Friday, December 27, 2013

Work Harder and Earn More


Most Malaysians are well informed (I assumed) with the increasing price of certain goods and services for the next coming years, petrol, sugar, house, toll, electricity just to name a few, and so without any doubt it will affect the living cost majority of the people (the rakyat) in the near future . I believe most of the people are taken aback by the announcements, and this we can see from the countless numbers of negative remarks been made in social networks, blogs, newspaper column, and interviews.

Few days back I have read an article from an interview with a well known motivational speaker in the country about how we should response to the current situation. In the article it says she encouraged people to look at the situation from a different perspective, instead of being carried away by our emotions. She mentioned that if we look at it negatively then the outcome will be negative, but if we look at it with positive mind then the outcome will also be positive. As usual, there are few comments from the readers who didn’t agree with her view. They claimed that, she didn’t know what are those people from the low and medium income group have to go through since she is a professional with a stable income.

I do agree with what the readers had commented, and at the same time I also agree with what she is trying to tell us to do. I think it is normal for people to react that way when their life and their family’s life are at risk. Yes, I was once like that too. What I recommend is, brothers and sisters, give yourself some time to calm down and think. You know when you are angry, so don’t make decisions when you are angry because you cannot reason well during that period of time.

As what the Professor had advised, it is true that we should train our mind to see the good in everything. We will not gain anything if we keep on complaining and do nothing. It is time for us to stop with that kind of attitude and start working and be productive. At least we will gain something from our hard work later on. I used to think that Malay isn’t that competitive in economy since we have lots of subsidies and all. When other races are working hard doing so many different jobs, some of us (not all) leisurely enjoy the subsidies and think that is enough so why they need to work harder.

I think it is time for the majority of Malay to play a bigger role in the country economic growth. I have already seen a good trend of young people starting and doing online business on social network. That is a good thing. It is not a matter of your business size, it is the effort that you put to improve the quality of your life is important. Some people start doing online business as a hobby but later they receive more requests from their customers and Alhamdulillah after few years they have become more serious and committed with the business.

I myself also have started doing a part time job and I know a few friends of mine who also do some part time job as photographers and another selling handmade handbags. The good thing about it is, it teaches us to be more independent and creative and also not to be dependent on our parents’ money. The same concept can be applied for us as rakyat too. I believe all of us are talented, if you don’t think so it is because you haven’t explored yourself totally. There are many other good ways to find extra money in this world. 

Walk outside, attend a seminar about small and medium entrepreneurship, talk to people, and explore all the possibilities out there that can help you to improve the quality of your life and your family’s life. The opportunities sometimes are right there in front of us, but it is us who cannot see that opportunities. There are always some challenges in everything that we do, but always remember don’t be shy and afraid to start doing something good. Work harder, pray often and tawakal, InsyaAllah He will look after us and our family.


A.Khairul 

No comments: