Help Me Get Rid of My Job!
Is having a job really such a good idea? I am of such a perverse turn of mind, that I have never liked the idea of having a job. I have had many jobs and truth be told, I have a job now in addition to my online income. But I am never easy with the idea of employment and the bigger the employer, the less easy I am with the whole idea.
One of the jobs I did, in fact, truly love was when, many years ago, I worked as deckhand on a commercial fishing vessel. This was a 54 foot single ended bottom fisher working out of Newport, Oregon. Those of you from Oregon familiar with this part of the coast line may have an idea of just how long a go this was. Anyway, it was just the skipper and me and maybe another deckhand or two, and we were the kings of the ocean when we were on the water. Loved the job. We owed no one. We were free and independant.
The other day, I ran across a 2006 blog post from Steve Pavlina titled, "Ten Reasons You Should Never Get a Job." I'm writing about this because I think it is very relevant for anyone seeking greater business/financial/job independance. Basically, Steve breaks it As the title makes clear, Steve has 10 main reasons for not getting a job, and here are some of the highlights:
Income for Dummies Why is getting a job so dumb? Because you only get paid when you’re working. Don’t you see a problem with that, or have you been so thoroughly brainwashed into thinking it’s reasonable and intelligent to only earn income when you’re working? Have you never considered that it might be better to be paid even when you’re not working?
Limited experience The problem with getting experience from a job is that you usually just repeat the same limited experience over and over. You learn a lot in the beginning and then stagnate. This forces you to miss other experiences that would be much more valuable.
Too many mouths to feed Employee income is the most heavily taxed there is. In the USA you can expect that about half your salary will go to taxes. The tax system is designed to disguise how much you’re really giving up because some of those taxes are paid by your employer, and some are deducted from your paycheck. But you can bet that from your employer’s perspective, all of those taxes are considered part of your pay, as well as any other compensation you receive such as benefits.
Way too risky Many employees believe getting a job is the safest and most secure way to support themselves.
I think you get the idea. Steve's ninth reason is truest for me: "Loss of freedom." To some degree, we spend much of our lives and education beging trained to accept the loss of freedom that comes with most employment. Steve's article may very well be a classic of blogging, and I enourage you to check out, "Ten Reasons You Should Never Get a Job."
If any of this resonates as true, if you feel a little bit of tug at your guts, don't give up. If you have any dream at all of working for yourself, don't give up. Keep at it, step by step. Just keep going.
