The Ideal Versus Reality
The Narrative Of a Career Enthusiast
Discretion: ‘This article has a mathematical concept’
My life began much like that of any other child -in that I embraced the childhood theory, which states that every being, be it child or adult, has a significant struggle in life (IreOluwa, 2019). Living a life that was perceived to be worry and trouble free, yet experiencing my own challenges as if they were the worst, was the order of the day. As proof of the relative accuracy of the theory, I looked forward to becoming like those who took care of me. Being independent and responsible, free to express myself and be objectively questioned, but most importantly, have a great job and be able to sustain a good life.
For the longest, my childhood was centered on thoughts of securing a job. For a child, this could be considered to be pretty unusual but nonetheless, this was my reality. The idea of a job became a constant cause for me to worry. I worried about the type of jobs I would get that would prevent me from feeling mechanical -like a robot- and living a boring life. I worried about what jobs could help me maximize my productivity and minimize my hours of labour -optimize my life. I worried about a job that would make me feel like I was fulfilling great purpose, and also about a job that will enable me to spend adequate time with my loved ones. It is safe to conclude that I naturally belonged to the worrying team. As a point for humor, my ancestors probably came from Warri.
I worried about any and everything that had to do with a job because I realized very early in life -from observing my parents- just how much such a big decision morphed into a life long journey that affected everything about my life -my happiness, family, fulfillment, attitude, lifestyle and more. I soon realized that thinking about a job was so time consuming, it was as if I was spending my whole childhood living the historical art of ‘the thinker’.
Could my predicament have been justifiable? As I began to mature in my educational journey, I soon realized the importance of an early soul searching endeavor in positioning me for the job I had long worried about -to carefully choose my educational path. However, I would soon find out that an education alone was barely enough for the journey I had dreamed about. I needed more! The mastery of the “how to” in order to appropriately and effectively apply the “what”, “why”, “where” and “when”. For me, this was the point at which I realized that education and skill sets had to intersect or better still, unite, to give me the best possible numbers for an impressive lifestyle -more preferably, the famous six figures.
A few years before I embarked on my educational journey, my curiosity and mental state heritage drove me to observe the possible outcomes of individuals whose set combinations exhibited a symmetric difference that leaned more to the exclusive elements of one set than to the other.
Sayo, an academically steadfast young man, who burned the midnight candle on countless occasions and threw caution to the wind when it came to respecting the rules of rest, was one I looked up to with much admiration. He studied hard and aced his way through school. He was never the type to socialize in any way, and so when opportunities came to speak, lead, create, brainstorm, collaborate, and so on, he was found stuck in his own world of chasing academic perfection. However, he did know how to conduct an in-depth study on a given subject -all I could vouch for, and sadly too.
Tolani -a beautiful and hardworking young lady- on the other hand, was on the other side of the extreme -which was no fault of hers. She was raised in a home where there was barely enough to keep the stomach from inducing a suicide. She did struggle to keep herself and her family well fed by providing tailoring services to other people. She did her possible best to ensure that her clients were always at peace with her at all times, even when the worst happened and probably behind schedule on a project. She would ensure she was never late or absent for associations’ meetings, social functions and the likes because she had come to understand that it somehow made her client base to grow.
A couple of years -and then a few more to reiterate- into the study of these individuals was enough time for me to come to a personal conclusion that the best result only comes from the union of both worlds. My inference was drawn from the helpless situation in which Sayo found himself after obtaining his bachelors degree. Typically, he graduated top of his class and expectant of the best job opportunities. He knew to offer no more value than defining a concept -this was not good enough for employers. His efforts to secure a befitting position were frustrated and he was eventually forced to continue his academic tournament and slither into a career in the same -an unwanted outcome. A shame, considering his lifelong dream of becoming the CEO or CTO of a prestigious engineering firm -an idea he had fostered from his teenage years. All along, he had thought going by the books would construct a balanced ladder which he would mount to the top of a dreamy career. He was wrong!
Tolani did quite well for herself considering her background and other related deficiencies. However, her outcome could have been better than what it is. She had to continually struggle with keeping her records and account. On a regular basis, she lost an average of 40% of her leads due to obviously and obnoxiously unrefined methods, product and delivery, and as a result, an inability to meet the standards of customers with higher quality taste -a more profitable section of the market. I wish this was all of the difficult reality Tolani faced as a result of her elemental position in her extreme set.
I could not bear the fact that this is still the reality of many individuals in my society and I therefore wish to see a world where people like Sayo and Tolani got a life they dreamed of -one that made them constantly happy. This is because I realized that in the end, our work is the aspect of our lives for which we spend the most time -its best to enjoy it!
It would therefore be best to conclude this way: “where a sizable quantity of an educational meal embraces the gracious sprinkle of perfectly calculated proportions of skills’ spice, Tolani could have become the next Deola Sagoe and Sayo, a local or possibly international version of Mark Zuckerberg”.
