Time for Your Change

Change is and has always been a full part of our humanity. From the moment of conception we begin the process of change, which continues nonstop every day until the day we leave this sphere of existence.

Change tells us one thing – the future beckons. “Extra! Extra!” It shouts at the top of its voice, “That lovely future you longed for is here!” how would you respond to it?

Interestingly, we are hardwired with the ability recognize and hold on to the familiar good. We erect the structure of our lives around the favorable things that have happened to us and hence end up with the structure psychologist call “The Comfort Zone.”

This zone keeps us safe. It ensures we are not exposed to all the negatives beyond its boundaries. Unfortunately it also ensures we don’t experience all the exciting possibilities of the unknown. “The thing you don’t know won’t hurt you,” says its wrong voice. It inflicts a fear of the future: “The demon you know is better than the angel you don’t know.” Have you heard it before? That is the voice of the chains holding you back.

You know better than to put new wine into old containers. They would burst. New wine needs fresh containers. – Jesus

The effect of living in this zone is that we try to meet the inevitably changed future by doing the things we did in the bygone past. This will fail. The future demands new approaches. We must get into it in a different way – special way if you may. Our minds must be plastic enough to accept the truth that change is indeed inevitable. It is the only constant thing in life; it will come if we wish it, it will come if we pray it shouldn’t. In the lovely book, Who moved my cheese, Spencer Johnson outlines that to handle change we need to understand these 7 writings on the wall:

1.     Change happens

2.     Anticipate change

3.     Monitor change

4.     Adapt to change quickly

5.     Change

6.     Enjoy change

7.     Be ready to change quickly and enjoy it again

Rise up and welcome your change. Your lovely future beckons!

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Intentional Education

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi

I am a strong voice behind the need for necessary self-education. I believe that beyond what we learn in the schools system we must engage ourselves in developing our minds. This would require several hours and days of continual “boring” work. Self-education is the platform upon which you can determine your own progress.

Unfortunately, I have realized two pitfalls for self-education in our societies. The first is that many-a-folk don’t see the dire need for it. They probably wonder why they should endure all the stress. I met a man at the mechanic workshop some days ago. I was reading the Autobiography of Martin Luther King (Jnr) at the time. We got talking and he remarked that he no longer reads because reading has been left to the rich. This came as a big surprise to me as I have never thought of anything in that line. By this he meant that the poor were too preoccupied with poverty to read. I promptly, but kindly, told him that even if we were to take his assertion as true, then it is the poor that must be found with a book everywhere they went.

The second is the compulsion that those who actually read have to irrelevant information. I was for a long time trapped in this. My library was filled with motivational books of all kinds. To my frustration I felt these books did little more than arouse my emotions and leave me with dissatisfaction. It was not until I realized that I was carrying it out the wrong way. To educate and develop my mind I needed to read books related to the fields I wanted to be outstanding in then intermittently bring in a motivational literature. What I mean is if you want to be the best manufacturer of furniture in your city, your library should be filled with books on types of wood, wood finishing, business and factory ethics, etc., and not books on motivational public speaking.

        Educate yourself intentionally. The purpose for self-education should determine the process. Make sure your aim for self-education is clearly defined then get books and other sources of information which teach you exactly how to achieve your aim. Without this you would probably be stuck with some crazy novels whilst you think that you are educating yourself. 

Attitude Revolution

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. – Winston Churchill

Our attitudes are important factors in determining how far we get along our success paths. Your attitude is the way you think and feel that affects your behavior. So in effect it is not merely what you think but the way you think.

King Solomon reckoned that, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” Mahatma Gandhi expounded on this by stating that, “Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”

Ultimately, your thoughts do two things. First they show you who you really are. When in doubt as to who you are, do not go as far as asking for people’s opinion. Simply search through your thoughts. Second, your thoughts determine who you will become. Your thoughts are to your life what the steering wheel is to a car – it determines the direction.

