'Everyday' Intelligence: Find Your Niche

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Albert Einstein

I have been sitting on the above quote for almost half an hour now, thinking of ways to begin today’s entry. Well, I just have; bare with me now, it will all start to make sense soon enough.

Not as soon as you might think, though.

I went to a karaoke about a month ago and was drinking my Guinness when someone came out to sing Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York’.

I was stupefied; God, I think even my Guinness was stupefied!

The man behind the microphone was an elderly chap, around seventy- fivish, yet full of vigour and spirit.

The minute he started singing, I thought ‘this guy must have sung professionally before!’.

I could not have been more wrong.

Having taken some time to recover from his astonishing performance, I approached him and asked him whether he had been a professional singer before.

The man said that he had been a sailor his whole life; he said that he had often sung various songs to the crew, to keep their morale up.

And then it dawned on me: had this man done what he had been good at, he could have been as great as Frank Sinatra- if not greater!

When I asked him whether he had thought of becoming a singer he answered that singing was not a ‘trade’ (a profession, if you will) that could support a family; being a sailor, however, was.

 The above notion is something that has been implanted in our way of thinking since a very early age. We have been led to believe, by our parents and teachers, that we need a ‘trade’ and a career in order to succeed in life and earn enough to support a family.

We have been taught that doing what we enjoy is still alright...as a hobby.

I have recently read an article on PULSE that pretty much sums up my view on the above.

To cut a long story short, the article was about an accountant who had always wanted to become a singer but decided to take on accounting as he was very good with numbers.

In the end, he truly become a very successful accountant but he felt that something was missing.

One day he woke up and thought:

• I am good at accounting.
• Music and singing make me happy.
• Why not become an account to a musician?

And so he did; he successfully combined what he was good at with what he enjoyed.

The above notion is very simple:

• Being good at something makes you happy as it earns you enough money to support yourself and your family.
• Doing something that you enjoy makes you happy as it helps you relax and, thus, become more productive.

It would, thus, make a lot of sense to combine the two and lead a happier and stress- free life.

It’s really not that complicated- find your niche and stick to it.

Simple as that.

Food for Thought: The Scourge of Youth Unemployment

To begin with, I would like to note that I was going to write on the Chinese Hukou System and its historical significance and provide you with an invaluable assessment of its operation in today’s age.

This would, however, have to wait until next week. This change of heart is mainly due to the fact that I have just listened to a report on youth unemployment by BBC’s Business Daily which has agitated me to an extent comparable only to my annoyance with skinny ties.

Let us begin with some statistics, id est numbers that are used by all and trusted by none. Still, here they are:

Data summary

Youth unemployment rates in OECD countries (%), December 2007 to March 2012 Click heading to sort table. Download this data
Country	December 2007	March 2012
Note: Percentage of total youth labour force, 15-24 Source: OECD
Switzerland*	6.5	7.5
Norway	6.7	7.6
Germany	11.4	7.9
Austria	7.3	8.6
Japan	8.0	8.6
Mexico*	7.2	9.1
Netherlands	6.4	9.3
Korea	8.7	9.5
Australia	9.5	11.7
Israel*	14.0	13.6
Canada	11.0	13.9
Denmark	7.1	15.1
Turkey	17.1	15.4
United States	11.7	16.4
Slovenia	11.5	16.5
Chile*	18.8	16.5
New Zealand	9.4	16.7
Belgium	17.3	17.1
Iceland*	6.6	17.2
Luxembourg	15.1	17.4
Czech Republic	9.6	19.0
Finland	16.2	19.4
France	18.3	21.8
United Kingdom	13.6	21.9
Sweden	19.3	22.8
Estonia	7.3	24.9
Poland	18.5	26.7
Hungary	19.9	28.4
Ireland	9.4	30.3
Slovak Republic	19.4	33.9
Italy	21.3	35.9
Portugal	19.7	36.1
Spain	19.7	51.1
Greece	21.6	51.2
OECD	12.8	17.1
G7	12.2	15.9
Euro area (17)	15.2	22.1
European Union	15.1	22.6

Source: OECD

Allow yourself some time to analyse the above.

Ready? Quite frightening, is it not?

What irritated me about BBC’s programme was that all it did was stress on how bad the situation was. It did not opt to provide any ways around it or ways of making things better- it simply explained why the current state of affairs was as bad as it was.

And that’s the most frustrating bit about it- no one seems to be offering any solutions.

I know that the UK Government has done everything in its power to help young people’s predicament, like increasing the tuition fees from £ 3000 to £ 9000 (see what I did there?), but that simply does not seem to be enough.

