The thought of safe living usually brings to mind one word, BORING! Right? During your funeral, your family and friends stand and say, he/she lived a safe life. He didn’t have a lot of money, but at least he was stable. Who wants to be the person who lived a safe life? Certainly not me. We talk about living life to the fullest, but what most of us do is to live a life within the green zone. Few, very few live a life outside this place of comfort. It is quite scary for people to think of what would be if they lived life as if…
I believe that for a lot of Americans, we have been taught to live a safe life. It has been engrained in our soul. And for good reasons. The past generations dealt with the Great Depression and scarcity that I cannot imagine. So blaming is not warranted here. We want a good job, a nice house, and a decent 401k.
As a country we are known for the American dream. The idea that anyone, of any race, of any social class can do anything that they dream. This is the land of opportunity. The land of the free and home of the brave. So why don’t we act like it in our daily lives? The founders of our country knew exactly what this mentality was all about. In fact, many gave up everything to come to this country to pursue their dream. So what mentality did they possess? That could be a post in itself, but the point here is what happened to that mentality?
Many have become drones, seeking a good(safe) job, with benefits, and a 401k. There’s nothing wrong with stability and seeking a standard of living, but what happened to the spirit of the American dream? Why have we become a slave to a life of mediocrity? We sit around and talk about job security like it is something to be had. The best job security is to realize that you are in business for yourself. You own your own business. Call it yournamehere, Inc.
So, the post is titled, step one, so I bet you want to know what that entails. First and foremost you must change your mindset. Job security is not a milestone, it cannot be held onto, it does not last. Get the idea of job security out of your vocabulary. Is it gone? … if not, take the time to get rid of it. Go on, I’ll still be here.
So what does one do, now that we have banished the idea of riding on something that does not exist? Think about yourself as a business. You now work for yourself. Everything falls on your shoulders. You are a free agent, even if you work for a fortune 500 company. In the future posts, we will discuss what this means to different people.
