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Food for Living: Be Intentional with Sacrifice to Succeed
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
“There can be no progress, no achievement, without sacrifice, and a man’s worldly success will be in the measure that he sacrifices” -James Allen
One of the hallmarks of success is inner fulfilment it heralds. The joy that comes with the realisation that one is good at his or her craft. It’s generally said that action speaks louder than voice. It’s easy for one to say I want to be a pilot, Governor, President, Chief Executive Officer, lawyer or medical doctor, however, what they are saying is ‘I’m ready to do the needful to get to the peak of their career’. The challenge of most people however, is the willingness to put in the work to see their dreams, visions and goals become a reality.
If you will agree with me, the world is governed by perception. One may not have money, but may have values, networks and products the world needs, and if properly utilized, these can attract currency. This is because value will always be appreciated.
In recent times, many friends have reached out to know the secret of my success in life. To be honest, though I don’t see myself as being successful to my heart’s desire yet, I will be unfair to myself, and most especially to my creator who has blessed me with an uncommon strength, network and understanding to life if I don’t acknowledge the blessings. My success is relative, but I will say the secret to my success, apart from the God-factor, is the favour and grace to author two amazing books, build an amazing network of friends in addition to sacrificing for my future.
One may be surprised how it happened? Well, it’s not rocket science; I sacrificed heavily to get to where I am today. If you think it’s easy to write a book, please endeavour to write one. Again, if you think it’s easy to build and manage healthy and wealthy relationships, please endeavour to cultivate one.
Most people don’t see the work some of us are doing in the backroom, what they see is the result. The late nights we keep, the early worm lifestyle we practice, the research we do, the investment we do for mentors, mentees, and those in need just to mention a few.
Personally, I will say the ultimate sacrifice I have made in life is investing in God who has worked in my garden. I have since realized when you chase God and work in his vineyard, he will ensure you have a bountiful harvest by bringing in people who will favour you.
The journey of success involves sacrifice. Anything you want to do involves sacrifice. There’s always an opportunity cost to success, just like you can’t eat your cake and have it. You can’t be everywhere at the same time. In life, you must determine what you really want and make sacrifices to achieve it.
Sacrifice comes in different ways and stages of life. The sacrifice you make for your family to work is quite different from the sacrifice you make for your business to thrive. The sacrifice you invest in your relationship is quite different from the sacrifice you invest in your academic, health, and career.
This is how intentional sacrifice works; if you want to build an empire, you need to invest enormous amounts of time reading, learning, and experimenting. You can’t do that if you constantly oversleep or watch movies.
If you want to develop a rock-hard, toned body, you need to invest enormous amounts of sweat, energy, and time working out. You can’t do that if you maintain an unhealthy, toxic diet of tempting junk food. It should be noted that the level of success you are willing to attain will determine the level of sacrifice you are willing to go for.
According to Riordan, “True success requires sacrifice: According to 16-year-old Kamsiyochkwu Umeh, the candidate with highest score in 2023 Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s UTME in Nigeria, she studied six hours everyday. You can see the level of sacrifice she invested in her books to attain this academic feat.
Success indeed requires sacrifice. Some people sacrifice their sleep; some sacrifice their food, while some go to the gym for good health. Some even sacrifice their work for the love and unity of their family. The question you need to ask yourself is what are you willing to sacrifice? It should be noted that if you only make small sacrifices, you will only achieve small success.
To understand how sacrifice works, you must clarify what you want and why you want it. You must know there’s a difference between need and want. But then, you must focus on how badly you really want it. Then you clarify the actionable steps which involve sacrifice to attain your goals. Ask yourself, What specifically do I need to attain this goal? Do I need specific knowledge, skills, tools, and resources?
Finally, consider the impact of the goal the sacrifice will make in your life. Ask yourself: How will the process of achieving this goal impact my life? How could it potentially impact different areas of my life? How could it impact my relationships with others?
Finally, you have to make the necessary sacrifice by asking yourself, what specifically must I sacrifice to achieve this goal? What will be the impact of these sacrifices on my life? And ultimately, ask yourself; am I willing to make these sacrifices to obtain this goal?
After answering these questions, spring into action by saying no to distractions and focusing on what’s important. Your ability to say no will determine what’s really important you. According to Warren Buffet, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.”
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer Design Your Destiny and Unleash Your Destiny. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
The importance of timing cannot be overemphasized. Timing is everything in life. It is critical to one’s success. You can lose your money and get it back in many folds. You can even lose your health and get it back all things being equal, but when you lose time, you can hardly get it back again.
The importance of timing can be seen in crops. Every crop has a season, a good farmer won’t plant maize when it’s time for oranges, nor will he plant pears when it’s the season for mangoes.
Time is very instrumental to the success and failure of anyone. Imagine having a meeting or interview at 9:00am and you arrive at 10:10am, it will take the grace of God to be interviewed. As an employee, apart from one not being able to diligently do his job, one of the fastest ways for an employee to lose his job is by being late to work.
When I was in New York Law School studying Taxation law, I did a course titled, the Problem of Timing. During the semester, I learnt about cash and accrued income. Let me do some academic exercise here. In cash income, just like the name entails, one is paid in cash as soon as the work is completed. It’s just like going to the market to make a purchase. One can either pay directly with cash or with debit or credit card. But Accrued income refers to revenue a company has earned by providing goods or services, but for which payment has not yet been received, one will have to do the work first before getting paid. This is applicable when one works in either a public or private organization where one is paid either weekly, bi-weekly or at the end of the month depending on the stipulated mode of payment.
