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Food for Living: Be Prepared
By Henry Ukazu
Greetings Dear Friends,
Growing up as kids we all had desires, dreams, and visions of the kind of profession we wished to be identified with or engaged in. We all had that fantasy personality we wished to be. Fast forward to two or more decades later, we realise that while we have been able to achieve some, some are still in process and a lot more may have eluded us.
However, regardless of where you are, just know that it is never too late to live your dream. According to George Elliot, It’s never too late to be what you might have been”. Even if you have been able to achieve your childhood dream of being a lawyer, doctor, engineer, etc., C.S Lewis opined “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” The difference between remaining first and being the first is that the former engage in a productive activity in order to remain on top while the latter just attained the position. The underlying factor responsible for our success and failure is summed up in preparation.
What is preparation? Preparation is simply the act of preparing — getting ready, planning, training, or studying with a goal in mind. According to Alexander Graham Bell “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.
We all have desires in life, but some of us are not doing much to achieve those desires. For example, you may have desires of being the president of your country, governor, chief executive officer of a company, etc., but you need to ask yourself if you are doing enough to get to the position/title
There’s no limit to what preparation can do; take for instance, you want to prepare a delicious meal, and you will definitely need to have all the ingredients ready in addition to adding them in the right proportion. That’s simply the way success in life works. It can never be in the reverse position. You may be hoping and trusting God for a car, job, wife/husband, or a particular opportunity of interest, but you are not doing enough to receive the blessings/opportunity. It’s instructive to note that opportunity meets prepared minds. So, if you are hoping to get a car from an angel, you must learn to drive, get a license and then work towards getting the car.
We shall be discussing how we can prepare in addition to sharing instructive notes relevant to preparation.
One of the most important parts of success is preparation. You must plan for success, otherwise, you’ll fail. Isn’t it true that failing to prepare is preparing to fail? There’s nothing like luck. According to Bobby Unser, “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity” If you are not prepared for any job, even if you get it, you’ll fail. You must be positively intentional about anything you plan to do. Success is like faith in action. You must put in the work and allow it to work for you. Even the Holy book made us understand that faith without work is dead.
If you are an in business, a strong skill to have in order to succeed is being proactive. Let’s say you are a public speaker and you are called for an impromptu event, your ability to succeed at the event will more or likely be as a result of previous speaking events or even practicing by listening to accomplished speakers. Furthermore, if you a public servant or a good consultant, for you to succeed in your profession, you must prepare for whatever situations you encounter from your clients. This is because a question might be thrown at you at any point in time and your ability to answer them will add more caps to your glory. You can be prepared by reading vast, researching to know what’s trending in the industry, or listening to the news.
Getting Prepared:
There’s a thin line of difference between preparing and be ready. When you are preparing, it basically means you are preparing for an opportunity, but when you are ready, it means you have finished preparing and now good to deliver. For instance, if you need a promotion or raise in your job, it’s imperatively important for you to prepare yourself by getting more knowledge which can come in form of academic qualification, certifications or more training like the acquisition of related skills needed for the job. When you finish preparing yourself, you can be termed ready for the position.
Another way of getting prepared is by surrounding yourself with people/experts who are knowledgeable about the area you are interested in. The more specific you are about your intentions, the more chance you’ll get to succeed. With so many free resources available, there is no excuse not to learn something about any subject matter. I’ve seen people with barely entry-level skills outshine the supposed experts simply because of how prepared they were.
Success entails preparation
Trust me, you have a duty to come prepared for anything that matters to you. I will share a personal secret to you; most of the success I have attained in recent times are consequences of preparation. I always prepare myself with the right message, network, resources, opportunity, and information before I explore any opportunity of interest. All these preparation add up in one way or the another to achieve a common goal. I have no choice but to do the hard work of preparing for the expected and the unexpected. I’m far from perfect, but by preparing again and again for each new situation, I get better and can deliver better results. Yes, it takes late nights and long hours, but if you aren’t willing to do the hard work of preparing, then you shouldn’t take on the task in the first place. If, however, you have taken on a project, you have an obligation to yourself and to the client to be willing to dive in and prepare so that you can really deliver.
Benefits of preparation
I cannot underestimate the benefits that come with preparation. It is truly priceless. I belong to the school of thought which believes that hard work is prayer in action. This is because you can attain success when you put in the desired work. While some people are academically and scientifically gifted, others are naturally talented and skillful, while some succeed by learning how to do the job.
Being Prepared Enhances Self Discipline
Nothing disciplines the human race more than preparing for a lifetime opportunity. Imagine having an opportunity to meet your dream investor to pitch your idea, or being asked by the president of your country to meet him/her in a week’s time to discuss your business proposal. I will imagine you’ll take all the time the world to prepare for this meeting and this preparation entails disciplining yourself.
Being Prepared Enhances Our Strategic Thinking
Preparation also enables you to think out of the box. Preparation will make you to reason. Preparation will make you to explore options and opportunities. A strategic thinker is very proactive because they prepare for the next move when the desirable is not available. The more complex the task, the higher the degree of strategic thinking is required. Strategic thinking is a skill that is born through practice and experience. On a daily basis, our brain process so much information without you knowing. We may not always recognise our thoughts as being strategic but each act of preparation is working with our brain.
