By Tosin Olaleye
I read an interesting news article about a middle-aged man who set out on a journey to a neighbouring country in search for success in life. He got a very good job at a multinational company and everything seemed to be brilliant, a good pay with other remunerations and everything that make up a good job. He worked tirelessly to impress his employers and spent extra office hours in a bid to hold on to the job as long as he could. He was engrossed in every of his activities and undertakings. Still basking in the euphoria of his new job, he worked tirelessly to impress the hierarchy. His dedication and unrelenting commitment got him the rare privilege of heading a branch office in a remote village at an early stage of his career. He left for his new assignment and soon became frustrated with his new subordinates and particularly with the ebbed standard of living over there. He wrote back to the head office, requested for his redeployment which was immediately granted.
He was denied promotion to the next level because he failed what was his supposed promotion interview. He lost his place in this establishment because he found no one to impress anymore. Hence losing his drive and passion that resultantly cost him his promotion.
“Never try to impress anyone” these were five words from a quote a lady friend shared with me on the very first day of her internship programme. She texted, “To succeed in life, you must learn to work with people without allowing yourself to be controlled by their moods and opinions. Never try to impress anyone.” I was awed by the last five words of this text and immediately realized how leaving to impress others can result to obscurity in ones quest for success in life. We all live in a world filled with deception, prejudice, false perception and bias, living to impress others won’t do much compared to living a life of impression. We should be determined to leave an indelible mark in whatever we find ourselves doing. “Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your heart,” that is what the good book says.
Anecdotal findings have it that on daily basis, 65 percent of the entire world population live a pseudo life both naturally and virtually. It is more interesting to note that women contribute about 40 percent to the statistics. Although, married men live to impress their spouse, ladies dress to impress guys and parents work hard to impress their kids, it is very important to note that pretending to be who we aren’t is a complete waste of who we are. It is therefore imperative to lead a genuine life, be yourself and improve on yourself. It is popularly said that, “you cannot be someone else, you can only be yourself.” You might say that a cliché but it is universally valid.
Although, we try to live the fantasy life of top business tycoons, public figures, super stars, models, artiste, musicians, wealthy sportsmen and women. As time goes on, we realize that those and what we see on the media and read in magazines aren’t who they really are.
Many Nigerians live an interesting virtual life but it is disheartening to realize that they are nothing but chameleons. We have to fight pretense and deception with our last pant of blood. We have to stand against indolence and resentment about other people’s progress, we must learn to embrace one another and work together for the betterment of our life and country. Selfishness will kill our name and pretense will bury our image. We must be ready to take actions and responsibility for the development of our dear nation. We must not fold our hands because we don’t have the needed atmosphere, motivation and resources to thrive well in our daily activities. We can still achieve much through commitment, dedication and perseverance.
Finally, the good book says that, “those who compare themselves to others are not wise.” It is a real fact that we all need to accept and live with. We don’t need to compare our talents and God given resources with others, as the law of comparative advantage suggests, we have to live a balanced life. We just have to use what we’ve got to affect our environment and the whole country at large. By so doing we can live lives filled with impressions for others to emulate.