DON'T PUT  A CART BEFORE THE HORSE (cont'd)

I am pleased to have you there.  In my last posting on the above subject, I counseled the youth that putting a cart before the horse like engaging in pleasure in place of hard work will lead to retardation and hinder progress in life.

Another way of putting a cart before the horse is to "start helping others", when you also need  help.
What do I mean?  You have just finished your Senior Secondary School, OND or its equivalent and you by divine providence secure a job of say N1,200,00 per month or N14,400.00 per annum, . My friend you are not in any way close to being THERE!. I am not saying you should not thank God for it, but what am saying is that don't begin to think of settling down yet.   In fact you have not started.  Meaning that this salary is just a "mean" and not the "ends" you remember the definition of economics?  Listen, don't relax and begin to cater for your uncles children, and begin to send School fees and probably sending money to different relations.  It will be assumed that you have already made it.  What you need to do at this point is to "take cover", don't tell them that you have got job.  To tell your relations that you have got job is to begin to receive various "applications" and request letters from different directions, some will even advise you to get marry, after all you have a job.

What you should do at this point should be the following but not limited to it:

(1)  Set a target date or year with which you want to do this job, especially where the future does not look bright in term of growth.  to keep working without a target number of years to spend in an office is to continue working open ended, even when the pay hardly meet your financial need.
(2)  Determine how much you want to save or keep aside out of this amount.  No matter how little, there must be a deliberate determination to save some amount (Rich Dad and other books suggested 10%) if for instance, you save N120.00 for 1 year it will give you N1,440 multiply by five years will give you N7,200.
(3)  Decide to improve your self - you have to position yourself for promotion or advancement.  When you fail to improve yourself academically you will remain at foot of the ladder or a subordinate.  If you are a diplomat, make sure you go back to complete your HND or even secure a direct entry admission.  You may decide to go part time (which is not the best because it take longer time) or full time which takes a shorter time to complete.
(4)  Don't indulge in luxurious life - a simple 14" TV and a tape recorder for music will be ok.  Don't begin to subscribe to Satellite Cable TV like DSTV, MyTV, etc.  All these will create a hole in your
pocket and become a liability. Until I come your way again, please don't put a cart before the horse
 

DON'T PUT A CART BEFORE THE HORSE

According to Wikipedia, a cart is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals.

The draught animals used for carts may be horses or ponies, mules, oxen, water buffalo or donkeys, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs.

From the definition of a Cart above, a cart is  usually behind the horse who suppose to be pulling it, and not in the front of it. When a cart therefore is in front of a horse, it is abnormal and unusual. It make it pretty difficult for the horse to progress or move forward. Remember this blog is about my life experience, which am sharing with the upcoming youth, the aim of this writing is therefore  to offer an advise to up-coming youth, even the adult who may have put the cart before the horse could suddenly realize the reason(s) why their life seems  to be stagnated.

Just as the horse would find it difficult to progress or move forward in its journey, so it is for an individual who put a "cart before the horse" of his life would find it difficult to progress in life.

It is normal that after a child is born, he/she pass through stages of growth and development thus:.

• Infancy •Early childhood •Childhood •Late childhood •Adolescence •Adulthood, to avoid deviation from the main subject matter of this piece I will like to stop the growth stages at adulthood.  

Before the attainment of adulthood, one is expected to have made progress, achieve certain landmark, like academic qualifications, acquired skills, etc that could make him/her earn a living, settle down and become independent. But before this could be achieved, care must be taken that a "cart" is not in front of our "horse" to enable us move forward and progress consistently as expected.

One of the universal cart that may be in front of any man's horse in life is "pleasure", It is an old adage that say "without a sweat there is no sweet" Proverb 21:17 says "He who loves pleasure will become poor......." my first advise to the upcoming youth is to avoid pleasure now and work hard at their studies (for those in schools) and for those learning skills to be serious and learn with all their attention.  To engage in pleasures like party, gyration, disco dancing, cinema, watching immoral films, etc instead of working hard now is tantamount to putting a cart before the horse.  If you are in the habit of attending disco dance party, while you should be seriously studying your book, attending to your assignment, going back to what you learn in school for thorough revision and study, you will discover that when it is time to write your exams, you might not be able to write the answer in detail but vaguely, which cannot give you a good mark or grade, it might even earn you a failure.  With such a cart, like pleasure in front of the horse, you cannot make progress in your academic, which in turn affect your overall progress in life.  I will like to stop here for today, I will continue tomorrow to engage you in some other cart that may hinder your forward movement in life.  You are born to progress and make mark in life.  Wishing you all the best.