If you have ever played the video game Portal, you might be familiar with the quote, “The cake is a lie.”

Working Hard for Non-Existent Rewards

In the game, the cake is the supposed reward for completing a series of difficult spatial puzzles. Later in the game when you have escaped the puzzles, there is a message scrawled on a wall that, “The cake is a lie,” and it has been explained elsewhere that the cake symbolizes a non-existent reward for completing tasks.

I believe that for many people, it is the cake that keeps you in a dead end job instead of taking the leap to starting a business, trying a new career path, or just leaving to discover your true passion.

Are You in a Dead End Job?

Consider a situation where you are in what feels like a dead end job. You might get thrown interesting tasks now and then, but overall you are miserable. Many bosses pick up on employees desire to leave so what do they do? They let you go home a little early, tell you that they are working on trying to promote you, or toss you other small motivators that are supposed to motivate you to keep doing the job that is grinding you down.

In many situations, that cake you are offering you is a lie. It does nothing more then motivate you just enough to do your job. You are still plugging away day in and day out in total misery.

There is no new position, no exposure, and the little perks you are granted will stick around until the next round of cuts need to be made, because when it comes down to it, if it comes down to your boss cutting you or he gets cut . . . I don’t think he is going to risk his neck for yours.

“The cake is a lie.”

Many people working desk jobs live with the promises of management dangling in front of them. Bonuses, new positions, and other “intangibles” are kept out of arms reach in order to keep you motivated, in line, and contributing your hard work to the company’s bottom line. It is that cake, day in and day out that keeps you toiling away. Every day you pour your life into a job, but does that job do the same for you?

So what do you need to do if you have realized that “the cake is a lie?”

Find out what you are passionate about. Find out how others have turned that same passion into a business. Then make a plan for learning what you need to learn so that you can get a job you are passionate about or start a business that aligns your passion with your way of earning a living.

The cake is there, but it is not real. What is real is your passion to do something great with your life. Move forward and make that dream a reality. No one else can but you.

If you liked this post, then you should also check out:

1. How to Create a Value Mindset
2. Are You Looking at the Giant Leap When You Should Focus on the Little Steps?
3. Are You Trying to Trade A Monotonous Job for a Monotonous Business?
4. That is Not How This Business Works
5. You Will Fail if You Are Not Passionate About Your Business