Wow! Those words sure sounds sweet to me and I’m guessing they are sweet words to many of you!
How gratifying would it be if you could fire your boss today?
I can tell you firsthand it is possible so not to worry, you don’t have to be stuck forever in a dead end job filling someone else’s pockets on the back of your labor.
Why do so many people get up every day, same time, same place, get in the same car, drive the same roads, in the same bad traffic, to the same building, see the same people, perform the same tasks each and every day? To take it one step further and to make matters worse, why do all this for someone else? Someone that determines when our day starts and when it ends, someone who determines what our value is to do this day in and day out. Why do all the heavy lifting for someone else?
OK ok, I get it…. I’ve painted work as a pretty dreary thing, a miserable existence and anyone that lives life this way must have no fun and no self worth. I am not saying that at all nor am I suggesting you go in to your job tomorrow and tell the boss, You’re Fired. I’m not saying that at all. Well, at least not yet anyways. I’d like to add that I don’t mean to paint all bosses with one big brush and all jobs are not miserable things. I do realize there are a great many wonderful bosses doing great things for their employees just like there are a great number of companies providing comfortable and rewarding lifestyles to many people. All that being said, it’s no secret that millions of people unhappily go to work every day.
The point of this post is to suggest that everyone should ask themselves some questions about life every now and then. I think everyone should evaluate their position in life at some point. Asking these questions is one way to open the door to start some internal dialogue. This post is not meant to be a study in self help as I will be the first to admit I am far from qualified for that (although if you find reading this helpful in some way that is great).
There are a million questions someone can ask about their life so for purposes of this post I’d like to narrow it down for you and focus in on employment questions as it relates to your life. In my experience, I believe most people get so involved and busy in day to day living they never make the time to ask these kind of questions, so if you are reading this I will help you get started.
This one is pretty easy to answer. If you are like most people you work because you have to. You need to put a roof over your head, clothes on your back and food in your belly. Those are the essentials, food , shelter and clothing. Then comes all the add-on wants, needs and desires that appear along the way as you progress through life. Unless you are the rare exception, you have to work.
This one is a little harder to answer. Perhaps it’s a passion of yours (that’s a good thing). Some may take a job because it was a recommended career and they got in to it without really knowing if it’s their passion. We’ve all heard about the scenarios when people go off to the university and have to pick a career without really knowing if that is truly what they want to do. Once they are committed to the chosen field, they get stuck in the never ending cycle described early on in this post. Others may take a job because it was the only job available to them so guess what, that is what they do.
As you can see, I’ve only answered this question with a few examples but in reality there are countless reasons why people do the kind of work they do. Everyone’s answer will be unique to their own situation but the point is, ask yourself this question and answer for your own situation accordingly.
This is another one of those questions that can (and will) have lots of shades of yes and no. There will be plenty of reasons to say yes and plenty of reasons to say no. Perhaps the simplest way to answer this question with brutal honesty is to ask it another way.
If you could choose another job (career) that offered you similar income (with perhaps a better upside), allowed you to spend more time with your family, gave you freedom to pick and choose your hours, allows you to schedule your own vacations when and where you want….heck you could even take this job with you wherever you want. If you could find something like this would you make the career change?
After reading through this post I hope I’ve sparked a little motivation for you to ask yourself some of these questions. I can say without doubt that for most people change is not an easy thing. There is uncertainty and a natural resistance to change, it’s human nature.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could put your toe in the water before diving all in? People do that all the time at a real swimming pool. How come with something as important as a career change you can’t have the same chance to stick your toe in the water first? You Can!!!
I suggest you go to the little box on the right and have a look around (it costs you nothing to explore). You may just find what I did. A way to stick your toe in the water and see how the water is before diving all in. More importantly, you may see that it is possible to have a career that you define on your terms, ultimately giving you the chance to Fire Your Boss!
