One or many people have had their fair share of motivational speakers. A motivational speaker is someone who speaks to inspire, delivers speeches with intentions to drive you to aspire, sound familiar? Conventions after TED talks, yet you still haven’t made that million. You ask yourself “What am I doing wrong?”.
You listened to the best motivational speakers of the previous year but nothing in sight. Sharing secrets to success is what you planned to hear but it is not the secrets shared that matter, it is the one secret that wasn’t shared.
To be successful you do have to work hard, dream big, pilot your life. You will have to build/acquire skills, seize opportunities, work on your delivery, listen. This is what you will be told, but in a similar fancy rhythm that goes thus;
“Your life is in your hands, nobody but you can map out the plans so seize every opportunity and pilot your career to the promise land”. “Aspire to inspire and acquire your desires”.
Recycled verses just in different languages.
In this part of the world, motivational speakers have a large market because the people’s favourite sermon is prosperity. Life is so hard, it is so easy to motivate the average man with nothing but nursery rhymes. Confidence and passion are a huge part of success, but it is nothing when the major factor is missing. A motivational speaker would tell you all you need to be successful in a properly run and functioning society but in their message forget to remind you that you do not live in a properly run and functioning society. You live in a country where animals are millionaires.
It is very much possible to rise above the limiting factors in the country such as nepotism, poor remuneration, poor infrastructure, ignorance, corruption in general. The only way to do that is by effectively using the secret that is never told along with the ones a motivational speaker will always share. The secret is relationship building.
It may seem like a joke when all you do is constantly attend media hyped events, however, you’re not going for the message but for the speaker and his/her guests. Become a part of the circle that will take you to the next level, it may sound shallow but it’s the truth. Meet people, interact, create relevant connections and build relationships. In every step of your success story, one connection or more will come in handy. In Nigeria, it is about ‘who knows who’ not ‘what you can do’.
A country filled with gatekeepers spread across all fields who make it hard for young innovators to break through. These same gatekeepers will advise the student body at your school’s career week to keep aspiring. The odds are, a year from now they’ll be cruising the streets of Wuse II with a bigger Mercedes whilst you wait at the bus stop with cv in hand, still, job searching. You were punctual, you are skilled, you were well dressed, your delivery was A1, you paused at the right time, you seized the opportunity, what did you do wrong?
Connections can be built anywhere and in any situation. Starting from the lady who you helped change a tire, to the millionaire you made laugh at a party. The golden ticket lies in the connections you make, your only task is figuring out which string to pull. Relationship building works hand in hand with luck. Luck is when opportunity meets, preparedness so always be prepared for connection opportunities, you just might get lucky too.
