YOUTH IS WASTED ON THE YOUNG

With barely 24 hours to a much anticipated birthday, and the nagging anxiety of growing older, I got to thinking and asking myself some pertinent questions. Where am I right now in my life? Where do I see myself in a couple of years? And my mind went to the words my boss always says… Youth is Wasted On The Young.

You see, my boss (Papi) has been an integral part of my career development since I began working with the company. This favorite saying of his is a famous quote of the renowned Irish playwright/dramatist and essayist -George Bernard Shaw who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.

Papi would constantly tease me and call me an old woman. (Please note, he is atleast 27 years older than I am) but he is by far the youngest man (at heart) that I have ever met. He is so open to new ideas and things which is so unlike many people of the older generation. What always baffled him was why many young people who are graduates when asked what they wanted to become still had no idea what course they wanted their lives to take. In his opinion, people do not have an idea of how much they can achieve while they are still young, and in the future will only think back wistfully at what they could have been.

I remember He would grill every friend of mine who came into the office to visit about their present jobs, future aspirations, goals, etc. In fact, some of my lazier friends began dodging to visit as they didn’t quite enjoy the psychological gingering Papi made them go through. 

The thing is, Papi expects nothing short of excellence from his staff (and consequently from people close to them) so he used to chide me also for being quite lax in my aspirations back then. He would ask me every month or at most once in a quarter to write a one pager memo dictating my accomplishment in the past month –both professionally and personally. Then together we will evaluate them. He will advise where necessary, chide, where necessary and sometimes rebuke, where necessary.

Mid way into these evaluations I realized I didn’t quite like these rituals, because I found out that they usually put me in a melancholic mood after every session when I realize I hadn’t quite achieved as much as I would have wanted. You see, the problem was by the time I was 15years old I was convinced I wanted to be a criminal lawyer. My family and family friends had more or less conferred that career path on me. They thought I was sharp and could put up a good argument any day, so I would do well as a lawyer. And after having ploughed through a dozen or so of John Grisham and James Patterson’s Novels, I kind of just eased into that status.

But as divine providence would have it, I got offered admission to study Mass Communication. And for 4 years, the one thing that got me through school was the thought that I would return for a second degree in Law. I got through four years of school still trying to figure out if Mass Comm was a worthwhile course. I read and passed all necessary courses, but I was still unsure about whether or not I wanted to practice Journalism. I am sure this scenario is not unique to me alone.
However, after graduation, I found myself reluctant to return to become an undergraduate again so I began dragging my feet. It was at that time I began working with my boss.

Anyway, One month I refused to turn in my assessment memo and he questioned me about it. I explained to him my misgivings about the evaluation and he assured me I need not be too hard on myself. I should be willing to take baby (though firm) steps, and then I would see improvements myself.

So I learnt to fly with this positive attitude, and today I can say I am charting the right course for myself. In fact, I always try to impart it to anyone I meet, especially people who are yet to find their bearing career-wise. I tell them if at first you are unsure of what you want to do, keep trying your head and hands in different things until you find what you love to do.

I met the CEO of a top firm a couple of months back who is a client of our firm and we got talking about career opportunities. He couldn’t hide his disappointment with how many young people are easily tossed by the wind today. And how some only want the fast route to making money without wanting to develop themselves first. He expressed his bitterness that despite the fact that many young people are becoming inventors and thus millionaires in their fields, many of us still have no idea of where and what we want to be in as little as a year. Talk more of having a 5 year vision/plan for their lives.

He told me that most people will stereotype this to applying to women alone, but that’s not correct. In his words many men just plan to “hustle” now and have no future sustainable plans”. 

It is true that employment is hard to come by in the country, and of course we need to take what we can get. However it is important that we never lose sight of what it is we really want to make of our lives. Do not get too comfortable with where you are that you limit your capabilities to improve. 

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.

Take a smart chance every now and then. That’s why we are young. We have the mental capacity to think wide and the energy to do the work. We should expose ourselves to new things, enjoy life so much that in retrospect we wouldn’t wish we had time to do this and that but realizing it is too late to do them.

Remember that hindsight always gives a 20/20 vision, so best to plant now and reap rewards later.