Superstitions Surrounding Success

How does being too superstitious affect your path to success?

This is my fifth attempt at writing my second newsletter, and I thought about writing about indecisiveness, but then yeah, no, so I will write about something many Nigerians are guilty of and might be affecting them in ways they are unaware of.

A friend suggested a book titled The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma some time ago, and it was a wonderful story. Let me quickly summarise: a boy is told he will die; he believes it, which eventually leads to his death (the story has much more to it, and I recommend you read the book; I only picked what is necessary for this newsletter).

Many people in Nigeria are very guilty of believing another person has control over their destiny, but your belief in them is what makes them come through.

This phenomenon goes a long way beyond what we expect. In our society, any time they see a successful person involved in some localised job and 'excelling at it, rumours start going around that “O ti Sogun”, a Yoruba phrase meaning the person has done a type of ritual, which is the reason why the person has started doing well all of a sudden.

There are several examples we can all pick from our environment, which typically goes like this: a particular food seller, “Mommy Kunle,” outsells her co-food sellers and is very successful. People start sharing rumours that she buried a snake in her shop with no evidence, and if they do have evidence, you hear things like they saw a blackbird in her shop in the night or a black cat, and the funny thing is that the only proof they usually have of this is word of mouth.

On a particular day in school, one thing led to another, and I was talking about a very popular restaurant in my area, “Amoke Oge.” A classmate came up to me and said, Hameed, don't eat in that place again. That woman did "Ogun,” and I was like, How? and she replied that people saw a snake at her shop—not her, but people. I have been to the restaurant before and from my observation, the restaurant has quality food, distinct branding and cleanliness—all qualities of a good restaurant.

This phenomenon extends beyond food sellers and extends its tentacles into every business in the non-corporate world. It could be someone selling ceramics or foodstuffs and the like, but one thing I have personally noticed is that by patronising the various competitors at times, you can quickly conclude why one is more successful than the other, from traits and habits like good customer service, quality of food, cleanliness, packaging and a whole lot more.

A lot of local food sellers have bad customer service and are very rude, so a lot of times the differentiating factor is usually the quality of food, and when both the food seller and the other competitors have reasonable comparability in quality of food and rice, the defining factor is probably customer service.

Many of us probably come from areas where many of those traits are the norm, and we need to correct that. The difference between your business presently and a business with good customer service could be what makes you a multimillionaire.

This phenomenon is not only about business; it is something that affects all spheres of life. Just because his or her father is a lecturer does not mean that they did not work for their first class; how many lecturers do their children have first class?

Other aspects of life like education, relationships and a whole lot more.

Now, am I saying your superstitions don't exist?

No, what I am saying is that when you see anybody successful in what they do, your first sense of reasoning should not be negative. Your first mode of action should never be spiritual attacks, backbiting, spreading rumours, or even going as far as trashing their businesses physically.

A better approach if you are so curious could just be doing some simple research. For example, there is this popular restaurant in my area that has been doing quite well, but about 2 years ago, it went up a notch. The business might have been doing very well, but an underlying factor I found out was that the owner got married to a real estate mogul, and some of the new branches built were on land belonging to the spouse.

As a competitor, what do you do?

Upon completion of a quick survey, identify areas where your competitor is very good and replicate them across your business with a little creativity so as not to be accused of stealing the idea (this is standard business practice). Common areas you might be lacking include marketing, packaging, customer service, location and offerings.

A few days ago, a phone company called “Nothing” released iMessage for their Android phone. After they conducted some research, they concluded that no matter how good their phones are, people won't buy them in the U.S. market because people use iMessage a lot, so the solution they came up with was simple: provide what is missing. At the time of this writing, little is known about whether it will succeed or not in getting them new customers, but one thing is for sure: it has gained them a new level of respect and authority in the phone world.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, kindly like it and share it with your friends. If you have comments or suggestions, kindly reach out to me by mail or by any means comfortable for you.

EXTRAS

The word for today is ملكة Malika, meaning queen in Arabic. While writing this particular newsletter, four of my friends helped out with the review, all females. So if you see any of your female friends today, feel free to refer to them by the name Malika.

P.S. Most of the writers in this generation are female (my opinion, not fact); any reasons why?

Jara

This morning, as I was finishing up the newsletter, a friend came around, and she was telling me the story of a very popular woman in our area who sells provisions, and people were of the opinion that she used the glory of everybody in her street. These stories are everywhere.

Have a lovely weekend.