What do you value the most?

In day 4 of my email series The Creative Within: Rediscovering Who You Are (Beyond Your Résumé) I want to discuss the importance of making sure your work – and the people you surround yourself with – are in alignment with your core values. Because designing a career that doesn’t align with your values is a recipe for burnout.

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I get it…it’s a shit show out there. The vast majority of us working in the entertainment industry are unemployed right now, and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

👉 That’s why for TODAY ONLY you can register for tomorrow’s live workshop for only $49 (including a bunch of additional bonuses…scroll below for details).

I’m offering this deal because what I value the most is helping people achieve their true potential, and despite the current hardships, I truly believe this disruption brings the tremendous opportunity for us to change our relationship with our work for the better.

We’ve spent our entire lives being told that we need to pick a single career path, master one craft, land a full-time job, climb the career ladder, and only then will our lives be stable, secure, and “comfortable.” But from the global shutdowns in March of 2020 to the industry shutdowns today (not to mention what comes next with artificial intelligence), it’s been made VERY clear to all of us we’ve been sold a lie our entire lives.

The reality is that specialization is now the riskiest career choice of all.

The days of living a life where we have been trained to be cogs on the assembly line of someone else’s dreams are over. This is our opportunity to design more balanced, more sustainable, and more fulfilling creative careers in alignment with our core values.

How My “Oh Shit” Moment Led Us Here…

Eight years ago I had a massive “oh shit” moment when I realized that I could only support my family doing one thing (editing television), and I didn’t want to do it for the next 35 years of my life.

Talk about a crisis of identity. I was so wrapped up in my job title being who I was I had a massive anxiety attack, followed by weeks of deep depression and burnout. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy my work (I still love editing to this day), it’s that my career was no longer in alignment with my core values of:

• Quality time with family
• Health & wellness
• Authenticity
• Kindness
• Compassion

Le’s just say that the job I was working on at the time (Empire season 2) was living the polar opposite of all of the above.

• I never saw my family awake during the week
• I never had time to prioritize exercise (or sleep)
• I worked with multiple people who would say one thing to your face and the opposite behind your back (the opposite of authenticity)
• Without pointing fingers…let’s just say “Kindness & Compassion” were not values plastered Ted Lasso-style on the walls around the office

It was at this moment I realized building a more fulfilling creative career was about more than money, gold statues, or credits on a résumé.

In order for my work to truly have meaning & purpose:

1. There had to be a high degree of “Match Quality” between my strongest skills & abilities and the problems I was solving
2. The stories I was telling needed to be in alignment with my “Creative Calling”
3. My work – and the people around me – had to be in alignment with my core values

This is what led me to spend the next eight years of my career identifying my true speciality (I excel at communicating complex ideas in a simple way) and diversifying that speciality into a multitude of income streams including:

• Podcasting
• Coaching
• Writing
• Speaking
• Consulting

And when the industry goes back to normal, I’ll have Cobra Kai as my “side-hustle.”

No matter the areas I’ve diversified my income streams as a “Jack of All Trades,” I’m still able to be the “Master of One” and choose projects & clients in alignment with both my strongest skills & abilities as well as what I value the most.

So what do you value the most?

If we forget the present circumstances for the moment, what would need to change about your current job role, the people you’re surrounded with, or the stories you’re telling so that your career is more in alignment with your core values?

Here are a few questions that can help you clarify what you truly value from not only your career but your life:

• What are your most important creative needs?
• What are your most important lifestyle needs?
• What do you consider your “non-negotiable” boundaries?

If you’re unsure how to find work (or people) that strengthen your values – or if you’ve spent so long focused on your job you’ve lost touch with your values – this is EXACTLY what I’ll be helping you clarify in tomorrow morning’s live workshop.

👉 TODAY ONLY you can not only join my live workshop tomorrow morning for only $49, you can also get access to everything including in the PREMIUM coaching package for the next 30 days* including:

• ALL of my flagship online courses, workshops, & masterclasses (over $1000 value)
• My premium networking courses ($797 value)
• The Optimizer Vault with over 50+ hours of student hot seats, Mastermind Q&A’s, and additional interviews & bonus resources
• Access to the Optimizer Slack community & member directory
• Join my Live Office Hours twice a week and schedule a one-on-one 20-min “Hot Seat” with me to workshop your career strategy, outreach emails, résumé, other work-life balance challenges, and so much more

*Upon renewal the subscription will be $149/month, there are no commitments and you can cancel at any time.

I understand 100% how difficult things are. If keeping up with basic living expenses and surviving is all you’re able to do, I have no intention of adding anxiety to your life. Let’s reconnect in January when (hopefully) things are getting back to “normal,” yes?

But if you have the means, my hope is that $49 is an incredibly small price to pay to potentially change the trajectory of your career and give you clear next action steps so that by the time our industry goes back to “normal” you’ll be prepared.