Stop the search for greener pastures (PART 2)

The challenge is this, if I could work hard to make ends meet, in the western world, why wouldn't I do same here in my country? I remember as a young lad, preparing for university, I had plans to school in Europe and my plans involved schooling and working so as to survive and be able to meet up with expenses. I observed this was the standard for most Nigerians who travelled to Europe to study. Plans didn't work so I had to attend university in Nigeria, after my first year in the university, I asked myself a very important question; what stops me from schooling and working? If I had plans to do so in Europe, now that I'm here, why can’t I do it? And that’s how I started my first business; from installing software to tutoring, repair and sales of computer and accessories. At a point in the business, I had four employees on my pay roll monthly and paying tuition was never a problem, my parent were also relieved from paying my fees through their nose and after graduation from university, I didn't have reasons to hunt for job because I’d my hands full and now, after several years, I remain a vibrant entrepreneur taking giant strides.

The problem of illegal migration to the developed countries is becoming over whelming and I do not think you should contribute to it, all in an attempt to escape poverty. If you must migrate, there are legitimate ways to go about it and you must be responsible.

Whatever your hand finds doing, do it well. The truth is; your success in life has nothing to do with your location, it has every thing to do with who you are; your personality. An author once wrote “Success is not a citizen of any country”, so stop the search for greener pastures, Africa is full of wealth, look inward and make yourself productive. Some one once said “a lizard in Nigeria, will not become an alligator in America” It will remain a lizard except that it may become fresher because of the weather condition over there. It’s not all about the country you live in, it’s all about you, because, if you have in you the yeast to rise and live your dream of success, you will not be in search of greener pastures, but you will create green pastures wherever you find yourself.

Image credit (Pixabay)

Stop the search for greener pastures (PART 1)

Too many people from developing countries have come to believe that they can not make it good in their country except they migrate to the developed countries with robust economy and good standard of living. In most cases, some people just want to check out; either they have what to do there or not. Some go as far as taking life threatening risk to travel through the desert and on the sea all in an attempt to escape what they termed poverty in their country in search of greener pastures in developed countries.

The first thing you must settle in your mind is this; in the country where you live, there are people who are successful and living good life without stealing or engaging in fraud or embezzlement of public fund. The question is how are they able to achieve that and what can I do to be successful where I am?

I believe in “hard work” and it does not kill, you must learn to work hard, if you do not have a job, get one, it may not be your dream job but start from there. As long as you have a vision and plan for success, you will definitely achieve your goals.

Another thing you must ensure in your life is contentment, be satisfied with whatever you find yourself doing and whichever level you are at every point in time. It’s not as though you should not aspire for the next level but you must not allow greed or jealousy be your motivation. Things may take longer than expected or planned but it’s only a matter of time, things will get better. As much as good life and money do not grow on trees in the western world (where Africans termed greener pasture), it is expected that, if you happen to find your way to any of the developed countries, you will still need to find a job to make ends meet and you should not expect to have a smooth ride in your quest to find a job because you remain a second citizen as far as the host country is concern. As a result of this, it has been observed that most immigrants had to opt for menial jobs. I still wonder how an able body adult will leave everything behind, only to go and take up menial jobs in another country, considering the fact that the amount of money required to process travel document and flight is more than enough to start a small scale business in most developing countries.

Image credit (Pixabay)

You are permitted to make mistakes

In life, we learn each passing day, there are things we know that we try to improve on and there are things we do not know that we try to learn. As much as you are always willing to improve on yourself and open to learn new things, you are bound to sometimes make mistakes; it is part of the learning process. The fact that you have the opportunity to make mistakes and accept correction is a proof that you are making effort and your effort over time will be crowned with success. So in life, mistakes are allowed but you must learn from every mistake so as not to repeat it self, the ability to minimize your mistakes is proportional to your success rate on your journey towards perfection in your life or on any project.

