The lady was perplexed. At least that was how she sounded. I had never worked in Lagos up till that point but I made a request for it. I saw the internal advert for the Lagos role and applied. 

I was based in Ibadan then and all my career prior to that time was in Ibadan. However, I wanted more. I had this inner dissatisfaction in me. Ibadan had become my comfort zone and I wanted out. Somehow, I had outgrown my environment. 

But the HR lady could not understand why I wanted to leave certainty for uncertainty. I insisted I would be fine and that those working in Lagos were not more brilliant than I am.

I’m glad she gave me the opportunity to relocate with a caveat. 

She would keep my old role vacant for three months and if I couldn’t cope in Lagos, I was free to come back. That was our discussion. I recall telling her on the phone that “anyone who puts his hand on the plough and looks back is not fit.” She laughed when I said that. 

So I was redeployed to Lagos. While I lived in Ibadan, I stayed in a three-bedroom bungalow where I paid a rent of N100,000 per annum. The bungalow was in an expansive compound that could take up to 30 cars. I had a beautiful garden. The house had a BQ occupied by a customs officer. 

Stretch yourself. It’s the only way to find out how far you can really go. Share on X

When I took the decision to relocate to Lagos, I had to speak to a very dear friend to accommodate me. I couldn’t afford Lagos rent. More so, I wasn’t paid any relocation allowance since the relocation was at my behest. I was a squatter at my friend’s Ikosi-Ketu apartment for six months. 

I stayed there Mondays to Thursdays and by Friday I was gone to Ibadan since I still kept my Ibadan home because of the unexpired rent. I got back to Lagos on Sunday evenings. Imagine doing this routine for six months without fail.

Twice, I was attacked by armed robbers within those six months when I was a squatter. Work was not easy too as I was on unfamiliar terrain. I had to put my nose to the grindstone. I worked very hard and my earliest closing time was usually 10pm. 

By the sixth month, I had saved enough money to get a studio apartment on Community Road, Akoka, Yaba. It was a one-bed apartment where my kitchen was part of the living room. My room was so small it could hardly take my bed. But that was what I could afford at that time.

Nevertheless, I believe my move to Lagos was one of the best career decisions I ever made. It paid off in so many ways — including getting the required visibility, career advancement and networking. I got offers I could never have got if I was in Ibadan.

Get out of your comfort zone. Your growth will be limited in that comfort zone. You may enjoy that zone but you will never know how much further you could have gone outside of it. A comfort zone requires little effort but yields only barely acceptable results. 

Your comfort zone offers convenience, but rarely progress. The price of becoming more is letting go of where you’ve been. Share on X

According to Neale Donald Walsch, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” There is more to you than what you can see presently but where you are will becloud what you can become. You need to move the moment you sense that you have outgrown your environment.

Your environment will condition you. A fish cannot outgrow its environment. Abram had to get out of a familiar terrain — Ur of the Chaldees — before he could become Abraham, the father of many nations. Nations are waiting for you. Continents are waiting on you. Stretch.

You can become better by stretching. Pull yourself beyond your current limits. Ken Poirot said, “True success is achieved by stretching oneself, learning to feel comfortable being uncomfortable”. Do something this month that scares you. Be audacious. Dare. Move. Get out.