Whiners and Winners - lack of opportunities or an abundance of opportunities

Whiners and Winners - lack of opportunities or an abundance of opportunities

 

A close friend of mine posted the following picture a few days back, which really grinded my gears

 

It did not get me because of the statement, which after continuous reading of this article, you will realize it is completely wrong, but because i have a deep respect for my friend and never believed she was a part of the "whining" side of mankind.

Perhaps here, i have to define a few words so that there are no misinterpretations later:

"Whiner" - A company employee, whose defining feature of behavior is to complain about the lack of opportunities, the abundance of issues or the wrong way the company where he or she works is managed. Unfortunately that side of the "workforce" is more of a majority rather than the exception, but this only creates more opportunities for the rest.

"Corporation" - A multinational organization with a medium to large staff size (200 - 20,000)

"Winner" - A company employee or leader, whose defining feature is the conviction to succeed regardless of the environment and circumstances. A person who sees opportunities everywhere and who is not afraid to take chances in order to succeed.

After seeing these three short definitions perhaps quite a few of you are already on the right track of where this will get, but the idea of the story is not to repeat a clear statement, but to rather reset a modern "status quo" way of thinking of the majority of people.

It was a few weeks ago when i read an article posted on LinkedIn, which was yet another condemnation of capitalism, the middle class "illusion" (as the author implied) and the corporate machine living on the back of the "poor working man".

I have also had my fair share of experience with the complaining part of the work force to finally decide to share a few thoughts on the subject.

My bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management had a revolutionary approach to education as did not imply memorizing terms, principles and practices, but to incorporate such a level of self-awareness in all of the students so that we can truly understand now only what we do and why, but what others do as well. This way, in my mind, created a generation of free thinkers, who could never be restricted by systems, policies or statuses.
Since I know how few of us graduated i understand why there are so many people with their "eyes wide shut".

But here comes the pinnacle of this topic. In my mind there are 3 sub-characters of the "whiners"

 

The three sub-characters of whiners

1. Those who cannot see opportunities - This is the majority of whiners. They are employed for a certain job and they will do it until they are fired or until they are promoted (mostly because of maturity, rather than achievement). Their performance circulates arround the status quo they are set in and regardless how many chances or opportunities they have to change, until someone pushes them to see further or higher they will keep being the same. (some of them - forever)

2. Those who do not want to see opportunities - I believe that everyone has the downsides of their life. From the extremely rich to the extremely poor we all have problems and sometimes they get us down. Unfortunately that part of the whiners are those who consciously or unconsciously decide to be always down, and on many occasions to take others down with them. They are those who complain about everything and if there is a person smart enough (or fed up enough) to show them there are better ways and ways in general, their general behavior is to disapprove of this and find an excuse not to do it (usually laziness, well hidden in a logical answer) A graphical example is:

 

 

 

3. Those who neither see opportunities nor want to see them - They are perhaps the worst kind of employees, friends and people there can be. They are people who will never change anything, let alone themselves and who are capable of destroying anyone’s enthusiasm about anything. The real life - "cancer makers". Unfortunately they exist and in some places they are an abundance of. Mostly its not their fault - they have inherited this behavior from their parents or their cultural environment, but this does not make up for their behavior. My advice (unless you are CEO and can fire them) stay as far away from them as possible, as even the most positive of us can get submerged in their sea of excuses and problems. (They are the people who will always sit and ask "Who moved my cheese?")

Any one of these three types are the majority of general "employees". Those who will never take the extra mile; who will work for years when they could have done their job in days; who will constantly complain about the lack of opportunities or the restrictions that corporations imply on you. Those, who will glorify the idea of "startups", but will never actually create or be part of a startup, since that requires courage, responsibility, conviction and positivism - characteristics that none of them have (and many of them will never have)

So, by now i am sure most of you have identified many of your colleagues and friends in some of these characteristics (perhaps even yourselves). This is the first step to change - to be aware of the need for a change. And why change? Because on the other side are the "winners" and their world looks much different than the one of the "whiners".

The "winners"

They live in a sea of opportunities. Why? Because they have understood a few core fundamentals of life:

- There is nothing in this world, that a person cannot change
- All it takes to change something is to change yourself
- History remembers, those who were not afraid to challenge their status quo or their destiny

And how do they see an opportunity? Quite simple really - they analyze, adapt and push.

To analyze

 

Regardless of what company you are in, what position you are in, or what economic state you are in - you will never be able to succeed if you do not make a simple SWOT analysis of your current situation.

The strenghts - are the things that make you strong, or the things of the company that you can show you understand would contribute to

The weaknesses - are the things that make you weak. We all have them as all companies have them. There is nothing wrong with that. If you can change them - ok, if you cannot - learn to live with them. In a corporate level - these are the things that you can help coup with or change (the majority of opportunities, given the economic state our world is in)

The opportunities - are the possibilities given the strengths and weaknesses that you have and that the company needs

The threats - realistically the level, to which you are ready to push. (in reality it is my firm belief that the only thing that restricts the level of success of winners is how convicted they are to succeeding.)

To adapt

 

Here is where all of the whiners fail and all of the winners succeed.

No one is perfect as he/she is. No company is perfect as it is. Perfections is an ideal that we should always strive for and never be ok with anything less than perfect. (a contradicting statement, i agree, but a valid if you look through what the words actually mean)

As such, you should always know that you will have to adapt to the needs of the business you are in and to be able to adapt others to the ways you offer

To push

 

Here comes the final but most important deal. Here is where the "whiners" true skin is revealed. (When they say - it is too hard, or there are not enough opportunities the real statement is - I am too lazy and too scared to do anything)

And here is where the winners are revealed - It may consume my time, my energy and my life even, but i will succeed. It will cost the company money, time, effort and trust, but it will end up better for anyone.

The push is also where a truly aware brain is shown - To see a chance in any person, in any conversation, any time and place to push for your goals, to push for change.

The end of the story

By now i hope you know what part of the world is the drive and what part is the break. I hope that you are from the winners or that you want to be and i hope that perhaps even if only you change - the world will be a better place.

Since i know how theoretical a story is without an example - here is mine.

I am 25 years old. I am no one and i come from nowhere. I have a total of 2 years working experience and only a Bachelor’s degree. (so you can say i have every right to be a whiner about the lack of opportunities or the bad circumstances around me)

I have worked only in large corporations so far and i have never, ever done anything i did not want. I have always started in some mediocre to little job position and have turned this (in months, not years) to a strategic position, to which i have usually been my own boss, which contributes far more than expected and is rewarded more than expected.

How did i do it? - I have never been afraid to challenge the status quo; I do not believe in limits; I do not accept set terms as unchangeable; I have always been able to show my ideas to the highest possible positions, while maintaining a positive and friendly relationship with all employees - from cleaners to CEOs, but above all - I have devoted my life to a certain goal, which I started to work for since I was 6 years old (when i started learning English).

As such I do not know if i will succeed with my goal, after all I am at the start of my journey or as they say - "Oh Lord, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small", but i know that i will either succeed or die trying. I will keep looking for opportunities, keep seizing them. I will never stop analyzing and adapting, never stop changing, because i know that i can change.

The only question is - are you a "whiner" or a "winner" and which type do you think will have a better life?