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Food for Living: No Pain, No Gain
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
In our business and academic journeys, or even in the race for heaven for those who believe in heaven, we all may have heard of the idiom “no pain no gain” as used in different contexts. Whether you choose to believe it or not, the fact remains that treasures are always hidden. Gold and diamond are valuable treasures that can’t be found on the surface of the earth. If you need treasures, you must seek them.
The journey to success is not an easy route. You will encounter so many challenges, bumps, and disappointments. These are some of the prices you have to pay. You might wake up a little bit early, you may need to spend an extra hour(s) working on your craft after your normal working hours just to develop your business. You need to exercise to keep fit. You need to save for the rainy day.
No genuine and successful human being will tell you the journey to success was easy. Some successful people take the pain to write their stories in form of a book, blog, songs, etc. for the world to read and at the same time be inspired.
To achieve success, you must put in the work. It’s sad to note that many people like to wear crowns, but don’t like the thorns or process that is associated with the crown. They desire your glory, but they don’t want the story associated with the glory. They want your Blessings, but they don’t want your burdens. That’s why a celebrated Nigerian artist, Tuface Idibia said, everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
Success is not guaranteed in life. In fact, nothing is guaranteed in life, not even the life itself. Nobody gives you any sensitive position, valuable opportunity, or treasure just because you are a “nice guy”. You must earn it. There are opportunities you must create by making yourself available for them.
The interesting thing about grinding for success is that the world does not see you when you are in the backroom building your craft, neither do they celebrate you then, but when you are done and the work is good, you’ll be appreciated and celebrated.
According to Dr. Yomi Garnett, “In any venture, there’s no gain without some form of some of pain. After all, anyone who wants to be delivered from a bad tooth must be prepared to go through the journey of tooth extraction. You must be prepared to put in more to get more. You will have to invest effort into life for life to deliver its bounties into you. Decide today to despise the free lunch. Launch yourself into action. Start now”.
It is a universal principle of life that there’s no gain without pain. There are situations ladies have been told you have to use what you have to get what you don’t have. These ladies decide to use sex as a weapon to lure men for jobs/opportunities. However, they forget to understand that sex can only attract a man, it can’t keep him. What keeps a man is a value you bring to the table. So what’s the reasoning behind attracting a job/opportunity you don’t have the mental capacity to sustain? Hence, this is one reason progressive ladies decide to work harder and smarter to get whatever position they desire.
Furthermore, we have seen instances where people equate suffering with discomfort. For a better illustration, there’s a difference between pain and comfort. Pain results from injury, but discomfort is a result of sacrifice you have to go through to enjoy the fruit of your labour. According to Jeanette Coron “Success requires sacrifice.
To put discomfort in proper perspective, you can decide to pay now and play later, or you play now in order to pay later. The choice is yours. The big question I like to ask my friends is, what do you want? What result would you like to see/get at the end of the day? Depending on your answer, you will have to decide if you can pay the price.
Let’s take for instance, you are interested in losing weight, your best bet will be to work on your diet, before working in the gym, but its quite unfortunate some people spend time working out in the gym and spend less time on their diet. It should be noted that top athletes who have carved a niche and name for themselves understand that there’s no gain without pain.
In summary, what are you willing to sacrifice today to gain your desired glory?
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
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
There’s no doubt that human beings by nature are insatiable. When we get one opportunity, we always look for another. When we attain one height, we always look for another accomplishment. Isn’t it true that the end of one mountain is the beginning of another.
However, I don’t think it’s selfish for anyone to dare to succeed.
Being ambitious doesn’t make one an opportunist or disloyal. It all depends on one’s perception or outlook to life. It’s just natural for one to dream big. It’s only ugly when the process one chooses to achieve his desires becomes dirty and nasty.
According to a former Nigerian presidential candidate and seasoned Economist, Mr. Peter Obi, “if you must be referred to as “Your Excellency”, then the process through which you arrived in office must be excellent”.
If you desire to be reckoned with on the journey of existence, you must be legitimately hungry for success. One’s hunger for success will facilitate the drive to accomplish great tasks despite daunting obstacles posing as challenges.
When one has this mindset, one will not be bothered by the noise which serves as obstacles and challenges along the way. Negative and weak minds are always concerned on why something won’t work. They tend to focus their energy and reasons on the obstacles facing them. But great and productive minds always focus their energy on the reasons why it will work. This is the spirit of an insatiable mind who is a goal- getter.
