First, all of us should be investing our money for the future-however long that may be.  We should not be living for a future we have no guarantee of seeing.

Bullet #8 in my post How To Know If You’re a Corporate Slave, speaks to those working/living for retirement.  It’s a sad place to be when all of your energy and focus is on something unknown like retirement.  But we do it and we’re encouraged to as well.  We’re encouraged by Wall Street and the organizations we work for.  Why is that?  With Wall Street it makes total sense; follow the money and you will find Nirvana.  The organization’s motivations can be a little murky.  It can be honest care for you (rare) or it can be a way of putting golden shackles on your wrists and ankles.

I had a conversation with a former colleague who remarked that he was happy that he had a job and only needed 12 more years before retirement.  That statement was not horrific, but the fact that he didn’t say anything else about his work was.  He’s all but given up and given in.  I don’t think his organization minds…

Regardless of where you stand on the idea of retirement, consider these 5 myths:

1. Other people’s experience will let me know how things will go for me. 
2. I can do what I’ve always wanted to do when I retire. 
3. Employers offer retirement benefits to retain talent. 
4. I shouldn’t let go of those vested benefits that I’ve worked so hard to earn. 
5. I need to stay with this company to provide a secure future for myself when I’m too old to work.

 

In my post, How To Know If Your a Corporate Slave, last week I noted that if you would lie rather than take a stand on an issue, you were either on your way or already a corporate slave.  Before you shake your head at the transgression of untruth, don’t forget that we all can fall prey to telling lies.  For example; "I didn’t tell my boss that I disagreed with our company’s approach to succession planning, because he said we’re world class in succession planning.  I know I agreed with him when I was asked, but now is not the right time to take a stand.  We have a one-on-one next week anyway…I’ll tell him then."  Sound familiar?

The above example is to illustrate how we voluntarily kill our freedoms and kill our integrity when we choose to lie and not take a stand-no matter how unpopular.  It’s not lost on me that some consultants/coaches/experts might say that the example really wasn’t lying it was using keen strategy to maneuver inside of a matrix organization.  BULLOGNE!

Could it be that we’ve even distorted what a lie is?  Have we compartmentalized things to the degree that we’ll pick and choose when a lie is needed?  Sadly, many have and the numbers are growing.  Some very well intentioned (albeit enslaved) people don’t realize what their trading in this corporate game.  We all trade something.  The question is; can you live with what you’ve traded away?  Do you even know what you’ve traded?

The answer is; you’ve trade your freedom…the following are the things/opportunities you’ve traded away:

1. Freedom to be authentic (who you really are).
2. Freedom to tell the truth. 
3. Freedom to care about your work (the discipline you were wired to do).
4. Freedom to lead others.
5. Freedom to help your organization-really help.
6. Freedom to be an advocate for your customers.
7. Freedom to leave (your organization) something that isn’t working.
8. Freedom to pursue what you’ve been ignoring all your life.
9. Freedom to find out that life is most important-not career.
10. Freedom to wake up.

There are specific strategies (not lies) that I teach clients on "turning around."  Here are three:

1. Stop what you’re doing and make a decision about what you want the rest of your story (life, legacy, career, family, God) to look like.
2. Don’t kid yourself, depending on how enslaved you are, this will not be an easy road.
3. Get some people (people who believe in truth) to help you on the long journey ahead.

This post’s title may seem alarming, but in our cookie cutter/make it easy world it would be dangerous to use any other. 

As I mentioned in last week’s post (How To Know If You’re a Corporate Slave), lack of purpose (specifically life) will create a condition that leads to enslavement to your career.  If you’re not careful you’ll wake up and find yourself dead…even if you’re still breathing.

The following outlines how (mistakenly) purpose became the food of mystics, preachers, artists and the like:

• As information began to flow more rapidly, we got bored.  Yes, bored!  We now have so many choices and it leads to…well…life surfing.  Life surfing is not to unlike channel surfing, since it is the sad practice of jumping from one thing to another.  Two years of this, three years of that, but nothing sticks, and nothing grows.
• We fell in love with celebrity.  Idol worship is another term.  We not only became interested in where Tom Brady spent the holidays, but we anointed him to hero.  And since he’s our hero we don’t need a purpose.  Why have a purpose if Tom can live it out for us-on the field and off.
• We’re too comfortable.  One of the most lethal poison pills is comfort/ease.  Sadly, we’ve come to expect it, and many would have it no other way.

