Take action – Stop blaming or waiting

February 25th, 2012
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Entrepreneurship, Governance, Personal | 5 Comments

As the final milestone of graduation looms nearer, there has been much coffee talk of how there is a lack of jobs now. Witnessing friends getting rejections on a daily basis, suiting up to attend weekly career fairs, and some resorting to spamming their CVs to many many companies.

This semester, I enrolled into the module, “Singapore Studies”, in hope of understanding what fellow SMU students think of Singapore. Unfortunately, the mindset is one that blames the government.

At this juncture, I ask myself,

“Why blame the government, the recession, or other external factors for the state we are in?”

Aren’t we supposed to be in control of how we lives turn out? In this case, shouldn’t we look inwards and think what it is we can do for ourselves to turn things around? Why let yourself to be unhappy, or dissatisfied by the direction taken on by others? Ultimately, if things are not going as well as you’ve expect it to be, do something. Don’t shift the blame to others – i.e. corporations or the government, for their lack of action. We ourselves should take action.

Why am I going the startup route for now? It is because of the belief that it is up to us to create our own job, jobs for our own countrymen, and ultimately our own happiness. Why leave it to others to do so? If everyone takes on this mindset, it will be a never ending game of waiting.

The video for the book launch from Reid Hoffman pretty much sums up this perspective:

  • Asmu

    hello

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=268100238 Nai Chng

    Off the top of my head, there are a few reasons to deter one from doing startups in Singapore. Here are a few:
    1) Lack of risk seeking technical talent. It’s the same story everywhere: I am the business guy. I may/may not have domain expertise and I am looking for a CTO. You and everyone else
    2) Lack of exit potential. No acquirers = no spectacular exits.
    3) No spectacular exits = life style type businesses which can be attainable if you go full HC Shenton Way mode.
    4) Cost of failure is high in Singapore. When your entire cohort is moving on buying apartments and investing for the future, you’ll have zero savings and a mambo-jumbo assortment of skills not particularly prized by employers in Singapore.

    But should you choose to ignore all that and venture into the depths anyway, should you fail, you can at least said you tried. You tried to follow your dreams but you failed. And then you do it all over again and again and again until you get there. It sounds a little masochistic but its the only life worth living IMO.

    I like to reduce things to a simple truism and I like this little quote v. much: How much do you want it (it being the object of your desire)?

    Good luck in your pursuits!

    • http://sharonlourdes.com Sharon Lourdes Paul

      Thanks for the detailed comment! I’m lucky to have a family who is supportive with me experimenting with stuff. That’s indeed a neatly summarized quote :)

      The picture you painted for trying and trying and trying reminds me of http://11yearsandcounting.com/.

      All the best to you too!

  • Karl

    I chanced upon your blog while reading sge.com
    I think we share some pretty similar thoughts, I think we should pow wow

  • Sencha

    I think not being entrepreneurial has a lot to do also with the risk-taking appetite of graduates. After having spent a good part of two decades studying and “spending” money, graduates want a fixed, regular source of income for a while. I don’t blame them if most of them do not have a big enough appetite for risk! Why jobs are so lucrative is simply because there is no “investment” required of any sort to begin with. Some like you have it in them to be prepared to invest, to source for capital and skills, to go the tougher route, and I commend you for that, but most of the rest just want to play it safe. :)

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