To develop a great attitude, take careful note of your manners. Young folks think it is old school to say sorry when wrong, please when they need help, or thank you when they are helped. These simple manners affect our attitudes immensely. Also, you should identify people that have threaded the path you are on and follow. Mentors help us ensure we don’t make the behavioral mistakes they made. Finally, be present. Be there when you are needed. Do not miss out on opportunities to be a part of worthy ventures.

You can change everything by changing your attitude to a positive one. 

Spiritual Revolution

Believe me a man cannot even see the kingdom of God without being BORN AGAIN. – Jesus (the Christ)

We all have two pairs of eyes (that’s my way of expressing it) – the outer set of eyes that we can all see and an inner pair that we cannot see. With your outer set you have access to the physical environment. Your eyes feed you with up eighty percent of the information you have. Though very important, your outer eyes are very limited to the things that presently exist.

With your inner pair of eyes sight has no boundaries. You can see what no one else can. You have access to limitless information. It is with your inner eyes that you see the future. Joseph was seeing with his inner eyes when he declared to his family, “Look I have dreamed another dream … the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed to me,” when they were mere wandering shepherds. Martin Luther King (Jnr) saw with his inner eyes when he proclaimed, “I have a dream that one day my four little children will not be judged by the color of their skins but by the content of their character,” though what his outer eyes saw was racial prejudice and discrimination. With these men and many others that have experienced inner sight I can boldly say they had a glimpse into the Kingdom of God.

For your inner eyes to see a future yet covered, you need a spiritual revolution. You need a complete and dramatic change in your inner person – your spirit. In the words of a carpenter, Jesus (the Christ), you “cannot even see the Kingdom of God without being born again.” You must have a complete transformation, a change that is not short of existing for the first time all over again.

Being born again means the second you never existed prior to the revolution. Your prejudices and biases, your desires and inklings, your habits and comfort zones, all have never existed.

A spiritual revolution is, indeed, an awesome experience because it empowers you on your inside. You will suddenly be able to affirm that, “I can do ALL things through the anointing (empowerment inside you), which strengthens me.”

In addition, it sets up for an all-involving success. By this I mean the whole of you will be a part of your success story. You will identify and make consistent progress in your unique success path and you will experience what King Solomon meant when he said, “The [success] path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” 

Parable of the Blessing: THE BEGINNING

First he took my rights as the first born, and now he has stolen my blessing. Oh, haven’t you saved even one blessing for me? – Enoch (speaking of Jacob, his brother)

      So you could sing, you were a great writer, you dressed exceptionally, had the best looks, was educated in elite schools, was loved by the ladies and lots more. You seemed set to being the ideal person – the role model for your generation – and yet you wonder what happened that you didn’t amount to much.

This is not a far-fetched scenario. Several people – men and women alike – have fallen into this. They look back at their lives and realize they have not succeeded though they were the most-likely to succeed.

Potential does not always translate to productivity. In fact, potential in every area of life, more often than not, lead to poor productivity. This happens because of the laxity that accompanies overconfidence in potential. A lot is then taken for granted because it does not seem logical that you would “fail in every area”. This is easily and clearly evidenced in countries. There are more natural resources in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for example, than the whole of Europe combined, but figures and estimates from the International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook Database, April 2013, pins DRC as the poorest nation in the world.

At the end of the day it does not really matter how much potential you have. What matters is how much you can make of it. To convert your potential to productivity, some things must be in place. First, you must have vision. Nobody becomes what he does not see. You can only progress as far as you see.

Second, you must learn to set goals. Goals are to the human mind what the steering wheel is to a car. Goals guide you to a destination.

Third, you should develop a habit of planning and working with strategy. Goals are achieved by proper planning. Without a plan a goal becomes a wish.

Forth, you should learn to diversify. This is the proverbial not “putting all your eggs in one basket”. The law of chances states that, “you stand better chances of succeeding when you have more things working for you at the same time.”

Fifth, you have need for focus on the purpose, call, ministry, or vision. You must have your eyes set on the final (which was in fact the initial too) goal.

In the next few articles I will be expounding on these principles.

