How You Can Get a Job at Walt Disney Studios Without a College Degree

By Eric Muss-Barnes

Working for Walt Disney is a childhood dream, shared by millions of people, from all across the world. Since the founding of the studios in 1923, only a small fraction of individuals have ever experienced the bliss of making that dream coming true.

After working at the illustrious Studio for more than 6 years, author Eric Muss-Barnes shares his story of how that wish-upon-a-star came true for him, starting from humble beginnings in a bluecollar family in Ohio.

Told with warmth and humor, you learn every job, every experience, every career move he made. Starting from his childhood paper route during Cleveland blizzards, he explains how he journeyed all the way to sitting with Minnie Mouse, as a Cast Member, at the Disney Studio lot, on a warm Summer day.

How You Can Get a Job at Walt Disney Studios Without a College Degree is not merely about landing a job at Disney. Rather, it's a tale regaling every trial and tribulation which lead Eric to Los Angeles, told in the hopes of inspiring you to continue the pursuit of your own dreams, whatever they may be.

You still have time to make your dream come true too. It's never too late.

As Jiminy Cricket promised, if your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eric Muss-Barnes
• Release date: Feb 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301542123

Eric Muss-Barnes

Raised by the 1940's swingkid generation of his maternal grandparents, Eric Muss-Barnes grew up 2500 miles outside of Los Angeles; has spent years working at Walt Disney Studios; piloted hang gliders over 6000 feet above the Earth; dated fashion models, rockstar goddesses and glamazon actresses; been thrown and dragged by horses (arguably similar to his dating experiences); earned a living as an American Greetings toymaker and a Hollywood game designer; ridden motorcycles through mountains and desert sandstorms (make that "over" mountains, he's not Buckaroo Banzai); produced, directed and edited music videos and an award-nominated film; briefly wed a tattooed MENSA astrophysicist chick; crewed on an Academy Award nominated movie; skateboarded in pools all around California with XGames medalists; written an epic series of vampire novels; photographed numerous Playboy models and sold his images in art galleries; been published in multiple fiction/non-fiction anthologies; served 12 years hard time in parochial schools; and created and programmed a blog called InkShard where you can see videos and essays about his life as a writer.

Book preview

Chapter One

A Promise & A Warning

"Every man is captain of his career and there must be cooperation all around if he is to get what he wants out of life. There is no better time to begin learning this lesson than when we are young."

- Walter Elias Disney

Disney is the dream job I forgot I had.

Allow me to introduce myself, dear reader. My name is Eric Muss-Barnes and I was born during the 1970's and raised by my maternal grandparents in Cleveland, Ohio.

When I was a child, I knew I wanted to work for Walt Disney when I grew up. Nothing special about that. For nearly five generations, every kid in America has dreamed about working at Disney - especially those of us who were lucky enough to grow up watching Uncle Walt on television during the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's. However, most kids don't hold onto that dream for very long. Eventually, parents and teachers, and friends, and life itself, slowly begins to erode those hopes, and most of us simply give up, and resign ourselves to working as gas station attendants instead.

Personally, I never even gave it a try. Working at Disney, that is. Never tried. (And I actually did try to be a gas station attendant, but that's a story for later.) Just like everyone else, I had given up too. I made no attempt to get my foot in the door at Disney. I never felt worthy. I never felt qualified or talented enough. Disney was where the Best of The Best all worked. The best engineers. The best animators. The best artists. The best programmers. The best landscapers. The best painters. Even the best street sweepers! The best of every field! It was both an elusive and exclusive club to be a Disney Cast Member. Oh, I could never be in their league. I wasn't that skilled or educated in any area of expertise to be of value to the Walt Disney Studios.

Or so I thought.

Lo and behold, the next thing I knew, Disney came looking for me! One day, when unemployed life had kicked me in the teeth particularly hard and I was at my lowest point, the Walt Disney Studios came knocking on my door. Just like an underdog story in a Hollywood movie, the dream had come true and I wasn't even trying to achieve it! Oddly enough, once I attained that childhood wish-upon-a-star, it was as though living the dream was an inevitability.

Fate stepped in and saw me through.

Funny how that works.

How did I do it? Is that what you wanna know? Yeah?

Well, considering how I entitled this book, and the fact that you're reading it, I kind of had you figured already.

