What if you are in the Rat race?

After a two week break for the last two weeks of December , I finally returned to work, although much reluctantly. In stark contrast to the peace and quiet I had staying at home during my leave, I was immediately greeted by the morning peak hour chaos on my ride to work. Trying to negotiate my bike through the congested roads to reach my office was nerve wrecking as there were hordes of people doing the same, creating bottlenecks and bringing traffic to a standstill as they tried to cut lanes in a fruitless effort to escape the jams.

Faced with the prospect of having to face this same morning routine 5 days a week as an employee, I asked myself this question: "What's the end result if people continue to going down this path in life?" Here are my thoughts:

So can we win the rat race?
People spend their whole life trying to climb up the corporate ladder, hoping for the next big pay rise or promotion. But what happens when this wish is unfulfilled even if effort is put in? Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is that for most companies, that much anticipated promotion, bonus or increment only comes all but once a year. This basically means that if you miss the boat, the best you can do is to try harder for one more year. Hopefully by then, the boss will notice your increased efforts and will reward you handsomely the next year! Yes, that's one more year of hard work that might possibly end up down the drain too due to external factors beyond your control(especially if you are under the wrong boss). In fact, taking a good look at the traditional corporate structure(mostly pyramid-shaped), the chances of you even making your way up is low as there's only so little room for you to maneuver to the top! Unless you have both extraordinary talent and lady luck shining on you all the time, the odds are pretty slim. So why bet on succeeding as an employee if the chances are slim?

So what if you win the rat race?
All right, assuming that you really do have what it takes to triumph right to the top of the heir achy, what happens then? Would you be free and have the time or money to pursue your passions, interest and hobbies or spend quality time with love ones? Not really, as you are still answerable to the shareholders of the company. If the company performs well thats great, but if it doesn't perform as well as what they expect it to be doing, there's goes your paycheck(many examples from the recent subprime mortgage crisis)! Another company might still want to hire you considering your track record, but still it's like moving from one cage to another, just a matter of how big or small the cage is. Even If you win the rat race, you are essentially still a rat! If the hand that feeds you so decide to cut your source of shelter, food and water, there's really nothing much you can do.

So what next if you don't want to run in the rat race?
I know the scenarios I've shown above sounds really depressing, but there's still hope just yet. However, this requires a paradigm shift in how we perceive work as most people are programmed from young to be part of the rat race(no thanks to the traditional education system). I've found a lot of answers from Timothy Ferris's book The 4-Hour work Week! The ideas that he presents in the book such as outsourcing your life may sound really radical but they are certainly thought provoking and helped me to rethink and redefined my idea of work as an employee and create ideas for alternate sources of income. Even if you choose to remain in the rat race, using some of his ideas might still help you regain work life balance and enjoy your life even more!

PS. Do leave a comment if you enjoyed the book. We may discuss some of Tim's ideas here!

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