By Moyo Awotile
You can’t tell me every Nigerian child didn’t grow up wondering if their peers really had a second head that they secretly stashed somewhere?
I mean, why else were our parents always asking if other kids had 2 heads every time after they easily accomplished feats we were struggling with? With the then circulating story about the lady who took off her HEAD every night to fix up her braids (let’s not forget Madam Kokoko as well), we were well convinced anything was possible.
This annoying question, I believe, set the tone for the kind of people we all grew up to be. The constant self-examination either created in us a defeatist attitude, where we start to feel helpless when a situation seems out of our control, causing us to give up instead of putting in the necessary effort required to succeed, or we became optimists, ready to take on every challenge thrown at us, relishing every moment of it.
Regardless of how we turned out, our parents did their part. Unknowingly, they gave us a glimpse of the real world at a young age, and provided us with the chance to build the right orientation required to persevere. As far as our school fees were being paid, parents were not necessarily concerned about the amount of effort put into our studies, all they wanted were results, good results!
This behaviour is reminiscent of every authoritative figure we would later meet in life. Your employer sets a goal and is not interested in the back story, all he/ she is concerned about is your objective being executed excellently, after all, you do want to get paid your salary, don’t you?
This also goes for vendors and clients. To protect the integrity of their enterprise, vendors go above and beyond to provide their clients with the best service they can, and at the close of their contract, they are paid their dues.
In pushing ourselves to deliver excellent results, we push ourselves to be disciplined, persistent and perfectionists. When the time comes to deliver, we are able to sit back and watch our efforts unfold to become a great master piece. Like a juggler practices untold hours, ploughing through setbacks and mistakes, to hold an impressive performance before scores of people, we become master performers.
Everyone loves a success story, but what they love even more is a relateable experience. Watching someone else’s labour come to fruition makes us feel more inspired to flourish. However, we must always take care not to overly glamorize the narrative of hard work, as it pays even more to work smart. You have to know what you want, know what you can do, spend your time wisely, leverage on available resources and know when to cut your losses.
You have to be smart and street-smart.
