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Is Cheating Knocking You For Six At Work?

ball tampering cheating cricket delf determination great discouragement responsibility

Ball tampering. Yet another disappointment huh! Are you affected at work by this?

In some small imperceptible way are you rolling up to work today just a little more deflated? 

Cricket makes me yawn but ball tampering makes me turn the radio up. I didn’t understand why until I read this ABC opinion article by journalist and presenter Stan Grant. 

In it, he posits that the neoliberal world we live in, a world governed by market forces more than political borders, has created an age where the individual - with a winner-take-all attitude - is exalted above society. Cricketers he says, are a prime example.

“They are paid millions of dollars, guns for hire to the highest bidder.

They no longer simply represent Australia — they play for Australia: they represent themselves.

Steve Smith can fly to South Africa to captain our national team and then return home and just as easily hop another flight to India to play in the rich Premier League, swapping his baggy green cap for the blue cap of the Rajasthan Royals, pocketing millions more.”

Stan Grant then asks, “In a world free of borders, to whom are we accountable? Have we become divorced from the expectations and responsibilities of our own communities and nations?”

Hmmm. Good question.

Neo-Liberalism grew partly out of the Great Depression.

We now live in the time of the Great Discouragement.

That’s my name for an age when we are constantly exposed to 24/7 messages that have us believe we are not responsible for our actions 

Our demand for Instant Gratification - I want it now!

Our compulsion to compare - If I get what they have then…

Our sense of entitlement - I’m owed this

Our addiction to comfort - I want better than this .. but hey .. this ain’t so bad

The rise of the nanny state - we can’t be trusted to make our own decisions

The message is loud and clear: there's an external solution to our internal problems.

We’re being trained not to accept responsibility for our own situations.

We hear this everyday….

She doesn't love you; buy a bigger ring. 

Overweight; take this pill. 

Injured; someone's gotta pay for that. 

 

This is why when I read Stan Grant ask…

“In a world free of borders, to whom are we accountable? Have we become divorced from the expectations and responsibilities of our own communities and nations?” 

I wondered if this is yet another nail in the coffin that we have packed our personal responsibility into? If so, then there will be people a little unhappier at work today. Personal responsibility is the key to becoming happier, more fulfilled in your job. Unless you have owned up and taken control of your career then certainly someone else is controlling your career instead of you. That means you are not self-determined. Being master of your own destiny is not for everyone but in my experience is very important for most.

The Great Discouragement - a barrier between you and self determination - thrives in the shadows. Maybe the spotlight on ball tampering can bounce a few rays of illumination onto this dark attitude we bring with us to work; where we spend 60 percent of our waking hours. What do you reckon?

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