Who do you grind for?

         “Man, this is some bullshit. I can’t believe they gave that promotion to somebody else. As hard as I work, as much overtime as I’ve put in, all my accomplishments…I was the perfect candidate,” yells the man on the train while speaking on his cell phone. “Just goes to show you this company doesn’t believe in rewarding people for all their hard work. Guess it’s time to definitely start looking for a new job. I’ll be home soon. Bye.” The man abruptly tossed his cell phone into his inside jacket pocket. Two stops later, he exited while pulling out the keys to his Cadillac CTS.

            I’ll never know who got the promotion over him or whether or not he was truly the deserving candidate. However, I did have to wonder a few things. Assuming he worked as hard at his job as he claimed, how hard did he work for himself? Also, what world was he living in where the hardest worker always gets the greatest reward? I’ll deal with the first question off top. Too often, we hear others speak about how hard they go for their job, how much overtime they put in, how many accomplishments they achieved…blah blah freakin’ blah. How often do we hear these same people speak about how hard they worked for…themselves? The likely answer is not much if we’ve ever heard it at all.

            With this in mind, the next question becomes why? Why is it that so many people are comfortable working extremely hard for someone else without the possibility of a significantly increased monetary or other reward? What is it about working for another company that makes us feel so great? Why do we not put those same efforts toward a personal goal or passion we have and turn that into significant financial gains? There are a million answers to those questions, but here’s the simple one. We were not trained to value ourselves more than a company that pays us.

            By “trained” I mean “educated.” From the time we enter elementary school, we are taught that education is the key to success (i.e. making a shit load of money and spending way too much of it on material items, but that’s another discussion). Not only are we taught that education is the key to “success” but we are also taught that not getting this brilliant education will be a one way ticket to poverty and being completely locked out of the glamorous American Dream. So, with this form of brainwashing starting at such a young age, we grow into Adults who have been brainwashed by school (elementary, junior high, high school, and college) to do two things: follow orders and market and package ourselves to be the ideal candidate for someone else’s job. Emphasis on someone else’s job because you can never be fired from something that actually belongs to you.

            It is because of these teachings and this mindset that that man on the train worked so damn hard for his job and not himself. He is like most of us and not interested in finding himself but looking to take orders from the next highest bidder who is willing to give him what he thinks he deserves. Now for the second question about “rewards.” We have to remember that vicious C word…C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M. We must also remember that “jobs” are subsidiaries of C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M. In that sense, it’s not that your job can’t afford to pay or reward you more. It’s that they don’t want to because paying you more or what you actually deserve would throw C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M out of whack and put more balance into our system. The top of the hill folk would become the common folk if pay was increased.

            So, with this in mind, we all have to ask ourselves what am I passionate about? What stirs my soul? What would I love to get up every morning and do? How much effort do I wanna give to a “job” that would have ZERO problem cutting me loose the second they no longer need me? Especially seeing as how I was never hired for my benefit in the first place. I was hired because they needed me to fill that slot. Therefore, what’s going to happen the second they don’t need me? Exactly. Ultimately, the choice is yours. Grind for a standard 9 to 5 that gets way more benefits out of your effort than you do or find something you truly love and grind for that and watch the magic unravel. 

Who Do You Love?

“Man, I can’t wait to get this new Camaro. I’m gon be fresh to death. I just got the new Jordan’s (new as in a pair that came out in the 90s and are simply being repackaged in a different box), two Ralph Lauren Polo’s and this Gucci belt. The hoes finna be all over me,” says Jason (fake name to protect the innocent) while waiting for a decision on his auto loan for the latest Chevy. “Once they see me step out that blue whip wit some 22’s and all my fly gear on, I’m guaranteed to be smashing all them bitches one after the other. Straight like that.”

“Jason,” I say. “I regret to inform you that your request for an auto loan has been declined.” “Declined!!?? What the fuck you mean declined?? I got the money to pay for it!!” “Well the reasons stated by the loan officer were recent collection action and judgment, serious delinquency on numerous accounts, and poor credit performance with others.” “What does all the shit mean?” “In short, it means you haven’t made good on debts you had or currently have and therefore are not deemed trustworthy to pay us our money back if we loan it to you. Would you like to see a copy of the credit report that was pulled?” “Yeah, lemme see that shit cuz y’all trippin’ up in here.”

