Do you suffer from an entitlement mentality?

According to conservapedia.com, an entitlement mentality is a state of mind in which an individual comes to believe that privileges are instead rights, and that they are to be expected as a matter of course. An entitlement mentality is frequently characterized by the following viewpoints or beliefs:

A lack of appreciation for the sacrifices of others. Those with an entitlement mentality often criticize the everyone even those who are close to them like their spouse,  parents, siblings, relatives, friends and neighbors, failing to acknowledge that some of these people may have helped or sacrificed something for them in one way or another in the past. Everyone is a nuisance and irritation to them and their opinions, feedback or suggestions are often regarded as rubbish or worthless. The only opinion that matters are that of their own.

Lack of personal responsibility. Just as those with an entitlement mentality typically expect others to solve their problems, they also refuse to accept that the problems are of their own making. Thus, those with an entitlement mentality are frequently unable or unwilling to acknowledge fault or error; this typically leads to denial.

An inability to accept that actions carry consequences. This can be seen in public schools where grade inflation and social promotion have resulted in students who expect that they will be promoted to the next grade regardless of their level of effort.

Arrogantly assuming that privilege reflects on the merits of the individual in question. For example, someone who is fortunate enough to be born extremely intelligent might arrogantly assume that that intelligence is an achievement on his part.

I believe that an entitlement mentality is one that is inherent in youths and young adults in the millennial generation today especially when it comes to gaining employment or even when they are in employment. Fresh graduates with diploma or bachelor degrees assume that with the degrees that they have obtained from institutions and universities (especially well known ones) entitle them to direct entry into a management level position without acknowledging the need for experience or hard work. Right out of college they demand executive level salaries and position titles and assume that their colleagues with lower qualifications than them are their lesser minions regardless of how long they have worked there. Blatant over displays of knowledge, skills and attitudes are becoming the norm of this generation without considering how much (or little) they know about the subject matter.

This kind of behavior although may be widely accepted (or sometimes tolerated) by more easy going companies are frowned upon by others in the corporate world. Gone are the days of humility, hard work and a willingness to learn from mistakes of the generations before, the X and baby boomers who have contributed blood, sweat and tears to achieve what they have achieved over the years. The keyword of today’s generation is, ‘instant’. Although in business it is important to get things done fast and efficiently, it is a totally different case when it comes to the working environment where experience matters. What happened to the good old ‘work your way up’ attitude? In my honest opinion, there is more to gain from taking time to master a particular skill or job before taking on other things. It is understandable to want to be recognized for your work by your superiors and your peers and being young and bashful gives you the advantage of taking on more risk that people who are older than you may like to. I heard of the story of a certain property billionaire in Malaysia who insisted that his son started from the very bottom making coffee for managers before gradually moving through the ranks to become part of the top management in his group of companies. To him, if his son is able to understand the suffering and harsh realities of working from the bottom, he would be able to appreciate his employees better and in the process become a better leader both of the industry and of people under him.

Other types of people with the entitlement mentality may be found among children and spouses and people who are rich and famous. On the roads, in shopping malls, in restaurants and cafes, you can see them practicing their beliefs that they are entitled to be treated like royalty and people who work in the service industry are below them and are treated like unworthy servants. This kind of behavior can also be seen in people who appear to be rich and famous but in reality are far from it. No doubt that the saying 'customer is king' or 'the customer is always right' applies to all who are in business or who aspires to successfully grow their business into a respectable one. But when people or customers start to take it too literally it becomes more of a social problem. 

So my take on this is, if you are someone with the entitlement mentality, you better stop and get yourself a quick reality check. The world doesn't owe you anything. Nobody can stop you from building your own castle in the sky but when you decide to step down to earth every once in a while, do remember that you are just like everybody else, so act that way and be courteous, humble and respectful. If you start treating people nicely, you will be surprised that they will start doing the same to you. So, do unto others as you would like them to do unto you. There is no shame in shredding the entitlement mentality to bits if you recognize that you suffer from it be it at work or in your everyday life. It may do you more good than harm. 

Lifelong Learning?

Taken from an article published in LinkedIn by David Geh (June 3, 2015):
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lifelong-learning-david-geh?trk=hp-feed-article-title-publish

People who complain about how much they hate their jobs should actually be thankful that they have one to hate in the first place. June 1st 2015 will go down in history as the day the national carrier MAS terminated all of its 20,000 of their employees and the new brand new company Malaysian Airlines Berhad (MAB) reappoints 14,000 of them leaving 6,000 employees jobless.