Do not let any one talk you out of that business or kill that big idea of yours, it does not matter how many times you get it wrong, the opportunity to get it right is coming closer. You need to be determined and persistent in your pursuit for excellence.

The fact that you made a mistake does not make you a failure, what makes you one is if you remain down and accept defeat. You must prepare for the top life because it’s easy, the down life is more difficult with so many obstacles to surmount, but the top is free and you can fly as high as you so desire.

Image credit (Pixabay)

You are permitted to start small

Every thing great in this life, started small, you are permitted to start small but do not remain small, you may make mistakes but don’t throw in the towel, explore your mistakes and see how you can convert them to opportunities. Rise up to the challenge, you can be great and the truth is; you will be great. The best time to start is now, and the best place to start from is where you are. So stop complaining and get up to work.

I read of a youth corps member in the newspapers, who was posted to serve in “Abeokuta Ogun State” (Western Nigeria) for one year under the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme for all high institution graduates in Nigeria. This young man identified a need within his host community and met it. From his one room apartment, he decided to start after school lesson for school children at a fee, after some few month, it was observed that children that attended his classes performed better in school and he had several parent in the neighbourhood enrolled their children and in returns, he was making some income. Some fellow corps member around him probably got motivated by him and also started their after school class for student in the community, but it was observed that they did not last long in the venture. For the pioneer youth corps member, his story was different, after his one year service, he got an uncompleted building in the community through the assistance of some members of the community and he started a regular school. By this time, he had so many students at his call, he kept at it, doing what he knows how to do best and today; he owns one of the leading private schools in “Abeokuta” with several employees on his pay roll. This young man probably did not go to university to learn how to teach or start a school but he took advantage of the academic challenges in his host community and made success out of it.

Someone may ask; so what do I start? Anything! Yes, anything you know how to do best. It does not have to be what you study in school. Let me tell you some thing about school, is a means to an end, it’s not the school itself that matters, but what you can do with what you learn from school. The school helps to prepare you for the task ahead of you in life, so it is not all about your course of study; it is expected of you to be vast in knowledge so that you can take up anything and make success out of it. That’s the difference between you that went to school and the other person who didn't.

If you get a job in your field, fine, if you do not, explore other opportunities around you; don’t be discouraged if it appears you don’t know much about the job, if you get a job today, you may be the best student from school, but the company will still have to train you, so it makes no difference how good you are, what matters at this point is your ability to adapt, learn fast and interpersonal skills that will determine your success in that company. More so, this is the time for you to be creative in your thinking and improve on the things you know how to do best.

There are millions of student who attempted to gain admission into university when you did but couldn't, but you did successfully, there are several others who gained admission with you but couldn't graduate, but you did successfully, if you could get this far, there is hope for you because you have not come this far to be jobless, you are on your journey of success and there is no stopping you.

Image credit (Pixabay)

The pyramid of life

In the pyramid of life, at the bottom (the down life), there are too many people struggling for limited resources but at the top, there are a few competing for unlimited resources. This explains the reason the rich keeps increasing in riches while the poor struggles for survival. It’s all your choice to make, refuse the down life, don’t let any thing or any one keep you down and no matter how many times you fall, just keep moving until you get to your desired destination.

You may loss something or someone you hold so dearly, it may be very painful and difficult to bear but you must ensure you keep standing, do not let the situation keep you down, maintain your positive attitude and keep your eyes on the big picture (your goal in life). For instance, you may loss your job and it appears like you are down to zero, don’t be afraid, the zero point is always a good place to start all over. There is nothing wrong with starting afresh but there is everything wrong with wallowing in self pity, complaining and looking for who to blame for your predicament; this is what makes you a failure, because you are looking for help where it does not exist. What can I do? You may ask; if you ever find yourself in a position as this, what you need to do is to make up your mind to do it right in an attempt to start all over. If you need to get another job, do it but this time, with a different mentality. Say this, “any company that has me in their establishment is fortunate because I've got what it takes to make them great”, repackage your CV (curriculum Vitae) and move on. If your interest is in entrepreneurship, say this, “I'm going to be the best at whatever I set out to do”, see your job loss as an opportunity to demonstrate all the knowledge and skills you have acquired from your previous job. It’s time to reposition you for the task ahead. To be an entrepreneur could be very challenging but you are more than equal to the task.

