Roy Sutton

Graduation Poem: An alternative perspective

09/20/2022 by Roy Sutton

If you’ve landed on this page, dear reader, you might just be looking for a graduation poem.

I’ve written one for you, but perhaps not one you might expect.

Most graduation poems are a celebration of the moment, and there’s nothing wrong with that approach. It’s the culmination of years of hard work, after all.

However, in the modern age, it seems that many young people look back and wonder whether the burden of student debt was worth it, in terms of the potential return on the money and time invested.

You can decide on the merits or otherwise of that argument, of course, but I thought it might be interesting to offer an alternative perspective. One that might be considered more realistic, possibly?

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Graduation Poem:

I received a fine certificate

Wore gown and mortar board

Proud parents taking photographs

For memories, they will hoard

The Rector warmly greeted us

He spoke of futures bright

He said we’ll all get well-paid jobs

Well, at least he said, some might

A degree once had real value

But it doesn’t anymore

When everybody’s got one

Employers know the score

Three years of diligent study

Now tinged with some regret

For two hours in the limelight

Was it worth incurring debt?

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Filed Under: Poetry Tagged With: Graduation poem, Poems, Poems for today, Poetry, Verse

How much should I be paid?

08/12/2022 by Roy Sutton

Dear reader, have you ever asked yourself the question, “How much should I be paid?” Probably, I would guess. Most people do at some point. Certainly, it’s a question I’ve asked myself many times.

We live in challenging economic times, so we’re all keen to ensure that we earn as much as we can. The question is, how much?

What is work?

In the modern age, people tend to think in terms of their careers, and many lose sight of what work is all about.

A career is just a natural progression of jobs within a given profession or industry through which we develop our skills and experience over time. Each of those jobs represents work.

In simple terms, work is just doing something for someone in return for money. Essentially, we provide a service or solve a problem, and an employer is our customer.

So, we’re paid to deliver results for the employer. With the emphasis being on delivery.

How much should I be paid?

The financial reward you get for the work you do is based on two things: –

The value you can add; and
The laws of supply and demand (also known as the market rate).

The value you can add is directly proportional to the skills you have and your knowledge and experience of the profession or industry in which you are seeking to work.

The supply and demand for your skills and experience within the job market will dictate how much an employer will be prepared to pay.

Why don’t businesses pay people more?

Essentially labour is a commodity. By definition, a commodity is something that can only be differentiated in terms of price.

None of us will pay more for a commodity than necessary.

For example, say, you want to buy a loaf of bread and in one store it costs $1 and, in another store, the same loaf costs $1.50. Which store will you buy from? The $1 store, obviously, because that’s what any rational person would do. Why would anyone pay more than they must?

Well, businesses think in the same way.

Businesses exist to make a profit. Profit is sales income less costs and, almost always, the biggest cost for any business is the cost of labour.

So, businesses will not pay any more than they must for people. Why would anyone expect it to be otherwise?

An employer doesn’t care about what you think you’re worth.

Your worth to the business will be judged solely on the potential value you can add and the availability and demand for your skills and experience.

How do I measure the value I add?

Essentially value is another way of saying your skills and experience, dear reader.

Alternatively, for an entry-level job, your value would be your potential.

If an employer is seeking a junior staff member for training, then your aptitude and qualifications would be a proxy for the value you could potentially add once your training has been completed.

I think I’m worth more:

If you think you’re being paid less than you deserve, then you have two options: –

Go to your boss and request a raise; or
Test the (job) market.

Either way, you need to do your homework first.

Request a raise:

Before speaking to your boss about a raise, do some basic research on pay rates for similar jobs to yours with a requirement for the same skills and experience that you offer.

Also, identify at least three significant things that you do in your current role that make a real difference to the company. Ideally, these should be things only you can do.

Think also about how you might be able to do those things you do best more efficiently to improve your productivity.

Once you have all this information, you’re ready to justify why you think you deserve more.