Knowledge Revolution

When you know better you do better. – Maya Angelou 

It is said that, “What is worth doing is worth doing well.” I really question this one-directional thought line. What happens when the folk in question does not know how to do the thing that is worth doing? His ignorance will not let him do it well.

There is probably nothing more incapacitating than ignorance. An uneducated mind is severely restricted by walls that can easily be broken. It is by far easier to exploit a man of his rights and worth if, in the first place, he does not know what those rights are!

In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, the revolutionist, Nelson Mandela, wrote: “Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”

If you would travel far and successfully on your success path, you must undergo a knowledge revolution. Your mind must be educated and liberated so it can live. How much do you know about your field? Have you increased in your knowledge in the past two weeks? What about the past month? Most advanced level graduates have never picked up a book within or outside their fields since they left school.

A knowledge revolution changes your outlook to the world. Gradually you will see things differently. Biases you have will be challenged. You will be pushed beyond your limits in every area. It will unlock you to endless possibilities that exist in the world around you and beyond.

A knowledge revolution begins by your acknowledging that you do not know it all. Greek philosopher, Socrates, said, “The only true knowledge is in knowing you know nothing.” When you have the “I-know-it-all” attitude you shut your mind from receiving further education. On the other hand when you know that there is still more to know, the window is opened for the fresh air of new knowledge to flow in.

In addition, revolutions are the children of specificity of purpose – focus (if you may). Zero-in on few specially selected areas and invest your time and resources on building your knowledge base therein. 

Responsibility Revolution

Because each one shall bear his own load. – Paul (the apostle)

Children do not have a sense of responsibility. They do not wake up in the morning thinking, “How will this day go and what will I do to achieve my goals?” They live carefree lives. Their basic design tells them that they should, and indeed need to, depend on someone else to do whatever it is they should do. Their feeding is handled, clothing is covered, and health isn’t a concern. Why worry when someone else will worry for you?

This is all well and good – even cute – as long as it is done by children. A problem exists when people old enough to bear their responsibilities depend on someone other than themselves for life’s necessities. A lot of young adults feel they should still depend on their parents or guardians to survive. This is, in part, not the fault of these young adults. The problem begins when parents in a bid to give a better standard of life for their wards cripple their wards’ responsibility muscle. A parent must know when to withdraw help and leave their wards to live their own lives. It is at this point that the young folk will experience a responsibility revolution.

To develop in personal responsibility you must realize that you have a life to live. Time is passing you by; wake up and live. You are responsible for your own life. Your parents are not, your friends are not, and God is not! You and only you are responsible for the outcome of your life. Your family, friends, and God will help you but that is where it ends. The buck stops with you. Whatever decisions you make are yours and yours alone.

Second, if you would have a responsibility revolution, you must learn to fail. This is because responsibility is an “On the job” activity. I motivate my students not to be afraid of failing. I tell them that they cannot succeed if they cannot ever fail in the training field. Learning to become a success is like learning to ride a bicycle. One universal denominator is that you will fall off the bicycle. But, (if you eventually learned to ride) you stood up, picked up the bicycle and tried again. You repeated this cycle so many times that you at this moment can’t say exactly at which point you learned to ride. The same principle applies to success. 

Do You Want a Revolution?

A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past. – Fidel Castro

          Our world has experienced countless revolutions through the ages. In recent times we have witnessed the Log Revolution in Croatia, the Tuareg Rebellion in Niger and Mali, the Green movement in Iran and, more recently, the Arab Spring. It is obvious from history that revolutions are a part of human community.

Revolutions create platforms for change. Every revolution begins out of the desire to change something. Without a mind for change revolutions are out of place. In addition, they are a generational thing – as political activist Abbie Hoffman says, "... a revolution is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit." There always come a generation that becomes uncomfortable with the norm. They see a future that cannot be achieved if things remain exactly as they are. They understand that to create the future they want they must change the present.