If no one encourages you, encourage yourself, say this; “I've done it before and I can do it again, even better”. Remember your past successes and use it to encourage yourself but don’t be tempted to dwell too long on them so it won’t become a limitation. This is also the time for you to cut down the excesses; those things that easily distract you from your set goals and other things that are not very necessary. This will enable you focus and position yourself for the new height of your aspiration.

Image credit (Pixabay)

Celebration of Knowledge

On 14^th July 2010, at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp in Kaduna state (Northern Nigeria), I had the opportunity to address about 2000 Corp members for some few minutes on “How to make the best of their service year”. I said to them “Your graduation from university should be for you an opportunity to give back to the society” as a graduate, this is not the time for you to look up to the society to give you a job but time to create jobs for the society. Your society is looking up to you for help, not too many had the opportunity to go to school and finish well. There is so much joblessness out there, economic downturns, poverty, corruption and so on… It is obvious the society does not have much to offer, other than these things. You must be smart and get the best out of school so you can be in a position to help others. What I'm saying in essence is; don’t have the mind set of graduating from school and have you join the labour market “job hunting”, rather, make up your mind to make a difference and help the situation of things in your society.

If the society refuses to give you a job or the government refuses to create the enabling environment for small scale business to thrive, create one for yourself. This could be very challenging because I have been there, but you have what it takes to harness all the potentials you've got to make your life better. It is a celebration of knowledge, you have learnt so much in school than for you to stay jobless. The many challenges around you are your opportunities to make a difference. Don’t blame the government, it won’t change your status; more often than not, governments world over only pay lip service to overturning unemployment and job creation, so it will not be the wise thing to do; blaming the government and do nothing to make a change. The truth is; the government itself needs help, so I encourage you to take responsibility for your life.

Image credit (Pixabay)

The Certificate and my success

Certificate is wonderful, but does not guarantee permanent success. You can have all the degrees in the world and not be successful, certificate is just paper, what gives it value is the bearer. You can have all the “A” (distinction) on paper, but if you are not an “A” personality, permanent success will elude you. This is the reason I wonder at students who subscribe to cheating in an attempt to have good grades. You must become more interested in developing yourself and see good grades as icing on the cake; this will help you a great deal in your quest for a distinctive life.

How many graduates do we have that put to work what they learnt in school? Most times, it is not the issue of opportunity as it is the case of incompetence. The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to go to school for the sake of attendance, its all about knowledge acquisition and application. It is unfortunate that we find ourselves in an environment that attached so much importance to certificate and good grades, so much that without certain high grades, you can not get a good job or you probably do not have the opportunity to apply for a job. I feel this only encourages student to do everything possible to have good grades even at the expense of not acquiring any knowledge. Get good grades, but beyond grades, go for knowledge, know your onions and be the best at whatever you do. Do not blame your environment for your inability to excel in life, challenge yourself to make a difference.

Image credit (Pixabay)

Wealth versus Success (PART 3)

Success has nothing to do with what you have or don’t have; success is not a function of material possession. Success is who you are, it’s your personality. Learn to consciously remind yourself that you are a success, it does not matter what happens you are a success any way. If you ever fail in life, don’t wallow in self pity, because you fail today does not make you a failure in life. Get yourself in order, find out what you need to do better or what you need to start doing to improve on your life and go for it. If I decide to paint my room, that does not make me a painter, same thing applies to you, because you lost everything in that business or fail on that project does not make you a failure. How about starting all over again, and this time around, give it your best.

You may not be the richest man in the world today, probably no one even knows you, but you can be a success in your area of endeavour and fulfilling your purpose in life, happily doing what you know how to do best. You can make a success of the level you find yourself and aim higher for the next level, remember you must learn to measure your success as you grow in life.

