If you plan to strike a target, and at the origin, you are off by a little, from the position that would have resulted in a success, if you run the calculation, you will notice that a minor offset makes it hard to hit the target. And if the distance between the origin and target increases, the hit success probability reduces.
That is what happens in decision making: a very seemingly innocuous small bad decision can “compound” over time to be catastrophic and consequential. Think of during a building construction, and at the foundation phase, the positionings of the pillars are off by an inch. For a skyscraper, by the time that project gets to the 30th floor, you can consider it doomed. Yes, that inch has compounded to provide many feet of offset!
What is the message? Put more effort into your foundational catalytic decisions: those decisions drive and influence many things later in careers. You want to study engineering and suddenly what is available is crop science or vice versa. Have you considered the implications in the long-term? Sure, it is not everything we desire that we can control in life. But most times, we simply yield.
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Yes, for that student who decided to pursue the “available” course, would retaking JAMB and losing a year be a better option? My summary: do not underestimate the first and early decisions in anything you do!
Accumulation of capabilities is a continuum and catalytic in modern career planning. The nature of labour is changing (I discussed that extensively in the European Commission two weeks ago); you must adjust. If you have not noticed it, know that more than 80% of non-public workers in Nigeria see dwindling wages after 15 years. The banking sector, oil & gas and increasingly telecoms are brutal on this: they cut workers and those workers never recover to earn as much as their old wages.
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The problem is that most young people are bereft of clear vision, and it’s not helped by cliches such as ‘it doesn’t matter what you study, ‘there are no jobs’, and the likes; these things end up numbing your faculties in some ways.
You do not need to accept anything just because it seems to be the only thing available, why not push harder for the things you truly want? It may not happen on first attempt, but you might succeed after 3 or 4 attempts, I am practical example in this. The things you get too easily, you can as well lose too easily, but when you work hard to achieve a set goal, you end up gaining other skills and qualities that make you a better person.
The secret is this: learn not go for easy stuff or accept whatever you are offered, rather ask if there are other things not mentioned, and demand to know more about them. You need the necessary sufferings to be great, because it’s through them that you acquire the finest virtues.
Do not be one of those who live a continous mistake, simply because the early stage mistake has proven too difficult to correct; there is no joy in such a pitiful existence.