So, you wanna make it big in the flickers too, eh, kiddo?

Sure thing, smiley. I'll tell you how to break into the movie biz. Sit down and let me tell you my story. Take notes.

Many people dream about working in Hollywood. I know I always have. Sure, as I said earlier, I may have given up on the dream of working at Disney, but I never stopped dreaming of living in California. Considering the title of this book is fairly blunt, I'm willing to bet, since you're reading this page, it's because you share that dream of working in Hollywood too.

Now, my dear reader, I know nothing about you. I have no idea how old you are, or where you live, or what you have experienced in your life. One thing I do know however - if you're anything like I was during my teens and early twenties, you may be considering giving up on that California Dream too.

Don't do that.

Never give up.

This book came into your life for a reason. To help you remember some things you may have forgotten. Don't give up is the first message this book has to remind you - don't quit on your hopes. Hold steadfast to your dreams. The greatest of stories can truly change our lives. Books and movies can be genuine magic. Stories are powerful things. Sometimes the thoughts and ideals expressed in a storybook can enter our lives at just the right moment. The moment when we need them most. By serendipitous wonder, they come along and kindle our ambitions, enlighten us to new ways of viewing life, and inspire us to achieve our highest truths.

That is what this book will be for you.

You will find this book came to you at just the right time and will change your life for the better. That is why you're reading this. Right here. Right now.

You just have to believe. That's when magic always begins - when you believe.

Despite my own periods of self-doubt, I eventually made my Hollywood dreams a reality. Perhaps not as quickly as I had hoped, but all in due time. As I've reiterated, I wasn't always sure I would succeed. Growing up in Ohio, among a workingclass family in Cleveland, I often questioned if my dream could ever come true. I lost faith quite frequently. After all, no adults in my immediate family ever went to college or did anything all that spectacular. A few just grabbed government benefits and methadone doses before their AA meetings. Not exactly admirable career paths. Not a way of life I ever aspired to emulate. I make no mockery of their hardships. I'm just telling it like it is. That is the road they chose to take in their lives. Such down-and-out folks don't exactly wish upon stars the way I always have.

The admirable adults in my life never did anything too extraordinary either. They fought in World War II and worked as housewives and cops and General Motors foremen. Parents of my friends all came from similar middleclass backgrounds - secretaries and mechanics and postal workers. Don't misunderstand me - there is nothing wrong with those professions. I'm not belittling what they did with their lives. I think their careers are all genuinely noble endeavors and there is no shame in keeping a roof over your family with the blue-collar labor of an honest days work. There is no disgrace whatsoever in what those people do. I respect every one of them. Being folks who are the proverbial salt of the earth is honorable indeed. Nevertheless, they just never struck me as occupations brimming with magic.

I wanted the magic.

I was never willing to settle for less.

I wasn't a kid who aspired to be a fireman or a cowboy. My role models were in movies. I wanted to be a Jedi. Indiana Jones. James Bond. (Honestly... I still do.) Growing up during the late 1970's and early 1980's meant experiencing one of the greatest eras in the history of American cinema to be a child. My generation was influenced during gradeschool by 1950's reruns of Walt Disney on television and Starbuck and Apollo on Battlestar Galactica. Meanwhile, in darkened movie theatres, we were treated to the wonderment of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg in their heyday.

Star Wars.

Jaws.

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

Labyrinth.

Gremlins.

Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The Goonies.

E.T.

Back to the Future.

The Dark Crystal. (I know Lucas and Spielberg had nothing to do with The Dark Crystal directly. I'm just trying to make a point that I grew up with magical films. Besides, Lucas founded Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and ILM did do effects work on The Dark Crystal. So there.)

These motion pictures forged the foundation of how my friends and I played, what we dreamed, and which heroes we idolized. Every last one of these films, planted the seeds of awe and made our hearts race with anticipation from frame to frame. We were Elliot on his bicycle. We were chasing One-Eyed Willie's rich stuff. We were making sure to never, ever feed a pet after midnight. We all wished we had a friend like Dr. Emmett Brown.

Because of the spirit of those films, every childhood friend I had, all shared the same dream. We all wanted to be in movies. We didn't care how. Acting. Directing. Special effects. Cinematography. Sound mixing. Whatever. We talked about it all the time. We imagined what filming movies was like. We dreamed about what happened on movie sets and in studios. We just wanted to make a living, creating those adventures we loved so deeply.

