Tag: Hard Work

Always do more than you get paid for as an investment in your future. Jim Rohn

I have a confession: I’ve been a mediocre employee at some of my jobs. Here are a few of my sins: I became the production supervisor at my first job after college and initiated a daily production meeting so we could cover everyone’s work load and schedule for the day. That production meeting would usually last an hour. We would sit and bullshit for an hour. My manager was part of the meeting, and I know he didn’t like that we sat there that long, but he never said anything.

I had another job where the room I worked in was on camera, but there was a part of the room that was hidden from view. I would bring books to work, go to that hidden corner, and read until the first customer came, which was sometimes an hour or two into my shift.

What a waste of time! I made $9.00 an hour at this job, and obviously deserved it. I didn’t fight that pay or ask my manager for a raise because I knew I deserved what I was getting for the job I was doing. But I had coworkers who were upset about their pay. They bad-mouthed management about how stingy they were because they wouldn’t pay more. I’m telling you right now that what you make has everything to do with you and nothing to do with your boss. You are in charge of the money you make in this life. Don’t put that on someone else. That’s called blame.

I get that not everyone can or even wants to be an entrepreneur, there is a lot of risk and hard work down that path. But if you’re sitting at your job sneaking onto facebook, or sending texts all day when you are supposed to be working, you are not only wasting your employer’s time, you’re wasting your time. Find another job that will challenge and excite you. One where you can learn something instead of wasting everyone’s time. If you find yourself trying not to work so that, hahaha, your milking your boss, and they are “paying you not to work, I’ll show them,” you are doing it wrong. This is so opposite of personal growth. It’s stagnation. The person you are really holding back is yourself.

You should run your life like it is your business, because it is. You should work like you are building a business, because you are. You are building you. You are building skills, and a personal ethos. Work, despite what mainsteam media sells, is good for our souls. Work is a gift, just ask anyone who can’t get a job during hard times.

It’s much more comfortable to sit on the couch and let myself be entertained than to create my own work. It’s easier to eat yummy food that’s rough on my health. And let’s face it, it’s way more fun to spend than to save. But living a comfortable life will not take us where we want to go. Only strength and discipline will do that.

Discipline is a daily choice that becomes a habit.

When I first started working out, I had to decide every day to go. I had to talk myself into it. Once I’m there, once I get moving, I feel great, and I never regret going. It’s like GI Joe’s slogan, “knowing is half the battle, but with working out, the saying should be, “going is half the battle.”

I love working out, but I still have to force myself to go sometimes. But once I form a habit, I just get up and go. It’s no longer a decision.

Dieting is hard. It feels good to eat what we want when we want. Let’s be honest, junk food tastes really good. I can dig into a bowl of ice cream or a bag of chips pretty easily despite how important clean eating is to me. But those choices affect me in the short and long term.

It feels really good to lounge on the couch and binge watch my favorite shows. It gives me something to talk to my co-workers about. But I start feeling like I am watching someone else live their life instead of living my own.

I used to spend most of my weekends shopping. It wasn’t bad shopping, it was for home goods and improvement. We spent a lot of money at home depot. I only go out to go grocery shopping on the weekends now, and my spending has gone way down.

Even job security, it is more comfortable to my brain to work for a familiar, smaller hourly wage and blame my money problems on my boss, than to strike out on my own and try my best to face the risk/reward balance that comes with entrepreneurship.

We feel secure watching TV and movies, eating junk food, spending our weekends shopping for the things we “need.” and blaming our boss for how much we make.

The comforts of life have their place. I like all these things as much as then next person. But discipline is a key factor here. Move your body. Stop watching TV and go live your life. Eat food that will nourish your body. Save money so you have money.

Discipline is the pathway to Freedom.  – Jocko willink