I was reading The 38 Letters from J.D. Rockefeller TO HIS SON, and “Heaven and Hell is created by ourselves” stuck out to me. Although I didn’t have words, I believed this to be true. It’s true because two people at the same job can have different perspectives on their experience.
One will hate their job and feel like their hell, while the other is happy and feels like they are in heaven. In their head each person is creating their own version of heaven and hell.
What Do I Make For Myself Heaven and Hell
In my first role in tech, I found myself at a small startup (20 employees when I started) which I felt fortunate to land. I was knew to the industry so I had didn’t have a baseline of what is normal.
The CEO was a tyrant, with a bipolar personality. In our all hands meeting he would call each person useless after tearing them apart for a simple mistake or not willing to skip lunch. I thought he had really high expectations and standards and he didn’t care if anyone liked him.
After our call he would go around trying to be friends with everyone and eventually wondering why no one wanted to talk out their personal lives.
My co workers always complained about his actions, I don’t blame them, but I thought to myself high standards.
I went on for a while thinking he was amazing having a CEO being in the weeds and not caring what people thought of him.
This told myself it was heaven because my new job was working on a laptop, clicking some buttons.
I got chewed out but it felt part of the job and this job was great. I created my own heaven in my head being grateful having a job working from a laptop.
The lessons I learned in my time there helped me grow and push myself to finish important tasks.
I See People Make Their Own Hell
My co workers had the opposite views because they took the feedback personally. They realized that the CEO was neurotic and blew up over small issues.
Many new younger co workers easily fell into the spiral of creating their own hell. Instead of seeing this as a launch pad to start their careers, it was a nightmare.
You can’t fall into these traps, because eventually there a new job opportunity comes around.
Your life is what you make it.
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