ON SELF IMPROVEMENT || This One Thing Determines How Good You will be and What You're Worth in the Job Market
What do you do on your time off?
That’s the one thing that can determine how good you will become. Do you set goals, write them down, talk about them with your friends, and then do nothing to implement them? Or give up after trying it out for a few weeks?
If I boil it down to one word, it’s discipline. Can you delay watching TV, playing video games, going shopping, and other activities to pursue the self-improvement goals that you set for yourself? If you’re a fitness bodybuilder, discipline would mean following a strict diet, and working out to a set schedule each day, to attain the body shape you want. If you aspire to be a photographer, you’re out there with your camera practicing on subjects and at locations to refine your skills. If you’re a content creator, you’re creating content daily to test the algorithm.
Want to become a ceramic artist? How much time are you setting aside each day to hone your craft? While you may have a natural ability to create art, there are no shortcuts to gaining as new skill other than putting in the time to learn it.
Encouraging someone to work on their skill set and learning things that are good for them is like telling someone to eat healthily; they think it’ll have less flavour and won’t taste as good. And in most cases, they aren’t wrong. Self-improvement takes hard work.
I picked up my first camera six years ago to learn photography, and I still consider myself a novice, even after I’ve shot photos for hundreds of our editorials. I would look back at my old photos and critique the colours, exposure, and framing, and think about what could’ve been better.
With the market being in recession and inflation still at record highs, companies began 2023 with mass layoffs. This should trigger anyone of us who are working in a job or even freelancing to want to enhance our skills and offerings. Why? Because there will be less money to go around, whether it’s to pay for freelance support for companies or to hire new staff. Companies will be more stringent when evaluating where to invest, new projects to pursue, and who to bring on board. If you’re still expecting that you can throw resumes at a few companies and get an automatic offer that doesn’t even require an interview, things are about to change (or have changed already).
Speaking with my peers who were hiring but were stuck with C-grade resumes, the position remained open for a year; they told me they now see people more interested during an interview, and the applicants had better qualifications than those from the previous year. There’s more and better competition in the job market now.
“At the end of the day, some people will have discipline, and some will not.”
At the end of the day, some people will have discipline, and some will not. I use the word won’t because the ones that leverage their discipline to improve themselves selectively choose not to do it. It is not because they cannot do it; they simply chose not to pursue a better version of themselves. Keep in mind that no one is stopping you from choosing either way. The less you do, the more room for other people in the market. Just keep that in mind.
