One of my friends recently committed herself to a healthier, fitter lifestyle. It started off as a very healthy change for her, but at some stage it turned into an obsession. She now spends hours a day training, documents and reviews everything she eats, yet is not training for anything specific.
In her life outside training, nothing has importance anymore. A dinner out cannot be enjoyed as she can't control what the chef uses as ingredients. Movies are out of the question, "don't you know how much calories are in the butter they put on popcorn!" and family outings get in the way of her training scedule. She's lost sight of something.
I have another friend who used to be the ultimate family man. Everything he did at work was driven by his desire to improve the lifestyle and standard of living of his wife and children. He just loved going home and sharing the fruits of his labours with them.
This friend was very concientious at work. Of course he was. His inspiration was the wellbeing of those he loved. So one day he got promoted. It was well deserved. When this happened though, something in his mind changed. All of a sudden he started measuring his worth by how far up the corporate ladder he could climb. His wife and family were relegated to a competing interest for his time. Time with them was time away from his career pursuits.
Both of these friends of mine have become slaves in today's world. They have become slaves because they have lost sight of the things they were working for. Having lost sight of these things, work is the only thing that is left for them. Work has become their lives.
In the first case, an effort to live a healthier and fuller life twisted around and on top of itself, into a situation where there is no room for the life she originally wanted. In the second case, the family which were the inspiration for success ended up being regarded as a competing interest for the time which could have been spent in the office.
200 years ago, people did not do this. Life was about living, life was about family and work was about putting food on the table. The only people for whom work was the end, rather than the means, were slaves. And slavery has been outlawed. Yet today, people constantly get the means confused with the end, and then wonder why at retirement there is nothing else in their lives.
Ask yourself if there is work in your life which serves no purpose. It could be an exercise regime, a career, or even your perception on keeping your home overly clean.
If there is, you have possibly enslaved yourself to an idea. If this is the case, ask yourself what this work will bring you in 20 or 30 years time. Happiness? Family? Friends? Or 20 - 30 years of opportunity lost, which could have been spent with family, friends and happiness.
If you have become a slave to something, its probably because you have lost sight of the important things in your life. So take a weekend off whatever you are working on and spend it reviewing what is important to you. While doing this, make sure you separate out the things that are important to your boss, or trainer, as their goals are not yours. They have vested interests in manipulating your goals to be in line with theirs.
If you do this exercise properly, you should end up with a list of things which are benefits of your toil, not part of the work itself. And they should be things that enhance your life. The goals of the company you work for should not be on your list. So a career goal could be early retirement, or an annual holiday to a remote part of the world. A fitness goal could be climbing to base camp Everest. Meeting a project deadline, or doing more repetitions at a higher weight are the type of thing which should NOT be on your list.
Once you get this right, you will have something we call perspective. You will be living your own life again. This will give you the ability to relegate work into a supporting role in your life, rather than the lead role. And from your position of vision, you will be able to see that there are better ways to achieve your life goals, rather than through your slavery of choice.
In her life outside training, nothing has importance anymore. A dinner out cannot be enjoyed as she can't control what the chef uses as ingredients. Movies are out of the question, "don't you know how much calories are in the butter they put on popcorn!" and family outings get in the way of her training scedule. She's lost sight of something.
I have another friend who used to be the ultimate family man. Everything he did at work was driven by his desire to improve the lifestyle and standard of living of his wife and children. He just loved going home and sharing the fruits of his labours with them.
This friend was very concientious at work. Of course he was. His inspiration was the wellbeing of those he loved. So one day he got promoted. It was well deserved. When this happened though, something in his mind changed. All of a sudden he started measuring his worth by how far up the corporate ladder he could climb. His wife and family were relegated to a competing interest for his time. Time with them was time away from his career pursuits.
Both of these friends of mine have become slaves in today's world. They have become slaves because they have lost sight of the things they were working for. Having lost sight of these things, work is the only thing that is left for them. Work has become their lives.
In the first case, an effort to live a healthier and fuller life twisted around and on top of itself, into a situation where there is no room for the life she originally wanted. In the second case, the family which were the inspiration for success ended up being regarded as a competing interest for the time which could have been spent in the office.
200 years ago, people did not do this. Life was about living, life was about family and work was about putting food on the table. The only people for whom work was the end, rather than the means, were slaves. And slavery has been outlawed. Yet today, people constantly get the means confused with the end, and then wonder why at retirement there is nothing else in their lives.
Ask yourself if there is work in your life which serves no purpose. It could be an exercise regime, a career, or even your perception on keeping your home overly clean.
If there is, you have possibly enslaved yourself to an idea. If this is the case, ask yourself what this work will bring you in 20 or 30 years time. Happiness? Family? Friends? Or 20 - 30 years of opportunity lost, which could have been spent with family, friends and happiness.
If you have become a slave to something, its probably because you have lost sight of the important things in your life. So take a weekend off whatever you are working on and spend it reviewing what is important to you. While doing this, make sure you separate out the things that are important to your boss, or trainer, as their goals are not yours. They have vested interests in manipulating your goals to be in line with theirs.
If you do this exercise properly, you should end up with a list of things which are benefits of your toil, not part of the work itself. And they should be things that enhance your life. The goals of the company you work for should not be on your list. So a career goal could be early retirement, or an annual holiday to a remote part of the world. A fitness goal could be climbing to base camp Everest. Meeting a project deadline, or doing more repetitions at a higher weight are the type of thing which should NOT be on your list.
Once you get this right, you will have something we call perspective. You will be living your own life again. This will give you the ability to relegate work into a supporting role in your life, rather than the lead role. And from your position of vision, you will be able to see that there are better ways to achieve your life goals, rather than through your slavery of choice.
About the Author:
Gnifrus Urquart recognised a long time ago the way to financial freedom comes down to 3 things; increasing, managing and investing your cash. You can peruse his investment strategies today Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.
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