In this interview, John P. Strelecky discusses options for people who are struggling to find career opportunities in alignment with their interests. As you will hear during the show, although each of the expert guests come from a very different background, there is a very consistent path they recommend.
If you put even just a few of these suggestions to work, you’ll see a big impact.
Read John’s recent article talking about ideas for turning a lay-off into the best thing that ever happened to you. John speaks from personal experience on this topic. Getting laid off opened a door for him to all kinds of new adventures including writing The Why Cafe. In the article John and gives specific suggestions for turning what might seem like a negative thing, into an amazing opportunity. Full Article.
Is 99 weeks of unemployment benefits producing lazy Americans?
That was the question posed by interviewers in John’s recent interview with Fox national news.(See below for the video.)
During the interview John addressed some of the reasons why people may not be very motivated to get back into the workforce, when they can collect almost two years of unemployment benefits for not working.
John knows what it’s like to be laid off and understands first hand all the emotions and challenges that come with it. It was the experience of being let go from his job which eventually led to him writing The Why Cafe.
In the interview John speaks about shared responsibility, where the existing educational system has resulted in people ending up in careers they don’t like, and therefore they aren’t all that unhappy to be out of. Especially when they can get paid to not work.
While this may not be the reality for all people currently collecting unemployment, the latest job satisfaction statistics support it, with 64% of people under 25 reporting they are unhappy in their work.
As John notes, in many cases, people have become victims of a system which has set them up for failure.
Regardless of why someone is on unemployment, John’s key point is this. “Laying you off was their choice. What you do after that is yours. You can either let this experience crush you, or you can take the two years of paid benefits and become an expert in something you are genuinely excited about, and turn your whole life around.
If you do it right, becoming unemployed can be the best thing that ever happened to you.
They chose, now you choose.”
The tiny little cafe in the “middle of the middle of nowhere” is helping people in the southern part of the U.K.
At the YMCA Training Center in the county of Kent, experts are helping local residents who have been hit by the downturn in the economy. A visit to The Why Cafe is part of the path they recommend.
“Long term unemployment is a challenge for a lot of the people who come to us,” said John Vinson, one of the experts on staff. “The Why Cafe is a great tool for us to help them. It’s a short little book, so people aren’t intimidated by it, and the story is very inspiring. It helps them get a renewed sense of purpose in their life. And that’s a critical step in going from unemployed to employed.”
The team gives out the books to local people who come in seeking advice and assistance for getting back on their feet. Then they use the story as a way to engage residents to talk about different life, career and training options.
The Why Cafe recently became available in Farsi, marking it’s 21st language.
In this article, the writer responsible for handling the translation positively compares the story to the works of Rumi, one of the most influential writers in Persian history.
In today’s article in Florida Today, John P. Strelecky provided guidance to residents of the Florida Spacecoast who may find themselves looking for new employment options as the space shuttle program comes to a close. The Why Cafe has been a source of inspiration and insight for many experiencing job loss and economic instability during the current challenging economic environment.
John P. Strelecky was honored to be able to partner with the Salvation Army of Orlando to supply over 600 copies of The Why Cafe and Life Safari to teens this holiday season.
“We learned about the amazing work the Salvation Army does for families over the holiday season, and how teens are often left out in terms of gift donations,” said Strelecky. “And I know from my experience in working with our different educational programs that The Why Cafe and Life Safari are really well received by teenagers, so it was an easy decision. We were honored to be able to help.”
The books were given out as part of the Salvation Army’s annual gift baskets provided to families in need each holiday season.
Sometimes when you least expect it, and perhaps most need it, you find yourself in a new place, with new people, and you learn new things. That happened to me one night on a dark, lonely stretch of road. In retrospect, my situation at that moment was symbolic of my life at that time. Just as I was lost on the road, I was lost in life as well—unsure of exactly where I was going or why I was moving in that direction.
I’d taken a week off from my job. My goal was to get away from everything associated with work. It wasn’t that my job was terrible. Sure, it had its frustrating aspects. More than anything though was that most days I found myself wondering if there wasn’t supposed to be more to life than spending ten to twelve hours per day working in a cubicle. The main point of which appeared to be a potential promotion to then work twelve to fourteen hours per day in an office.
During high school I’d prepared for college. In college I’d prepared for the work world. Since then I’d spent my time working my way up in the company where I was employed. Now I was questioning whether the people who helped direct me along those paths were simply repeating to me what someone had repeated to them in their lives.
It wasn’t bad advice really, but it wasn’t particularly fulfilling advice either. I felt like I was busy trading my life for money, and it didn’t seem like such a good trade. That befuddled state of mind is where I was mentally when I found “The Why Are You Here Café.”
When I’ve related this story to others, they’ve used terms like “mystical” and “Twilight Zone-ish.” The latter a reference to an old television program where people would show up in places that at first glance seemed normal, but didn’t always end up that way. Sometimes, just for an instant, I catch myself wondering if my experience was real. When that happens, I go into my desk drawer at home and read the inscription on the menu Casey gave me. It reminds me of just how real everything was.
I’ve never tried to retrace my steps and find the café again. Some small part of me likes to believe no matter how real the evening was, even if I could go back to the exact spot where I originally found the café, it wouldn’t be there—that the only reason I found it was because at that moment, on that night, I needed to find it, and for that reason alone it existed.
Maybe someday I will try to go back. Or maybe some night I’ll just find myself in front of it again. Then I can go inside and tell Casey, Mike, and Anne, if she is there, how that night in the café changed my life. How the questions they exposed me to have resulted in thoughts and discoveries beyond anything I’d imagined before then.
Who knows. Perhaps on that night I’ll spend the evening talking to someone else who also got lost and wandered into “The Why Café.”
Or maybe I’ll just write a book about my experience, and let that be part of my contribution to what the café is all about.
A new 2011 edition of The Why Cafe has just been released. In an interesting illustration of the power of digital, the initial release is on Amazon’s Kindle, and Barnes and Noble’s Nook, with a paperback version to follow in January of 2011.
Cafe fans will be happy to know that the changes in this new edition are more about small upgrades to the Cafe, than dramatic alterations.
According to author, John P. Strelecky, “I know it might sound strange to some people to make changes to the story when the book has done so well, but even The Why Cafe needs a fresh coat of paint now and again. With the interesting way this book came to be, there were some limitations to it simply because of who I was as a writer at the time. Little things that were never quite what they could have been. Going back to the story now, gave me a chance to make those little enhancements.”
