March 6, 2005
more seth goodness
“The ever-worsening curse of the cog”: Another gem from the master of lucidity, Seth Godin:
The end result is that it’s essentially impossible to become successful or well off doing a job that is described and measured by someone else.
Worth reading the italics twice, I think.
The only chance our country (your country, depends where you live), your economy and most of all, your family has to get ahead is this: make up new rules.
People who make up new rules continue to be in very short supply.
Does anybody really think being a cog is still viable? I don’t know anybody who does.
Also, here he writes about his (justifiably) favorite new phrase: “Yak Shaving”. It’s worth a read.
Hugh, what a gem.
Think about all of the “cogs” that worked in the Fortune 500 companies that always had those annual performance reviews. How many sweated and sucked cock for a positive review from the Boss? How many of them still have those jobs?
Fuck it all. There aren’t any rules.
Isn’t “Yak Shaving” a taxonomic dog leg of “Herding Cats”? Now if we could combine the two, we could be “Shaving Pussy” which sounds rather more challenging and fun.
Cogs are not viable unless they’re on the end of the mechanical device driving the others. Therefore the cog has to benefit from the stolid momentum of contemporaries who are happy to keep turning in perpetuity until they wear down and are replaced (..grasshopper). Hey gimme a break: I’m just running with the metaphor here!