Look over at the guy in the cubicle next to you.
Does he look impressive?
Do you envy him?
Does he look like he has his shit together?
Is he living his dream?
Did he enjoy his one week vacation last year when he stayed home and watched TV?
Does he constantly amaze you with all the new ideas he comes up with?
Is he in peak physical condition?
Can he walk up 2 flights of stairs?
Can he take 3 months off and do anything he wants?
Can he do 5 pushups?
Does he eat donuts for breakfast and McDonalds for lunch?
Is he married to a beautiful wife who supports him 100%?
Does he enjoy paying the mortgage and taxes on his house in the ‘burbs?
Take a long, hard look at this man. Take a long, hard look at him and then take a look in the mirror. Can you convince yourself you aren’t just like him? And is he thinking the same thing about you?
Bite the Bullet
Accept the inevitable pain and hardship with fortitude and emerge stronger, tougher, freer and richer than you are right now.
Next year Joe Schmoe Company Man will still be sitting at his cubicle. You can sit right alongside him or not. No one is putting a gun to your head.
Good stuff man. Not doing badly where I am, working for a company as a software engineer. Though being an entrepreneur seems really attractive (including reasons you mention above).
Maybe call this insecure, but I have no idea what I’d try to do as an entrepreneur, or even where to get started. I know that they say (you yourself I think said it in a previous post), that when you’re no longer on a bimonthly paycheck, you get your ass in gear.
Is baptism by fire the best way about it, or are there resources to help someone figure out if they have a decent shot at it (having a game-plan) before burning bridges?
Tom
this post may be helpful: https://boldanddeterminedarchive.com/2011/07/04/5-signs-its-time-to-become-an-entrepreneur/
good luck.
I don’t think you have to “bite the bullett” to adopt the mindset that nick is talking about. it is one approach, but not necessarily the only approach. Take me, for instance. I, too, earn a monthly paycheck and other benefits and therefore have type of security net. That said, what separates me from most others at work is that i am not a ‘Yes-Man’. If i think that a future meeting proposal is bogus, i oftentimes do not attend. I am not afraid to voice my opinions or disagree with management. This can work for and against you in the workforce. In doing so, you have to accept that the possibility of getting canned is very real, but know in yourself that you will be ok regardless.
“That said, what separates me from most others at work is that i am not a ‘Yes-Man”.
If you have a 9-5 and depend on someone else for a paycheck you are a yes man, period. Say no to the ‘system’ and see what happens.
Gotta tell you Vic, I read a lot of these comments and I really don’t know how your forehead isn’t black and blue from smacking yourself in the head every time you read yet another comment of one of these voyeurs wanting to dip their toes in the water but not wanting to get their feet wet. It makes me feel good sometimes though, to realize that as a man, I really have no competition out there, (until of course they grow a pair after reading your blog for long enough.) Sure I don’t agree with everything you say, (some of the things you post have me screaming bloody murder at the laptop) but that’s what I like. Sane people don’t change the world, crazy people do. The ones who are just crazy enough to make a run at it are usually the ones who get what they were after. I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again, every time I read your blog, it makes me want to kick down my front door and fight the world and I appreciate everything you do.