It’s important to note that before the money is paid either in cash or accrued, one would have earned it. It’s just like one learning g before earning, and one will have to update to upgrade. These are just the practical principles that will work with life.
In the same way, in life there’s a seed time and harvest time. It’s a universal principle of life. Whether as a parent, entrepreneur, student or employee. As a parent, if you don’t train your kids very well, they will grow up to reflect the opposite of what you desire. As an entrepreneur when you invest in your business, you will get the reward in due time. As a student, if you take your studies seriously, your grades will improve, and as an employee, you stand to get promotions and opportunities when you add value to your work. In summary, one will have to put in the work before recognition comes on.
To understand how seedtime and harvest work, imagine where parents tend to like one child more than others just because they see potential in him, or he’s smart, hardworking or even creative. They fail to understand that every child is different and as such their timing can be different. Some kinds take time to develop.
I personally believe there’s something so unique about each individual which God has deposited in everyone of us. It’s just a matter of time for it to manifest. Your timing of manifestation is different from your siblings and colleagues.
Personally, I didn’t mature fast with my contemporaries. Overtime, I have seen much improvement in my personal and professional life. Maybe because I have added value to my work with the assistance of mentors and good friends, or God had to humble my colleagues and mentors . Why do I say this? During my formative years, I had little or nothing to show for it. I was looking at my contemporaries as mentor and seeing my mentors as small gods whose feat is unattainable, but now, the reverse seems to be case as I have developed capacity some of my colleagues are yet to attain, while I have even surpassed the achievement of my some of my mentors in some quarters.
In all these, they are all surprised how it happened. Some are yet to comprehend or articulate the feat. It’s just like watching a film where everyone slept and woke up to see the game and tides have changed. The secret behind it is the seed time and harvest time. I was probably learning the trade while in the wilderness, and when the training season matured and ripe enough to be harvested, I became attractive to almost everyone who loved the seed I was producing.
There are litany of examples of people, who have been in the wilderness during the seed planting season. Let’s take a case study of Joseph in the Bible, his journey to stardom took a little twist. Despite the travails he experienced in the hands of his siblings who sold him, his experience while in the jail, and with Portiphar’s wife, who tried to seduce him; they were all set ups for success. The moral here is Joseph seed time and harvest time was quite different, it wasn’t a smooth journey. Ordinarily, one would have cursed his siblings or his friends who were with him in prison and forgot him after they were released. But at the end of time, everything worked out for his favor. Joseph’s seed days were his dark days while in the wilderness.
Another inspiring story of note was that of Pastor Ibukun Awosika, the former board Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria. She once shared a pathetic story during her formative years of being in business. According to her, she sojourned for about 15 years. She cried because lines were not adding up for her and she wouldn’t do what her contemporaries were doing to get opportunities. At a point in her business, it appeared like she was in a race of own life because everything seemed to be against her, but at the appropriate time, lines began to fall in place for her. Appointments, business opportunities, favours and goodwill began to fall in place for her. Again, she had a fair share of seed time.
An interesting question I would like to ask you is, what’s your seed time? Have you ever been in the wilderness when you appeared to be fixed? It’s unfortunate many people are not willing to pass through the storms or experience seeds and harvest time. Amidst all these, one must do some work before they get opportunities. However, before such opportunities will come up, one will have to plant the seed.
In conclusion, seed time and harvest time is critical in the journey of life. Take a seat and determine what seed you would like to sow and what you’ll like to harvest.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Eric Elezuo
The Senate has suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghen for six months over her sexual harassment accusation and other disputes against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Senate also withdrew her salaries for the period of the suspension, as well as her security details.
The chamber however, soft-pedaled on the salaries and allowances of her aides, who it was argued would not have any source of livelihood within the period.
Globacom is welcoming new customers on its network with the introduction of the e-SIM. The e-SIM activated in any Gloworld shop or Dealer outlet comes with an introductory free 5GB data when the customer buys a data plan of N1,500 or more.
Customers already on other networks can now join the Glo network with e-SIM as an additional SIM. Existing Glo customers can also enjoy this “SIM-less” freedom.
With the e-SIM, customers no longer have to worry about space for a physical SIM on their phones. The e-SIM is a software-based digital chip built directly into smartphones or wearable devices, thus eliminating the need for a physical SIM card for customers.
The use of e-SIM enables customers to have seamless switching between phone numbers without a physical SIM. It is ideal for upwardly mobile people who travel frequently. The e-SIM also guarantees security, as unlike physical SIM, it is harder to remove from devices. It is also eco-friendly and reduces plastic waste.
Globacom’s launch of the e-SIM enables enables it to cater to high-net-worth individuals and enterprise customers, and it also reinforces the company’s commitment to providing seamless and future-ready services to its customers.
A customer seeking to activate the Glo e-SIM needs to check the compatibility of the mobile handset by dialling *#06# on his or her phone. If an EID number reflects on the mobile screen, the device is e-SIM compatible.
“The customer can then proceed to the nearest Gloworld shop or Glo Dealer outlet to migrate to e-SIM. The process takes only a few minutes and the customer can thereafter begin to enjoy the use of an e-SIM”, the Marketing Department disclosed.
