By The National Association of Students of English and Literary Studies ( NASELS), Lagos State University Chapter, led by Comr. Kolawole Judah, on Wednesday 24th February, 2021, launched a two-day lecture series.
A distinguished lecturer from the department, Dr. Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose spoke on the theme, “Your Brain and Money: Navigating Career Opportunities in the Creative World.”
While interacting with the students, Dr GAB demystified the concepts of creativity and career, stating the importance of passion, and understanding one’s purpose of existence.
Read his full speech below:
Some key concepts have to be demystified and they are career and creativity. Career is the job or series
of jobs that you do during your working life, especially if you continue to get better jobs and earn more
money. Creativity is the use of imagination or original ideas to create something new. Now, the question
that follows is: how do we create career paths or opportunities for ourselves through our creativity in
order to earn more?
May I start by saying that the most essential criterion for being creative is to, first and foremost,
discover one’s PASSION/CALLING. I define purpose or calling as THE ESSENCE OF ONE’S EXISTENCE. The
late Myles Munroe, a renowned American pastor and speaker, once said that WHEN PURPOSE IS NOT
UNDERSTOOD ABUSE IS INEVITABLE. I often ask people if they would be surprised to find a 3 year old
child jumping on a chair in her dad’s living room. Of course the common response I get is NO. This is
usually because a 3 year old child, expectedly, does not understand fully the value/purpose of the chair
so she could do any other thing with it. UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OR THE VALUE GOD HAS
PLACED UPON YOUR LIFE, YOU CANNOT LIVE MAXIMALLY.
To identify your purpose, you must look inward and avoid making someone else’s the basis for
determining your life. As a university teacher, I am a star among some students who like me. I guess if
Bella Shmurda is singing somewhere and I am giving a talk somewhere else, even if 340 of about 350
students in my department will go see Bella, I am certain there would be ten who will want to come
listen to Dr GAB. In that case, I am my own kind of star. However, to compare my stardom to that of
Shmurda is what would make me look down on myself, my value and my worth. So, to discover yourself,
your purpose or your worth, do not make anyone the parameter. Be your own kind of uniqueness. Now,
how do you discover your PURPOSE/CALLING?
The following questions can help you identify your purpose or calling:
1. What will I happily do even if I were not paid for it?
2. What do you do that even your enemies will admit that you are good at it even if they hate you?
3. What do you do that the little you get from it gives you joy?
Now, let us come to the stages in the actualization of calling or purpose.
1. SERVING: There has to be a stage in your life when you serve diligently. Serve diligently. You
need a mentor under whose tutelage you will grow. Everyone needs mentors. A mentor is
always God’s map to deliver you to your place of dream actualization. We all must find a place
to serve. A servant is different from a slave. The easiest way to become a master is to start your
life, sometimes, as a servant. Serve diligently.
2. LEARNING: When you serve, you will likely learn under those you are serving. As you serve, you
have to pay attention to your growth. Growth happens through learning. Learning is a set of
experience or knowledge which bring about a permanent change in one’s behavioural pattern.
So, you have to ask yourself at all times: What has changed about me permanently. If you are
not learning and not growing, you have to change your circle.
3. CONNECTING: When you serve and learn, you begin to get connections. For instance, since I was
in 200l, I sought mentoring from Professor Adeleke Fakoya under whose tutelage I have been
learning and I also proudly call myself his servant. Trust me, I became the language editor to the
Office of the Lagos Secretary to the State Government through the good offices of Professor
Fakoya. He also put in a good word for me when I applied to join the Lagos State University. So,
when you serve diligently, you will learn and you can get connected.
4. EARNING: Once you begin to serve, learn and get connected, the next stage is to begin to earn;
however little.
5. ATTRACTING: The stage of attracting is when you begin to name your price. This takes time.
When you have identified your purpose/calling, the following become important in converting your
talent/gift/potential to money:
Volunteer: no matter how good what you have got is, nobody wants to pay for it right away. You
should be willing to volunteer first in order to convince the world about the relevance of what you
have.
Place value before money: whenever you must negotiate, think first of what you can offer before
what you can give. I have been publishing in almost all major Nigerian newspapers since 2016, but I
only became a columnist in 2020 with BusinessDay when I began to get paid.
Think always of how to do it better: Imagine if Mark hadn’t added to the features on Facebook and
WhatsAPP, we all would have found those platforms boring now. Always add some new spices to
whatever you do.
In all of these, I have not directly talked about how to make money because God is the giver of
money. Therefore, when you have done all that I have listed and more, be sure God, the giver of
money, will make you rich from what he has deposited in you.
Let me round off by saying that we are all KINGS/QUEENS, our only task is to discover ourKINGDOMS Thank you once again for the invitation.
©2021 Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (Dr GAB)
