If 20 years ago I knew what I know now, I would have never taken a job and would have gone into business for myself. If you think about it just for a second, you’ll realize that no matter what continent, country or city you come from or live in, chances are that you too have been victimized by the same ‘vicious’ system which is prevalent world over. This system I like to call ‘the modern slavery’ and most of us are trapped in, often without realizing.
The system captures and ‘recruits’ us at an early age and doesn’t let go ever, unless of course we manage to work out strength to break free. We are all obliged to go through a ‘uniform’ education system from as early as 3 years of age and well into late teens or early twenties, depending on the education level e.g. hight school, university etc. after which in the spotlight with all eyes on us, we are expected to get the best job we possibly can and work hard for the rest of our lives.
Perhaps you see nothing wrong with foregoing and find it to be perfectly normal, which is understandable given that your whole life you’ve been exposed to and indoctrinated by external influences – consciously or subconsciously – of the very system i.e., parents, peers, society, mainstream media, government etc. While there’s nothing terribly wrong with hard work, I believe that working merely for the paycheck without a big and meaningful underlying why is waste of life. Building someone else’s dream while ignoring your own is plain stupid. So why do I think you shouldn’t get a job?
1. You’ll become someone you may dislike in your private moments
You have certain beliefs, values and moral conduct usually developed throughout childhood which combined together make your personality and build character. That’s who you are. When you take a job in an established company which naturally has its own unique and well established culture – which usually stems from the founders – you are inevitably expected to fit in if you want to be a part of it and make a living working for that business organization.
So naturally with time you embrace a culture which may be completely opposite of yours and in many cases even clash with your own beliefs and values. While part of you probably wants to quit because of it, the other part of you accepts it for of all the wrong reasons e.g. money is too good to pass, following the followers, keeping up with Joneses etc. and so you decide to stay and embrace the imposed upon change, changing yourself in the process.
Before long, your dress code, behavior, way of thinking even speaking changes and you become someone other than yourself. In the process you become weaken by your utter dependence on another – the company you work for – and monthly paycheck you so eagerly anticipate month in and month out. You wake up one day in not too distant future and you realize that you’re no longer your true self. That sucks!
2. You’ll get trapped in the rat-race which only a few lucky ones manage to escape
When you take a job in any one business organization you naturally feel excited and are initially exposed to things, processes, culture and politics you may have not been familiar with previously. Naturally, there’s a learning curve of sorts, if not professional – depending on your seniority level and professional experience – than perhaps personal and cultural at least.
With time, you grow in that business organization, adopt a new culture and eventually become very comfortable in your role – you feel so at home and the work you’ve been doing there for years become effortless, so much so in fact that you can do it in your sleep. But this is exactly where the problem starts for, getting too comfortable while it may feel so great and stress-free, it’s counterproductive to one’s growth and development. There’s an adage in my home country that says “if you’re too comfortable in your current place, put a tiny stone in your shoe.”
In his book The Ascent of Man, Henry Drummond talks about the evolution of a man and at some point describes a savage who was sitting in the sun enjoying the views of the untouched nature that surrounded him. He was so contented and comfortable that he wouldn’t do anything else for the rest of his life however, luckily for him and his development the mother nature had a different plan called evolution.
As the sun started to set, the weather turned colder and animals came out to hunt, savage was forced to move not to freeze to death or fall victim to the wild wilder-beast that were looking for food. Later on savage got hungry and had to find food, so he learned to hunt etc. The moral of the story is that action, knowledge, development and overall growth breeds success and achievement. The idea of a life well lived is to make the most of yourself not merely live by working for the paycheck.
3. You’ll fail to reach your full potential and fulfill your life’s purpose
Of three reasons I talk about here, this one is probably the most disturbing of all for it’ll leave you feeling empty and filled with regrets and here’s why.
When you came into this world, you were unique individual in so many ways. You came fully equipped with innate talents and abilities which you were supposed to detect throughout your life, hone and put to work to serve the mankind in exchange for a comfortable living. Instead – if you are like a great majority of people who end up doing dead-end jobs – you’ll do what others have done and that’s go to school and most likely major in a subject your parents recommend because of their chosen careers or failed dreams, or perhaps something that is perceived to be in demand and well paid at the time of your graduation, not necessarily what you’re passionate about and what comes naturally to you.
Either way, chances are that thereafter you’ll enter the workforce as just another employee and do the work that’s not entirely fulfilling, in fact far from it in most cases. People often do meaningless work which benefits no one other than the business owners but they do it for the paycheck they receive every month.
Knowing full well that one can never excel in anything she doesn’t truly enjoy, you’ll likely end up being a mediocre at what you do and because of it live an empty life short of excitement and purpose.
Wrapping It All Up
Whatever your age or a place in life may be, do consider the foregoing and start to make the necessary changes so that you too could one day in the near future, live a truly purpose-driven, meaningful and magical life, filled with joy and prosperity. You owe it to yourself and the mankind which you’ve been put on this earth for. Think, act, be.
Do you prefer employment over entrepreneurship and if so, why? For more on entrepreneurship, look me up on Twitter or Parttimerz