Monday 27 July 2015

Kazeem Oguntade's #100DaysOfGrowth Entry (1)

When I got an invitation from my friend David to write this, I smiled, because I felt it was something I could do very easily till I got on it. The idea is awesome, we get to learn from others and also people get to learn from us. Now let's get started before I bore you with some of my analogies…
My name is Kazeem, a proud Muslim who has been to Christian schools 80% of his education years. I owe everything I am to God, and even though we will agree that I am pretty not much yet, I am a project in the making. I will break down my entry into 2 parts; first of which I will share the things I know that have helped me to grow progressively.

* Personal Development: This seems to arguably be the most important factor in our lives and as such, I have taken it upon myself to ensure that I keep improving upon what I know already (not like I know much anyway), things I can do trying to get better. I have had a positive problem since I was young, I hated being in an environment where people are having a conversation, especially people older discussing important things and I will be left out. I hated being asked questions and not having answers. As a result, I read everything I could read, as I grew, I followed politics keenly; I read about my country and the world, I knew about many things (even things that I don't need to) and still keep knowing about many more. Today, I read wide and wild and I also think that I am an aspiring writer. LOL. I have developed my knowledge base in both Christianity and Islam to certain extent, from soccer to hockey, and even if I don’t know which the best team in some sports is, I understand the game very well. This made up for my unserious nature - yes, if you don’t get really close to me, you won't have any idea of how much I know because I always smile, whether happy or otherwise.

* Relationships: My relationship with people is another aspect I take seriously. I love my family so much, and I don't have many friends, each person has his/her own relationship defined.  I am friends with everybody, but everybody is not my friend.  I was once asked to tell a secret about my reply and myself was that - I don’t like people. Shocking as this may be, it’s the truth. I'd rather spend time reading or thinking (That's one thing that I spend a lot of my time doing) than with people. This doesn’t mean I am not social or I am a boring guy, far from it. Before I relate with people, I'd always always engage them about something that they should know because it affects them - say power, or politics- and if the reply is something whacky or not what I am expecting, I leave immediately. I won't spend time with people that I don’t know and don’t offer anything to me. In fact, if it's not necessary, I try to avoid them altogether.  I can spend my money anyhow, not my time with someone who is not worth it. I have an inner circle of people I keep closely. I always ensure that nothing wrong happens to them, I try to ensure that whenever they need something, they get it, at least if it's what I can help with. Oh, before I forget to sell my market, I AM SINGLE!!!

* Finances: I am one of those who believe that money is the most important thing to have after God and family. I save more than half of my income at any point in time, and even though I get to spend it later (of course, that’s why I am saving) I always like the idea that at least, I saved it first. The fact that I hate borrowing from people, especially money has helped me grow my finances. The sad part of this is that until the beginning of this year, I never had any financial goal for myself. I just always ensured that I had enough cash for any emergency.  I started one this year, and although the target I set for myself is unrealistically high (if I save all my salary for the year without spending, it's not up to half, and now that I am a corper, allawee is pathetic and Calabar is extremely expensive,) I believe that at the end of the year, I will have set a good precedence for my future whenever I look at the account. I started writing down all my daily expenses in a book about 6 years ago. My friends laughed at me then, but I realized my expenses dropped because I wrote how much I spent on exactly what, so if I spend 30 Naira on sweets, it's going to be in the book. Today, I write it down daily in Excel and although I spend relatively higher, it has helped me calculate what percentage of my income I shouldn't touch. Today, I can say that I can afford anything I need, but then the goal is to be able to get anything I want.

* My Social Life: Forget everything I have said, when you catch me in the midst of people who know me, you will think it's a clone. If you jam me arguing about football and supporting my beloved Arsenal, you will be shocked. If you mistakenly catch me at the club, and even though I am not a great dancer, the way I enjoy myself will leave you shocked. I love socializing with people at my leisure time. The things I derive joy from might not necessarily be expensive but, believe me, they give me joy.  I love my fun especially when they are on my terms.
 So, everything I do right now, is in one way or the other linked to any one of my personal development, building a relationship, or aiding my finances. Sometimes, it's just for the fun of it.  

You will be reading the second part of my entry soon… in the meantime, hope you enjoyed this and learnt from me.

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