Anytime I tackle this topic, I use the cost-benefit approach. Trust me, some jobs in Nigeria today are not worth it.

Let's check out costs of working, benefits of working and a case study.

The first challenge: identifying the cost of working at a job.


THE COST OF WORKING
Believe me, working at a job has its inherent costs. Some are quantifiable while some are not. Take a look at some costs you incur for working at that job:
1. Clothing, shoes, accessories
2. Transportation
3. Additional feeding
4. Energy input
5. Health costs
6. Consumables / other input
7. OPPORTUNITY COSTS

Now, taking a look at the above, you could easily quantify items 1 through 6 in monetary values maybe over a period of say monthly. Strangely though, cost heading 7 which means Alternative Forgone cannot be easily quantified.

However, if you can attach some values to these and add them up, now compare with your salary, you could easily determine if you're making a loss while working or there are benefits working at all for that salary.

BENEFITS OF WORKING
1. Salary (monthly)
2. Other benefits (allowances etc, if any)
3. Experience gained
4. Skills gained
5. Networks built

Item number 1 above is the major immediate indicator,though not all. It is the big one. However, you could still get some other benefits like 3, 4 and 5 from working and they sometimes can be worth a fortune.

THE MATH
If after considering the benefits of your current job against the real costs attributable to it, if your position is not in the positives, then you better resign immediately and start a small business or look for a better job. Or at least, don't rest on your oars.

If you're on the negative side, that is if you are losing more than you are probably gaining, then you shouldn't feel you have arrived. Let this math spur you to keep trying to get more out of your working life.

CASE STUDY
I met a graduate sometimes ago earning N25,000 in Lagos working as a secretary. She worked 6 days in the week, totalling 24 days per month. She lived at Egbeda but worked at Maryland. Below is a rough breakdown of her monthly financials:
1. Transport (You guess it!)
2. Clothing and others
3. Energy and health costs
4. Opportunity cost

Benefits
1. Salary N25k
2. Experience and skills gained
3. People met while working

Findings: our graduate is in so much debt and before each salary comes, she's already exhausted the money. To survive, she had to start selling cheap China jewelry to people from which she made about 12k profit monthly.

YOUR SAY: Should she continue the 25k job? Or is something telling you to tell her to focus on the cheap jewelry business?

All these are based on my personal experiences.

Comment if you can relate.

Really

True Some jobs can affect our mental health and also affect us negatively

Facts