How To Work An Imperfect System

Too often I have heard words like; the system is bad, the system is corrupt, nothing works here, the system is the cause of my failures, I need to get out of this system to be successful and so on. However, I get more confused when I see others, in the same system celebrating one achievement or the other, conquering new territories, seeing people from developed nations coming down to listen to them speak and celebrate them, people who lift the name of the nation without complaining about her system…then again, I wonder what makes the difference between these two sets of people.

Here are the few discoveries I have made on how to work an imperfect system.

1. Rather than keep identifying the faults in the system, see how you can resolve some of these faults profitably. Others would pay to avoid those faults, solve a fault in your own microscopic way and people will pay to be on your side of life.

2. You know how the system works already, so plan your project round it, don’t assume things would be different because it’s you, rather plan with what is on ground and work with reality of the system.

3. Don’t expect anything from the system. You know it hardly works, so expect nothing from it, that way whatever the little it gives you, it would be a plus to your plans and that would transform to a lot for you.

4. Hard work pays in any book but in an imperfect system, hard work and creativity can only take you half way, the other half belongs to connections and luck. So don’t bank on hard work and creativity alone break your connection barriers by meeting new people who can actually be of benefit to you.

5. The God constant (Gk) should not be neglected. Aside from what we see, the system is also influenced by what we can’t see (the African/Spiritual side of things) and it is only the God factor that can take care of that. You don’t need to be a fanatic, just be godly, be prayerful and keep faith.

Dear friends in the words of J.F Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country…” by extension not only what you can do for your country but how well you can work with her system to make life comfortable for yourself.