Experience By Mileage – Part I
How true is the notion that people gain experience by the measure of years in a particular domain? Everywhere you turn it seems to be a widespread practice to see time used as the yardstick of measurement of experience. Isn’t it weird that people tend to consider lack of grey hair as signs of pettiness, and sometimes allude that the more grey hair you have, the wider the latitude of your wisdom? Does it really make sense to give default attention to anyone simply because he or she has traveled on the wings of time? Life is a one-way chance that cannot be repeated and as such way too precious to confer automatic salutation on anyone on any matter of weighty importance without consideration.
Consider two brand new cars driven out of the dealer’s lot on the same day. These cars have the same make and model with no single difference in their physical, structural or functional features. Three years later, you found out that Car A has been driven for close to 100,000 miles while Car B is only a few miles shy of 10,000 miles. Would you consider both cars equally “experienced”? Oh yes, both cars are “age mate” but they are not “experience-mate”. Car A has possibly been through ups and downs on the road; been through mere wet and hurricane weather, lofty rides through known and uncharted routes from coast to coast. The other car may have been driven only from one street to the other or mostly within a few miles radius through the years. Both cars may have been “born” on the same day, thereby making them chronologically equal, but they cannot be said to share the same density of experience. When you look at both cars, obviously you will see “grey hairs” on them, but of what essence is the grey hair where there is full blown evidence of scarcity of wisdom.
Experience measured in time by itself is an unjust evaluation of expertise in any subject matter. Although experience accumulates over time, it cannot be measured exclusively as a function of time. However, it is a function of active participatory exposure in a domain within the construct of time. Experience cannot be inherited or bequeathed but must be earned through conscious and determined efforts on the subject. The mere fact that we live in time and through time does not mean we suddenly gain experience with time.
Experience must be outcome-driven, and the outcome does not have to be positive to be counted. Oftentimes, the density of experience acquired through negative outcomes outwit the experience gained through positive outcomes in the fields of life. What matters most is your active participation through life journey, and by so doing you can hopefully apply lessons learned in the next challenge you encounter. Challenges must be seen as opportunities not only to gain new experiences but also to show your scorecard as evidence of your acquisition of wisdom over time.
You don’t have to put on the regalia of a hero to be considered experienced, but you sure must not be at ground zero either. How can you remain at ground zero you ask, when you are definitely moving with time like Car B in the above scenario? Sedentary exposure in a domain does not grant you any worthwhile experience regardless of your flight through time, instead you become bloated with a mirage of untested possibilities. You boast in your years in age, but you dare not boast in your wisdom, otherwise, you risk being trumped and shamed by those seemingly young achievers who may have gotten a more goliath-looking mileage of experience under their belt than you. In this day and age, you had better don’t come across as the “aged” fellow demanding honor where there is no commensurate display of wisdom, otherwise, you risk making a fool of yourself.
Would you rather be bloated or loaded? Balloon and airplane have one thing in common – they are both airborne objects (that is, they both have been air-lifted through a natural phenomenon), however, one is bloated while the other is loaded. Don’t let your claim of experience through life be a bloated one merely trajected by the natural phenomenon of time. You must make determined efforts to take advantage of this natural phenomenon of time to command unequivocal honor in your domain of establishment evidenced by the sheer measure of your wisdom acquired through your life experiences.
Part II of this piece coming soon!
- Olu Efunwoye
Sunday, November 12, 2017