It’s funny how we take things for granted so often in life. People across the world have an interesting habit of always seeing what happens in other places based on preconceived notions that many times have little or no bearing on what obtains in real life.

One example. I almost fell of my seat in laughter when while speaking to a group of young men here in Benin Republic, they told me power supply in my country, Nigeria, was better than what they had in theirs – Benin Republic.

Instantly curious as to what could have led them to such a massively erroneous conclusion, I casually asked “Really, why do you say that?”

One of them promptly explained that their country purchased power supply from Nigeria. In addition, he said, they were aware that Nigeria supplied electricity to Niger, another neighbour.

To do this, he surmised, that had to mean Nigeria had an abundance of power generation capacity that it did not have enough demand for internally.

After hearing him out, I proceeded to provide him and his friends a more accurate picture of the situation of power supply in Nigeria by asking a key question.

Does any of you – or your friends – own a generator at home?

Answer (from all 3): No.

That, I said, would be a very unhealthy way to exist in Nigeria, because the average adult over there considers owning at least a small generator,the size of 25 litre keg, crucial to his ability to access electricity as often as possible.

Why? they asked me.

I answered: Because in Nigeria, you really cannot be sure when you’ll have electricity, and for how long. Therefore, those who have important things to do, simply do not want to wait on the power company. Note that sometimes people go for months on end without getting any power supply. And that includes businesses.

Are you serious? One of them asked.

And I replied that I could not have been more serious.

”Indeed”, I added, “Since I arrived here, I’ve noticed you seem to have some kind of load shedding that’s done by your power company every now and then so that for one to two hours on some days you have a power cut. For me, despite that interruption, working on my laptop here as a writer and developer has been like HEAVEN, compared to what I’ve had to endure working in Nigeria. For one thing, it costs me less to do so – since I do not have to buy fuel to power my generator everyday.

Secondly, I do not have to work with the noise of the generator in the background giving me headaches and making concentration difficult.

Do you now see why I say you’re in heaven?

After hearing that they were subdued…at least they stopped telling me Nigeria was better than Benin with regard to power supply!

The point I’m making here is that people in different parts of the world face different kinds of challenges.

However, it appears human nature makes most of us feel what we’re going through is worse than what any other person has to.

That is a wrong mindset to adopt – and I’ve seen and experienced a lot to confirm that I am right.

The grass may appear greener on the other side (where that person is) from where you stand, but the truth is you will rarely be able to accurately determine the true reality of his/her situation except you get a MUCH closer view, or better still s/he chooses to open up to you!

Here’s an analogy I love to use to drive this point home:

The guy promising you N2m in future business in exchange for hefty/risky discount on the fee for your maiden project with his company may, in reality, be in debt to the tune of N10m to 3rd parties you’re not aware of, that he is obligated to pay to stay in business. That could mean he would probably be unable to keep his word even if he wanted to!

So while you’re admiring him as a hot prospect you’d gladly sacrifice 3 existing small clients to please, don’t forget to apply due diligence in your dealings so as to avoid losing both ways – or worse: getting used and dumped!

What was that saying again about the grass looking greener from the side?

Aha!