I lived through Hurricane Hugo. Before it came about, most people didn’t worry about tornadoes much in my area when there was a watch. More people took warnings seriously but a significant amount of people would “know the signs” and go about their day anyway. Hugo hit and devastated everything. Trees through houses and everything. It is hard to describe in a small sentence how much the wooded landscape changed for over a decade but it was common for trees to just be laying down everywhere in the woods. It was now common trails were cut through swathes of logs.
For a time after people would take tornadoes seriously again. Slowly but surely though, you’d see that neighbor that never mows their lawn think the best time to finally do it is when there’s a tornado that touched down near just to show they can defy it. Driving during warnings is one of the worst things you can do because the roads are static and traffic won’t just abide for only you. The road doesn’t just stay clear of obstructions from trees, powerline poles, fences, etc. You can very easily become trapped very quickly.
I think like anything else when people deal with tornadoes regularly, they become complacent. People think about them like they can just see them a bit off and have time but tornadoes will hop around or form just wherever very quickly. Some people’s attitudes become “this happens every year and I survive around 15 tornadoes a year and it doesn’t really effect me much personally, so it’s no big deal really. You just have to know what you’re doing.” when it was just luck all along.
In I’d say the first 10 years in my adult career, I definitely hated that. At about the 10 year mark I changed my entire perspective on things. I just changed to the mindset that employment is a two way business decision. I knew that I could leave at any time and I know they can make me leave at any time. So, I became much more independent. I make my own meetings with others when I feel I need to. I only attend meetings I feel like matter, which cuts a lot of them out. I do great work and I specifically build relationships with everyone I interact with. In all of my positions at all of the companies and projects I’ve worked on, I basically cut my manager out of everything. I set my own boundaries and make my own decisions. I will not do something that I don’t want to do. I will not work hours that I don’t see as reasonable for whatever I’m doing and I will have a good work-life balance.
My job has been threatened from time to time but I just shrug and say “that’s your decision but it doesn’t change mine” but I usually have a great reputation everywhere for being the guy that can ‘do anything’ and ‘get it done’. I’ve had directors and once a VP force a rewrite of my manager’s performance of me because I basically tell them I’ll just leave if my performance rating isn’t what I expect it should be from what I produce. It takes about 6 months, sometimes a little longer at a new place to get that sort of political capital for me.
Basically, taking control of my own work-life has made me a lot more money, given me a much better work-life balance (I rarely work over 40 hours a week) and has made my actual time at work much more productive and enjoyable. I’ve empowered myself and it is fucking great.
Most of your direct managers aren’t really going to let you go (except perhaps mandatory lay-offs) if you’re very productive because you’re effectively making them look good and advancing their career. If they do, then fuck’em, you shouldn’t be there anyway because you’ll always be held back and treated poorly for your efforts. You don’t have to actively search for jobs always but shooting your resume out to places from time to time, especially as you build your professional network can be very beneficial. If you have a good offer, demand they match it somehow – either in money or benefits of some type. If they don’t then just take the offer.
When management knows that you can and will leave and you’re productive, it changes the whole dynamic for you at work.
I know some people take the opposite path and do the bare minimum they have to in order to keep the job but I think having control over what you are doing, when you are doing it and having actual leverage in negotiating your pay whenever is much better for you. When they know you don’t need them, they’ll pay you better and just let you do your thing. The 80/20 || 90/10 (depending on how mismanaged your org actually is) rule is real. Be one of the 10 || 20 and show them you know it.