Growing up, there was a simple formula to be a true winner, all you had to do was go to school, depend on your good grades to land you that dream job, but now that there's no job, what do you do?
Do not get me wrong, education is essential, but get this, education is not all about what you acquire on paper, it is also about what you display for the world to see. We are the product we define to others.
Let us take the tertiary institutions as a case study, there's always an opinion poll favoring certain individuals to be successful while it is believed that others won't be successful, based on reasons I cannot fathom.
Of course in recent times, if we put a first class graduate in an average Nigerian institution and someone with a second class lower division, don't be shocked if the second class lower division graduate will exhibit better survival skills in the real world than the first class graduate. The reason is because in most Nigerian institutions, the system favors those who mainly cram.
I have a hard time cramming and I am blessed with a photographic memory (or what's left of it), so assimilation is not a big deal for me. However, if you don't really know me, you would be inclined to assume that I cram.
The odds for success were never really in my favor in the eyes of others because as an individual, I prefer to keep my ideas and plan in my head until the appropriate time and as such I wield the element of surprise.
I always knew I never wanted a government 7am-7pm job(no insult), but the truth is I realized while you were subjected to modern day slavery, not being able to express your ideas freely, you were also working more hours for less. An average government who started off earning 500 dollars back then and earned 1,500 dollars right now, even after years of promotion, was still stuck in a ladder of climbing up while facing down.
I had a clear vision of retire young, retire early, spend enough time with my wife and family and change the world. The government work was not going to do that. I live in a country where jobs are even created to make a political statement, for political gains and other reasons. I live in a place where you have to understand that no one cares about you genuinely first of all. To survive, you have to thrive and to thrive, you have to use your head and embrace entrepreneurial abilities.
The truth is everyone is born with a unique gift that makes you a winner, but it is one thing to know you have a gift (very hard), it is now another matter entirely to isolate and apply your gifts where needed.
The real winner is not decided in a classroom, for crying out loud, half the stuff I was taught in school are not applicable in my life, I am sure a lot of people can attest to that fact.
This is not to downgrade education, it is a wake up call to those who feel they have triumphed simply because of classroom grades, this is for those who feel others can't make it because they have said so.
Education ought to give us a boost in real life but that depends on the kind of education you have.
It is one thing to attend a higher institution of learning, it is another thing for it to really instill values in you.
Everyone is a winner if you don't look down on yourself.
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