I'm Not Opinionated

Complacency

Complacency: self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies

As most of you know, myspace now allows you to display to others your current mood. It provides many different adverbs to allow you to describe your current situation or state of mind. When looking through the list (which is huge) this weekend, I chose complacent. I thought it accurately portrayed my current state of mind.

I thought nothing of it until I watched the movie "Swing Vote" this weekend. For those of you who may not have heard of it (this is assuming anyone still even looks at this blog since it has been almost a year since my last update), the (overly simplified)premise of the movie is that the presidential election has come down to one state, and the state cannot certify it results because the vote of one man was not recorded accurately. The two candidates start pandering to this man who has absolutely no clue about anything that is going on in the world around him. The experience helps him be able to overcome his complacency. I'd tell you more but don't want to ruin the movie. While not the best movie of the year, I do think that it should be required viewing in high school government courses.

Watching this movie made me realize how I did not want to be complacent any longer. Some days I feel like these days I am just going through the motions. I feel that I have been floating along since last August when my former employer went bankrupt. In November, I was lucky enough to find another job in my field and while I enjoy it, I am almost to the point where I have outgrown it. I have found that on average after about 6 months, I can perform my job on autopilot and grow tired of the day to day redundancy. Unfortunately, because of the current state of my industry and the economy as a whole, it is my best interest to stay the course. I do see some opportunities on the horizon...just would like for them to reveal themselves sooner rather than later. I know, I know...good things come to those who wait. To my credit, I am doing what I can to expedite the process and working toward a goal. I start work on my MBA in two weeks! In February 2010, I will have my long awaited Master's degree...and hopefully some added opportunity to show for it!

Going forward, I will do my best never to become complacent. There is always something one can do to better themselves and improve their situation. Self-satisfaction I can live with - being unaware of the actual dangers surrounding me and my own deficiencies I cannot.

Labels: Job, life lessons, Movies, observations, school

posted by jdanielsc @ 2:04 PM