Trading Your Life for a Paycheck
I want you to begin by creating a list of 5 things you would trade your life for…I’ll wait.
If you’re a living breathing human my guess is that your list consisted of the following…
- Nothing
- Nothing!
- Nothing!!
- Nothing!!!
- NOTHING
Why is it so difficult to consciously find something you would trade your life for? The answer is simple, life is precious and is far too valuable to even put a price on, yet day in and day out we trade our lives, oftentimes not for a “better life” or more incredible experiences, but instead, we trade out value life force for a job.
You may not see yourself as an individual who is trading their life for a paycheck, maybe for you, it’s just a few hours of each day for some money to cover expenses, ok I’ll give you that. Now tell me this, what more is life than the invaluable time you’re given on this planet?
For every dollar, you earn or spend there are trillions more to match, yet when it comes to the time you only have what you have right now. Not to make this morbid but the last time I checked once the time is spent you only have less of it to spend as it passes.
Many of us were raised under the notion that in order to earn a living we had to trade in our time for money. We watch our parents/guardians work as hard as they could to earn money as they missed the precious moments of life, and postponed their dreams until later.
If we were living in the early 1900s or even a little later you might have a valid excuse for still believing that the only way you can make money is giving away your time to a company in return for just enough money to cover expenses and a couple of vacations and nights out with loved ones.
I find it deeply ironic that our culture idolizes those who live out their life’s purpose, creating, building, dramatizing, writing, speaking, imagining, yet when it comes to ourselves we believe that such a life is but mere fantasy. We come home from a long day’s work and binge-watch shows that feature individuals who are living out their purpose, while still telling ourselves that such a reality cannot be so.
The difference between a person who is living out their life’s purpose and one who is trudging along in a “9 to 5” is that the purpose-driven individual does not have to trade their time for anything, instead, they are rewarded for their talents, their courage, and their value. This is not to say that someone is a job they dislike is not creating value on this planet, what I’m saying is that once you step into your calling you automatically create so much value that the world around you cannot help but handsomely reward you for such. Not only are you rewarded in money, but also with a sense of joy and fulfillment.
There are millions of individuals who have freed themselves from the constraints of a job they hate and stepped into their greater purpose, yet these are still the minority. Most people in this world have settled for a lackluster life, an occupation that is good enough, and a steady paycheck.
The Paycheck MYTH
This is probably the first time in your life you’ve heard the phrase “paycheck myth”, that’s because I just created it…You’re welcome.
What exactly is the “Paycheck Myth” you may be asking? Simple.
The paycheck myth is the belief that most of us hold about the security of a paycheck and the freedom it brings. For anyone who has any kind of responsibility in life such as bills, mortgage, groceries, leases, etc you probably see a paycheck as a sense of freedom since it allows you to cover these expenses. This seems like a reasonable belief at the surface, but in reality, this is no more a justification to remain in a state of comfort.
A paycheck is a form of bondage, I mean think about it you work work work all week long, maybe even two weeks or a month, waiting the day that another person can hand you a check for all of your life force exerted and you call this freedom?
There are individuals around you who have less education, fewer skills, a lower IQ, etc, and every morning these individuals wake up to more money in their bank account, money that was made while they slept… If this makes you feel like a complete idiot, just imagine how I felt.
The Paycheck myth is the wool that was pulled over our eyes by those who needed employees to build their own dreams, and most of us bought into it. We believed that our overseers were doing us a huge favor by cutting us a check.
I am by no means advocating a lack of appreciation, I believe that whether you’re sweeping the floors in a dumpster alley, flipping burgers in a fast-food joint, or reporting directly to Zuckerberg, you can always be grateful for the opportunities you’ve been allotted. This, however, does not mean that you have to remain in the place you currently are.
If you’re someone who has no idea what your purpose is on this planet I would spend every day of the rest of your life figuring this out, otherwise, you will always feel as if you are missing something. Once you zone into your purpose you will begin to see how the world you once called home no longer seems so appealing. A paycheck from a job does not feel the same way a check for your creation feels. Fifteen dollars for an ebook you wrote, one hundred dollars for a painting you created, a thousand dollars for a seminar you hosted is more fulfilling than any large check that anyone can give you in exchange for your life.
Written by. Tinashe Hwande
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