World Musings

You need to change your mind sometimes. There comes a time in life when we should re-examine our pre-programmed beliefs and attempt to break the chains. So what would be a pre-programmed belief that a lot of people have? How about retiring at age 65? Wouldn’t you say that might be a pre-programmed belief? Why not age 40? Or age 43?

I’m going to tell you something. Your life is yours and you can make whatever you want to of it. You have the power to break the norms and chains that you have come pre-programmed with. That is something that is going to have to come from within you. Who says that the only way for you to make an income is to work at a corporation? Where does that belief come from? It’s because since day one of when we were born, we were told we needed to go to school so we can get a “job” after high school or college. Very few people are ever told by their parents that they need to go to school to learn how to work for themselves first, before they consider working for someone else. We are all told that to be successful that we should work hard for our money. Not true. To be successful, you need to have your money work hard for you.

So what’s wrong with the idea of working for yourself? Don’t be afraid to fail. An unsuccessful person is afraid of failure, while the successful person welcomes it.I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with having a job and working at a corporation. But I do think there is something wrong when that is the only mindset to have. All I am saying is why not give yourself a shot first? If anything, before you decide to “work for a living”, at least having the peace of mind that you made the attempt to work for yourself to make a living. We are all pre-programmed with this belief to think that companies and corporations are institutions that you are suppose to belong to and give half of your life away to so you can put a roof over your head and food on the table. Working for someone else should be a last resort, or something that you do until you can stand on your own two feet. I guess one can say I’m not standing on my own two feet yet either. I “work for a living” at the moment just like you, but I have made it my number one goal to break the chains someday and be able to rely on myself for an income if need be. And here is the important part: Not necessarily so I can quit my job. But so that I don’t have to be completely dependent upon another institution for an income. Having another stream of income that I generate on my own is what can relieve or take away that dependence. Breaking the chains is breaking the mindset. Give yourself more power and credit by developing a mindset that you can also make it in this world on your own.

I work with a lot of intelligent people, but they all still have the mindset of working for someone else. They are always involved with “career development” and going to school for that graduate degree so that they can continue to work for someone else. The older I get and the more I think about it, it sounds stupid to me. These people that I work with have already been through school and want to keep spending more time with school so that they can “advance” with no guarantee within a corporation that would lay you off in a heartbeat if it means making an extra dollar. These are intelligent people, so I cannot understand that if they want to go back to school, why not spend that extra time exploring how to work for themselves instead? Or if they like being in a classroom or taking an online class that much, why not take a class geared toward entrepreneurship rather than a “masters” in whatever. On a side note, I’ve worked at two corporations where most of the people that held higher positions that made the most money didn’t have masters degrees anyhow. There were some that did, but a lot didn’t. So what did that teach me as to what it takes to advance through a corporation? It just almost angers me sometimes to see all of these talented individuals with that mindset. What if these talented individuals that I work with actually got together to work on forming their own group? Don’t think it can be done? I’ve already seen it done. When I was fresh out of college working at my first job, I witnessed several employees (older men) that finally got together and did just that. And guess what happened? They were successful. They ended up stealing employees from the corporation I was working at and are still in business to this day. In fact, they have expanded and have another operation in another city today with many employees. All of this started with one man who was a middle level corporate manager who got sick of the corporate games and the corporate rat race and decided to work for himself by picking up contracts for himself that our lousy sales group were passing over. Look what it led to today. And why am I not working for them? I was right out of college at the time and wasn’t established enough for these older men to “recruit” me. But that’s ok, because I want to do one day what they did. They have inspired me.

If you want to have any more excitement in your life, the key is to change your mindset first. And it’s a shame that the educational system in America is geared toward learning how to work for someone else. The education system should be overhauled and geared toward starting your own group and working for yourself in America rather than some corporation that is controlled by a handful of people from wealthy elite families that have never worked a day in their lives. As for me, yea, I am one of you. I do work for someone else. But I have changed my mindset and have made it just a secondary thing I do in my life. I have made it a goal to see if I can make it on my own in this world which has brought a new sense of excitement in my life. So that is what I am working towards now. Forget the “masters” degree. I’m breaking the chains instead.