Gupta, Korkki and Galifianakis—don’t you just love saying that?—are not a law firm. But they know why you may not want to go to work in the morning.

Recently I read in The New York Times (July 9, 2010) the article titled, “An Entrepreneur Who Took A Chance on Herself”, written by Prerna Gupta about her own unlikely entrepreneurial path.

She describes her supposed dream-job, “fresh out of Stanford with a degree in economics”, which bored her silly and left her dreading each day. Desperate for change, she thought that perhaps a new career in venture capital would fan her flame. But after six weeks at a new position in that arena, she was, again, by her own description, “miserable”.

So she quit, because she had an idea. She’s now the queen of “reverse karaoke.” Her iPhone music app, called LaDiDa, creates background music when you sing into a microphone. It even seems to correct the howling of bad singers.

Her Times piece is far from sugary. She states flatly, “My future is perhaps more uncertain than it has ever been. But the realization that I face a high likelihood of failure is not enough to send me back into the corporate cubicle.”

A few days later, also in The New York Times (July 16, 2010), an article titled “The True Calling That Wasn’t” by Phyllis Korkki discusses why many people are dissatisfied with their jobs. Some of the reasons cited include that parents, peers and teachers may influence our choices early in life, before we’re sure about who we really are. Especially if a job delivers prestige or a fat wage, we may find ourselves stuck, unwilling to leave it. But the fact that the job doesn’t click with our authentic selves leads to disillusionment.

Okay, doesn’t “reverse karaoke” sound made up to you? Like a joke? Just the idea reminds me of comic Zack Galifianakis’ hilarious description of his dream-job as “Vice President of Eternal Frisbee.” Remember that this is the man who starred in the dark comedy, Visioneers, as a successful executive destined to literally, spontaneously self-combust—i.e. burst into flames—because he is so mindlessly productive.

Gupta, Korkkii and Galifianakis are unlikely birds of a feather. What they seem to be telling us is that it doesn’t matter what other people think about your work and career. What matters is what you think. This is the essence of the entrepreneurial spirit, but also the key to satisfaction if you work for someone else.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 10:16 am and is filed under under my skin with jane wurwand, founder of dermalogica.