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Food for Living: Don’t Settle for Less
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By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Talk, they say, is cheap. I doubt if there is any human on earth who doesn’t have ambition. The issue is what are you doing to change the status quo? Do you have any strategy? Are you limited by your environment, academics, finance, health challenge, or spiritual cause? There can be many sides to what the cause might be. The cause might not be listed here, whatever is the case, you don’t have to limit yourself. This is because the world does not celebrate failure, but success.
In our contemporary society, we are defined by what we do, what we overcome, and what we settle for. One of the major problems facing humanity is accepting the limiting belief that they cannot reach a height in life. These words are not only said by friends, teachers and supervisors, parents are also included. These words have a way of living in the memory of the child/adult and if proper care is not taken, it will forever remain in their subconscious mind. The saddest part of these harmful words is that they have the spiritual effect of limiting progress no matter how hard one try in life unless they don’t deserve the curse or harsh words, especially if they are said by parents.
However, it’s important to note that the greatest disservice one can do to oneself is to believe in those limiting words by superior people. If you renounce those words and work hard towards overcoming those limitations, posterity will be kind to you. If we ae honest to ourselves, we all may have faced one form of criticism growing up. I experienced one when I was the Public Relations Officer for the Nigerian Lawyers Association, my president and vice president weren’t comfortable with my style of writing. The honest truth was that my grammar was horrible, and to make matters worse I was the Public Relations Officer for the association, and as such, I can imagine the trauma they face on a daily basis because of my writing skills, but the truth of the matter was that they way they handled the issue was unbecoming of a leader to a mentor. I was literally torn apart when the President once told me I will go back to Nigeria after my program at New York Law School because according to her, I can’t compete with the system in the USA. I felt humiliated but smiled in my heart. I also remembered when the Vice President told “I have to hard on you” just because she was editing my work.
Fast forward to a couple of years later, I an author of a trailblazer book. Design Your Destiny, while working on another book. By the special grace of God, I am the founder and President of Gloemi. I am also a creative and prolific writer, I have been profiled New12 and interviewed by New York Times and News12. By the special grace of God, I have also been on great platforms in addition to meeting great resourceful minds which have humbled and honored my life. Looking back, one might think it is impossible, but the truth of the matter is that with God all things are possible. It’s pertinent to mention that no one is in charge or responsible for your success. You are literally responsible for it. So don’t allow anyone’s perception to define or limit your capacity. Your mess can be turned into a message., your limitations and failures can be a set up for success.
Why am narrating this experience? I have to be vulnerable in order to share. I don’t know the situation you may be experiencing now, it could be an academic challenge, marriage/relationship, health, finance, business, personal or even spiritual, if you can hold on a little bit more and learn the lessons in the pain/challenge, you will come out stronger in addition to having a story to tell. If you feel stressed, you can reach out to me and we can have a decent conversation.
According to Mary Kay Ash, “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” Mary Kay Ash, entrepreneur and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics
We all go through life challenges, but how we cope, manage and handle those situations will go a long way to make an impact in our life. To progress in life, you must do any productive work that makes you happy. Anything that excites and energizes you is your passion. If you follow it, as long as it is not negative, it always leads to success. The biggest mistake most people make is to turn their passion into a hobby instead of a business or vocation. Don’t limit yourself to what others are doing. Be unique because you have a voice and the world is itching to hear your message.
To advance in life, you need good friends and books. Cultivate the habit of being intentional in all you do because the only thank you have for your detractors is to be successful. So, I ask you what are you doing with the time and the network you have with you? There are a lot of opportunities for everyone. The market is not saturated, forget the hype, just find your niche and see how the world will resonate with you.
How can you overcome your limit
1. Improve your skills: You can never reach “success” because success is a journey and never a destination. Strive to learn something new daily. Believe in yourself and in your abilities while working in your weakness. As you continually do this, you’ll gain knowledge and experience in new areas.
2. Get work done: Limiting yourself also ruins your productivity. But once you let go of that, you’ll get more work done and will be more focused. It should be noted hard work doesn’t kill but it’s the lack of work and laziness that can facilitate hunger that can kill you.
3. You’ll enjoy life more: Life is meant to be enjoyed. All work and no play they make jack a dull boy. When you achieve success in life due to your productivity and you look back and see how far you have come in addition to overcoming challenges, trust me, you’ll proud of yourself.
4. You’ll generate ideas: Once you’re confident and free from limitations and mental barriers, you’ll also get your creative juices flowing. You’ll start coming up with new ideas, will handle daily problems more easily, and will start working on new projects all the time.
5. You’ll take action: Another great benefit of not limiting yourself is that you’ll become action-oriented. Most people have too many doubts and insecurities, fear of failure and distractions get in the way too. But once you have peace of mind and the right amount of confidence, you’ll also take initiative, act upon your goals and turn ideas into reality.
6. You’ll become a role model: One of the best ways to inspire others is to do something great with your life. And if you’re purpose-oriented, know what you want, and are going after it, don’t waste time but work hard on what you believe in, and have fun at the same time, and are grateful, then you’ll be a great role model.
7. People will look up to you: You’ll motivate them to do the same without saying anything or making them do so, but simply by following your path and letting them see your progress. So that’s how the life of someone who’s not limiting himself looks like. And you can have the same very soon if you simply decide that you want more out of life and are ready to fight for it.
As I conclude, I will share these inspiring quotes with you. The only limits you have are the ones you believe – Dwyer Wayne
“You begin to fly when you let go of self-limiting beliefs and allow your mind and aspirations to rise to greater heights.” Brain Tracy“
Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” Jamie Paolineti
You need to ignore what everyone else is doing and achieving. Your life is about breaking your own limits and outgrowing yourself to live YOUR best life. You are not in competition with anyone else; plan to outdo your past, not other people.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He’s a mindset coach and public speaker. 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 and President of gloemi.com. He can be reached via info@gloemi.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.
