Whenever you experience failure in any part of socio-economic life, you need to go back to school. Going back to school doesn’t mean going back to the classroom. The classroom is a confined place for academic work, but schooling encompasses learning and relearning.
It could be that you experience problems with your colleagues at work, you experience business problems, you experience marital problems, etc. You need to go back to school on those aspects of your life.
When you experience a lot of challenges with your co-workers, did you take it upon yourself to re-examine your relationship with your colleagues, and how you could work cooperatively? Or have you read any book on “Workplace Politics”? Look for a good title on workplace politics and you will see how you can relate effectively and achieve your goals at the same time.
Many business problems have to do with fraud, not being able to manage the staff well, or lack of financial resources to pursue the business as desired. Others would be a lack of market, a change in consumer taste or demand, and many others. Whatever the problem is, have you taken it upon yourself as the business owner to attend a short course, a seminar, a workshop on how to effectively manage the business? Many business owners came with pre-conceived minds on how things should be run. But there are better alternatives on how things should be run when you attend programs that could fine-tune your business.
A key problem is managing people. It is a vast area for most small business owners to improve upon. What about addressing fraud issues with your employees? Have you engaged a professional accountant to put in place a control system for you so that you can detect and prevent fraud? I must say, go back to school. Market responsiveness? Go back to school and learn the market trends and respond appropriately as a business owner.
Many marriages are in trouble. Not because the couple is not the best match for each other, but due to a number of factors. My wife and I help in counseling a number of marriages and we narrowed it down to one cause that is glaring all the time: competition. The woman is competing with the man and the man is competing with the woman over the resources in the family. Everyone wants to dominate, and no one is ready to cooperate. Have you considered going back to school on your marriage? Over here you need to learn the act of cooperation, working together in unison, and letting go of your ego. You need guidance and counseling in these matters. Don’t leave the marriage to collapse; repair and service it by going back to school.
In your case, it could be just by walking to the nearby bookshop and buying a book on a particular subject and reading. I was trained throughout in business, from secondary school to the master’s and professional level. At some point, I realized that I need to understand the psychology of people. So I went to Ghana Book Trust opposite the then Institute of Professional Studies (now University of Professional Studies, Accra) and bought a good book on Psychology. I read it thoroughly and it helped me in my professional journey of relating to people.
Thus today, I just want to urge you sincerely to go back to school on any aspect of your life that you feel is not going on well. Don’t be intransigent, conceited, and proud about what you already know. There could be a better way of addressing the challenge than you have hitherto been practicing.
With that, you will come to understand one quotation in the Bible: “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” – Proverb 4:7
Seek wisdom and understanding in all matters.
