One major reason why many of us are still poor and struggling is our ego. In fact, in a broader perspective, the reason why we get angry over anything at all is our ego. We say things like, how dare you say such to me, “a whole me” blah blah blah. There are a lot of perspectives to this but I will focus on ego as it relates to work.
Averagely, we won’t do a lot of things because we think we are ” bigger” than such things. I have seen people miss opportunities repeatedly just because of such thinking. An average educated Nigerian would rather not do a lot of things at his disposal “just because he is bigger than them” but find it easier to beg for money. The annoying thing is that when he eventually begs for the money, you will see ego boldly written all over it. They say things like, ” I did a project and I am expecting like 10 million naira next week but can I get 10,000 naira from you briefly”?
There is a particular guy in my estate who have used such lines for me repeatedly, but sadly, it didn’t work as me sef no get spare cash he fit borrow (BTW, I no dey ever get spare cash to lend out, just in case you are considering asking too) but this same guy, I walked on repairing his generator and he told me he has professional experience in repairing generators. The estate we live in has a minimum of 700 houses and over 2000 flats all of who have at least one generator set. But it’s only one guy that fix all of our generators. This guy is like a king, he repairs nothing less than 10 generators daily and he doesn’t even have a shop. I have been thinking of how to cash out from the gen thing for a while now but couldn’t find anyone to work with me. While this guy sits hungry in his flat just because “he has passed that level” but would rather approach a total stranger for financial aid.
One thing I also find annoying is even those who have taken the leap to add another business, usually referred to as side hustle, try to water down that side hustle so much just because of their ego while in most cases the side hustle pays more. I know someone who does a killing day job and is paid 80k (transportation and feeding inclusive, in this Lagos) but runs a “side hustle ” that currently make her about 100k monthly and have a potential of doing more than 300k if only she can give it more time. But because she prefers to say I work with XYZ company, which is a big corporation, she is wasting away opportunities. So I always ask, what makes a business a side hustle and another your main gig? Is it the passion, the money you make from it, job security or how big the company is? I think the concept of side hustle is just to further massage our already pumped ego. My dear, you are working two or 3 jobs, no side anything; business is business. And until you stop seeing that your side hustle as one, you may not make much from it.
There is dignity in labour, no matter how small or dirty it may seem, the money you make from it won’t smell. Drop that ego, fold up your sleeves, don’t close your eyes to opportunities. See someone like Bayo Lion coming from the US to sell dundu in Nigeria, something many of us “woke, upwardly mobile” people won’t do. There are a lot of my friends I wish I can say this to directly without hurting their ego (I did it once before and regretted it) Whatever opportunity you find and you have resources to take on please do.
Paul was a very respected apostle, bigger than many of the men of God we “worship” today but he was also a tent maker. Everywhere he went, he survived by making tents, a job done by the lower middle class in those days. Imagine a big religious leader coming into your city and still making tents.
Let go of your ego, in actual fact, you are nothing. That ego will do nothing but to destroy you.