Last week, the British press had a field day reporting on a Willy Wonka Chocolate Experience in Glasgow.
“Experience” is probably the wrong word.
“Scam” would be a better word.
Visitors to the experience were handed a quarter cup of lemonade and encouraged to check out a jellybean dispenser which ejected one jellybean per person.
Some of the props scared the visiting children to tears.
And, according to one newspaper, there wasn’t even any chocolate available!
The
Independent carried a distressing interview with the actor who’d been hired to play Willy Wonka.
He explained how he turned up to rehearsals at the “immersive and enchanting” experience, only to find an empty warehouse with a few plastic mushrooms.
The actor was quoted as saying “In some ways, it was a world of imagination. Like, imagine that there is a whole chocolate factory here”.
He went on:
“I was told I’d get a
15-minute break every 45 minutes after each group went through.
But I ended up playing Willy Wonka for three and a half hours straight. I didn’t know where I ended and Wonka began. I was losing my mind by that point”.
While I can’t relate to
being head of the Oompa-Loompas, I can wholeheartedly relate to feelings like these.
Back in the first iteration of my career at Lloyds Bank, I often wondered where “work Tom” ended and “non-work Tom” began.
Probably
because “work Tom” dominated.
I hated it.
It felt suffocating and completely out of balance.
And it got worse as the years rolled by.
I noticed these feelings intensify as I got promoted from graduate to associate, to associate director and then director.
By the time I quit my job, I
was leading on securitisations worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
And as my responsibility grew and the buck increasingly stopped with me, it felt like I was spending more & more time in my head thinking about work. Even when I was in the pub with a mate on a Thursday evening or having Sunday lunch with Mum & Dad.
“Work Tom” had taken over.
All this got me wondering:
What advice would I give to “work Tom” from 5 years
ago? And would I give the same advice to Willy Wonka?
To be honest, I don’t think I’d say anything about boundaries, or prioritising self-care, or finding time to disconnect.
These would all be water off a
duck’s back.
Instead, I’d remind “work Tom” that however long and however deeply he plays the "work Tom" role, it’s still just a role.
See, the problems start when we believe that we are the roles we’re
playing.
That we are a banker. That we are Willy Wonka.
But we’re not.
No-one is.
The way to see this more clearly is to investigate who we are when we strip away all the roles, titles and activities that we “put on” as we go through life, and get as intimate & familiar as we can with the part of us that never changes.
i.e. the real us.
Now that I’m in the second iteration of my Lloyds Bank career, even if I’m working late or a bunch of work-related thoughts are swirling round my head, those thoughts are much less relevant.
I'm not going to pretend I never get caught up in thoughts like these any more.
But they’ve lost most of their power to knock me.
Even if they do,
I've noticed I bounce back quicker.
And that’s because I have much a clearer sense of who I am regardless of my activities and thoughts.
It’s a calmer, more relaxing place to be.
This is why I’m writing about it now.
As far as I'm concerned, the more bankers, lawyers, accountants and corporate employees who discover this shift is possible, the better.
It's why I coach this idea too.
On 11th March at 5pm UK time, I’m increasing the price of my 3 session coaching package from £150 to £500.
If you’d like to jump on this no-brainer price before it goes up and find more balance & calm for yourself, here’s where to go:
https://bonanza.followingfulfilment.com
That’s all for today.
- Tom