The crazy boss. The insane co-workers. The reorganizing. The reorganizing of the department that just got reorganized last month. The downsizing. The layoffs. Being forced to do twice as much work as before, for the same money,
…and a stupid “attaboy” plaque.
The mind-numbing marathon meetings that suck the life out of you. Being ushered like cattle into assembly line food buffets. The regurgitation of last year’s “new paradigm” and “out of the box thinking” claims, that were neither a new paradigm nor a display of innovative thinking last year.
The nights away from your family at a budget hotel. Cramming four colleagues into an economy-class rental car, so that you can waste another day driving the stupid boss around. The flight delays. More flight delays. And even more flight delays. Arriving home after midnight. On a Friday night. On your night.
The stupid office politics. The Peter Principle. The stack ranking. The blatant nepotism. The ass kissing. The ass kissing. The ass kissing.
The selling of your soul for five days a week, so that it can be loaned back to you on the weekends. The five days of bondage, exchanged for two days a week and two weeks a year of “freedom”.
But corporate America isn’t the enemy.
No.
The enemy is you.
When did you decide to stop fighting? To just give up? To take it?
And it’s easy to blame everything and everyone else: Income inequality. The rich Wall Street bankers. The overpaid CEO. The Democrats. The boss. The Republicans. The parents. The spouse. The ex-spouse. The company. The company before. The economy. The direction of the wind.
But this is the dark cloud of “they” thinking, the type of thinking that leads to victimization:
-They didn’t give me the promotion.
-They rigged the system.
-They raised my interest rate.
-They won’t pay more than minimum wage.
-They increased my rent.
The question is this: Has anyone in the past, with those similar circumstances, been able to change things? To transcend their situation with hard work and smart choices…and to improve their lives?
The answer is an obvious “yes”. There’s countless examples. Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands of examples.
But an even better question is this…
How long will you continue to settle for this? How much longer will you live in the cocoon that keeps you so small?
Years ago, the spark was there. The dreams. What you were going to do. Who you were going to be. And most of all, the willingness to take it personally.
The good news is that you can take it personally again.
And if you want a different life, you would take it personally.
If you want a life where you control your time, you should take it personally.
If you want a life away from the rat race, you must take it personally.
And if you want a life of freedom, you absolutely must take it personally.
So, get frustrated. Then get angry. Then get really angry. Then get really, really angry. Angry to the point of disgust.
Because disgust is one of the most powerful motivators there is. It’s the mother of battle cries. It summons the courage and the will to do this… to stop. To stop what your doing. To stop being someone you were not meant to be. To stop being an impostor. It is the turning point for change.
So use disgust as a tool. Use disgust with the status quo, disgust with the mind-numbing mediocrity and disgust with the life you never meant to live, to do this…
To demand a better life.
The life you must have. The life you were supposed to have. The life you wanted when you took it personally.
You won’t get a better life hoping, wishing or having “they” thinking.
None of that works.
Only when you demand a better life for yourself, will you have it.
So, take it personally. Yes, take it personally.
You must take it personally. For Pete’s sake, take it personally.
Be free. Nothing else is worth it.