Being Prepared Develops Our Resilience
Resilience is the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad has happened. It is in preparation that we develop our mental resilience and it is through failure that we develop a life of resilience. We all know that not every plan leads to success and it is through failure that we reach success. Having resilience allows us to stand up ten times after we’ve been knocked down ten times and to continue on our course by making adjustments and realignments.
Leadership:
All great leaders are readers. You cannot be an effective leader if you are not prepared for the task. According to John Quincy Adams, “if your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” As mentioned earlier, any height you want to reach in life, you must prepare for it, otherwise, you stand a great chance of failing when you get the opportunity even if you have great advisers because in one way or another your intuitive and rational skills must be tested at different moments. A great way of succeeding in this area is by applying the SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely goals for all you want to do.
Yes, you are prepared, I know you will say, but how prepared are you?
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success. He can be reached via henrous@gmail.com
Nepal said Sunday it had begun burying some of the hundreds of bodies recovered after devastating floods, after taking DNA samples and marking them so families can later retrieve them.
The dead are traditionally cremated on funeral pyres in Hindu-majority Nepal, so the burials are viewed as long-term storage until families can retrieve them.
Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai told reporters that all those buried were carefully recorded, but also appealed for international support, saying Nepal needed “more than a thousand” freezer units to store bodies.
The announcement of the burials came as Nepal’s disaster ministry increased its toll again on Sunday to 752 bodies recovered and 2,502 people missing.
That list includes 589 foreigners unaccounted for.
Chinese state media earlier confirmed 16 dead in Tibet and 546 people missing following Wednesday’s disaster, taking the overall toll to 768 dead and 3,048 unaccounted for.
“Following standard and accepted protocols, such as those of ICRC (Red Cross), the mortal remains of the dead, especially those not recognisable… have been temporarily buried,” Rai told reporters.
“Medical teams took DNA samples from every victim prior to the burial so that families can match-reference later, and would be allowed to exhume for necessary rituals.”
Nepal has called for freezer storage units and DNA testing kits, as it is overwhelmed with the number of bodies to store safely.
“We have requested different countries for freezers; we will need more than a thousand,” Rai added.
“Many dead bodies have been collected, and they have started decomposing. To preserve public health, we had to bury the decomposing bodies,” he added.
AFP
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Everyone loves influence. Everyone wants to be a person of influence. Everyone wants to be relevant. Everyone wants to be celebrated. Everyone likes attention, appreciation, approval, and admiration. All these are products of influence.
The question I need you to ask yourself is, are you a person of influence? Are you influencing anyone? Do you have a positive or negative influence on your children, spouse, friends, mentors/mentee, or even strangers? Take a minute to listen to yourself.
When we talk about influence, uninformed minds just think influence is only about money, power, authority, or even being a mentor. Influence is far from it. We are all influencers in one way or another. Many people have influenced us in different ways, some positive, some negative. Similarly, we have also influenced many people in good and bad ways.
But today, I’m here to share with you what influence is about and the positive ways one can be a person of influence. Influence comes in different ways: as a politician, you are influencing people; as a leader, you are influencing policy; as a youth advocate, mentor, teacher, pastor, and employee, you are influencing somebody in one way or the other.
Do you know you can influence someone with your lifestyle? Yes, the way you talk, write, lead, dress, eat, exercise, preach the word of God, do your job, serve people, train your children, etc., are all part of influence. Influence is powerful. It has a way of permeating someone without them knowing. I believe that’s why my late mother would always say, if you are hanging out with a friend, only take the good part and leave the bad part.
We currently live in the 21st century, where the internet leads. The internet is regarded as the fifth estate for a reason, because it empowers networked individuals and alternative media to hold traditional institutions, governments, and mainstream media accountable. Everyone and almost everything is on the internet; however, sometimes, the information we get on the internet is regarded as fake because it’s unverified.
In some quarters, the internet has been regarded as a bad influence on the younger generation because of the limited restrictions and the negative information it has exposed their minds to think in a particular way. Some other schools of thought have opined that the internet has done more good than harm due to the knowledge it has exposed their minds to, as opposed to the information being peddled by some other schools of thought. Regardless of the aisle one belongs to, the internet truly has its pros and cons, especially as it relates to influence.
The big question one needs to answer is what influence is. According to Nosakhare Tune Oni – A Pan-African Strategist, leadership and business coach, “influence is when people trust your judgment enough to act on it. It is when someone calls you before making an important decision. When your recommendation opens a door. When your name carries weight in a room, you’re not even in. When people are willing to put their reputation behind yours. That’s influence.
Let’s take a minute to dwell on those lines again. Has anyone played any of such roles in your life? If yes, that’s the best definition of influence in a nutshell. Influence is not about quantity, but quality. The quality of people in your life is more valuable than the quantity of people one’s life. Do you know we don’t really need battalions of friends, whether online or in person, but just one person of influence can be a game-changer. According to Les Brown, a leadership coach, we need only quality people.
