Learn to Be Selfish

The entertainment industry is cutthroat, and if you worry too much about what is going on around you, you will quickly lose yourself and find yourself trying to please others for years and years. You have to learn to define the boundary of when it is ok to say no and quit saying yes. While offering help and staying the extra hours may have its benefits, you have to remember to think about what is good for you and your happiness and where the fine line lies.

Figure out whether or not the money is worth the unhappiness. Throughout college, I found myself working jobs that I found in the end weren’t healthy for me. From jobs that didn’t pay well, jobs where I worked late, to even jobs where I worked just because it made my parents happy. Every time I found myself to be unhappy, I only stuck it out because I had the guilty feeling that I should not leave.

Think about your future and never lose sight of your goals. It’s very easy to get caught up in what is surrounding us and forget to think about ourselves. We become guilty of getting too comfortable, guilty of talking more than we can walk, guilty of not being selfish enough. I have always been the guy that says “yes,” and I have learned over the years that I was saying yes maybe too much. I was being told to think about myself, think about my happiness, think about is what I am doing benefiting me and MY future.

According to Webster dictionary the definition of Selfish is:

“Having or showing concern only for yourself and not for the need or feelings of other people”

Though many may agree that is a bad thing, working in the entertainment industry you will need the backbone of selfishness. Don’t let arrogance take over because that is off putting and no one wants to be around that. Being selfish is good when it has good motives. Find the balance of being selfish and teamwork you will then start stepping in the path to your success and the success of others around you.

Ultimately in the end, every decision we make is for our own well-being not our colleagues or boss. You will hear stories of people who work their Monday through Friday job for years upon years, but aren’t truly happy and then one day they quit and leave. It has finally hit them that they just became the guy who becomes comfortable with his job and despite his unhappiness sticks with it to help support his family.

I am one hundred percent about supporting family and your loved ones and their future as well as mine, which is why I can’t stress enough to make sure that with every decision you make during college and after to think about how it will benefit the “selfish” you and if it truly does bring you happiness, because the money and success will follow. With happiness at a job comes passion and with passion comes success.

So while you work those long hours at work, sleepless nights, doing more than what is expected, start thinking about where to draw the line. People will start taking advantage of you and forget that you want to move up in the company, but would rather go through you because you say yes and they know you will do the job for the same pay. I strongly stand behind the theory of working hard and staying after work hours, but when you learn the point of being taken advantaged of, that is where you need to start being selfish and start making a change.