MALT

I write today with great excitement and passion to impact my world with all that God has deposited in me as an individual. I was invited to a youth seminar last weekend where I presented a paper on the importance Effective Leadership as a Tool for Youth Development.

I had the privilege of speaking to a congregation of youth leaders from different youth executives of the Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria, Egba Diocese for about an hour and a half - with rapt attention from my audience and the opportunity to share my experience and the need to invest in youths through effective leadership qualities and attributes, I identified and learned a number of things which I will enumerate here as being required in our society as a panacea for youth development. [Read more →]

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Sequel to my last post detailing the 12 virtues or attributes to be imbibed on your path to becoming successful, I have received different comments; some online and others offline which have been very encouraging and I decided to do this follow-up post as a tonic to help as many that were blessed by the contents of the post. I remember a wise statement I heard when I was in my first school (Primary School) many years ago - the statement goes thus;

It is not how far you have gone that really matters in life, but how well you traversed the space called life

I stated in my last post that success is not something that springsforth like a bomb or dynamite, it does not happen by accident, it is a result of a conscious process that is powered by Determination, Dedication, Devotion, Desire, Dreaming Big, being Diligent, having the right Drive, being Decisive, great Distinction, unravelled Discipline, an unusual level of Diplomacy and spotless dependability. What do you do while you wait for the day your hardwork, commitment, dedication, perseverance or devotion to service would be celebrated? While you wait to be lifted, while you anticipate the breakthrough of your life, while you long for that big break that catapaults you to stardom, what do you do? Preparation is inevitable in the pursuit of success. I like how the Bible puts this in two different passages;

‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven - Matthew 5:16′

And

‘See you a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men - Proverbs 22:29′

There is a time to fine tune your skills, there is a time your need to wait for the opportunity to show up, there is the place of diligence in the pursuit of success because, faithfulness in that which seems small will eventually lead to the big stage if the actor does not faint. If we take a look at the analogy of an elevator. When you get to the waiting lounge of a skysrapper and you are heading for the 50th floor of the building, what do you do while you wait for the elevator door to open. A look at the indicator shows you that it is coming from the topmost floor (e.g 60th floor), that means you have a couple of minutes to wait before the door (opportunity) opens for you to enter. At the lounge are magazines, newspapers, journals to spice your intellectual capacity, inform you and challenge your thinking. You also have people waiting, do you network with them? exchange complimentary cards? or just stay on your own? The truth is, this is a similar scenario faced by many while they wait for that breakthrough! Our eventual success will only come if we maximise the resources available to us to prepare ahead as we await the opportunity (Elevator door). In practical terms, the meeting of steadfast preparation and opportunity leads to resounding success. Mathematically, this can be expressed as

Preparation + Opportunity = Success

Don’t just mourn, dispair, get discouraged, sit down at ease - Get up!!!, Be prepared (As my scout league will say). If you get lost in the beauty of the lounge and the environment and forget that you are actually heading for the 50th floor, you will not be alert to see the door of opportunity open to you - when the elevator finally opens. Have you applied for that job several times without success? Get the training required to excel there - be the candidate of choice and wait for the opportunity to come. Have you submitted a proposal for a project and you’ve not gotten any positive news yet, wait and prepare - because you door of opportunity to excel is about to open. Be an expert in your craft or trade, be the numero uno, be the choice, when your profession, skill, trade, vocation, interest is mentioned or wanted, be the choice! Learn, train and prepare for the big stage….you will be glad you did. Have a great week.

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First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do - Epictetus

Success can never happen as a result of an accident because there is nothing like a successful accident and it takes a conscious effort and consistency on the part of the successful person, event, or phenomenon to actually be a success. When you consider the number of people that have made significant impacts in their life and generation, you will observe that they have some characteristics in common. There is always a price to be paid for greatness and promotion in life and it takes consistent application of these attributes of highly successful people to be in the circle of successful people. I will be writing on the 12-Ds to be considered in order to achieve success in every area of life. They are outlined below:

1- Determination

In the school of success, determination cannot be overlooked in the pursuit of life goals. The art of being resolute and firm in our decision to attain a particular goal, task, objective or aim is what qualifies this attribute called determination. There is nobody on planet earth today that has achieved something worthwhile without exhibiting and practicing the art of determination. When venturing into a project, business, or assignment - our determination defines the end from the beginning because it expresses our attitude and disposition to the task or goal at hand.

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing” - Abraham Lincoln

2 - Dedication

The act of consciously binding yourself intellectually and emotionally to a course of action(s) as a result of your conviction and wholehearted resolve is defined as dedication (Wordnet 3.0). There is nobody that becomes successful by been complacent to a course - it takes a great level of commitment and dedication to a course before success can be achieved.

The relationship between commitment and doubt is by no means an antagonistic one. Commitment is healthiest when it is not without doubt but in spite of doubt - Rollo May

3 - Devotion

“If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you are right” - Henry Ford

Let the truth be said about this attribute of success - there is no success without a marked devotion to the cause that produced the success. When we are able to bring our psychological make up to be earnestly committed or attached to a cause such that we are profoundly consecrated to it, then is devotion assured. The men and women that have made a success of their craft today each exhibit this rare attribute… it is your turn to be celebrated as being successful - learn to be devoted to your passion.

4 - Desire:

Whenever you are impelled to get or do something as a result of your own personal conviction, your ability to desire, thirst or crave for something is at work. You need to have that strong thirst or craving to achieve success in any area of human endeavour - you must be personally driven to succeed. It does not come as a result of being compelled to do so but by an impelling force that comes from within. The Holy Writ describes the fulfillment of a desire as being comparable to having a tree of life because when hope of achieving a desire is dashed, heart break is inevitable (Proverbs 13:12) - so work at it.

5 - Dream Big

“Nobody go anywhere in this world by simply being content” - Louis L’amour

There is a popular phrase which states that; Ideas rule the world! If you heart can conceive it you can surely achieve it and have you seen any innovation in the world today that didn’t start on the platform of dreaming big - the idea realm. You are reading this post today because of the fact that someone (or a group of people) had a big dream of having a network of computers at different universities around a country to communicate using a common language and a common protocol. Today, a lot has evolved from this innovation, we have e-commerce, e-learning, e-governance, chat forums and strategic networking through the Internet. Dream Big, dare to turn that concept of yours to reality and you will definitely be inscribing your name in the annals of successful people. Dear friend, you must remember that today’s dreams are a conceptual representation of tomorrow’s realities, so DREAM BIG. [Read more →]

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The true test of the strength and durability of a building on the surface of the earth is a direct function of its foundation and the true measure of any human being can be found from the foundation or make up of such being. The level of impact we make in our world or in the lives of those around us is determined mainly by who we are, our values, what we believe in, our mindset and what informs every little decision we take. You may wonder how easy is it for Mr. A to get to the peak as it were of his goal, while Mr. B seems to be struggling to get by. There must be something that distinguishes the two and prepares them for wherever they may be placed in the world.

The foundation of man or his source is very important to his/her existence. Source can be your origin, it can be the basis of your mindset, your perception and focus in life. When a skyscraper is to be built, the builders take so much time to dig deep into the earth in order to lay a very solid foundation for the skyscraper unlike what obtains when a bungalow is to be built. Thus, the importance of the foundation in any life cannot be over emphasized. When we take a look at our fingers fully stretched out, we can make three quick observations;
- the thumb is far from the three middle fingers
- the three middle fingers and close together and have similar heights
- the last finger - though the smallest is quite close to the three middle ones

Why should you bother about these facts which are very visible to the naked eyes? [Read more →]

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