02 August 2012

Making Decisions, "Man`ing Up" & Making Moves


I'm not a fan of Country Western music, but there was one song I have always liked since I was little kid. It's called "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers. The chorus goes, "You've gotta know when to hold them ... know when to fold them ... know when to walk away ... know when to run. You never count your money when you're sitting at the table. There'll be plenty time for counting ... when the dealing's done."

I retired from my career in Law Enforcement in 2011 and I spent the last year, building my Life Coaching and speaking businesses (www.HRJREnterprises.com). In June, a friend offered me a position on her Admissions team for a post-secondary technical school she was hired to take over. I saw it as a way to further help people improve themselves. I even called it "Life Coaching 2.0" because not only would there be people I could help, but with the school I had a physical entity to plug the people into.

However, as I learned the job and did the job, I learned that it just was not a good fit for me, and today - August 1, 2012 - I made the decision to "walk away" from the job. It wasn't an easy decision and I left behind some great people, but at the end of the day, I had to make a move that was best for me, my family and my peace of mind.

How do you know if you're a slave to your job?
  • If you take your paycheck over your peace of mind, or ...
  • If you can't be who you are because you have to be what the job wants you to be ...
... You just might be a slave.

Far too often in our lives we find ourselves in uncomfortable positions that seem impossible to get out of. The reality is these situations are not impossible to remove ourselves from; they're simply very difficult to remove ourselves from. There are all kinds of consequences to take into consideration; but the fact of the matter is, there are always consequences. There are consequences for the things we do as well as for the things we don't do. At some point we have to make a choice ... and then act on it.

The main reason why so many people are unhappy is that they know what choice they have to make, but they allow their fear of facing those consequences; or worse, their fear of the unknown to keep them from taking the necessary action to achieve their desired results.

The bottom line is this ... Nothing in life worth having comes easy. If it did, we wouldn't appreciate it. People can find freedom in the work they do in life ... provided they find or create work worth living for as opposed to working just to make a living. Getting your freedom won't be easy, but "when the dealing's done" it will sure be worth everything you went through to get it ... THIS I KNOW.