We have gone Rogue !

A common account of creation narrated by people from various tribes and culture is the Creator seeking to bring order to chaos in a manner that adds value to the world. If you closely observe the diverse beauty in the natural world, from the stars in the sky to the beauty of a Butterfly you will agree that the Creator has accomplished what he set out to do. He then placed us humans in this beautiful paradise called Earth, to continue His agenda. however, some of us have gone rogue. Humans are arguably the single most disruptive Species among the creatures on the earth. Instead of us creating order we contribute to chaos.  

We are employees of the Creator and we have been equipped with skill, knowledge and capacity fulfill our responsibilities of creating order in every area pertaining to life. One could choose to focus on Anthropology or zoology, the objective is clear, to bring order and add value to that area. 

Imagine yourself as an employer, who strives to ensure your employees are paid a salary monthly but instead of going about doing the job you employed them to do, they go about doing their business. How much patience could you have with such employee before you decide to terminate their employment?

 I believe the message is simple and clear, working diligently to execute the Creators mandate is a sure way to lead a successful life. 

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Time & Chance

Time & Chance, the two most important words on the journey to success!

I was in a men’s fellowship a month ago and the speaker spoke about timing and how getting timing right is very critical for success.  Even the bible makes us understand in the book of Ecclesiastes that there is a time for everything and it further states that “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all”. 

It is very important to understand these two concepts in order attain successful in your life. Timing relates to positioning i.e. the stage in your life, and chance relates to the opportunities that you come across.  Your circle of influence/network also has an impact on the opportunities that come your way.

To elude further about this concept of timing, let’s assume the average duration of man's life is 75 years, this can be divided into three parts, the morning part, the afternoon part and the evening part, let’s say from the ages 0-25 is the morning part, 25 – 50 is the afternoon part and 50 – 75 is the evening part of man’s life. Noon time corresponds to 35 years old. The sun shines the brightest at noon. This means by the age of 35 all of us should be at the pinnacle of our careers. Even Jesus’s ministry was completed at the age of 33. Yakubu Gowon the former Nigerian head of state was 31 when he became Head of state. There is a saying that a fool at 40 is a fool forever. It’s because at 40 you should have arrived and be in full swing demonstrating your God given talent and abilities. 

It will be difficult to be at the pinnacle of your career at the age of 35 if you haven’t made the right plans and choices during the earlier part of your life. The morning part of your life is a very important part because the decisions you make during this period of your lives will determine how the latter parts of your life will be. USA Olympic Gold medallist Donna Elizabeth de Varona was 13 when she won Gold in the 1960 Olympics in Italy. She started swimming when she was very young. 

The book of Genesis 1:28 says: God blessed the humans by saying to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it! Be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, and every living thing that crawls on the earth!" You may ask yourself “how can I be fruitful, multiply and take dominion when I don’t even know what my purpose is?" You may ask yourself how do I know what careers or businesses venture to pursue? The options a numerous and could range from a career in medicine, engineering, law, finance, music, fashion art, to tech start up. I admit that it can be confusing determining what career or line of business to pursue but one thing that can make it easier is knowing your purpose and aligning it to your career or business interest. When you walk in your purpose things become easier, think of a fish in water compared to a fish trying to climb a tree, which is more difficult. When you walk in your purpose there is provision (all the food needed for the fish to survive is in the ocean).

This brings me to another very important question which is “How do I know my purpose”? I believe the best person that could answer the question about the purpose for something is the manufacturer of that thing. The manufacturer of a Car would be able to describe to you the features and options available in the car because he put them there.

The bible says in the book of Genesis that God made us in his image, similarly, the best person that can show you your purpose in life is God. I like to use the analogy that God is a mirror and our purpose is our face. Which is quite interesting because one of the unique ways to identify a person is by the persons face. So how do you see what your face looks like.. by getting closer to the mirror.

Once you have an idea of your purpose and you have a vision of what you want your life to be, the journey doesn’t end there. You need to work hard at making your vision a reality by taking proactive actions. Everything we see here today was at one time a figment of someone’s imagination. “Just google who invented…” and you will see the names of the people that once had ideas but didn’t stop there. They labored until those ideas became things that we can see around us today.

Have you heard of the saying that "the cemetery is the richest place on earth,"? That is because millions of people with ground breaking ideas worth billions of dollars die without taking actions to make their ideas a reality.. A famous inventor by the name of Thomas Edison once said that “Genius” is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Without dedication, and hardwork nothing great can be achieved.

In closing, I have spoken about my ideas of how to make a successful career if you don’t remember anything else remember this. Never chase after money, follow your passion and engage in endeavors that brings value to mankind. Do this and I can guaranty you that you will be very successful.

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Learning, Loving & Leading

Learning, Loving & Leading, these words resonated with me when I saw this picture of Bill Gates. His glasses frames looked ordinary his shirt and tie looked similar to the ones I had in my wardrobe, however at the time of writing this article (2015) his net worth was $79 billion and mine, probably a few thousand dollars. I asked myself what makes this man so different from me; at that point I concluded to myself that his level of value based knowledge and subsequently his network was far greater than mine.  

