just wait and see

One of my classes proposes that in our society the political sphere (The Pnyx) has merged with our economic sphere(The Agora). The implications of this is that politicians are afraid to make legislation that is detrimental to their corporate financiers, and the democratic process becomes distorted as they pay too much attention to economic problems rather than the political problems they are paid to work on.

I’m hardly knowledgeable in any political area but I believe this is something that democracy had to face in history. The state and the church had become intermingled and as a result the state was being influenced by the churches leaders who were giving them ‘will of god’.

It is common sense in modern times that such a relationship was detrimental to citizens, hence implementation of the separation of the church and the state.

Although it is a different kind of power that corporations have over the state it works in the same way, the state is meant to represent the citizens not the businesses.

Hence a separation of the corporation and the state.

All problems that become murky because of economic lobbying (Environmental damage, patent trolling etc) would instantly disappear, leaving those who are unbiased giving the voice back to the people .

So in my ideal world I would have a job lined up for next year, allowing me to finish my studies part time and earn precious money to save up for my round the world expedition. The massive problem with my area, Accounting, and finance in general is after the Global Financial Crisis all employers get to pick the cream of the crop. I have good marks and a few extracurricular bonuses which I hoped would get me through but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be enough. As an employee I know I would be an amazing worker but as a graduate I am fighting huge amounts of job searchers who add very little to the business value chain (Probably me included).

It is also interesting how many people ‘pray’ on these students, resume builders and careers fairs are everywhere and take the guise of helping students find employment but unfortunately act more beneficial to the firms who run them (Marketing ploys). In a market where so many struggle to find work this is a little unethical.

But in this blog post (Patrick is really smart) the job creation process is summarised amazingly in one line “Read ad.  Send in resume.  Go to job interview.  Receive offer.” is the exception, not the typical case, for getting employment“. Job positions come available when a business needs someone to add more value than they cost, either through expense reduction or profit generation (Part of the profit centre is the best position to be in a firm). Although that post is in regards to technical work it applies to every field.

So to a business you are worth how much you add in value to their interests. As long as you produce more than you cost you can get a job, however the only real way for an employer to know that is for them to know you personally. This is why networking is so important..

Time for me to start networking more

So the idea of motivation has been on my mind, mostly due to the endless list of things I want to learn or acheve and the percieved limited time I have to do them. How do I pick out the things that are best and put myself 100% into them so I can get the most out of them?

As usual I have been trying to read as much as possible, currently I’m working through the quick novels like Alice in Wonderland and Jekyll and Hyde that I never read as a kid. The problem is, as important as this reading is I am not putting the required time into exam preparation and study which is less than 2 weeks away. Also I cannot help but dread the time I should be dedicating to exercising and sport, which previously were a major part of my life and in neglecting these I feel I am letting myself down.

As a student of management I should probably be putting the idea of “what gets measured gets managed” into practice, this way i should feel motivated to A) not waste time daydreaming and sleeping in; and B) start Achieving the most possible. Sebastian Marshal has a simple concept of ranking activities into expansion, maintenance and world. Every creative thing gets put into ‘expansion’, every important thing that is not creating something is in ‘maintenance’ and recovery things such as meditation are in ‘world’. Daily improvement would theoretically come as a result of this..

So on the list is: Start Measuring Time

Also just randomly I am trying to study some of the philosophical classics such as Plato’s ‘The Republic”, again because such knowledge may be important in the future.