Now here are my recommendations for turning around:

• Identify what makes you come alive/what breaks your heart/what you’d be willing to give your all too.  Now go pursue it!  You can do this in many ways, but you must pursue it.
• Become an alien.  I’m serious…start being different.  If you continue to act and think like the herd, you’ll be just like them; an unspoken statistic.  You were created uniquely (no DNA like your’s) so live accordingly.  Yes, it will be painful in the short run.  However, your concern should not be on the short term pain.
• Get a coach, advisor, guide, etc.  You’ll need people that will help, especially when you feel like giving up.
• Stop fighting God.  He has the keys to real purpose, and he’s not your enemy.
• Give your commitment time (lot’s of it).  Change is a process not momentary event.

I knew a lady once who always seemed uneasy in her daily work life.  It wasn’t everyday, but I started to notice a trend; when things were good at the organization, then things were good with her.  The same applied when things were bad.  Is that ever a good place to be?  Not in my book, but the former describes many workers/slaves in Corporate America.

To some it seems reasonable that work would define us.  Our economic well-being, sense of belonging, need for exorcising ghosts or greed would explain much.  Not to mention how many hours we spend there.  I see much danger up ahead in Corporate America.  Any system that creates a condition of self-imposed slavery is bound to rupture.  Maybe not a unrepairable rupture, but a rupture just the same.  Understand me, I’m not saying that Corporate America will cease to exist.  There is a heart issue here.  The death of a heart is a tragic thing.  It’s the center of your universe, whether you know it or not.

So how do you avoid the trap of corporate definition?  Think about the following:

• Don’t kid yourself, it won’t be easy to change.  It will take hard work, but it is simple (thankfully).
• Make the decision to turn around.  That may mean you choose not to gamble in Vegas or buy that new diamond.
• Remember, the organization cares about the bottom line first.  Your heart is a by-the-way issue to them. 
• Eventually (through retirement, downsizing or firing), the organization will ask you to step aside…no matter how great you are today.
• Start valuing (really valuing) the hidden things.
• It’s your choice!  The life you create/shape will be credited to you.  Make sure it breathes in eternity.

As modern day human becomings, we value safety and security.  Maybe too much…In this post I want to expose the dangers of playing it safe, and how that can lead you to becoming a voluntary slave of your organization.

Think for a moment about your current state.  When it comes to your work, do you manage from a perspective of playing not to lose?  When a controversial issue comes up, do you speak up or keep silent?  Do you prefer to agree with your boss…even when you know he/or she is wrong?  Truth will be the acid test here.  I’ll assume that you’re being honest with yourself and want to get better.

The following are some moves you can make to get out of the business of playing it safe:

• Start taking some risks.  Make these risks small at first, then gradually make them bigger as you go along.  For example, maybe all your life you believed that investing in the stock market was foolish.  How about doing some research (historic in nature) to see where you could invest a little.  Remember, risk rarely causes great loss, but stupidity does often.
• Give up control.  This may be the hardest thing you’ll ever attempt to do.  I’m not advocating a "what the hell" attitude.  I’m advocating that you stop thinking you can control the outcome of things you know are out of your hands.  When you give up control, you’ll begin to see life as dynamic versus static.
• Stop seeking comfort.  One my concerns for America is our obsession with comfort and ease.  A false belief that we’re special and deserve all of the fruit God has provided.  If all you pursue and want is comfort, it is a certainty that your growth has stopped.

People who play it safe will invariably become voluntary slaves of the organization they work for.  Something in them always convinces that to move away from the safety of the shore is foolish. They hear the voices that question giving up a 401k, a pension, health benefits, and without a doubt money.  These are the tried and true techniques of a corporate slave-owner

All of us struggle with playing it safe, but the greatest road we can chart is the one filled with risk and loss.  That’s where we find our Destiny, and that’s where we lead others to a better future.