What it is … and what it is not

Chapter 259

“ . . . corporate refugees,” looking for connection and meaning. - Perdue

This is suggested as the reason that most white collar workers, leave the organizations and big corporations that they work for, that they are “escaping” the lack of connection and meaning that they have failed to find in their well-paying jobs. Or perhaps rather, that their well paying jobs have failed to deliver? Nope, on second and third thought, connection and meaning has to lie solely on the shoulders of the employee who took the job, unless you took a job that was described as high connection and very meaningful. Most don’t get those job descriptions.

As I argued recently, imbuing work with these religious symbols and expectations is a failed expedition even before it leaves the train station, simply because in most cases, it can’t be more than it is, no matter how badly we may wish otherwise. For the vast majority of the time, work is just. . . . work. Occasionally it even pays! You get financial renumeration in exchange for your efforts or time or expertise or for following instructions decided by someone other than you. But this is not enough for most people I talk to, they want more.

And so they seek to escape to some perceived emotional utopia of compensation, where they do precisely what they want, with people they like and want to hang out with, and get paid handsomely while changing the world in some sort of magical manner. I hear this narrative on a regular basis. And if you think this is going to happen to you, then I also have a whole herd of unicorns I can sell you. Here is the real deal . . .

Do the hard work.

Make/create something valuable.

Be content.