"I just want to finish with this school, go outside and get a
good job settle down and move on with my life." Was what a
friend said some days back while we had a chat at the
"buka". abeg nor ask me wetin i go find for there! in this
world where there are scarcity of employment opportunities,
I find it absolutely repugnant and repulsive for one to think in
this manner. Thinking is free sha, but em.. you have to be
realistic if you really want to be a difference!
What my friend said actually led me to write this piece, on
the mistakes we made before we became a graduate and
how you can avoid these same mistakes, experience is the
best teacher, though true, there are lots of disadvantages
learning from your experience; it is very expensive.
It is always better to learn from other people's experience, it
will save you from falling into a situation that will have a
lifelong trade mark on your life.
One of the mistakes we made before we became a graduate
is not working to earn a money, when we find ourselves
relying on our parent for support, they took care of virtually
every aspect of our academic endeavor, from the school
fees, to our feeding allowance, wardrobe and many others,
all we knew was how to spend money.
This has put many of us in a difficult position to earn money
after school.
I recently spoke with a female friend on where she would
like to work after school and she said the embassy.
Just because she studied International Studies and
Relations automatically guarantees her a place at the
embassy. If by the time you graduate your dream job does
not show up, what will be your next line of action? Then you
wish you have gotten principles on how to make money. It's
not too late to start now, to be sincere with you, life begin
the moment you begin to assume responsibility for your
actions, it is time you take responsibility for yourself, your
age should not be a barrier, and you are not too young or
too old to doing something financially rewarding.
I have always been a critic of formal education without skill;
it is unfortunate that modern educational system is
overrated in the world especially in Nigeria.
According to statistics, almost all Nigerian homes today
have graduate, but I have also asked a basic question, how
many home has employed or employable graduate? Many
folks want to be done with the tertiary and go get
employment, nobody wants to create job or even be self
sustainable.
A lot of person outside today have degrees but they are not
educated, education empowers you for success on every
area of your life, while Academics on the other hand focuses
on certificates, we must make a distinction between these
two, the only way to make them work out is to use you
academics promote your education, and you can do this by
thinking outside the box. One great mistake many graduates
made before graduating was not thinking outside the box.
Now to the undergraduates; you must prepare yourself for
world without certificate, yes! I quite agree that we must
strive to be the best in school, accumulating good grades
also does help, what happens if the certificate cannot not
fetch you your desirable job, what will you do? You must
prepare yourself for a plan B, when plan A fails, plan B
should not.
In other to avoid this, as you pursue your academic
endeavor, also acquire a vocational skill; we have a lot of
them that can serve you a means of earning a living while in
school. For those who have graduated, acquire a skill and
you will be better for it.
Many have the conception that there is still enough time, I
once saw myself in this disposition too but there are
consequences if you think this way, and one of them is that
you tend to live your life carelessly, by the time you realize
that you are no longer a baby, you must have wasted a
reasonable amount of your years doing nothing. You have no
reason not to start making money early in life; in fact it is
even more advantageous, it is better to be doing something
than to do nothing. Looking at the world we find ourselves,
those making the real cash are not those working with their
certificates, I am very sure you will agree with me on that.
Can I ask you a question? What services can you render that
people will have to pay for? Have you wondered to ask
yourself that question? To survive in this ever growing world,
you must have something that people will pay for, if you
don't have one, it's time you try as much as you can to
provide services in exchange for money, the more the
services you are able to render, the richer you will become.
Think about it!
The first book I bought with my money was, How to get
what you want by Nido Quebein; New discoveries on how to
reach your potential. I bought that book for less than 3000
naira then in 2007, and since I bought that book, I have not
seen another copy elsewhere. My emphasis here is that,
many of us don't have the habit of reading, a lot have been
said about hiding something from a black man in a book, as
absurd as it sounds, that is the truth, many find it difficult to
buy books for self development, I am not talking about the
school books that you are been forced to buy while you are
in school, I am talking about inspirational and motivational
books that will enrich your mental capacity, books that will
develop you entrepreneurial skills, even devotional sef e hard
for some to buy!
We must learn to cultivate the habit of reading, readers
make leaders. Try something new today and be above your
peers.
It is very important we strive to reach our potential, we must
learn to always work to our optimum capacity, a lot of us are
under utilizing our gifts. Search yourself and work towards
achieving greatness.
No comments:
Post a Comment