AWholeOfASpecie

NdianAbasi!

A great woman and aspiring research scientist.
Actively following my hunger cues🤷

[HUSBAND OF SHOLA @iconic_remi]

The work you don dey do for bat. He reach make he send delegates

[ThatPortharcourtBoy aka Nnukwu Nmanwu @ThatPHCBoy]

i raise you companion. ever since my aunty in her 50s introduced her sneaky link to me as her companion, i adopted it

[YOM🗣️ @ThaBoyYom]

But who did this thing to most African Parents ?

They were literally against EVERYTHING except education and rel!gion.

You try to gym ? They’re against it
Playing ball ? Frown at it.
Want to be a musician ? Wahala!
Want to go and see your friends ? Problem.
Watching TV, body go dey bite them.

If it’s not about going to school or going to church/mosque back then, they don’t want to hear anything else.

As much as we want to understand that ‘they didn’t know better’, they were a little too closed-minded abeg.

Heck even when you’re just sleeping/resting, they complain like you’re committing an offence.. tf!

[ً @artfuIchaos]

I don’t want a soft life because I’m lazy. I want a soft life because I’ve spent most of my life in survival mode. my nervous system has been in fight or flight since childhood and now I’m choosing peace and stability.

[𝕭𝖊𝖓𝖓𝖎𝖊✨ @Bennieeexyz]

Returned a library book four years late yesterday.

The librarian scanned it, looked at her screen, then at me.

Her: This was due September 2019.

Me: I know.

Her: The fine is two hundred and forty dollars.

Me: I know.

Her: (pause)

Her: Why are you returning it now?

Me: I'm moving. Found it in a box. Couldn't leave town knowing I stole from the library.

Her: You didn't steal it. You borrowed it and forgot.

Me: For four years.

Her: What's the book?

Me: "How to Build Better Habits."

Her: (trying not to smile)

Her: The irony is not lost on me.

Me: Can I just pay the fine?

Her: We cap fines at fifty dollars. But I have to ask.....did you read it?

Me: Three times, actually. Kept meaning to return it.

Her: Did it work? The habits thing?

Me: (pause)

Me: I'm here, aren't I?

She waived the fine completely.

Her: Consider it a graduation gift.

Me: From what?

Her: From being the person who keeps things for four years.

I checked out a new book before leaving. She smiled when she scanned it.

Her: This one's due in three weeks.

Me: I'll have it back in two.

I did.

She looked genuinely shocked.

Her: Character growth.

Me: Told you the book worked.

Small victories.

But they count.

[Steph @StephHay6]

Again, how dare you think that these boundaries are not meant to be broken! How dare you think that these limitations can stop you!!! How dare you, my friend!!!

[Max The Airbnb Guy🏡 @Maxtheairbnbguy]

You have to learn the person you love.

You cannot love someone into being who you need them to be. You cannot assume you know them just because you feel deeply for them. You have to study them. You have to understand their personality, their wounds, their attachment style, their triggers, their unspoken fears, their love language, the way they process pain and joy and conflict. I learned this the hard way, by loving people I never truly took the time to know. I projected my own expectations onto them. I assumed they thought like me, needed like me, loved like me. And when they did not meet my unspoken expectations, I blamed them instead of realizing that I never actually learned who they were. That lesson cost me relationships. It cost me misunderstandings that could have been avoided. It cost me the pain of being in love with a version of someone that never really existed. But it also taught me that love is not just a feeling. It is a study. It is a commitment to truly knowing the person you claim to love. Not the idea of them. Not the potential of them. But the real, complex, flawed, beautiful human being standing in front of you. And once you learn them, you can truly love them. Not as a projection. But as a person.

[𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧★ @olivvrszn]

friends are soulmates too, there's so much love in a real, genuine friendship.

[​𝐥𝐲𝐫𝐚 @sunnkssdseraph]

For a RELATIONSHIP to really work, you gotta understand this: You and your partner are TWO different people, with two different pasts, trying to build ONE future. You didn't grow up the same, you won't always think the same, and that's okay. What matters is HOW you handle it. Communicate without turning everything into an argument. Listen even when you're frustrated. Stop keeping score and start choosing growth. Because every disagreement shouldn't create distance. It should build understanding

[Sir Dickson @Wizarab10]

Now that the World Cup is over, let's focus on humanity. Mr Kingsley has been battling kidney failure for 2 years now. We have raised N1.1m for him

Let's contribute what we can. Raise am 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

2405990902
Zenith
Wisdom Obi-Dickson

[Tomi Akinwale @TomiTalksTax]

Study Bank for ICAN Materials.

