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Jobs Don’t Suck. Your Belief System Does.

You want to quit your job to pursue your passion, but if you’re anything like myself, you’re not doing sugar honey iced tea until you’ve analyzed all possible outcomes. What ends up happening here, is you spend way too much time thinking instead of doing. The next option is to ask your homies Mike and Ike what they think, and from here the confusion usually escalates. Your friends says “F*** that job”. To them, you’re much too talented and creative to sit in a box wearing that tired, rewashed uniform. Ask the “oldheads” and security is the priority. Even if it means staying in an environment you dread commuting to every morning. If it pays the bills then you need to be grateful to even have a job. Should we discuss what your parents will think? It should be safe to say that most (keyword, most) of our parents wouldn’t be too thrilled to hear their adult child insisting on pursuing their dreams. Childhood dreams at that. Will your family question or agree your choices? Your plan? Imagine spending all that time asking them, when you coulda, woulda, shoulda been asking yourself.

By no means is this an attempt to convince you to sabotage your current job in the midst of a pandemic. (“Craig. How you get fired on your day off?”) What this is however, is a push and a reminder that this life you have, is the only chance you’ve got to live YOUR true reality.



“Work Is Supposed to be Hard”


For context purposes, I recently quit my job of five years working in Corporate America. As in recent, I mean last year. What started out as a learning experience, gradually became “Middle School for Grown Ups”. Not only did I work at two extreme opposite paces, either having nothing to do or fulfilling too many requests that weren’t even in my job description, but I found myself constantly tip toeing on eggshells as a result of office drama that could arise at any second. Also, I’m not a fan of passive aggressiveness from supposed superiors. With that being said, it wasn’t all bad (lol). I met some of my favorite people at that organization who I continue to keep in contact with. People I consider blessings. Still, I couldn’t depend on them for mental sanity.

Balancing adult life, work life, and still finding time to pursue what I felt called to do, felt nearly impossible. I still hear plenty of “adultier adults” insist that your job is supposed to be challenging. You aren’t supposed to like your boss and the longer you stay in a toxic environment, the greater the reward when you move up. Although I think they mean, “IF” you move up. On the day I decided to make an attempt at finding a middle ground before leaving my job, it was brought to my attention that I was on the brink of being let go anyway. It occurred to me then, at that moment, work may have been hard to find “back in the day” as older folk love reminding us. But it’s so easy today, you could be discarded and replaced without notice. Here I was, about to be fired for not living up to someone else’s vision, despite doing the best I could. Even considering my greatest strengths weren’t being utilized to begin with.

All of this trying to find balance, only to be burnt out with no reward. Claire Cain Miller and Sanam Yar of the New York Times Newspaper, mention this trend when referring to Millennials in the workforce:

“— it’s not about jumping up titles, but moving into better work environments,” she said. “They’re like silent fighters, rewriting policy under the nose of the boomers.”

For many Americans, work has become an obsession, and long hours and endless striving for something to aspire to. It has caused burnout, unhappiness and gender inequity, as people struggle to find time for children or passions or pets or any sort of life besides what they do for a paycheck.”

If work is going to be hard, make sure the work is worth it.



To Be or Not To Be, Ballin on a Budget

Okay. So you want to leave that job but then what? Do you want another job? Do you want to pack up, pick up and move to another city? Or will these kinds of moves interfere with your current goals? What is your plan? While working at the office, I vividly remember expressing my desire for success to people, who would then reply with stories about celebrities who willingly put their lives on the line for their own dreams (ie Taraji, The Weeknd, etc), implying I should take a risk big enough to jeopardize my security. Especially, if it means getting closer to the goal. And to that I say, stop listening to mofos who haven’t lived the reality you envision. For someone who has experienced house hopping or scrambling for more funds, I would not recommend “risking it all” to make impulsive, uncalculated decisions, no matter how impatient you feel. If you’re looking to focus on your calling, starving yourself or purposely becoming homeless, won’t serve nor speed the process.

How Are You Supposed To Come Up With Dinero?

