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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