Gold Forth Products

THE MIS-EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG GENERATION.

There is this expectation which the society has instilled in us, this blueprint which we’ve been condition to follow, and it’s this: “go to school, get a good education then you’ll get a good job and you’ll be successful”.

But the truth is, it doesn’t happen that way. Look around you, you’ll see a lot of young people, they’ve finish school and they’ve got no hope. All over the country, we’re struggling with high unemployment figure, graduates are struggling with being told they’re not good enough, they’re “half-baked graduates” and so many are just lost.

The few that manage to get a job are dissatisfied, they feel overworked and frustrated. Many are going to jobs that are making them sick and they are never paid enough to meet their needs talk less of satisfying their wants.

As a matter of fact all post-colonial countries have exactly the same scenario. They go through the transition from being oppressed to being delivered – mind you I didn’t say free. We confuse deliverance with freedom. As a matter of fact Independence doesn’t mean you are free, independence simply means you’ve chosen to chat your own course, your own destiny. Whether you make it or not is up to you.

To solve a problem you have to understand its root cause. So let me try, based on the little knowledge and experience I have gathered, shed light on the root cause of unemployment and under-employment.

Before the advent of colonization, each family is known by the work they do. “Alagbede” or “Agbede” is the Blacksmith, “Alaro” is the dyer, “Alagbe” or “Onigangan” is the Entertainer “Elemu” is the Winery “Apeja” is the fishery “Darandaran” is the livestock farmer and majority are farmers. They cultivate the land and the family feed from what it produces. The little you cannot produce and you need, is obtained by exchanging what you have for what you needed (I.e. trade by barter)

Then the colonial master came first to carry away people to work as SLAVE on their plantations in faraway land. Their economic systems, political systems and socio-cultural systems grew. People begin to question slavery and then it was abolished.

But the industries still needed the raw materials and resources from the colonies. So they came a second time – not to promote our culture, develop our trade or products but - to gather natural resources and raw materials from here to feed their industries, produce products, sell to us and thereby grow their markets and economy. However, they face a major obstacle, they cannot speak our language, so they face communication barrier with the local chiefs, in terms of getting the consent to mine the natural resources. They face communication barriers in terms of organizing, controlling and directing the labourer etc.

So to solve this problem. They crafted a very ingenious solution. They said “let us take some of their own people and trained them, we will call this training “education”. We will educate this few to speak our language (English) and to imbibe our culture. After they complete this period of education, will give them cars to ride and accommodation to live in and pay them salaries so that they will appear very distinguished, very respectable. Being of their sort, their people will listen to them and respect them. They will liaise between us and their chiefs to secure rights for us to natural resources. They will organize labourers to work for us, they will pass our instruction to the labourer to do our bidding”. And so the “Civil Servant” or “Educated Slave” is born.

So the purpose of this system of education is to trained persons that will graduate and be employed by the colonial masters. The person being so trained have a right to expect the colonial master to employ him/her. They cannot work anywhere else except for the colonial master. You don’t need this education to be a palm-wine tapper or an entertainer or a blacksmith, you have to work for the colonial masters as a civil servant. The education trains you to be fit for employment as administrator for the masters.

When the colonial masters left, our system of government and everything else including educational system was mirrored after what we received from them. Because the people that took over the mantle of leadership are the administrators trained by the departing colonial masters. So, naturally, they continue to do things the way they’ve seen their master do it, the way they’ve been trained by the masters.

At first, this system was working. The first sets of graduates are gainfully employed by the government and they have a higher standard of living. This attracts many people to the educational system. Because our culture, skills, local knowledge, trade, products have not been developed, have been neglected and the government worker glamorized, many started leaving their traditional crafts or trades and flocking into the educational system. Parents will tell their children to go to school, get a good education so that they can get a good job and be successful. That is why today, everybody expects government to provide job for the people! It is a colonial mentality, it is the colonial system of education. In the traditional system, do you expect the Oba to provide job for the people? The Oba only provides security and an enabling environment – and each person goes about creating and doing his own work. But this system of education, inherited from the colonial masters, trains people to become job seekers “I beg to apply”…. not to discover or create their work.

This is why we need a paradigm shift. We need to recondition our mindset from a job seeking mentality to a work discovering mentality. Now you may say “Job” and “Work” are they not the same? No, they are not.

Your job is what they train you to do, your work is what you are born to do. Your job is your skill, which they can fire you from – because there may come along someone more skillful. But your work is your gift, no one can take that from you. It is your innate ability, your purpose.

You can’t get rich or even satisfaction working on a job, because, when you are on a job, somebody is benefiting from your energy. But, when you are doing your work, it means you are using your own energy to be productive and fruitful.

Your job is where you get compensation for activity, your work is where you get fulfillment because you love it so much. You can retire from your job but you can never retire from your work because your work is you. It’s in your nature (take the example of a magnet and a battery. A magnet will continue to attract metal forever, it never dies, even when you break it into smaller fragments, it still continues to attract any metal substance – that is its nature. On the other hand, a battery has been put together (trained) to generate energy, after some time, its dies.

So when a person discover their work, they no longer need a job because their work makes them productive.

Instead of waiting for someone to give you a job, create your own work. Discover who you are.

A fish is created to swim, a bird to fly, what are you meant to do? Imagine if you are to pay a fish to swim and to breathe under water or you pay a bird to fly, they’ll become stupendously rich without effort because they are doing what they are created to do, what they love. Now imagine if you train a bird to swim and you put him under water, imagine how miserable the bird will be and how poorly he will perform the job.

So, how do you know your work? You have to search within yourself, you have to discover who you really are deep down. One quick way to know your work is to think of those thing you complain about, those thing that gives you concern.

