If you find yourself saying "Thank God is Friday", this blog may be for you.

Most of us find ourselves getting up and going to a job every day that we absolutely hate and we keep telling ourselves, "It pays the bills".  But what is it doing to your mental and emotional health.  I mean is making a living really worth destroying a life?  If you are like me I found my self growing increasingly sad and depressed the closer I got to my job everyday feeling like I didn't have a choice. As I reflect on this I'm reminded of a story I heard by Les Brown, one of my favorite speakers.  The story goes like this:

There was a young man walking down the street and happened to see a old man sitting on his porch. Next to the old man was his dog, who was whining and whimpering. The young man asked the old man “What’s wrong with your dog” The old man said “He’s laying on a nail”. The young man asked “Laying on a nail?, Well why doesn’t he get up?” The old man then replied “It’s not hurting bad enough.”

So you have to ask yourself, what makes us stay a job that we absolutely hate going to everyday.  What I've found is the most common reason for staying in any bad relationship or job is fear.  Yep that four letter word that stops us all at one point or another.  For me I realized that fear is only an emotion and just like I can "feel" happy or sad, I can feel afraid.  Even the word emotion has "motion" in it.  Fear can stop us dead in our tracks and prevent us from ever experiencing all that life has to offer.  So how do you overcome this fear?  Simple, you come to the realization that you have more control over your destiny than you think.  Everything that you need to be successful in life has been given to you in abundance and all you have to do is identify them and learn to discern how they fit into your life's road map.  For example, most people don't know this about me but I never completed college however I worked as the Director of Information Technology for a college in which I successfully lead several major projects that helped shaped the institution's current IT infrastructure.  I'm also nowhere near the best musician or singer in comparison to most of my friends who are absolute musical geniuses, however I now serve as the Director of Music and Arts for one of the most influential churches in the area.  How did I do it?  I learned to connect the dots that were layed out for me.  I connected with people who were already doing what I wanted to do, I set a life destination and didn't stop to focus on any of the obstacles that appeared to stumble me.  It has nothing to do with what I know, nor what I can do but more so with my willingness to step out into the unknown.  There's a saying that I always tell my son that says "You only have to be brave for 20 seconds". What you don't realize is that 20 seconds will allow you to activate your faith and once it's in motion all you can do is enjoy the ride from that point.

So I want to ask you again, are you still laying on the nail?  Are you not in enough pain that will cause you to move?  If you find your self saying "Thank God is Friday" you may want to consider activating your faith and start investing in yourself.  You're never to old to dream and never to old to reset.  I've had the honor and privilege of working for some extremely great leaders who have all poured into my life throughout the years in one way or another.  For me the pain of working for someone who had absolutely no concept of how to lead nor manage was absolute torture.  Knowing all the great leaders i've had the honor to work with throughout the years I couldn't settle for less than what i'd been use to.  I complained and complained until the pain was to strong for me to continue laying on the nail.  I came to the realization that I had to stop blaming my bosses for my well being after all, you can't expect ordinary minded people to produce extraordinary results.  I know that I am destined for greatness and when you know that you know, there is nothing and no one that can stop you.  Life has a way of knocking you flat on your back but you have to learn to take the losses with the wins and learn from each and every day.  You DO have a choice to be happy and to make a life verses just making a living.  It's one thing to live pay check to pay check, but it's another thing to live Friday to Friday.  Time is a commodity that you don't get back so why spend most of it looking forward to next day off.  All the days in between can be Friday's if you allow your self to step out and dare to do something different.  Will it be hard...yes, will it be scary....you bet, will it be risky....it sure will be. But will it be rewarding....ABSOLUTELY!

One thing people who really know me will tell you is that i'm not afraid to loose therefore i'm willing to step outside the box and try things most people are afraid to try.  I decide to leave my job without any guarantees of landing in a new position but somehow I knew it would all work out for the better.  One month later I landed a new position with a company that has the same core beliefs and values that I have.  Working with a group of people who are just as driven as I am, and working for a group of supervisors who believe that coming to work doesn't have to be a painful experience.  In fact the person who hired me appears to believe in me more than I believe in myself and this, to me, feels like home.  I feel inspired and motivated again and I realized that I stopped saying TGIF. 

There's an old quote that I heard Les Brown say which says "they may climb the ladder of success only to find it's leaning against the wrong wall." My career path has mirrored that of the life of the fictional character Benjamin Button, in that that I started my career in a position that most people spend a lifetime trying to reach, only to climb back down and start over again.  The difference is this time I believe my ladder is leaning again the correct wall.  I challenge everyone who reads this blog to do an internal audit of your life to see if you are still laying on the nail.