By Sam De La Bertauche
I like the number 13, and I'm a key believer of making your own luck, so I'm going to force my number 13 liking on you; as we talk about...
13 reasons you should never get a job!
In today's society it is certainly the norm that everyone should have a vocation. A job in which you jump into after education, maybe move between a few different places, gain a few promotions, pay into your pension, then retire at the grand old age of 80 (I say 80 because I suspect the retirement age will be up there by time it's time for me to hang up my working shoes). Now to me, the idea of having a job and ploughing through the day working for someone else has always seemed a bit... weird? Perhaps it was my disdain for any sort of authority or being a control freak, but the idea of going to work for 60 odd years filled me with dread.
Increasingly younger people are questioning this mundane and embedded piece of our society. Whilst those of an older ilk may label these people lazy or juvenile, it definitely makes sense that in a perfect utopian society, jobs would simply not exist.
I will add here; if you have had the joy of being in a job that you have always wanted to do and it fills you with so much joy, then this probably isn't for you. After all, it probably doesn't feel like a job.
Similarly, I am well aware everyone needs money. For now anyway...
What I am going to argue is that the idea of having a job is plain wrong. In the age we live in, society can and should evolve past the point of jobs. Of course if jobs didn't exist, and we found our incomes through other methods certain people and corporations would be screwed. I say these are the people are the way of change, and more than likely have already convinced you that there simply isn't any other choice.
The thing is, why can't we MAKE a choice? You-tubers for example, film themselves doing something they love, and they get paid for it over and over again.
Whilst this can't be directly related to things like food production, is it so far fetched that a system is possible in which everyone can spend their time being productive doing things that they want to do. That way everyone can contribute to society, rather than contributing to the capitalist machine that frankly drains everyone of creativity and motivation.
But I digress! Let's move on with the 13 reasons you should never get a job!
You are trading time for money
Exactly that. How many of you get paid hourly, or even annually for a set amount of hours? Time is a resource that we will never ever get back, and currently the system of jobs means we are trading our valuable finite amount of hours doing something we don't want to do, for money. Wouldn't it make so much more sense to invest your time providing value, then getting paid time and time again?
Imagine putting in hard work creating something amazing and then going out to dinner. Going to bed. Watching TV... all whilst getting paid for it. This is how royalties work for singers, writers, painters and so forth. It's exactly what happens when your favourite You-tuber uploads a video. It's exactly what happens when people update a website with a witty, clever, and altogether brilliant article that you just need to share with all your friends and comment on. In all seriousness, it's true. Anything in this world that has any value can be sold. And normally people pay time and time again, after you initially put the time and effort in.
That may not work for all of life's activities, but it does beg the question as to why we are so content trading our time to do some shitty boring task for some money (and get severely unpaid whilst doing it).
Similarly, do you think your 9 hours of work relates to 9 hours of value created for your company? No way. What you do in one day of work could create value to last a week. Or even a year. That £100 you earned yesterday for 9 hours of work may feel great right now, but think about the £1000's it could earn your boss over the next week, whilst he does NOTHING.
2. You only get paid when you are working
As mentioned above, you only get your wage slip if you march your little butt to work and put in the hours. Sure you might get a few days holiday and sick days, but you know you can't just chill for a few days. You can't go travelling or go on holiday. You can't spend too much precious time with your family, because you won't get paid.
The system is already in place and millions of people get paid when they are doing nothing. It's called passive income and we'll talk about it another time.
But (as above) YouTubers, singers, writers, are already exploiting a system where they create the value, and they can get paid when they are sitting at home doing nothing. Wouldn't it make far more sense to get paid for the value you create and how much it helps people in the future, rather than just getting that cash for working for an hour?
3. It's a waste of a life!
Having a job is a waste of a life. Through some scientific miracle where the chances of occurring in the 0.0000000000000000000000000% life exists, and out of all the potential things that could have come to life, you are one of them. You could even have been one in a billion when you were conceived. Yeah that's right, you are one in a billion.