It is said that man don’t complain about any problem he cannot solve. For example, nobody complain about gravity because we accept gravity, you cannot remove gravity. The fact that you notice a problem may mean that you are born to solve that problem. Now that you’ve noticed the problem, use your talents and gifts to solve it. And the bigger, the rarer and more complex problems you solve, the more valuable you become. And that is how you become rich, influential and successful.

I think this is what we are lacking, we are trained to get a job, not to start a business. Instead of seeking employment, seek deployment. Deploy your talents and gifts. What does deployment mean? To deploy mean to organize, position, arrange, set up, use your God given abilities, skills, talents and gifts profitably.

God is creative and he has put that creative ability within us. So man need to sit, he makes a chair out of wood (or tree), the weather is hot, he makes air conditional out of resources around him, people need to keep their money, he creates a bank, people need to travel he creates horse charts then cars, then planes.

So, look around you, every problem in life is a business opportunity. In fact, all businesses are simply somebody’s solution to a problem. The more problem in Nigeria or in the world, the more businesses for you to begin. There are a thousand and one problems or rather opportunities in manufacturing, in agriculture, in solid minerals, in services that you can solve.

But first you have to know – who you are.

SO, WHO ARE YOU???

Don’t define yourself by your job, your job is what you a trained to do. Rather use your job to develop your talents and gifts.

Don’t just be on a job mindlessly for years and years until retirement, or jumping from one job to another. Have a goal, have a cutoff date in mind at which you’ll leave your job to really do what you love. Because you have this cutoff date in mind, you’ll distinguish yourself from the others, everything you do will be purposeful, you’ll be more productive so much that your value will increase and when you are ready to leave, they’ll offer to pay you more rather than let you go.

Whatever job you are doing now shouldn’t be your final destination but a bus-stop along the journey to your own work or business. While your employer is profiting from your output, also use the job to gain useful experience and exposure that will become handy in your work.

Note: the main ideas in this write up is based on principles taught by Dr. Myles Munroe.

Napoleon Hill’s Self-Analysis Questionnaire

I was listening to Napoleon’s Hill’s - The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons (1928) audio book Vol 1 Disc 4 towards the end where he read out a long list of questions for self-analysis and I thought to myself, this is good, I should do the exercises i.e. do a self-analysis. 

But all the versions I saw through google search are either not complete of have been heavily embellished by the authors own suggestions, word substitutions (maybe they’re trying to make it modern – I love old school!).

So, I though why not put the original thing up without any adulteration, additions or subtractions. So, here you have it.

I have placed the questions in one column and you can write out your own answers in the next column.

How much time should you devoted to studying and answering these questions? This is what the author (Napoleon Hill) suggests “At least one full day is needed to truly answer this questions and contemplate your answers. If you devote that time you will know more about yourself than most people know of themselves”. – I concur.

Enjoy!

S/N	Questions	Your Answers
1	Do you often complain of "feeling bad," if so, why?
2	Do you find fault with other people easily?
3	Do you often make mistakes in your work?
4	Are you sarcastic and obnoxious?
5	Do you deliberately avoid anyone? Why?
6	Does life seem futile and hopeless to you?
7	Do you often feel self-pity? If so why?
8	Do you envy people who are more successful?
9	Do you devote more time to thinking about success or failure?
10	Are you gaining or losing self-confidence as you grow older?
11	Do you learn from your mistakes?
12	Are you permitting a relative or friend to worry you?
13	Are you sometimes elated and sometimes depressed?
14	Who is the most inspiring person you know?
15	Do you put up with negative influences?
16	Are you careless about your personal appearance?
17	Do you avoid your trouble by being busy?
18	Do you let other people do your thinking for you?
19	Are you annoyed by petty disturbances?
20	Do you resort to liquor, drugs or cigarette to calm you down?
21	Does anyone nag you?
22	Do you have an aim in life and a plan for achieving it?
23	Do you suffer from any of the Six Basic Fears?
24	Do you have a way to shield yourself from the negative effects of others?
25	Do you actively attempt to keep your mind positive?
26	What do you value more, your physical possession or your ability to control your own thoughts?
27	Are you easily influenced by others?
28	Have you learned anything of value today?
29	Do you accept responsibility for problems?
30	Do you analyze mistakes and try to learn from them?
31	Can you name your 3 most damaging weaknesses and explain what you are doing to combat them?
32	Do you encourage other people to bring their problems to you for sympathy?
33	Does your presence have a negative influence on other?
34	What habits in others annoy you most?
35	Do you form your own opinions or let yourself be influenced by other?
36	Does your job inspire you?
37	Do you have spiritual forces powerful enough to keep you free from fear?
38	If you believe that birds of a feather flock together, what do you know about your friends?
39	Do you see any connection between your friends and some unhappiness in your life?
40	Is it possible that some close friend or associate has a negative influence on your mind?
41	By what criteria do you use to determine who is helpful to you and who is harmful?
42	Are your intimate associates mentally superior or inferior to you?
43	How much time out of every day do you devote to: ·        Your occupation ·        Sleep ·        Play and relaxation ·        Acquiring useful knowledge ·        Plain waste
44	Who among your friend and family a. encourages you most b. cautions you most c. discourages you most
45	What is your greatest worry? Why do you tolerate it?
46	When others offer you unsolicited advice, do you accept it without question, or analyze their motive for giving it?
47	What, above all else, do you most desire? ·        Do you intend to get it? ·        Are you willing to subordinate all other goal for this one? ·        How much time do you devote to it daily?
48	Do you change your mind often?
49	Do you usually finish what you start?
50	Are you usually impressed by other people's business titles, college degrees, or wealth?
51	Are you often concerned by what other people might think or say of you?
52	Do you try to make friends with people because of their social status or wealth?
53	Whom do you believe to be the greatest person living? ·        How is this person superior to you?