To Shake The Governor Or Not? Examining Your Life Goals

Doing my job – interviewing Lagos’ Gov. Ambode

It’s the ‘New Year Resolutions’ season all over the world. People see the turn of the calendar as a fresh start and hope to write better chapters in their lives’ story. Good one! Even though, I tend to make my resolutions on the go, whenever and wherever they occur to me, I cannot deny the sense of renewal January 1 of any year brings.

However, as we take time to reflect on what we want or don’t want in 2016, it is very important to ensure we are ‘wanting’ the right and wise things. Some of our desires may need to be re-examined and if they don’t pass the test we put them through, they should be trashed pronto.

Here’s why…

I will never forget that one time my most passionate desire was to meet a certain governor. Nothing ‘ghen ghen’, just a simple meeting that would afford me the golden opportunity of shaking his hand! Dumb ambition? I agree with you.

But before you deliver me to the hangman, let me add that the handshake wasn’t the big deal for me, how it would make me feel was. For some reason, I felt such a meeting and an event would be the ultimate sign that I, too, am destined for greatness.

Of course, I know now how myopic and most certainly, ridiculous, that desire was but the good thing is it has always served as a private lesson for me. A reminder to constantly analyse my life goals and be sure I am focusing on the big picture, always. Making the right demands and ensuring I am most concerned about the important things.

I never shared my ‘handshake’ ambition with anyone , thankfully, so it remained my secret foolish dream. 

To prove just how foolish that moment was, I interviewed a governor on New Year’s Day, on live TV. That got me thinking… how short-sighted my handshake ambition was, how lacking in faith. To think a handshake with a mere mortal would be THE sign of greatness. I am wiser now. No handshake, no matter how highly placed would serve as a confidence booster for me.

Too often, we peg our advancement in life on the weirdest things. We make trivial matters important just because we think they would somehow lead us to our destinies. Truth is, we create what we become.

We are gods, remember? 

Anyway, my point is, we all need to critically examine our life goals, from time to time. Every desire should be held to the light, so we are not wasting precious moments and thoughts on things that aren’t worth it.