Unfortunately, beneath the gloomy gray skies of Cleveland, the sunshine of Hollywood felt 10,000 light years away. Those snowy and grim Ohio winters can suck the life of those sunshine dreams right out of your soul.

Over time, taking our respective journeys, down forks in the road, on the Pathways of Destiny, most of my friends followed in the steps of their parents and became another generation of construction workers and financial investors and government employees.

They gave up on those Hollywood dreams.

I never did.

For me, my aspirations were never pipe dreams. They were goals.

Yes, my convictions did falter. My confidence waned. Never did I give up entirely though. Somewhere deep inside, when the soaring flames of my passion died, the embers always continued to smolder - ready to set the world ablaze again, if only something could fuel me to hope once more. California was home. It was where I belonged. Even when my mind had forgotten, my heart always knew it.

Can you imagine - working at Walt Disney Studios? Wouldn't that be incredible? I bet if you look around you, right this instant, and see where you are, the Disney Studios might seem 10,000 light years away too. Just like they did for me. (Unless you're reading this on the bench at Pluto's Corner... which would be weird.)

Right?

Where are you right now? Your bedroom? Riding a bus? At school? On a lunchbreak from work?

Wherever you are reading this, I used to be in the same kind of place where you are right now - a place where the Hollywood dream felt impossible.

Impossible as it seemed, the dream finally became my reality. Some of the twists and turns on my route to reach that dream were Fate, others were sheer will, and I also have to give a heap of credit to pure dumb chance. But eventually, I did it. I made it happen. And with this book, I'll show you how I did it, step-by-step. Now, before we get too far into this story, I'm going to promise you something and I'm going to warn you about something.

First, the promise.

I promise that this book is real and true and sincere. Most important of all - the book is complete and thorough in every detail. I won't leave anything out. I won't make anything up. I will be honest and explicit and forthcoming. I will tell you exactly how I managed to get into Disney, covering every job I've ever had in all my life, plus all the experience I gained along the way. You will be able to see the entire course I took, from my first childhood job, to the Happiest Place on Earth.

That's a promise.

I won't write this book like those evil villains at job seminars. Have you ever heard those jerks give motivational speeches or present a talk? You know the kind of folks I mean? Invariably, a crowdmember will ask something like, How did you get started writing Hollywood screenplays?

That evil villain will smile and laugh, answering something like, That's a funny story. I was parked on the lot at Universal Studios and Brad Pitt was on his motorcycle. We started talking about bikes and the next thing I knew -

That lousy son of a gun! (Not Brad Pitt, I mean the seminar guy.)

At that point, you just want to jump up on stage and strangle this jerk! Before he even begins, you already know his story won't help you at all! How did he end up in California? How did he get on the Universal lot? How did he initiate a conversation with Brad Pitt about motorcycles? What about all those details? You can't leave that stuff out! When someone truly wants to offer guidance and inspiration to a kid from Nebraska, they can't start their damn story with, I was parked on the lot at Universal... After all, when you're just a kid in Indiana, every studio in Hollywood feels about as far away as the moon and locked down like Fort Knox. You don't just walk onto a motion picture studio lot. How did you get there in the first place!!??

They never tell you that part.

I will.

My point is, those jackasses teaching those seminars don't really want to help you. They don't care about you. They just want to flaunt their success and take your money.

I won't do that to you, my fellow dreamers. I won't leave out any important details. I will tell you my whole story. By the time we reach the part about being on the Disney Studios lot, you'll know exactly how I got there.

By the way, I wasn't totally making up the Brad Pitt story. I think I may have actually parked my motorcycle next to Brad Pitt's Confederate F131 Hellcat Combat motorcycle on the Universal lot one day, but I never got the chance to talk with him. Read this whole book and you'll find out the story behind that too.

I said I would give you a promise and a warning before we get started. Being detailed and honest was the promise.

Second, the warning.

I have to warn you that the cliche is true - serendipity plays a big part in all our lives. Well, I can't speak for your life, but I know serendipity plays a big part in mine. (Obviously it plays a big part, because how many authors reference the word serendipity three times in a single chapter?) Therefore, if you attempt to follow my exact path and hope to achieve the same results, you may be sorely disappointed. Your destiny lies along a different path from mine... Hey, where have I heard that before?