As it is with societies so it is with individual lives. To make the progress you envision you must create drastic changes today. Without these changes the future is impossible. There are four revolutions you need to have; a spiritual revolution, an attitudinal revolution, a responsibility revolution, and a knowledge revolution.

A spiritual revolution sets you up for an all-involving success. By this I mean the whole of your being joins in the process. You will not feel successful, irrespective of your outward attainments, without a spiritual revolution. A spiritual revolution sets you free. Makes you feel limitless.

An attitudinal revolution begins with a change in your thoughts. You are an embodiment of your thoughts. Your thoughts do two things – they show you who you are and reveal to you who you will become. In addition, a revolution in your attitude will make you change your participation in worthwhile ventures. You will no longer remain passive but will become active. It will then build your character. Character, it is said, is developed in the stream of life – as you relate with people daily.

A responsibility revolution exposes you to the fact that you are responsible for your every action – Everything you do is your fault. It changes your expectations toward people because you see that nobody is responsible for you.

Finally, a knowledge revolution expands your mind. An expanded mind is one with broader capacity. You are able to understand more, to do more and indeed be more.

Do you want a revolution?

You Are Entitled to Nothing!

Laban: Name your wages and I will pay them.

Jacob: Don’t give me anything

A few days ago I asked a friend if he ever looked back at our childhood days longingly missing them. I asked because I sometimes look back and miss the days that I didn't need to care where the last meal I ate came from or how it came. I miss the days that my clothes were not a concern – in those days nothing really was a concern.

Though I miss those days, I have enough sense to know that they will never return. I will never experience those days because they are gone. It is OK, even gracious, to experience and enjoy the days when everything was done for you by someone else. The first type of relationship we all had was a dependent one – we depended on someone else to live. The problem comes when your dependency graduates into expecting that people must fulfill some imaginary obligations in your life.

I hear young adults sometimes hang their mediocrity and stagnancy on what some people did or did not do for them. You hear statements like, “If my father had provided enough money I would have…” or, “It is not my fault. I am where I am because they failed me.” These type of statements presupposes that people other than you have some responsibility to fulfill in your life. In a way they mean they are entitled to serve you. Nothing has kept people bound and incapable from becoming all they can become like this thought line.

It is good you get this firmly established in your heart – YOU ARE ENTITLED TO NOTHING! Nobody owes you anything. Nobody has to give or offer you any help. In your success journey you are responsible for yourself and, in effect, you are on your own.

Do not get me wrong, you need people to succeed, and, you will get people to help you succeed. What you should not have is the attitude that says: “I am entitled to help and without it I will fail”. When people choose to help you (as they certainly will), let it be the exception and not the rule of your success journey. 

The Power of Your Will

Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens to which our wills are gardeners. – William Shakespeare

I like the story of three young men – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – recorded in the Bible. It tells of a time the great king Nebuchadnezzar commanded that a statue be made of which his subjects were to bow and worship. We get into the story after the young men refused to bow and were reported to the king.

Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Now if you are ready, at the time you hear the sound of the horn… fall down and worship the image ... But if you do not worship, … you shall be thrown into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that god who shall deliver you out of my hand?” The trio had never worshiped a god that was not God and they were not about to start. So “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to the king, “…We have no need to return a word to you on this matter. If it is so that our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, then He will deliver us out of your hand, ... But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image which you have set up””.

I like that statement. Did you see it? Let me show it to you again: “We will not”. What an awesome statement! It was not the king’s decision to make- nothing he could do would make them change their minds. Interestingly it was not God’s decision to make- he didn’t need to do anything to make them decide this. It was their decision and theirs only.

The biggest gift we have is our will. We can say, “I will” or “I will not”. This separates us from the other forms of life in the planet. All successful people know how and when to use their wills. They will to read and research. They will to give up negative habits and pick up great ones. They will to be successful and not failures. If you do not learn to access the power of your will you will endlessly remain stagnated in mediocrity

Success Now: Take the Initiative

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. – Andy Warhol (Philosopher)

In the most popular, I think, story Jesus told to illustrate life issues, he spoke of a king who distributed gifts of money to three of his most trusted servants. The first and second invested their monies and acquired profits. The third, which was given least, hid the money and returned it without profit. While the first two were praised and given more the third was rebuked and punished.

