#8 Because being courageous is not easy for some.
I believe that we are all born courageous; because we
laterally do not have an idea of what it looks like to be afraid at a very
little age of one year old. Then we dare to run even though we’ve just started
walking, more so we would not stop trying to run after several falling down; we
would also dare to express ourselves by talking in our own verbal sounds even though
that we were being laughed at each time we try. Likewise, we do not even have a sense
of
caution or even shyness. But somewhere along the line we lost all these
characteristics of never giving up. We are being guided in this uniformity of
life; in being caught in the trap of our own shadows of timidity believing this
is security.
Nevertheless only few people have gotten their freedom early and
these are the daring individuals we have termed creative genius. They are bold
in expressing their talents or ability to the extent of making remarkable impacts
with these gifts, talents, or skills unlike others who have let go of their
passion for the so acclaimed secured careers.
At a very early stage I always imagined myself travelling around
the world like I have so many businesses or companies that is producing
something and selling it to the people and making lots of income for me. You
know like not working too hard like the adults I see around. Although, then I
have never heard of the word “entrepreneur or businessman” or even understand
its meaning, let alone knowing its requirements. Then at age six, I began to see many adults that
would go to work every day; leaving home very early and returning home very
late. Then I have no idea of when my dad leaves to work but only see him coming
back in the night. While my mum, a hair stylist of the early 1970s, trained by
the then expatriates who had beauty salons in Lagos Island. Nobody really care
to know what you are good at, let alone noticing you are even trying to show a
talent. The busy life of Lagos was all I was bombarded with day in day out.
Nowadays, so many people don’t know what their passion is until
they are in their thirties or forties, when they start looking back at their
earlier stages in life. Yet these people are giving “reasonable” but limiting
excuses for not following their dreams. All of these reasons are limiting
beliefs that have been signed in and agreed upon to give in to, in an exchange
for a normal secure life.
Younger age is not as important as you working on your talent
right now. If you have not started to learn or improve those skills you have
because you believe that time is no more on your side. Well you may believe
whatever you want to believe but I will tell you that, there is nothing that
you put your time, effort and money into that you cannot become proficient in
it, and soon it will look as if you were born with it.
I like doing what I’m
doing because it challenges my ability to be creative. I could still recall in 2006 when we had the
idea of creating video tutorials for Nigerian students. We started making
research which software to use and which school of animation to attend. I went
all round Lagos looking for a computer school that can teach me how to do
animations. In a short while I found one of the big computer schools doing the
course. But the course fee was way too high; also I was not comfortable with
the time table of the classes with having only four hours per week in two days.
But within a short time of my looking for an alternative I ran into video
training manuals that I bought and start learning. In fact, I studied those
video training like I was to seat for Cambridge exam, but after one full month
of watching all the tutorials I could not even do the simplest animation like
moving a letter across the screen. It was like a waste of time, effort and
money.
However, I was not the only one watching the tutorials, because my
brother was learning it privately and he was doing some simple animations. Wow!
That was great. He tried to explain how to do it just like the training videos we’ve
been watching, yet I still can’t do it.
But I told myself that I would not give up practicing until I
can do something.
So, I started thinking on my own what kind of animation to practice
on, I would watch TV adverts, programs intros and outros with keen interest in
looking out for any inspiration to work on. Also, I began to imagine how my own
animations would look like whenever I think of an idea. So, I continued to
practice day and night, and within two months I started doing simple animations. And that was how I started before
creating my first Homestudy video tutorials on Biology.
You do not need a spectacular
creativity to show the world, instead you should find out what skills you feel
inclined to and you know would be easy or fun to learn about. You should have a
strong interest in it, with the willingness to learn all there is or will be,
as well as having time to practice it mostly on a daily basis.
Bill Gates did not waste his time trying to explain what he
was doing before he became known or successful. He only knew what is passion
was, and he fuelled it more than any other persons with the same passion or interest.
We cannot be infused with creativity until we get down to consistently practicing
on our skills or ability. So many times we just want to take short cuts; like
having a formula to solve all problems like we’ve been used to in school days,
or a plan of action that everyone can use to reach the same destination. Of
course, having a clear cut direction is an ideal but this is not the usual approach
by those who have made it with their talents.
For a quick and most commonly
used reference; most successful entrepreneurs just to mention a few like Bill
Gate of Microsoft, Mark Zukerberg of Facebook, and others did not finish
university but yet were very successful. They were up and doing in whatever ambitions
or dreams they have. Facing rejection was nothing to deter them from their achievements because they believe that with time they would improve and become better and
more accepted by the world.
Being optimistic is one the leading factors propelling them
to keep going in spite of all odds. Your creative ideas would meet two
different kinds of people in this world; those that would say “what nonsense” and
those that would say “I see a value in what you are doing.” Of course you need
these sets of people to keep you on check and encouraged. But that is not to
say that they would be always right about your ingenuity. You should also
understand that the more you are in tune with your inner self in knowing your
real passion, the more you get genuine ideas with enormous investment of
practice the more you will stand out from the crowd soon.
Mind you, acting on your talents or gifts is like refining
them so that they would be more useful for the people whom you are creating the
products or services for. So, don’t bother if you are the best, instead bother
if you are improving on making it better and better than its former version. In
fact, the same rule of thumb for discovering what your passion is applies to
knowing if you are creating meaningful value for the people. If you recall I
said, your passion has to be easy, fun, and simple, this is exactly a good
measure for creativity.
The most valuable creative ideas are usually marked
with ease, fun, and simplicity. This is not to say that there may not be times
when you feel bored, and just want to stop for a while. Sometimes I feel like
that too when I am doing a pencil and charcoal drawings. When you spend so much
time working alone, and you are having difficulty in figuring out a solution
but can’t resolve it. Yes, this happens will happen from time to time but its
only when you either take a break or still press on it that you will find a solution
and you sometimes smile.
Having the courage to bring out your creativity is what important,
no matter how deep you’ve gone with your ideas, if it doesn’t goes out in form
of products or services to the people that idea is useless. You’ve got to take
it out there anyway, whether it’s perfect or near perfection. Sometimes because
you have not finish working on it, you start having the fear of going to be
rejected, which will make you want to hold on to it for years, and most times
left abandoned.
But if you realize that some of the famous inventions we see
today where once unrefined at the beginning but only becomes better when they
bring the ideas out to the public. People will act as the testing ground of your products, services, ideas or concepts. When you make that move to be creative
you should also make another important move to take it out for the world to see
it. If rejected don’t bother to grudge about it, instead listen to the suggestive
ways of making it better and more useful.
Every day I see our country Nigeria being a very fertile
ground for all sorts of creativity that can improve lives. This is a rare
opportunity for all Nigerians to go inside of their memories, past or present
happenings to find what is needed by the people and come up with creative solutions.
In spite, of all odds we still have enormous opportunities here in Nigeria for
both the young and old people.
This is the appropriate time to use your God
given talents in helping people through your products and services. I have
rescind the obstacles that are in this country right from the day I decided not
to work for anybody but to establish my own business or go in partnership
business which I have been doing for years. Nigeria is a land of opportunity
that is waiting for our inert ability to utilize to the maximum. You should come out with boldness with your
creativity on our hands and make this country a better place to live.
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