business savvy
Go your own way Life is the longest con known to man
I
often get the feeling that we’re all being conned. Taken for a ride. Shown a shiny silver coin that’s brass under a bit of silver plating, and nowhere near as valuable as it seems.
Who’s conning us? Big business. Universities. Consumer product companies. Time share schemes. Gyms. The world at large. And it’s definitely a long con. It’s not a short play, otherwise we’d have figured it out by now. For me, the essence of the con centres on delayed gratification, which is not a bad thing but, for the sake of argument, is used to the advantage of others. So, the con goes something like this: We attend a sausage factory school that treats us all the same, even though we are far from carbon-copy-clones. We work really hard at school. We focus more energy on the subjects that we are not doing well in so that we can get an excellent matric (as opposed to learning to excel at what we’re good at). We spend the final three years of school stressing about what we are going to study (because God-forbid you should not step into an institution of higher learning at age 19, straight out of school). We study something that will be our first step into the business world, even
6
my office magazine
if by the end of year two we are starting to believe that a life working as the content of this degree will probably result in early hair loss or repeated trips to a psychiatrist. So we get a job, start at the bottom, pay our dues, work our way up while learning and sucking up to everyone, and then we change jobs a few of times to move up in the world, get better titles, earn more money, grow a pension and afford better holidays and holiday homes. At a certain point, we may have children and be introduced to the cycle of play areas, school events, PTAs, prizegivings, galas, soccer, rugby, tennis, hockey and netball matches, school plays, irritating parents, annoying parentteacher meetings, acne, cool clothes, the need for new mobile phones, under-18 parties, Matric Rage (and rage), subject choices, exams and a level of contextrelated teenage stress that could fell a wild bull. And then kids head to varsity to start the same routine we have; they’re out of home and we can start having an out-ofhome experience. At this point we’re in our best earning years and work 12 hour days to fit in all that we have to. After retirement, we embark on the downhill slide through the 60s and 70s, 80s and 90s; and finally a few more holidays, family time and then,
ultimately, death. Sounds like a pretty normal life, right? Not at all like a con. Well, what if we don’t need to follow this path? What if we can walk a road that we want to? Do you want to stroll along this traditional route and get caught up in the rat race, grinding away each day to bring food to the table and never having any fun because you have responsibilities? If you’re happy, don’t read any further, it’ll just annoy you. The con involves all manner of tie-ins like where we live; what we buy; how we spend our leisure time; what we invest in; why we let social media tell us that everyone is living a better life than we are; that the quick fix is just around the corner; hard work is the only way to get ahead; life is fair and just; a gym membership is worth it; and so on. My point is that if we can see that we are living a con and that there is an alternative, we are better off than we were yesterday. I’ve said my bit. Now, it’s up to you. Do you choose to continue living your life in the Matrix or would you prefer to take the red pill? n
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT GAVIN MOFFAT @GAVINMOFFAT
Vol 101 - February 2017