Core vs Mechanics

the life and talent mistake we all make

One of the popular human errors is to mistake the core for the mechanics.

That thing we do when we take the workings of a thing for the concept of it.

The mechanics of a thing, the expression of it, the workings, is often determined by availability, by our environment but they are never the core.

I visited my aunt sometime back and her second son, Adekanoye said “Uncle Banji, what would you like to eat?” So, he gave me options of food that were not even available (I didn’t know he was planning to cook!) and while we were still talking about it, he asked to charge my phone for me. It was only a few minutes before I had a plate of noodles and eggs on the table with a five-year-old boy calling me to eat.

Let’s start with the fact that the gas cooker was way taller than him, and that was a dangerous play for a five-year-old without supervision. We made sure not to tell his mum, except, of course, she’s reading this.

His mum runs a catering business and it’s so easy to say that Adekanoye is gifted at cooking, maybe he’ll be a chef. But that would be wrong. He’s simply the guy that makes sure that everyone is okay. That’s hospitality, that’s care.

He cooked because that was the available means of expression, just like he offered to charge my phone and he carefully carries the baby in the house and he arranges the dining and is always asking questions… would you like this? Or would you want that?

It would be wrong to say a child is an engineer because he destroys his toy cars and builds them back or that the child is an artist because he likes to draw.

The things we do are often-times a factor of availability and environment and opportunities presented to us. And, many times, the gift we can give ourselves is an understanding, a grasp of the very core and the driver behind our pursuits.

When we do this, we can go ahead and do some research, learn a lot more about the many ways we can express ourselves, our gifts, and still remain in our core.

That way, we can do the unusual, we can get creative and still be fulfilled.

That’s where the real uniqueness comes in. Being creative about the application, the workings of our core, and the very thing that drives us.

And, thank you Adekanoye for the noodles. I owe you one.

I should probably get back to writing on branding and business. What do you think?