I turn the computer screen his direction, so he can get a better look. After scrolling down to the derogatory account section, I ask Jason if he recognizes the three credit card accounts, two of which have been charged off and one currently in collection along with a delinquent cable and cell phone bill. “Yeah, I know what those are about, and I’m gon get to paying them soon,” he replies. “Well, be that as it may, it was because of those accounts and the 456 credit score that resulted in the denial of this application. Do you have any questions regarding how credit reports and calculations work?” “Nah, I’m straight on that shit. I don’t give a damn about no credit stuff or nothin’ like that. I just came here to get money for a new whip, so I could look fly for these hoes, but y’all ain’t tryna help me with that, so I’m out,” he says while storming out of my office.

As he left, I couldn’t help but replay the scenario and some of the things he had said. One of them being his claims of the Ralph Lauren and Gucci items. Both high end name brands, and those Jordans, while certainly not new were anything but cheap. Despite his dismal credit score and numerous account delinquencies, he still felt plenty okay to go spend whatever money he had on these name brands instead of attempting to pay down some debt. It led me to one conclusion. He was part of the group that Kanye West (back during the College Dropout phase, a time where he still made sense), had mentioned in the classic song, “All Falls Down.” Jason hated himself but loved their wealth.

“Their wealth” being the owners of those high end name brands that he squandered his money on. While the Kanye we know now may be far gone into some distant universe none of us have ever heard of or can even comprehend, he was spot on with that comment. If Jason really loved himself instead of “their wealth,” he would have invested that money into himself. Self-investment can mean several things, but in his case, it surely would have meant paying down some of that debt he had and working toward building his credit back up. It was hurtful to see that he didn’t realize paying down that debt would go a lot further for his long term future than those clothes or the car he was trying to buy.

But the sadder part is that Jason is not alone. In fact, not only is he not alone, he is in pretty heavy company. Every year during tax seasons, one business that booms is that of automobile sales. Folks get that refund, use it as a down payment, then head straight to the bank to apply for a loan, take the check back to the dealer, and drive off the lot with their new toy. Bear in mind, some of them may have had a perfectly good working car that was either paid for or pretty damn close to it. Yet, here they are ready to start that uphill battle to free and clear car ownership once again. But it doesn’t stop there. Many of these people who go this route end up with a visit from the repo man between four and six months later because they have started missing payments already.

So, let’s review who won in that case. The car got repossessed, you still owe the bank, and the dealer got a fat ass commission off of your uncontrollable desire for a new set of wheels. Here you are with no car and a debt you can’t pay…let me know when you start to feel like a winner in this scenario. I could go on and on with examples, but I’m sure y’all understand by this point. So, the question is why do some people not love themselves enough to be willing to invest in themselves? Why are they so thirsty to hand over their hard earned duckets to Michael Koors, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, the club owners, Michael Jordan, Beyonce, and anyone else who won’t be bothered to take 2.5 seconds to tell you to do anything with your money other than give it to them in exchange for some material items that will be outdated in less than six months of ownership?

When was the last time Michael Jordan publicly hosted any forums or seminars to teach folks how to reach that entrepreneur status he was at? Do you ever hear LeBron James telling folks to stop spending so much on my products because I am set for life even without your money? Exactly. And you will never will hear any of the people I have mentioned make any attempt to teach you about self-investment because that would be slightly counterproductive for them. The one thing all these folks have in common is that they love themselves. Not in a bad, stand in the mirror, egotistical type of way either. More like a personal value and know my worth type of way.

Because they love themselves, they don’t give their hard earned pieces of green to material things until they have invested in themselves first. They love themselves enough to say they wanna be set for life, and you can’t get there if you are constantly giving your money to rich people with good credit. Do some research and discipline yourself to start doing things with your money that will have long term effect. Don’t do it simply because of this blog post. Don’t do it because you feel ashamed of your previous spending missteps. Don’t do it because someone is forcing you to. Do it because your love yourself more than you love “their wealth.”