Guilty Work – Why you stay at a job you hate.

I was raised in East Texas and the culture there is, if you’re not working overtime, you’re not “providing” for your family.

It doesn’t matter how much or how little money you make, what matters in that culture/mindset is that you “work hard”. And believe me East Texas is not the only place this mindset is prevalent.

As a child I was required to work around the farm and I could tell that in order to be accepted in that culture you needed to work hard.

Also, there were many sayings that were programed into my head that had me associate making money easily or making a lot of money with being “bad or wrong”.

Sayings like

• He/she/they have more money than brains
• He/she/they have more money than God – (when talking about what was seen as a stupid financial move by someone wealthy)
• He/she/they don’t have to work for a living – (said about anyone who “seemed” to have more money and/or an easier life than the person talking)
• He/she/they don’t care they’re rich
• He/she/they are snobs – (said about anyone who “seemed” to have more money and/or an easier life than the person talking)
• She’s a rich bitch
• He/she thinks they’re better than you/me/us – (said about anyone who “seemed” to have more money and/or an easier life than the person talking)

I think you get the idea. So what does this have to do with the subject of this post “Guilty Work – Why you stay at a job you hate”? Well maybe you have started to see that if you came from a background like this and you started making lots of money easily and having fun with your work  you would no longer be accepted by your family or friends.

My family still ask when I am gonna get a “real job” and “settle down”. They ignore the fact that I have always made more money when I work for myself and run my own business than working for someone else. They see my travels and my mobile lifestyle as being “immature” or “not responsible”.

Well for the most part we are not going to change others – we have to learn to be ok with their being not ok with our choices.

One of the traits of successful entrepreneurs is they don’t worry about what others think about them. It took me years to get to the point I didn’t care what my family, friends or kids thought about my lifestyle. And now some of them say they’re proud of me and some still wish I’d “settle down”. And that’s ok with me….

Go live your dream,

Bryant