I used to hate numbers, calculations and all that nerdy sh*t. However, I quickly realized that for us humans to lead a functional and successful life, EVERYTHING should be calculated.
I’m not talking about Algebra and Pythagoras theorem, I’m talking about the intuitive calculations that runs like a digital program at the back of our minds, whether we are conscious of it or not.
No be everybody go school, but we are all still successful at carrying on as functional human beings in whatever societies we find ourselves in.
Think about it, whether you are toasting a babe, crossing the road, eating in the dark, driving a car, collecting your change from a cloth vendor in Yaba, or even masturbating, they are ALL calculated behaviours, because as much as pleasuring yourself or trying not to get hit by a bus is an intuitive move, you still have to understand how far away a bus is before you dash across the road and the amount of pressure to apply to a stroke before you nut.
The best advice I ever received was from my Psychology Professor in 100 level, he told me that there is an art to understanding human behaviour and there is a science to it, as soon as I realized this, understanding human behaviour became easier for me, it was straight As after then my guy.
Let me break it down for you.
Art ties directly to creativity, it is visceral and intuitive, you just know, while data ties directly to science and the boring stuff that everyone runs away from… BUT at the risk of staring at numbers till you’re cross-eyed, imagine if you viewed the process of analyzing data from a comedian’s perspective?
Comedians don’t give a f*ck about numbers, they care about whether they can make you laugh or not.
Comedians don’t think about data in the ways that a Math professor would, they think about data through the lens of culture, the environment they live in, language and local slangs, trending topics on Social Media, that babe they interacted with at Oshodi bus stop, or even the conversations they have with their boys over beer at a bar in Ikeja.
When you start to look at data this way, it really opens your mind to what the numbers mean.
Whether you are a Product Designer, an Instagram vendor, a Copywriter, a DJ, a Managing Director, a Communications Consultant, a Psychologist, an Architect, a Chef or even a Sex worker.
What do the numbers mean to you and the success of your business?
Numbers don’t lie; they are the most accurate measure of failure or success.