If you've read unscripted , you know what I'm talking about.
Theres a dog at a gas station, he's whining and a man notices and asks the attendant why. The attendant says the dog is laying on a nail. The man asks, Why doesn't he just get up? The attendant shrugs and says, "it must not hurt bad enough." Here's a little story to illustrate:
He starts his day by waking up a couple hours before work. This used to be time that he would work on his entrepreneurial ventures, but now it's reserved for surfing youtube or sleeping in. He then rushes to work, walks past his boss (who doesn't acknowledge his existence), grabs an apron and goes up front.
He works for a restaurant. He is a delivery person. He makes OK money for what the job is (~$3000/mo), but it's a total dead end. If he were to move up to management, he would actually be taking a pay cut with more responsibility. So he comes in every day, walks past his douche boss, grabs an apron and waits for orders to come in.
When they do come in, it's to a familiar address. He's worked there over 5 years and knows the delivery area like the back of his hand. He bags the order up, hops in his car and turns on some music. He feels guilty, because he knows he could be listening to something educational, and not be wasting that time in the car by listening to music. He taps on the audible app, and starts listening to Unscripted for the second or third time.
There he sits in traffic, cursing the shitty drivers that are driving too slow, too fast, cut him off or brake for seemingly no reason. He catches him self and realizes that being mad will only make things worse. "Let it go" he tells him self.
He finally arrives to his delivery address. Walks up the snowy driveway and says "Hello!" to the customer. They give him a blank stare. He hands them the credit card slip for them to fill out, Tip, total, and signature. The customer signs away at the credit card slip and he exchanges the food for the credit slip. "Have a nice day!" He says to the customer as they shut the door in his face. He looks at the credit slip he had the customer sign. In the gratuity (tip) line, nothing but a big fat 0.
He sighs and curses him under his breath as he walks back to his car. He sees a snowflake fall on his windshield. He checks the weather forecast: Snow today.
Great he mumbles. He works a double shift, from 10AM to 9PM, and he can't think of many things he'd like to do LESS than sit in traffic during rush hour in a snow storm.
He returns back to the store and sees his coworkers/friends have arrived for the day. He's usually the first delivery person there, before his coworkers. They're really the only friends he has, since he spends so much time working. There he chats with them while more orders come in, and eventually the lunch rush arrives. He stuffs multiple orders into a cardboard box, runs out to his car, delivers them and repeats until about 1 o'clock until the rush subsides.
Around 3PM he asks his boss permission to take a quick break to eat lunch, His boss sighs "yeah, sure". Breaks are frowned upon in the restaurant business, but if he's going to work 11 hours that day, he demands a short lunch break.
His consciousness dissolves for about 15 minutes while he scrolls though facebook, taking bites from his sandwich every so often. He decides it's time to get back to work, as he can feel his boss looking over at him seeing if he's finished with his break yet.
Then rush hour traffic hits. The snow has been falling all day and is starting to stick to the road. Traffic is reduced to a creep as the feathery flakes fall from the sky.
In the background Unscripted still plays on his car radio. He begins to have a bit of an existential crisis. "Why the F*** do I still work at this job?" he asks him self. "It's been over 5 years." He dropped out of college 4 years prior to pursue entrepreneurship, partly after reading The Millionaire Fastlane . He was failing college anyways, and decided not to waste any more of his parents money.
He had some business success around that time when he dropped out. He had an ecommerce store that was making about $8-10k profit per month, he was making more money than his dad even! And he still lived with his parents at home. Then it all came crashing down, competition sniffed out his store and started selling the same products as he did. He tried and tried to make things work, but he couldn't turn a profit. He was actually bleeding money, Thousands every month. He spent $5,000 on a "coach" to help him out, but the only thing that came from that was him being $5,000 poorer.
He hates where he's at in life. Still living with mom and dad, still working the same dead end job, still in a dead end relationship. Why is it so hard for him to move on from things?
As traffic creeps forward, and as MJ's words carry on in the background, he begins to see a glimmer of hope. He begins planning his escape from this job, and the life he resents, for the 20th time.
Much like the past 20 times, he begins with: "I know what I'll do, I'll start looking for another job when I get home!" He plans out his evening. He only has an hour or so of free time when he gets back home, so he decides to work on his business ventures for 30 minutes, then send out a few applications.