One interesting thing to note in that story is that though the monies were given to them, they were not told what to do with them. The king did not hint exactly in what areas they were to multiply what was given. No bar was set to determine a standard for success. They were left on their own to take initiative and multiply what they had. It is of this I write.

To succeed in life you must develop the habit of taking initiative. Resist the temptation of waiting for instructions from someone else before you take all actions. Do not be afraid of taking the blame of trying and failing. Rather dread the failure that comes to a cause due to your inaction – irrespective of if others see you as the cause of failure or not.

All leaders take initiative. They think for themselves, identify what need be done in a situation and take the necessary action. It is this attitude of taking initiative that stand them out of the crowd of mediocre folks and anoint them leaders.

To develop the attitude of taking initiative you must develop a healthy self-esteem. If you think you can’t, you probably can’t. If you think that the solution of a problem cannot come from you, you will fold your hands and watch. If instead you think that you have the capacity to solve a problem you will rise up to the occasion.

Also, you must see yourself as responsible. When there is a task at hand, have an attitude that says, it is not somebody’s responsibility, it is my responsibility. The work at hand must be done even if it means you add it to yours. When responsibilities are assigned to people it should be to enhance effectiveness. When we insist on keeping strictly to segments, not considering if one part of the work is pulling the whole lot down, we are not taking initiative.

Excellence

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well." - Martin Luther King (jnr)

 How much boast can you make about your works? Can you boldly speak about the works of your hands and demand they speak for themselves? Can you append your name on your work if you knew it would be placed side-by-side with the best in your field?

If you would be tremendously successful you must have a spirit of excellence. This spirit will give you the boast for your work anywhere in the world because it dots the “i’s” and crosses the “t’s”. Noah had this spirit and so we read of him that, “Noah did everything exactly as God commanded him.” To develop the spirit of excellence, consider the following:

Make every work a masterpiece. It is important you take every work you do as an extension of your life. People considering your works are not merely meeting a piece of work but are meeting you; what first impressions are you leaving?  If you have this in mind you will handle each task as a masterpiece work of art set with intent for the audience.

Develop skill. It is also important you develop skill in every detail of your works. The archaic definition of the word skill means to “make a difference”. In view of this, decide to make a difference in every area of your works. There is always something else you can do to improve your work. You do not need to do it the same way you have done it before neither do you have to do it the way others do it.

Learn from others. It is important to keep an ever- learning attitude in all you do. Don’t get to the point that you feel you know it all. If your heart is open there is always something you can learn from just about everyone.

Innovate. Innovation is the icing on creativity. It means to effect a change. Do not strive endlessly trying to do something nobody has done before. Simply change what has been, making it better.

Excellence is reserved for a select few – follow this and you will be one of them. 

Awaken Your Dreams!

Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me. – Joseph (the Prime Minister of Ancient Egypt)

There is a part I love in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, and it is the point Alice tells of how she believes in six impossible things. "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast,” she says. I like that statement because it summarizes the life of a dreamer.
The dreamer believes. He or she believes in some ideal that is non-existent at the moment – that is what makes it a dream! But what makes it interesting is the fact that many dreams dreamers believe in appear impossible.
Impossibility - this is what ensures that many sermons are not preached and many songs remain in song book and countless inventions remain in the mind and many ideas remain unheard of. It is the thought of impossibility that introduces fear in us and shuts our capacity to believe the dream-words we once boldly proclaimed. It is the attitude of impossibility that has left our multi-blessed continent centuries behind leading world economies.
The thought of impossibility must be killed! We must be like Martin Luther King (Jnr) who proclaimed in the face of grave impossibility that, “I have a dream…” Or like Eleanor Roosevelt who said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,” Or reason like Walt Disney when he said, “No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dreams that you wish will come true,” Or be like old Jacob and reawaken the dying dreams that once burned in our hearts, with the question, “What is this dream you had?”
Dreamers move the world. They are the Noah, who dreamed of a holy world, and the Abraham, who dreamed of a land that milk and honey flows, and the Moses, who dreamed of liberating a whole nation out of bondage of the most powerful authority of his time, and the Joseph, who dreamed of becoming a great man, and the Jesus, who dreamed of saving us all.
We cannot live without dreamers. Are you one? I conclude with an excerpt from Alice in Wonderland:

Door: Why it's simply impassible!

