Sunday's Random Thought
Transcendence
June 14, 2026
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There is a growing frustration spreading through the workforce.
You see it in conversations. You see it in headlines. You see it in social media posts where people openly discuss sending out hundreds of applications only to receive automated rejection notices or complete silence.
Some people have been looking for work for months. Others have been looking for years.
Not weeks. Not a difficult quarter. Years.
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A Different Kind of Change
There are countless opinions about why this is happening, but the reality is that we are living through a period of significant change.
Artificial intelligence is changing how work is performed.
Businesses are realigning financially.
Entire industries are restructuring.
New generations of workers are entering the workplace while older, but not necessarily old, generations are finding that their work styles and career expectations do not always align with where industries are trending.
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This is not the first time society has experienced a changing of the guard. It is simply our turn to live through one.
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When the Rules Change
One of the hardest things for people to accept is that success is often tied to understanding the rules of the game being played at a particular point in time.
Many people were raised to believe that if they worked hard, remained loyal, gained experience, and developed expertise, opportunities would naturally continue to appear.
For a long time, that was largely true.
But what happens when the game changes?
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What happens when the skills that built a career no longer guarantee the same level of opportunity?
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The Old Assumptions Are Being Tested
What happens when companies that once retained employees for decades are now restructuring every few years?
What happens when technology can perform portions of work that previously required entire departments?
Those are difficult questions because they challenge assumptions that many people have carried throughout their entire adult lives.
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Scarcity Creates Fear
The natural response to uncertainty is fear.
Fear creates hesitation. Hesitation creates delay. Delay creates stagnation. Stagnation often creates resentment.
People begin looking backward, comparing today to yesterday, and comparing current opportunities to opportunities that no longer exist.
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The Better Question
Comparison does not create a solution.
It only reinforces the feeling that something has been taken away.
Maybe something has.
But the more important question is simple:
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Thinking Outside the Box Is No Longer Optional
I have written before about the importance of people creating more control over their own direction.
Not everyone needs to become an entrepreneur. Not everyone should start a business.
But many people need to start thinking differently about where opportunity comes from.
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When Security Changes, Strategy Must Change
For generations, people looked to employers as the primary source of economic security.
Today, that relationship feels less stable than it once did.
If the source of security changes, should the strategy remain the same?
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Reinvention Has Many Forms
It may involve consulting.
It may involve freelancing.
It may involve creating a small business.
It may involve learning entirely new skills.
It may involve combining old skills in ways that create new value.
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But whatever form it takes, it requires something many people are resisting:
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The Caterpillar Problem
A caterpillar cannot become a butterfly by becoming a better caterpillar.
At some point, the entire form must change.
The old version cannot continue.
That is what makes reinvention so difficult. People want new outcomes while remaining in familiar forms.
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Sometimes the solution is not improvement. Sometimes the solution is transcendence.
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Salvation Through Transcendence
I read social media posts from people expressing frustration about job searches that feel endless.
I understand that frustration. I understand the fear. I understand the uncertainty.
But I also wonder how long it takes before people begin asking a different question.
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Not:
"How do I get back to where I was?"
But:
"Who do I need to become next?"
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Those Are Different Questions
One attempts to restore a past reality.
The other attempts to create a future one.
History shows us repeatedly that periods of disruption reward adaptation, not because adaptation is easy, but because adaptation creates access to opportunities that did not previously exist.
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Are you trying to recover a life that no longer exists, or preparing yourself for the one that is trying to emerge?
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Final Thought
There are moments in life when persistence is enough.
And there are moments when persistence alone becomes a trap.
When circumstances change dramatically, continuing to push harder in the same direction may not be courage.
It may simply be attachment. Sometimes salvation is not found by fighting to preserve the old version of life. Sometimes salvation is found through transcendence - the willingness to become something different than what you were before.
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Realtor Squared
Strategy Before Signatures
info@realtor-squared.com | (202) 239-REAL (7325)
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