Settle For Less Than You'd Hoped, And Be Happier For It

Please enjoy the thoughts and musings of our friend, supporter, and long-time contributor Art van Bodegraven Jr., who passed away on June 18, 2017. Art was a prolific writer and had amassed a collection of unpublished blog posts he had planned to run well into the future. To honor his memory, we will continue to post these remaining blogs as he had intended. If you’ve been a fan of The Art of Art blog, check out our tribute.

 

Why and when to settle for less than your hopes and dreams . . . As the corporate ladder either disappears or gets pulled away by night, we have all become entrepreneurs - whether we want to or not.  Now that every job is temporary, there's no real point to hitching your wagon to a falling star.

Time was, that a secure position with a reputable corporation, with rooms-full of friends, and a generous retirement meant walking away from something to not give up.  Very few have anything remotely that good today,

In short, if your job is evaporating anyway, you have little to lose by striking out on your own, and following a passion.  What's the worst that can happen?  You discover that your passion is not great enough.  Or, that you run out of money.  Join the club.

Here's why to stay with what you've got.

• I can always explore passions and other interests outside of work; dude, try your hand at small motor repair, or organic pomegranate growing; now is the time;
• Because of the children; a cheap "out"; set a role model for the offspring, not offer transparent excuses;
• I'm too old to make a change now; How old?  105? Are you afraid of stepping out of your comfort zone?  Are you using this reluctance as an excuse?;
• I have too many expenses; Don't we all?  If you're inspired for the long haul, you'll figure out where to cut, and why; you'll self-teach how to run a small business, and survive;
• But, I don't know what I'm passionate about; all the more reason to stay while you sort through the options; what a boon! - opportunities to continue learning and experiencing alternatives; you have the right, the obligation, even, to sort out your own path to happiness and satisfaction

The freedom to fail, the latitude to flounder, the emancipation from a corporate strait-jacket - all the right reasons to stay in the wrong job.

This is particularly vital to physical and mental health in SCM, where it is all too easy to burn out.