Nigeria and the 90/10 Principle

Farida A. Aminu.

Ninety per cent of life is decided by how you react. The remaining 10 per cent is what we don’t have control over. Recognized as one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Americans, Stephen R. Covey, author of the 90/10 principle dedicated his life to demonstrating how every person can truly control their destiny with profound, yet straightforward guidance.

Stephen Covey gives an example on this and reiterates that we actually determine the whole 90%. HOW? By our reaction! This is how it works; you cannot control a red light, but you control your reaction. So basically, we can’t escape a lot of things that happens to us, but the end product is determined by our response or action.

This is how it happens: You are having breakfast with your family in the morning before work, you daughter knocks up a cup of coffee onto your perfectly ironed crisp white shirt. You totally have no control whatsoever over what just happened, but what happens after this will finally be based on your reaction.

You curse you little daughter, yell and walk out. She breaks into tears, and you blame the mother for keeping the cup too close to the edge of the table. You both argue extensively, and you storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter too busy crying to finish up her breakfast, and getting ready to head to school, she misses the school bus. Your spouse must leave immediately for work.

You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive at 40 miles per hour in a 30 mph speed limit zone. After a 15-inute delay and throwing some amount of traffic fine away, you arrive at school and your daughter leaves without saying goodbye. After arriving at the office 20 minutes late, you just realize you have forgotten your briefcase back at home.

Your day has started very terribly, and as it continues, it sees to get worse and worse. You look forward to coming home after work, but when you arrive, you find a little wedge with your relationship with your wife and daughter. WHY? Because of how you reacted in the morning. Why exactly did you have a bad day? (a) The coffee caused it (b) Your daughter caused it (c) The police caused it? Or (d) you caused it. The answer is ‘’D’’. You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds was what caused your bad day.

Here is what could have and should have happened: Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say: ‘’’it’s okay honey, you just need to be more careful next time.’’ Grabbing a towel, you go upstairs and change your shirt. You grab your briefcase, and come back down in time to look through the window and see your child getting on the bus. She turns and waves. You arrive 5 minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff.

Notice the big difference? They are two different scenarios. Both started the same, but both ended differently. WHY? Because of the way you reacted. You really have no control over the 10% of what happens in your life. The other 90% was determined by your reaction.

Now you are aware of the 90/10 Principle. Millions of people are suffering from undeserved stress, unnecessary tension, trials, problems and headaches, just because of a simple reaction that was not in place. We can actually determine a lot of things that happen to us and the effects or influence that will result aftermath. Things happen, and some of the times awful incidents tense us up and turn us into slaves of our own hearts. If you let this in, then your reaction a lot of the times will be based on the state of mind you find yourself, being inclined to let out your inner hulk which can be damaging to the situation.

Our reactions have to be carefully thought about, before action. Words especially, once uttered can never be retracted, leaving either a scar or a little delight on the recipient. Staying positive is always the best way to handle even difficult and negative situations. Negative reactions will only build up more negativity in the long run and make circumstances even worse. We need to always battle with our minds when we find ourselves in an antagonized spot.

Which brings me to the crux of the matter: No doubt, Nigeria faces monumental economic, social and political challenges. But what has been the reaction of our leaders? How have they reacted to our security challenges? What are they doing about the 20 million Nigerian youth who have no jobs? What is government reaction to Boko Haram, falling standards of education, deteriorating health and decaying infrastructure?

Considering that things seem to get worse every day, it clear that Nigeria’s political leadership have never heard of the 90/10 principle, or have chosen to ignore it. This is why governance in Nigeria seems to be a knee-jerk reaction, instead of the result of considered policies and actions.