Later that evening, I went grocery shopping and the cashier at the checkout was a woman probably in her late thirties. I asked myself what differentiates this woman from highly successful Marisa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo. Could it be because she could not afford a university education, or maybe in fact she did attend University but wasn't able to find a good paying job. Whatever the case may be, in my opinion the difference between highly successful people and others is the difference in the amount of value based knowledge and networks successful people have that other don't.  If this is the case, I have a good chance to be successful if I keep learning the right things and developing my networks.

However, imagine you become the most successful person on earth with all the money, network and fame but you have no passion or feel no purpose for your life, this could lead to a feeling of unfulfillment, depression, and lack of will to live. Ever wondered why seemingly successful people with perfect lives commit suicide? Love is the foundation of life; love is what gives you a genuine concern for a particular cause, hobby, career, person etc. Love is what gives your life a meaning and without love, life is incomplete. But how do you find that pure love from which every other thing flows. This in my opinion can be achieved by developing an intimate knowledge yourself, your values and attaining a spiritual awareness of your purpose in life. 

As you learn and build connections that results to some success and you discover and explore your passions out of love that leads to a fulfillment in your life, you may want to share your philosophies or ideas with others.  Encourage those that need encouragement, inspire those that need inspiration and set an example for those around you to follow. This in my opinion is leading. Great leaders identify the potential in those around them and inspire them to achieve greatness. What legacy will you leave behind after your time on this earth is over? Today, stories of great men such as Nelson Mandela, Sir Isaac Newton, and Martin Luther King, Jr. still inspire and motivate people. These men in their grave still contribute to helping people make the most of their lives. Observing closely the lives of these great men you can see that they, learnt, loved and led.

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THE SPIRITUAL DNA

This thoughts came to my mind one early Sunday morning in January 2014. It’s a concept I’ll like to call “The Spiritual DNA”.

In the same way our biological DNA is comprised of SNPs (Single Nucleotide – Polymorphism) which basically determine our physical and behavioural attributes, so can the Spiritual DNA of a person have profound effect on the behavioural attributes and lifelong patterns in a person’s life. These can ultimately determine the future and experiences an individual is likely to encounter.

Elements of the Spiritual DNA are usually passed down from parents to offspring during conception, just as it is for the biological DNA.

Observing closely, you may notice trends in individuals from a particular family. It could be a trend of poverty, poor health, certain behavioural attributes (anger, promiscuity), etc. This may seem like biological traits but they are in fact as a result of the Spiritual DNA of that person or family.

It is very important for you to understand this mystery especially if you are planning to go into a long term commitment such as marriage with someone. Identifying and understanding the Spiritual DNA of your partner correctly and taking the right precautions to correct and restore any blemish in it can save you from a lot of unnecessary problems in the future.

The Spiritual DNA of man was perfect in the beginning having no corruption, defect or blemish, but this changed when man sinned against God. Sin is one thing that can corrupt a person's spiritual DNA, and the worst part is that the blemished DNA will inherently get passed on to any offspring of that person unless something is done to correct or reverse the blemished element of that DNA strand.

You may ask yourself “What does this have to do with me?” A blemish in a person’s Spiritual DNA is never a good thing. The outcomes are things like, lust, failure, poverty, stagnation, poor health etc.  It is therefore very important to have a retrospective view of your lineage and infer if there’s anything that may have corrupted your DNA. Did your family or ancestors worship idols in the past? Is there a history of sexual perversion in your family? Is there a history of wickedness or causing harm to others?

Look at the continent of Africa, a continent where historically its people have worshipped idols in the past and have grossly sinned against God. It is said that civilisation started in Africa but we haven’t made much progress since then. Care to ask why? I think a major reason may be due to the state of our spiritual DNA.

The good news is that a corrupted or blemished Spiritual DNA can change! It can be cured and made whole. In the same way the biological DNA will mutate and transform after been subjected to certain conditions over a long period of time, the Spiritual DNA will also change when an individual becomes born-again and starts living according to the Spirit of God, when you allow the word and love of God transform you gradually. This is a gradual process, but everyday you wake up you are being transformed towards perfection as long as you remain in Christ.

You can also force a cure to a defective DNA by identifying the recurring effect that that corrupted DNA has on your life or family and going into prayer with God, asking Him to make your spiritual DNA whole again. However, the key is staying away from Sin because with every Sin comes corruption of a person’s Spiritual DNA.

So keep living holy according to Gods word and let His love and Spirit transform you into who you were made to be. Don’t accept failure or any other symptom of a defective DNA; pray it away as soon as you can identify it. May the Grace of God be sufficient for us all!  

Amen.

Tips for graduates looking for jobs

Recently, a number of graduates have told me that they are looking for jobs, usually my next question to them is “what kind of job are you looking for?” and the “I’m looking for any good job” response I get makes me realize that some of our youths today have no sense of direction or ambition.

