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seven things you can do as unemployed

29 October 2010

#302 Learn something you are interested in

There’s constant talk about how youth unemployment is high, higher, highest. Politicians, agencies and economists are horrified over the numbers. We are not horrified at 365. We have different figures. We have: “Seven things you can do if you are unemployed”.

Saying that you learn things at school is like saying that anyone who goes to the Employment Service gets a job. There are a thousand ways to absorb knowledge, and as many reasons not to go to the Employment Service.

Some learn by getting the perfect score on the test or written exam. Others learn by practicing things. I have always learned by hitting my head against the wall and then thinking: Aha! It is a wall there.

To say that everyone learns the same way is like saying that everyone likes strawberries. Not all people like strawberries. There are those who hate strawberries so much that they turn off the TV if there’s an advertisement for strawberry-flavored candy. That’s why there are different flavors. And different ways to learn things.

I learned hundreds of Swedish words by reading comic books. I learned to write by imitating Karin Boye and Tomas Tranströmer. I learned to go walk by running after my grandmother when she was going to the bakers. I learned to swim to avoid drowning.

1. Find something you're interested in learning.

2. Think of at least five ways to learn it.

3. Try the different ways and choose which is best for YOU.

Bonus - www.webpianoteacher.com

Text: Navid Modiri

Required time: 
1 week or less
Cost: 
Free.
Cons: 
You may approach a subject with so much of your body and soul that you forget to water the pot-plants.
Pros: 
It's more fun and easier to learn something when you’re no forced to.
Taggar: seven things you can do as unemployed, piano, library, learn something, employment services, bach, 365 things
28 October 2010

#301 Set limits and routines for your life

There’s constant talk about how youth unemployment is high, higher, highest. Politicians, agencies and economists are horrified over the numbers. We are not horrified at 365. We have different figures. We have: “Seven things you can do if you are unemployed”.

One of the things I loved about school was getting the new timetable at the beginning of each semester. I laminated the schedule and had a small version of it in my wallet, one on the refrigerator and one in my school desk. I thought it was so nice with the various blocks. Some blocks meant a break. Others meant that I’d have Swedish, mathematics or geography. I knew what was happening. There was a framework and structure. There were guidelines and rules. I then broke a lot of them. But that's the thing.

When I started my company the first thing I did was find a way to structure my life. By having four different calendars. One I sync with my band, one I sync with my girlfriend, one on my computer and an analog that I have with me in my bag. I have a computer program that reminds me of things I have to do. I have different structures for different projects. Different colors on post-it notes, depending on what the task in question is. Boards. Different pads for different purposes. Some blocks still mean break time. Others mean working out or eating.

It is only when there’s structure that the creativity is overflowing. The ideas have room to wreak havoc. The more rules and constraints that I put up the more often I can violate them and the freer I feel.

Bonus - I'll find tools for my frames and routines here. http://www.stiernholm.com/

Text: Navid Modiri

Required time: 
1 week or less
Cost: 
Over €10
Cons: 
There might be a sense of restrictiveness when you set up routines. But dare to set limits and rules. Then when you’re being creative you can go wild.
Pros: 
It is easier to keep track of your life, you’re up to date on what you have done and what you have before you. You have control and track of what you do and should do; it makes things manageable.
Taggar: seven things you can do as unemployed, schedule, rules, procedures, post-it notes, frames, creative, break the rules
25 October 2010

#298 Write a great CV

There’s constant talk about how youth unemployment is high, higher, highest. Politicians, agencies and economists are horrified over the numbers. We are not horrified at 365. We have different figures. We have: “Seven things you can do if you are unemployed”.

One of my friends has a good CV. He has written scripts for a television soap, was a rabbit at Liseberg, has been paid to talk about TV series in radio, reviewed music in a men's magazine, worked in the psychiatric emergency room and made music videos for some of Sweden's best pop bands. I would like to write his CV. I’d like that on my CV. That I typed the resumé of the man with the world's most colorful resumé.

But now I know what you think:

“How do I write a great CV, if I haven’t done great things?”

But dude! You do amazing things all the time. You just don’t know it. Babysitting your siblings shows responsibility, mowing your grandfather's lawn indicates a large botanical interest and a sense of design and all the times you’ve hacked into various servers is a big show of creativity and ingenuity.

When employers read applications for a job the person in question will go through thousands of gray and dull papers. It is about being able to formulate and color things that really might be gray. I might go so far as to say that it is about daring to be poetic, bombastic and not giving a crap about minimalism. You can have a minimalist coffin when you die if you want but so long as you’re alive it’s about taking all the colors you've got on your palette and painting with giant brush strokes. Nobody likes a showoff, but everyone loves a positive spirit with great faith in themself and a positive outlook on life. Write that you’re a cheerful fellow. Write what you like and dislike. Let your commitment and passion shine through the paper.

Bonus: Simple advice found here. http://cvhandboken.se/

Text: Navid Modiri

Required time: 
1 day or less
Cost: 
Free.
Cons: 
You will certainly be denied a lot of jobs despite the fact that you have a fantastic CV. But there’s no reason to give up.
Pros: 
A person with a great CV can look at it and feel fantastic. And if I were an employer at some point and had to choose between a person with a fantastic CV and a gray mouse with a stiff CV, I would chose the more fantastic person without blinking.
Taggar: seven things you can do as unemployed, psychiatric emergency room, men's magazine, CV, a radio, 365 things