You have an average life expectancy of around 80, if you manage to avoid serious illnesses and accidents that could strike at any moment. In fact, even tomorrow isn't guaranteed. And, you're going to spend the next 60 years working almost every single day, doing some trivial task that sucks the life out of you. You aren't going exploring, you aren't saving the world, you aren't playing in a field of puppies, you aren't surfing, you aren't painting, you aren't living. Think about how much time you have wasted at work. In fact, think about how much time you have wasted... whilst at work!
Think of what you could have learned in the time you spent at work last year.
I know I'm asking you to think of a lot, and that in itself is dangerous, but keep at it.
My point is, when you are at the end of your life; you will look back and find that a large chunk of it was took up doing something you didn't want to do, and didn't add any real benefit to anyone.
4. You're a slave
Fact of the day (and Google it if you don't believe me), the origin of the word "boss" is the Dutch word: "baas". The original translation of the word baas from Dutch is "master". So go back to work and make your master happy, slave.
Okay, so the origin of a word doesn't make you a slave granted, but think about what other liberties are taken away from you. Are you given a set time and duration in which you can eat? Do you have to turn up at a certain time or you'll get told off? Are you one of the poor sods who has to ask to go to the toilet, or have their toilet breaks timed... ? You get to pick what clothes you wear right? And you can have your hair how you want? No?
How would your slave master react if you got a new tattoo? Or that piercing that you've already wanted?
Another point in line with this, is the size of the rules and restrictions that found in employee manuals nowadays. There are set regulations for pretty much everything at work now. This rigidity in routine and system kills creativity. It is good however in creating an obedient and effective cog that keeps spinning the corporate machine...
5. Do you like getting ripped off to make other people rich?
The simple fact is that however much money you earn at work, is no where near the amount you earn your boss and company. You can be sure that your wages incorporate the money that your boss needs to pay to keep the lights on, to pay the rent on the building, to pay all of the business' taxes. That's before you take into account how much of your "wage" you generously donate to your government. Then the business needs to make your they are earning something from you, so they can be profitable of course.
There are just way too many mouths to feed when it comes to having a job. You are being ripped off every step of the way.
6. It's unsafe
A lot of people think that working for yourself or freelancing is dangerous. There simply is no guarantee that you will earn enough money. That's very true. But having a job is even more dangerous and unstable.
If you are creating the value yourself and have passive income, you aren't limited to doing the same thing every day. For arguments sake, you could have 5 income streams. A writer could write tens of books and have an income stream from each one. OH NO, one book didn't sell! The income from the other 9 will cover it.
What happens though when your company hits a rough patch and doesn't need you? The plug is pulled and you find that safe and reliable job has now vanished.
As mentioned right at the time, this is about control. When you have a job, you are not in control of your destiny. Someone can pull the plug whenever. And what if you aren't happy with the amount you are earning now and want more? Can you work harder and get more? Of course not, you would need to beg your master for a pay rise...
7. No freedom
Perhaps obvious from previous points, but you have no freedom when you are working for someone else. You are contractually obliged to do certain things or they will sue your butt. You have about as much freedom as a dog. You turn up on time, you do are you are told, you get told off if you don't, then you get your treat at the end of it. Good boy.
8. Limited social life
Some of your best friends may be from work, and if they are, please don't be offended!
The point is, your social life is dictated around your job. You spend most of your time with the people who happen to work at the same place, so unlucky if they are dicks. Secondly, when you aren't at work, you will avoid all those people who work different hours, or different days. The love of your life might be working nights when you're on 9-5.
9. It makes you sad!
Working makes people sad! If you are stuck in a job that you don't well and truly love (again if you do, well actually you probably aren't reading anyway so... ) odds are you feel sad. You probably find it hard to sleep Sunday night because of the anxiety of going to spend the next 5 days being bored doing something you don't want to do.
