Ok Redefining Value
Three years ago when I finished my compulsory youth service, a fellow youth corp member had asked me what kind of salary I was looking for in my next job.
I said N300,000 or more (Let’s not go into converting that into dollars, you’ll cry if you know what doctors earn in this part of the world)
Three years ago, that would have been a good sum of money and No, I didn’t get that sort of job.
I had a long career break instead and when I started working again, I settled for less.
I had lost confidence in myself and my skills due to being out of a job for so long.
Six months later, I changed jobs and finally got to a little bit over N300,000.
It didn’t take me long to realize that, that amount was way too little for the rapidly changing economic situation.
Also, it absolutely couldn’t quantify the value that I brought to that organization. It couldn’t make up for my loss of time with my kids and lack of sleep.
And it makes me so mad because it’s so widespread, it’s not just one organization, or one state or one profession, it’s just a huge systemic fraud.
The country I live in, just doesn’t put that much value to doctors nor any other profession.
Those living well above their means have had to take matters into their hands and build the life they wanted. (Some by crooked means of course)
My Experience with Government Workers
I went to two governmental organizations of recent to get some legal documentation done and had to pay money under the table to get work done that should be done for free.
I had to. Mainly because I could afford it.
Not paying could mean waiting for six weeks or more for something that could be done in an hour.
Now you might say I’m contributing to the rot, but I’m a mom with two kids and couldn’t afford the running around.
Either way, I had to pay under the table or pay with more time and transportation costs. Sadly, I chose the easier way out. In retrospect I’m not proud of my choice.
The System is so faulty that its workers have found a way to short circuit it and the masses have to suffer for it.
So What Happens When Systems Fail?
Individuals must wake up and rise up.
You must wake up and teach yourself if you no one will teach you.
You must understand what you are of made up of and what you can give to the world, then give it.
When one person wakes up, he can wake another person, and he can maybe wake up a community and the chain of enlightenment continues.
Let your anger fuel your drive for change.
For How Long can One Cry Foul?
Maybe this write up sounds nice now, but if I were to say it again and again then I would just become a cry baby who laments without taking action.
Malcolm X once said, “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.”
It’s as simple as that, what the system cannot give to you, you must create, for yourself and for others.
Three Steps to Offering Value
- Find what you are good at (A Niche).
- Find how it can solve the problems of others.
- Streamline your Process.
- Stay Consistent.
This is the first in a series of posts about What Value is and how we can transform ourselves and our world by offering value.
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