When I see young people casually browsing through online shopping websites, to fill gap time, I wonder, isn’t it only causing more misery to their already material hungry souls? Wish they did more of listening to TED talks or attending a online program to develop a skill.
Many of us are thinking of buying more than what we can afford because of the awesome benefits a credit economy offers. We live on debt, spending more than what we earn, and we live to pay off those debts with interest rates more than inflation or even income growth. Many smart people think it is good to live beyond means, as it can help to improve lifestyle and there by more earnings potential. But what actually can improve earnings potential is our productivity using the skills which are in demand, that are economically useful for people who are willing to spend for it.
Any debt for ‘improving skills’ can offer you returns, and is worth it. Any debt for consumer spending can only make you feel that you already got a lifestyle which you’d get if you had to achieve something through real work. This gives you a chance to make your life wonderful much earlier than your real income arrives. At the same time, we forget to improve productivity using skills which matter. So skill building becomes secondary in the list of priorities which are mostly dominated by material things which are comforting in nature. New economy demands professionals to invest seriously in skills building as the markets for skills are dynamic and the rate of redundancies are appalling. This makes it quite compelling for someone who is serious about continued income growth to focus on skills building.
What are you going to learn today?