Depression is one of the biggest problems with our society today. It's something I will write about soon, but in short; we are not doing anywhere near enough. And the increasing amounts of people suffering suggest that life itself is just more rubbish and stressful. People are far too sad. There is plenty to find happiness in the world, however the system we all live by means that all the joy and excitement is sucked out of us as it slowly and surely turns us into sad efficient robots.
10. You're another cog in the machine
The capitalist world we live in is one that has encapsulated the modern day way of life. So much so that jobs are becoming more and more trivial and creating less and less value for our world; at the expense of more and more money for the big corporations and big bosses. As a little worker bee, trained and whipped into domestication; taught to follow the rules and turn up on time, trade your finite hours for a little treat, you are just another cog in the machine. Big businesses need people willing to work for nothing (as in no real value), and they exploit them through underpaid wages. They benefit from the hard fought hours doing your job, just so you can go home and switch on your big TV that you don't need, or so you can go and buy things you simply do not need - all so you have to go back to work and earn that cash back!
11. The 6 year version of you would hate you
Perhaps one of the strongest reasons not to get a job, or at least, not get a job that is truly soul destroying and rubbish - is that the 6 year old version of you would hate you. 6 year old's don't get jobs, and why should they? They haven't been exposed to all of the bullshit brainwashing that society has to offer. 6 year old's are innocent. They like to play and they like to have fun. If you think back at what you wanted to be when you were 6 chances are there will be no correlation between what you do now, and what the 6 year old you wanted to do.
Why? We're continuously told as youngsters that any idea we have won't work. Won't work, or "no sweet heart that isn't a real job, how about a tax collector?". So dreams are crushed at such a young age because kids aren't given the freedom to truly seek out a life for themselves. If a kid wants to be a magician when they are younger 9 out of 10 parents would tell them it simply doesn't pay, and pushes them to do maths or something the kid just doesn't like. The result is bad grades, stressed kids, and the same bad attitude handed to them so they can stop their kids dreams.
What would the 6 year old you think of what you do now? Would they be happy and pleased at what their life as become, or would they not get it? Would they look at you and just think you were another boring adult who sold out their dreams?
12. SO BORING
I honestly don't see that I have to expand this point... Jobs are boring. If you are currently in a job that you don't love, chances are you find it boring. Even the fun jobs are boring, if its not what you want to do.
13. Idiots. Idiots everywhere!
Last but not least you have to cope with the idiots.
There will always be idiots in the world, and I am sure you have met quite a few of them. The strange phenomenon is, these idiots seem to excel in the work place. So much so, they tend to always be the people in charge or above you in the pecking order!
There is very little worse than being extremely competent at your job that you hate doing, and someone who has half the brains is in a higher position and is in control of you. Worst still when they feel the need to belittle you or tell you how to do a task that they simply can't do.
Unfortunately it's the way of the world!
Let's conclude!
I want to finish off by saying, if you do have a job you love, or aiming for a job that you love and can make a difference - I salute you.
Ultimately there is a job for everyone and if you are lucky enough to have found that and worked hard enough to achieve it then fair play.
The problem lies in that far too many people are not in jobs that are suited to them. They are in jobs for the money and thus the constraints around what dictates what is and isn't a job, means that they are stressed and depressed.
Society should have a place for every single person to get on and do what they enjoy doing. So much so that with everyone in their place and growing, society itself grows. With everyone happy and contributing the system would be hell of a lot more efficient.
I also don't buy the argument that there are some jobs people will always have to be. There is a wide variety of people with an even wider variety of things they enjoy doing. There must be a system where every need we have as a society is fulfilled by someone who enjoys doing it. And for all them really bad jobs... robots...
There is ways to earn money for yourself without a job and to earn money even whilst you are sleeping. This is how society should be, and thus getting a job is just stupid.
What do you think? Do you think we will ever get to a place in our society where jobs become defunct and everyone can spend their time being creative and contributing? Or are you a cog who thinks jobs are necessary and always will be?
