The Stability Illusion
The civilian majority in the World seem happy with a simple life… stability over freedom, mediocre pay over limitless potential… I just don’t understand it.
When to Settle
It seems that the farther we progress in age, the stronger the clutches of fear about the unknown overtake us. Fear from instability within our lives actually gets so strong that many of us consciously choose to settle for what we got, giving up a life full of hopes and dreams for the relative “safety” of 9-5. We begin to have a family, mortgage and look forward to Bingo on Sunday… not that any of that is wrong, but where does this self-defeatism come from?
The Illusion of Stability
Here is the part I don’t understand, people settle for a predictable life… under the illusion that it’s stable… but this hope misplaced. Just look at the news, people who thought they had a good thing going are shown a pink slip, some are even are e-mailed that their job no longer exists should they decide to return to the office. Well, where did all that stability go? AHA! THERE WAS NONE TO BEGIN WITH!
You see, no matter what 9-5 job you think you have, you are always one week away from being fired, I have seen this time and again working for companies around the world… the good ones give you severance but the vast majority simply give you one months pay and you are on your own. This is the reality my friends… how do you do it? It would drive me nuts!
Entrepreneurship
I think entrepreneurship should be the only career our children should strive for, sure, stability is the oxymoron of entrepreneurship but hey, at least you are the master of your own game… master of your own life. If there is a pink slip coming, at least you SEE it coming instead of an all-of-a-sudden “you’re fired” paper makings its way to your cubicle.
There was one company with whom we did work for several years, they would grow then shrink, grow then shrink – what was the only constant? The boss never lost his job… I, myself, have experienced this first hand… but again, the only constant has been that I STILL HAD A POSITION. Mergers and acquisitions… the boss left with a nice severance package followed by employees being slowly shown the door. You see, you can’t fire the boss unless he dies… everything else is expendable (yes, that includes YOUR job).
Employment
If you work for a large company like… I don’t know, Intel (20K jobs gone), Enron (bankrupt), GM (buyouts, pensions slashed), Ford (ouch!), IBM (double ouch) etc… the list goes on… the seniority you have built up means very little other then POSSIBLY a bigger severance but either way, your job is toast at any time. What I am trying to explain is that if these companies with unions, billions of dollars invested in their employees can cut tens of thousands of jobs when times get tough… how much security (ei: stability) do you think you have working for smaller companies? You guessed it… NONE.
Build yourself up!
Now, here is a novel idea, instead of wasting much of your time building up somebody else, why not build yourself up? You can still work for others but your general outlook should be for yourself… if you hate your job, quit, if you need a vacation… GO! This is the life of freedom us entrepreneurs enjoy. Spend your time creating new growth opportunities for yourself, learn a new language, extend yourself beyond your comfort zones… invest more in yourself then others and you will always be far ahead of the game.
It’s not all roses
Before I replace one illusion with another, let me explain that entrepreneurship is not an easy path, there is a lot of struggles, highs and lows… but this is what life is about isn’t it? I would far prefer to die homeless having traveled the world and LIVED LIFE than to be in a retirement home scared of the outside world. Entrepreneurship is like a muscle, it needs to be trained and honed… during this time, you can of course still work your 9-5 but I hope you realize that you have performed a fundamental shift in your thinking patterns in doing so. No longer are all your eggs in your employers basked, they are in yours… if you work, you work because you WANT to, not because of NEED.
The Bottom Line
Take control of your illusions before circumstances within your life force you to wake up.
