Dexterity is defined as the skill in performing tasks, especially with the hand.
It is ironically funny, but disturbing when you meet someone who has been on one job for over ten years and in that period doesn’t do anything differently from when he started. His work is lacking in innovation, creativity, and enterprise. He does the minimum required and calls it a day.

I fully remember the first time I heard someone use the word dexterity I was so fascinated with its sound that I had to look it up, lock it down in my heart, use it more often, then ensure it can be used to describe the quality of my work.

Why did I choose to talk about dexterity today? We tend to look at menial jobs as inane and do not put much value on it. You pay someone to wash your car, clean your room or office, do your laundry, or any other “small work” and you almost do not appraise the work done. These works seem so minor that we only see them as done or not done; we do not look at how well done they are. We do not look at the expertise put in by the worker, nor do we consciously rank the difference between two different workers on a work done until we are discussing with someone else.

All that changed for me yesterday when my neighbor hired someone to cut the grass in the compound. We both went off to church and returned later to meet the compound clear of every grass. You need to have seen the compound. It was a massacre of grasses. It was like the dude was on a mission to ensure both the grass for yesterday, today and tomorrow was rooted out. Places where his cutlass couldn’t get to, he reached in and used his hands to uproot the grass.

What is special about how a man clears the grass? Trust me, there was a difference. We have had more than three different people clear the grass in over a year now, but none of their results was worthy of a second look, nor a special commendation.

I don’t know how long this guy has been cutting grasses, but I know next time I need to clear the compound, or if any of my neighbors say they need someone to cut the grasses in their compound, he will be the first name off my tongue.

Can the same be said of you? Are you that good at your job? Have you developed your level of dexterity that much? Does your work stand out? If everyone else’s output would only get a “Pass” for grade, would yours get a distinction?

Improve yourself so much that your work would speak for you.

Wilson Joshua is a Video Editor, Content Creator and Creative Writer.
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. @IJoswil

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