We are all in the Rat Race, albeit in different categories: recent graduate, job hunter, employee or employer. We get caught up very often trying to keep up with this rat race. I believe that most people would love to sign out of the race and join in something different and somewhat more relaxed, but that would make life very boring and predictable. The rat race has us constantly working ourselves to death to earn a pay which is then supposed to balance our lifestyles and the cycle goes on, most of us with an added twist of an ever hovering boss around our necks.
A friend of mine who I admire has come to teach me that I should never be mediocre even if I am in the rat race. The reason we got to talking in this direction is due to the circumstance we both found ourselves in. We signed up to undertake a one year project between an NGO and a Ministry. We were both coming from private sector where working culture is fairly different from gover.
We have found ourselves in very frustrating situations that we have had no control over and that are to say the least extremely discouraging and demotivating. He resigned due to the various frustrations. He is much older than I am so I totally respect his decision and he has truly shown that being mediocre doesn’t get you very far. In his explanation he sees that being here is not adding value to his life or career and is in fact adding more negatives than positives, he would rather move to a more fulfilling position where he can add value as a true professional as opposed to faking it at the Ministry. As I open this blog I hope to encourage many women and men out there to sit back and take a look at the rat race you are in, are you mediocre?
Challenges come and go in the work place, and some days are better than others. The truth though, a job is never really meant to make you happy. You decide to be happy irrespective of your circumstance and work environment. No person will make you happy, no job will make you happy. If you think about it the rat race has its frustrations but you have to go out of your way to make it work for you.