JIDEOFO.

The Sun has just risen in full blast, streaming realities upon busy souls below. The road is stuffed with a traffic jam that gives the traffic warden a terrific job and some little concern for the day; hefty young men are seen in some obscure corners battling with a plate of Rice and Beans with a sizeable lump of meat to impress their ego. The day has just broken!

Ogwi! New Haven!.Ogwi! New Haven!...This is a common sight in the coal city, the Enugu State capital  in Nigeria on a normal busy day. The buses painted yellow and black clump together like soldier ants in a happy parade. Bike men are driving past in some deadly speed and many pedestrians are having a hard time finding their way through the traffic while lamenting poor remuneration.

Akpa! Akpa! Akpa…! This is the shout from the hasty mouth of Jideofo, a conductor attempting to mention Abakpa!Abakpa!Abakpa! with some maddening haste. He hangs at the door of the bus and beckons on passengers, battles briefly with a fat woman trying to occupy the position meant for two persons and then collects the fares with some humorous dexterity without minding whose ox is gored.

Well, in his mind, he is fulfilled. At most, when market booms highest, Jideofo goes home with about three thousand naira. He is exceedingly happy. He smiles broadly as the driver counts the money into his hands; some notes are torn following rough handling from some women selling Crayfish and Stock fish. He sighs, looks sarcastically at the money and utters, “When did I become a crayfish seller?” Then, he wipes the money in the air and carefully puts it into his back pocket. His face brightens as he thinks of the very prospects of the money in his pocket.

Few hours after, he is refreshed and cooling off with his girlfriend at Cool Joint. Jideofo spends the money in reckless abandon, impresses the girl thoroughly and smiles home, bankrupt; mesmerized by love.

Jideofo repeats the same thing over and over again and suddenly after many years, he finds out that he’s above 30 and marriage is knocking. He manages to corner a girl in one dark corner and does a shabby deal in less than 5 minutes and next few months, the girl is pregnant. He is quick to convince the girl for marriage since he cannot afford bride price. Somehow, he manages his way though, getting finally screwed up by life.

A lot of people are like Jideofo. They expect things to change and get rosy someday but they do nothing about the change they expect. Anything you are doing that you are not happy about, you are unduly over-worked and poorly remunerated is not worth your time. Whatever you do, do it with a great mindset. Keep the dream big but have an absolute action plan. Even if you are working for a small firm now, it’s only a matter of time. Dare to dream and pursue the dream!

The world gives way to those who know what they want and dare to demand it from life. You’ve got to work on your mind. Your mind is your most potent tool. As a man thinks in his heart, so he is. When you develop your mind, you develop your world because you cannot grow beyond the capacity of your mind. Remember, no one giant step does it all; success is made up of the small steps we take day by day.

Would you dare to be different? Take a step today.  That one step might make all the difference.

Stay on Top of your Game!

Chijindu.