Alice: Why, don't you mean impossible?

Door: No, I do mean impassible. (chuckles) Nothing's impossible! 

The Question of Purpose

He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how. - Friedrich Nietzsche

For every worthy venture there come questions that challenge its efficacy. These questions come through various means. They primarily will flood your mind, debating every decision and plan you have. They will also come through people – loved ones and the like – would challenge every phase of every venture. Finally through the project itself – debates of whether you are achieving as you planned. These questions are of several forms and getting an answer for them, rather than running away from them, would go a long way in ensuring that the venture is a success.

The first question is that of PURPOSE. You will be asked to what purpose you are pursuing your dream. This question and its answer, or answers as the case may be, is of utmost importance. Why are you doing what you are doing? Why are you trying to achieve what you are trying to achieve? Why are you not doing something else with your time? Why have you chosen this time and this location to pursue this venture?

Many young folks don’t bother to consider the various “whys” of their pursuits and so falter and fail seemingly without reason. Myles Munroe famously stated that, “If the purpose of a thing is not known abuse is inevitable.” This is true in every venture of life. When you consider the “whys” you will get deep in thought and expand your idea beyond its possible shallow stand.

In addition, the answers to the questions you ask will unlock many angles of what you really need to do. For example, if a student asks himself why he is in school, he may come up with the answer, “To get a good paying job.” Further questioning of why he may want a good paying job may get the answer, “To help my parents with finances.” At this point he is discerning a purpose for his studies. From this point he may switch questioning to. “How then can I get good grades?”

The question of purpose should not make you give up. It should not make you abandon ship. Though unnerving, it should make you succeed in your venture. Every young folk should adopt the question of purpose in approaching every project.

Timing - Your Key to Success

He (God) has made everything beautiful in it's own time. - Solomon (the king)

          It is easy to feel insufficient and dissatisfied with our states at every phase. It is common among many young folks to consider where they are in their success chart and feel they are far from attainment.

         This is more so because we are not familiar with the path of our success journey. This way we will not be able to know how much of our peculiar success-journey we have covered.  

         In addition many of us easily compare ourselves with others. When we compare ourselves with people we place ourselves upon uneven scales and we never become all that we can be. Rather, we are left with a sense of inner insufficiency. Making matters worse is the fact that many young people compare themselves with people that are much more advanced in age and advancement than they. This will simply make you less than you should be.

          It is important we note that there are some platforms of success we may never experience irrespective of how we desire to because of one basic thing - Timing. Some things will not come to us simply because it isn't yet time for them to. It is God that grants us the things we desire and just the way no reasonable father will give his car keys to his ten year old, God does not grant desires to immature children.

Every father knows that keeping a child from the car keys isn't denial. In time, the child will grow mature enough to drive. All that matters is time. Joseph Onilede once noted that, “The difference between a ripe fruit and an unripe one is time.” Indeed with time all things fall in place.

         Wait for the right time. The things you desire are not impossible. It may just not be the right time to attain them has not yet come. When the time does come – and it will – the beauty that comes with attainment brightens it and makes it an envious thing in the eyes of many. Discover and wait for the right time to attain every aspect of your goal. 

Ambition and Success

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings. - Salvador Dali

Do you want to build success one ambition at a time?

Determine exactly what you want: Because people do not know what exactly they want, they move from one thing to the other. Every person at one point or the other in life will have to answer this question; what do you want to become? Yours might not come that way but it will come in some other form. The important thing is not how the question comes to you but what your answer is.

