“Please who came first in comments last month, kilanko, ikotun or omozele?”
I’m bound to get a few people off their comfort zones with this post. It’s because of the love in my heart for you that I am propelled to write, please accept my refusal to make any apologies for what I am about to write. I will share the truth as is impressed on my heart, I will share it with as much passion as is required to help you consider your life, and make the most and best of it.
When I made a deliberate detour from Electronics and Electrical Engineering to pursue my passion for people development in Human Resources Management, I had it in mind that I wanted to help people succeed. I had hardly started this job that I had to tour major Universities in and outside Nigeria in search of new hires for my company. It was an exciting journey going out to fish out my classmates into the labour market, but what shocked me and appeared quite glaring was that a great number of graduating students were not prepared for the employment market. My passion drove me to write a book then, “How to get your dream Job”. I went on to further do seminars in many higher institutions, trying my best to educate people and get them prepared. In the height of doing these however, I realized a few things. That there are not enough Jobs for everybody, that a Job is never designed so you’ll be free and that in time, getting a job might not be such a great choice after all.
Why this type of thinking you may ask? Well, people are losing their jobs, and people are craving for Jobs but Jobs are not the best options.
1. Getting a Job is what majority of the people want to do after school
Vilfredo Pareto once put together a principle tagged the 80/20 principle. This principle outlines the imbalance and chaotic tendency of life. The principle demonstrates with numerous examples that the world is not balanced. Less than 80% of computer users know how to use more than 20% of it. Less than 20% of the world have over 80% of the worlds wealth. The crowd always achieves less than the minority. An easy fall out of this principle is the philosophical saying that one of the ways to know the direction, is to look contrary to the direction of the majority. Go to school, strive for a good grade and position yourself for a good job, seems to be the mantra of the crowd. Without any more data, it is clear that the road of the majority leads to average destinations.
2. A job is modified slavery
I tried hard to find in the Bible and trace to the context of a Job, the best I could find were slaves and hired hands. I stumbled with fresh eyes on a scripture that says -“the hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the lazy man shall be given to forced labour” This means that all men must engage in work, but the difference in the work of the one bearing rule, and the one under forced labour, is who chose the work for them. The diligent chose their own work, but the lazy had work bestowed on them. The entire concept of the birthing of Jobs, is to empower people but keep them dependent so that they keep coming back. Many people hate their jobs and find the job confining, some others love the jobs, but not all of it and some think it’s the grass on their side of the fence that has refused to grow more than carpet grass.
3. There is a difference between a Job and Work.
Work is the flow of value from one individual to another. Good work is usually valuable enough to sustain the worker and make the worker great. A job on the other hand is a contractual agreement between a company and it’s employees to pay their salaries, performance or not. Job is pretty easy, work is not. Many job hunters are likely to run away from real work.
4. The Stacks are high against your becoming Financially free via a job.
Don’t get me wrong, there are employees that are still employees and have managed to secure some level of financial freedom for themselves. The interesting thing with all of them that I have read about though, is that they all achieved their goals from other avenues apart from JOB. How many people do you know that have become financially free from their jobs? How many employees do you know that earn $1m per annum? How many people do you know that have risen from entry level to become MD in a national company in the last 15yrs? A bank MD once asked his staff in a training how many of them would be interested in taking his position. To his utter amazement, none of them raised their hands or indicated interest, getting to the top is a wild goose chase that is the exclusive reserve of a few. Let me share a little secret with you, I resigned from employment 3 years ago, and you know what? As soon as I left, my salary stopped :). Even though my works may still be useful, there was and still no option for passive income
5. Jobs are limiting
The whole concept of a Job is that you exchange your time for money. You show up everyday, seeing anything that you want to make better and addressing it. 24hrs and that seems to be all you have to exchange for cash. Does it now mean that once stop actively working you also stop earning? It is neither intelligent nor reasonable for anyone to only earn when he or she is working. A job limits your time, limits your ability to be involved in other winning ideas, and ultimately limits your future.
6. 20yrs on a Job won’t make you a better entrepreneur
The skills you need to be an employee and the ones required for you to set you a system are not the same. Many people simply kid and deceive themselves about exactly what they are doing and how they intend to get to use what they are doing as a bridge to what they want. You are not the first person to project 5-10yrs from today, but like all of them, they suddenly wake up and it’s 20yrs! The paycheck has become so crucial to survival and style, resignation is no longer in view. Your children have also come into the picture, and you tell those who care to listen how you cannot afford to take such risks anymore. You have a big title and a car, but you are one month away from becoming bankrupt. Your life now hangs on the free moving pendulum of “shall I, shall I not.”
7. Job is on the Same Side as Fear
Unfortunately a quote states that success and wealth are on the other side of fear. Meaning if you find what you love and even though you have fears, throw yourself into it with passion, the chances are that you will succeed! Jobs have a way of making someone into a coward. Many employees spend precious time badmouthing their company, their management and their bosses, but stick their with it till they grow grey. Don’t lose your spine, quit walking on egg shells, licking shoe polish or bending over backwards till it hurts just because you cannot speak out and share you true feelings and perceptions. What is the worst that can happen? So you get fired and discover that life has a lot more to offer. If you are afraid of anything in the work place that has kept you silent, voice out and move to the other side of fear.
This is one area I will be dedicating more time to in the next few days and perhaps weeks as I braze up to take up the challenge of becoming a freedom fighter. If the questions you are asking however are “What options do we have”, then do book a seat to the upcoming business opportunity meeting and don’t you miss it for anything. Don’t just read and say good article, read and then go do something. Don’t spend the best years of your life waiting for a Job you don’t need. Chose your labour and start building it today, when the time to move is ripe everything will fall into place.