In other words, don't treat this book as sage Obi Wan Kenobi advice. My stories aren't intended as a rulebook for you to follow, rather as inspiration for you to find your own road. Yes, I will be honest... but mileage may vary.

Remember, these are guidelines, not blueprints. Big difference.

I don't want to mislead you.

I don't want my dear readers to say, "Jerk! I thought this book was going to show me step-by-step how to get into Disney! Names! Departments! Contacts! All this stupid author does is give his whole story of how he made it to Disney! How does that help me to get a job!?"

By showing you to not give up.

Inspiring a little tenacity is far more valuable than listing a few names and contacts. Trust me. Names and contacts change after all.

During an educational series at Disney, I once taught a class which I called Architecting Your Dreams. The whole point of the class was to show people, step-by-step, how to turn dreams into reality.

Some of my students loved it. They found it useful and inspiring.

Some of my students hated it. They said it repeated things they had already heard, over and over again.

The disparaging students didn't realize that people who find success in their lives often give similar advice over and over again because that advice actually works! That's why we keep repeating the same message! That's why all of us tell you the same thing! It works!

The secret to success is when you finally hear someone deliver that same old message in a way which resonates with you. In a way which clicks for you.

I used to read all kinds of books on how to be an author. Always looking for tips and advice and hints from great writers. How did they do it? What was the key? What was the secret? And there was one. It was a consistent and universal lesson explained and paraphrased over and over - if you want to be a writer, you have to actually write something.

If you're a writer, you already know that answer.

If you're a wanna-be writer, you haven't grasped that answer yet.

My intention with this book isn't to give you all the answers. No one can do that for you. I'm not able to say, If you do A, B, and C, I promise you will get D as a result.

No. You won't get answers like that. Life doesn't work that way. I'm sorry. I know that's what you want. That is what everyone wants. We just want to be told, Do this, this, and this and you will reach that.

Unfortunately, such advice requires a precognition I don't possess. As good old Master Yoda said, Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future. No one knows the future so clearly (or if someone does, they don't seem keen on sharing insights with the rest of us!) So, we're on our own, kid. In life, just like Indiana Jones, we're making this up as we go.

All I can do, is tell you what I did, and the path I took. While your path might not be the same, I hope my own course might encourage you to march intrepidly along the best road for yourself.

Honestly, I believe that deep inside, you already have all the answers. You already know what dreams you want to come true. You already know what needs to be done to achieve them. I'm hoping that this book will be the catalyst for you to finally get the ball moving.

This book may contain the message which finally clicks for you.

Heed my promise and warning well, my fellow dreamer. I've written this book with the intent of helping you find your way to Hollywood too (it may work for getting folks to Broadway also, if that's where you're looking to arrive). This book isn't written for the kid growing up in Beverly Hills with a dad who is a top producer at Warner Brothers. No. For a kid like that, his ticket to Hollywood has been in his hands before birth. This book is for the 16 year old high school art student in Iowa, for the 30 year old waitress in Louisiana who still secretly dreams of acting someday, for the gradeschool boy in Vermont posting his movies on the Internet, for the kid in London who idolizes Chaplin. This book is for those who dream about getting to the sunshine of Los Angeles and can't imagine how you will ever make it here. You have no money. No education. No contacts. No resources. No hope. No chance.

Neither did I.

I know exactly how you feel.

This book is for you, my fellow dreamers. I'm here to help light the way, because I know the darkness you are in. I know the hopelessness you face. I know the doubts in your heart. I know the friends who mock your dreams and the family who look at you like you're crazy. I know the downtrodden who never improved their own lives and try to make you think your life will suck like theirs. Hopeless people who have forgotten their dreams tell you your life will never change either - even when your instincts scream they are wrong. I know what it's like to have the only light in your life be the timid little candle burning deep in the most private chambers of your heart. I know what it's like to have no one believing in you. I was there. No one ever believed in me either. No one. Not family. Not friends. Nobody. I was on my own. I had to learn to believe in myself, because I knew nobody else was going to.

For those of you struggling not only to work a dream job, but to work at all, I understand that grief too. I was laid off from a total of 5 different jobs in my life before I found my way into Disney.

