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Food for Living: Become a Person of Value
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friend,
“Try not to become a person of success but rather try to become a person of value” – Albert Einstein
To be valuable is one of the best things that can happen to any person. Whoever has value is the king of the pack, and is well sought after. He is resourceful, and everyone wants to tap into his resourcefulness.
But what does it mean to be a person of value? Note that understanding differs when the word value is mentioned. Value is relative because what’s valuable to one person might not be valuable to another. For example, a lady who has several suitors seeking her hand in marriage has something of interest she admires and dislikes in every suitor, but what will determine who she will marry will be the value she desires in a man. This value might be money, character, academics, loyalty, beauty or skill.
It’s however, sad, when people think that value relates to only money; but value is more than money. It can be skills, academic qualifications or certification, network and networth, spiritual life, social life, physical strength, position, talent among others.
To the world, value means having something to offer; a person’s value is something that can make a positive difference in the lives of others. When one is valuable, it means that they are not just a consumer, but a producer and creator. It means that they are not just followers, but a leaders.
The importance of value cannot be overemphasized. Everyone has a measure of value, but the challenge most people face is the inability to maximize their value.
Your value is a gift to the world. Your value is your talent. People of value are in high demand. People of exceptional value are in higher demand, and are respected and honoured.
Did you know that your value can be used to know your interest? For instance, how you spend your time; what you think; how you invest and spend your money; where you work; causes you support; choice of majors; the books you read; the events you attend and more, all combine to reflect your inherent value. Your value will assist you to know how you can balance work life and career. Your value can be used to showcase your mission and passion for life.
It’s instructive to note that nobody will willingly come to you if you don’t have value. When you position yourself as a pest, beggar, liability, etc., people will begin to see you in that light. Just to let you know how attractive one can be, imagine an ant being attracted to sugar. It is simply because the sugar has what the ant likes. That’s how life works. People will come to you when they see you have what they have. That simply tells you must add value to yourself. Quit complaining and apportioning blame to people, government and circumstance, take ownership and responsibility of your life. According to – Marcus T Cicero “You will be of as much value to others as you have been to yourself.”
When you know the value you offer, you won’t need to talk too much. You will have self confidence, you won’t need to announce yourself, rather, people will seek your services or product. According to Patrick Lencioni, the author of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, “he stated the five ways to become a person of value and Influence. According to him, you must find your passion and purpose; Embrace Personal Development, choose a problem you can solve; be authentic.
1. Find your purpose and passion
The great and influential men and women the world has ever known were those who discovered and pursued their purpose and were driven by their passions. When you’re on the path of purpose, it’s easier to add significant value to the lives of others. You’ll hardly be of any significant value to people or influence them when you don’t know where you are going yourself. Purpose ignites passion which keeps you motivated, inspired and focused. You need that to be valuable and influential.
2. Embrace personal development
Becoming a person of value and influence demands embracing a lifelong pursuit of personal development. Personal development is a process of understanding and developing yourself to realize your full potential. The extent to which you’re able to add value and influence others depends on the extent to which you have been able to develop yourself. Every raw material has little or no value. It becomes valuable after it’s been refined. Take time to refine yourself in every area. That could be hard but it’s rewarding. Daily ask yourself, “What do I need to learn or do to become a better person?
3. Choose a problem you can solve for people
To be a person of value and influence, you have to become genuinely interested in people enough to solve a specific problem for them. Think of what you can do to make lives better. The more people you solve problems for, the more valuable and influential you become.
4. Be original and unique
When we live our lives mimicking or imitating others, it steals our originality. Originality is the beauty of life. Guess what? Imitations don’t get much attention, originals do. You can copy my style, but you can’t imitate my creativity. We’ve all heard that when you imitate someone else, the best you can be is second best. That’s very true. To be a person of influence, don’t be anyone else. Be you.
5. Pursue excellence
Becoming a person of value and influence is not going to be so much about what you do as it is about how well you do it. It’s said that whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. Go beyond the usual. Add a touch of class in all you do. That’s what excellence is all about. Mind you it’s not the same as perfection.
6. Encourage and inspire others
Find a way to encourage and inspire others to be all they can be. Empower, share your knowledge and skills with others. Your value and influence is connected to the number of lives that are better because of you.
7. Exude confidence
Self-confidence is one quality that’s very admirable. It’s about knowing what you want and having the courage and boldness to go for it. When you’re self-confident, people are attracted to you. When you don’t have it, the opposite is the case. The reason is simple — what value do you think a person who doesn’t believe in himself offers?
8. Have integrity
It’s true that none of us is perfect but for you to be a person of value and influence you must be able to earn people’s confidence and trust. You should be able to live by certain values that uphold sound moral principles. Integrity means always doing the right thing and, in all circumstances, whether or not it’s convenient. It’s about being sincere and real. It’s about being honest enough to admit when you’re wrong. It’s your “yes” as “yes” and your “no” as “no”. It’s people trusting you not for any other reason but because you have earned their trust.
In conclusion, to be relevant consider being a person of value. Remember, your value depends on what you can offer.
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.
