Professional Freedom

Today is the fourth of July.  It’s the day the United States of America celebrates it’s independence.  It is in effect a celebration of freedom.  A celebration of self destiny.  It’s one of the foundational beliefs that bind this nation together.  Everyone Want’s Freedom, the problem is when one’s freedom affects the perceived freedom of another.  Teen’s and parents define freedom differently.   Liberals define freedom from conservatives differently.   One of the reasons why most democratic countries have a political process akin to professional wrestling entertainment vs. a serious and respectful debate about ideas is because of this difference.  As long as the government is involved in creating rules that affect people’s freedom there will be conflict about it.  The professional world is no different.  

• Employers want freedom from onerous regulations.   Employees want freedom from the potential for mistreatment.  
• After nearly 70 years they want freedom from having to provide benefits including ever more complex healthcare to their employees.  Employee’s want the freedom to get  a ‘good job’ with ‘benefits’ and to be able to retire early.
• Professionals would like freedom from micro managers.  Employers want the freedom to direct exactly what every single person in their organization is doing at all times to drive productivity as far as possible.  
• Professionals, and really most employees would like and need freedom from insecurity in their income.   Employers would like freedom from financial commitment beyond the needs of the job or at most the quarter.  

As the years and decades have gone by, employers have gotten what they wanted.  They have less and less risk and constraints:Pensions to 401K’s, the rise of the gig economy, etc..  This risk has been transferred to the professional and the worker at large.   Unfortunately for the employers, these win’s have started to have unintended consequences.   Regardless of the effect on the corporate world, a quickly shrinking middle class, a class heavily populated by professional individual contributors,  constitutes a real problem for professionals and for the economy at large.  

Employers have pretty much gotten many of the things that have wanted over the years and the trend is accelerating.  Professionals have to look at the situation and define freedom differently than they have in the past.  

There are definitely some ways we can free ourselves.   Get a niche speciality, it free’s you from competing with the general workforce.  Free yourself from the belief that a Masters degree constitutes a speciality, it’s not.

Free yourself from car payments, student loan payments, and mortgages if at all possible.  Debt is a ball and chain.  Eliminating all debt from your life allows you flexibility to go where you need to go and to roll with the punches of life a little better.  

Free yourself from life traps.  Do you really need to build up your credit if you have cash in the bank?  Do you really need a student loan to get that degree?  Do you really need to live in the nice house or have the nice car? Heck, do you really need a big family?

Free yourselves from the belief that a good job constitutes one with high pay and benefits.  You have to work in an environment with tremendously efficient systems that have been designed and refined over time to maximize your productivity while minimizing the investment/expense of you as a worker.  

Even if you don’t like these ideas, keep one thing in mind, the more you remove your constraints, the more free you are.  The more free you are, the more flexibility you have to try and achieve what you want to achieve.  

Freedom is a good thing, you must have to make sure your ready for it.