Red Button Room

I am lucky to be working in America, to be able to choose my career here. In many parts of the world, the choices aren't as plenty. In many parts of the world, a person is often lucky just to have a job, any job.

Having said that, I have a scenario to tell, and a question to ask. I do this whenever someone asks me why I do what I do, even though, according to them, I could be doing something else with my skills, working at a job that pays a lot more money and has a lot more benefits.

Here's the scenario: you are approached by a billionaire, who has a job for you. The job pays one million dollars a year, after taxes.

There is a room that is completely empty except for one table and one chair. There are no windows looking to the outside, and all the walls are bare except for their white paint. There is no music playing, and the door to the room is to remain closed except when someone is entering or leaving. The room is temperature controlled, so you will never be too warm or too cold.

In the middle of the table is a red button. Your duty, as the employee of this billionaire, is to push that red button once every minute, eight hours a day, forty hours a week. That's all you have to do. But you are not allowed to read, write, listen to music, talk on the phone, or anything else while you are inside the room. You may only leave the room to take bathroom breaks. You may order any lunch, but it is brought to you, and you have to eat it inside the room. Basically, you are trapped inside this room for eight hours a day, forty hours a week, fifty weeks a year.

But the job pays a million dollars a year.

"Would you do it?" I would ask the person who originally asked me why I do what I do. So far, no one has said yes, and they know why. I think after a couple months of doing a job like this, a person would go crazy.

Why do I do what I do, even though it doesn't make as much money? Because I love what I'm doing. I am lucky to have clients who are decent people. I am lucky to work on projects that allow me to think, be creative, and solve problems.

I consider myself very lucky because, even though I don't make a million dollars a year, I am as far away from that red button room in terms of my work.

When I was just starting out, I used to think money was the most important factor in choosing a career. And then I got a well-paying job that reminded me of the red button room. I quit within four days. Quitting that job was one of the hardest choices I had to make in my life, but I knew I had to do it.

I also used to judge people, thinking that those who made more money, or who had more "prestigious" jobs, were better people than those who didn't. I don't think like that anymore.

I am lucky to be working. I am lucky to have a choice with my career. I am lucky to have a job that doesn't drive me crazy. I am lucky not to be in a red button room.