Everybody’s Business Is Nobody’s Business (IDIOMS AND PROVERBS)
Growing up, there was an elderly man who often used the idiom “everybody’s business is nobody’s business” whenever he wanted one of us to take responsibility or step up into a leadership position.
For a long time, I didn’t understand the saying. First of all, I wasn’t a businessman. Neither was any of the other kids he was talking to.
It wasn’t until I was in senior secondary school and began to understand more about leadership and responsibility, that his saying became clearer to me.
Repeatedly, I have seen leaders pass the buck to their subordinates. I have been part of teams where tasks were not assigned specifically to people and they ended up being unexecuted. This has taught me the importance of assigning roles and duties to people.
It is surprising to me that in the 21st century, we still have people showing up for work without a job description. We vote leaders into office who promise things that any well-thinking adult knows that one man cannot get done in four or eight years.
How can a nation progress when the constitution hands out responsibility to people who are far away from would-be recipients of such responsibility? Why is the Federal Government building and running primary schools? Why can’t state governments and local governments generate and distribute electricity?
More importantly, why are you handing over the driver’s seat of your life to someone else?
You are waiting for someone else to make a decision before making yours, you are looking at what is fashionable before deciding on what course to study or which career path to take. If you don’t talk to your pastor first, you can’t make a decision about your family. Who did this to you?
From your personal life to your family, immediate society, organizations, business, career, spirituality, and every other area, no one is coming to fix things. If it is to be, it is up to you.
Don’t be that person that is waiting for people’s opinions and contributions so much that you are unable to innovate or act unless you are prompted to.
You are not a P.L.C. No shareholder or board of directors should be sitting on your case and none is coming up with a solution for you. They don’t know the intricacies of your daily life, how do you expect them to know what is right or wrong for you?
The time is now for you to step up and take charge. Remember, everybody’s business is nobody’s business and nobody’s business is everybody’s business.
Wilson Joshua is a Video Editor, Content Creator, and Creative Writer.
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