Maybe the government thought that if it was to increase tuition fees, less people would actually go to university which would potentially mean that less people would have the legitimate right to complain about not being able to find a graduate job (as there would be less ‘graduates’ as such).

Newsflash, ConLib: the above statistics do not only apply to graduates but also to YOUNG PEOPLE in general, including those who have not gone to university.

Instead of whinging, however, I shall opt to provide several ideas to tackle the above: 

• In university I got told to forget all about A- level law as it had nothing to do with the LLB . At law school I got told to forget all about the LLB as it had nothing to do with the LPC. At work I got told to forget all about the LPC as it had nothing to do with practice. Education needs to be reformed and students allowed to learn both academic and practical skills.

• Universities need to include a compulsory two- week (albeit unpaid) placement in the industry for each and every student. I don’t really care how they’re going to do that- they charge £ 9000 now and they will have to think of a way. Such a placement will give the student an insight of the sector; further, it will allow employers to see that not all graduates are ‘useless tools with no practical skills’.

• The government needs to come up with an incentive for companies to take on graduates- i.e.  pay their first couple of salaries, ‘tax holidays’, etc.

• There needs to be a law passed compelling companies to take on a yearly intake of graduates based on the company’s size and revenue. Controversial? Maybe. Effective? Definitely.

• A free CV- writing and drafting service must be offered by the Local Council. Further, Local Councils must offer regular workshops on how to use social media to your advantage when looking for a job- i.e. LinkedIn, twitter, etc.

Dear Governments of the World,

I have come up with the above solutions in fifteen minutes, on my way to work.

I would love to hear your excuse for not coming up with anything at all.

I strongly believe that it is high time you understood the immediacy and urgency of the above statistics.

I am looking forward to your changing the present and improving our future.

Sincerely yours,

A Deeply Agitated Graduate.

A Runt’s Rant: The Point of Whinging

The above heading was simply designed to lull you into a false sense of security because

!!!There is absolutely NO point of whinging!!!

Let me, for the benefit of the doubt, prove the above through a few examples:

• The weather is disgusting; I hate it when it’s rainy and windy at the same time!!!

And you are telling me this why? Do I look like Mother Nature to you? Little that I can do, mate…

• I hate my job and the way people treat me at work!!!

Alright then, you are hereby promoted to a director and those who have previously mistreated you are now hereby dismissed. Oh, no, wait- I can’t do any of that.

• My back has been aching for ages and my knee has been playing up on colder days!

Wow, thank you so much for sharing this useful piece of information that I can do so much about.

• I like this girl so much and I really want to tell her but I caaaaaan’t, sad.face.jpeg!

I feel honoured to have found a new purpose of life that is to find a way in which you can tell a girl how much you like her.

• I’ve got this humongous and excruciatingly arduous essay question to tackle and I just haven’t got the time to do it!!!

Not having enough time as in ‘being the president of the USA and having to argue with Congress all the time’?

• I just don’t know what to do with myself…

I do- stop using ‘…’.

It is quite understandable to want to whinge about stuff in general because it kind of makes you feel better.

The horrible thing is, however, that it does not make you feel better because you have shared your troubles and pains but because you have managed to make the listener feel as bad as you.

If you, on the other hand, have a problem which the listener could potentially help you resolve, it would make a lot of sense to share it with him/ her and ASK HIM/HER FOR HELP rather than bombarding him/ her with random statements in the hope that he/she would see through your (non- existent) logic.

So do stop whinging about idle things because it gives us all a massive headache. Also, it makes those around you uneasy, annoyed and more prone to avoid you at any cost.

A friend of mine once said:

‘I stopped crying for shoes when I saw that there were people with no legs.’

Forget your shoes; focus on the important things in life.

And, pray, rather than whinging, just smile and say

To Hell With It!

Good Idea, Chap: Coursera- A World of Opportunity

Regardless of the fact that I have probably said it a million times already, I trust that it is well worth to once more stress that to undertake a bachelor’s degree in England & Wales will cost you roughly £ 30, 000 in tuition fees only.

I will not opt to oppose or justify that atrocious figure; I am merely stating the obvious.

