I strongly debated on whether or not I wanted to post this guide. After a long period of contemplation about how it would affect the Autonomi brand image, the message it portrays, and how I anticipate the public to respond, I decided to move forward and put this up for the world to see.
I originally wrote this piece as part of a previous venture in the self-improvement community. At that time, I’d realized that there is an epidemic of misinformation regarding how things work, and what people are actually doing on a day-to-day basis to improve their position in their careers. The vast majority of what you find through standard research are surface level “tips-and-tricks” that mean nothing, and the content that does go deeper has been modified to ensure that readers do not get offended.
In this series, I have sacrificed nothing. A lot of what you will see in the following pages can easily be regarded as sociopathic, manipulative, or otherwise toxic in nature. The fact of the matter is that in all but a vanishingly small percent of organizations, that is the game. I have written this series with one and only one goal in mind: to be as real as it gets about what you need pay attention to and the actions you need to take to climb the corporate ladder.
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Let me the first to say that I do not condone the way that the average hierarchical company operates. In fact, I despise it so much that I started Autonomi to actively combat the situations and sociological frameworks you will read about in following sections. It is the very structure and dynamics that you are about to learn about that inspired me to leave the corporate world and dedicate myself to exposing and transforming the way that businesses operate at both a systemic and interpersonal level.
The information I have laid out here is powerful. Quite frankly, it’s the elephant in the room about the workplace that we have all chosen to either ignore, or accept as a “necessary evil” that comes with working in the corporate world. Many people who read what is to come will experience a cognitive dissonance so intense that they will attack both the arguments I’ve made and my persona with visceral ferocity. To say that this breakdown is polarizing is an understatement.
I wrote this piece for an extremely specific person: the ambitious young professional who is ready to start their journey toward financial and personal achievement. The individual who is “talented” and knows it. The one who was sold on a dream that they very quickly realized was not reality. The forward-thinking individual that forms their own opinions. Who doesn’t understand how people cannot see what they see so clearly, and who was blindsided by the reality of what it means to be a “successful young adult” by society’s standards.
If that’s you, I am very excited that you have found this piece, as it is going to help you immensely in the pursuit of your goals. Although I’d be remiss if not to say that if you are unwilling to play the game as I have laid out here, you may need to get more creative with how to earn your living.
If that isn’t you, I look forward to our upcoming debates.
The truth isn’t always pleasant, and it’s time that we did something about the uncomfortable truth of how power and status work in our society. That is why I have released this writing. If reading this offends you and you are in a position of power within your organization to do something about it, good. I sincerely hope that once you calm down you will look into our service offerings, because when I say we are trying to make “working” better for everybody. I mean it.
Time to rip off the band-aid and expose the corporate world for what it is.
“I have … only one goal in mind: to be as real as it gets about what you need pay attention to and the actions you need to take to climb the corporate ladder.”
– Issac Hicks
Now let’s talk about your day job. Seeing as you are reading this guide, you would be open (and welcoming) to some kind of positive change. Maybe your boss is incompetent or childish, maybe your work is monotonous or boring. Maybe you are fresh out of college and ready to the corporate world by force. Regardless, I’ve been in your shoes, and I know where your head’s at.
You have realized the 9-5 isn’t always the dream that we were told it would be when we were young. High School was fun, College was great, but is a strong contrast to the after-college ritual: turning that flashy degree in for desk with a nameplate and unlimited access to a watercooler.
And even that is great at first. Coming out of school, the world awaits you and is yours for the taking. Going from the college lifestyle to earning that cold-hard cash twice a month is simply incredible. Stepping out of college after 4+ years in general is pretty amazing in itself. If you think back to the feeling you had on graduation day, it’s undoubtedly one of the greatest days in your entire life.
The high of finally walking across that stage and knowing you’re finally done provides more than enough happiness for the foreseeable future. Couple that with your brand-new paycheck, moving to your own place (usually in a new city), and all of the positive hype you heard about your new role during recruitment, and you are living a glorious life. You worked hard to get that degree, and now it’s time to get that degree to work hard for you.
Before college, I was one of two kids raised by a single parent on under $35,000 a year. Walking out of college, I was a single, 21 year-old bachelor with no dependents pulling down six figures in the Midwest. It is hard to describe in full detail how unbelievable and exciting a change like that is; my movement from poverty to the upper-middle class was without a doubt the greatest triumph of my life.
I remember vividly pulling out my first my first paycheck in cash just so I could see it. With my sign-on bonus included, it was more money than I had ever seen in one place by leaps and bounds, and it was mine. I sat down on my couch alone and opened the bank envelope. A lone tear rolled down my face as I stared at the numerous $100 bills I held in my hands. As I sat back and looked across the room, there was only one thing on my mind: “I fucking MADE it!”
But it doesn’t last.
Where we begin to run into a problem is whenever that foreseeable future fades away. There is a “honeymoon” period of 6-12 months after which job satisfaction decreases significantly[1]. As a species, we are predisposed to become comfortable in our position, and then look for more. For those of us who are not stuck in the consensus trance, or deeply fulfilled by our day jobs, we are either living in the newfound high of our current position or looking to find a way onward and upward.
In order to get into the new position, you need to understand 3 very important things:
- Yourself (Conceptual) – Part II
- Your Situation (Practical) – Part III
- Your Timing (Tactical) – Part IV
[1] Boswell, Wendy R., et al. “Changes in Newcomer Job Satisfaction over Time: Examining the Pattern of Honeymoons and Hangovers.” Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 94, no. 4, 4 Nov. 2009, pp. 844–858., doi:10.1037/a0014975. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.555.2988&rep=rep1&type=pdf