If you have mommy and daddy to fall back on when things go haywire, this ain't for you chief. No offense, but some of us don’t have that option. Before leaving, save, save, save! You want to create a realistic plan that suits your individual needs. Not wants. Needs. Then, what are your natural strengths and how can you benefit others with them? Are you good at writing resumes? Are you a good translator? Do you enjoy dog walking? The options are endless regarding people who could use what you naturally offer. But your tendency to dim your own light must come to a halt. Whether coming up with the funds feels difficult or not, the challenge and prize truly lies in the ability to manage those funds. The sacrifice you make is no longer keeping up with the Joneses. Slow down champ. Success ain't going anywhere but your funds will. Anyone can make money. Can you maintain it? Use your new streams of income to invest in the vision that is your priority. Create an expenses list to hold you off until your business plan is solidified and ready for execution, or until you’ve found that other job!


Expect the Unexpected.

Back in January of 2020, I left the organization with more money than I had ever had in my account. That’s not saying much (because it wasn't "that much") but hey, it mostly meant I cut a lot of bad habits to save enough for a few months without work. This way, I could use the money to invest, live comfortably and have “leftovers”. When creating your financial expectation, keep in mind to expect the unexpected. Two months after quitting, a credit service company took $500 from my account without any notification. I was extremely annoyed because it was so random, but fortunate to still have enough funds that gave me enough time to figure out a plan. In which I did, successfully... for a few months. By the end of the year, I had accumulated about 3 extra bills. None of which were intentional. Moral of the story, this transition doesn't allow for reckless money moves. You love going out with your friends, and I know thisssss mannnnnn, but they are not your accountants. And your coworkers are not your oracles. Before I let you go, *in my Blackstreet voice* let's talk about that.



Why Complain About the Pain? You’re Getting Paid... Right?


“Of the country’s approximately 100 million full-time employees, 51 percent aren’t engaged at work -- meaning they feel no real connection to their jobs, and thus they tend to do the bare minimum. Another 16 percent are “actively disengaged” -- they resent their jobs…”. Anna Robaton [cbsnews]. This reminds me of that Everest College commercial. “You’re sitting at a desk you hate and your life is passing you by…” Meanwhile that resentment is disguising itself as that neck ache. That migraine. That sleepless night.

  1. If so many people hate their job. Why don’t they take action? Especially when it results in physical, emotional or psychological health issues.

  2. Projection is real, and it’s just as toxic as your self doubt. So don’t feed into it.

When They Project, Protect.

I left my organization for several reasons. Each month the negatives intensified and the positives faded. A few weeks before my last day, I had not only experienced anxiety related health concerns but a few colleagues who had previously persuaded me to stay at the workplace, were now applauding me for leaving. Why? Because they too had finally come to resentful positions and were looking to resign. Now... could you imagine if I had originally listened to their suggestions to stay? If I endured more hardships out of indecision or peer pressure? Whew, talk about a hurt piece. In addition to this, I had lost about four family members in the months leading up to me quitting. My psyche was now at play. “Am I truly happy here?” This was now a matter of my health and wealth vs. my conditioned belief system.


In one ear, you have a traditional family encouraging you to work hard and be grateful for the rewards you receive, if any. In the other ear, you have LLC Twitter telling you to spend the only dimes you have investing in opportunities you have no knowledge on. . But don't f*** up bro. Isolate. Create. Execute your own reality.

“The link between bad health and a bad workplace is “significant, profound, and has been documented over decades,” Pfeffer says. And he believes that it’s a major health crisis, resulting in, he claims, 120,000 excess deaths a year in the United States.”-Marc Sollinger, Jeffrey Pfeffer’s “Dying For a Paycheck”


If you’re at a job you hate, there’ s good news and bad news. The bad news is, you’re there until you’re ready to go. The good news is, there is a better job, a wider audience, and a unique God given natural skill waiting for you to make your move. The trick is, taking the time out to really find out who, or where, or what that is. I heard a quote not long after my last day, unfortunately I can’t remember where, but it went something like “How much is your job paying you, to not invest in yourself?”

Well?...


 




Leading Work-Related Diseases and Injuries, Psychological Disorders https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000800.htm





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