Let's be honest:
The corporate workplace is a ruthless battlefield where status determines who wins and who loses.
Some workers chase fancy job titles, promotions, pay-rises and bonuses. Others hanker for corner offices, high profile projects, international travel and speaking slots at conferences.
My personal view?
Corporate life can’t go on like this.
I think we’ve reached a crunch point where all these markers are meaningless unless you’ve stopped caring about looking important first.
And, more to the point, you’ve stopped caring FASTER than any of your colleagues.
Presence is the new pay-rise, calm is the new corner office, Stoicism is the new status symbol...
And I intend
to get there first!
Just last week, I realised I was still slightly attached to being seen as unattached in the office. So I instantly let that attachment go and the dopamine hit was awesome.
(which I immediately forgave
myself for enjoying)
Then I logged this episode in my Stoic Stillness Spreadsheet™
This is the spreadsheet I use to track how often I judge my colleagues’ egos, plot graphs showing who's the most Stoically detached on the
office floor and keep a leaderboard for who can go longest without needing to be right in a meeting.
It’s a crucial spreadsheet in lots of ways.
It lets me analyse the detachment data using pivot tables.
It gives me a host KPIs about IPKs (i.e. Inner Peace Karma-Points).
And while I really, REALLY hate comparing myself to my colleagues (I’ve totally mastered the temptation not to), it does keep me one breath ahead of the competition.
On Friday, I out-meditated Carla in Legal by three whole minutes (what an amateur) and you bet your bottom downdog I’ve logged that in my Stoic Stillness Spreadsheet™ too.
As it happens, I’m launching a new pilot program next week.
It’s called Corporate Detachment Done Right
The program includes:
*** A 12-step method for mastering corporate detachment (I’m currently perfecting step 9.2e)
*** Performance based practices for releasing your grip on non-grasping
*** A WhatsApp channel for silently sharing your Stoic corporate breakthroughs
*** A bonus module on how to control your need to surrender control
If you’d like to join the pilot, just hit reply and I’ll fast-track your application.
After all, nothing says "letting go" like jumping the queue.
To a still mind and a killer instinct,
Tom