Written by Inalegwu E. Gabriel
In the world today, “Job Security” is the word most people say with the belief that it makes them look good. However, statistics have shown that 90% of such persons end up unfulfilled and broke at the age of 65.
For the purpose of this article, I would like to give you a little exercise and should you accept to do it, you will come to the conclusion that I and a few others have arrived at.
Take a sheet of paper and walk through your neighborhood; knock on every door you find. When the occupant answers, briefly introduce yourself and kindly ask him/her this question;
"How much do you want to be worth by age 65?"
What are you doing at this point in your life to increase your income?
When the blank stare gets awkward, say thanks and move on to the next house. By the time you are done with this exercise, you will realize that by nature people hardly live up to their full potential.
Goals are what makes the difference between the haves and the have nots. Goals are the key ingredient in actualizing a full and satisfactory life. In the words of a famous writer, goals are “The steady and progressive realization of a worthy idea”. You will be amazed at how few the people who set goals are but a lot of people think they have goals when in truth, they are just wishful thinkers.
“I will make a lot of money” is not a goal.
“I will make X amount of money by Y date and I will do Z to make said amount” is a goal.
A goal is definite, has a deadline and action to back it up.
Now with regards to Jobs and how people give up their dreams to help others live theirs, it is easy to understand that when you are not working on your goals, you are helping someone else actualize his/hers.
There are so many people today who work solely for the sake of “Security” but in truth, it is jeopardizing not to work on your own goals.
It is more difficult to work on your goals when you spend more time working for someone else and this is the main reason why individuals who become successful despite having worked a job, are few.
These persons, spurred on by their goals, make the extra effort of not resting when they get home after work; they work on their goals alongside their jobs; they persevere and no matter how tough their jobs are, they find a way to put in some time in creating their future every day.
Now I do not mean to put down working at a job because some few persons become very successful while working on a paid job, however, on close observation you will discover that such persons had goals and their successes fell into their plans.
The successful ones work with a bigger picture in mind as opposed to the small minded individuals who do not see past a job and then wonder why their life ends up in shambles years later. When you have goals which span from a few days to a few years, you do not spend your idle time doing meaningless things; you spend every extra second you get working on your future mentally or physically.
The major difference between the successful and the unsuccessful ones though is that the successful ones take massive actions while the unsuccessful ones are sitting on their heads overthinking everything and taking action when it is too late.
In summary, you should ask yourself why you have a job. If it is just because you want security alone, then I can guarantee you that you will never be financially independent. But if that job is simply a source of capital for your business or the job is an avenue for learning a new skill, then I congratulate you because you will definitely be successful if you keep at it. And if that job is where your heart is, then the easiest way to excel is to go the extra mile. Do more than you are paid for and someday you will be paid for more than you do.
