I was thinking today about how much slower corporate life is then academic. During university studies a two week period could include; 4 or more tests, a paper or 2, at least 10 daily assignments for each of 5-6 classes, and countless hours of studying. Each of these being important for ones development as a student and could therefore make a large impact on the semester and possibly the university “career” (graduation). Now, lets compare this to industry; it takes HR 2 weeks to get back to you on a simple question to which the answer usually ends with “that is what we were told, we are looking into it”, this must be done by X date (and the person who will do the next step doesn’t start it until X+Y date where Y is usually >=5), I ordered something last week and its still sitting in purchasing waiting to be “Approved”, it takes years (5-8) to advance to the next level. In a 2 week period there is very little that could possibly happen that would have any significant effect on ones “career”. This transition is difficult if not all together confusing. “You mean I spent 4(5,6,10)yrs in school, working like a chicken with my head cut off, at the speed of light, to get into a system that makes the movement of river banks and tectonic plates look fast.” Well not exactly. Day to day hustle will keep you on your toes, but in the end that is because we are essentially worker bees, and the overall movement of you as a person is very slow. Now granted we did have a lot of growing to do in our early 20’s and made big steps into the person we have now become, so in those terms we are left to refining what we are. We may pick up new hobbies and/or get better at those we currently have but, basically if you were are jerky meat-head or a introverted a-social geek at 25 then chances are you are always going to be. So to replace the feeling of fast paced growth we felt in our teens and 20’s many ppl turn to climbing the corporate ladder in leaps and bounds, stepping on anyone that gets in their way. To them I say a healthy “fsck you”, there is more to life than the big and fast. Fundamentally, these ppl lack the ability to see the finer and smaller details. This is what life is, the average person doesnt become a everything they want overnight. One post here, one there and after a year or 2 you have 100’s if not 1000’s of posts, a number that if you were told when you started you wouldn’t believe. Baby steps, mountain moving one pebble at a time. So for me this is something I am going to start working on, one song/piece a month, one or 2 paintings, a post everyday or 2, reading a book a month (along with each magazine I get BTO and Wire ). Nothing huge, but something that will keep me thinking, improving with each step.
