Help Wanted:
Business seeks a “go getter” to set the tone and pace of the company.
Duties include but not limited to:
Long hours
Sleepless nights
All decision making and problems are on your shoulders
In charge of everything from production demands, floor mopping to wrangling cats (re: personnel)
Building something from nothing
Wages and compensation:
Applicant will pay company to perform job for first 3-5 years (or longer)
Applicant can take occasional day off at will
No health care
No security
Constant uncertainty
Happiness
Does anyone want this job? If you want to start your own business you are applying for this job. Make sure you pay attention to the last bit of compensation.
Today’s topic is about happiness.
If you asked me, a few years ago, would I like to own my own business? Of course I would have said, “Yes!” If you had asked me would I wanted the above job? I would have said, “Oh hell NO!” The funny thing is that they’re the same thing.
It has been said before and it is worth repeating, “It is the journey not the destination” If you look at the destination and the total effort involved, of course, you will tend be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.
Look at any high end performance. They make it look so easy that you say to yourself, “I can do that!” but when you try to do it you find out that it is above your abilities, you get frustrated and most people quit with the “Sour Grapes ” attitude. Of course it’s above your abilities! You don’t watch someone play a video game, think that it looks fun and try it, for the first time, on the final level. Is it any wonder that you got blown away?
In that way, life is like a video game. You work your way through the levels, acquiring knowledge and skills, and you will eventually get to the top level and beat the game but it takes time and effort. What about cheats? Even in life; sometimes you will get some insider info that can help you gain a bit of an edge. It can be strategic information or it can be that you know someone who can give you a leg up. It’s funny; in a game that’s called cheating. In life it’s called getting ahead (although you can cheat in life, but you can also go to jail for it too or worse).
I guess this is a long way of saying that things aren’t always what they seem. Most people see the end product and they want a part of it. What they don’t see is the long, often very hard, road to that end goal. At that point the end goal, once reached, is tempered by experience.
Look at the people who win the big lottery. Most of them have declared bankruptcy and are worse off than they were before they won it. Wasn’t it supposed to answer all of their problems? If you learn to be happy with what you have now, then when you do hit it big you will have a much better perspective on things. I believe the quote is “No matter where you go, there you are”. If you think that “things” will make you happy then when you get them you will still be unhappy because there are always other “things” to get.
--Christopher M Neumann