My friend Cheryl sent me the following story:
It doesn't hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time, and this should help get you started. During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.
"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."
"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."
"No." said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?"
Sex is not unlike work: people hate it. Yeah I know, we don't hate sex per se, but talk to the gynecologist of your choice and she'll tell you how frustrated women are with their sex lives or the lack thereof. Talk to the average guy and you'll hear a similar response from the husbands of these complaining women. As frustrated as the girls are, as bored and dissatisfied are their faithful husbands. And both parties hate their jobs. No, there is no connection between love life and work life, or is there?
People don't hate their spouses and my wild guess is, we don't really hate our jobs either: what we really really hate beyond anything else are our inhibitions. As in the joke above, we spend years and decades choosing between spoons and buckets, but we're scared shitless to pull the plug. Yep, that's "normal" and equally insane in people's sex lives and at work.
So many guys are afraid to tell the missus flat out what they desire sexually. Chicks want their men to be psychics and mind readers who figure out nonverbally what is expected of them. And? ... Nothing exciting or pleasurable happens for a long time. How surprising!
Confining ourselves to fabulous cubicle careers, we don't even have the balls to tell OURSELVES what we want to do with our lives or what we once dreamed of. Instead, tolerant domesticated dumbasses that we are, we dutifully hate our jobs and we're looking forward to the upcoming weekend and to early retirement—decade after decade. Duh.
Truth is, we defend our inhibitions as religiously as we despise them.
I'll give you a choice: enjoy my condolences or pull the damned plug.
Egbert
What Others Say
The editorial content of the Rumpelstilz website seems cut straight from the mold of the cluetrain manifesto with a style and substance meant to challenge conventional thoughts about two things: 1) making mistakes and 2) mankind's odd relationship with money. While the site is meant as a companion and promotion site to the creator’s book, "The Money Adventure," on its own it seems like the mad rants of an irate blogger. With a style that is unique for it’s unapologetic honesty, albeit somewhat manic, creator Egbert Sukop pushes one point continuously – learning from failure and mistakes. However, instead of being riddled with syrupy and politically correct sensitive-guy drivel, Sukop attempts to question all conventional thought in his lengthy discourses on the subject in a kind of stream-of-consciousness core dump.
In terms of money, Sukop is not shy about telling readers that everything they think about the subject is flawed, from what you value to how you go about getting it. Whether you agree with his opinions on the irrelevance of materialism, or the dysfunctional religious relationship society has with the dollar, his thoughts can’t help but leave you questioning your own reality, and in a good way. (gregg@roundtable.com)
In terms of money, Sukop is not shy about telling readers that everything they think about the subject is flawed, from what you value to how you go about getting it. Whether you agree with his opinions on the irrelevance of materialism, or the dysfunctional religious relationship society has with the dollar, his thoughts can’t help but leave you questioning your own reality, and in a good way. (gregg@roundtable.com)
What Readers think
about Egbert Sukop's new book 'How to Better Hate Your Job:'
"Mind - Jarring: Reading this book will shake your opinions and confuse the hell out of you all the way through. You'll laugh often, disagree, become pissed off and finally shake your head at the deepest most original wisdom you may have ever read. Sukop's style is arrogantly irreverent and you'll love it as he kills your sacred cows. An example ... "Common sense tends to degrade what works. Maybe the solution for monetary disparity in the world is not to fight greed but to promote it heavily."
Seriously, there isn't an author alive or dead who understands more about money and what causes it to flow than Egbert Sukop. If you want to read something powerfully fresh and definitely groundbreaking - buy this book." --Tom Volkar
“Shocking. Fearless. Revolutionary. Every page is an Aha! moment." --Ray Schiel
“You will undoubtedly love to hate this book and its author long before you finish reading it, and you will never be the same after being exposed to this cynical masterpiece. Beware - Sukop offers no chicken soup for your sorry soul nor does he coddle your inner child. Rather, he cleverly and comically implies that you should build your own unique individual ass-kicking machine to snap you out of your habits, patterns, and beliefs so you can finally start having some fun and actually enjoy your miserable existence. He pretends to write about money and jobs, but in fact he is writing about life in general. You may love to hate this book so much that you find yourself re-reading it over and over again, and buying it for your enemies that you love to hate so much.” --Tera Crisalida
"Egbert Sukop will do for the employment industry what The Tipping Point has done for the tipping point industry." --Steve Krueger
“I also started reading Egbert's book--even though I hated the cover and the title--and I am nearly finished. It is not an easy read but very thought provoking. Eckhart Tolle brought us the Power of Now, Egbert has brought us the Power of Pain and Paradox. It takes a sledge hammer to many of our "sacred cows"and gives you a different perspective. It is an irreverent and important discussion for these interesting times when nothing is secure, especially your job. I have already recommended it [...]. There should be a warning on the cover though ... it is an equal opportunity offender. Congratulations Egbert on expressing who you are. Best of luck with it. --Claudia B.
