41: That sounds f***ing terrible
Storytime
It's the summer of 2016, and I'm at the Chipotle on Parmer Lane in Austin. I'm sitting at a table with 2 veterans from the sales team at JCI who I have become mentors of mine. Over the past year, these lunches have proved to be the most useful learning tool for a young guy like myself trying to figure out his way in the working world. Lunch is where stories are shared, and the wisdom of the veterans is passed down to the rookies.
As is common within the sales team, the conversation turns to commissions and how much money rockstar sales guys bring in. At a company like JCI, it's not uncommon for veterans to be bringing in several hundred thousand dollars a year while working on the order of 30 hours a week. And in our Austin branch, we have a few of those veterans on our team.
"Man, that's the dream. How awesome would it be to be able to coast for the rest of your working life, making 300 or 400 grand a year, not having to grind it out or learn anything new?" says one of the guys as he daydreams about the future that could be.
"That sounds fucking terrible." The words come out of my mouth before I put much thought into them–an unfavorable trait for a sales guy.
"No way, dude. That's the dream. There's no way you wouldn't take that future. Why would you say that's terrible?"
I'm stumped by the question. The truth is, I'm not sure if I believe my own words. What triggered that response from me? Why did I initially think it sounded terrible? And most importantly, why didn't I have the self-control to keep my mouth shut?
I stumble through an inarticulate and useless explanation of my complete ignorance of my own statement, but the question sticks with me. Does that future sound terrible? It's an important question to ask myself because we're talking about my future here. What am I aiming at and why? Does that really sound terrible?
With time, I've grown to understand why I answered the question the way I did. It's because the guys who I truly look up to and hope to emulate are obsessed with learning and getting better. I hadn't experienced it for myself yet, but I had read enough to have faith in the idea that a fundamental feature in your life should be relentless learning. It wasn't the amount of money or the number of work hours that I thought sounded terrible, it was the desire to reach a state that allowed you to stop learning and striving to get better that sounds terrible. The desire to stop having to learn new things, to never be a rookie again. To stop pushing yourself into uncomfortable territory. That sounds terrible.
At least, I think it sounds terrible. The fact is, whether or not I truly believe that is one of those things that can only be proven with time. Will there come a day when that sounds like the future I want to pursue? Will the day come when the rest that comes with slowing down becomes an attractive path for me? I sure hope not. Today, that future still sounds fucking terrible. I hope it still does a decade from now.
