GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

It is an undisputed fact that one golden rule in life is to make yourself happy and by so doing, one has to do things he or she loves and get comfortable with. In this piece, I write to let you have a second thought about jobs. Whether you are already doing something you are comfortable with or you are hoping to do something you are comfortable with. (Doing something uncomfortable now can make you comfortable later- quote by Kwame McJoseph)

Have you ever stop to ask yourself these questions; What am I doing? Am I comfortable with what am doing? If yes,how long will this comfortable situation last? If no, what do I do to make myself comfortable? Can I do something else apart from what am doing now?

These and other numerous questions about your comfort zone should ring a bell in your mind every now and then. Finding the real and sincere answer can determine how successful or a failure you can become. And getting answers to such questions should come from you or it can as well come from someone real.

This piece will have numerous series depending on the angle and issue I wish to tackle but on this, I wish to write on work and how everyone wishes to have a particular job deeming it as his or her comfortable one.

In Ghana, the unemployment rate keeps shooting high with graduates shouting for their piece of the National cake of employment. Others too look elsewhere by either working in the private sector or establishing their own jobs. No matter all the efforts made by both government and individuals searching for employment, the rate of unemployment keep sky rocketing. This has led to the alleged formation of Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana. 

And due to such high rate of unemployment, a lot goes on in the working sector that scares most people away. The bribery and corruption, male managers asking for sex before they offer job to female graduates and so on (situations that are difficult to endure but I will leave that for another day).
My focus is on the unemployed graduates (including all levels of education) and the mistake some do that is preventing them from getting jobs or something relevant to do.

Most unemployed graduates feel that they want to do jobs that are described as "comfortable" per their definition (or that of their friends who think like them), thus other jobs are not given a consideration by them. Sometimes they boldly say, "I want to do something that I studied in school, something that I can be comfortable with or something that can pay me better" forgetting that the meaning of that "comfortable job" is different according everyone, thus it is their own definition of comfortable jobs that is making them see some jobs as not comfortable. 

Due to this, there are a lot of unemployed graduates who will not go in for jobs that they deem not comfortable even if they are suppose to do it for a day. Others talk bad or degrade certain jobs to the extent that if you are beside them or you are doing such a job, you will feel so "useless" that you might turn in your resignation the following day. 

I have had the opportunity to listen to many friends who talk like this and the first question that comes into mind is; What is a comfortable job? Is it that job one feels happy doing or is it that job that pays good salary or it is that job one decides to do because one had the opportunity to be employed. 

In my opinion, I think that word "comfortable job" which most of our unemployed graduates seek for is a word over used. The fact still remains that growing up, everyone had that dream job or career he or she looked up to and though some may be lucky keeping that dream alive, others may not; but no matter the situation, life must go on.

To those who seem to miss or be missing their dream path (but no matter the miss, one can get back on track), one must do his or her best to feel comfortable in any job that one find doing. 

Why do I say the word "comfortable job" is over used by most graduates? It is because most of them feel like the jobs they find uncomfortable might be difficult to do or because they have not been in such situations and conditions of work before, they cannot take up such jobs. Others also think that their colleagues will make mockery of them. But in most cases, the job said to be uncomfortable is not that "bad" to be described as such.

Most graduates consider certain things like the organisation, the position, the salary and so on. Others go to the extent of saying that the caliber of people working in such organisations are not of their class so they will not be able to take up such jobs. But in real terms, an unemployed graduate (especially taking up your first job) should not be getting so choosy, picky, selective and considering all these factors (half of which may be unnecessary) before taking up a job. 

Graduates consider these "funny" factors and turn down or do not even turn in their applications for such jobs forgetting that there are numerous goodies one can get from taking up job no matter the situation.

1. Taking that so called uncomfortable job will save you from being unproductive and doing things that might not get you into trouble. Like the popular saying " the devil finds work for the idle hands", waking up everyday without doing anything productive can get you into doing bad stuff.

2. Most unemployed graduates seem to forget that their kind of comfortable jobs demand working experience most of the times. The question people ask about that is, who should employ freshers and give them working experience for others to come and snatch? So to you the unemployed graduate, jobs which seem uncomfortable but gives you the opportunity must be grabbed so as to get working experience for the future.

3. There is a proverb in Ewe(local language spoken by people from the Volta Region) that says; "One has to be on the crooked tree-branch to be able to cut the straight or preferred tree-branch" which means that the uncomfortable job can lead you into getting a comfortable job or a job you wish for.
4. You might just meet your saviour. In life, no one knows where he or she will have a breakthrough from or who will be that good Samaritan so taking that "uncomfortable job" can lead you to meet someone who will connect you to a very comfortable job.
These and other positive benefits is what one can get from taking up a job whether it is a preferred job or not so to my unemployed graduates who go getting choosy, picky or selective on available jobs and describing some as comfortable and others as uncomfortable should reconsider because no one knows where the light of success might shine.
Yes indeed, get out of your comfort zone and take up any opportunity because what you deem uncomfortable might just be what can make you comfortable.