Newsflash! The field of employment and jobs has drastically changed over the years. In the early 1900s, a significant change occurred in the United States. It was called the Industrial Revolution. Prior to that, most people either worked for themselves on a family farm or were in an apprenticeship program, learning a trade so that they could start their own business.
The Industrial Revolution created a huge demand for something new called an "Employee", someone that would work for an hourly wage on a production line, producing the products for that particular company to sell. The problem was, there was no infrastructure designed to produce this type of worker. Most people did not attend school, at least not past the elementary grades. Formal education was not in high demand.
This demand for employees was what drove the creation of the School System. Rudimentary at first, the school system and its methods were formalized over time and stabilized on the standard of Elementary school, High school, and College or University level training. With only a few minor modifications, this system has remained in effect until present time. Its end goal, however, has not changed. It is still designed to create employees.
Why would you want to quit your job? Here are a few reasons:
The middle class is disappearing and may in fact be dead!
The American Dream never really existed. It was, in fact, a marketing scam. A carrot on a stick devised by Industry and Education that told the workers the way to happiness was to get a good education, get a good job, be a good "worker drone", slave away for 30 or 40 years until you are old enough to retire and then spend your "Golden Years" being taken care of by the system. In the early days, this may have been somewhat true but times have changed. The carrot keeps getting moved, retirement age keeps getting moved and taxes, inflation and government fiscal mismanagement and political infighting have essentially destroyed the dream.
You are no longer an asset. Employees have become effectively a liability for a company.
Outsourcing of jobs, a huge increase in the use of "temporary employees" (to avoid having to provide benefits), computerization and robotization of many tasks have all led to the end result of effectively destroying the middle class dream.
Corporations don't like you!
If you have half a brain, and are reasonably competent, you will soon realize that you are being exploited and demand more money. This doesn't bode well for the bottom line of the Corporation. They want nice, docile worker bees that never question and never cause problems. Just shut up and do the job you were assigned to do and don't make waves. Effectively, "superstars" have a target on their back. You are giving the other worker bees bad ideas and causing dissension in the ranks. Incompetent and ineffective management often fear people that actually think for themselves and that possibly question management decisions. This is not good! There is an old business school maxim called "the Peter Principle" that one gets promoted within the corporate structure to their level of incompetence, where they remain. Very few forward thinking companies will actually buck this trend. Think about it, current management has risen to their own level of incompetence so of course they are not going to break that system that got them where they are.
Money doesn't necessarily equal happiness.
A common question among job seekers is "should I take the job I like or should I take the job that pays more money?" Being an entrepreneur myself, I would question the viability of taking any job at all of course. Given what I know about this field, for most, a job is a dead-end in itself.
Leaving that aside, studies show that an increase in salary offers little to no increase in "happiness" above a certain level. Why is this? Because of one basic fact: people tend to spend what they make. If your salary increases $5000, you will increase your "lifestyle" and quickly consume that increase. Then you will ask yourself, "where did all the money go?" You really didn't need the things that you blew the raise on and now you need something else, another raise! playing at the corporate roulette table of salary increases is not a winning tactic.
Take a close, honest look right now at how many people can make a major decision that can ruin your life!
Personally, I don't like it when one person can make a decision that can have a major impact on my life. If you are in that position now, and are controlled by time and money, you have to kiss ass every day to not lose everything you've gained up to this point. That really sucks! The way to avoid this situation is to diversify. Create alternate streams of income that dilute or mitigate the power that person has over you. I understand that this can't happen in a day. Start planning now to create your own destiny. Instead of allowing people you don't like to control it for you.
Is your job satisfying your "needs"?
How do you define needs? Here is a suggestion: There are actually 4 "needs" that one may identify. 1. Your physical needs. 2. Your emotional needs. 3. Your mental needs. 4. Your spiritual needs.
Personally, I have had jobs in the past where I had to work far too hard and too long. This was rarely satisfying for any of my personal needs. The only thing it did was provide money. I have already addressed the issue of money not equaling happiness.
Yes, you can argue that not everyone is able to have all of those need satisfied at a job. Since we already know that the salary of a job will not make you happy, you can easily modify your lifestyle and at least work to satisfy more of your needs. The more these needs are satisfied, the more you will create a condition of true happiness and abundance in your life.
Excuses.
"I'm too old." "I'm not creative." "I need the insurance." "I have to provide for my kids." Winners make things happen, losers make excuses. Which do you choose to be? I once ran into a person I hadn't seen for several years. I didn't even recognize him at first. When we had worked together on a job years ago, he was always looking bedraggled and beaten-down. Life was not being kind to him. Now, you is a totally different person. He looked 10 years younger, was nicely dressed and had a big smile on his face. So what had changed? About six months after I left that job, he got fired. I'm sure at the time, it was devastating to him. . He related this story to me; For the first couple of months he was frantic, trying to find another job so that he could support himself and his family. Then one day, he had an epiphany. He realized that he had actually been set free from the zoo! He was no longer trapped by the virtual bars of an extremely stressful job that paid too little and satisfied none of his basic needs other than providing some money. He had chosen to make use of his experience and talents to start his own business. At first, he wasn't making a lot of money but the freedom was exhilarating. His happiness and exuberance soon allowed him to generate a large customer following and he was now making a substantial income, as well as handling all of his 4 basic needs very well.
It's okay to take baby steps.
"I can't just quit!" people will say. "I have bills to pay." I understand. Nobody's saying just up and quit one day and walk out the door and let the chips fall where they may. One must plan their exit strategy and then implement it carefully. Before one can run a marathon, one must first learn to crawl then walk and then finally, run. Sit down right now and make a list. List every dream that you ever had before life intervened and you were forced into being a drone. These are not GOALS. They are more like "themes". Something to look at and be guided by every day as you decide what it is you need to do to make them happen. The most important thing is to START. Dreaming is not action. Things happen when you actually take action. And that is the key point.
Abundance will never come from your job.
Only when you make the decision to step out of your prison, your job, will you start down the path to abundance. You may not be able to see it now, it's hard to do when you're looking through prison bars. Abundance only comes when you're moving along your path toward your dreams. When you are truly enhancing the lives of the people around you. The money you make is simply a measure of your value to society. When you increase your value to society, society will reward you. It may seem counterintuitive, but it really is that simple. You must give to then receive.
