Believe the Hype
Believe the Hype
After Secondary School, I helped my grandmother a lot with cooking. She was a bit sick, so, she could not do all of the things she used to do. I was home, so I took up the mantle. She would write what I needed to buy in the market and describe the places or persons to meet.
After buying every necessary thing, I did all of the cooking. I was not so confident in my ability to cook but Grandma made me very confident. She was always hyping me that I was a good cook – whether she was saying the truth or not. I noticed I became better at it. I was more confident in experimenting and it came out well most of the times. When I enter gobe I ran to her and she immediately gives me a solution.
In all I became better at the cooking thing. I remember how she would say, “It is only Oluwatoni that can cook for me.” If I am taking a nap, she would come wake me up with a lot of begging to help her make say amala. All these made everyone dub me – oko grandma (grandma’s husband)
I have lost every interest there is for cooking. If I ever told you I am a great cook, trust me, I am betting on past glory. Last night, I spoke to grandma on phone and during our conversation, she asked if I had been eating well. I told her that I have been eating well except the fact that I get to buy most of my food. She reminded me of my glory days and encouraged me to find out time to cook myself.
You see, aside from the fact that I told the story to blow my trumpet, it is also to teach something – Believe the Hype.
There is a psychological term for this called the PYGMALION EFFECT or the SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY which states that greater expectation drives greater performance. I am sure this has played a role in your life at some point. When someone likes you and expresses believe in your potential, you tend to put more effort in meeting that expectation.
In happens a lot in the classroom. I remember a particular lady who wasn’t a very bright student academically do very well in Yoruba because the teacher was always calling on her. This student was more interactive during Yoruba classes than other classes. Also, in sports, a particular guy who was an average player went on to be the captain and performed very well because the coach believed in him so much and entrusted him with lots of responsibilities.
In the shameless podcast interview with Toluwanimi and Etariemi, they mentioned that people should learn to give people their roses while alive and the recipient should learn to accept these roses. The counter argument against this is that there is too much hype and it is difficult to tell when one is saying the truth or not.
It does not matter. When someone tells you you look beautiful, accept it and ride with it. When you receive a compliment, don’t say “stop whining me.” Claim the compliment and enjoy it. You will realize that you become more confident in yourself. In another shameless podcast with Nihinlolamiwa, she mentioned how her mum was always boosting her morale while she was young and how it turned out to affect her positively.
Believing the hype helps your confidence level. Stop refusing compliments when you can turn them to gold. Most importantly, surround yourself with people that will blow your trumpet
Believe the Hype
This is good.
Learning to accept compliments. Thank you for sharing.
Thoughtful, It came very handy
This is Smooth
I will start claiming the compliment and enjoy it
Alot of people get to call me rich man when I have “nothing” in my pocket.
I will start saying “Thank you”