| Mouth-Offs | Finacial outlookA smart fun energetic kid excels in school and goes off to a great college. Around Junior year he begins to wonder what he wants to do with his career. Many people tell him that Law is a good degree because he can get a great job or use it in no matter what he does. So after school he spends another $60,000 and three years to study law.
While in Law school the bright kid talks about someday starting his own business or using his law degree to do great things. After graduation, deep in debt he decides to take the corporate Law job for $90,000 per year. The job sucks and requires 90+ hours per week, but he says it is only temporary. He happily straps on the golden handcuffs.
The parents are very proud of their child even though he doesn’t have time to visit anymore. He cancels for Thanksgiving because the VP of Motorola needs something by Monday, and he doesn’t return calls because he gets stuck in meetings constantly.
Those ideas about starting his own business are put on the back burner because he doesn’t want to risk a $100,000+ job which supports an expensive mortgage, wife and kids. Also he is so stressed out from constantly obeying orders that his mind is no longer capable of thinking independently.
The same thing happens in the corporate business world, except the kids get an MBA instead of a law degree and work for some big corporation instead of a law firm. Even government jobs offer the same trap except they don’t pay as much. The government jobs ensnare the real saps who feel that not making money is evidence that they are not greedy business people. The government tells its workers that since they are not out to make money, they are saving the world and require employees to sell their soul to the organization for low salaries.
High power jobs often offer high salaries, but for the hours you have to put in and crap you have to put up with, it just isn’t worth it. Instead of blowing years and tens of thousands of dollars on a graduate degree which you just use to become a cog in the wheel of a large organization, use your time an money to start your own business or charitable organization. Working for yourself is the easiest way to control your own destiny and really make a difference in the world. Getting sucked into the Big Organization Trap will tie you down, stress you out, pay less than you could make on your own, sap your energy, and if you stay long enough, the organization will take your soul.