You Are 100% Replaceable - Lucky You!
Yes, you can be replaced. We have been programmed to think that being replaceable is a bad thing, when in fact it is the most wonderful thing in the world.
@timcliff made a comment on my article I Am Not My Job the other day that I want to address.
“I don't want to be at work anymore than you do. (I would rather be at home spending more time on Steemit.) Most people have to do some type of work for society to pay for all the things they get in return - food, clothes, a house, entertainment.
We should do work for other people, rather than just always benefiting from the hard work that everyone else is doing. To not provide society with some form of contribution in return seems selfish.”
Now I know he isn’t a special because none of us are, I’m not and you aren’t either. So I know he isn’t the only one thinking that way, let me explain something.
Start living the life you want to live. Right now.
I’m not saying that it means quitting your job or anything just because it sucks. Heck, many 'sucky' jobs end up paying well because not many people want to do them. Think plumber, oil worker, or electrician – these aren't the comfy office jobs that everyone seems to want in the world today, and so the pay has increased tremendously. You can do these types of jobs for some years with an end goal in mind, that's what I do.
I am not working a job I want to do, but it is part of my plan to get to where I want to be. The point that I FIRE, Financially Independent Retired Early. So I minimize my work interruption to my life and spend the maximum amount of time doing what I want to do with it.
For a long time the game plan has been work from either age 18 or 22 until you turn 65+. Then spend what little health and life you have left enjoying life with what riches you managed to keep.
As long as you performed admirably you could expect to keep working for the same company for those 40–something years. But it’s not like that anymore. The game has changed, you will be pushed to the side as soon as a new prospect shows better potential.
Since the times have changed. So it makes sense that our game plan has to change with it.
THE OLD GAME PLAN
Since we are all a part of society, let me ask all of you. Do you care that @timcliff is working a job he doesn’t want to do to ‘contribute back to society’? Do you feel his contribution from his job in any way? Or do you feel his contribution on steemit more? You know, the thing he really wishes he could be doing more of but is off paying his debt to society.
The world is not going to fall apart if we start doing what we want to do. If it isn’t going to fall apart if we stop, then don’t be guilty or ashamed if you start doing more of what you want to do.
It’s your life, do what you want to with it.
Stop trying to impress others. You only have so much time in this life.
@timcliff I know you have talents, crazy wonderful talents that are wasted because society doesn’t care that you are going your job. Society doesn’t care that you are working a job you hate so you can pay back some imaginary debt to it. Every day that you don’t exercise those wonderful talents, the world is losing the opportunity to share in them.
You got it all backwards, my friend. By doing what you actually want to do you end up contributing more to the world and society.
If you are there because of this obligation you have created on old game plan rules, you are just hurting yourself.
EVERYONE IS REPLACEABLE
There is no one in this world that the world can’t go along without.
You are replaceable.
You don’t matter.
You are not special. You’re not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You’re the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We’re all part of the same compost heap. We’re all singing, all dancing crap of the world. - Chuck Palahniuk / Fight Club
How many countries have had their dictator killed? What happens next is another one just moves into place. Places go out of business and another moves in. Ideas go out of use because another one comes into fashion. Everything gets replaced. Everything and everyone is replaceable. The world doesn't skip a beat.
There are billions of people out there that will move to fill in any void you leave. Society will be just fine if you start doing what you really want to do.
This is a good thing. It means that we are free to do what we want.
I learned this and am free, liberated.
I no longer chase extrinsic rewards such as promotions and raises. Carrots on a stick that employers use to keep you moving. Little treats they toss to you when you obey their commands.
“Beg”
”Roll Over”
”Play Dead”
Once you realize that these treats just make you more dependent on the system you can see it for what it is. They chase it, and if they get it then more is expected of them. In many cases it means more time is spent working there. In a few short months the high wears off and they are looking for another fix. So they bust their ass and work extra hours to maybe get another promotion in a few years. So they can then work even longer hours…
If they want to do that for 40-something years than I guess they are having a wonderful time. Heck, if they found a job they love then all the power to them for it.
But if they are doing it just because they know no other possibilities, it is just the old game plan hanging on.
They think that money will buy them happiness. They buy a huge McMansion, a new car every year or two, expensive clothes and the latest gadgets. Instead of spending time with their spouse or children they buy them gifts. They spend all that money trying to chase happiness like they learned from their job.
They make so much money but have huge amounts of debt, and huge amounts of stress. They have medical issues and are taking 3 types of anti-depressants and keep thinking that if they just keep working hard enough the next treat from work will make it all worthwhile. But all they get for all that time spent working is out of shape with kids that hate them and a divorce.
Congratulations! You wasted your life working so someone else can live off of your effort. Stop doing it.
THE NEW GAME PLAN
Once you have unlocked your mind you can see this whole game clearly. It’s like watching it all in slow motion, you can see every detail. You can see exactly who holds the ball. You can see exactly who runs the game.
Stop following the old game plan of working until you are too old to really enjoy much of what life has to offer. You don’t have to. The new game plan is to create your own game.
Repeat after me. I am replaceable. I don’t matter. This is meant in the best way possible.
You see, you mean nothing to THE world. But you are everything to YOUR world. It is a huge difference.
You need to maximize the benefit to your world. You need to do what brings happiness and peace and meaning to YOUR life. the world will go on just fine without you.
