Where's the Cheese?

Lila had texted me this morning that a VP in a former company I worked for had left. Apparently it was for a better offer abroad ---Indonesia to be exact. Lately there have been news of numerous job vacancies in 2 telco companies there due to expansion of their respective networks.

I guess there's no stopping the exodus of Filipino workers abroad, specifically in the telco sector. With the sad state of the Philippine economy, no wonder many have thought of working, and later on migrating, abroad.

It reminded me of a book I once read called "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson. It's a story of 2 mice who were in a maze engrossed in eating cheese. The first mouse was content with where he was that he didn't think of moving. What with the immense hunk of cheese in that corner of the maze, who'd leave?

The second mouse, on the other hand, thought that someday that hunk of cheese will be gone. So the next day he was off to seek cheese elsewhere.

To cut the long story short, all the cheese was gone where the 1st mouse was while the 2nd mouse found another place with more than the cheese he had with the 1st mouse. It was enourmous! It was enough to last him a lifetime.

The 1st mouse was too content with where he was the he didn't anticipate the scenario that that hunk of cheese will be gone whereas the 2nd mouse was one step ahead. If I had a choice of the ending to the book, the 1st mouse would've died. Hehe.

What I learned is that everyone has to maximize his/her full potential as a human being and just "GO FOR IT!" Like professional football/basketball players, that full potential may only be a few years before age and injury comes. So I say, earn as much as you can while you're expertise is in demand. Grab that opportunity when it knocks. Work abroad for a few years (see the world man! there's so many places to see and explore!). Then after that, retire young and start your own business.

Or you can do what many pessimistic, "safe" people do: spend the rest of your life inside a shrinking, cluttered office cubicle uttering "what if's" while your d*ckhead boss wants to talk to you again about your non-promotion and all that "bell-curve" crap.

Jump in, the water's fine.