EDUCATING WHILE ADULTING

After the 2022 worldcup match final….
“Mbappe is whoever he thinks he is”
-A Twitter user.

It was the 31st of December, as the year was finally drawing to its close.it was a cold morning and I was still in bed but awake, as I laid there and reminisced on the years leading up to this moment, the forthcoming year and the choices I have made for my future.
I had decided to embark on a postgraduate management degree earlier on in the year, which I had dreamed of since my childhood. I had just been informed by the admissions officer of the Lagos business school that I had passed my MBA entrance exam at the Lagos business school and the final process was the senate sitting before my admission letter would be sent to me. At that moment I didn’t know the reality of what the MBA degree would require from me, the time commitment, the hard work, shift in mindset and the pains in developing new skills but I was very excited and looking forward to it

I find comfort in a phrase from the book ‘mans search for meaning’ by Viktor E. Frankl , “it did not really matter what we expected from life ,but rather what life expected from us.” we need to stop asking the meaning to life and be aware that we are the ones who are being questioned by life . to gain true meaning from life isn’t about life’s many pleasures, art or beauty but the search and development of ourselves into finding solutions to the problems in life.
Over the course of the first semester of my MBA, I have discovered a set of skills that have to be learned and improved for me to succeed in the program. they include speed reading, time management, confidence, analytical reasoning, integrated reasoning, comprehension and ease of expression.
The program led with a couple of courses on cousera.com on use of tableau, Microsoft excel and other topics under Data Analytics. The program then followed with some brush-up sessions on the courses we were to take during the semester. the school is scheduled in hybrid sessions (both online and physical classes).the reading list is voluminous and there are various mathematical calculations. The teaching style and conduct of the lecturers have been enjoyable. The lectures are fun and unlike BSC we aren’t competing against each other on assignment and classwork but cooperating and carrying ourselves along in groups, with the mindset that no one is left behind.

The first semester began with 5 courses namely: data analytics, cooperate financial accounting, analysis of business problems, management communication and nature of human beings. While studying and taking classes I then understood that these subjects are in fact interrelated. These subjects are at the heart and cornerstone of any well managed environment, project or organization. A leader must possess
an understanding or mastery in these areas in order succeed, especially during evolving times of competition and uncertainty.
I take solace in the words of a Wiseman who once said “you are who you think you are”, because if you work hard at it, you can be who you want to be. I find myself managing work, personal business and business school. Although it is tasking, I am bold knowing that like Kylian Mbappe, if I work hard on being excellent, I would achieve excellence, therefore “ I am whoever I think I am”. This is just another challenge, another step in self-development and I will accomplish it.
Finally, it’s a worthy investment.