Life With Tia Wolfe

S3: E7 When Your Dream Job Becomes Your Nightmare: Navigating Toxic Work Environments and Embracing Personal Strengths

• Tia Wolfe • Season 3 • Episode 7

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What happens when your dream job turns into a nightmare? Join me, Tia Wolf, as I recount the eye-opening journey of a friend who collided with unexpected obstacles after stepping into the professional world. Fresh out of college and brimming with enthusiasm, his first sales job quickly spiraled into a whirlwind of manipulation and suppression. Seasoned colleagues and an overbearing manager greeted his initial success with hostility, unraveling his optimism and igniting a struggle for self-worth—a tale many young professionals could find all too familiar. This episode is a stark reminder of the importance of resisting toxic work environments while staying true to oneself amidst evolving workplace cultures.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. In the latter part of the story, I stress the power of recognizing and nurturing our natural strengths. It's about finding courage and motivation even when overshadowed by those with more experience. We must uplift one another, balancing progressive views with time-honored traditions to create a path where we can all thrive. By embracing our gifts and maintaining our values, we set the stage for a successful and fulfilling career journey. I extend my gratitude to all our listeners, and offer my best wishes for your own empowering voyage through the professional world.

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Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Life with Tia Wolf. I know it's been a while, but I needed these two months to take a break. But I am back today and I wanted to share a brief story. I'm not going to go really deep in, but I feel like for people who are just getting out of college and people who are in their early 20s, they really need to hear this right now, because this was something that I came across with one of my good friends and they were feeling this way. So I just wanted to talk about this and really have you guys kind of understand that you know, your life is yours. You get to choose the path that you want. So I'm going to break down the story in a brief manner, but we will still cover the main factors and why I wanted to bring this up. Why I wanted to bring this up.

Speaker 1:

So this was a story where one of my good friends he was working at a company where they were pretty much manipulating him, and I'm sure there's so many companies like that that you know we just kind of avoid looking at and really focus on because we don't want to get fired, or you know. Just, it's just one of those things where you don't want to bring up Right. But we're kind of at that time frame now where we are finalizing Pluto and Capricorn, so we are really breaking down the structures, breaking down authority and where they are utilizing and abusing their power for their own use. So my good friend, he's fresh out of college, his first year out of college, and you know I'm sure anybody who knows this you are finally an adult and you are holding a job for the first time, and when I mean job, I mean you're starting to build your career and you're super excited for your future because you know they teach you that when you carry a degree you're going to start working in that field and then you will climb up from that. But here's the thing that a lot of people don't realize is that nowadays, even if you have a bachelor's degree, you don't necessarily qualify. And if you've looked at all of the jobs, you're gonna realize that even on a entry level role, you need to be overqualified and it's actually ridiculous the requirements that they have. But this is the world we live in. So far, and I'm sure so many of you guys have felt disheartened to find out that graduating college does not guarantee you a job in the field of choice of what you've studied in.

Speaker 1:

So, nonetheless, my friend decided that, hey, he wanted to get into this company because he's really passionate about it and I'm not going into really specific details just because I want to keep it private, but he was there for a couple of months and he was doing really well. So this is also a sales role, which means it's commission based and, depending on your clientele, depending on what you bring in, you are placed in a hierarchy of who made the most sales for the month, for the quarter. You know, anybody who's held a sales role will understand that this is pretty normal to have competition, and part of it is that competition drives each other to have more sales. But this can also become toxic. So the manager was really over-dominering and was having him do a lot of ridiculous things that he wasn't having other people do because they've been there for a long time. You know, I kind of see it as he's fresh out of college and he was really in the world.

Speaker 1:

But you know, with adults, the longer you are in the actual world you kind of start getting disheartened and then when you come across somebody who is light-spirited and pure and really is excited for their journey, for their career. Most of the time this irritates older adults who have been in the industry for a while, because somebody did that to them when they were young and hopeful. So usually what we experience is also what we tend to do to other people, because that's how in our brains it's fair, it's like, hey, this is how it is and nobody's changing it. People just end up following the path without question, and so what I've started to notice over these past couple months was that, you know he came back and I can see that his energy has shifted, like he doesn't feel as hopeful, the purity is kind of gone. You know that pure, young, naive energy where anything and everything is possible. It's starting to dimmer and I had to bring this up to him, where you know this is very common for 21 year olds or like however old old you are when you just graduated college that there's going to be a lot of people in the world that's going to try and put you down. But we're no longer in that energy and in the world where we will still continue to tolerate that, because, especially with Pluto moving into Aquarius, it's really focused on individualistic mentality to add to the community.

