13 July 2009

Priorities: Are you working for YOUR future, someone else's, or no one's?


Just before I got off from work today, one of my co-workers came up to me and asked, "You don't work much off-duty anymore do you?" He asked me "Why?" when I told him that I did not work as much off-duty assignments as I used to. My answer ... "My personal time has become more valuable to me than what this job can provide."

You see, not so long ago, I came to the realization that my job doesn't appreciate me. My job doesn't care that I want to go home when it's time to go home. If there's a 3-car pile up and I'm the only guy available, I'm stuck. I realized that I am just a cog in the machine - a spoke in the wheel. With or without me, the machine cranks on and the wheel continues to roll. When I came to that realization, I also came to the realization that if I did not work for what's in my best interests no one else would do so for me. I work with guys who have given over 25 to 30+ years of their lives to this job, and many of them are STILL on the road.

Even better ... shortly after that previous conversation, as I was parking my squad car, I came across a woman who works in my courthouse. When she asked me how I was doing, I told her "I'm one day closer to retirement!" She then told me that she had "retired 6 years ago." I cannot even begin to tell you how many mall security guards, private investigators, or bounty hunters I have encountered who are all "retired" cops, yet are still working some kind of job in order to make ends meet.

Personally, I made a decision that MY STORY would not be like one of those. There was a time when being a cop was all I wanted to be. Now, being a cop is nothing more than what I do. It is what I do to pay my bills, and provide for my family while I steadily build upon what it is I really want to be - which is an example of success. I want to be able to show you that if you narrow down what is you want to have and become, and you are willing to put forth the effort necessary, you can live your dreams.

Right now, I'm working on my "15 Year Plan." My plan for the next 15 years is; in addition to doing my "day job," to continue speaking & writing, and making my bones as a speaker and author so that when I retire from Law Enforcement I will have used those years to build myself as a brand. The work I will do will be of my own creation and because of that it will always be what brings me happiness.

So, while I still have a job to do "9 to 5"-wise, I find myself working FOR myself. I am also seeing the benefits of my labor. I'm working for my future. I'm working to reach my goals, and as I travel along the way, I am blessed with many new and exciting contacts and experiences that would have never presented themselves if all I did was go to work, come home, and spend my summers going to Disneyworld & Six Flags.

SOME pleasures will have to be ... deferred while I'm grinding for these next 15 years and building my foundation - for MY future.

Let me now ask you ... How far ahead are you planning for YOUR success?
Set a goal.
Set a date.
Create a plan and put that plan in motion.
Work towards it, and as time passes, you will find your goal working its way towards you.
Do nothing and you will gain nothing.

Can you really afford to allow time to prove me right?

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