Your present circumstance may be the direct opposite of who a success is, but it’s a mirage, it’s not real, just look close enough and you will discover who you are. Ask yourself certain questions that may guide your thinking and get you focused on your dream in life; am I doing what I should be doing? Am I fulfilled doing it? Whatever it is that I am doing, is it good for people and does it honour God? For example, you can not be in the business of producing fake drugs and expect to make success out of it, because what you are doing is not only harmful to human but does not honour God. So if your answers to the questions above are positive, you need not to worry, it’s only a matter of time, you will turn out a success that God has made you.

Image credit (Pixabay)

Wealth versus Success (PART 2)

Success is more of an internal drive that propels you to do what is right, profitable and make you who you are or aspire to be. If people look at you and could trace your wealth to what you do, it only shows that you need to do more because if all you have is linked to your job and you lost the job, what will become of you? Or you are a son or daughter of a prominent politician, business mogul or god-father who supply you with all the connections you require to be rich and wealthy. This does not still guarantee your permanent success in life because all you have and who you are is connected to god-father and prominent positions and nothing in life is permanent, things change and people change.

Success produces wealth, but wealth does not always produce success, if it does, the success will be short lived. If God has made you a success, it does not matter what kind of job you do or who you are, your advancement will beat the imagination of people around you. You may be a cobbler, before long, your business will grow into a shoe factory and you can become a global brand. You do not have to become a manager in an oil and gas company or telecommunication company before you can attain success, you can be a success at whatever you do and learn to measure your success at every level of your life.

Get me right, it’s not as though your source of wealth should be questionable and by no means should it be, whatever you do, ensure it is legit. But what I mean is; your level of advancement should supersede what you do or who you are because you are rightly motivated to do the right thing and produce the best result possible. People will look at you and be amazed because they thought they knew you as the owner of that little kiosk down the street some few years ago, but you now own the biggest grocery store up town. How is this possible? Because God has made you a success, does God make some people successful and others failure? No! The choice is yours, it does not matter how many times you fail in life; the day you make up your mind to be a success and refuse to be a failure, that day marks the beginning of great success for you.

Image credit (Pixabay)

Wealth versus Success (PART 1)

Often time, people mistake wealth (The presence of material possession in abundance) for success. Wealth is a product of successful personality, its physical, not permanent, subject to change and circumstances. Success on the other hand is “Who you are” not “What you have”, it has a lot to do with personality.

This explains the reason we have so many people around us today who used to be very wealthy and have lost their pride, value and possessions. They were either affected by inflation, economic melt down or un-foreseen circumstances beyond their control and their inability to reproduce their former status shows that they were never a success, they were only wealthy and wealth is limited. The truth is, no matter how wealthy you are, if you do not have the right strategy and investment in place to sustain your wealth, you will wake up one day to discover that things are not the way it used to be. If you are a success, no matter what happened or the situation you find yourself, you will reproduce your status and even better than you used to be.

Image credit (Pixabay)

Plan for Success (PART 3)

An entrepreneur who plan to set up a business and want to grow the business a million times bigger in the first year of operation, this plan is difficult to achieve because it is practically not feasible. It takes more than twelve calendar months to grow a business from a shop to a conglomerate.

To grow your business or start one, the first year known as the foundation year usually involves a lot of commitment, resources and investment. Trying to put processes and business structures in place and ensuring free flow of business activities. Most business owners expect little or no profit in the foundation year but if you can get it right at this point, you can be rest assured that your business will be around for a long time and growing strong.

Findings shows that most private business hit the rock before they reach the five years mark, especially in this part of the world where people jump into businesses because its in vogue and not because they have a definite plan on how to be successful at it. So it’s not enough to have money to rent an office space or shop where your profit in a year can’t even pay the rent subsequently.

Effective planning is an important part of every business or project success, your plan should be well thought out, written down and explicit enough for you to comprehend at any time. Your plan often serves as a reference, guides you on your journey of success and helps you retrace your steps.

