Every so often I’m going to write blog entries geared to information in Flourish.

Upwards of 70 percent of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia want to work and think they’re capable of holding a job.  Thus I’m going to present secrets to succeeding in the work marketplace.

A woman who wrote an article for Huffington Post claimed she doesn’t want to have to be twice as good as a person without a disability. She used a wheelchair.

“Honey,” I wanted to say, “You’d better be twice as good. Do it for yourself not for other people.”

There’s a lot of crap out there. That is people with a crappy work ethic. Do you really want to join the ranks of crap?

You might have to work with a guy who is not in his right head. Knowing that a rude co-worker without a mental illness who doesn’t do any work is celebrated and allowed to slack off, do you really want to disclose your mental illness in the workplace? Not so fast.

I’m a realist. I dream a world where more people can disclose without any repercussion. Yet I don’t live in this world. We’re not there yet in society. You have to prove yourself.

It’s true: that a co-worker with a defect will be allowed to be rude, to not do any work. Yet as soon as you try to be a slacker at work, don’t be so quick to think you’ll get the royal treatment like Mr. so-called normal does.

You won’t. It’s a double standard. I have been employed at jobs since 1990–going on over 25 years. It’s still dice-y to disclose in the workplace.

What can we do when we have to interact with people like this? I advocate for having a sense of humor.

Think about something positive about yourself that shines more brightly than the other person. Find something humorous about them. Whatever you have to do to feel better, try having a sense of humor about what’s going on.

Having a sense of humor will help you realize that “at the end of the day” you’re hot shit in your own way.

On the job, on the street, in real life, we’re all going to have to interact with slackers, with rude people, with people who live to twist our buttons.

Take the high road. Refuse to be pulled down onto another person’s level. Refuse to think you should be able to perform in the gutter too. It doesn’t work this way in the real world. You have to be twice as good.

You do it for yourself.You find humor in the situation.

The moral of this story is: Act like you’re hot shit–because you are. Like Queen Latifah urged: “Put on your crown.”

If you think you’re hot shit, it doesn’t matter what other people think of you and it doesn’t matter what other people do.

Act like royalty. Wear your crown with pride.