Today I’m thinking about fear. What could you do if it wasn’t an obstacle? What could you achieve?

Don’t get me wrong, fear is an important instinct built into all animals. It’s kept the human race alive for thousands of years. But when it comes to applying for the opportunities that could open up so many doors for you, it’s more of an impediment.

For some reason, there’s a tendency to imagine that when Akili Dada is looking to train women under 35 who lead feminist organizations in East Africa or when the Africa Initiative for Governance is funding 5 West Africans to pursue their Master’s degree at Oxford University it can’t be you.

Why do we doubt ourselves so much? Why do we think that these positions are for ‘others’ and never for us?

I still don’t have the answer, but I’ve been able to move past that mentality, regardless.

Unfortunately, I am horrible at doing the motivation/inspiration porn thing. It usually leads to fleeting courage, in my experience. So I’ll give you a more solid angle of looking at this.

Probability. Pure and simple.

I too am not fond of Math, but hear me out. 

A quick search on Wikipedia gives the definition of probability as ‘the branch of mathematics concerning numerical descriptions of how likely an event is to occur.’ The common example used when explaining this is a coin toss. Will the coin land on heads or tails? You may intuitively guess that there’s a 50% chance for each outcome. What about the roll of a dice? In that case, there are 6 different possible outcomes. The probability of landing on any given number is ⅙.

Basically,

Probability of an event = (# of ways it can happen) / (total number of outcomes)

How likely is it for you, in a pool of hundreds or maybe even thousands of applicants from across the globe, to be one of the 10, 5 or even 1 position being funded? 

Using the formula, you can intuit that your odds can sometimes be really small. Like 1/1000. But what you need to hold onto here is that there is a chance. As long as it’s not 0 (aka not applying at all) then the pointer can land on you. And that’s important to grasp before you even come to think about your skill level and other factors that may affect the strength of your application.

The trick here, though is that you need to apply for several opportunities or apply for the same opportunity several times. In this way, you increase the probability of being chosen. 

If you view the stories on my bookish Instagram account, you will always see me entering this or that giveaway. The book community is big on gifting books and care packages to each other. Any time I come across one that I am eligible for, I enter. Why? Because I have nothing to lose and it just takes a few minutes. If I don’t get it, that’s fine. I enter so many that I forget most of them anyway. But what if I win? Then that’s great! (And yes, I have in fact won once. I shall win more *fingers crossed*).

It’s the same with opportunities. I’ve reached a point where I’m ready to apply for any opportunity with minimal effort. For example, I have my CV in most formats that are asked for (full, 3 pages, 2 pages, 1 page), a cover letter template that I tweak depending on the opportunity, my scanned passport bio page etc. So when I apply for something and don’t get it, it’s no sweat off my back. On to the next. 

For every acceptance, there are several rejections. I could write a whole post about how to write a good rejection letter because I’ve received so many different types over the years.

The act of applying for several opportunities also refines your skill in writing these applications, mostly without you realizing it. I’ll make posts in the future on what I think makes a good cover letter, CV and the rest, but ultimately it’s about you finding your own voice. And that comes with practice.

Alright, that’s enough. Time to get started. Remember, it’s all about probability. Here are a few places to start searching for an opportunity that fits:

1. Opportunity Desk

2. Youth Opportunities

3. Opportunities for Africans

4. IJNET (for journalists/storytellers)

Throw your hat in the ring. You have nothing to lose.

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