New Success

It’s difficult to accept that you were fed a bunch of lies while growing up, working hard and getting an education is still no guarantee to get ahead. Maybe that formula worked a long time ago but in the current environment, it gets you little but soul crushing debt and spinning round and around going deeper down the rabbit hole. Depressed yet? Don’t be. The fact that the old rules don’t work anymore is actually a good thing. It means we’re in unchartered territory and something outside the norm has a better chance of success than following a failed formula.

This isn’t a bellyache about how unfair life is. I accept that life isn’t fair, as a naturally cynical child, I came to that realisation very early in life. There are few industries that pay a living wage in Trinidad and Tobago today. Truth is large numbers of Trinidadians and Tobagonians are working hard and not earning enough to be comfortable. Yes, yes, a person working for $7000 a month is making a ‘good’ salary, as long as they don’t have to pay rent somewhere. Food costs are almost as bad, my monthly food bill increased by more than $300 in a month, buying exactly the same things in the same stores. Let’s say there is a child involved, how can this salary, feed, clothe, house and educate them?

The rules of employment changed. Long ago it was a company’s duty to take care of its employees until retirement then offer pension packages to allow them to live with dignity afterward. Many moons ago it turned out that the father of the guy I was dating, was the former Vice President of the company my grandfather worked for his entire adult life. He was responsible for the most progressive compensation package in the history of the organisation. I was able to give him feedback that the policies he put in place in the 1960s really did provide for the staff. The company paid my grandfather a substantial pension and offered funds for medical care as his health deteriorated. That was then, now things are much different. I remember my lecturer in HR telling the class, the whole point of HR is to get the most out of staff for as little as possible (the class drew a collective gasp). While we might dress it up using a lot of fluffy language, at the root of it all, it is exactly as he said. Today’s work environment of short term contracts and contributory unsecured pensions have ensured that today’s working youth are poorer than ever. Rather than think of how things have changed for the worse, it is better to think than when employers released their duty to employees, employees were freed from a lifetime of loyalty to a single employer.

For my dissertation I decided to focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. Guess what? There are lots of people out there getting ahead and finding success in non-traditional fields. The adage about doing what you love, well it seems it’s true. I’m not saying just jump in feet first in the deep end, it still takes planning and sacrifice. You know what I noticed? These business owners were happy to come to work every day, often in getting a job done they lose track of time. Imagine that!! Quite different from the typical office where everyone is constantly checking their watches and out the door on the dot.

I’m trying it myself and I can assure you while it isn’t easy and I’m not rolling in dough like I bought the winning lotto ticket, I’m surviving and I’m more at peace and more satisfied than I have ever been in a traditional work setting.

It is not an indulgence to say a 9-5 job really doesn’t work for me. Honestly I’m miserable at the idea. Freelancing where I can work when, where and how much I want is a much better fit for my personality and circumstances. Honestly the difference in income from when I worked a regular job is marginal. Since I don’t have transportation costs or a work wardrobe to maintain I don’t need as much anymore.

The point is if someone is offering you something you really don’t want, you don’t have to take it. You don’t have to take a low paying contract job in an office if you don’t want to. You can find your own path that will definitely bring you more satisfaction and success. Look at it this way, when the internet and emails were invented, regular letters by snail mail went the way of the wooly mammoth. Times change and things change and in order to survive we have to adapt to these changes. The world of work has changed shouldn’t the way we interact with it change as well?

You make the rules and you direct your own career. The rise in technology has created innumerable opportunities to earn a living. If you have a brain and know how to work hard and hustle, you can create your own version of success. I won’t blame you if that looks like a villa near the beach, success looks like that to me too.