Author: Shepherd Yaw Morttey

I have been back in Accra for just 3 days and it has not been a bit boring. I get to go to town whenever there is the need to. This week, I have been helping a friend around Haatso get some stuff done. This requires me to go there almost every day that I need to help. I am quite familiar with the transit here in Accra and I know how to dodge aa the heavy traffic and get the lowest fares on the Trotro as well.

I usually go to Madina from Haatso then board a Trotro from Madina home. This way, I spend just GHS 4.30 getting back home, as well as save time. Yesterday was however different. I got to Madina and met a very long queue. It was quite unusual and I later asked one lady the cause of the rare phenomenon. She explained that one of the roads that leads Spintex to East Legon had been closed for maintenance work. I had to stand in the queue and wait for my turn – as courtesy demands.

I will however share 2 lessons I learnt that evening with you in this blog post.

• Patience:
  The queue was a very long one and I think it would have taken about four 207 busses to load before I even stood a chance to enter the fifth one. I realized a lot of people could not bear to wait and as a result were leaving the queue to maybe get another bus from somewhere else. I observed that as they left, the queue became shorter and that means I and anyone after them now stood a better chance of entering. Some eventually came back but they were not allowed to “enter the queue”. Rather, they were made to go back to the tail end. I thought: “You were not patient enough, now you have lost your chance”. Patience is a virtue, one that I sometimes do not possess, but I am ready to change that. What about you? Remember, Galatians 5:22.
• Opportunities:
  Opportunities are sometimes very hard to see. Opportunities are after all just a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. While in the queue, a 207 bus came into the lorry station. Instead of following the queue and thus allowing passengers to board the bus according to the order in which the queue has been made, the conductor just got out and shouted: “Spintex”. The queue was destroyed at that instance. I saw an opportunity to get into this 207 bus and thus get home earlier. Everyone else who saw this opportunity also was in a matter of seconds struggling with me to enter the bus. After a long struggle which endured within a matter of just under 50 seconds, I was rather uncomfortably seated in the bus. I saw the opportunity, I took it and it paid off.

Patience is a virtue; it is very important we possess it in our daily lives but we should not use patience as an excuse to procrastinate (although it has been said sometimes that procrastination leads to productivity). Been patient does not mean a lackadaisical attitude towards tasks that should be done. In fact, we need to determine where and when to be patient. Bottom line, possess the virtue, know how to use it.

When we find opportunities, we should learn to take them. I remember telling a friend recently: “Anything I see bia, I go apply”. It’s better to try at an opportunity than to let it slide by and regret later. Most often than not, opportunities are great chances for progress and advancement in our everyday lives. Find opportunities and take them now.

I have given you the opportunity to leave a comment on this post below. I am patiently waiting to read what you have to say!

What is the strongest belief you hold?
To protect it, how far would you go?
Is this belief’s worth to you gold?
A tenet so embedded you cannot throw?

What is the biggest lie you’ve ever told?
“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”
Rejoice! You have been bold!
Forever chafe your words to guard this fib in your youth.

What is the one thing you’d like to change about the world?
How far would you go to see this change?
Maybe you should just get tired before you get started.
No need to take action, magic works!

Jennifer Abena Ocloo is my friend at UCCTalks.com, where we blog about Tertiary Education stuff. She does most of the interviews for UCCTalks.com as at now and one of the great members of the team. We have been friends for quite a while and she keeps improving upon her writing skills. I cannot say same for her cooking skills. I don’t mean to say they are bad; I just cannot say if she is improving (well everyone should improve right?) because I have only eaten her meal once – “the bowl of rice”.

I was all famished that Monday morning at Valco Hall, University of Cape Coast and I decided to just have a sociable chat with Jennifer. She is an enthusiastic Catholic and I wanted her to shed light on the Canonization of Mother Teresa. It was during the conversation Jennifer mentioned she was boiling rice. My hunger took the better part of me and I kindly bade that she brought me some of the rice she was preparing. She graciously agreed, and an hour later, we met in front of Valco Hall. I took the bowl of rice from her and before she said bye, she said: “Me, I don’t know how to cook oo, so I know it is not nice”. When I heard her say those words, I just laughed it off. I proceeded to eat the bowl of rice and palava sauce, finishing the meal in just under 5 minutes. I thought about her earlier proclamation about not knowing how to cook and this brought me to the subject of the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

The Dunning Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where the highly skilled assume that things they find easy are also easy for others, and the unskilled are so incompetent that they can’t recognize their own stupidity. In short, Smart people underestimate themselves; ignorant people think they’re brilliant.

The effect can also be summarized by the phrase “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” A small amount of knowledge can mislead a person into thinking that they’re an expert because this small amount of knowledge isn’t a well-known fact.
–Excerpt from RationalWiki.org

I experience the first part the Dunning Kruger effect (smart people underestimating themselves) a lot in my everyday life. Sometimes, I meet amazing singers who say they do not know how to sing too well; good writers who simply will not attempt to write because they feel they lack creativity; great orators who will not attempt to MC an event because they feel there are “better” people around; and even people who would like to do this or that but never do because of excuses they form in their head.

Honestly, I think the DK effect got me too.

I feel I cannot do this or that but find myself doing them almost as well as the professionals. Sometimes, it is just the lack of motivation, the; lack of self-awareness or simply not trusting myself. After eating the delicious bowl of rice, I wanted to get more but she was long gone. The food was superb but she sadly didn’t believe so.

We should avoid the negative thinking and look at what we can accomplish. Self believe is very important and we should all attempt to dream big and work hard to achieve them. Wherever we have the chance to do something, let us not shun away from it; rather, let us do it to the best of our capabilities. We would be amazed at the results.

Don’t forget the other aspect of the DK effect – Ignorant People Thinking they are Brilliant. Avoid over-confidence, gain more skills, explore, engage and learn. Seek opinion and feedback and always try to be better. No one has got it all, but we can improve.

It’s time to send Jennifer a WhatsApp message for another bowl of rice. See you!