Years of business industrialization have made us compliant grinders, working to appease bosses and boardroom execs. We get up, log in, do what we are told, “produce, produce, produce,” and when the whistle blows, punch the clock, log out, and prepare to do it all again.  It’s safe. It pays the bills. Just don’t rock the boat. Be a cog in the machine. 

Sounds like a monotonous treadmill, right?  But is it you? Is this your life? Even if it’s only a bit like your life, it’s too much, not because it’s boring and mind-numbing (which it is), no, it’s because you are worth more. The industrialists are holding you back. But they’re not the only ones, you are holding you back. 

“But I can’t leave my job, I need it to make rent and pay my bills.” 

I get it. 

Don’t worry. You can stay, but you can be more. You can step up and lead with an example of creating great work. And it doesn’t mean drastic change that puts you under a managerial spotlight, you can still color in the lines and do great, unique work. 

Every artist, writer, or choreographer knows that just about everything has been done. Originality is less about radically-different and never-been-done-before, and more about an-original-spin-on-things-we’ve-seen-already-put-together-in-a-unique-way-that-only-one-person-could-do. In other words, there’s still a lot of music to be written in C major because only you do C major this way even though it’s still C major. 

“But what about my humdrum work? I’m just a short-order cook, not a five-star chef.” My response: What makes you, you? What do you bring that’s unique? How can you infuse some of that in your work? 

Back in my restaurant days, I knew a line cook who made his work an event. Even though the only people who could see it were in the kitchen, he flipped pans, knives, and other tools like a carnival juggler. He plated the food meticulously like a craftsperson. He created more than corporate franchise food, he turned it into art. And why? Because he could. Because he wanted more. He wanted better. He put love and care into it. He colored in the lines but with subtly different colors and a style uniquely his. 

Everyone has that opportunity if they are bold enough to take it. Everyone can work for better, for uniqueness, for craft, and for art. And why? Because you can. 

What’s holding you back? You. Stop it.

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