I first heard this title from a guy named Charles Isidi. He had come for my final year Engineering College week symposium. It had been a really interesting one because four ex-engineers were invited to share what life had been for them after studying Engineering but going on to practice something absolutely different.
Charles had made such a strong impression because he had opined that whenever people found out he had originally studied engineering, he felt like hiding that fact. I had laughed it off very hardly. I knew in a few years I would be like these ones.
I would be following my passion, fashion and trying to draw lessons from engineering that I would apply in my future career line.
After the symposium, we were afforded the opportunity to chat one on one with a few of the speakers and your guess is as good as mine. I went to chat with Charlie Boy.
We had an intense short conversation which I extremely enjoyed. One thing stood out from that conversation however. I cannot remember now what the context of the conversation was but I remember this line.
"You miss a 100% of the chances you do not take".
I wrote it down immediately. I mean they say the "shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory". That is part of the reason it is very easy for me to remember.
Fast forward to 2020, I attended an Instagram course with Salem King, Alma Asinobi and Dimeji and it was a very beautiful experience. I learnt a lot from the course but my most exciting take home was when Salem pointed out that if you miss an experience, no matter how much they tell you about it as long as you were not there you missed out on the experience will never be able to get it back.
It was a subtle shade and encouragement to us who were attending the class to never miss out on opportunities we believe might be beneficial to us. The statement changed something within me. I know FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real fear and it is used mostly in a negative sense but I think we might need to adopt it when we need courage to take some leaps that seem to mind boggling at first.
Last week, while reading One thing you cannot do in heaven, while the author explained that we should have no fear of sharing our faith, he buttressed that we miss a 100% of the shots we do not take when we allow fear rob us of sharing our faith with whoever.
At this point, after encountering this information thrice at different stages of my life I knew I had to write about it.
I have been taking risks lately and as scary as it seems. It is changing something within me.
This post is just an encouragement. It is just me asking you nicely yo go out there and do that thing you're frightened about.
By giving it a shot, you have moved up the percentile. It is better to know you shot and missed than to regret never shooting at all.
I have been great. How have you been?
Let me know what has been going on with you in the comment section.
All my Love.
JAK
