And It’s Killing You

What I do can be tough. We work long hours and really don't get paid for working overtime. So you have to eye your job for the value it provides because salary just is not what it could be somewhere else. I choose everyday to work here. I don't live a life where I blame other people for my situation. In fact, if you know me unless you ask how work is going you're not going to hear me complain about it because I know what I'm getting myself in to. That's my outlook.

Some of my coworkers are not like me. They get pissed that we work so much and it literally steals their joy. They are not the same person. This job slowly takes them out day by day until they are sad, angry, and upset all the time. I see it happen to a lot of people. I think that happens for two reasons: the unwillingness to say no and the wrong perspective.

I see this job as a study for my job in the future. No one in this profession will deny that you learn a hell of a lot faster then most people your age. You talk to CEOs, CFOs, and controllers of very large companies. If you have the right mindset you really soak in a lot of what's going on around you. The people who get burned out just focus on the grind and the time and not the end goal. I heard a great quote once, "If you want the prize, keep your eye on the target." You have to focus on the task at hand and the reward will come.

Something that has stuck with me from day one is a quote my finance professor would say to us on almost a daily basis: "Don't ever put yourself in a position to be the guy in the clown suit at the Company picnic." It meant a lot of things. Don't put yourself in financial debt to where you have to have a job to survive, and most importantly know your boundaries; what you will and won't do and how far you can be pushed. At least in what I have witnessed a lot of the discontent is people being pushed beyond their limits for too long.

I don't get this way because I understand what I got myself in to, and I don't feel like I have to stay at my job. Life is a lot more than how much you make or what you do. It's about experiences and interactions. Why put yourself through something you hate? We are merely a small speck on the timeline of the universe. Don't waste it doing something you hate.