Think about that.

Five.

Four of those were all in California too! Believe me, making it out to Hollywood wasn't all rainbows and unicorns and streets paved with gold and bikini models filling my apartment complex. On the contrary, reaching the West Coast was when the real struggles began.

Laid off five times before I got to Disney. Five jobs. Gone.

Not once. Not twice. Five freaking times! Five times I've had the rug pulled out from under me. Five times wondering how long it would take to find a new job. Five times of stressing out over how to keep a roof over my head. Five times of wondering if I could keep paying for groceries. Five times of screwing up my credit and going deeper into debt, because I had no other way to keep clothes on my back. Indeed, my friends, I do understand your sleepless nights. I know your dreaded mornings of sending out resumes in futility for weeks and months at a time. I know how it feels to apply for hundreds of jobs and never get a single interview. Being unemployed invariably fills one with fear and trepidation. How will you pay the rent? Can you keep food on the table? Will you end up homeless? You're alone upon this earth. No roommates. No friends to support you. No family to take you in. This is it. You alone against the world. Few things are more scary than having to face the trials of life by your lonesome. I know, because that's exactly what I have done. Not to mention the blow to your self-esteem. Is your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend ashamed of you? Do they think less of you? If you're single, do you honestly think you will ever have a spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend? Why would anyone want to date you? What do you have to offer? Who would ever love an unemployed, dirt-poor screw-up like you? Are you less of a man/woman? Are you a nobody? Are you worthless?

All those defeated thoughts start to plague you.

Only losers are unemployed. I must not be worth anything. No one values me. I don't matter.

Deep down, you know those things are not true. But you can't help but hear the evil gremlins whisper those awful feelings to you from the dark corners of your bedroom at night. To all of you wallowing in those shadows, my only advice is - keep fighting. Crawl. Snarl. Claw. Punch. Kick. Scream. Drag yourself through the dirt, no matter how many cruel little imps pull you down. Get to your feet. Keep moving forward. Whatever you do, just don't curl up and go to sleep. I know you're bloodied. I know you're bruised and beaten. I know you're tired. You're exhausted. You just want to rest. But you can't. Don't rest. Don't falter. Keep going. You're stronger than you think. You will make it.

Failure is not an option.

To quote Lieutenant Rasczak in Starship Troopers, I only have one rule; Everyone fights, no one quits.

Fallback plans are for people who expect to fail.

There is never a backup plan or a plan B or a fallback in case things don't work out. You forge ahead. You never give up. You never quit. No matter how many times you get knocked down, no matter how many bones break as you slam the concrete, you rise again.

There is no secret to success.

Sheer will. Tenacity. Fortitude. That is how you succeed.

There are countless inspirational books and films in the world which preach the same lie - you are guaranteed success if you simply pursue your dream and follow your heart.

Allow me to clarify right now, this is not one of those books.

Guaranteed success if you simply pursue your dream and follow your heart?

Absolutely not true.

The success comes not from following your heart, but from tireless work. You can't just fight for your dreams for a week or a month or a year or five years. You must be willing to keep on battling over and over. Fight until your legs are jello and your arms go limp. No matter how many times you get beaten down, you get up and fight harder.

Hey, nobody said it would be easy, kid.

It won't be easy. Not remotely.

In fact, it will be among the hardest things you've ever done.

With fortitude, you can make it.

Eventually, I made it. Not only did I manage to move to California from my humble beginnings in Ohio, but I landed a job working for Mr. Walt Disney himself.

Well, okay, technically Walt died 5 years before I was even born, but that doesn't diminish my loyalty to him. As far as I am concerned, he is still the man signing my paycheck. He is still the one I want to impress. Walt is the boss. As far as I'm concerned, so long as I work at Disney, I work for Walt.

I want to get started, and tell you how I landed my very first job, when I was 10 years old. As promised, I won't leave out anything. I'll tell you the whole story.

But, before I do, allow me one more indulgence. I want to outline the guiding principals which are the foundation of all my jobs.

Holy cow, that sounded boring.

Guiding principals and foundation of - ? Sheesh. I already sound like one of those awful seminar guys!

Sorry about that.

Permit me to rephrase...

These are 3 important things about jobs I wish to share. Three things which I figured out by screwing up a lot. Took me years to learn these things, so pay attention - it might save you a ton of time. They are just 3 little rules I apply to any and all jobs I ever have.

