One Question You Should Consider Today
Imagine, please, a 6’5’’ 240 lb. man perched upon a little stool, brush in hand, surveying his palette across from another tower of flesh and veins (who in my imagination is posed exactly like “The Thinker”).
If I were a massive hunk of brown muscle getting paid to hit people, probably the last thing I’d feel like doing is sitting down in front of a canvas to paint a teammate.
But in the locker room of the Los Angeles Rams around 1991, you may have very well seen that exact scenario.
“Excuse me, could you tilt a bit to the right?” the artist probably said. “I’m having trouble getting the proportions of your deltoid.”
Have you ever met people who think work other than their full-time job is beneath them? They say things like:
“I didn’t get a degree from [RANDOM UNIVERSITY] to be working extra!”
OR
“I deserve to have some time to myself on the weekends!”
OR
“I could never take a job on the side. That’s college kid stuff.”
Even with salaries declining compared to inflation they say this.
Even with their company-managed 401Ks barely keeping up with the S&P they say this.
Even drowning in car debt and house debt and student loan debt they say this.
I don’t want to turn this into a rant on working hard. That’s kind of been beaten to death on the Internet
And I’m not going to bash the education system, either. Not this time at least.
Instead, I want to ask you this question:
Are you too proud to do what it takes to get what you want?
You claim you want to start a company, but you won’t cold call people.
You claim you could write a novel, but don’t take the time.
You claim you deserve a raise, but never tell your boss.
Why?
Entitlement is the ultimate poison. It makes leaders lazy and children spoiled. It makes nations soft and students stupid.
Terry Crews didn’t think he was making enough as a lineman. Instead of complaining about it, he shelved the enormous stigma art gets in most locker rooms and painted teammates for money. If that’s not humilty, I don’t know what is.
I have believed that I deserved things in this life. Every time I do, those things are ripped away. It’s like magic.
I start to get a big head about landing a customer, and suddenly they stop answering emails.
I think my posts should all be attracting as much attention as this one, and immediately I write something which disappears into oblivion.
In honest moments I realize I’m not entitled for people to be reading this, I have no right to money I might make, and I certainly can’t claim the stunning redhead I get to sleep next to every night as just payment for any action I’ve taken.
In fact, I don’t deserve any single thing on this planet.
And guess what?
Neither do you.
Are you too proud to do what it takes to get what you want?