I have personally experienced the uncertainty of getting retrenched before. It was back in 2008 and the company I worked with had just announced that they were relocating their HQ to Hong Kong and was going to carry out a VSS exercise which was going to affect around 800 of its employees. I didn’t want to sit around and suffer an uncertain future and decided to resign a few months before the exercise was carried out to further my studies and obtain an MBA. Although it had been my lifelong dream to be a Masters holder since the day I graduated with my degree back in 1999, I have not touched a book for almost ten years and I knew it was going to be an uphill challenge to complete it after hearing horror stories about people paying thousands of dollars for postgraduate qualifications they never ever managed to finish. But nevertheless I was determined. Back then even with an expensive mortgage, car loan, huge credit card debts, mounting bills and high daily living expenses I decided to go at it full-time while slowly figuring out what I could do for money.

With zero regular income, I had to rent out 2 of my rooms in my apartment which brought in around RM650 a month. I sublet another apartment which brought in another RM350 a month in income after paying off the rent to the landlord which brought the grand total to RM1,000 per month. Life was really miserable back then but I persevered. Recently I read an article about a Malaysian billionaire based in Australia who became wealthy despite the odds stacked against him and I agreed with what he said. He said “Education is the only currency you can cash anywhere, no one can steal what’s in your head”.

Eventually I took 2.5 years instead of two years to complete my UK MBA from a local college. During that 2.5 years I managed to survive by going into property as a part-time real estate negotiator. I managed to find a good mentor who was willing to share with me how to go about running the business and in the first month alone I made around RM5k. Subsequent months I made a pretty good income which brought me to the same level of income I made when I was working full-time. The only difference was that it was not compulsory for me to show my face at an office everyday although I was stationed at a property showroom. Life wasn’t a bed of roses even-though sometimes I could make RM10-15k a month. I sometimes worked 12 hours straight from 12am right up to 12pm, 7 days a week. But the effort was well worth it. I managed to spend more time with my loved ones.

Eventually I graduated with my MBA in July 2010 with commendation. In the UK education system that was an equivalent to a second class upper honors degree. I even managed a few As including Finance. Today I work in the education industry and my life is 2-3 times better than when I was working before I came out to study full-time with the objective to change my life for the better. My income today is also 2-3 times better that what I used to make before my post-graduate education. Most importantly, I am currently enjoying what I do every day and one key decision I made at the lowest point of my life had enabled me to do that today.

The point of this article is not to gloat about how I had successfully improved my life. The key point is that, it is not what happens to you but it’s how you react to it that matters. If you find yourself boxed into a corner, don’t give up without a fight. Similarly if you find yourself in a situation you don’t like to be in, like a lousy job with no future, or your company suddenly decides to give you the boot, look at it as a blessing in disguise. Think of it as the universe giving you a pit stop for you to pause, refresh and ponder what will be your next move. Also take it as an opportunity to spend more time with your family or loved ones or improve and upgrade yourself as you embrace your next challenge. I am not religious but I strongly believe that as God closes one door, he opens another. Alexander Graham Bell once said “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Similarly if you find yourself in the darkest place of your life where all hope is lost remember this quote by Will Rogers, “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!”

Education indeed is a way out for many people. History has proven that. Just ask any successful person and they will tell you that. I am saying this not because I work in the education industry. Any self-made millionaire or billionaire will tell you that even though they never had very much education to begin with. But almost all of them see the value of it. It doesn’t mean you need to go sign up for an MBA. Any type of education will help if you have the desire to improve your life. It can be in the form of formal (classroom) and informal learning (self-directed learning). Learning a new language, learning a new skill, reading books, attending seminars and workshops and learning from a mentor or learning something new from the web all constitutes giving yourself an education. Google this term ‘Lifelong Learning’ to understand it’s meaning. In Wikipedia it is defined as ‘ongoing, voluntary and self-motivated’ pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. Therefore it not only enhances social inclusion, active citizenship, and personal development but also self-sustainability. Whether brick-and-mortar institutions or on-line schools, there is a great economic impact worldwide from learning, including lifelong learning, for all age groups. The lifelong learners, including persons with academic or professional credentials, tend to find higher-paying occupations, leaving monetary, cultural, and entrepreneurial impressions on communities.