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.
