![]() Looking back, I realised that I had become totally distanced from my natural and authentic self and become worn out mentally and physically from years of unconsciously wearing what Jung would call the persona of conformity, striving like many of us to be someone I wasn’t but felt I was supposed to be.Īs Jean-Paul Sartre identified, the existential cry which comes from our true self can’t be stifled – whether that’s to do with our professional or personal identity if we are truly to be. I ended up becoming caught in the hamster wheel of business publishing as a high achieving but ultimately unfulfilled sales and marketing director/publisher. Unconsciously living someone else’s life has unintended and unforeseen consequences apart from the illusion of being chained by the golden handcuffs of salary. ![]() There was one clear but unspoken message to keep up with the programme – and there was only one programme. At no time can I recall family discussions about individual values taking place other than the occasional fiery rebuttal whenever I unintentionally challenged theirs. For the first 17 years of my career, I followed the misguided but well-intentioned perceived wisdom handed down to me by parents who came from a generation that craved safety and security in a post-war Britain.įollowing their unspoken nudges, overt advice and outright direction, I unintentionally created a working life which reflected their values and beliefs rather than my own. If it’s the latter turn the other way! You don’t have to be a sheep following the crowd, you can still be an individual but trying to force the issue will just lead you to be stuck in that wheel.Well, for a start I did it myself. ![]() So if you want to take a step off that hamster wheel think strategically what are the important things in life? Take a good hard look around you, think of your life and your business and work out if you are going with the flow or pushing against the wind. Mother Nature is one force not to fight (as are many of the other laws in the universe!) I think so many of us are trying to fight against these natural laws and this is why we don’t get anywhere. Have a think about that today are you on the hamster wheel and is the ‘stuff’ you’re doing the right ‘stuff’? Think about the ‘flow’, are you pushing against the wind, against life and business, working really hard but not going anywhere? Sometimes knowing what’s really important and going with the flow and taking the natural energies in nature can be really important. Now what does that mean in life and business? Simply put if you’re going into the wind and you don’t have the right people round you, the right plan in place or sufficient funds to support you, you can be in a whole heap of shit and not even know it! It lead me to think about how sometimes, despite how hard you try, you keep on running in that wheel with the wind against you and that elusive goal just doesn’t get any closer! The more I tried the more exhausted I got. But, it was futile, there was no chance I’d make it to the other side. The wind was howling against me and each time I fell I just had to get on up and try again. You know me (never one to turn down a challenge) I set to work trying to get from one side of the lake to the other. It was really windy and I started thinking about being on a hamster wheel when I was in a zorb on the water trying to stand up! The guy at the park challenged me and said no one had got half way up the lake on that day. When I filmed the video for this blog I was on holiday with my family in Pembrokeshire, where I was born and bred. It happens to lots of us we spend each day working away doing lots of ‘stuff’ for our business and before we know it we’re on that hamster wheel unable to see a way to get off! Do you feel like you’re on the hamster wheel? This could be in business or in life.
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