Idea Lemon is on an epic road trip August 8 - September 20, taking our Discover Your Inner Awesome podcast around the country in partnership with our friends at the kickass travel community Under30Experiences. If you daydream of going to places like Bali, Costa Rica, Belize, Peru, Iceland and more, you HAVE to hit up U30X. Their trips have changed our lives. We're all about helping you do more of what you love, so use Promo Code "idealemon" for $100 off your booking.
Here are our notes from San Francisco!
Our first morning in San Francisco we hit an incredibly overpriced diner for breakfast. The setup reminded us of Seinfeld so we had to do a photo op of our favorite show.
"Who's gonna go on a roadtrip about nothing?"
One of the most memorable moments from Seinfeld is the 'Yada Yada Yada' episode. If you're not familiar, the basic idea is you 'yada yada yada' to gloss over unimportant details, but in the show things go horribly awry for George when his girlfriend yada's over some juicy information.
Later during our San Fran stop we toured the Facebook office. Let me tell you, Facebook HQ is unlike anything I've seen before. It's less an office and more a mini-city. Absolutely jaw-dropping stuff.
Martin and I were taken aback by the human chessboard, the DIY woodshop, the restaurants, the arcade room, and the yoga studio (and that's only a fraction of the 100% free perks). Hands down it was the most impressive company I've ever seen.
We left in awe, but when we got into the car Martin asked me,
"What would it take for you to go back to working at a company full-time?"
I thought about it for a minute and quickly realized that although the perks were absolutely out of this world, at the end of the day most of it is yada yada yada.
It's unimportant.
The thing I value most is that I have an emotional connection to my work. What comes second is being in a close-knit, small environment. That's what I enjoyed about the agency where I used to work. It had a small feel and we kind of always played the underdog role, a role in which I thrive.
Don't get me wrong, I think Facebook is amazing, but for me personally it's a lotta yada yada.
It's easy to get caught up in the yada yada though. Here's the key thing so you avoid that:
When you think about what you want out of your ideal job and ideal career, what details will you never yada yada yada over?
When you look at that story, you'll know what you value, and what's worth nothing more than a yada.
For example, when I look at my previous agency job, I never yada yada over having an amazing relationship with my boss, being very close with my coworkers, and always feeling like I could be myself. I mean hell, I introduced our CEO to the company in a Barack Obama impression, and rapped in front of our entire sales team about the new analytics software. You know what I yada yada over? Working with big name, Fortune 500 brands. For me, the name recognition isn't that important.
In the comments section below, leave your answer to the 1 thing you value most in your career, aka what you'll never yada yada over.
What up! My name is Rajiv Nathan and I'm the Cofounder of Idea Lemon. That banana peel you slipped on to land here came from me. That's because I fancy myself a human Curious George, and the yellow hat I chase is life's authentic moments. I share my chase one story at a time through this blog, our email newsletter, and as a rapper. Follow along here to learn how to build a fulfilling lifestyle that gets you noticed for what you love.