Lucas Marang'a

A man at 40

Jobsolete.

Throughout our lives we learn and adopt strategies to keep us on the winning edge. We continuously seek new knowledge, skills and opportunities to outwit the competition and remain on top of our game. To achieve this in our careers and businesses we rely on strategic plans, budgets and formulas to keep us on track. Until a random virus shows up and all those plans and documents are reduced to wrapping paper for meat at the butchery or roasted peanuts sold by the road side.

One thing I am grateful for during this pandemic is that there is no shortage of food. I hardly drive or walk on a stretch of road without finding a mobile green grocer. My regular source of fruits and vegetables, Zucchini, is slowly losing a customer to the road side vendors. This drastic times have indeed led to drastic measures.

Who would have imagined high end cars that have enjoyed cool temperatures and shade all day long in basement parkings would now be parked by the road side with their boots wide open displaying farm produce for sale. The shop keeper here in some instances is the car owner. Others send someone else to sell their perishable goods. Maybe they are not yet brave enough to step out into the roles corona has thrust them into. Some of us still hope to preserve our image and reputation that served us so well in the past. In my case I see that leading me down hunger avenue.

The problem with preserving our image that served us well in life pre corona, is that we may never go back to that world order. It would be like holding on to my old music tapes yet tape recorders and players are no longer in production. See how ridiculous that is. We are hearing that a new normal is on the way. So maybe the question we should ask ourselves is, will the image I’m keeping serve me well in the new world order or will it be rendered obsolete? I think it’s wise to start building a new image and identity. Doing what we have to do to survive is fertile ground to grow that new image and skill. Selling cabbages and watermelon by the road side from our cars would make for good practice in forming a new self-image that cares less what others think but helps us sleep better at night because we have not slept hungry.

Covid19 has rendered many jobs obsolete. Companies are downsizing leading to massive job losses and pay cuts. Some professions have been rendered almost useless while others have become more essential. For people like my IT guy corona has brought them windfalls they never anticipated. We have to make appointments and wait for him to come home to service our over used laptops. The guy is busy. His making money almost daily and I envy him.

We could choose to sit through this pandemic and see how things will turn out. That’s not a strategy I would recommend because if corona doesn’t take us out then hunger will. We need to gather some courage, accept that the cheese has disappeared (not just moved) and start realigning our minds. Once our minds start searching for new ideas then we will start sniffing out brand new cheese. Remember what we focus on expands.

This times call upon us to have courage which has been defined as feeling the fear and doing it anyway. So guys, what is your IT? Transition seasons like this can feel overwhelming and reinventing ourselves is often a difficult undertaking, sometimes more in our minds than in reality. We are all created with unique talents and abilities. It is time we looked within and figured out how we can bring them to life and put them to good use for our sake and those around us. Our jobs may be obsolete and we have little or no control over that. Thankfully its entirely up to us to determine if our lives will be obsolete from this point on.

A Robin Sharma email I received said, “All change is really hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.” I couldn’t agree more. I’m somewhere in the messy phase currently. Can’t wait to live gorgeously. It may feel like the end of the world for most of us and sadly it has been for some. But what the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master knows is the butterfly – Richard Bach.

May the transition into butterflies be your reward for surviving this season good people.

 

 

Friday, July 17, 2020 | Leadership, Reflections |

3 thoughts on “Jobsolete.”

  1. Robert says:

    This is a most beautiful article. Very well written and very applicable to many of us at this time.

  2. Geena says:

    Some much needed words of advise and encouragement. And timely. I couldn’t possibly thank you enough. This week has been particularly hard for me. Let’s just call it one of those.
    Bless you and your talent.

  3. MG says:

    A return to our core values and our core relationships is what comes to mind. This is what will steady our ships methinks. Pre corona we were so distracted with the noise of the world. Now that the sound has been turned down the spotlight has shifted to the essence of who we are, and perhaps who we are choosing to become.

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