Original beef

When you have finally had enough of a job, have you noticed that whatever it is that’s bothering you was already there from the start? We notice this original beef way back when we’re hired, but rationalize it away because we need a J.O.B. Which is fine. But then something happens along the way that makes us start sweating this insignificant little thing, a minor detail that was peculiar all along but never before reason enough to quit.

I personally try to pin down the original beef whenever I meet new potential clients. Just to know my enemy. I’ll take the company’s business, but it doesn’t take much lurking to find that certain thorn that might – sometime in the distant future – become my reason for leaving them. If I decide to let it own me, that is.

The beauty of spotting it early on, and recognizing it for what it is, is that you can write it down on a post-it, smack it up on the wall in front of you and tell it: “I know what you’re up to, beef, and I will now let you own me.”