If you have a satisfying career which you love, time for avocations, and generally feel content with your life, you won't find this essay of any use. Don't waste your time on it. On the other hand, if your career is sometimes a drag or worse, and you often pine for more leisure, quiet moments, or time to dust off and revive an old hobby, then this is for you. Some time ago a friend told me that although he had attained the "good life," a career with a comfortable salary, status in the community, a home, two cars, and two weeks of vacation a year, it all felt empty to him. Something important was missing. Have you ever felt like that? I have. Perhaps sometimes in the process of getting all of the things we're "supposed" to have, we overlook less urgent yet vital needs such as time and space for contemplation, and creative pursuits. Hence, our lives feel empty.Undoubtedly, there are many reasons why this happens. A factor for some people is the career monopoly over their energy, and brains. Unwittingly, they surrender the bulk of their adulthood to the demands of the CAREER. They slavishly cater to its every whim. It tells them to be a team player, so they interpret that to mean they need to give up quirky hobbies and interests. It tells them to "dress for success," to concoct a personal mission statement, and to script each hour of their life with day planners. It says that two weeks of vacation a year are enough for anyone and they never muster the courage to question it. It says working 60+ hours a week is a badge of honor, so they make it into a competition to see who can work the longest.

The CAREER has a tyrannical power over many of us: it gives us orders and we snap to attention.

As a society, we largely rank people according to their career. Depending on what we value, certain careers carry more status than others. Consequently, we often reduce multidimensional people into one-dimensional entities: "oh, he's just a janitor," or "she's a rich doctor." Though these people may have other interests and talents, we assign their social status largely in terms of their career choice and how much money they make. Is it any wonder then that adults get frustrated? And can it be a surprise that those who conform to this way of thinking often lead monotonous lives as they scramble to keep up appearances? Granted, we all need to do some work to earn our keep. This is as it should be, but there may be a huge difference between the labor required for basic needs, and the excessive hours which many a modern career demands. Passively, we allow the CAREER to slither into a coil around nearly every aspect of our lives to the point of strangulation. It's no surprise then that careers so frequently reduce vivacious and open-minded people to automatons with deteriorated personalities.

So, how do you prevent that from happening? Below are five suggestions:

1. Cut your overhead.

If I've learned anything as the owner of a small business, it is that the more you cut your overhead, the less money you have to earn to meet your needs. And a profitable business which is intentionally kept simple, makes it possible for the owner to have a life.

The same applies to careers. If you can reduce your expenses, i.e. scrutinize housing, transportation, entertainment and other choices, you may be less dependent on a high stress career with long working hours. Your lower earning requirements can reduce the need to work for money, and thus help you "beef up" your leisure time account.

People who eliminate debt, and live well within their means, enjoy the option of throwing off the career yoke. Getting to the point where you enjoy such a lifestyle, however, can take many years of cultural deprogramming. Some people begin this journey by first rediscovering hobbies and former interests. When motivated by a passion for something other than making money, they find it easier to give up high consumption habits, thus reducing their need to work long hours, thus freeing up more time for that special interest.

2. Be an individual, not a resume.

Sadly, for some people their decisions in life are largely controlled by how they think those decisions will look on a resume. They must go to the "right" school, make the "right" connections, get the "right" job, drive the "right" car, live at the "right" address, etc. Heaven forbid that they would make any choices which would mar their perfect resume. Their career progression must be a logical sequence without interruptions or unjustifiable detours.

It makes me wonder just how much individuality is left in a person who makes resume building the central purpose of life. What about quitting your job and taking a six month trip to Asia as a way to get in touch with yourself? How would that look on your resume? I know, "career suicide," right?

When we know what we truly enjoy, and what brings meaning to our lives, it's much easier to escape from "will-it-look-good-on-my-resume" prison. We can also objectively consider how certain career choices may impoverish us, i.e. strain important relationships, rob us of leisure time, or monopolize our brain.

A few years back, I came in contact with a 39 year-old man who is happily on-the-loose, never having served time in "resume prison." When I met him , he was in the last week of a 10 year career creating mathematical models of leases for big ticket items such as aircraft and locomotives. He enjoyed the intellectual challenge, but eventually felt this corporate finance niche was demanding too much of his energy and brain power. His immediate plan was to start a part-time math tutoring service. He also occasionally writes personal finance articles for little or no compensation.

Financially, he can afford this freedom because of frugal living and consistent saving over the years. Some time ago, he determined that for him, time wealth was far more important than material wealth. Though he stayed in his leasing career even after achieving financial independence, he was free to discard it (without fear of how it would look on his resume) when the time and energy costs outweighed the benefits.

Such freedom is available to everyone whether married or single, young or old. The essence of the idea is that you CAN make choices which eliminate the "need" to exchange your individuality for a resume image. You CAN be free to explore interests and try out new things without having to worry about "confessing your sins" in a future job interview.

3. Create your own definition of success.

Don't let others bully you into thinking that career progression necessarily means climbing a ladder. Some very highly capable people spend their working life making lateral moves. They select their jobs more in terms of the intrinsic nature of the work rather than as a stepping stone to something else. This approach may strike some as lacking ambition, but many of those who choose it have probably already figured out that ambition can be a dead-end street.

