Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Business in the Front, Party in the Back

Alright folks? Hope everyone’s doing well today. I myself feel very good. Woke up a little earlier than usual this morning to give myself a little extra time to read and reflect and now I’m feeling much better because of it. The universe is magic like that. If you give yourself some quiet time each day you’ll get answers to the questions and issues that bother you. I know I’ve said this before, and if you’re wondering why the hell I keep repeating myself it’s because I’m horrible at heeding my own advice! For me, when something is bothering me I go through a cycle. First I start getting anxious and frustrated. Then, after much unnecessary stress (typically internal as I don’t show stress very often), I realize that there is an issue I need to deal with. At this point, usually at least a few weeks or months after I should have begun this step, I give the issue the attention it needs to be worked out via quiet time (reading, writing, meditation, etc.). And voila! Almost without fail, I have the answers I need to resolve the issue. There is a catch, though, and it’s something that’s plagued me all of my life. I’m really good at figuring out what the best course of action is for any given situation, but I tend to be very slow to act on what I know needs to be done. In simple terms: problem solving = good, executing action plan = bad.

You see, figuring out how to deal with life issues is relatively simple. You identify what the root of the problem is, decide what the ideal situation would be, and the solution comes soon thereafter. But the action plan, that damn action plan, is the difficult part because it often requires significant life changes. And we, as humans, are not big fans of change. It’s ironic, because if we’re able to look at the big picture (ie., further down the road than a few months) we can see that change usually brings about nothing but good. Personal growth, new relationships, great opportunity, more money and on and on the list goes. Why, then, do we run from change like a choir boy from a priest? It’s quite funny if you really think about it. Can you imagine if there was an almighty power that was trying to orchestrate a change to help you in your life, but you just kept avoiding it? How frustrating would that he for him/her? “Stop running away damn it! I’m just trying to help you.” I can imagine parents go through this quite a bit as they raise their children. Looking back, I can think of at least a handful of situations when my parents were clearly trying to guide me away from trouble, but the only thing I wanted to do was run straight into it like an idiot.

Doing things the easy way has never been my forte, which is pretty funny considering I’m always looking for the easiest way to do something (ie., shortcut). I can't help but laugh at myself when I think of it that way. What an idiot. Throughout my entire life I’ve tried taking shortcuts in spite of the clear fact that all I’ve ever experienced tells me that shortcuts only create more problems. How's that for some genius behavior……actually, isn’t that the definition of Crazy or Insane? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Yep, that’s me. I’ll be damned. I could have saved myself a lot of pain over the years had I learned this lesson earlier. Oh well, better late than never. At least I still have most of my life in front of me and I know I’m better of because of the experiences gained.

Anyway, for those of you that are in a situation that you don’t feel happy in, job or otherwise, I found some very simple, yet direct questions on Yahoo.com this morning that can help you determine whether or not you should move on. After that, though, the action plan is up to you. The forthcoming questions were found here: http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/103837/Should-You-Stay-or-Should-You-Go. For shits and giggles, and because I’m bored silly right now, I’m going to answer these questions for you all to read.

Do you want to go to work every morning?
I almost feel like this is a trick question. Do I want to go to work every morning? Are you effing kidding me?? Of course I don’t want to go to work every morning. I want to be sitting on the patio of my multi-million dollar home on Maui, sipping a Mai Tai with my wife and dog while writing about how great life is. That’s what I want to do every morning, Mr. asshole that created this question. Thanks for reminding me how much I don’t like what I actually do have to do every morning.

How many people in the world can really say that if given the choice to do anything they want for the rest of their life, they would keep doing what they are doing? Because that’s what this question really alludes to, isn’t it? I wake up every morning wishing that I could be beamed to my previously mentioned dream space because that’s what I really want to do. Next question please….


Do you enjoy spending time with your co-workers or do they generally bug the living daylights out of you?

Well, I have a blog partially because I don’t like what I do, if that tells you anything. But to be fair, my displeasure doesn’t have much to do with the people I work with. Aside from the fact that most of my co-workers are fresh out of college and act their age, I generally get along well with them.

Does your company help you fulfill your personal mission?
Hmm, let me think……N-O! In a nutshell, my personal mission is to make as much money as I can, doing something I can stay relatively sane while doing, until I can break out on my own. I know, it sounds like something like Dirk Diggler may have said as he sank deeper into his crack hole, but it’s true. My sole career focus right now is money, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Now before I get branded a greedy bastard by you faultless folks, I should explain that I only see money as a means to an end. The “end” being freedom to roam the earth free and clear of any restraints that go along with getting my paycheck signed by someone other than me. So does the company I work for fulfill my personal mission? Not even close.


Can you picture yourself at your company in a year?
Sure, I can picture myself at this company in a year. I can also picture myself parting the Red Sea, but that doesn’t mean it’s likely to happen. If I’m still here in a year, I will be extremely surprised. Like little green men just landed in my driveway surprised. There are so many things that would have to change for me to be here in another year that I just can’t see it happening. For starters, I’d have to be making a good chunk of coin more than I am now and be A LOT happier with my day-to-day responsibilities. Most importantly, though, I don’t think I'd be being fair to myself if I stayed for another year. It’s clearly time to move on, freshen things up a bit, and reinvigorate myself. If I don’t, I’ll just be ignoring what my Self tells me is the right thing to do, and you can refer to the beginning of this post to find out how I feel about not acting on what I know is right.

That's all for today peeps. Here's a little gem of internet humor for you. I'm sure you've all seen this before (I was first made aware of it back in 1999), but like a few other sites I've shared it's a timeless classic. Enjoy....

http://mulletsgalore.com/

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