Ready? Here goes...

First Rule:

ALWAYS WORK TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY

That may seem obvious, but it's not obvious for many people. There is that old joke that if you hate your job, don't quit - just do it really badly. I think it was on The Simpsons television show.

Anyway, the point is, too many folks honestly think that way. They are slackers and try to get away with doing the least amount of work they possibly can. Don't do that. Don't be one of those people. You should always work to the best of your ability. That means you can't cut corners and do things quick and dirty just to get it done.

I don't know about you, but I'm also very big into playing Devil's Advocate - so anytime anyone tells me I can't or shouldn't do something, it makes me want to do it, just to prove them wrong. Childish perhaps, but I can't help myself. I've always been that way. Question Authority seems to be etched in my genes.

Are you like that too?

When you read, you can't cut corners and do things quick and dirty just to get it done - you end up wanting to show how awesome you can be by cutting corners? Am I right?

Hey, man, that's cool. But such an attitude actually reinforces my point - it's vital to have the character and integrity to give a damn about the quality of your work. Doesn't matter if you are digging ditches or editing movies or serving breakfast - possessing some pride, and having the ethics to approach that job with the determination to be the greatest ditch digger in history, is essential to your success.

No matter what the job, always work to the best of your ability.

Give the same care to shooting a $200 commercial as you would to a $200 million motion picture. Show the same respect to a role in a highschool play as you would to a Hollywood feature film. Put forth that standard of excellence into everything you create.

I hope this first rule is obvious for you. As one of my readers, I hope you roll your eyes at this rule. I hope it annoys you. I hope it makes you think, Darnit! Buying this book was a waste of time. The very first bit of advice is something I already know!

Why do I hope you react that way?

Because I want you to have that kind of work-ethic already ingrained in your heart and soul. Working to the best of your ability, creating everything with the utmost quality and care - this principal should already be an integral part of your being.

I once heard of an artist at another Hollywood studio who was taking a great deal of time to work on a simple sketch for a fan. One of her fellow artists, who would carelessly whip something together and send it out the door, asked why she was devoting so much time to it.

20 years from now, the woman replied, no one will know how much time I took to draw this. But my name will still be on it. And that will be all that matters.

You should have the same attitude of integrity about your own work. No one will ever know how much or how little time you have invested in your work. All people will care about is the quality of what you created. Invest the time. Make it right. Even if your name isn't on it, work as though it will be.

Giving 100% is slacking off.

Give even more. Give to the core of your very being.

Then give more.

One last note - performing world-class work is never, ever about job security or junk like that. People who push themselves to do excellent work with the motive of keeping their job, are pathetic and need a new career. Noble are those who push themselves to their highest excellence because they sincerely care about the work they do. Self-respect should be the motive, not fear of unemployment. There is a big difference. If someones only motive to do good work is because they are accountable (and they'd gladly to do inferior work if they could get away with it), they are an immoral scumbag and don't deserve to be employed at any job. One must hold themselves to a higher ideal.

It's not about pleasing the boss. It's not about getting a raise. It's not about being promoted. Those are irrelevant achievements.

It's about being proud of your own capacity to transcend above your previous limitations.

Excel beyond what you believe yourself to be capable of achieving. Push your limits. Become greater than you imagined you could. Not for me. Not for them. Just for you. No one else. Triumph so you may continually forge the pride and self-respect you so richly deserve to give yourself. It's not about impressing anybody but you. It's about impressing yourself and nurturing your own self-worth. When you go to bed at night, you'll be able to go to sleep knowing you did something that made a difference. Aim for greatness, then surpass your target.

There is no shame in living a simple life and enjoying simple accomplishments. But there should be shame in simple ambitions. Dream big. Always strive for excellence.

Second Rule:

ALWAYS WORK AS EFFICIENTLY AS YOU CAN

There is a very common misconception that being a dedicated worker will ensure you remain employed. People mistakenly think if they work hard and put in overtime and are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty, they will be rewarded and appreciated and valued by their employer.

This. Is. A. Lie.

I can prove it with a very simple hypothetical exercise.

I can show you why, if you were the boss and the company was being run with your own money, you'd throw the dedicated workers out the door too.

