The average Gen Z worker now stays in a job about 1.1 years, the shortest of any generation. More than half are quietly browsing for the next role, and nearly half admit they are coasting, doing just enough to stay employed. Older managers call this disloyalty. I think it is something colder and more rational than that.
Gen Z watched. They watched a parent give twenty loyal years to a company that laid them off by email in a reorg. They absorbed the lesson their elders refuse to say out loud, that the modern employment deal is not loyalty for loyalty. It is a short-term transaction both sides pretend is a relationship. Gen Z simply stopped pretending. They treat the job like what it has actually become, because that is how it has treated everyone who came before them.
The coasting is the part worth understanding, not scolding. A person coasts when effort has been cut loose from reward. If working harder does not visibly change your pay, your title, or your security, then holding effort back is not laziness. It is an accurate reading of the incentives in front of you. People are not irrational. They are reading the room.
The companies bleeding the most from this keep trying to fix it with pizza and slogans. The real fix is boring and expensive. Tie effort to consequence again. Promote from within. Pay people before they have to leave to get a raise. Show them a path they can actually see.
A generation did not suddenly become allergic to work. They became allergic to pouring themselves into something that would not pour back.
One thing I never want growth to make me forget is the help I received while I was still trying to figure things out.
It is easy to remember the hours you spent practising. It is easy to remember the sacrifices you made and the effort you put into becoming better.
What can be easy to forget is the person who answered your questions when everything still looked confusing.
The person who corrected you without making you feel stupid.
The person who shared an idea that changed how you saw the work.
The person who recommended a book, sent you a useful resource, gave you honest feedback or showed you a better way to do something.
You may not notice it immediately, but every time you learn from someone, that person leaves something with you.
Sometimes, it is a skill.
Sometimes, it is a piece of advice you did not value until much later.
Sometimes, it is a warning that saves you from making an avoidable mistake.
Sometimes, it is simply the confidence to keep trying when you are not yet sure of yourself.
After some time, you become better.
The things you once found difficult become easier. You no longer need someone to explain every step to you. You begin to make your own decisions, solve your own problems and possibly teach someone else what you have learnt.
That is how growth should work.
But growth can also make you forgetful if you are not careful.
Because you understand it now, you may start feeling as though you always understood it. Because you can do it alone now, you may forget the time when you could not. Because the answer looks obvious today, you may forget the patience it took for someone to explain it to you yesterday.
You may even start thinking:
“I would have figured it out eventually.”
Maybe you would have.
But how long would it have taken?
How many mistakes would you have made before getting there?
How much time would you have lost trying to find an answer that someone freely gave you?
Your effort matters. Nobody can practise for you or force you to grow. You still had to listen, apply what you were taught, make mistakes and keep improving.
But acknowledging the help you received does not reduce your own effort.
It does not make you less intelligent.
It does not mean you owe anyone permanent loyalty or that you must agree with everything they say.
It simply means you are honest enough to remember that you did not learn everything alone.
I have learnt through direct teaching, correction, observation, conversations and even simple comments that stayed with me.
Some lessons came from those who deliberately took their time to teach me.
Some came from watching how someone handled a situation.
Some came through honest feedback that was not pleasant to hear at first.
Some came from mistakes I was warned about before I had the chance to make them myself.
Even when you do not sit me down and call yourself my teacher, you may still have contributed something important to how I think, work or approach life today.
That is why I do not want to wait until I have reached some imaginary final level before saying thank you.
There may never be a point where I can say I have finished learning. As I grow, I will meet new situations, notice new gaps and need new guidance. What I know today is only one part of what I will still need to understand tomorrow.
So, this is an appreciation post for everyone who has contributed to my learning in one way or another.
Thank you for answering my questions.
Thank you for correcting me.
Thank you for sharing what you knew instead of keeping it to yourself.
Thank you for giving me opportunities to practise.
Thank you for pointing out what I could not see on my own.
Thank you for being patient with me when I was still trying to understand.
Thank you for giving advice, sharing resources and offering honest feedback.
Thank you for helping me become better than I was when I started.
I may not remember every conversation word for word, but I do not want to forget the part you played.
The fact that I can now figure some things out on my own does not mean I always knew how to do them.
Someone taught me.
Someone corrected me.
Someone encouraged me.
Someone gave me room to learn.
If you are one of those people, please know that I value your contribution. I am grateful that our paths crossed, and I appreciate what I learnt from you.
Thank you.
@just_kelz01@_IfechukwuOkoye@Odogwu_of_sales@EmmaBams1@Mesioyejohnson@MosJay25
One thing I never want growth to make me forget is the help I received while I was still trying to figure things out.
