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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Escape from Cubicle Nation summary
Pamela Slim
From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur
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Key idea 1 of 6
(8 ratings)
12 mins
6 key ideas
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What is Escape from Cubicle Nation about?
Escape From Cubicle Nation (2009) is an inspirational, practical guide to making the transition from a traditional office job to self-employment. These blinks explore both the emotional and technical aspects of becoming an entrepreneur and explain what it takes to leave the corporate world behind.
About the Author
Pamela Slim is an author, speaker and business coach. In 2005, she founded a blog called “Escape from Cubicle Nation,” which later became the basis for her book of the same name.
Table of Contents
Key idea 1 of 6
Too often we sacrifice our dearest values for the sake of a stable job and a secure paycheck.
Are you working at the job of your dreams? Unfortunately, not many of us can say that we are.
You may have strong ideals about the kind of work you believe is valuable, but chances are that you’ve sacrificed these values more than once in the face of a regular paycheck.
We all have differing preferences for what we’d like to have at work. You might prefer to work in a sunny loft for a non-profit that has a welcoming culture, a lot of business integrity and scheduling flexibility.
Yet instead, you’re working at a desk in a cramped cubicle with coworkers who are just as grumpy as you are. What’s happening here?
Having a job that doesn’t fit your values is like wearing a shoe that doesn’t fit. Say you’re looking for new running shoes to train for a marathon. If you wear a size eight, would you purchase a size six because you couldn’t find an eight and anyway, you liked the color? Of course not.
The reality is that some of us simply aren’t cut out to work in impersonal corporations under an autocratic manager. Software engineer and venture capitalist Paul Graham likens those employed in big companies to animals trapped in a zoo.
So what does that make the self-employed? Animals in the wild.
Though life in the zoo might be more routine and safer than life in the wild, it’s simply not what animals do. The same applies to humans.
So no, you aren’t crazy for complaining about a secure job with great pay, benefits, clever coworkers and social status. It could be that your values and corporate values simply don’t fit.
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Who should read Escape from Cubicle Nation
- Corporate employees feeling dissatisfied with their job
- People considering self-employment
- Recent graduates weighing employment options
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