Do you know we are everywhere and nowhere at the same time? Do you also know that we can be everywhere and still have very little influence? Influence is about knowing your value and the right people who appreciate the value you bring. Do you know one can be a person of value to the wrong person or audience?
Influence is about having followers who believe and follow your teaching. We can have visibility with little or no influence. One may have 100,000 followers. We may trend on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, or even WhatsApp. Your name is a household name. That is visibility.
Let me give you a practical example. If you have a large crowd of people following you online or in person. The critical question one must ask oneself is: why are they following me? Are they following me because of my ideology, my talent/gift, academic process, position, profession, vocation, skill, or jokes? If they follow you because of the ideology you represent, you are a person of influence. If they are following you because of your jokes, you may be a content creator or comedian with little or no value in influencing them to do or not do certain things. Real influence provokes action.
According to Nosakhare Tune Oni, influence is built differently from attention. Attention can be bought. Influence must be earned. You can manufacture visibility with advertising, controversy, or constant posting. But you cannot manufacture trust that easily. It comes from consistently being useful. Keeping your word. Knowing what you’re talking about. Showing up when it matters. Building relationships before you need them.
And creating value for people without constantly asking, “What’s in it for me?”
Do you know a person with 1,000 followers and deep trust within a particular industry may have more real influence than someone with 100,000 followers who nobody listens to. So, I don’t think the goal should simply be: “How many people know me?” A better question is: “How much does my presence actually change things?” Because visibility gets you noticed. Value gets you remembered. Trust gets you listened to, but influence is what happens when people trust your value enough to move.
As I prepare to conclude, please take a minute to ask yourself: are you a person of influence? Do you have influence? What positive influence have you had on people or anyone? Today, I want you to be a man/lady of influence like Martin Luther King Jnr, Mother Theresea, Evangelist Ebuka Obi, President Nelson Mandela, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Dr. Kola Adesina, Dr. Joe Abah, Dr. Dele Momodu, Barr. Henry Ukazu and Miss Ginika Dike.
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- Actualizing Your Birthright to Success, Unleash Your Destiny, and The Six Pillars of Success. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
The Director-General (D-G) of World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has commended Governor Alex Otti for the reforms she said are strengthening Abia State’s financial sustainability and driving economic transformation.
Okonjo-Iweala, who spoke in a virtual goodwill message at the 35th anniversary lecture marking the creation of Abia State, also urged the government to develop the “Made in Aba” label into a globally recognised brand.
The anniversary lecture under the theme, “The Rise of a New Abia,” was held on Wednesday at the International Conference Centre, Umuahia.
The WTO D-G said the Otti administration has increased internally generated revenue (IGR), reduced the State’s dependence on Federation Account allocations and prioritised capital expenditure.
She also noted the State’s investments in infrastructure and improved electricity supply, as well as the settlement of inherited salary and pension arrears and reduction of its debt burden.
While acknowledging that more work remains to be done, Okonjo-Iweala expressed optimism that Abia could harness its potential to create jobs, prosperity and dignity for its people.
She said improved infrastructure, supportive policies and strategic investments in high-potential sectors could position the state within national, regional and global value chains.
Okonjo-Iweala specifically urged the government to build “Made in Aba” into a globally recognised brand while strengthening Umuahia as a light manufacturing and administrative centre.
Also speaking, the keynote speaker and former Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka, said there was visible evidence of development in Abia since Otti assumed office in 2023.
Chidoka, however, said the ultimate test of the administration would be whether it could move Abia from having a capable governor to building a capable and sustainable state.
He said Otti’s emphasis on education is consistent with convictions he had expressed long before becoming governor, particularly in his 2014 book, Saving the Future.
Chidoka commended the consistent appropriation of 20 per cent of the State’s annual budget to education and expressed optimism that Abia could eventually become a reference point for good governance.
Meanwhile, Otti apologised to the Abia State University, Uturu (ABSU), community over the delayed implementation of approved demands by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which resulted in the union’s recent strike.
The governor described the strike as avoidable and warned that “heads will roll” if such bureaucratic lapses recur.
Otti said the demands presented by ASUU-ABSU were legitimate and had been approved by him months earlier, but expressed concern that the approval had not been implemented.
“ASUU went on strike about a week or two ago in Abia State University, Uturu. Their requests came to me. I looked at those requests, and they were legitimate requests, and I approved them.
“But months later, I’m not saying weeks, months later, I was to be told that, yes, you have approved. But it had not been implemented.
“So, I want to, on this podium, apologise to Abia State University as well. That strike was avoidable. And I’ve told my people, if it happens again, heads will roll,” Otti said.
The governor congratulated Abians on the state’s 35th anniversary, stressing that governance was not about an individual but about building sustainable institutions and improving on existing foundations.
He reiterated his commitment to education, explaining that his administration’s decision to abolish school fees, including in the state’s smart schools, was driven by his long-standing belief in the transformative power of education.
In a vote of thanks, the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, called for the cooperation and support of Abians in sustaining what he described as the “rise of a New Abia.”
The event attracted members of the National Assembly, members of the State Executive Council, traditional rulers, members of the clergy and other dignitaries.
