During my undergraduate days, I had one dominant mentality that helped me a lot. The mentality that at the end of the day, we do not matter so much. It usually made me come off as over zealous but I’d never have had it any other way.
I did as much as I could. I would write endless articles and post on several group chats. I’d grab any opportunity to be part of something. When there were no competitions, I would organize face-offs with other schools and participate. I wrote my scripts.
The mentality was always that even if people like what I do or think that I’m over-zealous, none of these opinions last. I’m not so important. Besides opinions change. Today you’re cool, tomorrow you’re probably doing too much. Eventually, people face themselves and let you be.
And I have always believed that people who eventually form our close circles, are the people who let us be. They don’t have to be interested in or really love what you do but they’ll love and respect how you put your energy to do your thing. For yourself.
People get tired and bored. Even the most impressive things you do will gradually seem tacky and irritating. It is simply impossible to make people care too much about anything that doesn’t serve them and it’s the way we’re all wired. There’s too much to life. So, serve you.
Nobody cares. Not as much as you think. It’s literally the language of life telling us, “go ahead, shape and live your life on your own terms”. Just don’t be stupid enough to ruin yourself because it works both ways. Nobody will care too much too.
Like death, the fact that in the grand scheme of things, none of us matter too much, is such an immeasurable gift. Some days it will be scary but most days, it is this mentality that helps us live life on our terms, focusing on the things that truly matter most to you.
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I don’t think the trade of foreign securities on platforms like Bamboo can be voided on the strength of this publication. CMOs are warned to desist. Bamboo and the likes are advised to register their shares on Nigerian exchanges. But for now it’s no more than an advice.
On whether the activities of companies like Bamboo truly offend sections 67-70 of the Investment & Securities Act, it appears that they do. Perhaps these companies may have good arguments for how they’re not “issuing shares or securities” to the public but the law is quite clear
What I am not sure SEC can do is close down the digital operations of these bodies. It is not even clear how the SEC intends to punish Capital Market Operators involved in these trades. Technology really does our government dirty.
One time, I told a lady that I’d very much want to be in love with the person I get to marry. Her reply was that my wife would be lucky, as loving her would make her happy. She was right, but that wasn’t even the point.
I want to love my wife not necessarily because it will make her happy, but because it will make me happy. I have loved before and I liked how it felt. With all its chaos, I’d choose it over the agony of managing the affections of a person I cannot properly cultivate love for.
I understand love to be inherently selfish, it only manifests selflessly. It usually seems as though when we love people, we do them a favour but deeply, love manifests more to our benefit than to those we love. It is more about what it reveals about us and teaches us to be.
Recently, I started something little. I set up two separate classes for young lawyers and students in Nigeria and the UK where we treat tasks on commercial contract reviews and start-ups advisory. The first batch of UK student attendees are completing this week.
I have decided to face little problems. Specific problems. And find solutions to them. I know very much how easy it is for people to think of lofty problems they want to address in a swipe but really, they don’t get round to doing any of it.
I thought about having classes where we routinely discuss corporate and commercial law but how? The scope is so broad, the thought of it alone drains and overwhelms. But with specific problems, you can devote everything to them and be efficient at them.
In 2017, I went to sell copies of my first published textbook in a certain tutorial centre. I was jeered out of the podium. Two silly students in the crowd threw sachets of water at me, splashing on my suit. One of my most embarrassing moments. This is a thread.
It is funny how the students hated my guts. There was this eagerness to punish my audacity. They had such strong belief that my book couldn’t be worth it and for months, I had no courage to sell any more copies of the book.
After some time, I got over it. I made decent sales and could pay off my publishing debts. In 2018, I published my second text, for a different audience. I made enough profit to even fund my law school. But this had nothing on the effect, my earlier experience had on me.
If WhatsApp and Instagram vendors decide to call themselves “CEOs” of their brands, let them call themselves. When did you start caring about technical meanings? I think your resentment is mostly a case of “how dare you ordinary vendor call yourself a CEO?”
Its interesting that we all now care about how vendors abuse the term “CEO”. Professionals abuse a lot of terms; a term like “expert” for instance. Nobody makes a fuss about it because at the end of the day, it’s simply to promote the brand and it’s not that deep.
“Calling yourself a CEO doesn’t make you one”. So, let them call themselves. It’s that simple. It doesn’t mislead anyone in patronizing a vendor much more. It just a term that helps them appear a bit sophisticated. Let people grow their brands within the bounds of good taste.
Trust should be ranked over love in a relationship. Love sustains a relationship. But love as a virtue does not necessarily embody. To have an effective, enjoyable, long-term relationship, trust is supreme.
I’ll explain:
Trust has more ramifications than love does. You cannot maintain a long term relationship, without emotional security. Feelings can survive rollercoasters, love cannot. Love thrives with security; trust provides the securities.
And trust has many components.
1. You will have to trust virtue; does he/she have good intentions?
2. You will have to trust honesty; does he/she hide important details?
3. You will have to trust competence; is he/she capable?
4. You will have to trust intellect; does he/she understand actions and effects?