Looking back

Dear Lloyd,

Hi there. I’m a call center agent for one year now and I’m torn between quitting and staying. I don’t think I still enjoy my work. On the other hand, I’m afraid I won’t get a job with the same pay as I get here if I quit. Since I’m the breadwinner, I believe it will affect my family. What do you think is the best thing to do?

Thanks.

Grazelle


Dear Grazelle,

Let me begin by saying that you are in a deciding point, which you haven’t anticipated coming shortly. And making a decision, in this case, is very crucial. You see, many people exert most of their efforts in solving problems. For me, problem is more manageable when you see it coming. If you find it hard to solve a problem, then you must prevent something from being a problem.

You can quit your job anytime you wish. But I won’t encourage you to do that as of the moment. Not, unless you are courageous and confident enough to survive the jungle out-there. Or, if you have enough savings to finance your daily needs in two to three months. That is, of course, if you have considered ‘savings’ in your budget for the past twelve months.

As I see it, your problem is simply a product of small mistakes you have made in the past and decisions you have mismanaged. But let’s try not to dwell on what happened. Though, we must learn from it. Ask yourself two questions: First, what was your motivation in accepting such job? Second, are you emotionally and financially ready to quit? Many times, we decide on top of our emotion. It doesn’t work that way. Be intellectual, not emotional, in making a decision.

If your motivation is money, I think you’ve got a wrong motivation. You must be motivated by your passion, quality performance and commitment to your job. The emotion of money is dependent on quality performance.

If your motivation is your need, you’ve got a wrong motivation again. You must be motivated by your skills before your need. Your decision to stay because you need it, not because you are skilled and passionate about it, will only take you nowhere. Your skills will automatically fulfill your needs.

Let me tell you a story that illustrates the importance of decision-making and long-term thinking.

At 17, he went to Reed College. His parents spent all their hard-earned money to finance his education. However, he couldn’t see the value of what he was doing. He had no idea of what he wanted to do with his life. Worse, he had perfectly no idea if college education was going to help him figure it out.

Six months after, he decided to drop out and trust that everything would just be fine, though he dropped in for some subjects that still interest him.

He didn’t have any dorm room so he slept on the floor of his friends’ room, returned coke bottles for 5 cents deposits to buy food and walked seven miles across town every Sunday to get at least one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. Reed College offered the best calligraphy instruction that time. And so he took it without realizing its worth in the future.

Ten years later, when they were designing a machine, now called computer, it all flashed back. And the product was the first computer with a beautiful calligraphy.

If he didn’t drop in to take the calligraphy classes, he wouldn’t have created a product with such wonder.

The man is Steve Jobs, the founder and CEO of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios.

You cannot connect the dots in your life looking forward. You can connect the dots looking backwards. Look back. Reflect. Think long-term. Think bigger. Keep your options open. It’s better to have many options than none.

Lastly, you must trust that your dots today, what you do today and what you have today somehow connect with your future.

Buddy to success,

LLOYD A. LUNA