The never ending traffic eventually subsides, and the roads eventually are cleared. He actually doesn't mind his job at night. The staff is usually cool, manager more lenient, theres less traffic on the road, and he has more time to think about life. There's something nice about being in the car at night. He plots and schemes grand ideas about his future for the rest of his shift.
At 9PM the "bell rings" and he has permission to go home, after 11 hard hours of driving in snowy Illinois. Only he doesn't go home, he hits the gym. The gym is his escape. He follows his training religiously.
After he gets home from the gym, it's now 10:30PM. He remembers the promise he made to him self about working on his dreams tonight. He makes a quick post-workout snack and goes to his laptop.
He plops down with his laptop on the couch, and opens up Chrome. The little red YouTube button catches his eye. "Just one video" he thinks. The other side of him screams: " No! You told your self you would work on your business tonight!"
The other side insists on one YouTube video, just to wind down from the long, exhausting day.
The YouTube video wins. Except it turns into a rabbit hole, and one video turns into 10. He looks at the time: 12:30AM. F*ck.
He needs to get to sleep, he has to repeat this day over again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and the next..
As he slides into bed he tells him self, "I'll work on my dreams in the morning."
He wakes up. He's running late for work. No time to work on his dreams this morning. Tonight will have to do.
After another exhausting 11 hour day, he plops down on the couch with his laptop. YouTube wins again.
"Tomorrow I'll work on my dreams" He says to him self.
This cycle repeats for weeks. Now it's Christmas time.
"I'll work on my dreams after the holidays are over, all my customers are on vacation anyways"
Then the excuse becomes "I'll work on my business when I save up a bit more money"
He keeps kicking the can down the road. Today is always traded for hope tomorrow. And for what? Mediocre comfort? An average bank account, average shitty job, average life.
He knows how to take action on his dreams, He has MJ's teachings to guide him. But he doesn't act. There's always an excuse, There's always distraction, He's always too tired after work. Then on his day off, he needs to "recover" from the long week. He's trapped, and he knows it.
So why doesn't he do something about it? Well, It must not hurt bad enough.
Theres a dog at a gas station, he's whining and a man notices and asks the attendant why. The attendant says the dog is laying on a nail. The man asks, Why doesn't he just get up? The attendant shrugs and says, "it must not hurt bad enough." Here's a little story to illustrate:
He starts his day by waking up a couple hours before work. This used to be time that he would work on his entrepreneurial ventures, but now it's reserved for surfing youtube or sleeping in. He then rushes to work, walks past his boss (who doesn't acknowledge his existence), grabs an apron and goes up front.
He works for a restaurant. He is a delivery person. He makes OK money for what the job is (~$3000/mo), but it's a total dead end. If he were to move up to management, he would actually be taking a pay cut with more responsibility. So he comes in every day, walks past his douche boss, grabs an apron and waits for orders to come in.
When they do come in, it's to a familiar address. He's worked there over 5 years and knows the delivery area like the back of his hand. He bags the order up, hops in his car and turns on some music. He feels guilty, because he knows he could be listening to something educational, and not be wasting that time in the car by listening to music. He taps on the audible app, and starts listening to Unscripted for the second or third time.
There he sits in traffic, cursing the shitty drivers that are driving too slow, too fast, cut him off or brake for seemingly no reason. He catches him self and realizes that being mad will only make things worse. "Let it go" he tells him self.
He finally arrives to his delivery address. Walks up the snowy driveway and says "Hello!" to the customer. They give him a blank stare. He hands them the credit card slip for them to fill out, Tip, total, and signature. The customer signs away at the credit card slip and he exchanges the food for the credit slip. "Have a nice day!" He says to the customer as they shut the door in his face. He looks at the credit slip he had the customer sign. In the gratuity (tip) line, nothing but a big fat 0.
He sighs and curses him under his breath as he walks back to his car. He sees a snowflake fall on his windshield. He checks the weather forecast: Snow today.
Great he mumbles. He works a double shift, from 10AM to 9PM, and he can't think of many things he'd like to do LESS than sit in traffic during rush hour in a snow storm.