And the following are, to a large extent, blatantly obvious:

• On average, a student in an English or Welsh university has about five hours’ worth of lectures and five hours’ worth of seminars per week, all in all ten hours of interaction per week

• University education in England and Wales relies heavily on self- study and self- preparation

• Most universities in England and Wales do not offer their students work placements in their respective spheres of study (not even unpaid ones)

• Most universities focus mainly on the academic side of a subject matter

• Twenty- five percent of English and Welsh graduates today have difficulties in securing a job in their sector of study as they lack the practical skills and experience required by employers

• Mickey Mouse Degrees and modules. Yes, that à

<< http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2297395/David-Beckham-degree-at-Staffordshire.html >>

Some universities even go as far as offering their students online audio recordings of their lectures. Even thought that could potentially be quite useful for revision purposes, it defeats the purpose of physical lectures where there is no requirement for students to attend the said.

On the top of the £ 30, 000 worth of tuition fees, you will also have to pay another £ 17, 000 for accommodation and living expenses which brings you in the region of  £ 50, 000.

But enough negativity, let me fill up your glass:

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<   www.coursera.org >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Two- hundred and six courses in a wide variety of subjects taught by professors and academics from renowned universities such as Brown, Princeton, Cambridge, etc- and all that at the price of….

….a click.

The courses and all of their content are online, can be viewed at your leisure and are completely free of charge.

Furthermore, the website offers both academic (History 1300- 1700) and practical (An Introduction to Operations Management) courses.

Having gone through several courses myself, I can assure you that the material is delivered in a very professional and user- friendly manner.

Also, if you are one of those needy people, upon completion of the course, you get a certificate from the academic who teaches the module.

In the end of the day, however, it’s the knowledge and skills obtained that matter and not the flashy and exquisitely laminated and framed sheet of paper.

I shall not dwell on the website contents any further and will let you explore its vast possibilities in your own time.

In the past, the path to self- improvement was an expensive and, in most cases, arduous, if not impossible, endeavour open to those of immense wealth and status in society.

Not today- today we learn together and teach together.

Today we create a world of free, accessible and flexible education that everyone can be a part of and take part in.

Try it; it’s on me.

‘Academic’ Intelligence: The Half- Empty Glass

Even though you will probably maintain, and righty so, that the topic to be discussed below will normally require the title of ‘Dr’ before the name of the author, I shall endeavour to do my utmost best to at least partially quench your academic thirst on the said topic.

The reason I have decided to elaborate on the effect of pessimism on everyday life is that I believe myself to be quite competent on subject.

Despite the fact that I had never done any academic research or written any papers on the subject, I had managed to very closely monitor my metamorphosis over the years.

During my high school period and throughout my bachelor’s degree, I had developed a defensive mechanism which I then lovingly referred to as ‘realism’.

‘Realism’, or pessimism as everyone else calls it, operates on quite a simple formula:

You want to get from A to B.

A_______            ________B

      \         /

       \      /

         \o/          

Owing to the fact the it is highly unlikely, realistically, to be able to do that, you dub the journey as impossible.

You then choose a less rewarding but much easier journey from C to D.

C___________________D

The above journey is, realistically, quite possible. You convince yourself that B is no longer, and it will no longer be, you destination of choice, claiming that you have lost any and all interest in it.

_____________________________________________________________________

‘Realism’, then, will always force you to empty your glass and refill it again only to do the same when ‘things get rough’.

This leads to a defeatist state of mind which abhors challenges and seeks the easiest and less confrontational way our of a tight spot.

It further stifles creativity and suffocates any desire to improve. Finally, and most importantly, it forces you to focus not on what you have but on what you do not have and have not achieved.

This can be extremely hazardous as it might potentially lead to depression which will, in turn, adversely affect your private and professional life.

Being ‘realistic’ often obliterates your self- esteem to a point where you see yourself as mere pawn which is being moved around and directed by external forces.

In the light of the above, it might sound unnecessarily philosophical to many, but ‘reality’ is quite relative and is, thus, quite subjective.

Consequently, all you have to do is build your own reality based on your values and beliefs and subject everything around you to it in a way in which B will remain a desirable and viable options.

The way to tackle ‘realism’ then is to accept that every challenge that you are faced with is yet another building block that you need for perfecting your reality.

Adopting such a lifestyle will resuscitate your ambitions and remind you that it is a lot more important to consider and cherish what you have rather than what you do not ; the former is an already existing and stable block of your reality which needs to be maintained and fostered whilst the latter is one that is yet to be fought for, obtained and fitted into your desired reality.

The abovementioned is not as complex as it might sound. As many other things in your life, such as a change in your diet, it is a mere transition from one mindset to another.

Everyone has a B in his bonnet; it is high time we accepted that reality and acted on it.

