Escaping the "Pretty Good Job Trap"
At some point last year in speaking to my friend Jason Stapleton I accidentally coined the term “the Pretty Good Job Trap”, which he’s referred to a number of times on his excellent show The Jason Stapleton Program.
Being in the “the Pretty Good Job Trap” (let’s just call it the PGJT from now on) is a markedly different situation from one who actively hates their job or and has been looking for the right opportunity to bounce. It’s quite the opposite with the PGJT, in which people find themselves in a job that isn’t necessarily giving them the outward impetus to leave.
Common characteristics of the PGJT include:
Co-workers that you have come to see as close friends and even an extended family
Working in an industry that you actively enjoy (i.e. comic book nerd who works at a comic book company)
Excellent benefits (this one gets weighted even heavier if those benefits are for a whole family)
A salary that keeps you paying the bill every month without sweating it and leaving plenty leftover for leisure activities
This all sounds pretty good, right? So why would anyone want to "escape” this situation in the first place?
As Jason has been talking about for literally years, we are entering a new age and the economy that we've grown up in will almost certainly look nothing like the economy we die in. Automation and “Great Reset” type policies will see a large number of individuals either displaced from their job OR facing some sort of mandate that eventually pushes them farther than they are willing to go.
Staying in the Pretty Good Job Trap doesn’t prepare you for this eventuality. It prevents you from innovating, from fully pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors, and often from taking the time you truly need to dedicate to your physical health.
I recently had the pleasure to appear on Jason Stapleton’s program to break down how I escaped the PGJT and how I had put myself in a position to not cave to a mandate that was being forced upon me. And there’s a special offer tucked inside for those who make it to the end!
By no means am I trying to claim everyone with a decent job should just up and quit it for no reason. What I am saying is that everyone - and I do mean everyone - whose income currently relies solely on another person or corporation needs to begin to orient and prepare for the day when that “Pretty Good Job” disappears forever.
If you lost your job today, could you feed your family next week? Next month?
If your employer was going to force you to jab yourself to keep your job today, could you say no?
Ask yourself these questions, and recognize that in 2022 they represent likely scenarios for many of you.
Are you prepared to escape the trap?