The internet abolished closing hours. The new wave is abolishing the pause. Both moves are economic in origin and psychological in effect. Both promise convenience and deliver a different kind of cost. The first cost was paid in time. The second is being paid in attention. How that arithmetic finishes is the open question.
For each job offered in the marketplace today, there are 5.5 applicants. How do you best winnow the applicant pool? Some companies are actively choosing to reduce the number of job applicants by only accepting applications from people who already have a job. Huh?
When you grow up cold in the Midwest, one of the first impulses is to flee from the gloominess and the misery surrounding you: No oceans. Few lakes. Lots of ponds. Faraway mountains in non-neighboring states encapsulate you and make Summers stiflingly hot and humidified. When we reach the age of consent in our time of reason, many of us bolt West to Los Angeles or East to New York. Not many head up North to Minneapolis or Chicago and, fewer still, move Southward to Kansas City. If you are a tender Californian, I urge you to stop reading this article right now. You will not be happy with the continuation of my argument.
We all have bad days.
The key to surviving them is to keep your head down and your shoulders taught and to keep fighting.
Too often we give in to hardship and fall into sloth and laziness because getting the job done is too taxing.
We will never conquer the world of our fears by submitting to the easy path.
We only achieve our greatness by never allowing our disappointments to define us.
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