Download here 🔗
https://t.co/dsBsV26IVy

Save this folder, download the materials you need, and stay consistent with your preparation.

If you know someone writing the next ICAN diet, kindly reshare this so it reaches them.

[Abdulsamad @richtosho]

Internship, Apprenticeship, Volunteering, Graduate Trainee Programs

Few are paid, most are not, some intl ones even pay for visa sponsorship.

Here are the top 15 to apply to today no matter your background:

[Omoalhaja @omoalhajaabiola]

https://t.co/TrB2enyod0

World Bank Group Undergraduate and Post Graduate Internship in Lagos.

[Divine @_apex_divine]

-Studied Agriculture for 6years plus ( Hate it , no need to practice 😂😂😂)

- Started my career as a risk analyst

-Switched to internal audit

-Currently enjoying Tech🙂‍↔️❤️

Nothing concern me with accounting and audit again😝😝😝

[lumi @lumiagww]

and while your mental health is destroying you, all everyone else sees is laziness

[Zoraya Black @ZorayaBlack_]

I’ve never looked at someone’s terrible boundaries or lack of confidence and thought, let me come and take advantage of it. In fact when I notice someone isn’t living in their power or agency, I feel compelled to teach them how to be more self assured. So although yes, people should be more self protective. It takes a bad person, to take advantage of someone that clearly isn’t. And they should be called out for it.

[Hafiz @hafiz_ngn]

I remember how much courage it took to write that 7 letter word on my application form; HARVARD.

With a 2:2 certificate from UNIBEN and a cumulative GPA of 2.67, I must have been mad. Maybe madness was the key I needed to unlock my goals.

Everything and everyone constantly suggested to me that I wasn’t good enough to even get a decent job talkmore of go to an Ivy League school for my masters.

From sending job applications to KPMG and other top firms that automatically screen you out if you’re not a 2:1, to law firms that won’t even bother to respond, many times I wish I could go back in time. But I don’t anymore.

So much of the process was about upgrading my psychology to actually believe I DESERVE IT. I had been tempted to set my sights differently. I had always known I wanted to do an MBA so I was simply planning to apply to the Open University or UNILAG to get it over with. (Both good schools)

But a chance meeting with a Branch manager at UBA in Warri changed my mind when he told me he regretted not going to Lagos Business School instead of UNILAG becuase of the network.

So then I prepared and took the GMAT but got a score (580/800) that sent me spiraling into depression cos I thought it reinforced the idea that I wasn’t smart enough.

However when I sent the score to Lagos Business School, they accepted it (I had barely passed the cut off) and they made me an admission offer and I was eager to take it. (Lagos Business school is the best institution in Nigeria hands down- getting in with a 2:2 would be a feat!)

But one of my mentors said to me; “Aim higher...you can be a global figure.” He had never seen my GPA. He didn’t care. So I decided not to care too. And thus I began again to prepare to retake thesame grueling exam that that I had just spent 9 months preparing for. This time, I decided to take the GRE instead of GMAT since I didn’t have a strong math background.

On the day of the GRE Exam they asked us to call out the names of the 4 schools we were applying to. Others said various schools a few of which I hardly knew. When it was my turn I said with a shaky voice, “Harvard Business School”... everyone turned. I continued...”Duke, Imperial College and Oxford.”

I was building my courage to dream- to convince myself that I deserved it.

This time I scored a 315/340. Harvard average was 320. I was downcast but I still continued the application process.

The Harvard MBA Application essay said “We have recieved your application. Is there anything else you want us to know about you?”

I said yes, there is something more.

I want you to know that I am quite intelligent but I have never had an easy life. my parents were separated when I was 7 and at age 12 I was moved to live with my grandma while my mother travelled to the US to try and make ends meet. But despite this turbulence at home I was made headboy in my high school in SS1 when prefects are only chosen in SS2.

