Warning Signs of Complacency, II.

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2 years ago

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This is the second part of the topic mentioned above. I was unable to squeeze it into a single post so I decided to make it into another part. You can read the first part here: Warning Signs of Complacency.

Still on the first point: (1. You are complacent when you are no longer striving to do your best.)

Stop adding more than you are willing to maintain. Stop being a jack of all trades and master of none. Learn your limits and know when you can still push further ahead. Your motivation has to be skin deep and deep inside you not only by external factors because once the external factors are missing, your desire to keep giving your best would fade away and complacency would step in. Stop taking trophies for the races you didn't run because such a recognition won't last which is why you need your motivation to be deep inside of you.

It's okay to dream and it's okay to be called a visionary but you can't keep neglecting the present and keep focusing on the next. You can't neglect now and then earn next. Most visionaries are so consumed with where they are going that they forget where they are. Where you are is what you have to make do with to lead you to where you want to be. You have to give your best now, not later. Now is guaranteed, tomorrow isn't. Nothing is ever certain in this life except for death and taxes. Whatever you want to do, do it NOW. You might not have the motivation or the energy for it again if you keep deferring it.

2. Operating on an old playbook.

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Many people are still holding on to the things they learned many years ago without learning something new or at least updating the knowledge they have. The world is moving so fast and knowledge is power. The information at your disposal would go a long way to determine how fast you will move in life. Someone said that dying is not the end of life because a lot of people have died while living. They have stopped reading books, they have stopped learning and they have stopped making ground for their knowledge gaps rather all they do is make excuses for it. If you are in that category, just know that you are already getting complacent.

What you knew many years ago won't always stay relevant in a world that is ever-changing as ours. The advice you got many years ago won't even apply again in the world we live in today without you sounding ridiculous. Imagine using a Pentium 1 computer in this jet age? The frustration that is waiting to unleash cannot be expressed in words.

We are to become lifelong learners as long as we are living. It doesn't matter if you are older or not, as long as you are still doing life, never stop learning. What was relevant 20 years ago won't always be relevant now. Most people are living in a laptop era but they are operating in a typewriter mindset and effort. Such a person would easily be left behind since he or she cannot keep up. There is updated information at our fingertips but most people are complacent which is why they would rather waste it away on things that add no value than on things that would give them value later on.

A lot of people are not doing anything to grow. Personal studies are not there, audiobooks are their enemies, and even hard copy books disgust them. They are not doing anything to update themselves and we are expected to keep enhancing ourselves. There are always things you can learn as long as you put your mind to it. Don't stop at the things you've known already. The things you have known cannot be taken away from you but with the way the human brain works, you can have as much information stored as possible. You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable...you must know more.

Learning is not easy and it's not comfortable to subject yourself to it especially when you see others having fun and making quick bucks but investment in yourself is never a waste of time or resources because it's a deferred value that would soon get noticed and rewarded accordingly.

If you no longer have the zeal to update what you once knew and you are holding on to your old ways blindly, you need to be honest with yourself and tell yourself that you are already getting complacent. We can all grow out of it when we seek to know more. I've never seen any wasted learning. I'm speaking for myself. The things I know and learn, opportunities always pop up for me to use them. Just keep learning and wait for the right opportunity to take advantage of it.

...to be continued...

Thank you for your time.

My pen doesn't bleed, it speaks. I am love's chemical content in human form and that's why I advise people to take a dose of "Olawalium" daily. 🙈

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2 years ago

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It's always good to take responsibility now, and anything we need to do, we should do it now without postponing it to another time, if we postpone it, that's called procrastination, and there are many ways it's going to affects us, we might not be able to do it again later in the future. So, it's better we put our best efforts into it now, and utilize the power and opportunity of now, because no knows if tomorrow will come, we can only hope for it .

That's it sir, we are in a changing world, every now and then, things are advancing. If we only really on what we learnt in the past, and don't learn new thing, the world will just move pass us, and we will continue to live in outdatedness.

For example, there are some Tailors you dare not give your clothes to, all they know is old fashion and old method of sewing clothes, they don't upgrade themselves and update to the present ways of sewing, YouTube is there, they don't go there to watch videos on present ways of doing fashion designing, all the depend on is what their OGA taught them when they were still Apprentices.

$ 0.04
2 years ago

That's the interesting part. Most people don't even need to pay to learn, they can easily watch videos online and they would learn faster but they want to stick to their old ways and then wonder why people are not patronizing them.

