Are you a true winner in life, or just a company man? Does you work promote enjoyment in life, or are you a slave to wages? Looking about your job in a 2×2 might make you stop and think…
In one corner, we have the “Winners”. Those who make a great salary AND are fulfilled by their jobs. They generally have broad respect, control their destiny, could move from company to company, and get to pick and choose their activities.
The “Creatives” have similar traits to the winners — they get enjoyment from their job, and generally get to pick their projects — but the similarities certainly don’t extend to their salaries.
The “Company Men” make up the vast majority of the middle class. They make a decent living, but frequently find that they are not fulfilled by their jobs. Company men can become Winners, but usually they just want to get drunk.
Sorry to be harsh, but if you have a low paying job that has no redeeming qualities, you may be a loser. Think about how you can get more creative, or at least a bigger salary. And as an aside, is being a blogger the new “poet”?
Wherever you are, the goal is - as always - Up and To the Right!
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
I love maps like this. The people who consistently impress me are those who are superbly well-aligned with their work and naturally move to the top right. For example, my husband, an IP lawyer who loves his work.
April 9th, 2009
Right to the point! If you will it, you can change it. Career salary, life in general.
April 14th, 2009
Hugh Macleod, a cartoonist who made his success through edgy comics on the back of business cards wrote an article once called “The Sex and Cash Theory” (Ch. 17 in “Ignoring Everybody), where he argued that it’s better to keep your day job and differentiate between artistic work that’s for money and for creative purposes, and to not necessarily mix up the two. He argues that this duality is never transcended by the artist and that additionally success comes from understanding the reality of living in this duality.
Professions that appear like “winner” professions can often have a lot of “losers” who thought that their profession would give them “sex” (creative fulfillment) all the time but only turned “sex” into “cash”. Maybe an affirmation of this duality is the best way to push up into the winner category, which might even mean doing “loser” jobs to help create the space and inspiration for “winner” work.
August 16th, 2009
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