“Batches after batches, more and more people left the company. I was in one of the later batches to get the letter and was told to pack up and leave on the very same day.
I was an engineer in the oil and gas sector. In late 2014, a nightmare hit the oil and gas industry, following the prolonged slump in crude oil prices.
One day when I went to the IT department, to my surprise, it was almost empty. I asked one of them what happened, and he replied ‘retrenchment’.
From that day onwards, I was fully aware that something was going on in the company.
There were little projects to be tendered and there wasn’t any work to do during that period. Time passed. The downsizing had finally started with the entire contract workers, and with most of them gone, the organization had no choice but to finally lay their hands on the permanent staff.
I spent one year looking for jobs in different industries but had a tough time securing one because the experiences that I had were from a completely different sector. I managed to find a job in the M&E (Mechanical & Electrical) sector but I did not like what I was doing.
The most important thing is that I believe in the market and marketplace will determine the values that you provide, and therefore that will dictate how much is your earning power. And the best part is that your income is limited by any company – you can earn more as long as you can provide more. This was the one and only thing that I believed in before making my move to tender my resignation one year later to pursue my own dream.
I have a mentor that I adore and respect. He teaches me the A-Zs of the true purpose of life. He mentioned that life is like a game – from the day you were born, like it or not, are already in the game of life. Like all games, this game of life has specific rules to play by. If you play it correctly, it is competitive and fun. While many people sit at the sidelines and marvel at how others are playing, we can win this game by being a player ourselves.
From this, I decided to take charge of my own life.
I am now working as an equity and currency trader. Ever since then I follow my own path, the dedication, perseverance and passion have automatically imprinted into my daily life. Being able to work tirelessly day and night, and pushing myself to the limit, it is more than a job, something that I will definitely hold on to in the future.
I wholeheartedly believe that when one door closes, another opens; that every new beginning comes from another beginning’s end.
Imagine, there are 2 people, Jeff and Brandon. Jeff places a very high value on freedom and fun and Brandon places a very high value on security and comfort. Do you think that they behave very differently and make very different choices? Of course, they would – in careers, cars, vacations – all would be totally different.
The ways you prioritize your values affect how your mind makes decisions and the way you behave.
In my case, I have gone through the retrenchment period and because of this, the values of security and comfort that I believed in the past are no longer in my dictionary.
This is a quote I love – ‘It ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward’. That is how a winner is created.”
Photostory by Ariya Ling
Edited by Mushamir Mustafa