Your world needs you more than the world needs you.
You are 100% replaceable to the world, now focus that energy and time into bettering yourself and being there for those people that you have in your world.
Because when you make your world better it leaks out to the world around you.
(Gif 1) (Pictures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7)
My moment of honesty:
- My interests vary but I strive for quality work, check my blog for proof.
- I will not fill up your feed with crap, I have only resteemed twice.
- I will also reply to all your comments if they warrant any reply.
- These things I promise to you. So follow me, or don't. I want you to do what you want to.
@getonthetrain
Another good, well-written post :)
So the main point of my last comment was that people should do something to give back to society. It is nice to say we should all quit our jobs and do whatever we want. If I could just post on Steemit, watch Netflix shows, go out to eat, etc. that would obviously be a lot of fun. Much more fun than working 40 hours a week!
To say that what I do for society has little to no value is somewhat disingenuous though. If you go to a restaurant and a waiter brings you your food, do you get value from that? What about the cook who prepared the meal? Or the farmers who produced the food? Do you get value when the garbage collector picks up your trash every week?
Do you think all of those people would rather be spending time with their families or having fun with their lives than doing all those things that they are doing for you?
Even though people's work normally does not directly give back to the specific people that they are receiving benefits from, your job is hopefully providing some valuable good or service to some other segment of society. (If it is not, then you should probably find another job.) Whatever that 'thing' is though, I would argue that most people should be doing something to give back, rather than just living off the work of everybody else.
The thing is that I don't pretend that the trash guy or the waiter is doing it for me. They are doing it to get money. There is no higher meaning to it.
What I am saying is that when you figure out the whole game, you can make a plan so you can do what you really want to. There is no need to work 40+ years, you can cut the time way down with a proper plan. We live in an age where we don't have to work until we die, you just have to see it and then follow through.
Wonderful article. Thank you ;)
Already you have changed the system - is great, it's free, free human choice on how to be here, where we have not much time;
Snowflake quickly dissolve, as the man, the woman, but we are the only ones in the universe and are unique in their own (soul or gene composition) - there is in the genes of the captured information before many thousands of years, all your memories and experiences. And you (probably) you are not destroyed.
And can not be replaced - live with the beautiful spirit of the Beatles and other artists.
Well and public work is it can change, can not work, if it can live in that way,..
and this freedom,
Yep "dependent on the system"
Ahh, you get it! Thanks for the comment :)
Love it . Great post
Great article! It makes me think that even so called ‘intellectual’ work can be now replaced and will soon take an employment hit. For example, I still like to curate all my votes on Steemit manually yet I could make more if I automated the process. At some point I think we are going to need to focus more on doing what we really enjoy doing and just start doing it.
I really like your idea of creating your own game plan.
Yea, I feel my votes are to show and reward what I like - not what will make a return for me. The time to make a plan to start doing what you really want to is right now. :D
Nice post! A little soft on the grammar here and there, but no big whoop.
Somewhat related, I dislike the fallacious belief that top pay attracts top talent. In fact, top pay attracts top self interest! I would rather have the passionate and capable individual, who is satisfied with damn good pay as opposed to the individual focusing primarily on maximizing income via unrealistically high pay. For instance, look at our do nothing congress who votes themselves raises while bringing their substantial capabilities and knowledge to bear on not keeping minimum wage at a livable level.
By extension, I hope that individuals do not stick with jobs they feel obligated to do but do not enjoy or feel appreciated enough at. I mean, it is unrealistic to expect quality work under those conditions, and one can employ old world tactics based upon "might is right" all one wants - heavy, regular, subjugation does not produce quality work.
I feel that this is what the majority of people are doing. The sad thing is they think there is no other option. An entire life spent waiting for weekends and their once a year weekly vacation.
Indeed. I ran away and joined the circus at one point. I had made good money, had no idea what to do next. Didn't completely know myself - so I took off! It was the best decision I've ever made. :-)
Good god! What an article!
I'm sorry but I can't agree with what you say 100%... more like 150%! Not to offend anyone, but I believe it's a little self-indulgent to suggest we are anything more than a speck of dust flitting around the surface of this planet, devouring all its resources. None of us are special, everyone is replacable. That's the cold, hard truth of the matter, whether we want to hear it or not.
Take a look at the vastness of the universe, then one's self and compare the two... Lol, case closed forevermore!
Absolute class post, brother!
We are just meat machines - tubes, fluids, and electrical impulses trying to pass our genes on. One of billions of nearly identical units on this planet. We have climbed onto the top of the pyramid of life here and so the simple things of living and passing on our genes have been usurped by stock market predictions, TV shows, politics, sports, and what some actress wore that one time. This whole complex mechanism to distract us from what really matters.
Life is simple, it doesn't take much to live well. You can use the balance of all of that extra time to ensure your genes gain the knowledge of what it really means. And it ain't working your ass off for 60+ hours a week for your whole existence.
Amen, brother!
I think you can guess in advance what I will answer without having me to answer :)
I should belong to another category of people ^^
Haha! Go find the meaning of the universe and then come over here and relax. I'll keep a beer in the fridge for ya! :D
Ooohh what a pressure you have just put on my shoulders... For such a goal, you may keep that beer in the fridge longer than the sum of our lifetimes :)