What do you want to be in life?

by Thomas Sim, 9 Dec, 2000

I had, about 6 - 8 months before time of writing this article, talked to a good friend named Jimmy who was assuming a promotion to Shah Alam for a fatter paycheck. On reflection - what plans do I have sitting down here? What to look forward to in life? You may ask that question many times yourselves! And I bet you all agree that it is damn difficult to find a good answer. Anyway, what I could say to him was I have had it before (though a much thinner paycheck than his) and now, I am to consolidate!

As most of us are coming for (or going for) the money - like most corporations are. To seek money is 'God's words' in city living today. "How much money?" is usually the critical question of what we are to survive on in the next job or any future undertakings. There is no guilt in this philosophy because you pay Mr. Money with your time and sweat! But, is that the only sensible question to ask? Of course, there are many other questions too, e.g. Can power be more important than money? How about love and family? These questions are left to you to explore.

To self-appraise e.g. using gap analysis, you may want to ask some sort of question like this: How much have I changed in the last five years? Assuming doing the same thing, what will I be in 5 years' time if I continue on? If you are ambitious, make it 1 year.

So what? Many of us know that we will be very much the same, may be older and richer by paying off the installment of a car. We would like to do something to change our lives. That is more important! What to do to make a difference in the future? That is the problem, ya?

In strategic management - Art.10/00, strategic analysis can be used to do this. This is not the topic of this article, however. I will write more on that in the coming months. What I would like to offer here is on finding the reason to start doing self-analysis. The next article is about the scenario of the future. Then you will see yourselves in the future with a clearer mind. This article also serves as an opener to the next article. Now, let us come back to what do you want to be in life.

There are generally 3 types of man you can be now and in the future. Though they may happen in the same man at the same time. I choose to categorize them in superiority as below:-

1. The Movers
2. The Regulators
3. The Workers

The Movers are those who supply the capital and call the shots in deciding what is the fuel of the economic activities of our society. Remember! Economics is the study of limitation of resources. The Regulators are those who provide the technical skills and monitor the playing rules of the game. The Workers are the general work force. The Workers and Regulators are employed or indirectly funded by the Movers to realize their plans.

Example of these components can be seen as the Boss, the Policeman and the Office Boy. The boss provides the job to the office boy. If the boss finds out the office boy is stealing, he asks for the help of the policeman. On the other hand, when the office boy is abused by his boss and you can surely think of thousand and one way what bosses can do, he asks the policeman to give him justice.

The question is who is the best fit for you? There is no absolute correct answer for this question, as you may all well agree. So, what is the critical factor to consider? I offer you the element of self-realization. If you study self-appraisal, this is one of the main topics it touches on. In Management Practice paper under ICSA, it's called 'Self Awareness'.

Before that, I would like to add on two things, one before and one after. They are 'Self-Respect' and 'self-Relied'. A person must first respect himself to be respected. This satisfies the basic need of a human soul. Next, he must realize what he wants and knows his limitations - self realization. Thirdly, there must be action taken to self rely to make that assessment, for nobody will take care of you unless you do it yourself.

So, what do you want in life?