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Food for Living: Know Yourself, Know Your Business

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By Henry Ukazu

Greetings Friends,

I will like to begin this article by asking ‘what is the most difficult thing in life’?

If you ask a 1001 persons this question, you’ll get a 1001 different answers. Some will say getting a job, others will pitch tent with accommodation, finding a true friend, getting money, while some will equally say finding the right partner, knowing who to hire among great candidates, among many others.

For me, the answer should centre on knowing yourself. When I say knowing yourself, I mean mastering and understanding oneself. This is because, when you know yourself you can easily solve and navigate any challenge that comes your way. According to Socrates, “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.”

During the course of this article, we shall be discussing how you can know yourself and your business. When I published my first book, Design Your Destiny- Actualizing Your Birthright to Success, one message that has resonated with a lot of people including schools, corporate organization and religious organizations is how the book gave them insight on how to discover their inner being. When you know yourself and your business, you will know what your purpose is; what you represent; your uniqueness; you will know how to make the right choice and how you to unleash your potentials. You’ll also know how to prioritize your time, and finally you will know how to network with the right people and associations.  Regrettably, many people don’t know themselves and what the companies or organizations they work for represent.

Even the book of life stated in Hosea 4:6: “My people perish for lack of knowledge”. This is a universal principle which when applied will generate so much opportunities, resources, in addition to making you an expert both for yourself and your business. Regrettably, many people don’t know themselves and their businesses, and this makes it difficult for them to truly succeed in life. We live in a complex world that is ever changing, and therefore, navigating life can sometimes be challenging. I will be sharing some guidelines on how we can know ourselves and businesses in order to truly succeed in life.

How to know yourself and business

  1. Identifying your strongest asset:  What’s your greatest strength? What are you truly good at when it comes to your personal and professional career? Are you great at bringing positive energy to a team? Are you good at influencing people?
  • Identifying your biggest weakness: This is one of the best ways to know a rational being. A rational person should be able to know his/her weakness and how to maximize them. Being able to master your weakness can set you apart because your can turn your failure to your strength if used judiciously.
  • Knowing how to learn from your mistakes: One of the rare quality of a great business and informed person is being able to admit you made a mistake. No one is perfect, even though we all try to attain perfection. One of the most admirable qualities is the work place is self honesty. When you can admit you made a mistake, you’re more likely to analyze and learn from it, as well as prevent said mistake from occurring in the future.
  • Being able to take constructive criticism: If you truly want to succeed in life both in your personal and professional life, you should be able to know that the people you work with simply want you to do your best, and as such when you are criticized objectively, look at the intent as opposed to the form. If it is justified, it is not a criticism, learn from it.
  •  Mediating: Regardless of how positive an office environment may be, there will always be conflicts. And some conflicts can be resolved without heading to HR. Being able to mediate a conflict in the office is a beneficial skill for maintaining office camaraderie, as well as showing younger employees that they can mediate as well. In order to achieve this skill, you must be able to listen to your inner still voice.
  • Be Yourself: You can do this by eliminating the impostor syndrome: The best thing you can do for yourself is be yourself because everyone else is taken. When you are yourself, you will attract the right kind of people, but when you fake your being, you stand the risk of attracting the wrong persons into your life. Life is too short to live some else life. One of the disservice you can do for yourself is to lie to yourself. You need confidence in order to believe in yourself.
  • Saying No:  If you truly want to succeed in life especially in your business, you must have the gut to say no. Saying no helps to attract what you want and makes your life much easier. Be advised, it is more much better to say no and the say yes later, than saying yes and then say no. You should be able to identify which tasks you need to do

We shall use this acronym (VITAL) to know how you can know yourself and your business.

  1.  Values: Value simple means what you attach so much importance to. To know about any rational being and corporate organization, look at their values. It will give you a better insight on what they cherish.
  • Interests: These include your passions, hobbies, and anything that draws your attention over a sustained period of time. To figure out your interests, ask yourself these questions: What do you pay attention to? What are you curious about? What concerns you?
  • Temperament: Your temperament sometimes defines how you handle situations and stress. It is said that life is 10% percent what happens to you and 90% how you react. To understand how your temperament works, ask yourself if you make decisions more on the basis of feelings or thoughts and facts. A good way to understand temperament is by figuring if you are an introvert or extrovert.
  • The “around-the-clock” This refers to when you like to do things. Everyone works differently. Are you a morning person or a night person? At what time of day does your energy peak?
  • Life Mission and Goals: What are your ultimate goals in life? To truly achieve this life mission and goals, you need strengths, skills, and talents, but also character strengths such as loyalty, respect for others, love of learning, and emotional intelligence.

