If you've read my words before and have any sense of who I am. Today's post may seem incredibly counter-intuitive...
Even I am confused at my own thoughts. I seem to have launched myself on an existentially challenging journey.
You could say I am playing Devil's advocate in favour of a premise I despise but the topic I want to dig in to is something that has never really occurred to me before. This seems utterly insane to me now that I have allowed myself to mull over it in my ever-manic mind. It is even more surprising when I tell you that I have been in the world of work for almost 35 years, and next year will turn 50.
This year as I have mentioned before, I was diagnosed with C.O.P.D. and took a significant amount of time off work. The reason I was off for so long (around 12 weeks) is that I did not know I had developed the disease and was simply aware that I was suffering from some kind of respiratory ailment that was more than a little concerning to me if I'm gonna be completely honest.
Obviously after the point of diagnosis the situation became clearer and I had to admit that many years of smoking when I was all too aware of the consequences had led to this and the blame rested squarely on MY shoulders.
I don't suffer from a 'victim mentality', I know exactly when, and freely admit that I have messed up.
If I do not quit very, very soon, I know that there will likely be far more grave consequences in my future, if you'll pardon the pun.
Sticking with the topic of health, I have recently developed a hernia and this has caused me to take a week off sick again as I was struggling with my job due to to pretty severe abdominal pain.
Why am I telling you all this? Ah! patience Dear Reader, you know the central point never comes easily with me.
I am giving you this peripheral information now as I will be drawing back on it when summing up in this post. This will not be one of my 5000 word epics, I am deliberately aiming at exercising brevity for once... You may be thinking "Let's see", I am too.
I write often about how I detest my day job, which actually consists of 12 hour days and 12 hour nights also, in the interests of keeping things accurate. I have never been a fan of the 'build somebody else's fortune' ideology of the traditional world of work, yet I have managed to rack up almost 3 and a half decades of doing it... Again, I take full responsibility for that too.
I have never fully committed to extricating myself from a situation that I claim to find so intolerable, otherwise I would have just gotten on and achieved it, right?
I have tried so many different schemes, home-based business, multi-level marketing schemes and the like. I have tried to make money online with an absolutely astronomical number of plans, hacks and business blueprints. I think though, the answer lies in the opening 3 words of this paragraph...
I have tried...
I'm sure you understand my point without the need for me to pompously and long-windedly explain it in trademark 'me' style. I have no hesitation in saying that if I had ever truly applied to myself to one thing and followed it through to success, no obstacle could have denied me.
For many years I have told myself and anyone who would listen how this was all gonna change SOON!
Not soon enough, however. I am still working in a soul destroying, manual, factory job as I hurtle down the track towards 50 years of age, a time when any reasonably self aware person could take stock, sum up and ask themselves if they are where they planned to be.
In the title to this meandering missive, however, I said the central point was something you may never have contemplated before, and so far all I've done is ramble on about me.
Well, here you are, reading a post in the The Self Improvement Community, so there's a reasonable chance that you feel the same way.
Maybe you too, have long believed that a traditional job is not for you. Maybe you have always wondered if you would be happier being self employed, starting a business or established franchise or running and scaling a 'side hustle' in to a full time online, or indeed, offline income.
As I am sure you understand by now this has always been my vision for how I expected (and still expect), my life to 'pan out'.
Suddenly though at age 49, I was struck by an epiphany! It was something that rocked me to my core. Not because I realised that I have always been wrong but simply because I cannot believe I never considered it before.
I have always believed myself to be a critical thinker, somebody who ponders and interrogates all of the pros and cons of any given decision or situation. I consider that I am rationalish and able to detachedly apply logic before forming an opinion or embarking on any course of action.
And in this instance... I was WRONG!
I hadn't fully screened my own thoughts and beliefs on the topic of the world of work and taking a traditional job, before vilifying and condemning the entire concept as barbaric and fruitless to someone like me.
Jeez! I felt completely dumb that I had let a fundamental part of this concept completely pass me by...
So what was this world-shattering revelation, this epiphany that challenged one of my deepest held core beliefs? Well it was simply this;
What if the 'traditional job' model of the work-a-day world, wasn't all that bad?
You may be a little disappointed at this revelation, now that I have finally gotten round to laying it bare, but hear me out.
I am not saying that I have changed all of my deeply held views on my perception of the 'job', as a way of life. If I had, I would consider it to be an existential crisis and something I am not sure my psyche could take after all these years. That's not the point though.
The point is that I never even thought about it. What if a normal, mundane, everyday job was the right choice for me?
I formed this deeply ingrained belief as a cocky, know-it-all teenager and never ever questioned or reviewed it in the intervening years of which there have been many.
Here on the blockchain, due to it's ethos of decentralisation and slightly anarchic world view, there are many who I am certain feel the same. This is fine, many would say it is great, but I have to ask, have you considered the alternative?
This seems like such a basic question, it could even sound a little condescending, but for the context and gravity I have applied to the reasoning that caused me to ask it, I am sure it now seems a justifiable one.
Let's consider even the most cursory glance at a couple of the arguments in favour of 'the job' model.
There is never a doubt about how much money will land in your bank account each week. You will never need to endure the wrath or unwelcome imposition of regulatory bodies, government bureaucrats or tax officials pawing over the company records or checking on procedures.
You will never put your personal home, car, possessions or family security at risk due to the business over-extending itself with creditors or committing some sort of misdemeanour that results in a huge business ending fine or winding up order or repossession.
If you find a position doing something you know you could endure, you could choose to learn, apply, improve, take on extra responsibility and climb the corporate ranks via promotion and eventually enjoy a fairly comfortable life.
I am sure I possess the kind of wherewithal and hard working, conscientious nature that could have taken me far over the last 30 odd years and made this an extremely viable route for me had I felt inspired by it.
I haven't altered my core position one iota, however, at-least now I know the question I never stopped to ask myself.
This could have been a dangerous and potentially costly miss-step on my part, had I realised I didn't actually resonate with the belief I had always held.
There is one huge point that I haven't actually mentioned when considering the positives of the traditional job... Remember where I sdtarted this post?
I have had almost 3 months sick time from my job in the calendar year and every month I have received exactly the same salary as if I hadn't missed a day, How might this have been different if I was self-employed or a business onwer?
A couple of points I should address before signing off. If the company you work for, did go out of business, then your family security could be affected, your home could be at risk, however you could always find another job as opposed to the business owner who could find themselves hundreds of thousands in debt, in jail due to the actions of an employee or completely ruined.
I felt I should make that distinction in the interest of clarity. Also, your terms and conditions with regard to sickness pay, or other benefits may not be as good as mine, I realise this but at-least you have the option to look for another job while still in your current one.
It has felt incredibly strange laying out all the reasons that a traditional job may be the better alternative but it just may be that you too had never really thought about this, believing instead that you are a rugged individualist who aspires to work for him or herself
The Self Improvement Community is not simply a place to outline your greatest successes or the challenges you overcame, obstacles you surmounted or to tell others of your most impressive achievements.
It is also a place to detail the harsh lessons you have learned, the times you sold yourself short or doubted your own ability. Anything that teaches us something important is valuable both to you and potentially to others going through something similar.
It is also a community that seeks to inspire, inform and be a repository of resources, stories and advice for others who seek a better tomorrow.
Thank YOU for taking the time to read my post and if you're one of those amazing people who like to hit the comments section... Then I doubly thank YOU!
Either way I want you to know that you are appreciated!
Keep taking the time to connect with each-other both here and in the 'so-called' real world and try and look after each-other, because as you already know...