“Shockingly rude, captivating, a prying inquiry into unhappiness. Serious yet funny, this book reminds me to wake up even more and not to let myself off the hook. A compelling read.” --Tanya O'Connor
"Provocative? PROVOCATIVE??? Deliciously so. Thank you, Egbert Sukop, for this book. I am definitely talking about it, and want everyone I know to read it. Some I could only take in a chunk here and there--and this writing definitely snuck by my mind--most of what was said STILL hasn't registered there! Or like a friend I loaned it too--she couldn't sleep. I think that a good thing.
Egbert "approaches/ attacks/plays with" major assumptions Americans make about making a living.
The concepts offered are so "other." Short, sweet, not-so-sweet--a definite wake-up call to anyone who values out of the box living." --Vinnie Rose
"Mind - Jarring: Reading this book will shake your opinions and confuse the hell out of you all the way through. You'll laugh often, disagree, become pissed off and finally shake your head at the deepest most original wisdom you may have ever read. Sukop's style is arrogantly irreverent and you'll love it as he kills your sacred cows. An example ... "Common sense tends to degrade what works. Maybe the solution for monetary disparity in the world is not to fight greed but to promote it heavily."
Seriously, there isn't an author alive or dead who understands more about money and what causes it to flow than Egbert Sukop. If you want to read something powerfully fresh and definitely groundbreaking - buy this book." --Tom Volkar
“Shocking. Fearless. Revolutionary. Every page is an Aha! moment." --Ray Schiel
“You will undoubtedly love to hate this book and its author long before you finish reading it, and you will never be the same after being exposed to this cynical masterpiece. Beware - Sukop offers no chicken soup for your sorry soul nor does he coddle your inner child. Rather, he cleverly and comically implies that you should build your own unique individual ass-kicking machine to snap you out of your habits, patterns, and beliefs so you can finally start having some fun and actually enjoy your miserable existence. He pretends to write about money and jobs, but in fact he is writing about life in general. You may love to hate this book so much that you find yourself re-reading it over and over again, and buying it for your enemies that you love to hate so much.” --Tera Crisalida
"Egbert Sukop will do for the employment industry what The Tipping Point has done for the tipping point industry." --Steve Krueger
“I also started reading Egbert's book--even though I hated the cover and the title--and I am nearly finished. It is not an easy read but very thought provoking. Eckhart Tolle brought us the Power of Now, Egbert has brought us the Power of Pain and Paradox. It takes a sledge hammer to many of our "sacred cows"and gives you a different perspective. It is an irreverent and important discussion for these interesting times when nothing is secure, especially your job. I have already recommended it [...]. There should be a warning on the cover though ... it is an equal opportunity offender. Congratulations Egbert on expressing who you are. Best of luck with it. --Claudia B.
“Shockingly rude, captivating, a prying inquiry into unhappiness. Serious yet funny, this book reminds me to wake up even more and not to let myself off the hook. A compelling read.” --Tanya O'Connor
"Provocative? PROVOCATIVE??? Deliciously so. Thank you, Egbert Sukop, for this book. I am definitely talking about it, and want everyone I know to read it. Some I could only take in a chunk here and there--and this writing definitely snuck by my mind--most of what was said STILL hasn't registered there! Or like a friend I loaned it too--she couldn't sleep. I think that a good thing.
Egbert "approaches/ attacks/plays with" major assumptions Americans make about making a living.
The concepts offered are so "other." Short, sweet, not-so-sweet--a definite wake-up call to anyone who values out of the box living." --Vinnie Rose
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