Inability to Adapt to Change
“The historic belief that going to post-secondary for a degree is a guaranteed superior path to prosperity in today’s economy, is akin to the one that the Horse-and-Buggy means of transportation remains to be the superior one in today’s economy.”
A colleague of mine shared a sarcastic, joking video titled “The best way to get ahead in life, is to start out behind with $100,000 of debt” that outlined the above common mentality, and the common person’s inability to adapt to change as a cause for failure.
Inability to adapt to change plagues not only common people, but major businesses such as Blackberry, Sears, Blockbuster, Target etc. that have all failed to remain competitive in today’s market. When was the last time you walked to a store to rent a movie? When was the last time you went to Sears looking for something particular?
Inability to adapt to change commonly plagues Asian and other traditionally white-collar families who praise higher education like a religion and would shun children forever for not obtaining a degree(s) and working a cookie-cutter office job. The larger the supply of bodies holding degrees, the lower their price to the employers. Eventually, it no longer makes economic sense. Nevertheless, the ultra-traditional nature of these families fail to adapt to rapidly changing economic conditions and find themselves in disappointment. After spending tens of thousands of dollars of tuition, and 4+ years of lost income and other opportunity, they struggle to find a job, and if they do, be lucky to see $30,000-40,000/year- when the one who started studying an in-demand skill from Day 1 or even started working from Day 1, is financially and mentally leaps ahead.
If your family is illogical, then why are you listening to it? If they disown you for not fulfilling their ideal prophecy and pusedo-religion, is their and their social circles’ acceptance of you, worth your own future and prosperity?
One’s strength and success is partly defined by the resistance to scrutiny of the public. Most people do not ever make money, or get what they want out of their life, because they are afraid of what others think of them, and have their potential severed by the chains of the public (or family). Be too weak and the public (or family) will take advantage of you- molding you into what they want you to be- even inferior- not what you want to be.
Even beginning-year tradespeople often start at $30,000-40,000/year- and after 4 years, would have doubled this number, been happier without debt and/or financial burden from having low to no income and paying tens of thousands of tuition, and made $120,000+ over those 4 years. They would have also networked, invested, and gained other outside real-world experience to open their minds and become more powerful candidates in today’s economy.
Many office-job and higher education people use the excuse of finding something you like to do, but who said you had to do x occupation for the rest of your life, and why can’t you use x occupation to obtain what you want out of your life? The stubbornness of these people will remain the divide between the successful and not, and inability to adapt to change remaining the barrier of entry to the inferior.
