THERE is no such thing as joblessness, unemployment or lack of occupation. Whatever you engage your time in mostly becomes your job, gets you occupied and employed. What you choose to do with that time is what determines the outcome of your life, your profit, wage or salary. Joblessness, unemployment, lack of occupation is a product of negative mentality. What everyone who is employed on a job or in an occupation is expecting at the end of every engagement is a return of money equivalent of time spent. The money received is the reward of his/her time and engagement. In the same vein, what one does with the time available to him/her determines the outcome, reward or wage allocated to the person. The Oxford Dictionary defines job as an activity that requires a person’s mental or physical effort. It is also a person’s role in society.
Occupation is any activity in which a person is engaged, the state of being occupied, taken over or settled, the state of being busy. Employment means a person’s regular trade or profession, it also means work, especially when it is done to earn money. With these definitions, we discover that no one is a victim of these three acronyms but rather, we are all taking advantage of them. There is no one who is not employed or occupied or without a job. What you engage your time on, on daily basis determines the outcome of your life.Time is the currency of life. How you spend our time determines the quality of our life. Time is the greatest asset in life. Greater number of people waste their time. Until employment is viewed as a state of mind and not necessarily the organisation or the company you are engaged to, the greater number of people, especially fresh graduates, will be frustrated.
Obaseki, Oshiomhole ‘reunite’ in Aso Rock, shake hands in Villa meeting
The unemployed is the one who has not yet discovered how to maximise, use, invest and make good use of the time available. Many so-called unemployed are consciously or unconsciously employed, engaged without knowing. Whatever you do with the 24 hours available to you is your employment and will also decide your wage. If you engage your time watching television you sure know what your wage will be! If you engage your time sleeping, gossiping, tweeting and chatting on social media, hanging around with the mediocre, you sure know what your reward will be!
A wise man once said, today a reader, tomorrow a leader, is a clear picture of what used, maximised and invested time is like. The fellow who is employed or occupied with a studious life will soon be paid, or let me say will soon withdraw from his account of employment a wage or the pay from his/her already determined, organised and disciplined occupation. I end with this idea: that it is not necessarily the responsibility of the government to create employment opportunities for its country; every person must take personal responsibility for the accomplishment of his/her own destiny and for the good of our country.
Men such as Bill Gates, Michael Faraday, Tiger Woods, Steve Job, Aliko Dangote, Mark Zuckerberg, David Oyedepo, Thomas Edison and so many great men in history never waited for the government or anyone to create jobs, or employment opportunities for them; they created one and in so doing provided employment for the country. Our destiny is in our hands. Lets wake up and focus on what is more important to us a individual and as a Nation. Instead of asking for what your country can do for you, ask for what you can do for your country, said John F. Kennedy. A dint of personal disciple in reading and thinking for a way out is the solution to the devastation and challenges in our Nation.
- Nwoke is founder and President, Readers Made Giant International.
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