Recently I came across this article about a civilian day labor who literally burned down the $400 million nuclear powered submarine he was contracted to work on, because he wanted to leave work early.  His train of thought was to set a small fire, have the sub evacuated, and get to go home early.  But, as this world tends to have its way to prevent shorts cuts in life, he instead, ended up accidentally burning down half the ship, and subsequently facing life in prison.

First thought that came to mind for me was, Damn he must really hate his job a lot to commit arson in order to be able to leave work a little early.  Secondly, he believed he needed this job so badly, that concocting this ridiculously dangerous and moronic plot, was a better idea to him than just WALKING OUT AND QUITTING.   Like most others, I was raised to believe that security is royalty, but at what cost?  Do we ever stop to think about what the mental health effects are of spending 8+ hours a day, year in and year out working a job that we all hate (to varying degrees)?  If time is money, and money is happiness, why not just spend our time doing work we love and cut out the fucking middleman.  *steps down off high horse*.  This example is obviously extreme, but you can’t deny it brings up a good point.  If you do what you love, not only does it not feel like work, but other sources of stress and anxiety in your life become much more manageable.   We should spend our days being entertained, fulfilled and relieving stress, not piling it up within hours of boredom.  Right?

Here is a good exercise.  Write down a list of the top 10 people in history you look-up to the most.  Now, count how many of those people you would consider to have “followed their dreams.”  I’ll promise you all of them did.  Imagine how much better you would be at your job if you actually loved it?  Its time as a society we stop looking up to people for just their talents and success, and start admiring the one thing that really opened up their opportunity to set them apart: their ambition, dedication, and sacrifice (and willingness to quit horrible jobs).

Presumably there are a few things you need to figure out before you quit your job and get started doing what you love, but hey, hurry up and start figuring them out. What are you waiting for?  I finally followed my dreams after years of fear and reliance on security in my life, and in doing so I also realized what the significance is of one of the most powerful marketing motto’s of all time, JUST DO IT.  Because if you don’t, you just might burn down your work place and get sentenced to life in JAIL!