Advantages of Knowing Yourself and Your Business

  1. Happiness: When you know your product and yourself, you’ll have this inner sense of fulfillment and happiness in addition to being relaxed. If you’ll agree with me, true happiness is internal as opposed to being external, though external factors can influence your happiness. There’s always a sense of fulfillment when you express who you are. True happiness and peace of mind occurs hen your outside actions are in accordance with your inside feelings and values, you will experience less inner conflict.
  • Better decision making: Great business leaders are known for their decisive way of making decisions. When you know your strength and weakness, you’ll be able to use your discerning mindset and understanding to decipher the right decisions. When you know yourself, you understand what motivates you to resist bad habits and develop good ones. You’ll also have the insight to know which values and goals your business or organization should be built upon.
  • Resistance to social pressure. When you truly know yourself, you’ll know what you need and want. You’ll also know what your business or organization needs. Big corporations know which Corporate Social Responsibility their company focusses and engages in.
  1. Tolerance and understanding of others. Knowing your business and yourself helps you to understand how to understand and relate with people. As mentioned above, human beings are the most difficult people to deal with both at workplace and the society at large.

In conclusion, knowing yourself and business is one of the best things that can happen to anyone. I charge you to go into soul searching today and try to listen to your inner still voice. By so doing, you’ll know how you are wired, and what kind of business you are likely to succeed in.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with 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.

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Food for Living: What Seeds Are You Sowing Today?

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By Henry Ukazu

Greetings Destiny Friends,

We are all familiar with the Law of karma, which implies that every action has consequences, or that whatever a person does comes back to them. It’s also known as the law of cause and effect, which means for any action, there’s usually a corresponding consequence. 

This has a close resemblance to a foremost scientist, Isaac Newton’s theory, the Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation, which states that “whatever goes up must come down”.

The principle and ideology behind these laws and principles are centered on the principle of life that stays, the way you lay your bed that’s the way you will lay on it. The question we need to ask ourselves is what seeds are we sowing? It’s instructive to note that nobody plants an orange seed and reaps a mango fruit, nor can a watermelon seed produce a pineapple fruit.

The principle of sowing and reaping is sacrosanct. It is whatever one sows that they will reap. This principle is universal. When you sow a seed, you might not get the result immediately, but you will get it in due time by and by.

As a man, when you treat your spouse with love and affection, you will surely get a reciprocal from her, and as a woman there’s the tendency to reciprocate a support from a partner, especially when he is down. These are laws that work with conscience and heart of gratitude of the recipient. No doubt, common sense entails one does the needful.

As a business owner, when you invest in your company and staff, you are bound to reap the fruits in due time. As a parent, when you invest in your children’s good home training and quality education, you’ll be glad for the foundation you laid at your old age.

As a progressive mind, when you invest in reading books, building sustainable relationships, networking, learning skills and adding value to your life, updating and upgrading your life via personal development, you are bound to reap the fruits of your labour.

The challenge most people have is that they haven’t taken time to learn, nor have they taken time to sow the seeds that will create opportunity for them. Some people are just comfortable with begging or looking for parasitic opportunities where they haven’t invested time and resources. Some people are even entitled to someone’s work just because they are friends, family or have a form of relationship. This shouldn’t be the case. As human beings, it’s important for one to be intentional and strategic. Nobody likes to be “used”, rather people like to give value to their time and money.

It is important to note that any seed one sows today, will produce the fruit they will either eat or need tomorrow. In my personal development journey, I was a little bit confused on how I wanted to execute my vision. Because I lacked the right mentors to strategically guide and inspire me, I began to live my life based on experience with no set plan.

In some cases I failed, and in some cases I was able to make an impact. However, one thing is certain, I was moving in the direction I needed by being at the right events and meeting the right people. In the course of time, I began to see myself gaining clarity about my interest. Overtime, I had mentors who were instrumental in guiding and strategically positioning me in the right direction.

When I look back in retrospect, I can only give God the glory because the little works and skills I invested in my life have gradually begun to pay back. The moral here is that I sowed the seeds I am reaping today. It took a while, but it finally came through. This experience has shown me one can get to any height in life, in addition to getting recognition when one is consistent, intentional and passionate about a cause.

Whether you are a boxer, teacher, singer, athlete, journalist, lawyer, coach, writer or minister of the gospel, please do it diligently, and if what you are doing is your purpose in life, the universe has a way of conspiring with you to get to the top.

When people say someone is lucky, blessed, privileged, smart, highly connected to a mentor, or resource person, they are just crafting words of art to describe or qualify their point just to convey a message. This is because though all these words might play a role, if one has not taken a time to do the work, the required opportunity will not pop out and even if they pop out, and one is not destined for the opportunity, the corresponding blessings will not come.