With the global economy more or less stagnant in most part of the world with the exception of Asia and Africa having significant growth, the job market has become more competitive.

Usually, the way to stand out from the crowd is to demonstrate to your prospective employer that you possess the ability to grasp quickly the unique skill needed to perform your role excellently and you have the passion to drive profitable growth in the organization.

Bearing this in mind, your resume/CV must be specific to the role and industry you are looking to gain employment and must emphasize the particular skills your prospective employer is looking for.

How on earth do you expect to be employed on merit when nothing sets you apart from the millions of graduates entering the job market every year? How do you plan to streamline your resume to emphasize certain skills or demonstrate your passion for a particular role or industry when you don’t even know what you are looking for? Imagine you are looking for something but you don’t know what it is, how are expected to find it!

Please take some time to think about what you want out of your career and make the necessary plans and actions to achieve it. Nothing is impossible to those that believe and are able to define their ideas into structured plans also taking the necessary actions needed to achieving their set goals.

Wish you all the best in your job search. :)

Think Again!

For those that think they don’t need God (Jehovah, Kings of Kings) and feel they can successfully go through this journey of life by their own strength all I can say to you is “Think Again!”

In an ideal world, working at 100% efficiency, the effort we apply into getting work done will be equal to the end result.

I am sure you all agree that this world we live in is far from being ideal or perfect. Therefore our applied efforts are often not equal to the end result. In reality there are a host of spiritual forces that could be against you especially when you are on the road to success. Your success could also provoke jealousy among your friends and family which can drive them into mischievous acts against you.

However when you work with God the effort you apply into your work is multiplied as long as you are working in-line with his purpose for your life, hence with God you work at efficiencies greater than 100%. In addition, you do not even need to worry about spiritual or physical attacks or challenges because when you work according to his purpose for your life you receive divine protection, unmerited favor, divine direction, good health etc.

The challenges and uncertainties in this life are sometimes great and overwhelming. You may choose to deal with them by your own strength or let God deal with them on your behalf. I encourage you to choose the latter.

SIMPLE YET PROFOUND: ACHIEVING YOUR DREAM.

I am writing this with much excitement, I just received a phone call from a company telling me I got through to the next stage of their recruitment process. It’s not just any company it’s THE “Company”, the company on my master plan, the only company I sent my CV to, the company I want to work for, the company where I’ll learn the much needed skills required for me to get to achieve my next goal.

Please permit me to share some of my thoughts with you on the subject of making progress in the pursuit of your dream. This is not limited to career progress alone, it also applies to progress in education, relationship, finance, etc.

The information I am about to share is not new to most of you and may appear as simple and common sense. They are however very profound steps which if followed properly can change your life forever.

Most of the innovative solutions or products  we see today were derived from very simple yet profound ideas. Some of the laws of physics are very simple yet their implications are so great and have brought great benefit to mankind.  One example of this is Newton’s third law of motion which states that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This simple law applied to aero-dynamics is the reason why airplanes fly.

Firstly, anyone serious about making progress in any area of life needs to have a vision. The nice thing about visions is that there’s no limit as to how crazy or big it could be. What will you like to be in 20 years? Would you like to be a C.E.O of a multinational?

Secondly, you need to ascertain the requirements necessary for you to become what you want to become. Learn from other people who have achieved similar goals. Look at profiles of C.E.Os of fortune 500 companies. What did they have that set them apart from others? Is there any trend among C.E.O's of multinationals? My personal observation is that most C.E.O’s have MBA degrees from very good business schools like Harvard or LBS. Maybe getting an MBA will be beneficial to you. What other qualities do they have? What about work experience? You may need to change jobs so that your work experience will be relevant to the position you want to get in the future. How about personalities? Are you shy? Maybe you need to work on building your confidence level, develop leadership skills, learn another language etc.

Thirdly, you need to have a structured and specific plan on how you will achieve each individual goal that takes you closer to ultimate goal. This plan can have various long and short term goals.

Fourth and final step is to take action. This requires courage.                                  

Some people may think your actions don’t make sense but believe in yourself. They may say stuff like, “You have a really good job so why are you quitting your job to go back to school? What if you don’t get a job after school?” There is always an element of risk but it’s a risk that will be worth taking.

If you need to change jobs, then apply for a new job. The job you are applying to should be specific and fit into your master plan. If you don’t get the job, find out why. Some employers may give you the reasons why they may have decided not to take your application to the next stage. Take it as constructive criticism and improve yourself to better fit what the company is looking for. Don’t relent be proactive and persistent until you get what you want.

In summary, these things don’t apply to everyone, some people are comfortable with an averagely good 9-5 job, an averagely happy marriage, and an average degree from an averagely ranking university. However, if you are really serious about making significant progress and impact your generation then get out of your comfort zone and follow that God given dream you have. Good luck.