It is easy to remember the hours you spent practising. It is easy to remember the sacrifices you made and the effort you put into becoming better.
What can be easy to forget is the person who answered your questions when everything still looked confusing.
The person who corrected you without making you feel stupid.
The person who shared an idea that changed how you saw the work.
The person who recommended a book, sent you a useful resource, gave you honest feedback or showed you a better way to do something.
You may not notice it immediately, but every time you learn from someone, that person leaves something with you.
Sometimes, it is a skill.
Sometimes, it is a piece of advice you did not value until much later.
Sometimes, it is a warning that saves you from making an avoidable mistake.
Sometimes, it is simply the confidence to keep trying when you are not yet sure of yourself.
After some time, you become better.
The things you once found difficult become easier. You no longer need someone to explain every step to you. You begin to make your own decisions, solve your own problems and possibly teach someone else what you have learnt.
That is how growth should work.
But growth can also make you forgetful if you are not careful.
Because you understand it now, you may start feeling as though you always understood it. Because you can do it alone now, you may forget the time when you could not. Because the answer looks obvious today, you may forget the patience it took for someone to explain it to you yesterday.
You may even start thinking:
“I would have figured it out eventually.”
Maybe you would have.
But how long would it have taken?
How many mistakes would you have made before getting there?
How much time would you have lost trying to find an answer that someone freely gave you?
Your effort matters. Nobody can practise for you or force you to grow. You still had to listen, apply what you were taught, make mistakes and keep improving.
But acknowledging the help you received does not reduce your own effort.
It does not make you less intelligent.
It does not mean you owe anyone permanent loyalty or that you must agree with everything they say.
It simply means you are honest enough to remember that you did not learn everything alone.
I have learnt through direct teaching, correction, observation, conversations and even simple comments that stayed with me.
Some lessons came from those who deliberately took their time to teach me.
Some came from watching how someone handled a situation.
Some came through honest feedback that was not pleasant to hear at first.
Some came from mistakes I was warned about before I had the chance to make them myself.
Even when you do not sit me down and call yourself my teacher, you may still have contributed something important to how I think, work or approach life today.
That is why I do not want to wait until I have reached some imaginary final level before saying thank you.
There may never be a point where I can say I have finished learning. As I grow, I will meet new situations, notice new gaps and need new guidance. What I know today is only one part of what I will still need to understand tomorrow.
So, this is an appreciation post for everyone who has contributed to my learning in one way or another.
Thank you for answering my questions.
Thank you for correcting me.
Thank you for sharing what you knew instead of keeping it to yourself.
Thank you for giving me opportunities to practise.
Thank you for pointing out what I could not see on my own.
Thank you for being patient with me when I was still trying to understand.
Thank you for giving advice, sharing resources and offering honest feedback.
Thank you for helping me become better than I was when I started.
I may not remember every conversation word for word, but I do not want to forget the part you played.
The fact that I can now figure some things out on my own does not mean I always knew how to do them.
Someone taught me.
Someone corrected me.
Someone encouraged me.
Someone gave me room to learn.
If you are one of those people, please know that I value your contribution. I am grateful that our paths crossed, and I appreciate what I learnt from you.
Thank you.
@just_kelz01@_IfechukwuOkoye@Odogwu_of_sales@EmmaBams1@Mesioyejohnson@MosJay25
My last word on the "olodo uprising":
You can keep on repeating to yourself, "The algorithms only show you more of what you like, so the problem is with us not with the social media platforms" as much as you like.
It won't make it true.
The algorithms are NOT neutral. You're just too delusional to accept the reality that rich, powerful people who pay billions for publicity and advertisement will never look at a technology like social media and leave it alone to be "neutral".
If you believe these platforms are neutral, then you are not different from Peller and his internet tribe. You're just an olodo with better articulation.
A lot of people think they need a better niche.
Most times, they need better eyes.
Because two publishers can enter the same niche.
One sees saturation.
The other sees opportunities nobody is serving properly.
Most people don't have a publishing problem.
They have an observation problem.
The clues are usually there.
The reviews.
The complaints.
The questions buyers keep asking.
The gaps competitors keep leaving open.
But spotting opportunities requires attention.
And attention is becoming a rare skill.
People misunderstand competition.
You are not competing because you're using the same keywords.
You're competing because buyers can no longer tell why they should choose you.
Same niche.
Same audience.
Same demand.
Nothing wrong with that.
The problem starts when your offer becomes forgettable.
Visibility gets you seen.
Positioning gets you chosen.