By choosing jobs and companies which match their interests and inclinations, people with marketable skills can build a satisfying career, and successfully avoid pressure to move into management. They can snub the enshrined wisdom that "cream rises to the top," or that the "best" employees will naturally seek management positions. Just because you can become a manager doesn't necessarily mean that you have to. There may be perfectly legitimate reasons why a person would want to avoid such moves, i.e. that person wants to have a life, or that person has an extreme distaste for playing politics or making small talk.

When interviewing for a job, a good friend of mine is unabashedly frank in his choice to not climb the ladder. He tells the interviewers that his contribution to the organization is technical expertise; that he isn't interested in a job which will lead to management. If the organization forces its people to move up or out, he simply refuses to take the job. His "career progression" has more to do with interesting assignments, and ample time off for leisure pursuits than it does with seizing management power.

4. If it gets boring, bail out.

If you avoid debt, you can retain the option of quitting when you get bored, or your interest in the job takes a nose-dive. You might need to scratch an itch for five years or so in a field you thought you wanted to do as a child. Once that curiosity is satisfied, you may go on to something else. There is nothing wrong with the peripatetic career. Five years in one field is enough for a sharp person to learn the ropes and achieve something of significance. Achieving and then quitting is a great way to prevent a career from monopolizing your life.

Many will have a difficult time accepting this idea because of cultural biases that career inconsistency is bad and quitters are losers. Our society favors the specialist who single-mindedly devotes a lifetime to a career, rather than the generalist who tries out and mostly succeeds at many things. Anyone with a "splintered" or not easily explained career history, is often branded a loser. Yet, I continue to meet people who are intriguing precisely because they have a long history of quitting.

For instance, a few years back I met a professional storyteller. His career history was quite unusual. Immediately after college, he took a job for a few years as a journalist for a small town newspaper. That job helped him learn the craft of writing, and the ability to produce good work under extreme time pressure. After he had mastered it, however, he said that the job became rather monotonous.

So when he heard of a job opening in South America, he quit the small town newspaper and became a foreign correspondent. That was a great experience for awhile, but soon he discovered that although he loved writing and living overseas, his heart was not in journalism. He much preferred writing fiction and poems, though he knew the chances of making a living in those fields were slim to none.

Nevertheless, he mustered the courage to quit his second job.

To support himself financially while he was pursuing his new writing interests, he became a carpenter. Over a period of years, his fiction writing evolved into a passion for storytelling. Fortunately, he discovered that many people in his community valued good storytelling and were willing to pay for it. Soon he was performing for civic groups, clubs, schools and others. Eventually, so many people sought his services that he was able to "quit" his carpentry work and devote full-time to storytelling.

It just goes to show that being a good quitter can be the pathway to career fulfillment. And, for some people, not ever figuring out what they want to be when they grow up can be a great blessing.

5. Consider going solo.A few people, for one reason or another, never seem to make it in the job market. They may be talented, but just not able to fit in. Some of these find their niches in freelance work. The freelance enjoys liberation from the whims of the job market, and in many cases, can take up or drop income activities with the greatest of ease.

Having your own business, however, can be as confining as a demanding career unless you make a few decisions at the outset. For instance, if you're in competition with siblings or peers to see who can earn the highest salary, you won't enjoy the same freedom as the person who sees the business as simply a way to cover expenses and create leisure time for other interests beyond money-making.

The big bucks are there for the taking, if that's what you want, but I've yet to figure out a way to play the "big shot" role without having to deal with increased headaches, customer complaints, employee problems, insurance claims, etc. Some people thrive on all of that, and all power to them.If, however, your definition of success is the quieter, understated variety, "going for the gold" may not be what you really want. You may be very content with a solo business.

One of the more intriguing people I've ever met is a man who went from being a fireman to a freelance sculptor. Originally, he became a fireman in order to have a steady income and give him enough leisure time for sculpting. Gradually he developed his sculpting ability to the point where he started a small business on the side. Night after night at the fire station while the others were "glued to the tube," he would go off into another room to sculpt.

Eventually, his boss criticized him for using company time for an outside business (double dipping) and this ultimately led to his dismissal. By that time, however, he had developed a solid customer base, and was capable of supporting himself on the earnings. Losing his job was one of the best things that ever happened to him. Today he and his wife run a profitable sculpting business out of their lovely home.

I love the concept of solo businesses or even better 'toy businesses.' They give all of the freedom of self-employment with the added flexibility to stop and start as you please. Realistically, with a bit of financial prudence, such businesses could provide enough income during busy times to allow you to close down in slow times and enjoy other things like extended travel. By controlling the growth of such businesses, you can prevent them from taking on a life of their own, thus leaving you free to come and go as you please.

The beauty with such arrangements is that no one thing takes up too much time. When such activities are approached on a freelance basis, avoiding too many commitments, they can be more of a healthy diversion than anything else. I've found when I'm forced to put most of my time into just one activity, it often becomes boring and loses its appeal. Freelancing can be an excellent way to combat the career monopoly, though it isn't for everyone and often requires years of trial and error to get it right. Conclusion

The key to all of this is finding what works for you in bringing the "making a living" portion of your life in balance with everything else. If you don't take the initiative in this matter, society will. Ultimately, the better you succeed in busting the career monopoly, the more time and energy you'll have for everything else you may want to do with your life.

Makes a whole lot of sense if you ask me.

Did you enjoy this essay? Please share your reaction by e-mailing me: editor@unconventionalideas.com. Visit John Anderson's interesting web site for more essays and thought-provoking ideas at: http://www.unconventionalideas.com. He lives in the Portland, Oregon area where he and his family run their own buiness and unschool.