Originally published by James Altucher on LinkedIn: Taking a Leap Towards Your Future Happiness
He had a signal that reminded him the worst day was coming. The clock ticked.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
It was Sunday night and “60 Minutes” was about to air. The dread began to sink in.
“That meant disaster for me,” Robert Kurson said.
It meant monday morning was just around the corner.
“I dreaded going to work everyday,” he said.
He was actually in hell.
After graduating Harvard Law School, he took a job working for a big corporation. He was doing these real estate transactional deals for needy clients.
“I just could not give a damn about corporation A’s interest versus corporation B’s interest,” Robert said, “It just didn’t matter to me.”
But it was the religion you had to believe. You didn’t have a choice. He had a boss and a client (lots of clients). And they needed him to perform.
“Every ‘I’ had to be dotted, every ‘T’ crossed,” he said, “And of course that’s who you want as your lawyer, someone who is obsessed with detail, but I wasn’t. My brain didn’t work that way.”
“So clients would yell at you?” I asked.
“Not just clients, but my bosses too,” Robert said, “I gave one guy a memo and he wrote in giant red letters, I told you to write about California law, not like a Californian!”
He was writing creatively rather than in a rigid, corporate style. He was attempting to hold on to himself. Be somewhat free in a shackled environment. But it didn’t work. And he knew he was breaking.
He told me he was in hell.
“I was going to be suffering the worst life a person could have if I stayed there,” Robert said. But he was 25 and was already making 6 figures. Robert was making more money than he could've ever imagined. And he was on his way to making millions.
“Months earlier I was debating whether I could get pepperoni on my pizza or not,” he said. The money was new for him.
But he wasn’t the only one contemplating leaving. Robert told me about all the people who talked about “getting out,” but never made it.
They trap you. You get a mortgage. And then you’re stuck in the corporate prison.
“You make a pledge to the death. And you’re there till the death. And that’s how it works for a lot of people,” he said.
Even the senior partners had a plan to leave. They were very wealthy. And very miserable.
“How do you know they were miserable?” I asked.
“They told me,” he said, “and even if they didn’t tell you, you could see it. The way they treated other people. And how they walked around. They weren’t thrilled with life. They were distracted with their salaries, but not thrilled with life.”