a difference and has a positive impact on others.

Yesterday, I accomplished this.

This week I am working with Eric Chester, America’s Premier Expert on Generation Why (Y), in fact, he coined the term.

Eric is the founder & President of Generation Why, Inc., a training and consulting firm helping companies and organizations recruit, train, manage, motivate, and retain the emerging workforce [Funny that I am doing exactly what Eric is coaching companies on how to prevent].

He delivers around 75 keynote presentations and training seminars on Employing Generation Why to major companies and organizations throughout the US and Canada and has also written two of the best-selling books on the subject. In 2004 he was inducted into the International Professional Speakers Hall of Fame, an honor shared by less than 2% of all professional speakers in the world.

Eric has 3 presentations this week, of which he will be passing the microphone over to me in 2 of them so that I can experience first hand the thrill of what it’s like to speak in front of hundreds of people. Sharing my experiences and all that I have learned over the past year is definitely something that I would like to do in the future, so I am really happy that I get to give it a try!

-Sean

Randy Emmett embodies exactly what I thought a Hollywood Producer would be like. He is a great character, so much so that a new reality TV show starts shooting this weekend about his life.

He has tons of energy - and never content doing one thing at time; one minute he is on the phone pacing the room, arms flailing with excitement, pitching a new concept for a television show, and the next he is giving his assistant heck with equal amount of volume for forgetting to remind him of an appointment.

It is quite a different reality. Some of the conversations seem to be straight out of a movie - talking about celebrities on a first name basis, organizing top directors and actors for a new feature film, discussing a new production company that he will be starting with rap star 50 Cent. At one point yesterday he was getting quotes for flying Sylvester Stallone around the world for premieres of Rambo premiering next week. With stops in four cities, the final quote for the private jet came out to $500,000. A different reality indeed.

The production company receives about 50 - 70 film scripts every week. I was able to read through some of them as a large part of a producers job is to decide what would make a great movie and something they would like to purchase.

They are also in the process of starting up a television division. Yesterday I sat in on a meeting with another producer who will partner with Randall in a new reality show. It’s interesting to see how much goes into making a television show: fine tuning the concept, selling it to a network, setting up all the paper work, casting, shooting the pilot, then seeing if the network will purchase the series.

Today I am going to the casting agency where they are auditioning roles for a forthcoming reality series. In the afternoon I will visit the editing studios where they are in post production for the feature film The Righteous Kill with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

-Sean

This week I am working with one of the top Producers in Hollywood. His name is Randall Emmett and he is the owner of Emmet/Furla Films. They have over 40 movie titles to their credit including the new Rambo starring Sylvester Stallone, and The Righteous Kill starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and 50 cent to be released later this year.

They currently have numerous film and television titles in production so this week I will be learning all about the industry and what it’s like to be a Producer in Hollywood. I spoke with Randall on Friday afternoon and he seemed like a really great guy with lot’s of energy and lot’s of things on the go - should make for a pretty exciting week.

I think many would love to be a Hollywood Producer - the flash bulbs of the cameras, rubbing shoulders with the stars - I guess I will find out and be sure to report back!

-Sean