Test the market:

Even if you’re otherwise happy with your current employer, it can be worth putting yourself about a bit in the job market, to see what other companies would be willing to pay you.

Apply for some other jobs and see what companies are willing to pay you.

And remember; most companies know that they’ll have to offer an uplift of at least 20% on your current salary to persuade you to take the risk of leaving your current employer, certainly if you’re highly skilled.

Once you have a suitable offer, you’ve then got two choices.

Either you accept the offer and move to the new employer, or you take that offer to your current employer and see whether they’re willing to match it.

I have done this more than once and it does work.

Given the cost to the employer of losing a highly valued member of the team, most employers will match an offer rather than lose you.

And if they’re actually willing to let you leave, then they didn’t value you and therefore you might as well go.

How do I earn more?

Another way to think about this is, how do you make yourself more valuable?

And you should be building your value, constantly.

If you want to earn more then learn more.

Work hard on building your experience too. Be willing and ready to accept new challenges, however daunting, for rough seas make skilled sailors.

Become the ‘go-to’ person for some activity that is perceived as valuable to the business.

Your focus should be on ‘what you’re becoming’ rather than any short-term gain and eventually, you have a good chance of becoming very valuable.

Think about it this way. Whatever you’re doing, you’re just there to serve customers and solve problems for them

There will always be customers for goods and services, some not even invented yet. Goods and services are another way of saying problems customers have which need a solution and you’re the provider of that solution.

The greater the skills and experience required to solve those problems the more you will earn, assuming you have those skills and experience.

Know the market rate:

Every business keeps a close eye on the market rates for given skills and experience. They do this to ensure that they’re not overpaying.

You should keep a close eye on market rates too, to ensure that you’re not being underpaid for what you’re doing.

In short, you must be very disciplined and business-like in your approach to work and selling your skills.

Think of yourself as a small business providing goods and services to your boss, your colleagues, and the customers of the company for which you work.

Conclusion:

You won’t get paid more than you’re worth.

However, if you increase your value by learning more, constantly, and building your skills and experience then you can earn more.

Choose a highly skilled discipline with high demand and an undersupply of potential candidates and you can earn a lot of money.

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Filed Under: Wisdom Tagged With: Attitude, Career, Earning Power, Happiness, How much should I be paid, Income, Inspiration, Life, Meaning, Motivation, Philosophy, Sage Advice, Wellbeing, Wisdom, Work

2 Poems for today to make you think

06/27/2022 by Roy Sutton

I have never been clever with words, dear reader, but I’ve always been impressed with those who are. In particular, I like poetry and writers who are clever with verse. So naturally, I like having a go at writing poetry and seeing whether I can produce something half-decent.

Today I offer you two poems that I wrote yesterday. The first is my reaction to the present cult of what has become known as ‘cancel culture‘ and the second reflects an incident that actually happened to me whilst attempting to mow our lawn at home.

If you enjoy either of these poems, please feel free to share them. They are free for anyone to share, providing they are not used for commercial gain.

1. Cancel Culture:

2. Battle with a Lawn Mower:

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Filed Under: Poetry Tagged With: Cancel Culture, Gardening Poems, Hard times, Poems, Poems for today, Poetry

The debate about identity politics and how we get beyond it

06/12/2022 by Roy Sutton

The debate about identity politics has dominated much of the news in recent months. Surely we must find a way to get beyond it? In that, I refer to getting beyond the problems associated with identity, rather than the debate itself.

We’re all human beings first:

Whether we think of ourselves as Black, White, Christian, Muslim, Jew or some other form of ethnic or religious identity, in reality, we’re all just members of the human race, surely?

In my opinion, we’re human beings first and other forms of identity second. We’re all just people.

We all want the same things:

As people, we all want the same things if you think about it.

Ideally, we all want a peaceful, prosperous life and a better world for our children?

We want a roof over our heads and the ability to put bread and food on the table.

