Pay Me To Do Nothing!

Pay Me To Do Nothing!

Otto Bocktopus, PhD

the book is a memoir, so here is part of it: I remember when I first understood the social contract of work-for-money. I was seven, sitting on the school bus, headed to First Grade at a small Wisconsin elementary school. The concept crystalized in my mind: you go to school for a long time so you can get a job, and when you get a job, you work most every day, all day, for a long time, and when you get to be really old, you get to stop working and enjoy your golden years, like my grandparents. Boom! My mind recoiled at the vast work-time on the horizon of my future. Tears streamed down my face. Around then, I had also come to understand the value of money - I saw how my grandfather lived, on his 180 acre farm with horses and a pool, the way he took us out to steak dinners at fancy restaurants, and I knew he was a dentist. I saw how my father, a history professor, struggled to make ends meet at our modest home in the suburbs. The neighbor kids’ dad, a surgeon, had seven cars while we had just Aunti Olive, the Chevy van we would own for 17 years. The neighbor boys, Andrew and John, got $1,000 for Christmas to put in their college fund – we got Rock‘em Sock‘em Robots. I noticed. Childhood is full of distractions, so while it didn't come to mind often, the question lurked, adamant, undeniable, unsettling: You need money to support your Happiness, but to get money, you will have to work your entire life away, so how will you ever find Happiness since you will always be working? At my first job, I busted ass and made $3.35/hour. Last year, like most years, I made about $300K and I just did nothing. Now I travel where and when I want because that is what makes me happy. I have visited 42 countries, eaten coutless gourmet meals, and consumed thousands of bottles of wine. I cycle and hike and swim and do yoga and stay fit. I live where I want. I work when I want. I work on what I want or I don’t work at all. Kilimanjaro, Iguazzu, Bariloche, Hokkaido, Cappidocia, Tahiti, Denali, Reykjavik, Santorini, Seychelle Islands, The Bay of Islands, Corsica, La Reunion…they are my adventure destinations. My travel and vacation time, not my work time, is vast, yet I am always getting paid. How did I get from there to here? How can I make serious money without doing much of anything at all? How can I be on vacation and at work, forever? How can I live like a trust-fund baby when I am not one? Answering these complex questions took me 15 jobs, one PhD, a trip around the world, and 20 years. Luckily for you, the answers are explained in this book, so: *If you believe you may be indolent and want to know if there is hope for you to be happy, this book is for you. *If you believe that working hard will lead to being more successful and that being more successful will lead to being happy, and you find yourself planning to work hard your whole life until around the time your body starts to fail, then this book can teach you the fallacy of your thinking and help you find true Happiness, so this book is also for you. *If you believe that the qualities of laziness and greed are inherently bad and have no redeeming value, then you will experience a true revelation, as I did along my life journey, so this book is for you as well.

A themed memoir of Otto's work life. Draft back jacket language: People always told Otto that working hard would lead to being more successful and that being more successful would lead to being happy. But that wasn't true. Shake your head at his antics, giggle at his tales, and come away with a whole new perspective on companies and work and laziness and happiness.

People who dislike and/or distrust corporate America People who are lazy and greedy People who are tired of working so hard People who want to laugh about ridiculous corporate antics, funny conflicts. Cynical people People who do not believe in working very hard at everything

Tapa blanda o Paperback

I have an amateur draft of my book cover. I think it will help you know the direction I am thinking about. I have attached it

UPDATE: Here is what I have learned so far in the contest: I don't want Otto looking at a computer, even on vacation. I don't want to see money on the page, but rather happiness and a sense that Otto is being paid to be doing whatever Otto wants. Otto is Not smug. He is lazy and greedy and happy, but the greedy part is understated and seen in terms of his happiness. And, he is only lazy at work -- He is actively having fun on vacation while being paid, as that is the whole theme of the memoir. Please don't have Otto only being lazy on vacation or just drunk, but it is fine to have him drinking because he drinks a lot. Otto is fit, not a marshmallow because he uses his paid vacation time to do physically active things.