You doubt it? Okay, check this out and play along.

Suppose you are the boss. Imagine you are running your own company. You pay the salaries.

Now imagine you have a group of 5 fast and efficient workers. They get the job done. Their work has flawless quality. They never work late. They never stay after hours. You never have to pay them overtime.

Imagine in addition to those 5 fast and efficient workers, you have 5 devoted and loyal workers. They are not as fast as the other folks. They also produce fantastic quality. They are always willing to stay late. They get the job done too, but it usually requires some overtime to do it.

Suppose times are tough at your company. Money is tight. You're not doing very well financially. You can't afford to keep paying your full staff. Everyone makes the same amount of money and, sadly, to keep the company afloat you're going to have to let 5 people go.

Which group of people will you keep? Which group will you lay off?

Will you keep the slow and devoted people who are willing to bust their butts, but will need to be paid overtime?

Will you keep the fast and efficient people who rush out the door at 5:00 with all their work done at equal quality to the slow folks?

See my point?

You keep the fast and efficient people, right?

Of course you do. That's what any business would do. Simple logic.

As I said earlier, you have been lied to all your life. Companies do not reward devoted workers. Never. Companies reward workers that save the company money by being quick to get the job done. Do not waste time. This applies to any job from retail to education to office work to blue collar labor. Being respectful of the time of others is appreciated in any profession. You will not gain job security by being a devoted and loyal worker who burns the midnight oil and stays on the job for all hours. You gain job security by being a meticulous and fast worker.

Trust me, I've seen it happen first-hand and it isn't pretty. This happens at big companies all the time - during a mass-layoff, the devoted workers lose their jobs and the efficient workers remain employed. The devoted people invariably feel hurt and confused.

I stay late every night! That guy is always out the door 10 minutes early. Why does HE get to keep his job and they let ME go!? I've given 10 years of myself to this company!

Why are the devoted workers punished? Simple. They've been believing a lie.

Contrary to popular myth, you do not impress bosses by working late and arriving early and putting in overtime. They will even tell you they are impressed. But they are lying. You get noticed and appreciated by being accurate and efficient and speedy. That saves money for the company and profit remains the bottom line.

Don't get me wrong, you must still obey and remember the first rule - ALWAYS WORK TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY.

Getting your work done fast is worthless if you screw it up. If the quality of your work is junk, being fast is no longer a benefit. You must have both speed and stellar quality. You still have to do your best and excel at your job. Just remember, a person who is skilled at their job and efficient will be valued more than a person who is good at their job and devoted to the company.

Remember this.

The company doesn't care if you're a nice person or devoted to your work. What matters to a company is that you possess an efficient skillset which contributes to the bottom line. Do you work in a manner which helps the company to maintain profitability? Period.

The key to being appreciated is not tireless devotion.

The key is proficiency.

Forgive me for simply rephrasing the exact same idea three or four times. I just want to make sure this one sinks in and you remember it. My reason for being repetitive is simply because, it's not easy to convince folks to trust an idea which contradicts a lifelong misconception.

Third Rule:

LEARN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE ALONG THE WAY

No matter what the job, learn something from it. No matter how menial. No matter how small. Always take the time to gain new skills and abilities.

This rule is the one that gives you an edge over those college prettyboys (and prettygirls), so you can go all Good Will Hunting on them.

I don't care what kind of job you are working, when you are given an opportunity to learn a new skill, take the opportunity. Constantly seeking to expand your knowledge will become a habit. You will become a far more diverse and versatile person.

Remember, during the decades I grew up, the working world was undergoing major changes. My grandfather was an autoworker. Retired from General Motors. Right after he retired is when the automotive industry began to collapse in this country. This was a huge influence on my life, although I didn't notice it at the time.

I realized that generations-old, solid, reliable industries were no longer so solid and reliable. Steel workers. Auto workers. These types of jobs were the cornerstone of American workingclass families for decades. When I was a kid in the late 1970's and early 1980's, those jobs all started vanishing. Outsourcing. Downsizing. Sleazebags taking jobs away from fellow Americans and sending work overseas. The men and women who ended up out of work struggled, because they had no other skillsets. These were good, honest, hardworking family folk who had been working the same job for 15 or 20 or 30 years. They had no other experience. What other job could they do?

