At my age “getting started” is oxymoronic at best, ridiculous at worst. But I am not writing this for myself. I am 60 years old, enjoying a credit-free life, two wonderful children who are both professionals, albeit still refusing to marry. I have a day job as a consultant and an evening job doing Internet marketing which, after more than a year of mistakes after mistakes, is slowly showing some results.
But many out there have lost their jobs; still more are gnawing their teeth in anticipation of losing theirs. Countless are partly employed, under-employed and retirement something to be feared and avoided at all cost. I am writing this so these people may know that losing one’s job is not the end but, perhaps, the beginning. It’s all a matter of attitude.
A long time ago, the company I worked with had a monthly program called “Management Presentation.” In one of these sessions, the subject was “job security.” When I was asked of my opinion on the subject, I told my group that it doesn’t bother me at all because, assuming I lost my job today, the worst thing that can happen is that I will be jobless tomorrow. The best thing is that I am still alive and can very well find a better job.
My argument was met with a deafening silence and facial expressions, way beyond description, from my group.
Of course, it worried me not at all. I have never been a “group thinker.” I hate conformance and I can’t stand people who are late. My friend told me once that I am too “negative.” I replied that maybe so, but it is negative people who move things, not those who conform; people who strive for higher standards of performance, people who always think of “a better way” to do it. Not people who “just get by,” people who blend.
Getting started, means not to conform to “group think,” to chart out a course not normally used by ordinary mortals. I once talked about Internet marketing to some of my friends and all of them expressed their incapacity to do it for a variety of reasons ranging from weak eyes to lack of knowledge. My daughter, a doctor, is well-aware of people consulting for eye problems. Her boyfriend, also a doctor for an HMO, is deluged with people, young people, with similar affliction. In both cases, these people are allegedly heavy computer users. I told them the next time people come in for the same complaint, tell them that your 60-year old father is in front of the computer 12 hours a day but is not complaining of any eye problem.
Which brings me back to my previous stand that all that’s needed is the right “attitude” to get rich. You see, poverty is not for lack of money but for lack of desire, a great enough desire, to make money, lots of money. While in the corporate world, my favorite saying was: “Give me a guy with the right attitude and I will make a super star out of him. But give me a guy with the wrong attitude and I will terminate him within the week.” And I did to lots of ‘em.
The biggest problem the world faces today is that it is full of people wanting to be rich, yet lacking the attitude to get there. We all want the good things in life but not many are willing to pay the price, to walk the extra mile, to do more than what is required, to be the best among his peers.
As an engineering manager, an associate once asked me who the best process engineer the company has. Without batting an eye, I said, “I am.” Yes, I was because I wanted to; I trained myself to be the best.
“Getting started” means to be the best in whatever one is doing. That is differentiation
Tags: argument, conform, group, lacking, peers, problem, rich, started
