Are you ready? I mean reallllly ready to ey925? Honestly, the answer is…probably not. How do I know? Well, for one, IF you’re still reading this blog (and that’s a big if), you’re probably currently working a nine-to-five – or unemployed. That’s not a strike against you, it’s just an observation. Think about it, if you (like me) live in a free society, it’s likely every choice you’ve made thus far (or most of them) – has landed you behind that cubicle, that counter, that wheel, that desk, that whatever.
Now, you may be a victim of a series of unfortunate events; this is true. We don’t always choose where we parachute; when we leap from the plane, the wind gets a vote. But let’s admit it, we may not have “jumped” at the best time either, fastened our harnesses correctly, or even PUT ON a parachute (you know who you are). None of us are perfect – but there’s probably a time in your life where you started to deviate from the “straight and narrow”, as it were. Where you took a job because it simply paid well, looked good, or promised to fulfill you in some way. Maybe you took a job because it was easy, offered a work-from-home option (careful with that), or promised to provide nap pods, a coffee bar, and free salads every other Tuesday.
So the question we have to ask ourselves is, where did we go wrong? Or at least, where did we contribute in some small fashion to our own demise? Not so we can wallow in our sorrow, but so we can figure out how we ended up here (at our 925). Have you ever asked yourself that question? Where did things start to take a turn?
Let’s get real. I’d say I really started to stray a bit at University. I was a really good student when I wanted to be, but my discipline started to slip. I realized I could often “get away” with turning in shoddy work – depending on who my professor was. My time, I surmised, was better spent memorizing an ill-acquired test bank in lieu of studying. I got pretty good at achieving an end (i.e., a letter grade) through questionable means, but I slowly started to lose my ability to tackle and retain new material, to think critically, to hammer out a conclusion among my peers via lively debate.
The advent of YouTube and social media didn’t help either. Spotify and Pandora ensured most of us never had to walk to class in the absence of a personal theme song. Endless feeds permitted Millennials (my gen) to banish boredom and downtime for good (unless, of course, our devices lost their charge – talk about an emotional, traumatizing experience). We barely had to spend any “alone time” with those pesky little cerebral encumbrances – known as thoughts – because podcasts, shorts, vines, tic-toc etcetera came to our rescue just when we began to ponder the meaning of life (tiring), the value of friendship (overrated), or even considered ACTUALLY DOING the required reading for the week (I know, I know, scary).
And so I drifted, and drifted in a sea of endless entertainment. Slowly, subtly, my ship changed course. At first, I met the minimum requirements to get As, then Bs, then Cs! After a while, I’d start parroting the platitude “Ds get degrees” while laughing along with those who definitely got degrees via Ds. Then I got a D myself! Followed by a W (withdrawal) and then…da, da daaaaaaa – an F! My appreciation for academic excellence was replaced by my ability to hit the bare minimum bull’s eye. To quote Johnny Cash – “what had (have) I become?” Thanks to my early academic achievement, I was able to leave University with a 3.56 GPA, which on paper seems pretty alright, but my trend (and thought process) was heading in the wrong direction.
Okay, enough about me. This is about you! (and also me, but let’s shift focus here – I can’t take all the heat). You see, once one starts taking the easy way out, that attribute embeds itself in your soul like a blood-sucking tick. You start sniffing for it – like a bloodhound in hot pursuit of a wounded convict. The only way you actually do things is if someone forces you to do them, but you’re always searching for that loophole. You need to ask yourself this tough, tough question – do I want to be an entrepreneur because I have something valuable to offer the world, and my nine-to-five is getting in the way of that? Or…do I want to be a beach bum with enough money in the bank to fund my alcoholism?
Again, I want to help you get to where you want to go, but if you ey925 for the wrong reason(s), you’ll end up right back where you started (or worse). Sometimes the best place for a prisoner to be is…well…prison. That’s a difficult axiom for us to accept, but it’s very often true (sadly). If I were on your (metaphorical) parole board, asking you why I should grant you your freedom from that cubicle, what would you say? Are you a changed man/woman? Drop your thoughts/confessions/feelings in the comment section below (I’ll definitely read them). I’m interested to hear what you have to say!
That’s all for now, write to you soon!
– Pete
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