Friday, October 30, 2015
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Disinformation Is Boggling My Mind
By Gini Cunningham
It used to be when you thought something might be true but you weren't sure, you asked questions, conducted research, applied the "truth" meter, and then verified the authenticity of a matter before making a public announcement. Thus I would never proclaim my neighbor had received threats from a son, a friend had terminal cancer, or a family member had been heralded at work for achievement without checking things out first. And probably I would never share these events anyway as the first is very private and unless my neighbor has asked me to take action, the matter is none of my business and out of my control. My sick friend is even more private and I am certain that s/he would never want me to divulge information helter-skelter anyway. Instead we would chat face-to-face as s/he advised me into action.
Even when my children are awarded prizes and accolades, I am hesitant to spread the word because I do not want to appear overbearing or bragging and my celebration for their success will more likely be private and personal. I am abundantly proud of all three of my children. They have made me proud, but few outside of our immediate circle really want to have their ears talked off on how terrific my kids are. I've been in that position with other friends and acquaintances who prattle off every award and reward known and after time the diatribe becomes monotonous and my mind withdraws. This is especially true on the second, third, fourth, etc. rendition of this particular child's success.
Why is it then that suddenly as a public we accept disinformation with neither pause nor hesitation? Someone declares that the President is not a citizen even though facts prove otherwise and this disinformation spreads and expands and foments under the breath and more often out loud in outbursts of negativity. Another states that the government is going to round up all of our guns and disarm us so that we can be taken hostage and imprisoned. While no one in the government has even suggested such a move, this lie has exploded as some residents stockpile rifles, pistols, and assault weapons along with mountains of ammunition. Even when proof is offered, disinformation overpowers sense and the lie perpetuates.
Planned Parenthood has provided research centers with fetal matter to be studied for the benefit of all. They do not sell it, they do not harvest it without great thought and care, and yet a falsified film is believed as opposed to records and documentation. A service that offers health care to millions of individuals who would quite possibly not receive it otherwise, is vilified and threatened with cutting or ending all funding for the entire operation in the balance. Even when evidence is offered and the doctoring of the film is exposed, some wallow in the disinformation thinking that with enough pronouncements it will become true. Ignorance reigns.
I would really like some truth. Yes, give me your thoughts and then allow me to prove or disprove them. With evidence in hand, from me and more from you, we can discuss, examine, and then draw conclusions based on research and facts rather than on emotions and hostilities. What example do we set for future generations when lies and shrieks overtake honesty and truth? Disinformation is frightening and those who disseminate it in mighty roars are a great disservice to our collective mind and knowledge base.
Ovulation tests
It used to be when you thought something might be true but you weren't sure, you asked questions, conducted research, applied the "truth" meter, and then verified the authenticity of a matter before making a public announcement. Thus I would never proclaim my neighbor had received threats from a son, a friend had terminal cancer, or a family member had been heralded at work for achievement without checking things out first. And probably I would never share these events anyway as the first is very private and unless my neighbor has asked me to take action, the matter is none of my business and out of my control. My sick friend is even more private and I am certain that s/he would never want me to divulge information helter-skelter anyway. Instead we would chat face-to-face as s/he advised me into action.
Even when my children are awarded prizes and accolades, I am hesitant to spread the word because I do not want to appear overbearing or bragging and my celebration for their success will more likely be private and personal. I am abundantly proud of all three of my children. They have made me proud, but few outside of our immediate circle really want to have their ears talked off on how terrific my kids are. I've been in that position with other friends and acquaintances who prattle off every award and reward known and after time the diatribe becomes monotonous and my mind withdraws. This is especially true on the second, third, fourth, etc. rendition of this particular child's success.
Why is it then that suddenly as a public we accept disinformation with neither pause nor hesitation? Someone declares that the President is not a citizen even though facts prove otherwise and this disinformation spreads and expands and foments under the breath and more often out loud in outbursts of negativity. Another states that the government is going to round up all of our guns and disarm us so that we can be taken hostage and imprisoned. While no one in the government has even suggested such a move, this lie has exploded as some residents stockpile rifles, pistols, and assault weapons along with mountains of ammunition. Even when proof is offered, disinformation overpowers sense and the lie perpetuates.
