Rules To Work By

Being the age I am, I do at times tend to think to myself, what have you learnt. Dependant on the day, the answer is usually nothing. I don't know anything.

Of course, that not true of anyone. Simply living teaches all of us something, it's just difficult to remember any of it on the spur of the moment, especially at the age I cunningly neglected to inform you of.

This being the case, I thought I would put a few of my learnings down if nothing else to make me feel a little better, but hopefully, they may resonate with some of you also.

You do not have a boss

If you work in any kind of organisation, you have colleagues. Those colleagues have different responsibilities, some of those responsibilities may be to manage a workforce. You may be one of that workforce. You may then derive that person to be your Boss.

You would be wrong.

They are still your colleague. They went through school just like you, through the awkward stages of puberty just like you, they experience fear and joy in just the same way as you. In short, they are only human just like you, and as such, they have no authority over you. You may have the lowest position in the company, but human to human you are no less than they are.

If you have a "Boss", you need to be thinking about another way to earn a living.

You are worth way more than anyone is willing to pay you

Time is money, and your time...literally.... the ever-decreasing moments of your existence on this planet is being traded-in for someone else's benefit.

I know, we all have to eat and the system in place is there to make the exchange, but how could any amount possibly compensate you for the amount of life you burn on a daily basis.

It can't. What you have here is a compromise and its something you have to decide for yourself, but be aware. You are not bound by that compromise. it is yours to take or leave, and in my experience, you will continue to survive with or without it, so just make sure its something YOU are willing to do.

Prestige is worthless

I have worked for a few corporations now, and they all have one thing in common when it comes to getting you to do something you wouldn't normally do for the money.

Prestige.

Working unpaid overtime because the company is held in high esteem by the general populous, using your own time to travel to events for "the experience" or because "so and so" will view you in a more favourable light.

And it's not just work. It's the car you can't afford, the house in a "select" area with a mortgage to match, it's climbing the social ladder at any cost.

Prestige is a device to impress other people and can be used as a strong motivator, but why should you care what other people think about you. Ultimately, they will make up their own minds whatever you do.

If you want something, by all means, go for it, but do it for YOU and nobody else.

Everything is pointless

In little over a billion years, the sun will engulf the earth and all life will be extinguished.

Long before that happens your own personal universe will experience a similar dramatic conclusion.

The things you do today will in time, usually a very short amount of time, be forgotten. The universe doesn't really care what you do. It will progress with or without your input.

Therefore, there is no point to anything.

But that's not the point.

Meaning is a very human thing. It doesn't exist until you create it.

You, and no-one else in that head of yours, decide what is important.

YOU are in fact the centre of this universe. Make your own rules.