Equally, we all want to feel secure.

We all want our lives to have a sense of purpose and a reason for us to get out of bed each day.

And, of course, we all want to enjoy some leisure time with family and friends, occasionally.

Life’s too short:

Life’s too short to worry about anything else, surely?

As human beings, we have much more in common than we’re often able or willing to recognize and those things that apparently separate us are often more imagined than real. Well, I think so anyway.

In my experience, there are good people everywhere you go in this world.

And yet, as human beings, we often fear people simply because they are not a reflection of ourselves.

We fear what we don’t understand.

If only we could just see others as human beings first. They’re people just like us, with hopes, dreams and a desire to be loved, accepted and respected by others.

Respect people and get to know them:

If only we could just treat people with respect, regardless of whatever sense of identity they present to the world. If only we could respect others just for being themselves.

I’ve been fortunate enough to live and work in many parts of the world and I’ve learned that if you make the effort to get to know people, whoever they are, you begin to see them in a different way, regardless of their origin, ethnicity or creed.

If you try to understand them and their lives, suddenly you realize that they’re actually just like you, or not so very different at least.

Wherever you go, people are just people. We laugh, we cry, we eat, we sleep and we all have to go to the bathroom occasionally.

Yes, there are a few bad ones of course but most people are honest and decent and if you treat them with respect, you will get their respect in return. In my experience, wherever you go people just want to be treated fairly.

Avoid making assumptions about people:

When you meet people from a culture which is different to your own, it’s easy to make assumptions about them. However, how can you be sure you’re right unless you get to know them?

Judging is easy but it’s hard to know what someone else’s life is really like. Unless you’ve actually walked a mile in their shoes, you couldn’t possibly know what their life is really like or what challenges they face on a daily basis.

So you can’t judge anyone unless you make the effort to get to know them.

And for me, that’s the underlying problem for all humanity.

We judge people first without making the effort to get to know people. We make assumptions and judge on perceived stereotypes rather than treating people as individuals.

For instance, it would be easy to assume that all Muslims have the same extreme views as those fundamentalists making media headlines fighting for the establishment of the so-called Islamic State or ISIS.

I have lived and worked in the Middle East for many years and I know that this is not true. Some of the finest people I’ve ever met are Muslims.

I have many Muslim friends for whom I have the greatest respect. I’ve also known many Christians, Jews, Buddhists and more for whom I could make a similar comment.

Seek first to understand:

I’ve learned to treat people as I find them and not as others tell me I should find them.

I concern myself only with the content of their character. I try to treat others with respect and I find that generally if I do, I get their respect in return.

If only we could all treat others in the way that we’d prefer them to treat us then I think the world would be a better place. And surely our aim should be to make this world a better place?

In the words of Stephen R. Covey, we must “Seek first to understand and then to be understood.”

Identity politics:

Identity politics has the potential to divide us all in a way that could be detrimental to everyone, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We can get along with each other if we respect people for who they are and what they are and judge them only by the content of their character.

Look beyond obvious differences to the person within. It’s what’s on the inside of people that matters most. Well, that’s my opinion, dear reader.

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5 questions that’ll help your buying decision process

05/15/2022 by Roy Sutton Leave a Comment

How can you be expected to save money when you don’t earn enough to make ends meet as it is? I’m guessing you may have asked yourself that question at least once dear reader? If you have, you’re not alone. It’s a common cry.

However, whilst some people may struggle financially, it’s also true that far too many people squander their money buying items they don’t need and probably will never use, often in an attempt to impress people they don’t even like.

For such people, their buying decision process is usually limited to whether they still have enough credit left on their credit cards.

Well, the mantra “Have Plastic; Will Purchase” is not a good one if saving money is one of your goals.

You can earn a decent income and yet a lack of money management skills and a poor buying decision process will result in you never achieving financial freedom. In fact, poor money management skills will condemn you to a life of being poor.