I want you to know that I never could focus in university, i skipped many classes, I did many assignments at the last minute, and never had notes- however, I was saving up every dime to try my hands on various businesses; from a school magazine, to doing supplies for companies, to fish farming. I hustled and built my knowledge about business in Nigeria from street smarts not books.

I want you to know that on the day I graduated, I couldn’t even get a form to go to Law school with my peers. But on thesame day I bought a truck from all the money I had saved up from business in University. And I went to build my own startup in agriculture.

I want you to know that after Law school I built my own business and was recognized as a promising entrepreneur till the 2015 recession hit and the business crumbled under the weight from forex instability in my country.

I want you to know that i went on to work in a Venture Capital firm and managed a nationwide project for the firm and taught myself financial analysis and actually came 2nd runner up in the Nigerian Stock Exchange Hackathon.

I want you to know that I lost both my parents in the span of 5 months in 2016 and I often contemplated suicide by overdose on sleeping tablets I was prescribed to help me cope. But this led me to studying most of the classic books on psychology and mental health and world history to find a deeper meaning to life.

And finally, I want you to know that all those experiences have made me a more empathetic person, a better friend, a deeper soul who feels the pain of the world, diligent, persevering and never giving up. Thank you

Guess what?

Harvard said No.

“We are sorry we can’t offer you a spot in our class.”

And I was broken...almost.

My mentor tried to consoled me saying: “the best talent are not the ones that go to Harvard: they are the ones who Harvard rejects or who drop out. 😄From Jack Ma of Alibaba, to Warren Buffet, to Bill Gates and Mark Zukerberg.” What matters is that you beleive in yourself enough to strive for the very best.”

I had striven for the best. I put only Ivy League schools on my application despite having a 2:2 from uni. When most Nigerians even with 2:1 are encouraged to aim for easy schools just so they can get visa and jakpa. I refused to put any school that was ‘easy’ to get into. (I respect that everyone’s journey is different and your school doesn’t define you.)

It was harvest time. I had put in the work with almost 2 years of study and applications. Harvard said no. But It was time to see what else I would reap.

Duke responded next and offered me a waitlist position on the MBA class. I couldn’t beleive it! I was one foot in the door of an Ivy League School. 😭 (being waitlisted is like asking a girl out and she says “I’ll think about it.”- they’re considering you but they have options or trying to see how bad you want it. )

While considering the waitlist position at Duke, Imperial College came through with their own admission offer- but this time with a scholarship of £20,000 (Future Leaders Scholarship) in recognition of my potential as a future leader. 😭

I wept tears of joy.

You see because in Nigeria, we only know a very small range of school options. I thought I had failed by getting rejected from Harvard.

What I didn’t know at the time was that Imperial College was ranked higher than Harvard in the key part of my career history- entrepreneurship. Imperial is the 2nd highest ranked school in the world (behind Stanford) for MBA entrepreneurship. (QS MBA Ranking) i had gotten into a school that outranked Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, MIT and Caltech for startups and innovation. 😭

Stanford and Imperial focused their lense on non-traditional students and spotting potential entrepreneurs and world changers while schools like Harvard and Oxford focused more on traditional metrics (weighing heavily on big 4 experience)

I said yes to Imperial College and my friends and family all came together to pitch in to ensure that I could take full advantage of the offer.

Today I am not only fulfilling my dream of attending an Ivy League university for my MBA, I am also the President of the Africa Business Club, and a paid student ambassador of the Enterprise lab and I have a global network with peers form 23 different countries and global firms inviting me to meet with them at employment events.

So this is my story. It’s my birthday today and I am thinking back on the journey here. I just got a new apartment in the heart of London. I’m not bragging I’m telling you my reality hoping that I can motivate someone to think bigger; and aim higher than they are currently doing.

My university grade still says 2:2, but my mind has always been Ivy League. What about you?

#copied

Original Author: Ten Esan

[Behemoth @ChiefBehemoth_]

I think we tend to loudly display the parts of ourselves we need validated.

So, someone who derives most of their self-worth from beauty will almost compulsively post photos of themselves… 🧵

[AtifRaja @AtifRaja_86]

🤣😂😂😂