Planned Parenthood has provided research centers with fetal matter to be studied for the benefit of all. They do not sell it, they do not harvest it without great thought and care, and yet a falsified film is believed as opposed to records and documentation. A service that offers health care to millions of individuals who would quite possibly not receive it otherwise, is vilified and threatened with cutting or ending all funding for the entire operation in the balance. Even when evidence is offered and the doctoring of the film is exposed, some wallow in the disinformation thinking that with enough pronouncements it will become true. Ignorance reigns.
I would really like some truth. Yes, give me your thoughts and then allow me to prove or disprove them. With evidence in hand, from me and more from you, we can discuss, examine, and then draw conclusions based on research and facts rather than on emotions and hostilities. What example do we set for future generations when lies and shrieks overtake honesty and truth? Disinformation is frightening and those who disseminate it in mighty roars are a great disservice to our collective mind and knowledge base.
Ovulation tests
Thursday, October 01, 2015
The Calendar Called "Life"
By Sweta P Mishra
If you are twenty five years old, you should have already got a job or at least should be on your way. If you are thirty you should be planning a family or at least be married. By thirty five, you should have bought your own house and be taking the stress of the EMI. I can go on... Truth be told, I have myself fallen prey to what I call a "mandatory stress calendar for social success". If you do not cater to these periodic "stress milestones", you are not successful as per social norms. Your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors ensure you have a very clear vision of this calendar. If you lose track of it consciously or unknowingly, they make sure to hammer some sense (which they might explain as social intelligence) to you, remind you how you have fallen behind and leave no stone unturned to ensure that you are back in the race.
I must clarify that I am not opinionated against age old wisdom, neither do I grudge individuals who have happily chosen to do what their fellow human beings do. But I am a little worried about few members of our species who have chosen to tread a different path- a path slightly non-compliant, a path that probably stems from a cognitive make that does not recognize social compliance as the greatest virtue. And the reason of my worry- purely selfish. If there are two situations which have given me the most substantial amount of agony in my life, they are: 1) Whenever I asked "why"? 2) Whenever I asked "why not"? My heart goes out to all my fellow human beings who believe that asking for a rationale is fundamental to a thinking being's life, because I know the amount of struggle this approach brings with itself.
While I stumble and tumble every single day embracing my non-compliant cognitive make (for the lack of a better word), I have developed what I call my own perspective to dealing with this "imperative stress calendar". This helps me do two things: enables me to breathe when I am pushed to believe that I have fallen behind in the race and secondly, helps me address situations when I feel judged.
Having lived half my life, having looked around and viewed the life of friends and family, the biggest observation which has now become a guiding principle for me is "Complete compliance is not necessarily a virtue". In the other words, if everyone does something, then that action is not necessarily correct or moral. That is, whoever does not follow suit is not by default wrong or immoral. Think back to whatever you remember of your history class in school and you would note that at least two to three social evils which were common phenomenon during that era. And everybody lived that as a natural part of their lives. But today, we look back at them as social evils which were eradicated. Correctness I believe, can't be debated without context. And contexts differ from one person to another.
The second observation relates to a phenomenon which I call "half-truths as ethical basis to norms". A wise author once said "I don't believe in borrowed wisdom". I like the very audacity of the statement. A classic statement based on borrowed wisdom: "Marriage completes an individual". May be it does for some and doesn't for others. But here is where the problem begins, calling an individual selfish because he enjoys the "no strings attached" feeling that comes with bachelorhood. Let's acknowledge that while some run away from marriage to preserve freedom, most get married to find companionship. Both cases involve a personal motive. So why do we raise our eyebrows at the first situation and consider the second a normal progression in life? What makes the first situation or individual an anomaly? That is because we choose to focus on half of the truth- we see motive when someone chooses to move away from norms but we close our eyes to the motives that dictate compliance to norms. That is a very convenient usage of a half-truth, isn't it?
