The Butterfly Effect

how little things can be big things

My mentor/boss Peace Itimi tells this story whenever someone asks her how she became such a success. In this story, she is browsing through Twitter one day, and comes across a WordPress blog. Curious, she opens an account and starts dumping her thoughts on it. Then someone reads her blog, and compliments her for being such a “techie.” The person tells her, “by the way, Google is looking for ambassadors, and you’re just the type of person they need.” She applies to the Google Student Ambassadors programme and gets in. Discovers marketing and starts teaching on campus. After school, she opens a Digital Marketing Training centre, and things just keep happening and happening until one day, she wakes up in an apartment in the UK, a top Nigerian talent who has worked and advised and consulted for many startups, a long way from the sixteen-year-old girl living in Benin, Edo state.

I heard this story again this week while on a call where she was being interviewed for a podcast episode. It made me think about my own life and journey, and it also made me think about the Butterfly Effect. The Butterfly Effect is the idea that something small, like taking the bus, can have a much larger effect, like altering your career. The entire concept is based on the belief that the world is deeply interconnected, and as a result, a small change can impact a larger system.

I think it’s such a pretty term, with widely harrowing implications. If every little thing we do can cause a momentous effect, that means our actions and choices are more important than we realise. So what if we do the wrong things? What if instead of taking the bus, we decide to call an uber and miss out on the opportunity of sitting next to the love of our lives who, years down the line, would marry us and become the President of our country?

When I first learned this concept, I felt the tantalizing urge to revisit every juncture another decision would have led to. Thoughts like, “Would I have been rich if I bought BTC in 2013?” or “If I opened a youtube channel like Emma Chamberlain did as a kid, would I have been successful?” or “If I took programming seriously in secondary school, would I have made it?”

But at the end of the day, I realised that these thoughts were pointless, because there’s no telling what would have happened, anyway. Even if I was 99% sure things would have been different, that 1% uncertainty could have meant something entirely different for me. BTC has crashed so many times, and not everyone who opened youtube when it first launched is as big as Emma today.

A more interesting angle, I came to realise, was the power of choice, and the importance of showing up. If you are a Christian, you probably have heard the Parable of the talents. How a master gave three servants talents of varying quantities, and while the first two doubled theirs, the last one hid his under the sand. When the master returned, he was upset with the last servant because he did nothing with it. He could have chosen to keep it in a bank, but he left it dormant.

We do this a lot. Unsure of what to do with ourselves, with the gifts we’ve been given, we let them lie there, dormant. We live the same safe lives, do the same safe things, while expecting radical changes. Newton’s first law begs to differ. Nothing changes without an action. People often joke about how you cannot find the love of your life by staying locked up in your room, but it’s true. You cannot play defence all your life, only reacting to external forces, then expect your life to be the way you want it to be. What is meant for you will not always find you. Sometimes it would be at the place you were supposed to be at, and miss you because you decided to stay home instead.

So for me, the butterfly effect reminds me to stir the pot from time to time, and do things for the plot. To go out, meet people, and strike up random conversations. To apply for programmes like Peace did, just because, and attend events for no tenable reason. Life is full of moments waiting to happen, but you have to seek them out first.

So that’s the message for this week we’re entering into. You’re the main character in your story, so make it the most amazing novel you’ll ever read. Fill it with swords and dragons and unhinged plot twists, and an amnesia-separated at birth-plot nobody saw coming. Be an active participant in this game called life.

I’m rooting for you always, my darlings.

Have a wonderful week ahead.

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Media I consumed this week:

Reading: The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma: The most interesting thing about this book is how tight and contained the writer’s words are. He has a very superior command of the English language and it is so impressive. He feels like someone who read a lot of classical literature growing up. Other than that, it doesn’t seem (so far) like a book I’d really enjoy, and I just realised that it’s probably because I don’t find it relatable. The story is about four brothers and their adventures growing up in a Western Nigerian town. Will tell you next week if my opinions change.

Watching: Crash Course in Romance - the final episodes. There’s this babe that keeps fantasizing about killing her classmate and that’s sooooo crazy omg. Other than that, I really enjoyed watching this. I like the male lead actor, I think he plays his role naturally. I also love the older adult representation in the film. I think I want to see more movies featuring 40+ people in love. It’s so cute.

Listening: Spent a good chunk of time listening to Joe Hisaishi this week. Especially his studio ghibli scores. I love a good instrumental soundtrack, and he is divine.