C3: Constant Corporate Cycle

C3: A term I coined for the constant cycle of a corporate job.

I've never understood the concept of what people meant when they used to say "I'm stuck in a corporate job". That never translated to me because I never understood the word "stuck" in that sentence. Maybe I was a child, too naive and privileged but I would always respond with something like "Why can't you just quit your job?".

Now I'm in a place where I feel like I'm "sorta kinda" understanding this phrase but once again my perception is still the same. If you're stuck, you seek solutions to be unstuck. Therefore, if you're going to be doing the same cycle of corporate work, you have to get unstuck somehow. Whether that would be taking on a new project which you enjoy or, getting promoted to get a different intensity of work. The solution to being stuck is change. It's movement. Therefore, if there is no change and no movement, you feel stuck. Simple, right?

Not really. There are multiple ways you can be unstuck but it is mostly never easy to be unstuck. For me, a 21 year old, working in Dublin after moving out of London, it has not been easy to move out of home. I'm one individual. I don't have any dependents. I haven't worried for more than a few days if not weeks, whether I won't have a home (different story). I have the option to move myself back to London by taking a leap at work. But not everyone does.

Now, imagine an individual where their family depends on them for financial stability. You go to work every day, whether you like it or not because your family needs you to go to work. Without you going to work, your family will struggle to make ends meet. In this situation, the individual might feel the pressures of C3 but would most likely never have the option to say, "I'm not enjoying being stuck at work". For these individuals, it is a journey of acceptance of C3. That journey is the only way.

Some people might argue the individuals I mentioned above still have a choice. They still have the option to change, to get out of the C3. Simply put, if those individuals have a choice they don't fall in the above category. I know this because my dad falls in the category above. He has worked his absolute ass off to provide for his family and to continuously maintain all of our growth.

Next, imagine a person who has moved thousands of kilometers away in hopes of a better opportunity. An individual whose family, while not legally dependent, depends on him to spend money overseas. An opportunity where they work in a room that is temperature controlled, thinking about abstract numbers at work instead of laying bricks underneath the scorching hot sun. An opportunity where they get payed 10s if not 100 times more than in their country of birth, for the same intensity of work. This person doesn't seem to have a choice. They do, but in their mind the choice is undebatable. They have to do this.

Again, some people might argue the individuals I mentioned still have a choice. These individuals might have more of a choice than the initial set of individuals but their choice is still limited. They're in the hunt for the same amount of money and the C3s. I know this again, because my dad fell in this category.

That's the end of the essay. Some of you reading might be confused - the purpose of this essay was not to give a solution, it was to provide insight for those people that have promoted hustle culture, without trying to understand why hustling in a corporate job isn't easy. Why working 2 jobs daily shouldn't be normalized and one part of why it is not easy to get out or rid of the C3s. Now, I leave you with a meme that I found funny.