Desmond Adedosu: Chance will always favour the prepared mind (30 Days, 30 Voices)

Someone sits on his back and says he cannot go to school because there is no one to fund his education or that the country is harsh. I say that the mind is not prepared enough. 

In our time young people suffer from a lack of focus than a lack of opportunity, the truth is that chance will only favor a prepared mind. In our kind of society where opportunities seem to be limited, we can leverage by focus. I will share two experiences.

When I was going to start university, there was no sponsor, the money I could put together was just enough to pay the school fees. I had to survive and do other things that the academic program demanded. There was no way to do this. A friend of my dad who had told me to approach him for help suddenly turned ‘Hausa’ on me on the phone saying he does not know me or know my dad. In this kind of condition, you naturally get frantic and disorganized but I was determined. I looked around and saw an advert looking for a physics teacher at some tutorial centre. I had done those subjects at ordinary and advanced levels so, without thought I applied.

I was not given any time to prepare, I was taken to the front of a large Jamb class while the proprietor sat at the back looking at what I would do. I could not afford to go hungry so I took one of their texts and ‘taught out my fear of hunger and other deprivations that day’. The proprietor was so impressed that when they were to take two other teaches I was asked to sit at the back and access their fitness. Do you call that dumb luck? Hardly!

A focused mind is determined and it will only need half a chance to ground itself. That job kept me alive and in school for the next two years. Someone sits on his back and says he cannot go to school because there is no one to fund his education or that the country is harsh. I say that the mind is not prepared enough. When it is prepared, it will focus and find a way out of no way.

For years, I formed the habit of taking an exercise book where I wrote out all my reflections, things I believed personally and the principles I was living by per time. Sometimes I would have an inspirational book to summarize. This way I unknowingly developed some proficiency in writing. One day a girl looked into one of my notebooks and asked me why I was not a career writer. I said I never thought of it, she asked me to consider it.

The problem came when I had to get a computer. How in the world would I get a computer that cost about seventy five thousand naira? I started by borrowing from people but soon they would demand to have their computers back. I never relented. My junior sister got admitted into the University of Abuja where she ran into a childhood friend of mine. She was quick to tell her that it was not so well with her brother. My friend called me and told me to ask for just one thing I needed and she would do it. Are you wondering what I asked? It was a matter of one phone call; I was at computer village the next day to collect a brand new hp computer without having a dime to be able to afford it.

Today I am looking for opportunities with a publisher for my first book while in my final year at the University of Lagos.  Luck again? No focus, a prepared mind, it is of value than silver and gold.

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Adekunle Adedosu is an aspiring writer and is currently final year student at the University of Lagos where he is studying Estate Management. He has a genuine desire to achieve, excel and evolve in his chosen field of discipline and in his God given abilities. He has been involved in some writing competitions one of which is the IMANI Africa writing competition. Presently, he is working on his first book which is titled ‘Thorns and Thistles’.

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30 Days 30 Voices series is an opportunity for young Nigerians to share their stories and experiences with other young Nigerians, within our borders and beyond, to inspire and motivate them.

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

 

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