So it’s essential that you learn to manage your money properly if you want to avoid long-term poverty.

Avoid the ‘I’ve got to have it’ approach:

Now be honest with yourself, how often do you buy things you didn’t really need?

Stuff that you weren’t even looking for but it was there and it looked nice and you thought I’ve got to have it. Out pops your ‘flexible friend‘ and the item is yours. A brief period of gratification follows and then the item is largely forgotten.

How often do you buy things you never use?

Take a look at your wardrobe. I’ll bet there are a few items in there which still have the store tags on them? Never used and they’ve probably been there for quite some time I suspect? Would I be right?

‘I’ve got to have it‘ is a great way to waste all your money. With this approach, you’ll enrich other people at your own expense. Now how could that possibly make sense?

Credit cards: Weapons of mass wealth destruction

How often do you buy things you can’t afford with money you haven’t got?

It’s true, credit cards can be a convenient means for making payments of course but they can also be weapons of mass wealth destruction. That’s a fact dear reader.

When it comes to the buying decision process most of us are driven more by a desire for gratification than any sensible approach to managing our money carefully.

Most of us are guilty of buying more than we need. Many of us are guilty of buying items we seldom use, if at all.

If you’re like this dear reader then you’re not alone I can assure you. However, that’s not a good thing.

The disciplined approach:

However, with a bit more discipline you could hang on to more of your own money and then build capital which, eventually, will start generating an income all of its own through interest payments on deposits and bonds and dividend payments and capital growth on stocks and shares.

Still, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

The underlying message I offer you today dear reader is that you should establish for yourself a buying decision process that will allow you to control your expenditure.

Essentially before you buy anything you need to ask yourself a series of tough questions to gauge whether the purchase really does make good sense.

And what are those questions?

The questions to ask before making any purchase:

There are in fact five questions you should ask yourself before making any purchase, as follows:-

1. Do I really need it? Honestly?
2. Will I really use it? Honestly?
3. Can I really afford it? Honestly?
4. If I didn’t have it would it really matter?
5. Does it represent good value for money?

If you answer ‘No’ to the first four questions, the fifth question is irrelevant. A negative on all or even most of the first four questions means, don’t buy the item. Simple!

And even if you do think you need it, never buy anything if you do not have the money to pay for the item right now. Never, ever incur debt for a discretionary purchase.

It’s better to do without than to run up debt on a credit card to pay for discretionary purchases.

The compounding effect of high credit card interest rates can quickly turn a small debt into a large one.

The ‘value for money’ question is only relevant when you can answer every other question in the affirmative.

Nevertheless, you should never buy something that’s not also good value for money. That is, you should never overpay for anything. Overpaying means the price is inconsistent with the value on offer.

Let the answers to the questions guide you:

To ensure your buying decision process is sound you must always ask these questions.

Let them be your purchasing guide and you’ll be in a better position to start saving money and watch it grow. Once it starts growing you’ll be on your way to building your own personal wealth.

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Why the Christmas message is so important

12/25/2019 by Roy Sutton

For millions of Christians around the world, today is Christmas Day and the underlying Christmas message is one of peace and goodwill.

Sadly there seems to be precious little of either these days. Increasingly people around the world are torn apart by their beliefs and opinions and the world is becoming an angry place in which to live.

Perhaps it was always that way but in my lifetime I cannot remember a time when tensions were greater between people, or it seems.

The rise in abuse:

Just take a look at social media for instance.

We live in an age where self-appointed thought-police cruise social media constantly looking for people expressing opinions which conflict with their prejudices.

Express such an opinion and you’ll be subjected to public abuse of the worst and most offensive kind very quickly, more often than not.

One opinion is just as valid as the next:

Now one person’s opinion is just as valid as the next person’s, surely?

Whether they’re right or wrong, they’re just opinions. An opinion is just an expression of how one person sees the world. Different opinions can peacefully coexist, if we let them.

