What I Learned from Fast and Furious 6

Last month I sold a $25 iTunes gift card to an online buyer. Then he sent me an email saying the code in it was already used. I tried it out on my iTunes store account and it loaded my account successfully. Since it had loaded on my account, I had to buy him another one. So I sent him another $25 iTunes gift card. Then for four days I got no reply. I sent him follow-up mails to ask if it worked, as it was load and pay transaction. He pays me only after successfully using the card. So on day 5 I loaded the card on my iTunes account and almost vowed never to sell him a gift card again or I make him pay first before I sell him anything again. Then he replied my mail. I got him another card and this time he replied that it worked and paid me. But in the end I had bought $75 worth of iTunes gift card and loaded $50 I never intended buying.

Two days ago, I was going through the iTunes movie store. A lot of the action movies were on sale at very reduced prices. I bought three, and Fast and Furious 6 was one of them. I spent the most part of Sunday/Monday night downloading them. And yesterday, in between and after the full day training class I had (on Easter Monday!) I watched the movie. I consider it the best action movie I have watched in a long time. I even learned a few things that I would be sharing with you today.

image: chicagonow.com

1. You are only good at what you do.
A lot of times we feel we are good at something just because we think a lot about it. We confuse thinking with competence. We feel we can run GTBank better than Segun Agbaje. We feel we could have done better than Goodluck Jonathan. Not because we have any solid experience running a big company or leading millions of people. But because we have thought hard and long about it. It’s like believing you can race like Brian or Dominic just because you think a lot about racing and have Asphalt 8 on your phone.
The only way you can be good at anything is to do it. And if you want to very good, do it on a level others don’t get to. It is the one thing I have in my favour. By betting my entire livelihood on my competence in Excel I have put myself in a situation where I can only become very good at Excel. I now see more things I need to learn in Excel now than I saw when I started out last year. I thought I knew almost all about Excel last year, today I am convinced I cannot know all or close to all about Excel. But the part I do know, I know extremely well and make magic with it.

2. You can be good and rich
There is this embedded thinking in our society that you either have to go after money or you go after skills, that you can’t have both. If after university you get a low paying job, you simply say you are in it for the skills/experience. If you get a job with Chevron, people say you are in it for the money.
The truth is you can be on a path for both skills and money. And that is the main reason people become consultants or set up a consulting company. They take that skill they have and try to make a killing from it. If you are a great talker, you can become a professional speaker and make more than any one person or company can pay you. And if you enjoy driving at break-neck speed, you can go into professional/amateur car racing. All I am saying is you can make a lot of money from what you are good at, you don’t have to give up your passion to make money.

3. Have a code
Let there be something you are known for. Dominic’s code was family. Everyone knew he would do anything for the family. It was both his weakness and strength. It made him highly dependable and also vulnerable. The truth is we can’t be everything to everyone. At every point we all have what we live for (or value) and that is also our Achilles’ heel. The problem is if we are constantly changing it, then we don’t have a code. If we are constantly changing our values we will soon be of no value to anyone. And it is the main reason to have a code. Be clear about your values and stick to them.
My values are sincerity and extreme competence. You might hate me for my bad people skills and poor communications skills but you will always know that if you want a straight-forward person to deliver you the best job possible you can count on me.

And those are the three lessons I gleaned from watching Fast and Furious 6.


It seems I will be on TV next week. Channels TV. I will keep you all posted.

Also today I will be getting my first smartwatch. It’s the Pebble Smartwatch. I had ordered it last week after I lost the watch I spent my first big Excel job money on.