For over twenty years, a taxi driver in Abuja kept an old folded map in his car. This was long after smartphones and navigation apps became common. Passengers often noticed it sticking out from the side compartment. One day, a young passenger laughed and asked: "Oga, why are you still carrying that map? Your phone can show you every road." The driver smiled. "You're right." The passenger waited for an explanation. The driver unfolded the worn map carefully. Its edges were torn. Some streets had handwritten notes beside them. "This map reminds me of who I was when I started." He explained that when he first arrived in Abuja, he knew almost nothing about the city. Every day, he got lost. Every mistake taught him a new road. Every wrong turn taught him a better route. The map became a record of his learning journey. Then he said something profound: "People admire experience, but they forget how much confusion comes before it." That sentence stayed with me. When we see successful people, we often see confidence. What we don't see are the years of uncertainty. The mistakes. The wrong turns. The lessons learned through trial and error. The taxi driver kept the map because it reminded him not to judge beginners. After all, every expert was once lost. Every skilled person was once inexperienced. And every successful journey begins with someone trying to figure things out. What's something you struggled with at first but now do with confidence?
