Work, Traffic, and Missing Socks

During a long flight over the Pacific Ocean, I decided to grab my iPad and watch a movie I had downloaded from Amazon Prime a few weeks earlier.

In the movie, Stranger Than Fiction, Professor Jules Hilbert (played by Dustin Hoffman) says to Harold Crick (played by Will Ferrell) the following about how most people look at life’s issues …

“First thing on the list of what Americans say they hate: work; second, traffic; third, missing socks.”

Let’s Start with Work

I recently had a conversation with a friend who is near retirement, and she said …

“Jimmie, I just don’t know what I would do if I were to retire. For me, work has always been a part of my life, and I have no idea what to do when I’m away from it.”

I think my friend has a valid point about making sure we stay busy even after we call it quits from work. However, my concern is that some people are giving their work a much higher priority than the really important stuff in life: faith, family, and friends.

In other words, work is still causing stress, which is exactly what we are trying to avoid.

Here’s one more thing for us to consider, and I will write more about it in the future:

Who came up with age 65 as the magic number to call it quits?

I think there are ways for us to start doing what we really love much earlier than our mid-60s.

Next, Traffic

In the States, we know the cities that have notoriously bad traffic: Atlanta, Houston, LA, and NYC. Yes … there are many more!

One notable benefit of the pandemic is many people are now working a hybrid schedule or 100% remotely. If this is you, your traffic issue has largely been resolved.

I remember my first job in Houston working for Shell Oil Company, and the entry level salary was very modest.

In fact, in full transparency, back then in 1990 as a newly minted Finance college graduate, I was paid a whopping $26,500 annually. Yeah … I know, this is a sad report!

With this salary, I had to drive in the heavy I-10 and Highway 59 rush hour traffic, which meant I would incur tolls, but it would save me about 20 minutes each way. Still, it was a two-hour roundtrip experience.

The tolls for the entire trip were about $7 daily, and we also paid for parking in downtown Houston. If you still remember my salary, you can see the impact.

It did not take long for this Finance major to figure out this was a money loser! It was time to do something else!

Finally … Missing Socks

Have you ever worried about trivial stuff? Have you made a big deal out of nothing?

I know I have, and it reinforces the point from Prof. Hilbert … Life is way too short to fret about the stuff that brings zero value to our lives.

Do you agree?

In summary, here is what I learned from watching the movie …

• Work should be something I enjoy, and I need to control how much I do, especially as I get further down the line in life.

• Traffic is not going anywhere, so we need to decide how much a job means to us before accepting the offer.

• Stop worrying about missing socks. The fact is that once you put on your shoes, most people will never be able to tell.

It’s funny how we just simplified our lives, and most of what we do is within our control.

See you next week, my friends!

Closing Quotes

“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn

“The greatest gift you can give yourself is a little bit of your own attention.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo

Homework Inquiry

During the next week, here’s your homework inquiry: To take control of your life, consider the following questions: What will you stop doing? What will you start doing?

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I use this opportunity to share with you a unique story and a couple inspiring quotes. Oh ... as a professor at heart, you guessed it, I have a homework inquiry for you. This is a powerful question that might just trigger you to take action on something that really matters in your life. If you feel the Catalyst Newsletter brings benefit to you.