By Nicholas A. Bibby and Matthew T. Bibby
Copyright, all rights reserved
When it comes to self-employment,
people often wrestle with the decision
until their heads literally hurt.
If you find yourself in that situation,
try an easy, unsophisticated way to
peek inside of yourself and take a
vacation from the difficult question
of "should I be employed and
what business is right for me?"
However, in order to
take your vacation, you have to take
Walter Mitty with you.
I may be pushing the
English Lit thing a little bit, but
James Thurber provided us with a great
"career launching pad,"
although he probably never intended
it that way. One of Thurber's most
endearing characters is Walter Mitty.
If you already know him, you probably
like him, as he is both fun and entertaining.
If you don't know him, then let me
introduce you; he's easy to like,
and he lives in every one of us.
Walter Mitty was a post
WWII character that lived a "secret
life" of escapism through his
vivid imagination. When engaged in
any of life's mundane activities,
Walter would escape the situation
by closing out the real world and
travel into the fantasy world of Secret
Agent Mitty, or heroic pilot, Captain
Walter Mitty. His active imagination
made fun reading because he took the
reader on exciting adventures, but
he also showed us a part of ourselves
that we should learn to embrace and
use to better our lives.
In my opinion, James
Thurber gave us the story of this
middle-aged man in order to show us
at least two things.
First, Walter displayed
the alter ego in all of us. His mental
adventures were not possible in his
real life, but they did represent
some of the ideals that he felt strongly
about. He was, in his own mind, a
heroic action figure ready to save
the world and its inhabitants from
harm. If Walter "could have"
become his action characters, he most
likely "would have" done
so. He fantasized over good things,
not bad or immoral things. A hero
was what he wanted to be.
Second, Thurber, through
Walter, gave us "permission"
to let our minds wander. He showed
us contentment through escapism. Naturally,
if the author chose to have Walter
fantasize about the darker side of
life, the ID would not have done much
for quality career planning. However,
Walter's positive imagination, in
fact, can teach us something about
planning our lives, and yes, our lives
as entrepreneurs. Here's how.
The common threads in
Walter's secret characters are action,
heroism, justice and commitment to
a cause. So, with just a little bit
of mental exercise and creativity
it is not hard to make sense of his
imaginings relative to a more peaceful
and rewarding lifestyle.
For example, if he was
physically unable to be a pilot, or
not stealthy enough to be an undercover
agent, he could certainly work close
to, or around those professions. Administrative
work in law enforcement, or ticket
agent for an airline might have been
logical choices. Get the idea?
OK, I won't beat this
thing to death, but having joy in
our work, indeed having joy in our
lives, is a function of using our
God given talents, skills and preferences.
I'm not suggesting that we use pure
fantasy to choose the right business
opportunity, but I am saying that
we should accept the personal insight
provided to us through our imagination.
Yes, there are more sophisticated
means of choosing a business, and
I'd hate for you to purchase Thurber's
book rather than use our Focus Program
for Emerging Entrepreneurs
(emerging-entrepreneurs.com), but
hey, you might try both, his for good
reading, and my program for personal
insight into your self-employment.
Good luck.
Copyright Nicholas A. Bibby and Matthew T. Bibby, all rights reserved.
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