Hello world

Hello World! Here I am; self-professed Introvert taking a plunge into the deep blue sea of public opinion. Please consider this my semi-formal introduction. My name is Fatiu IBRAHIM. I do not possess a personality- I have a series of personas. My explicit goal in life is to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible and explore expertise in a wide range of fields. This path to polymath necessitates the creation of a distinct persona for each audience of my public works to identify with. It is rather obvious that my social media handles at least would need that!

Many people want wealth because it would enable them the option of not having to work. I want it so that I can enjoy the luxury of working on things that I actually care about; things like Meta-cognition, Visual Art, Programming, Fiction writing, Entrepreneurship and the quest for Esoteric knowledge.

I have spent a huge portion of my life in search of truth. I haven’t found Ultimate truth, but I may never do and that’s alright. As long as I rid myself of one more illusion each day, the day would have been a success! And if my life adds up to days and days of increasing authenticity, then I have succeeded.

I have a tendency to communicate as quickly as I think and as a result, I am wont to use very precise words in telling my story. For instance, I won’t use the word “surprise” in place of “amaze” because I realize that “amazed” is an addition of ‘surprised’ and ‘impressed’. That said, let me begin.

I recently joined TIIDELab Cohort 3 fellowship for aspiring web developers. Before I did, my nickname was Phi (pronounced /fai/). However, I have chosen the codename “Sphider” (Spider +Phi) for my web-developer persona. This is because…well, spiders are world-renowned experts at building webs!

The spider is also a metaphor for describing my default state. Spiders do not flounder about wasting energy. They stay still until they are certain of a line of action. When the prey is within reach, they spring into action. This is the case for monkey spiders. The more traditional spiders sit on a carefully selected spot on an intricate web. From that vantage point, they can feel vibrations from every inch and corner of the entire web. Those vibrations convey a rich content of information about the wind speed, the approach of an insect (potential prey) and even changes in atmospheric pressure- which is usually a tell-tale sign of coming rain! Spiders wait for the right moment. They stay out of sight until it is absolutely necessary to emerge from the shadows.

True to that metaphor, I do not engage in inane activity. I usually plan out whatever I wish to do before taking a step. In social encounters I prefer to sit still and observe or to listen more than I speak. This is because I run on information and it is hard to absorb a maximum amount of it, if you are the one doing most of the talking. I do not offer my input unless it satisfies two criteria:

1. My input would make a positive difference

2. My silence on the matter at hand would have negative consequences.

There are benefits to having access to a huge amount of information from previous study in combination with a mind that processes information quickly on the fly (spider and fly…😁🤷‍). Life is richer. You see connections that are not obvious to other people. You learn new materials quickly and when you are having difficulties understanding something, you can “float above your brain” to see where your thinking has gone awry. The act of thinking is called cognition. The process of observing your own thought patterns in order to improve upon it, is called meta-cognition.

I am extremely goal oriented although I am not motivated by a spirit of competition. My personal best is my yardstick. However, there are also a few setbacks for having a mental configuration such as I do. Your will-power is unparalleled and you often go too far in your flow. You become absorbed in activity to the detriment of your health. You may be sick without realizing it until the task is completed! When your health is sub-optimal, you won’t be able to process information as quickly as you used to. Your brain begins to conserve energy and you become less friendly! It’s almost as if the brain can’t be bothered to waste precious resource on ‘flimsy things’ like friendliness when running in battery-saver mode!

I have noticed this from self-observation and feedback from family and friends, so I take regular breaks to replenish my health. I am stating all these so that you will understand why my view on many popular topics may be unpopular and why there may be periodic change in the tone of my articles. This article is rather cold and not funny at all. If you already guessed that I’m in battery saver mode while I write this, you are right. I will upload the witty version when I recover.