Thanks a lot for that.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Sometimes our environment, play a lot of role in shaping our mindset. Up here in the north, the people are not even living in a "type writer era", they are living in the "abacus era". When the people around you are not striving hard enough and not taking advantages of the myriads of opportunities in the digital age , one would be tempted to follow the crowd and pray and" leave everything to God" ( they sure know how to leave their problems to God). Except if you already have a higher IQ from birth or you see the way other people from other regions are doing thing differently, that's when your perception will change and you'd know that there's more to life than living each day as it come... That's why most times, they prefer to remain in their region because they know that it aint business as usual out there. unlike other tribes that migrate to other places in search of greener pastures I

$ 0.04
2 years ago

Hahaha abacus...that's stone age. It's sad. Yes, our location shouldn't limit us but most people are limited by their surroundings that it affects them. They are used to how things are and scared to try the unfamiliar...it's not surprising why they might not improve at the rate they should.

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2 years ago

Focusing on the future and ignoring the present is automatically not doing anything, we have power over now but hope is what we have about the future.

Learning is a priority to stay relevant to the world and also achieve our dreams, the moment a man stops trying to add to his knowledge, he or she automatically starts losing values.

$ 0.03
2 years ago

Exactly, brother. What we have of the future is hope and the present is what we can do something about. Once we fail to add value, we would be pushed aside. The world waits and stands for those who know where they are going...

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2 years ago

Ah, Mr Ola...I am complacent ooh, very much complacent, infact especially as regards the last point in this part, I am complacent. And oh! You're so right Sir, technology is advancing rapidly... We can't afford to be dwelling on past knowledge so as not to be left behind.

I'm this kind of person that hardly read books, be it soft or hard copy and yet I want to be good with words, am I not deceiving myself?!. Sighs... You've said it all, maybe I should create a timetable for myself, I don't even invest in myself anymore, just wake up, visit read, see a movie, eat, sleep and keep deceiving myself.

I love this Statement: "you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable." Aah! It's deep. But I hope I'm not just blabbing, I hope I leave this boat of complacency. I hope I swing into action and realize that there's no time... And just like Mr Ola has said: "we should keep adding to the knowledge we have, tomorrow isn't guaranteed, but NOW is."

This was really deep, so deep and educative. What I call the "bitter truth."

$ 0.05
2 years ago

Thank you so much Ella. It takes a mind that wants to grow to admit the truth to himself or herself. Once a problem has been detected, solution is the next and time table would seem perfect and the discipline to go through with it is also needed. I believe you can do it. Even if it's just a chapter a day you can muster, please do. I have amazing books you would love too, if you don't mind.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Indeed! Life is dynamic, it doesn’t stay at one place so we have got to move with it and update ourselves accordingly. Just as the educational curriculum changes every year and we have got to prepare ourselves for the exams according to the new curriculum or else we will lag behind. Similarly life keeps on changing, it comes up with new experiences so we must be flexible in terms of letting new experiences in. Sir your second last paragraph made my day. As I often used to think in some cases I work so hard and I get so little, while others enjoy a carefree life, they don’t work hard yet they enjoy the things I want to. I’ve never been envious but there is no doubt, this thought often crosses my mind, but you are right. Learning and hard work is never a waste of time, sooner and later it pays off.

$ 0.04
2 years ago

Thank you so much for this and I enjoyed what you said and how you likened it to school curriculum. That's the perfect example of it. It changes and each problem we overcome leads us to a more difficult one that we still need to overcome else we would stay on the same spot.

Very true, it pays off in the end because nothing we do is a waste.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Thank you sir!

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Anytime and thank you too.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

I think some people want to go involve themselves in any business they come across. As you said, we should just master one trade instead of doing numerous things and not being able to master one. Also, some people live in the past. Let's take a look at those that have cyber cafes, people do not patronize them any longer because most people have access to their phones and can easily do all sorts of things on the phone.

$ 0.03
2 years ago

That's so true. I can even remember seeing a lot out there again except for those who do online registrations and printing. The world is moving. They need to introduce new elements to their business if they want to stay relevant.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

We never stop learning and to be better at any thing in life, we just have to keep improving ourselves by learning the new ways of doing things. Most people are stuck in one place because they refuse to let go of things they learnt in the past and are reluctant to update their knowledge base, but just like the human body; you won't grow if you don't feed yourself

$ 0.02
2 years ago

Absolutely, if we don't feed, we won't grow and it's a matter of time before the immune system is down and the body crashes.

