“Anybody got any 3’s??? Looks like Lenny’s going fishing…” -Lenny from "That Thing You Do!"
Are you paid by the hour? Do you have to "clock in" in the morning and "clock out" at night? Are you right to the minute? Or do you go in a minute early and a few minutes late to rack up that extra 30 minutes of overtime each week? A little bit of overtime can feel pretty good. Suddenly your time is worth a little more—one and a Half times more than it was before.
However, maybe you have a salary? Then your income for the entire year is fixed. Sometimes work takes a little longer than expected. Do you find yourself calling your spouse to let him or her know you’ll be home late – again? The work has to get done to keep the salary after all.
Is that a good trade?
You might be asking, “Is what a good trade? That’s life. You find a job and spend every day there.” But I’m going to ask you a question.
Why?
Why is it a your lot in life to find one thing and do it day in and day out? Is there only one thing—in all of life—that you are good at? Is there just nothing else you’d rather do? Does everyone find a job they love? Is it because the money is so good that (as long as you can suffer through work) life feels extravagant when you get home at the end of the day?
I ask because I want you to understand that you are making a trade every time you “go to work”. If you receive payment from an employer you are trading your Time for Money. Does that sound obvious?
Okay, well also consider that you are trading your Time for the Experience you go through. I, mean, this is your life! The majority of your waking hours are spent at this job. It gives you a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual experience every single day. Whether positive or negative, each of those areas are affected.
So...
for your
physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health,
I am begging the question,
“Do you enjoy your job?”
If you answered, “Yes,” then congratulations! Because you, my friend, are better off than millions of people in America. Millions.
Millions of Americans go to a job every day that they do not find enjoyable or fulfilling. Some people even complain about hating the entire day of...
“Monday.”
Why would you hate (a baseline of) 52 days of the year—that’s your time!!!
7% percent of your year just automatically hated.
Is that just the “Monday Tax?”
Everybody suffers through it, so I have to, too?
Seriously. Think about it. Why do people spend an average of 75% of their waking hours,
- prepping for,
- commuting to/from,
- eating lunch at, and
- performing at “A Job”
when they don’t even enjoy the experience?
Why?
To trade their Time for Money—with the hope that this trade will afford them Housing, Clothing, Food, Entertainment, and Autonomy.
Autonomy is another word for “Freedom”. But what good is freedom if you don’t like your job? You’re already choosing to do something you don’t want to do. Yet, you willingly trade the majority of Your Time to do this. Millions of people do.
So,
1. Either Millions of Americans are insane
(Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results)
or
2. Most Americans presume that they must suffer through a job they hate—like millions of others—and this is simply
the “Normal” American experience.
Is this true?
Are we doomed to a fate of work that we hate?
Were we born to just fill in the open positions of menial and meaningless jobs in any of a few corporations? Why do we gravitate to these positions?
I suppose—and correct me if I’m wrong here—because they have money.
But isn't the experience of living better than money?
Can't we find a better trade than getting Money by sacrificing out Time?