Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

you are what you do

A New (or Ancient) Way of Addressing the Lies of our Culture

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The gig economy affects everyone and everything. It’s the new normal and it matters.

But as I’ve been sharing over the past few weeks, it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. The seven lies of the gig economy all hold a critical role in the way that you see yourself, but they are not the way to see yourself because they all come up short.

They’re incomplete precisely because they’re half-truths. As a result, there are unintended consequences behind each and every one of them.

This is why you can’t let any of these lies become the primary lens through which you view yourself, and also why we’re so particularly vulnerable to these lies.

Living according to the lies of the gig economy is like living in chains.

It’s tiring.

It’s a grind and a hustle just to try and keep up. And it’s actually a fool’s game because you will never feel caught up.

Living according to the lies of the gig economy is like living in chains.
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The Unintended Consequences of the Gig Economy

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In our culture today, doing has become a badge of honor.

It’s become a status symbol and the way to define ourselves.

The same is true with the rest of the lies of the gig economy that I breakdown in my new book, You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love.

Doing has become a badge of honor. It’s become a status symbol and the way to define ourselves.
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Our sense of meaning and significance have become tied to our experiences, our relationships, our knowledge, our stuff, our children and our past. However, the thing with each of these lies is that they all have unintended consequences.

  • A life of doing leads to a life of worrying
  • A life of experiences leads to a life of comparison
  • A life seeking acceptance from others leads to a loss of self
  • A life focused on the pursuit of knowledge leads to a life of despair
  • A life amassing stuff leads to a life of imprisonment
  • A life that revolves around your children leads to a life of narcissism
  • And a life lived in the past leads to a life of regret and pain
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Cauliflower, Podcasting, and Amazon Prime

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(The following is an excerpt from the Introduction of my newest book, You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love)

If there’s anything constant in life, it’s change.

Just consider how commonplace cauliflower, podcasting, and Amazon Prime have become—and how quickly it’s happened.

If there’s anything constant in life, it’s change.
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Growing up, no one ever talked about cauliflower, let alone wanted to eat the tasteless and smelly thing.

Yet recently, you’ve probably tried (or heard of) cauliflower rice, cauliflower pizza crust, cauliflower buffalo wings, or cauliflower tots. And if you haven’t, your friends have. Now just to give you a sense of its meteoric rise, in a short span of three years, Green Giant has gone from harvesting five to thirty acres of cauliflower each week. That’s 100,000 heads of cauliflower every single day! And they are just one of the many companies that have hopped on the cauliflower bandwagon.

A similar thing has happened with podcasting.

When I started listening to podcasts in 2008, it was a multistep process that required a computer. Today, however, with the ubiquity of smartphones, listening to podcasts has become so commonplace and normal that the question has shifted from “Have you heard of podcasts?” to “Which podcasts do you listen to?” In fact, in the last five years, close to half of all Americans and Canadians tuned into their first podcast episode.

And let’s not forget the explosive growth of Amazon Prime.

Now that more than half of all American households are subscribing members, isn’t it odd to meet someone who doesn’t have it? It’s definitely become the exception, rather than the norm.

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The New “Normal” and Why It Matters

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Our definition of “normal” has changed—seemingly overnight.

For example, working a steady nine-to-five job isn’t normal anymore. And waiting until you’re retired to explore the world, try new experiences, eat delicious food and enjoy life isn’t normal either—if retirement is even a thing anymore.

What’s now “normal” is this desire that we all have for freedom and flexibility, which conveniently is exactly what the gig economy promises.

A desire for freedom and flexibility is the new normal—and this is exactly what the gig economy promises.
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And contrary to common belief, this is not just something that affects those in their 20s and 30s. According to the research, there are people in every generation who have side hustles because this desire for freedom and flexibility has become our new oxygen. It’s the air we breathe and the water we drink. In fact, it’s become so commonplace that it’s no longer the exception—and it’s affecting everything and everyone.

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You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love

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Two years ago, the editors from B&H Publishing Group sent me a text message:

That’s it. That’s your next book.

I wasn’t planning on writing another book this soon, nor did I ever envision writing one on this topic, but once they sent me that text message, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head.

I was at a conference speaking on the implications of the gig economy for the church and for church leaders.

And that’s all it was supposed to be—a talk that was birthed out of research that I stumbled onto.

But once I started to think through (and research) the implications of the gig economy on everyday life, I was convinced. This book had to be written—and I guess it was going to be by me.

In the last few years, there’s been a significant shift in the way that we approach work, life, and love.

And it’s all because of the rise of the side hustle—or the gig economy as experts like to put it. It’s become the new normal. In fact, these days, if you don’t have one, you’re likely funding someone else’s.

The side hustle—or the gig economy—has become the new normal.
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But here’s the thing, this is not some sort of neutral and harmless shift in culture. There’s actually a complex and fragile web of lies holding it all together, leading to a devastating pile of unintended consequences.

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