The internet is full of distractions. That very moment you pick up your phone just to check your notifications on Facebook or see what’s trending on twitter, you could find yourself hooked up, maybe watching a random hilarious video your friend shared. Maybe a youtube video pops up in your notification or an urgent email that you need to reply to. Your sister just sent a message from your family Whatsapp group.
The distractions we get from the internet is endless. And it looks as though there is nothing we can do about it. Today you wake up with the right energy to work on your unfinished project, you start by writing the list of things you might want to achieve for the day and all of a sudden, all these plans are buried is endless streams of distractions from your mobile phone and computer.
Last week, I was speaking to a friend about Nigerian entrepreneurs. How a lot of us are mediocre in our given field of work. This is 2020 and not even a single youtube tutorial by a Nigerian that teaches you how to create a blog. It is very shameful and I feel I also failed in this area. We are all out there chasing after certainty without commitment and deep work.
There are lots of Nigerians who call themselves programmers yet have not been able to finish a single project. This is all as a result of distractions coming from the internet preventing us from doing deep work as Cal Newport puts it in his bestselling book. We let ourselves get distracted by the latest trend of fashion, technology, and quick money scheme and it is quite unfortunate that a lot of us are not willing to put in the commitment required to become professionals in our given field.
Everyone wants to be a Forex Trader
The latest trend on the internet among young Nigerians is forex trading, with all the ads and testimonials of people who have made it big and living their best life from money made from forex – every young Nigerians wants to be a forex trader. I am not saying there is anything wrong with this, but how many of these people are willing to subject themselves to enough training before blowing off all their hard-earned money on the internet venture?
The same thing happened when dropshipping was a trend. Everyone wanted to import goods from China and make passive income selling in the Nigerian market. But then, in the long run, those who couldn’t keep up with the commitment and demands had to back out and look for another venture online.
Your commitment vs distractions
The internet is a distracting place, you need to make a serious commitment to ensuring you continue that project even when it is itching you to click on that shinny WhatsApp notification. You need to stay off your phone while you embark on a project. Stop chasing after a quick money scheme because they will all leave you disappointed.
Nothing comes easy, not even MMM that promised a 30 percent return. In the end, it crashed leaving most Nigerians worse than they were initially.
You need to put in the commitment and stop expecting too much when you are in the learning process. It might take a lot of time but it is definitely worth it in the end