Work with your strengths: make sure your ambition(s) align perfectly with your inherent strengths. This will first require knowledge of your strengths. Working out your ambitions based on this knowledge will equip you with the necessary tools required for the achievement of your goal. It will also make your goal fun to accomplish.

Break it down into smaller bits: one reason why we fail in life is because we are so troubled with the pursuit and immediate accomplishment of great ambitions. Every meal is easier to finish when eaten one bite at a time. Many things are impossible to accomplish with one swoop. Your ambition is one of those things. There is no need to fret though. Simply break it down into smaller, simpler bits. Every big thing is made up of smaller things. Armies invade lands not individually but in battalions. They will be an easy crush individually. Picture your ambition as a battalion set for you to conquer but put in mind that every battalion is made up of individuals. You may not be able to handle the battalion but I am sure individual soldiers will be easier for you to handle. The smaller you break down your ambition, the easier it is to crush.

Do not make it all about you: Any ambition that will require the downfall of another who is already doing very well is not a worthy one. Selfish ambitions will lead to envy, greed and wickedness. The wrong ambition or the wrong path taken to achieve a right ambition has made emotionless monsters out of men in time past. Albert Einstein said, “Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather from love and devotion towards men and towards objective things.”

Idle Hands

And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, Why do you stand here all day idle? - Jesus (The Christ).

Picture From Idle Traveller

Unemployment is an ailment eating deep into my generation. In many African countries the figures are staggering, often reaching unimaginable points like 80% of all youths. For a long time it was seen as a problem of the “developing world” and though we still top the chats, several countries in Europe are fast approaching.

It is common to get the answer, “I am doing nothing”, to the question, “What are you doing now?” from young folks. It is this response that disturbs me. While governments are truly responsible for creating enabling environments for young workers, it does not excuse idleness. I believe that unemployment is a mirage. It only exists in your experience if you permit it to. If you choose to you can take yourself out of that group. All you need to do is occupy yourself with worthy work. It is said that, “The idle mind is the devils workshop”. This is so because the idle mind assuredly conjures up mischievous deeds.

This need not be so. Our young minds do not have to submit to idleness. At every point in time you can occupy yourself with a new skill. There are numerous artisans that will permit you to understudy them if you would offer voluntary service. What is wrong in learning to cook, or bake, or sew, or farm? You give them your time and strength and they give you a new skill that you could use in life.

Devote yourself to continuous learning. Never get to the point that you stop learning. When you do not learn you do not grow. So, read, listen to professionals, do cheap research, improve yourself. Take advantage of this period of your life to become a better person.

Take your focus away from monetary rewards. Money has become a big problem to the young generation. Our eyes seem fixed on becoming wealthy in an hour. Process is now a forgotten word in success dictionary but this should not be so. It is said that, “He that is in a haste to get rich will not be considered innocent”. 

Dare to be Different!

You laugh at me because I'm different. I laugh at you because you're all the same. Jonathan Davis (Audio-book Narrator).

You are the only you that there is. There cannot be another you. You will never be someone else. You may act like them, talk like them, dress like them, but will never be them. Why not give up trying to be someone else and simply be you?

The basic problem with people is conformity. Everybody seems to want to be like another person. Rather than be originals we want to be copies.

I understand that we all learn by copying. Indeed, the primary means of learning is copying – so in essence a child walks like its parents, talks like them, smiles and laughs like them. When the child grows he or she discovers that there is a difference between it and its parents. Gradually it breaks away from total connection from its parents.

The problem is that although we may disconnect from conforming to our parents we submit to conforming to people around us. We conform to our peers, work colleagues, and even foes. We bend and act the way people make us act. When we are faced with some situation, rather than react creatively, we act with some degree of spontaneity because the scripts of our actions have already been written.

Real ingenuity does not come with conformity. At best you will become as successful as the person you are copying, never better. Jesus Christ noted that, “A student is no better than his teacher. But anyone who is well-trained will be like his teacher.”  You will stop to grow. Since they have limits you know your limits.

