At the Bar...
Do you know if you’re a hunter or a farmer? Let me tell you a story about a real friend of mine named Alexis (not her real name) who was trying to figure that out. Afterwards you can tell me if what I told her was right or wrong.
At one of my recent networking events, Alexis told me that she had just turned 30. She should have been kind of happy right? (Okay turning older for women may not be all that fun) Instead she told me that she wanted to leave to do an international internship abroad. Alexis wanted to do it before she got any older — she worried that she’d never do it because she’d get:
- trapped in her job
- trapped in Canada
I totally understood that feeling. Then she went on to tell me that she had to quit her day job (as I already guessed) and had savings to last about a year if the internship was voluntary (she was looking for paid). Apparently her family and most of her friends were less than thrilled.
Except she’d been thinking about it for a year, keeping her up at night. The idea was stuck in her head and that was definitely telling me something. So I gave her free advice — a bad thing for a consultant like me (that’s a different story).
Are You A Farmer or a Hunter?
It started with me asking her, “Are you a farmer or a hunter?” Alexis seemed stunned or intrigued and wanted me to explain.
You see Seth Godin once talked about farmers and hunters and that had stuck in my head. Let me give you a run down about farmers and hunters from my eyes.
Farmers
- Farmers like stability and to see things run like clock work.
- Farmers experiment in making things better and more predictable.
- Farmers like things to keep doing what they were doing.
- Farmers like their comfort zones.
- Farmers are important because we need them to keep things running.
Hunters
- Hunters like new opportunities and challenges.
- Hunters want to see what’s over the next hill.
- Hunters like creating or finding new things, getting them started and moving on.
- Hunters never sit still and they like going out of their comfort zones.
- Hunters are important because they come up with new ideas and take risks to change things.
Based on what she told me it sounded like Alexis was a hunter personality. She needed new challenges in her life and she wanted to grow as a person. In short she wanted to get out of her comfort zone. Of course I could just be mistaking this for some kind of youthful thinking.
Well if there’s anything my psychology training has taught me it’s that you never manage to shake an idea that’s buried in your head because…
It’s Your Subconscious Mind Telling You That You Want It — Deep Inside
In Theatre of the Mind, Jay Ingram found that your mind or subconscious has made the choice even before you “think” it (or are aware of it). So much for the argument for free will! Alexis was the perfect example. Why?
Alexis had been thinking about it for over a year after all. She should accept it, go with the flow and stop fighting the “hunter” inside.
I told her, “Do you really want to be in a job that you found boring and not challenging?“
Alexis agreed, “Yeah you’re right.”
She certainly wanted more. A girl with her talents could accomplish a lot. And she wanted to grow as a person. She felt like she’d reached her limit where she was now.
A fellow hunter like me. How could I avoid telling her otherwise?
The Chains That Hold You Back
Except Alexis had at least 3 obvious challenges to think about and rise above. The first was her job. This was the biggest challenge because she would lose her steady pay check and that’s rough in an economy like ours these days. It took her a year just to get the job she had.
Some people say you should just suck it up and stick with the job even if you hate it. How long can you do that? If you hate what you do enough to think about what Alexis was thinking for this long then your subconscious mind was telling you something needed changing.
Her second challenge was her boyfriend. Her boyfriend had said he’d be there for her when she got back. If he was an understanding boyfriend then he’d want Alexis to take this journey of self discovery if she really wanted to.
Her third challenge was supporting her family. From the conversation they were doing okay so this one could be dropped too.
So what did I say?
Well, first I thought, “Alexis is going to get invaluable international experience. That’s a huge bonus to her life story and career anyway.” She was already learning the language of the country she wanted to visit. And she had already gotten an interview request.
If I did what I’ve tried out before I could have used a military “force analysis” to figure out what her choice should be. I decided that was insane so I went with my gut instinct instead.
And my gut told me that what she needed was permission.
Seriously people, do you need the consultant’s permission to do something? I laugh when I think this.
“Look Alexis, look at what you’re already thinking and doing. Stop fighting who you are at heart. You’re a hunter just like Seth said. Accept it. You should take this trip and rise to the challenge.”
In response to the challenges, I said, “In life, everything is uncertain. You know this, Alexis. In the end I can only give you the best information I have. You’re going to have to decide.“
Then I suggested some ideas.
“If the internship avoids paying you then you could take a job after the internship like freelance travel writing or waitressing. You’d be the only exotic gal in the neighbourhood. It would work perfect.”
“You could also start a blog about your travels and make some money that way. And that way you could keep in touch with all of us envious folks in Canada.”
Alexis liked the ideas. Alas she had to run though I knew she was going to keep thinking about it long after the conversation.
Which One Are You?
So what do you think I should have told Alexis? And based on Seth’s farmer-hunter idea, which do you think you are?
- Are you the farmer who likes things to just work just as they are and keep things running, staying in the comfort zone? Or…
- Are you the hunter that goes out of your comfort zone to take risks and live life dangerously?
It’d be great to hear your ideas on what I should have said in the comments below.
PS. In my upcoming ebook ”How to Job Search in 2010 — The Ultimate Guide” (temporary title) do you think I should talk about hunters and farmers? And what do you think of the title?
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