Image credit (Pixabay)

Plan for Success (PART 2)

As a student, why do you go to school? Why do you attend lectures? Do you have a definite plan in place for your academics? Or you are in school because everyone around you is in school. I found out a lot of people are in school for the wrong reason as much as it’s a good decision they made to be in school. This is the reason we have a lot of graduate out there in search of jobs that are not there because they probably went to school without an effective plan for success in place. It’s not enough to read and pass examinations in school; you must be prepared for life examinations. You need to take your studies serious because that’s your primary assignment for now, attend your lectures, use the library and if you must miss any lecture, make plans for make up. There are a lot of things that compete for your attention as a student any where you find yourself but you need to learn how to balance your life, otherwise, these distractions may lead to failure.

For instance a student who does not have time  for his or her studies and will always postpone reading activities till few night to examination, what do you expect of such a student? Incipient failure, you are either planning to succeed or to fail, there is no middle ground; if you do not plan at all you are actually planning to fail. Your plans must be set rightly and achievable, consider the student described above, the problem he or she had is failure to plan rightly because preparing for any examination few night to the start date is wrong planning.

Image credit (Pixabay)

Plan for Success (PART 1)

Success does not come by chance; you do not stumble on success, it comes to people who prepares for it. Planning involves a conscious effort to prepare for the future or any project you intend to embark on. Planning helps to set your indices right and put your input (resources) together in order to achieve your set goal and objective.

Planning cut across every area of human endeavour; from great nations of the world to small individuals, the importance of effective planning can not be ignored. Planning involves well thought out steps and actions in order to achieve a definite goal. Your plan is effective when the set out goals and objective is realistic and achievable. People set goals and objectives that they can not achieve in all their life time or do not have the resources to execute; when you do this, fear and frustration set in and these create an environment for failure to thrive. So when you make your plans for success, ensure you set goals that are achievable within a specific duration of time and within the ambit of the resources you have at hand. You may not have all you need to meet your set goals but you can make do with all you have, with effective plan in place, the achievement of your goal in life is possible, just take it one step at a time.

Image credit (Pixabay)

Change the story (PART 2)

The circumstances that surround your birth has nothing to do with who you are or your present condition, you probably did not have the right to choose when and where you were born but the most important thing is, you are here today, what next? You’ve got to do something that will change the rest of your life. Don’t sit there and wallow in self pity and play the blame game; don’t ever wish you were somebody else, No! Take responsibility for where and who you are at the moment, you may have made the greatest mistake in your life, but you are not a failure except you remain down. Refuse to give in or give up, make the choice today to be the best of you and that nothing will be able to put you down and if you ever find yourself down, rise-up to the challenge, there is no crime in trying again and again.

Your destiny is in your hands and no one or circumstances of life can put you down, refuse to let anyone talk you down. You are a success, that’s who you are, so stand tall and answer your name.

Image credit (Pixabay)

Change the story (PART 1)

Have you ever considered yourself and your family and wished you were born into another family you observed is doing better than yours? Or have you ever consider some families where their great grand parent or immediate parent, left vast wealth, investment and conglomerate of companies for their generation yet unborn? Have you ever asked yourself where your grand parent or your father was when these people were investing in their generation? May be your parent where not brave enough to plan for the future or they were totally careless of what become of you. May be they tried their best possible and it still did not turn out good, I sincerely believe that this is an opportunity for you to make a difference and change the story of your generation. The day you decide to make the change, that day marks the beginning of the rest of your life. Don’t make excuses for change, rather make the change because sooner or later the change will come but it may not be to your advantage if you refuse to pilot it.

It does not matter how disgraceful and uninteresting your life has been, what matters is your response to this predicament you found yourself in. The desire for a positive change is what drives you to rewrite the story of your life, you may not have power over your past to correct your mistakes but you can sure start from where you are now and build a better life worthy of emulation.