I know many individuals who have maintained the so called social schedule, achieved the right milestone (from the mandatory stress calendar) at the right time, and are yet deprived of a basic sense of well-being.
Look around and you will see that happiness can't be the outcome of a calendarized life. Neither will co-existence be possible unless we get rid of a world view that differentiates the non- compliant from the compliant. Look at any aspect of life and you will find numerous instances when you have either judged or been judged for not following a prevalent norm. To question, to drift (if life allows you that luxury) and to tread your own path is imperative to find your own truth. Of all the species, us human beings should be the first to make space for it.
If you are twenty five years old, you should have already got a job or at least should be on your way. If you are thirty you should be planning a family or at least be married. By thirty five, you should have bought your own house and be taking the stress of the EMI. I can go on... Truth be told, I have myself fallen prey to what I call a "mandatory stress calendar for social success". If you do not cater to these periodic "stress milestones", you are not successful as per social norms. Your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors ensure you have a very clear vision of this calendar. If you lose track of it consciously or unknowingly, they make sure to hammer some sense (which they might explain as social intelligence) to you, remind you how you have fallen behind and leave no stone unturned to ensure that you are back in the race.
I must clarify that I am not opinionated against age old wisdom, neither do I grudge individuals who have happily chosen to do what their fellow human beings do. But I am a little worried about few members of our species who have chosen to tread a different path- a path slightly non-compliant, a path that probably stems from a cognitive make that does not recognize social compliance as the greatest virtue. And the reason of my worry- purely selfish. If there are two situations which have given me the most substantial amount of agony in my life, they are: 1) Whenever I asked "why"? 2) Whenever I asked "why not"? My heart goes out to all my fellow human beings who believe that asking for a rationale is fundamental to a thinking being's life, because I know the amount of struggle this approach brings with itself.
While I stumble and tumble every single day embracing my non-compliant cognitive make (for the lack of a better word), I have developed what I call my own perspective to dealing with this "imperative stress calendar". This helps me do two things: enables me to breathe when I am pushed to believe that I have fallen behind in the race and secondly, helps me address situations when I feel judged.
Having lived half my life, having looked around and viewed the life of friends and family, the biggest observation which has now become a guiding principle for me is "Complete compliance is not necessarily a virtue". In the other words, if everyone does something, then that action is not necessarily correct or moral. That is, whoever does not follow suit is not by default wrong or immoral. Think back to whatever you remember of your history class in school and you would note that at least two to three social evils which were common phenomenon during that era. And everybody lived that as a natural part of their lives. But today, we look back at them as social evils which were eradicated. Correctness I believe, can't be debated without context. And contexts differ from one person to another.
The second observation relates to a phenomenon which I call "half-truths as ethical basis to norms". A wise author once said "I don't believe in borrowed wisdom". I like the very audacity of the statement. A classic statement based on borrowed wisdom: "Marriage completes an individual". May be it does for some and doesn't for others. But here is where the problem begins, calling an individual selfish because he enjoys the "no strings attached" feeling that comes with bachelorhood. Let's acknowledge that while some run away from marriage to preserve freedom, most get married to find companionship. Both cases involve a personal motive. So why do we raise our eyebrows at the first situation and consider the second a normal progression in life? What makes the first situation or individual an anomaly? That is because we choose to focus on half of the truth- we see motive when someone chooses to move away from norms but we close our eyes to the motives that dictate compliance to norms. That is a very convenient usage of a half-truth, isn't it?
I know many individuals who have maintained the so called social schedule, achieved the right milestone (from the mandatory stress calendar) at the right time, and are yet deprived of a basic sense of well-being.
Look around and you will see that happiness can't be the outcome of a calendarized life. Neither will co-existence be possible unless we get rid of a world view that differentiates the non- compliant from the compliant. Look at any aspect of life and you will find numerous instances when you have either judged or been judged for not following a prevalent norm. To question, to drift (if life allows you that luxury) and to tread your own path is imperative to find your own truth. Of all the species, us human beings should be the first to make space for it.
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