WHO ARE YOU? HOW DO YOU THINK?

WHO ARE YOU? HOW DO YOU THINK?

On the 4^th of July, 2015 (the first Saturday in the month of July), I had the opportunity to meet some great people from the United Kingdom. At an event that was hosted by the British Council tagged “Study in the UK Education Exhibition 2015”. This wonderful event was held in the Lantala Hall of the Eko Hotel & Suites. It had in attendance, quite a number of Universities from the United Kingdom with a handful of delegates and some of their study materials to show prospective students a bit of how it is like to study in England.

These Universities were offering a wide range of Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses in various disciplines. They also had scholarships, employment opportunities and other programs specifically designed for overseas students but that is not why I chose to write about the event.

Today’s topic was adopted from the opening lecture at the UK Exhibition and it was delivered by a Senior Lecturer, Mr. Amritt Flora from Middlesex University, North-London, UK. Mr. Flora is an exhilarating and educative speaker, he took us through his wealth of experience with loads of illustrations and discussions on the topic; how it relates to our everyday activities and we could not hide our appreciation and gratitude at the end of the speech/lecture. The whole hall was gripped with rounds of thunderous applause at the end of his lecture.

The questions above are important questions in the life of any individual; your perceptions and views on them can be used to separate the rich from the poor, the greatest from the great, and the successful from the mediocre and so on. In the course of his lecture, Mr Flora held a blank sheet of paper and asked every one of us, what we thought about this paper. “Have you ever wondered why the A4 paper is the same all over the world, except in the U.S.? “Have any of you ever thought of the reason why it is in this measurement? He kept asking questions but no one could give him answers, we were too perplexed and paralyzed to alter any word. The whole hall was dead silent.

“This piece of paper signifies a new day, a beacon of new hope, a new opportunity, a new means of diversity and adversity and any other way you would like to describe it”. He stated further that, “Because whatever you do with it can change your life forever”. “You can write a Grammy award winning song on it, you can write a life-changing poem, an article or a drama, you can draw an evergreen artistic piece on it”, “You can shrewd it and throw it in the trash” “You can do anything and everything with it but it all depends on you and whatever you intend to do with it” He concluded.

He explained that, what has led to the greatest innovations and technological achievement that were only imaginable some years ago is the ability of some inquisitive minds to ask questions and try to offer solutions. He stressed that creative minds are inquisitive minds and he listed a number of questions we should always ask. They are discussed in subsequent paragraphs.

·        What If- Mr Flora stated that this question can help a great deal in our quest to change our lives and the lives of those around us for the better. This question precedes a new beginning. What if I stop those life wasting activities, would I be a better person? What if this is done another way, what would the outcome be? What if I do it the other way, what would it look like? These questions highlight the turning point of some successful people and how they were able to achieve success in life against all odds is in their courage and how they were able break from the norm.

·        How- This questions the whole process. Asking about “How” aids a great deal in strategic planning. How was this/that achievable? How did he come about that? How did the Wright brothers created a bird-like object that could fly? How was the first phone created? How was the first television-set created? How can I get better grades this semester/session? How can I be a better person? Those questions would only lead to more questions and at the end of the day you would end up achieving more than the target you have set for yourself.

·        Where- This have to do with the place, the location or venue among others. The speaker/lecturer stressed that it is pertinent to be at the right place at the right time for the right reason. This question is simple, but is it? Where should an aspiring Mechanical Engineer need to be? This also covers a range of questions on being with the wrong people at the wrong place at the right point in our youthful life. The question on “where” is one of the reasons why some promising stars with huge potentials start on a commendable note but end up being horrible disappointments later in life. As the popular saying goes that, “time is money, please invest it wisely”. The difference between rich/wealthy men and the not-so-successful ones is how they both invest their time into meaningful ventures and ensure they get wonderful results (Oluwole Olusanya, 2015).

·        Why- Asking about why that and this are so has led to the greatest achievements of our time; the ones we have seen, the ones we are about to see and we are yet to see. “Why” and “What if” are inversely related. Why is that so? What if it is like this? Why is this done this way? What if it is done another way? Why is the television-set black and white? What if it is enhanced to show multiple colors? Why does the ATM dispense cash? What if it can be improved to accept cash deposits also?

·        Who- This questions the targeted market and the prospective customers of a proposed product or service. The market appeal of any product automatically dictates the lifespan of that product because there is no company or manufacturer that wants to produce for its management and staff alone. The “who” is one of the most potent question that any one that intends to sell must seriously consider.

On a lighter note, Mr Amritt Flora stated that in any and every situation we find ourselves in life, we should always consider ourselves as great people and we are able to achieve the most unimaginable things ever thought of. It is just a question of how we are able to develop and task our minds.

God Bless Us All.

Olusanya, Oluwole Sheriff