I recently saw a meme in a business group stating “A salary is the drug they give you to forget your dreams” and I wrote a bit of a rant about it.
This meme says to me that if you are on a salary, in a job, you have been drugged by “them” and are selling out on your dreams. This suggests that everyone should have a dream and that it cannot be lived out by working a job and getting a salary.
This says that if you are salaried, you have sold out, you’ve been drugged, you have failed before you even start. The ONLY way to your dream is by not being salaried.
The problem for me isn’t that it’s not true, it totally is … if only for some people. The problem is that for me it subscribes to a lie that permeates our society: that there is a right way to do something. It’s a problem because it all too easily distracts people from the purpose at hand. Instead of trying to achieve something, to create something, to build something, they spend time, effort and LIFE searching for the “right way to … “ achieve, create, build … and don’t actually start doing it at all.
What if – and this is even worse in my view – they find the “right” way, start doing it and it doesn’t work for them? Because this is the “right” way after all, the only conclusion they can come to is that they are a failure. It’s the right way so they must be the problem. It never occurs that the WAY they are trying to do it simply doesn’t suit them or won’t work in their exact situation.
That makes me angry and sad at the same time. It is a distraction at best and a tragedy at worst.
Being human is tough enough. Having a dream and working towards that isn’t easy. Then someone comes along and tells you how to do it and you end up blaming yourself when their way doesn’t work. Then what – you give up on your dream? Some – maybe even many – do.
What if there is no right way? What if there is only YOUR way?
What if you are allowed to try something on for size and decide that it doesn’t suit you and throw it away? What if you could duck-tape together bits of several right ways to create your own way of doing it? What if you just make it all up on your own?
Hell yes to that in my book. If it works, (and it’s safe for you, safe for others and safe for the planet) go for it!
But to do that, you have to be able to look inside yourself and determine what feels like the right or wrong way. You need the inner awareness and the skills of reflection and analysis to peer into yourself and get the steer from you, not from some guru (even me). Those are the skills and tools to build first.
Creating a habit of reflection and awareness a the gift that keeps on giving for the rest of your life.