When you religiously conform to other folks you lose your freedom and become bound with the shackles of their own boundaries. Nothing more brings depression and sorrow than the thought that a person’s life is externally controlled.

Worse still is the fact that you lose the ability to think creatively. What is there to think any more since you have a blueprint already?

Stop! Slap yourself awake! You are a person also! Your life has dignity! Live your own life to the fullest. Rather than conform, create! Create your world. Encourage you friends and loved one to create theirs also. No joy of success can be compared to the joy of having lived your own life. 

IGNORANCE - The Success Killer!

     If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. - Derek Bok (Former President of Harvard University)

     To know or not to know. It is amazing the number of ignorant people in our society. Large segment of the population do not know and funny do not know that they do not know. It almost seems like they feel ignorance is bliss and if that is the case they certainly are hanging on error. Have you heard it said that what you do not know cannot hurt you? Well there isn't a bigger lie than that! Indeed, what you do not know can kill you!
     My work colleague died some time back because she used medication that killed a baby in her. You see, she was pregnant but neither she nor her husband knew about it so she used strong malaria medication to counter to the morning sickness she felt. Ignorance is a killer, a certain killer.
     But for me I do not think ignorance is the biggest problem. The bigger problem is the lack of desire to learn. An ignorant man with the desire to learn is a patient with a properly diagnosed sickness. All he needs is right medication to be well. A majority of young folks have a lackadaisical attitude toward learning. Look around you and you will realize that it is certainly true.
     If you would succeed in life you must be able and willing to learn.
     Interestingly, it is easy to learn. Never in human history has information, which leads to knowledge, been more readily available than today. Researchers and authors willingly share loads of information on every area of development. Plunge into this sea of information and improve yourself. Read books. Take positive advantage of the internet. The information you receive will bring knowledge to you and the knowledge will transform you into another being.
     When you begin your learning journey you will realize that some of the things you thought you knew were an illusion and that you did not know as much as you thought you did. Hence, you will unlearn and begin to properly relearn. Martin Luther King (Jnr) once said, "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." Decide today not to be sincerely ignorant nor conscientiously stupid.

Was it Meant to Happen?

Some things are meant to happen - it just

takes us a couple of tries to get there. - J. R. Ward (Author)

“Seeing we have not gone far, let’s call-in the motor park for a replacement,” I suggested to other passengers after our taxi slated for a three-hour journey broke down after nine minutes.

“There is no need we do that,” they unanimously responded. “It is just a minor fault, and who knows, it was probably meant to happen”. I could have disputed their theory but I felt there was no need so I stayed silent.

One hour down we started out again.

Two hours into our journey, in the very middle of ‘no-man’s-land’, the car made a sharp sound and stopped. This time it obviously was a more serious problem for the car made no sign at all of starting. “I told you all!” my heart kept screaming with my mouth shut. I wondered if the passengers would have said it was a minor fault that was “meant to happen” if we were aboard a plane and not a car. I did not blame them much though - they live by fate.

It is a futile thing to rely on fate. Many people make clumsy decisions, take the actions accompanying those decisions and when the result of their poor decision-making and actions come out, they attest it to fate. How can a driver who decided not to put on a seat belt while driving say after an accident, “I was meant to hit my chest on the steering wheel and develop a complication”? It is absurd! However, many who rely on fate are doing just that.

People run to fate because it gives them a loophole to be irresponsible. They cannot be held responsible for whatever happened or is happening because the buck doesn't stop with them. “It was destined” or a better one is “God made it happen”. Have you heard such clichés before?

Take the driver's seat of your life - we are called to live by faith and not by fate! None who depends on fate has faith. Nothing just happens because “it was meant to happen”. God set nature to respond in a way that a prior happening causes everything that happens - a cause and then an effect. As long as we ignore faith and hang instead on fate, life will give to us whatever it chooses. If we instead take up the responsibility of the things that happen in our lives, we can then begin to change for the better whatever we do not like in our lives.