Speaker 1:

So, going back to the story essentially again, like over the past couple months, it was like he was still doing really well. He was the top three in sales for the week, for the month. But to everybody else they see him as a threat because you're a newcomer, you just graduated out of college and now you're one of the top three in sales. You know like most of the time there's competition there, right? So people who have been there for a long time and as well season is going to be like OK, at first it's beginner's luck and then after a while, if he's still consistent with that, they're really going to do things to set him back and put him back.

Speaker 1:

So this manager of his was having him do the most ridiculous things. That suppresses him from his growth and I hope that you know a lot of people don't end up being in roles like that. But I can't say that this doesn't happen every day, because even when I was young I went through that, and so what I started noticing is that he started doubting himself, he started questioning himself, he felt like he wasn't good enough and it was like I have to work more, I have to work harder, like I need to prove myself as worthy, which is ridiculous, because if you look at the performance, if you look at the statistics of how he was performing, he was doing better than everybody else for the most part for a beginner, you know. And like that says that he has talent, he has a knack for sales, he has a knack for communicating with clientele.

Speaker 1:

So when you kind of think about these things, right, it is so easy for young people to fall into that trap of feeling like they're not good enough, they don't have enough experience, because all these other older qualified people, especially if they've been in the industry for a long time, don't want young people to do better than them, because, one, that also pushes them to have to work harder now. But two, it's like who do you think you are? Like you're just going to show up and you think you're better than us and you're actually performing well. So, like you know, people like that will end up sabotaging you and then you start doubting yourself, you think you're the problem and then it kind of goes spiral down from there.

Speaker 1:

So the reason why I wanted to bring this story up is that I want you guys to understand that there's always going to be people who are going to be jealous of you, who are going to be envious of you, and that is not a good reason for them to treat you the way that they do, especially if they're manipulating you, they're trying to sabotage you or just hurt you in any way that suppresses you from wanting to achieve, because it's usually these people who end up killing dreams because their dreams are shot. And you know, I would love to say that because certain people have experienced that that they want to be a better person for other people. They want to show up as a person that they needed for others. Unfortunately, not a lot of people are willing to play that role, so me bringing this up is a reminder for you to not fall for that.

Speaker 1:

And, if anything, you should be changing roles, you should be changing jobs, and we're hoping that in the future and going forward, that we're going to have better qualified managers and higher ups that are actually here to lead us in the right way, that doesn't feel threatened by good talent, by new, fresh talent with more innovative ways, and to really harness their growth, because that's really what higher ups are supposed to do, and when they have innovative people, it actually makes them look better too, because it's like, hey, I was the manager who really helped to nourish this person to grow and build their career. You know, that's why they have mentors and unfortunately, we live in a society where we're not basing people based off of their potential, what their roles are and what they're good at, but how long they've been there and I'm not to say that like seniority doesn't hold Right. But again, there's a reason why we want fresh, new talent and not everybody is welcoming change, but it's through change that we have a better world, where we are always trying to do better, to be innovative, to get further in life, because the only thing that's consistent in life is change. The only thing that's consistent in life is change, and when times have outgrown what it used to be in terms of trends, it's time to upgrade.

Speaker 1:

But anyways, I just wanted to hop on to share this story because I get the sense that there's a lot of you guys, especially the young ones, who feel really shot with their hope, feel like they're never going to get to their dreams and their goals, and that was like the old earth. You know where? Capricorn energy authoritarians. They are the ones that have the power that are constantly, you know, abusing it. And now that we're moving into Aquarius energy, it's no longer just a hierarchy, it's more so. What do you have to offer that's unique to you and what does that contribute to the community?

Speaker 1:

So I really hope, if you're listening to this and you are a young listener, don't give up in your dreams, because there's a reason why you have them.

Speaker 1:

There's a reason why you're good at what you're good at. Some of these gifts that we have come naturally to us and that's what can help us in our future. Don't give it up just because other people who supposedly are more senior than you, who've been in the industry longer than you, are people who are going to shoot you down and say, hey, like you don't have anything to offer. You down and say, hey, like you don't have anything to offer, you're not valuable. You know we're not here for that. We're here to uplift. We're here to really bring in more progressive views, and that's not to say you know there are traditions that hold true and still has value, because you gotta find things that work but also allow things to change because time is moving forward. So, anyways, I just wanted to bring this up and I know it's been a while, but I definitely miss you guys and I wish you guys a great day. I am grateful and thankful for you guys for tuning in and checking this episode out.