What Are You Pursuing? Or: Why Are We Tied To Exchanging Time For Money?

Clément Gerbaud

A few people at my day job have recently left to "pursue other opportunities."

One got made redundant, is close to retirement but yet did not want to go and retire on the pay-out, instead wanting to carry on working and will seek another job after a small break. A couple of people have gone into consulting for some big money but a lot of travel and long hours, so they will be impacting their family life as a result.

What are they working for? What are they earning the money for? DO they love what they do? Do they hate their families? Who knows? Maybe not even them if they have not stopped to work it out.

The latest person to leave has given extended notice (six months instead of three) so she hopes that a replacement can be found and have a good handover.  How novel an idea that there would be some continuity in a key job. I wonder if HR will catch on ;-) But she is leaving to do charitable work or work for a non-profit. They always said later in their career they wanted to give back rather than working for big corporations all their lives.

I thought that this was so refreshing. Obviously, people who have made big bucks, celebrities and politicians wives always go on the non-profit train because it is noble and because they have the means to do it. But to hear from a 'normal' person that they have always wanted to do this and actually having the courage to follow through with it, with nothing to go to, is quite inspiring.

If you do not follow through in actions, that which your mind desires, then they can never come to fruition.

I found it strange that I know no one who has left to start their own business apart from a consulting business of one person, for tax purposes.  But no one has built a product business or anything remotely scalable. It is like everyone is brainwashed to use time to earn money rather than the other way around.

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