There have been an alarming rate at which African youths are relocating from the continent! This situation is so chronic and alarming to the extent that an average African youth already has a plan to leave the continent. Though, this seems alarming, but it is not as alarming as the fact that an average African youth just wants to change location without any mind-set of adding value wherever they are going.
Two young men went to India to invest their resources. They both saw the Indians walking barefoot, some did it out of tradition and others, out of poverty. The two friends pondered deeply on the prevailing situation and eventually, they made their choice. One said, “Business will be bad here, let’s change location”. Then the other gave it a thought and said, “No, let’s change the situation”. The more optimistic young man started producing cheap plastic shoes that the Indians could buy. This young positive man, Thomas Jacob Hilfiger became a multimillionaire in dollars and the owner of lifestyle brand, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. What defines us in times of crisis is what we are able to see. Great minds see opportunities where others see problems. The ability to see opportunities in life situations is the essential thing that distinguishes successful people from others. Two friends found themselves in the same location, equipped with the same resources, but what eventually made a difference was what they saw!
In Bill Gates’ time, there was just only one computer in his high school; sometimes he did some menial jobs in school then just to have access to the computer. Today Bill Gates has pioneered a revolution that ensured virtually everyone in a family has either a Personal Computer, a laptop or a tablet! Gates didn’t wait for the perfect condition; he created his own! Steve Jobs made up his mind to redesign mobile phones in such a way that they will be able to perform the work of a PC. He once said that his mission is to put the PC in phones! Today, there is virtually nothing that your PC does that you can’t do on the mobile phone! Bill Gates and Steve Jobs weren’t complaining about their environment, instead they designed a better one.
The change we are seeing in the world today didn’t come from people that were complaining about their environment, it came through people that decided to create theirs. We really need to understand that we can’t create while we are complaining! In fact, complaining drains innovation and initiatives. If you keep complaining about the African environment, you will always be frustrated by your result.
We need to make a major shift from just changing location to changing situation! This shift will enable us to take ownership and responsibility for our own lives. We can achieve this through the following listed points:
•Complaining: Benjamin Franklin said, “Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.” Personally, I don’t see problems in Africa, I only see opportunities! What keep people ahead in life is simply the opportunity that they seized. The real genius of the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote, is in his ability to transform challenges into opportunities and opportunities into wealth. When other entrepreneurs termed the Nigerian environment unfavourable and uneconomical, Dangote surmounted the hurdle to open economical doors where hitherto there were walls. Excuses and complaints will always be there for you; opportunity won’t. Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best way to predict the future is to design it”. Instead of complaining about your situation, why don’t you create one?
• Be Part Of The Solution And Not The Problem: Steven Covey said, “Be part of the solution, not the problem”. When the only thing one can see is problem, then one cannot see the solution. In life, you are either part of the solution or part of the problem. Don’t find fault, find remedy!
• Be The Change: The world is changed by your example, not your opinion. I have realized that with a change of perspective that what we are really complaining about might just be what we’ve been called to change! Barrack Obama once said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) inspired a whole nation with one of his awe-inspiring quotes, “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. We must intervene in the African situation and stop leaving everything to the government. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”.
• Don’t Wait For Perfect Conditions: The Bible made us understand the fallibility of human environment, when it says, “If you wait for the perfect condition, you will not get anything done”. If you really want to achieve greatness while still living in Nigeria, never wait for the perfect condition. The reason is that it simply doesn’t exist!
• Stop The Victim’s Mentality: People with victim’s mentality always believe that their problems are not their fault, and always see themselves as victims of life’s situations. They believe strongly that someone, something, or a government is responsible for their predicament. They are not capable of being honest with themselves and accepting responsibility for their lives. They are unable to see how their own steps, actions, inactions and negligence have brought them to where they are presently. Most of our youths are thronging out of the African continent for the wrong reasons because of their victim’s mentality. The world has nothing to offer to people that see themselves as victims!
Albert Einstein said, ‘’Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them’’, we are in serious need of youths that can think differently. Youths that will proffer solutions to the avalanche of problems that have beleaguered the African continent. I want to emphatically encourage the African youths to have a major shift in their approach to national problems; the problems that abound around us are an invitation for us to be creative, dynamic and impactful. Let us all join the revolutionary march for the evolution of a new Africa. Our greatest opportunity will ultimately come from our nagging problems. Our problems are not meant to stop us but rather give us direction!
I have learnt the secret of creating my own environment, in this way, I find it very easy to get my desired result. Though, situations and environment can stop us temporarily, but we are the only one that can stop “us” permanently. No situation must be the reason why you fail in life; rise above the challenges. I have come to realise that until we cultivate the habit of living above our excuses, we will continue to live an inferior life.