Image credit (Pixabay)

Downloading Success

The dictionary defined success as “The achievement of something desired, planned or attempted.” This definition is good but inadequate, because success is more than an achievement; it has a lot to do with personality. Success is who you are, not a state of mind and it is not subject to the circumstances of your environment, even if you were born into the poorest family in the poorest country and continent on planet earth, your success is possible because its in you. So stop looking everywhere else for it, look inwards and download success.

If you are a success, it does not matter what you are involved in, you will come out tops. If you were drop in the middle of the desert, you will make a fountain of water and if you were to market ice cubes to Eskimos, you will return with profit because it’s inherent and not circumstantial. Success on the other hand is measured at different levels in life and you do not have to amass all the wealth or education in the world before it can be said that you have attained success. So start from where you are and grow to where you want to be.

You can be a successful driver, trader, mason, engineer, journalist, lawyer …etc. The emphasis here is not on what you do but on who you are, by this I mean your investment in your person, commitment to your dream, goals, aspirations and drive to succeed against all odds, your desire to remain focused and refuse the mediocre life. Successful people do not drop from the sky, they are made.

“David achieved success in all he did, for the LORD was with him” 1 Samuel 18:14

Image credit (Pixabay)

The impact of the world system on your success

The world system and economy has the capacity to make people; in their career, business, education and other endeavours, but it also has the ability to unmake same people within a twinkle of an eye. This explains the reason the world is full of “former successful people” who have excel on several frontiers and achieved outstanding success but ended as family dependants. Some goes to the extreme and use their very hands to destroy their lives as they venture into hard drugs and degenerative vices. The media is awash with devastating news of how one time very successful super stars in sports, athletics, great musicians, super models and politicians ended up living in the shadows of their true personality. One wonders what befell them; could it be their quest to maintain their status and sustain their relevance has become a snare to them?   The system that made them super successful turns around to place so much demand on them; so much that they lost their true personality and become slave to the system.

The system that governs the world is made for men and not the other way round. That implies we are supposed to drive the system and not the system driving us. Let me consider one of the popular elements of the world system to expatiate my point; Inflation- The sustained percentage increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. As inflation increases, every amount of money you own buys a smaller percentage of goods and services. If you allow the inflation of the economy of where you live determine your level of success, you can be sure your life will be full of ups and downs, good and bad, bullish and bearish, profit and loss… so you need to ensure you grow faster than the rate of inflation, maintain the up and forward trajectory at all time and your investment capacity should remain greater than your spending capacity as money spent does not yield interest but money invested is a deposit into the future. You can always reap on your investment whenever the need arises in the near future.

“The blessing of the LORD makes rich and he adds no sorrow with it” 

  Proverbs 10:22

Image credit (GaWC Project 55)

"CHOICES" Makes all the difference

The choices we make in life, makes all the difference, it determines how great or small you are today and how you will end up in life. The things you where forced to do, either by family, society or circumstances, does not reveal your true character but the choices you make. Your character on the other hand, determines your actions in every thing you do and your actions determines if you will end up a success or a failure. You can see, it all starts from the choices we make in life, so choose to be the best today and refuse to be intimidated by life challenges because you are more than able and you've got what it takes.

The choice of which school to attend, course to study, where to live or work, who to marry, divorce or stay married, and so many other choices we need to make in life, must be carefully considered and immediate gratification must not be your priority. Always remember that there’s a future and the choices you make today may affect generation ahead of you. Its not all about you, the world is bigger than you.

Success or Failure?

You have the right to choose who you want to be; a success or a failure. If you do not decide today, someone will do it for you. The system of the world will compel you to conform to the prevailing circumstance around you. The truth is, no one is born a failure, neither is there any born a success. It is impossible for anyone to be born with gold or plastic spoon in their mouth as some people presume. The fact that you were born into the wealthiest family on planet earth does not guarantee your success in life or at whatever you do. And if you were born into the poorest family in the poorest country on earth, it still does not make you a failure. You must come to terms with this truth.