Certainly there can be no justification for the bile we see aimed at people on social media in response to some innocent remark they may have made or opinion they may have expressed.

Hate is the ugly sister of fear:

We’ve seen a lot of this negative behaviour here in the UK recently during the General Election campaign.

So much hate directed at politicians but also at ordinary people should they have been unwise enough to express their opinions on key issues of the day on social media

Hate is on the increase but of course hate is just the ugly sister of fear. And I think fear is the underlying problem here.

We fear change; we fear other people’s ideas of how we should live our lives; and we fear those people who are not a reflection of ourselves.

See people for what they are not what they aren’t:

If only we could see other people for what they are, rather than what they aren’t, we’d see that none of us are really that different at all.

We all eat, we sleep, we laugh, we cry. We all bathe and we all go to the toilet. And really all any of us wants is a better world for our children.

If only we could listen to each other and seek to understand why others feel the way they do then the world would be a better place. Well I think so anyway.

I have travelled more than most people and I’ve met, lived and worked with people from many cultures and I can tell you that some of the nicest, most decent and cultured people I’ve ever met have come from cultures other than my own.

The true nature of religion:

A good person is a good person. He or she is just someone who is kind, decent, good natured and of good character. Factors such as religion, skin colour, sexual orientation and so one are just incidental.

Religion is important to civilisation insofar as it underpins civilisation with a moral framework. In that sense I think all religions are the same.

They may differ in detail of course but they all provide believers with ways in which to lead good and decent lives.

Equally they include the incentive that if people lead good and decent lives then they’ll go to a better place when they pass on and leave this world.

So a person’s faith or religion should be treated with respect, regardless of whether it’s the same as ours or not. Judgement will come from a greater power at the end of our lives.

Today’s message:

My message today is a simple one.

If we are to create a better world then we should first seek to understand and then to be understood. Engage with people whoever they are and try to understand why they feel the way they do.

Above all show respect and common courtesy to other people and if you can’t agree with them, at least you can always agree to disagree and let different opinions peacefully coexist.

Wherever you are today Dear Reader, if you’re celebrating Christmas then I wish you a very merry Christmas and may it be peaceful and filled with warmth, abundance and the comradeship of family and friends.

However if for you today is just another working day, then I hope the environment in which you work is friendly and peaceful. And I hope the world in which you live is peaceful too.

May God bless you all and may 2020 and the new decade prove to be all you would like it to be.

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So please share it now. If you do I’ll be ever so grateful and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you.

Roy Sutton

Graduation Poem: An alternative perspective

Graduation Poem:

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How much should I be paid?

What is work?

How much should I be paid?

Why don’t businesses pay people more?

How do I measure the value I add?

I think I’m worth more:

Request a raise:

Test the market:

How do I earn more?

Conclusion:

Please share this post on social media:

Articles that might also appeal to you:

2 Poems for today to make you think

1. Cancel Culture:

2. Battle with a Lawn Mower:

Please share this post with your friends:

Articles that might appeal to you:

The debate about identity politics and how we get beyond it

We’re all human beings first:

We all want the same things:

Life’s too short:

Respect people and get to know them:

Avoid making assumptions about people:

Seek first to understand:

Identity politics:

Please share this post with your friends:

Other articles that might appeal to you:

5 questions that’ll help your buying decision process

Avoid the ‘I’ve got to have it’ approach:

Credit cards: Weapons of mass wealth destruction

The disciplined approach:

The questions to ask before making any purchase:

Please share this post with your friends:

Other articles that might appeal to you:

Why the Christmas message is so important

The rise in abuse:

One opinion is just as valid as the next:

Hate is the ugly sister of fear:

See people for what they are not what they aren’t:

The true nature of religion:

<img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-14554 alignright" src="https://roysutton.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Merry-Christmas-200x300.jpg" alt="Christmas Message" width="274" height="412" />Today’s message:

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