So Entitled!
When a milestone is conquered, the subtitle erosion called entitlement begins its consuming grind. The team regards its greatness as a trait and right. Half hearted effort becomes habit and saps a champion. -Pat Riley (1945-), former NBA player and coach.
Wow it’s really incredible that when times get tough the entitled get angry! Rather than role up their sleeves and make the best of the worst, they throw the pieces on the floor and kick and scream. While I have no intention to make any political commentary now or ever, I can’t get the picture out of my head of a woman on T.V. saying how great it was that President Obama was going to save her! Pay her mortgage, forgive her debt and just make everything okay!
I actually felt sick for the woman. I know there are many who would yell and scream at somebody like this to wake up, get a job and take care of herself, but the truth is that our system has bread this type of thinking whether we like it or not. As this economic downturn continues, the veil has been lifted to reveal an ugly underside of laziness and entitlement.
What’s even scarier is that the government, by the way…that’s really you and me, is stepping in to bail out the mistakes of the past; companies like GM that have for years neglected to consider the societal changes and demands that shape the future. Or even worse the internal battle between unions and management. Consider the Boston Globe! If the unions did not consider a scale back, the company would be defunct….that’s right kaput!
How about the Wall street entitlement?! All the supposed ‘financial studs’ who demand bigger and bigger bonuses because they’re worth it of course. Oh really, last I checked, over the long haul, I don’t see too many of the geniuses delivering extraordinary returns do you?
You see the issue here is that the silent majority, those hard-working, millionaire-next-door types, are still relatively quiet. Sad to say that they seem to take whatever comes their way and make the best of it. They cut back on their expenses, they plan better; plain and simply, they live below their means. Go investigate the belly of the U.S., that’s right the real guts! They’re the people that dress in a uniform to protect this country and it’s ideals and freedoms. The only entitlement they know is the one granted to them by those who carved the yellow brick road a long time ago…and they’re willing to reciprocate and die for it!
This disease has also affected even some of the most well-intentioned. I had a sweet heart of a client say to me, “well after 20 years of doing this, it should be much easier!” Absolutely wrong! Who made the promise that surviving in this world would ever be easy. Who said that your service or product would always be in demand? Who said that you could stop growing and adapting? Maybe Darwin could have mentioned that the dinosaurs were gone now because they thought they were entitled! Even the top of the food chain is always on the endangered species list!
So what can we do about this? The first step is to recognize that NOBODY IS COMING! Obama and any President for that matter is not going to save you from anything! There is no bag of money that is being dropped off on your doorstep so that you can sit back down in your lounge chair and be lazy!
We need to remind ourselves how we are wired…Aristotle, a relatively smart guy, had it right! We are teleological! That means goal seeking! Without something to strive for, we are rendered useless and first on the list of next-in-line to become extinct. By having goals we are alive and ready! And who cares what you’re after! If it’s money…great! If it’s helping people…wonderful! Who cares what anyone thinks, it’s what you want! You don’t need any body’s permission, just do it!
We’ve talked about self-responsibility and now is the time to act. So what if it seems like you’re about to climb Mount Everest! As far as I know, nobody has ever climbed a mountain in one leap. They started at the bottom and sweated it out. If you’ve ever had a good work out before then you know that great feeling while the sweat drips down your face and you know that it was all you baby! Maybe you had a great coach, but it was you who did the work, and deep inside the mental factory the umpah-lompahs started releasing the endorphins and building your self esteem, one block at a time!
I’ve never been so grateful for all of the opportunities that I have been granted, and I’m so happy that I have taken complete advantage of the majority of them! I’m grateful for the schools my parents sent me to, because I was never entitled to any of them and I’m glad I worked my tail off studying so that I could give them a return on investment! I’m grateful for the jobs I’ve been given, because not one of the entrepreneurs that granted me the chance had to choose me! I’m grateful for all the people that have allowed me to sell their homes for them, because they could have chosen many others and owed me nothing! I’m also extremely grateful of the wonderful people that work with me in my companies, because they get it and come prepared to battle each and every day!
Mostly, I’ve never been more thankful for the example that a few people have shown me. No need to call them by name, because I have already told them! They are people that just get up each day and get it done. They take every thankless task with a smile and persevere. They give and they give in spite of times of mediocre returns! But most of all they never lose themselves in greed and outward displays of arrogance in spite of incredible success!
So to the entitled…beware! There are many of these solid people, more than you think. They are the machinery which serves as the foundation for capitalism and freedom. Appreciate them and thank them. Because they are stirring and becoming restless. I now am surrounded by many of them, and they are genuinely great people, but their tolerance for entitlement is ending and they are beginning to speak. Mark the words of Ayn Rand….”Who is John Galt?”