The question we need to ask ourselves is what are we doing with our lives?  What seeds are we sowing for the blessings and opportunities we are hoping to get. In my native belief in law, there’s a latin maxim that says “Nemo dat quod non habet” which translates to ‘you can’t give what you don’t have’. This is the reality of many people. They want money, but don’t want to work. They want opportunities but don’t want to intern or serve in probono capacity. They want favours just because they are related or have a kind of relationship with someone, and therefore, automatically believe it will rub off on them without them giving substantiated reasons why they need support. These sets of people believe wealth is sexually transmitted.

I can go on and on, but as a sage will say, a word is enough for the wise.

In conclusion, as you journey through life, always remember that whatever you sow has a way of coming back to you, if not today, in your old age, or transmuted to your children. Just like when you assist your boss in saving money, tomorrow when you have a company, your employees will pay you back without you knowing it’s the deed you invested many years ago. As a single man or lady, when you derive joy in sleeping with married women or men, just know that you will get a corresponding visit in due time.

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

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Food for Living: Embrace Excellence, Create Prosperity

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By Henry Ukazu

Dear Destiny Friends,

As human beings, our desires and needs can be insatiable. This is because when one task is  accomplished, there’s always the tendency to set our minds for another immediate goal. Even when we get our basic needs, we usually have the urge to get another need. There’s nothing wrong with that however, because it’s only unambitious and docile minds, that would like to dwell in their comfort zones.

In the journey of life, everyone desires prosperity, though not knowing that prosperity is actually a human heritage because everyone is born to win. Prosperity however, doesn’t only mean financial breakthrough, but can also refer to health, academia, family, business, and personal improvement. To prosper in any of these areas, one must understand the basics and the necessary appurtenances that come with similar positions.

Let’s take a minute to explain how these factors play a role in creating prosperity. For instance, to have great health, one doesn’t need to spend more; simple personal hygiene like exercise, good rest, good food, good fruits and more, play a great role. When one engages in all these, they will discover their mental and physical well-being will be in good shape. The same principle is applicable to a student who has done the needful in studying the foundational elements of his major; he stands a better chance of getting a good grade.

If the same principle is applied in personal businesses through creation of excellent product or service, one will never lack clients again. In business, customers love good delivery. When your work is good, people will naturally flow towards you.

The family is not an exception. To build a family, the foundation is very important. The same principle is applicable in our personal and professional lives. When one is intentional in building good values and character, it has a way of robbing off the person in their personal and professional lives.

The symbolic nature of this analysis is that for any great establishment, one must be consistent in building it. It takes a process for someone to be successful. So, whether you are building a brand in business, academic, health, or personal development, every single step one takes is very important in the development or success of that project. When you accumulate all the steps, it has a holistic prospect of making one’s brand unique.

Just to share a practical example of how excellence works – Imagine having an opportunity to meet a legend, who can be a president of a country, Chief Executive Officer of a reputable organization, a Governor of a state, a celebrity of high esteem or even a resource person of interest and you begin to request for money instead of asking questions in order to learn more from them, you might lose them. An intentional being can take time to study the person by building a strong relationship via communication, volunteering for the person, reading the work of the person or even by giving them gifts; all these are proactive actionable steps of creating prosperity, which speak volumes about the person.

Most times, when we want money, wealth, opportunities and prosperity, and we think they are far from us, but the simple truth is that they are within us if only we are able to look deep inside ourselves critically. For instance, if you have a business you are engaged in, no matter how little it is, and is diligent in serving your clients with excellent customer service relationships, it has a potential of scaling up, especially when you deliver excellent service.

Did you know one can build excellence by building the relationship in terms of value with the resource persons? It is the positive work one does that will attract global favours and opportunities. The favour and opportunity will not come one day, but I strongly believe it will come, especially when one is working on purpose.

The mistake most people make in life is that they give up too easily either because the desired returns they are expecting are yet to arrive, or they are not passionate, or vision oriented enough about the cause.

Let me share a practical experience. During my formative years in the USA, then I was still working as a security officer, one of my mentors asked me, ‘Henry, what would you want to do with your life in the near future?’ He advised me to take my time to think about the question before answering it. While I was reflecting on the question, he said, what is one thing you know you can do in life, and you know you won’t fail? I said, I want to be a youth advocate.

He said, you have said this quite a few times, but you need to be engaged in meaningful work before your advocacy work will be appreciated. He further asked me, what’s your passion? I said inspiring youths. He looked at me and said, I know you love youth work, but how do you intend to do this? What will you be teaching them? I said, I will be inspiring them. He looked at me and smiled. It was at this moment; I realized I had much work to do. He finally said to me, before you can inspire anyone, you must have inspired yourself by distinguishing yourself in a particular work which will be compelling to the youths because your work will come with commensurate experience and stories.

