#MondayMotivation – You can thrive in Nigeria
It’s a Monday with no work, a match made in workers’ heaven. However, this is no ordinary Monday, it’s an anniversary, the day our country gained independence from the British, and decided to go solo, 58 years ago. Though things haven’t progressed the way we would have liked, and though there are many reasons for indifference, we at tw believe that change is highly possible. For this reason, we’ve decided to make today’s #MondayMotivation about Nigeria.
If you think about it, Nigeria is a very, very large organization, and each of us is a worker in this organization. We all have roles we play, from paying taxes, to paying bills, to being good citizens, and helping our countrymen. Unfortunately, Nigeria is an organization with poor management, and where there’s bad leadership, there are unsatisfied workers.
Still, as we’ve discussed in previous Monday motivation posts, there are ways to make progress, at work if you hate your job or work in a poorly managed organization, and this applies to being a Nigerian. There are ways to go about making progress in the country; sure, the system is faulty, and it chokes dreams, but then your job isn’t to change the system, your job is to ensure your progress, because trying to pull others up when you’re not strong is an exercise in futility.
So, the key step to making Nigeria a better organization is to make yourself a better worker, and though there are many ways to about it, there’s one key thing to remember in your ventures:
Realize that the system is broken and adjust accordingly:
Expectations are nice to have, but they can also lead to disappointment and disillusionment. A lot of Nigerians compare our society to advanced nations. However, our country can’t meet the demands of her citizens, and a lot of people can’t handle this fact; those that have accepted it, end up making plans to relocate. While there’s nothing wrong with this, an alternative response would be to study how Nigeria really works, and make plans based on knowledge gained. A lot of innovations – e.g. mobile toilets, auto gele and so on – were born from people observing and taking advantage of the peculiarities of the country, rather than comparing or contrasting with other societies.
I’ll leave you with this quote by American philosopher, Joseph Tussman:
“What the pupil must learn, if he learns anything at all is that, the world will do most of the work for you, provided you cooperate with it, by identifying how it really works, and aligning with those realities. If we do not let the world teach us, it teaches us a lesson.”
Happy Independence day.