Poet’s Corner: The Treaty

I called you Muse,

You called me Pity…

You seemed amused

And also pretty.

As I felt used,

My hands were gritty

My hairs- fused

My lips were drippy

My heart- abused…

And then I thought-

It was a pity-

That we had truced

                                  

And signed the treaty…

‘Social’ Intelligence: Update Your General Knowledge. NOW.

Some maintain that the most horrific feeling in the world is when you find out how little you know about something.

I beg to differ. Actually, I have no intention to beg; I shall simply differ.

The most stupendously unnerving feeling in the world is being surrounded by people who have no desire to learn more about the things they already think they know about.

Or even worse- to realise that you are one of them…

Philosophicalmuch?

Well, not really, no. Instead of bamboozling you with a two- page discussion on the matter, I shall opt to depict the above notion via an oversimplified example (my, my, what a sophisticated sentence that was, eh?)

Namely:

Let us assume that you are at this social gathering or a ‘party’, as young people call it these days.

Most of the people are, say, lawyers such as yourself. Thus, you are quite right to assume that the night will be a ‘smooth ride’ if you stick to your legal topics and be as obiter as you can so that you can draw as much attention as possible.

Suddenly, and quite out of the blue, a charming lady approaches your group and starts having a chat with a gentleman about this very interesting blog she has recently stumbled upon.

They start discussing what they keep referring to as ‘3D Printing’. Sipping your Merlot, you pretend to listen to and be interested in their discussion whilst contributing with the occasional nod of the head in the desperate hope that they will move onto a new topic.

And they do. They are now discussing MOTs for CEOs and the similarities and difference between today’s democracy and that of ancient Rome.

You can feel the cold sweat coming down your forehead, you know that, sooner or later, the wine in your glass will disappear; or even worse- it will reappear.

You excuse yourself and walk away. Alas, you have only done so to walk into a similar awkward situation- a talk on the knock- on effect that WWI and WWII have had on Europe’s economics and demographics.

You are outside your comfort zone; miles away, in fact. You feel frustrated, ashamed, confused and, well…annoyed at yourself for creating this narrow comfort zone and confining yourself to it.

And so ends your networking for the night.

But worry, not because, as 007 has once said, tomorrow never dies. All you have to do is to spare half an hour to an hour per day and update your general knowledge so that you are savvy (not an expert!) on more than one topic.

And here’s where you start:

à http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yocja_N5s1I

Yeap, it’s human history in a nutshell- forty- one twelve- minute episodes filled with valuable information and a fair amount of humour.

So, pray, get on that internet and update your general knowledge unless you want to spend the rest of your life being fed peanuts through the bars of this stuffy and narrow cage that is your ‘comfort zone’.

‘Everyday’ Intelligence’: On Optimism

It has been raining all week now and you feel absolutely atrocious.

You gaze at the murky remains of what you once called ‘the sky’ and wonder whether the government has not decided to sell it off to cover the deficit.

The mere thought strikes you as quite revolting; but so it should- everything you see nowadays disgusts you to an almost unbearable extent.

You still feel a bit weary and dazed by the numerous episodes of yet another pseudo- funny sitcom that you have decided to employ to kill off your time.

The incessant whistling of the wind is making you uneasy and somewhat certain that the worst is yet to come.

‘Of course it is’, you think, ‘It’s Monday tomorrow. And it will probably rain again.’

You do not feel like doing anything at all because you know that there is no point of doing so- it won’t work out anyway. Regardless of what it is.

You look at your watch; another several hours to go until…

…until what?

You start pondering over your existence; contemplating about the pointless endeavour that is life in the twenty- first century.

You feel depressed; deeply and truly so. Despair creeps up your back and into your brain, fighting off and shutting down the synapses, neuron by neuron.

And just as you are about to switch off, I come in and face- palm the Hell out of you.

Because life is what you make it to be. The more depressed you get, the more useless to yourself and others you become.

The more positive you are, on the other hand, the more bright your future will be because you will see positive side of everything and will, thus, always see a point of doing it.

That’s how you should approach life if you want to optimise your productivity:

• It’s raining today but it will be sunny again soon.

• The sky isn’t there today but it will re-emerge in all its magnificence tomorrow.

• The ‘disgusting’ things you keep seeing simply remind you that there is still room for improvement

You get the drift. Do yourself a favour and envelop optimism as a way of life. Being positive gives you the boost you need in order to deal with the day- to- day complexities of life.

 There’s an old English saying I quite like:

Teach me laughter

Save my soul…

Stick to it and save as many souls as you can; it’s well worth it.