You come back home from your regular mundane 9 to 5 job, rest for a while, have your dinner and then decide to redeem your well-earned sleep so that the cycle can continue operating tomorrow as well.
But the problem is, you go to your bed and then instead of releasing sleep hormones, your scumbag brain decides to paint your sleep with the picture of your crappy work environment – that un-ergonomic back paining chair, the pile of documents towered on your ‘to-do’ section of the desk, the ever-complaining subordinates, that unsupportive teammate, that irrational client, the erratic supervisor who knows nothing else than work delegation, the awful canteen lunch that your tastebuds reject, and most importantly – the morning traffic ! Pheww!
The brain – being the scumbag it is – then poses you with the universal quandary, “Is it worth dragging my a*se to work tomorrow morning? Or should I quit everything and become my own boss?” You quickly remember the quote you came across in the evening while facebooking – “Salary is the bribe they give you to forget your dreams”.
You – then – decide to check your facebook before going to sleep. But facebook’s algorithm will now bombard you other posts related to startups and entrepreneurship. You will see your friends and classmates attending business networking events and looking dapper in blazers and suits, receiving ‘khaadaa‘ and tokens on various startup events, seed-fund competition applications, and venture capitalists proudly drinking in the Jhamsikhel bar where they have invested other investors’ money. Sigh.
Your scrolling speed increases, and you further see your friends updating their bio with words like ‘co-founder’, ‘CEO’, and ‘Managing Director’. More scrolling, and you see some other friends ‘attending’ that business pitch competition, and few more friends being ‘interested’ in those events. A random ‘motivating’ video then appears where the speaker keeps on iterating “follow your passion” for about two minutes, and then the next video appears and then the next one and next one and so on.
“Enough of this thing”, you say to yourself. You then plug the charger in your phone, and then decide to go back to sleep. But your brain is still a scumbag.
Also read: How to create your own job
With more “freshly brewed content” served to your brain, it starts contemplating even more than before. Amidst all the “startup” fashion and “being my own boss” buzz, your brain reminds you of the business plan you once made years ago as a college assignment. What a solid business plan that was! A struggle for a few years, and then you could also proudly boast on facebook and instagram with your new title – an entrepreneur! Woah!
You start comparing the cons of your current job against the pros of that dreamy CEO position. You imagine going to a fancy networking event and pulling out a business card that reads – “Your name, Founder/Chief Executive Officer”. But then suddenly you also remember the good parts of your job. You have a decent social life. You at least have a regular cash flow incoming in your bank account. You also get bonuses, and do not have to worry much about loans, credit interests and tough business decisions.
Is it worth taking that risk?
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While the social media is filled with half-witted comparisons of jobs and entrepreneurs, one can easily get swayed away with the idea of starting a business. Clickbait headlines like “Quit your job right now! This business will make you a millionaire by 2030!” misleads many people to take wrong turns in their lives. The social media shows the ‘celebrity’ side of entrepreneurs but not their revenue charts going off-the-graph. These deceptive posts, images and comparison charts may push you to take frenzied actions, which will only help you to regret later.
For the records, I’m not against entrepreneurship and startups. I am only against the pseudo-practice of shaming the job holders while the ‘show-off’ entrepreneurs are glorified. Having a job is not a shame. Doing a mundane 9 to 5 routine shouldn’t be mocked. Your job might suck, but just for once think that if no one wanted to become employees, all entrepreneurs would be worthless.
And finally, to all those people wide awake at 2 AM hosting the battle of ‘real job versus show-off startup’ inside their mind, I want to whisper silently to their ears, “Hey, psst! It’s okay to do a job.“