There were two peasant farmers called John and Allan living in a distant land. The king of the land decided to give to each of them an equal potion of farm land adjacent to one other to till for their own upkeep.

Immediately, John embarked on preparing his potion by cutting down all the shrubs and erecting a fence around the farm to prevent any pests. He thought to himself that when the rains come, he will be ready for planting.

On the other hand, Allan looked up into the sky and seeing no clouds or any sign of any rain, decided to wait. Allan also was a man with many associates and friends. He also liked to debate and chat on and on when engaged. Allan used to wake up every morning and walk over to John and try to engage him in conversation. Whenever he went over, John would dismiss him and told him that he had a busy day ahead and so could not engage in any talk. Soon Allan gave up on John and decided in his mind that John was anti-social. Instead, he decided that he would be going to the market place, and there he will find like-minded people willing to chat with him.

After about 4 weeks had passed, the skies were pregnant with rain. Allan realized that the rainy season was due and decided to make haste to prepare his land. However, the rains fell and caught him off-guard and he was not ready and instead he sowed his seed in the bushes.

There are very many similarities we can draw between this story and our careers. For each one of us, our first job is similar to the piece of land the king gave to Allan and John. This is an opportunity to set forth what it is that we want to achieve. There those who will think like John – begin to prepare for the coming rains and those who will think like Allan – wait until the rains are near…and what if the rains fail?

The first job is a beckoning for us to set our career vision and goals. This is the preparation stage. The job could be menial but what lies ahead is more important than the seemingly simple beginning. The vision is what matters here. Like John, do you have foresight to know that you need to prepare and be ready for the rainy season? Will you be ready when an opportunity to take up more responsibilities comes your way? – With a more lucrative job offer?

 

PREPARATION IS KEY

What is this preparation you may ask? I will sum this up as follows:

  1. You need to have a clear Vision of your Career Path i.e. where do you see yourself in two, three, four, five…ten years from now?
  2. Break your Vision into goals with timelines i.e.
    1. What professional skills do you need to acquire and by when?
    2. Do you need to enroll for specific courses?
  3. What are your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats? (SWOT analysis) vis-a-viz what you want to achieve. E.g.
    1. What courses can your current salary pay for? And are you willing to make sacrifice?
    2. What are the training opportunities I will benefit from working in this company? What is the company’s training policy like?
    3. Can I borrow a loan from my guardians/well-wishers to fund the furtherance of education?
    4. Where will I be challenged most when I pursue this path?
  4. Putting all your thoughts to pen and paper will go a long way in helping you map your career path.
  5. You may want to conduct a periodic review of your plan (after 6, 12 months etc.) Make sure that your periodic review is not too far off.

 

Ecclesiastes 9:11 says….I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

If the above were true, then we are responsible for where we are at any one time in our career path. Chance and opportunity happen to all. If you are well prepared, then opportunities will not PASS YOU BY or PASS BY YOU.

 

WHAT A FALLACY THIS ALLAN IS!

The above is the ideal. The downside to preparation is fallacy. It is a fallacy because, like Allan, many people seem to wade through life without any idea of where they are going. Instead, they spend their time ‘in the market place’ chatting away their future and destinies.

Such you will find engaging at the rumor mill in the ‘office market place’. They spend their time discussing anything including that which does not concern them. They will discuss their Spouse if they have any, they will discuss their boss in bad light, they will mudsling their colleagues and they will pour-cold-water on any one like John who is not willing to join in. When others sacrifice to go back to school, they are the first to castigate them saying…so and so does not have a life!

When the rainy season comes – it passes them by – because they have not prepared or sowed their fields. They spend many years in the same position or job. But there is still a chance for them too! Let the veil drop today!