This post is possibly going to hit a nerve with some of you and be a real wakeup call for others. It’s possible that I’ll really piss some people off with this post, maybe get labeled a conspiracy theorist, and more. But that’s a chance I’m willing to take.
Last week when I posted my talk at Pepperdine which I decided to title “Don’t look for a job, Look for an Opportunity to be Remarkable”, some of you had asked me to write a post about the reactions that people had to the talk. For those of who you watched the talk and those who didn’t have time, I ended the talk by saying that inevitably when you start to blaze your own trail, make your own rules and veer off the tried and true path that skeptics will emerge. I finished it by saying ordinary lives are for ordinary people, extraordinary lives for extraordinary people, and that I was never meant to be ordinary. One of my classmates caught the speech on Facebook and in our exchange he said something to me that really stuck. He said “yeah, it might take a while, but eventually you realize you’ve been had by this whole system of going to a school and getting a job.” There is a sad truth to what he said and by the time most people realize it, they feel like there’ s nothing they can do.
5 Myths That Help Corporate America to Fuel Its Own Existence
Myth: 9 to 5 jobs are Stable
Reality: Somewhere along the way you got convinced that a 9 to 5 job is stable. From experience I can tell you it’s only stable until a company decides to go through a layoff. When somebody else is in control of your income is that really stable? Sure there’s short term risk in an entrepreneurial venture. But isn’t the risk worth it considering the long term risk is letting somebody else control your financial future? It’s something that I encourage the skeptics on the sideline to consider.
Myth: I can climb the ladder and I’ll get my payday:
Reality: Let’s look at the numbers. In a company of several thousand employees there is 1 CEO, a few vice presidents, a shitload of middle managers, and even more cogs. I’m sorry to burst your bubble but I’m an Indian person who sucks at math and even I realize those are some piss poor odds. I had a friend who worked at Apple for about 12 years. I remember when he hit the 10 year mark. I asked him what happens at the 10 year mark and he said “they give you a really nice pen. I got one at the 5 year mark too.” Apparently you get another one at your 25 year mark. I’m not trying to single out Apple, but just giving you an example. To top it all off, what you’re actually doing is working in order to make somebody else rich. This might sound harsh, but this is like playing career roulette. Are you really going to bet your whole life on one job?
Myth: If I make enough money and have enough things I’ll be happy
Reality: A life made up of experiences is far better than one made up of possessions. The majority of possessions depreciate in value almost immediately after your purchase. The cycle of buying our happiness is vicious, but it helps to sustain the economy. It’s twisted, but it’s unfortunately true. The corporate world benefits because people will not only work at jobs in order to buy their happiness, they’ll even help to keep this cycle going without realizing it.
Myth: Not everybody can be Steve Jobs, Chris Guillebeau...insert successful person of your choice
Reality: Not everybody needs to be any of those people. In all honesty, when I heard these words from my dad last summer I nearly lost it. I couldn’t believe that my own father would tell me “not everybody can be Steve Jobs. You shouldn’t have such lofty goals.” But it’s really not his fault. Nobody ever told him anything different. That kind of thinking is exactly what enables the corporate american fire to keep burning. The more people that think like that, the more they’ll take jobs that are not necessarily what they want, and the more fuel corporate America gets for its existence. You don’t need to be any of those people. You just need to find a way to live life on your own terms.
Myth: This whole social media/blogging thing is just a fad like everything else.
Reality: Technically corporate America hasn’t said this. But it was one of the reactions I got from the students after my talk at Pepperdine. I think fads don’t result in millions of people finding their true calling and the numbers essentially tell us that this not just a fad. The world as we know it is changing and there are those who will embrace the change and those who will be fighting an uphill battle when they get left behind.
Ashley Ambirge who has really given the finger to conventional wisdom, in her recent post Why you don’t need a job part Deux, had some reader reactions that I thought really spoke to the fact that there always skeptics on the sidelines. Sometimes those skeptics are the evil voices inside our heads (aka the Lizard brain). While I’ve said I want to marry Ashley Ambirge, she asked for an affiliate link instead of an engagement ring, so go check out her awesome new ebook.
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This was excellent! It's so good to find so many people who don't go along with this "Matrix." People are meant to produce, to create, to be active, not to simply take orders and receive a paycheck for it. Nothing wrong with getting a paycheck, but we're meant to be creative and intelligent, not merely machines.
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