Looking back in retrospect, I can definitely relate to what my mentor was saying. Why am I sharing this? Excellence does not come in one day. It takes a process. Over a period of about 15 years, I have directly or indirectly been involved in youth advocacy, and this work has really distinguished and announced me in many quarters. My most recent award was from the White House with President Biden’s signature on it.

Now, you see that one’s work, backed by excellence can create prosperity.

According to Dr. Yomi Garnett, prosperity does not create excellence. Rather, the reverse is what holds true. Excellence creates prosperity. Therefore, from today, start the process of discovering your own personal excellence; your own best path to fulfillment. Then, every day, walk that path.”

The moral of this quote above is that money will not make you prosperous. It is your work that will attract money and prosperity for you, when they are good. Isn’t it true that nobody patronizes a bad product? No customer or client gives tips on a bad service. No good teacher rewards a lazy student, and no great company promotes a lackadaisical staff to an enviable height. Again, have you seen that it is one’s work which is backed by excellence that creates prosperity.

In conclusion, if you desire prosperity or want would like to receive awards and recognition, discover what makes you unique, create your own path and serve humanity by solving problems in an excellent way. Trust me, if you diligently do this, you will understand the meaning of the best form of doing business is personal referral.

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

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Food for Living: Attracting Opportunities

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By Henry Ukazu

Dear Destiny Friends,

Happy New Year and compliments of the season!

It’s always a thing of joy to see a new day, new week, new month, new year, new decade, and a new century. The occasion really calls for celebration. At the beginning of each year, we all desire to have new blessings, new opportunities, new successes, new health and more. The big question we need to ask ourselves is how one can we attract these opportunities, and blessings attached.

I will try to be practical in my thoughts and opinions. To attract blessings into one’s life is not difficult, in fact, it is one of the easiest things to do. This is because it costs less to be healthy, and it costs more to be unhealthy. It sounds confusing right? Okay, let me explain a little, to stay healthy, one can take fruits, exercise, do a yearly checkup, sleep, meditate, think positive amidst other activities. Literally looking at it, it might appear expensive and hard to accomplish but imagine the cost it will take to visit the hospital to undergo a medical procedure just because you neglected your health.

It’s instructive to note that the human body system doesn’t ordinarily break down, it takes a little bit of process which accumulates. Imagine if one has taken time to do exercise, eat healthy, and rest, most of the illnesses we suffer will drastically reduce.

So, as already stated, to attract opportunities and blessings into one’s life is not difficult; it’s just a matter of attitude. Like I always say, you’ll get what you want faster when you help other people to achieve what they want. To attract these opportunities is not rocket science, all we need to do is to apply the right attitude.

We are just three days into the year 2025, many of us have made resolutions of what we will do and what we will stop to be productive. Do you know the fastest way to attract blessings into your life is to have a good attitude? Attitude is a currency. Net worth is a currency. Relationship is a currency. Impact is a currency. For one to tap into these currencies one needs to have a good attitude. It’s your attitude that will make people to either like or despise you.

If you don’t have a good attitude, you won’t attract the opportunity that will bless you. Let me share a little secret that has worked for me over the years. I am a very intentional person. Most times, I pay it forward without knowing. I have since discovered that when one pays it forward by helping someone in need, the blessings are usually humongous. For instance, sometimes, just because I want someone to utter a form of prayer or goodwill like it will be well with you; God bless you, you will not lack; may God provide for you and your family, I will intentionally give them money or a kind of support.

Sometimes, I may make a purchase and decide to tell the seller to keep the change if I see the seller is struggling or it will put smiles on the face of the person. This is a skill I have mastered over time. It’s not really easy I must say, but it has over time, worked for me.

So, to attract the blessings of 2025 and beyond, consider offering yourself as a life of service to people in need. Don’t do it with a vested interest. There are many people in need in our society. Find time to see how you can support people financially, academically, spiritually, emotionally and otherwise. Trust me, if you can carry out this assignment diligently, the opportunities and blessings that will come upon you will have a ripple effect.

Again, to attract opportunities and blessings into your life, consider having a mentor with a positive influence, connect with successful people, attend workshops, read voraciously, especially on areas of interest so you can gain expertise, and acquire general knowledge; practice gratitude by showing appreciation and kindness, and most importantly, pray and acknowledge the role of  God as a higher power, depending on the faith and belief you practice.

In conclusion, life is generally about you, but not necessarily about you, it’s also about others. When you focus on yourself, your rewards might be less compared to when you focus on others. So, consider having a disposition of love, genuine affection, kindness, support and appreciation mixed with gratitude, and see how life will smile at you. Trust me, the universe will conspire to support you.

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

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