He returns back to the store and sees his coworkers/friends have arrived for the day. He's usually the first delivery person there, before his coworkers. They're really the only friends he has, since he spends so much time working. There he chats with them while more orders come in, and eventually the lunch rush arrives. He stuffs multiple orders into a cardboard box, runs out to his car, delivers them and repeats until about 1 o'clock until the rush subsides.
Around 3PM he asks his boss permission to take a quick break to eat lunch, His boss sighs "yeah, sure". Breaks are frowned upon in the restaurant business, but if he's going to work 11 hours that day, he demands a short lunch break.
His consciousness dissolves for about 15 minutes while he scrolls though facebook, taking bites from his sandwich every so often. He decides it's time to get back to work, as he can feel his boss looking over at him seeing if he's finished with his break yet.
Then rush hour traffic hits. The snow has been falling all day and is starting to stick to the road. Traffic is reduced to a creep as the feathery flakes fall from the sky.
In the background Unscripted still plays on his car radio. He begins to have a bit of an existential crisis. "Why the F*** do I still work at this job?" he asks him self. "It's been over 5 years." He dropped out of college 4 years prior to pursue entrepreneurship, partly after reading The Millionaire Fastlane . He was failing college anyways, and decided not to waste any more of his parents money.
He had some business success around that time when he dropped out. He had an ecommerce store that was making about $8-10k profit per month, he was making more money than his dad even! And he still lived with his parents at home. Then it all came crashing down, competition sniffed out his store and started selling the same products as he did. He tried and tried to make things work, but he couldn't turn a profit. He was actually bleeding money, Thousands every month. He spent $5,000 on a "coach" to help him out, but the only thing that came from that was him being $5,000 poorer.
He hates where he's at in life. Still living with mom and dad, still working the same dead end job, still in a dead end relationship. Why is it so hard for him to move on from things?
As traffic creeps forward, and as MJ's words carry on in the background, he begins to see a glimmer of hope. He begins planning his escape from this job, and the life he resents, for the 20th time.
Much like the past 20 times, he begins with: "I know what I'll do, I'll start looking for another job when I get home!" He plans out his evening. He only has an hour or so of free time when he gets back home, so he decides to work on his business ventures for 30 minutes, then send out a few applications.
The never ending traffic eventually subsides, and the roads eventually are cleared. He actually doesn't mind his job at night. The staff is usually cool, manager more lenient, theres less traffic on the road, and he has more time to think about life. There's something nice about being in the car at night. He plots and schemes grand ideas about his future for the rest of his shift.
At 9PM the "bell rings" and he has permission to go home, after 11 hard hours of driving in snowy Illinois. Only he doesn't go home, he hits the gym. The gym is his escape. He follows his training religiously.
After he gets home from the gym, it's now 10:30PM. He remembers the promise he made to him self about working on his dreams tonight. He makes a quick post-workout snack and goes to his laptop.
He plops down with his laptop on the couch, and opens up Chrome. The little red YouTube button catches his eye. "Just one video" he thinks. The other side of him screams: " No! You told your self you would work on your business tonight!"
The other side insists on one YouTube video, just to wind down from the long, exhausting day.
The YouTube video wins. Except it turns into a rabbit hole, and one video turns into 10. He looks at the time: 12:30AM. F*ck.
He needs to get to sleep, he has to repeat this day over again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and the next..
As he slides into bed he tells him self, "I'll work on my dreams in the morning."
He wakes up. He's running late for work. No time to work on his dreams this morning. Tonight will have to do.
After another exhausting 11 hour day, he plops down on the couch with his laptop. YouTube wins again.
"Tomorrow I'll work on my dreams" He says to him self.
This cycle repeats for weeks. Now it's Christmas time.
"I'll work on my dreams after the holidays are over, all my customers are on vacation anyways"
Then the excuse becomes "I'll work on my business when I save up a bit more money"
He keeps kicking the can down the road. Today is always traded for hope tomorrow. And for what? Mediocre comfort? An average bank account, average shitty job, average life.
He knows how to take action on his dreams, He has MJ's teachings to guide him. But he doesn't act. There's always an excuse, There's always distraction, He's always too tired after work. Then on his day off, he needs to "recover" from the long week. He's trapped, and he knows it.
So why doesn't he do something about it? Well, It must not hurt bad enough.
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