Service is not sexy.

If you really want to make an impact, put on your big boy pants.

Hi guys,

Hope you are well. I’m doing okay, Alhamdulillah. Well, I’ve been better, to be honest. But yeah, Alhamdulillah.

I write this on a Saturday night, and it remains to be seen whether I attempt to finish tonight or this is only a preamble and the real work gets done tomorrow. There are perhaps two reasons why I am (was) sufficiently motivated to start now.

On one hand, I was fortunate enough to spend some time today with one of the people I really stan (let’s call him OY), and I left our conversation feeling very intellectually stimulated. Like a bad itch, you want to scratch it right away. On the other hand, there is a real possibility that depending on how the rest of the night goes, I might have neither the strength nor motivation to put words together tomorrow.

Ah well.

Dive in, we shall? Shall we? We shan’t? Shan’t we?

Omg just read the newsletter lol.

Service is not sexy

One of the first things OY and I talked about was service. We started with national service, and then pivoted to talking about public service (government office) and community service (volunteer organizations).

He really does have a strong sense of responsibility, an admirable trait. And quite early on, he made a statement that shocked me, perhaps because using the word ‘sexy’ is fairly atypical for a traditional Nigerian man in his fifties.

‘Service is not sexy. If you ever see people rushing to serve, then something else is going on.’

You see, we live in times where service is glamorized. Lawmakers drive Range Rovers, civil servants award themselves lucrative contracts, and even non-profit administrators find innovative means of meeting their needs with official funds.

But for anyone truly willing to ‘serve’, it is a long and thankless job with little to gain. For example, a liaison officer for a volunteer network might be tasked with taking phone calls from disgruntled members and partners nationwide. Often without pay or official recognition, the person in this role is pivotal to keep any organization moving.

And when you think about service even in everyday parts of life, the same is true. Many mothers stay up half of the night in ‘service’ to their wailing babies. Many parents work multiple jobs, trying to increase household income, in ‘service’ to their kids or significant others.

Service is ironing four different outfits for your fashion designer wife because none of them ‘feels right’ for a photo shoot.

Service is listening to your husband rant for 2 hours about his challenges at work, in spite of knowing next to nothing about his industry.

Service is reviewing a 10-page presentation for your mentor because he has an important meeting coming up.

Service is making a phone call to wake up your friend living alone for Sahur.

Service is never gram-worthy. Service will often not make it to LinkedIn. Service can be be tough, draining, and even downright unpleasant.

Service is never sexy.

Image from Tunde Eludini, Premium Times Nigeria

How do you measure impact?

I found out yesterday as well, that OY oversees an international community of over 1 million people. A million is a thousand thousand, that’s a huge number!

And when talking about impact, he said, ‘I would much rather make a tiny difference in the lives of one million people than make a huge difference in the lives of 200 people.’

I might not be in 100% agreement with the context around which we discussed this (especially because it assumes that it is impossible to make a huge difference in 1 million lives), but he definitely has a point. What it also made me think about was the variance in output for activities with similar input.

A pastor spends the same number of hours delivering the Sunday sermon, regardless of whether he/she is preaching to 5 people or 5,000 people.

The same amount of time goes into creating a 140-character tweet, whether two people benefit or 2 million people benefit.

The same amount of effort goes into creating an artwork, whether it stays hung up in your bedroom or it gets to be appreciated by people around the world.

In a world where the input is roughly the same, it seems illogical to play the small game. Go out into the world and dream a little bigger.

If you really want to make an impact, put on your big boy pants.

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Gracias, and see you around.

Hameed

No jara content this week. Oloun a saanu. 💫

** Edited (thanks to Toibat):

Please ensure to fast on the day of Arafah (Monday 19/07/21) as it expiates the sin of the past and coming year. Sahih Muslim.