It’s instructive to note that we can’t please everyone. According to Bill Cosby, a famous actor, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.” Isn’t it true that when you talk, people will still talk about you, when you don’t talk, people will talk about you, so whether you talk or not, people will still judge you, so, do what’s best for you. There’s nothing you can do to please human beings. Your best option is to live your best life.
To understand how the insatiable nature of man works, one must be oneself. You don’t have to “please” anyone. Be yourself, and don’t try to be like anyone just to curry favour. It’s important to note that when you are yourself, the people that matter will come through for you, and the people that don’t matter will gradually find the bearing in another space because those that truly care don’t bother and those that bother don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Life has truly taught me to focus on the important things of life as opposed to the mundane things. It’s truly sad to see people spending more time on the little things of life, and spending little time on the important things of life. That’s just a misplaced priority.
When you are yourself, the best people can do is to copy or imitate your style. They can never imitate your creativity nor can take your originality from you.
We live in a world or society where people don’t generally care or show empathy. Most people tend to live around themselves, their family, and close associates. They generally find it hard to lift a finger to assist others for reasons best known to them. Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka once said, “we live in a wicked generation”, re-echoing the voices of a lot of people of the world. Some people in authority just have criminal expertise in amassing wealth of opportunities meant for the citizens without thinking of the citizens they are meant to serve.
It’s worthy of note that not everyone will like you nor support your work, but when you find people who truly care about you; please hold them tight. This is because despite having family members you have shown love and compassion, they might not still appreciate you even if you lay your life for them, they will still find something to say. Again, this is the insatiable nature of man.
It’s okay for everyone not to like you, normalize living your life for God, yourself, family and those that care about you. If everyone likes you, you have a problem.
Did you know that you can get a new family from friends, strangers, and acquaintances? These sets of people might appreciate you more than your own family members. They might not demand or under appreciate you like your family members and close friends or associates. Any little support you give them will be highly appreciated. Their focus is to see you do better.
In conclusion, as you desire to succeed in life, never give in to failure until you have made your last attempt, and never make your last attempt until you succeed. This literally means whatever you desire, dream it, think it, say it, and believe you can achieve it. This principle is generally applicable to relationships, businesses, family, personal and professional development.
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
A federal judge in the United States, on Thursday, put a temporary block on President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship.
The ruling imposes a 14-day halt on the enforcement of one of the most controversial executive orders Trump signed hours after being sworn into office for a second term.
It comes after lawsuits were filed by a total of 22 states, two cities and numerous civil rights groups.
“This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” senior US District Judge John Coughenour was reported as saying during the hearing in Washington State.
“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is,” said Coughenour, who was appointed to the bench by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.
Birthright citizenship is fundamental to America’s national identity, with the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution decreeing that anyone born on US soil is a citizen.
It says, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the US illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.
AFP
The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State capital has upheld the death sentence of Ramon Adedoyin, a prominent businessman and hotelier, for his involvement in the murder of one Timothy Adegoke, a former postgraduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State.
Delivering the judgment on Thursday, the court affirmed the earlier verdict of the Osun State High Court, which had sentenced Adedoyin to death.
“The judgment of the High Court of Osun State stands. Adedoyin’s appeal is dismissed in part,” the court declared in part.
The Court of Appeal, however, set aside some aspects of the lower court’s orders, including the forfeiture of the Hilton Hotel and the order for Adedoyin to pay for the education of Adegoke’s children.
Furthermore, the court ruled that it had no jurisdiction to impose penalties outside the statutory provisions
Adegoke’s death was reported in November 2021 after his corpse was found at the Hilton Honours Hotel in Ile-Ife, Osun State, where he had lodged.
The hotelier had travelled from Abuja for an examination at a distance learning centre in Moro, Osun State on November 5 of that year.
He had checked into the hotel but was reported missing after two days. However, Adegoke’s body was found days later, leading to a probe that linked his death to Adedoyin and others.
In May 2023, Adedoyin and others were sentenced to death after they were found guilty of murder and conspiracy to murder.
But dissatisfied with the judgement, Adedoyin approached the Appeal court to dismiss the sentence and conviction.
The court of appeal, on Thursday, however, upheld the conviction and death sentence of the hotelier.