That taught me a vital lesson - in the future, career longevity would be secured by diversification, not specialization.

The world was changing too rapidly.

No skillset, no career, no industry was safe and secure anymore. The best way to survive was to build multiple skills, so you would be valuable and useful to many industries. Wear many hats. Play many roles.

I could see very clearly, the only industry which would be around for my entire lifetime was the computer industry. Computers would dominate my lifetime, just as the industrial revolution had been steering the lives of many people 150 years earlier. Even so, I knew I'd require immense diversification within the scope of any computer knowledge I acquired. Programming operating systems for fighter jets, or learning Photoshop, or building websites, or making video games, all require computer knowledge. The specifics of those jobs are vastly different, but they all hold the core of computer technology in common.

Therefore, my goal became diversification in computers.

I'm not saying I gained the wisdom to develop diverse career skills when I was 12 years old or anything. I didn't begin to consciously apply these principals of diversification until well into my twenties. I'm just saying the seeds for this way of thinking were planted, subconsciously, at a very young age.

I had no interest in getting a degree or pursuing a specific field of study. That could spell death in this world - just like it did for steelworkers. No. My goal became to just learn as much as possible in similar computer disciplines.

You might consider learning as much as possible too.

Diversify your knowledge. Broaden your mind.

We often hesitate to do this - especially when we are working a job just for the paycheck. I mean, when you dream about being an actor and you are working as a construction worker and someone asks if you want to learn to use the jackhammer, you might be inclined to turn down the chance.

I'm gonna get out of here someday! As soon as possible! You think to yourself, I don't need to learn how to use some stupid jackhammer. I hate this job. That's not my path. That's not the career I'm going for. I'm destined for greater things! Why bother wasting my time with that? I won't need that skill in Hollywood.

You are absolutely right.

Once you attain your dreams, you may never need to use those backbreaking job skills again.

But...

You also never know what kind of benefits those skills will bring your life.

What if they decide to shoot a Hollywood movie in your little town, and your local construction crew is hired to assist with some set building? You would have had the chance to work on the movie, and meet the director of the film, and hit it off with him, and gain your only connection in Los Angeles. All that would have happened if you had learned to run the jackhammer when you had the chance. But since you didn't learn how to run the jackhammer, you get sent out to the suburbs with the team putting up drywall at McDonalds, and you never get to meet the film crew at all.

Naturally, that scenario is pretty unlikely.

Yes, yes, I know. If I start playing Devil's Advocate again, that hypothetical story could go the other way too. The person who did not have the jackhammer skills got to work on the movie, while the jackhammer fella got sent off to the McDonalds. Yes, I know Fate might play a cruel trick like that. Anything is possible.

My point in encouraging you to constantly educate yourself is this: You never know what opportunities might present themselves in your life, simply because you have gained knowledge about an expansive range of subjects. I may be snarky and blase about college, but I am very adamant about continually getting an education.

You know the old saying, Knowledge is power.

That is very true. The more knowledgeable you are, the wider the berth of your opportunities shall become. Simply because you can raise your hand say, I know how to do that!

If you teach yourself to bullseye Womp Rats in your T-16 back home, you may have gained a skill that allows you to blow up the Death Star.

You never know.

Therefore, always learn as much as possible in your jobs. Pick up new skills. Volunteer for projects that push you beyond your comfort-zone. Frighten yourself. Learn more than you thought you were capable of doing. Every step of the way, keep on gaining intelligence about all aspects of the job that you can. You'll screw up sometimes. You'll fail. You'll make mistakes. You might even get into trouble. And all of those experiences are great and wonderful things. Because all the while, you'll be getting smarter than everyone else around you. You'll understand more than anyone else about what works and what doesn't work. You will know firsthand what is possible and what it takes to achieve the impossible.

Trust me, I understand the skills you perfect may often be useless outside of your current job, but you never know what creative manifestation the experience may spark somewhere down the line in 5 or 10 or 20 years. Learning to use the popcorn machines at the movie theatre was a new skill which has never helped me in any other job whatsoever. It's like those poor kids who join the military and believe the propaganda that working on tank engines will benefit their future job opportunities. No, it won't. It's too specialized. Too exact. Repairing tank engines is an entirely useless job skill outside of the military. But, that's not the point. You can still learn from working on tank engines and gain benefits from