Dear All,



Hope you will have time to go through this!!



Life

The shrill in his voice cut through my bone marrows like a chain saw as

he narrates his ordeal over the phone. He had just lost his younger

brother in an accident a month ago, his wife just gave birth, in

addition he caters for his other five siblings and a week after he was

fired by the organization for which he has sacrificed nine years of his

life. Bugzy got fired last week; he could not even pick his personal

files from his PC.



This piece is not about Bugzy, it's about us, you and me. Let's pause

for a moment and put our selves in Bugzy's shoes, did I hear God forbid?

Yeah! Bugzy would have said that a week ago but reality has set in.

whether Bugzy was unfairly sacked is not what I want to discuss but what

have we to learn from it?



We work in the 21st century where technology is fast claiming good old

jobs, my dad used to be a cable expert at NITEL, he reveled at the

single fact that he's so good at the job, he was indispensable, but the

moment the idea of GSM was being mooted, he was such a smart man that he

resigned and started some other business but his colleagues stayed on

with expectation of the usual monthly pay perk, then came the big bang,

256 NITEL Technical staff sacked, my dad was still being paid his

pension after taking his gratuity. Technology we love so much is

becoming our competitor, organizations are fast automating their

processes, we are being replaced by machines, it's now a war of man vs.

machine but man is fast losing the battle due to that tacit support of

the capitalist machine.







Yes, the capitalist machine, that greedy behemoth, never satisfied with

little. Due to globalization, companies are spreading more than ever,

are consolidating more than ever and profits are rising more than ever

but jobs are lost more than ever. You may ask why, the reason is; they

have found alternatives and they are machines. Companies cut jobs at

every little provocation, losing ones job is as easy as a phone call or

an SMS, hurray technology! When organizations want to cut costs, they

don't sell computers and software's, they sack people.



Like Bugzy, we have come to work today, to earn our pay, but are we

really sure we will be here when the salary will be paid? I am not

Nostradamus but I can give a little advice on how to live in this

perilous times. I may be sounding too negative but permit me to drive

home my points. Do we have the I-quit-money? Majority of us just spend

and spend till we drop dead, hoping to earn an unearned salary. We shop,

drink, party away, take loans to consume luxuries over income we are yet

to earn in the next three years. What if after this, we get sacked and

nothing is left in our accounts? We get frustrated and feel worthless.

Please, let's save and save and save and then invest, invest and invest

again but wisely, let's invest in landed properties, stocks, bonds;

invest long term and short term for we will fall back on them in the

rainy days. At least let's set about 30-40% of our income aside for

investment and savings so when it happens we can comfort our dependants

and keep their hopes alive instead of killing our dreams and theirs due

to our wrong choices.







A job should not deter us from having a plan B, one of the best ways to

make a plan B is to learn some very practical skills aside from what we

do at work, let's learn some skills. The truth is in some years from

now, people like Bugzy might be thankful to the organization for sacking

them as they might become more successful by going into personal

businesses or doing something that will bring income far above what

their paid jobs offered. Can you sing? Try developing that skill, learn

to sew, learn hair dressing, make use of that ability to cook that

people have always praised you for, are you good at programming? Try

designing software, teach if you can, learn something, anything, it

could be your saving grace after you receive that call. These are

derided skills which wiser people have converted to cash. Talk about the

Mr Biggs, Nandos, Tiffany Ambers, Frank Oshodis, Tufaces, Bill Gates,

Steve Jobs of these world and you talk of people doing ordinary things

in special ways and making serious money.



For those that can still apply to study please

intensify efforts, it increases your market worth and you can call the

bluff of any employer when you need to



A word is enough for the wise, let's do these things so we can smile and

drop our letters with joy when we are called to do so. These things call

for serious discipline, what else differentiate success from failure if

not discipline and determination?



If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk, but please keep moving.

Don't sit in your comfort zone because there is nothing as such, it's an

illusion.



Thank you.

A word is enough for the wise

To true need to find something along that line but yet to identify wat skill to get,although i love discusion on a wide variety of subjects and topics ranging from politics, business, religion, relationship,financing,global issues, etc. so wat do u suggest

@ poster,WORD

semidaraeb:

To true need to find something along that line but yet to identify what skill to get,although i love discusion on a wide variety of subjects and topics ranging from politics, business, religion, relationship,financing,global issues, etc. so what do u suggest

This topic is not about politic or even business but doing the right thing at the right time. We need to plan for the future. it is a Straight Talk