While motivation is good, being realistic is great. You have to realistically engage with the words you have heard and see how you can bring them alive. Right this moment, not a few us have gone motivational in terms of offering panacea to the sudden urgency that the time has thrown up and hit us in the face with.
On second thoughts, it's really important to be practical and realistic about the current situation. The majority who have jobs, are scared stiff. In the tropics where we are, there are sore and worse threats because there is no assurance of salary since they have not physically been to work due to the lockdown.
You know how employers of labour treat employees especially with regard to the time spent at work. Your employer wants to ensure that you are physically at work whether you really are adding the value or not. Being there is one, but doing the job is another.
Your input is better measured when you're on ground. It will require a new measurement now. Mind you, if you retain your job, it may not be without some paycut, for obvious reasons; chiefly that you work virtually now; and that voids your usual commute to work. Are you prepared for that?
Enough said about that. Right now with the much agitation caused by the emergent situation of Covid-19, there is much pressure and tension. Many feel threatened by job losses and are thrown into panic mode. This has led to different persons proferring different solutions, whether those solutions are workable or not. Pundits fill the space.
Let's not release empty motivational vibes. This is not the time for that. Learning a new skill is not the same as honing a new skill. True learning is a function that inspires change. Now, between the interstices of being exposed to a new skill and actually honing the skill, there is a huge gap. Within that gap, there is a lot of rising and falling, trial and error, rejection and acceptance, and many other inconveniences.
Service is at the root of honing skills. Right now who do you serve with a new skill you have not honed especially in a world that won't hire you without cognate experience? This is no news to you, right? Employers hardly hire without some years of experience and who really wants to train anyone now with the high odds?
What do we advise? It's time to get real with yourself. Brace up for the reality that's on ground. With the shit hitting the ceiling right now and a further slump of oil price from about 30 dollars to 11 dollars, what are you going to do? You must find yourself. What can I be great at for which I can be relevant?
What problem am I ready to solve? What is my level of competence? Does this problem attract patronage or in other words, is it something that someone is willing to pay for? How do I price my services? How do I play and become relevant in the emerging reality?
Again, can I offer this service virtually? If the uncertainty of the lockdown stretches into deeper uncertainties and we can't predict a respite or see the end in sight, though we are praying and scientists are working hard to get solution, the new normal right now is the virtual reality of things.
Am I ready for this? How much longer can I wait? Am I prepared to commit to this new reality? How continuously relevant would my previous skills or solution be? How much longer would or can my employer retain me? These are not questions that anyone can answer for anyone. They are personal questions that each person must critically attempt to find realistic and service-oriented answers to.
Reality has dawned, but while not trying to sound like an alarmist, you do need to put on your thinking cap and see how to shift your paradigm. Necessity is upon you to stay relevant. Business as usual is truly undergoing expiration.