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2 years ago

Yeah, people have to know their limit, its not easy to adapt to the changing world, but ignorant can kill, you won't say "thats how its been done" that's very bad, people don't want to change, I pity those with business that still hold on to the old way. My mom was a fashion designer, she taught my sister and she can sew.. But only the old iro and buba, she has to pay to a fashion school so she can improve, we all have to relearn if we truly want to learn

$ 0.03
2 years ago

Imagine if she didn't pay to learn others...she will be limited to certain set of customers and it won't help at all. The world is changing and we need to change with it.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

I once found myself in the category of Jack of all trade, master of none and all I did was to pick a particular thing and focus solely on it and that helped me alot

$ 0.01
2 years ago

That's the best way to move. It's the way to grow. When we have gained mastery, then we can add extra things to it.

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2 years ago

Right opportunity, I just hope it will knock thru my door.

$ 0.01
2 years ago

It will...the question should be, "Will I be ready when it knocks?"

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2 years ago

It's my apprehension when I loss driving force like all of the remaining thoughts is just a smug. I couldn't bear a good outcome for that.

$ 0.01
2 years ago

I'm sorry to hear that...life can be cruel but we can still influence things we can change rather than the ones we can't.

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2 years ago

Absolutely 🤗

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Well done. 🤗

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Permit me to share the case of my friend's Dad who lost his job as an hand artist to graphics designers. He refused to follow the trend by learning how to use computer. Now he barely get jobs.

$ 0.02
2 years ago

That's because the world has moved away from what he used to think it is. It can be cruel but that's how life it. We can't help it.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Aww. I like this one :) We must not stay at a one place, but rather try something different and new. Will do that.

$ 0.01
2 years ago

That would be so thrilling and refreshing. Please do.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

This really motivates me. Indeed I shouldn't let my self stock from my past and neglect the present. I should go along and enhance my knowledge as life keeps on updating.

$ 0.02
2 years ago

Exactly, Garreth. We have opportunity to improve while we can...

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Regarding that number two, it brought to mind something my mom told me earlier today and the look on her face when I told her that was only applicable in their time, and not in this day and age. Trust is that many people are still stuck in 'the old ways' and wonder why things don't go well for them.

$ 0.02
2 years ago

Hahaha I can imagine. We can't keep doing things the old ways and expect the same result in this ever changing world. It won't work.

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2 years ago

It's very easy to start a thing, what's difficult is ending and that's why these days I've found myself in so many trades but I'm really not a master of any. What's funny is that I know that is bad but I still do it anyways.

$ 0.02
2 years ago

As long as your mind keeps telling you to change it, try to...before your mind grows into ignoring your conscience and you won't have anything to fall back on with what your mind can say. I feel you...you are not alone.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

We need to follow the timing and the seasons, we would be only left out if we give up on learning and also by updating ourselves to the new era, there is no way we will function in using typewriter while people are busy doing their jobs with laptops, when ever a new update is made we have to also update ourselves in other to enjoy what exactly is coming up.

$ 0.03
2 years ago

Exactly... This is simply for us to enjoy the dividends the new era brings but most people don't know it's to their benefit to update their learning bank.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

True, the world is changing the ones that can't keep up will always be left behind, some people find relearning a difficult task so they just stick to their old way, like in the music industry now, some people still believe that one has to be on a record label to be able to earn money for their music when the internet has made it easy for an independent artist to make royalties for their songs, though I have told some of my friends countless time, they just don't believe, well, I will have to do it myself for them to see that is real.

$ 0.03
2 years ago

I agree with you and I believe you can set the trail blazing. It doesn't have to make sense to them as long as it makes sense to you and it's feasible. I believe you can pull this off. I am ready to get your autograph. 😍

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Things are changing and we can't assume what worked for you years ago might still work today. No, we need to also update our knowledge just as the world is changing. New things are being introduced and we shouldn't stay ignorantly about things we ought to learn now.

$ 0.02
2 years ago

Exactly. New things are being introduced, old ones are being updated. We have to make the most of it and stay updated too.

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2 years ago

The world is evolving and fast we just have to find a way to keep up

$ 0.01
2 years ago

That's the only way, my brother. Whoever can't keep up would be left behind.

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2 years ago