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Food for Living: Patience As a Bedrock to Success
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
“The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit” – Fabienne Fredrickson
One of the least discussed ingredients of success is patience. Patience can mean positive and negative things to different people depending on how they interpret the associated signs that come with it. While patience can be a blessing when applied to understand lessons and someone, an uninformed mind can see patience as an illusion or loss of hope in disguise.
As widely stated, there is no overnight success, you must pay the price for success. My late dad had always told me that ‘any name you wish to bear, you must work hard for it’, and that entails having patience to see it manifest. Just like a little child must crawl before they can walk and run, that’s exactly how a progressive mind must put in the work which comes with dedication, disappointment, failure, setback and discipline in order to succeed.
To understand how patience works, imagine a farmer who plants crops; the crop will be infested with weeds. The weed will have to be uprooted for the crops to grow, mature and ripe before it can be harvested. An interesting perspective to consider in the life of a farmer is that, if the farmer is not patient enough, he won’t reap the fruit of his labour. In the same manner, if the farmer is not diligent enough to remove the weeds from the crop, he won’t be able to harvest good crops. Again, if the farmer decides to harvest the fruits without waiting for it to mature and ripe, he won’t enjoy the fruit. That’s simply how patience works.
The benefit of patience is priceless. One needs patience to understand the writings on the wall. To know a person, you need patience. To pass an exam, you need patience to read, to build muscle, you need patience to exercise, to train a child you need patience. To build friendship with someone, you need patience to understand the person, and this entails several trials and test determine his personality, and the value the person believes in. It is sad to note that many people have lost great friendship because they were not patient enough walk with the person. An example is a mentee who sees value in a mentor, but he is blinded by scarce and poverty mindset, thinking of monetary value instead of gaining knowledge.
When you learn patience, you learn to think critically. You will need patience and perseverance to graduate from school, college, or the university. You need patience and perseverance to lose weight. You need patience to build relationships. You need perseverance to build trust with customers. You need to patience to make marriage work. You need faith to serve and believe God for a blessing.
Patience gives you the strength to navigate through obstacles and challenges that may come your way as you go through the process. Patience gives you a better perspective which enables us to analyze things and situations beyond their face value. Patience helps to reveal who people are. Little wonder why It is said that no matter how long it takes; the truth will always triumph over lies.
To succeed in life, you must apply the three essential Ps essential in achieving any goal, personal or professional. They are patience, persistence, and perseverance. You can’t force success when you haven’t developed the capacity to attract success. It should be noted, that you will achieve success when you have developed capacity to attract success because everything has it time and season. In the same vein, you can’t force the process to happen when it is not the appointed time.
Here are a few advantages of exercising patience.
Positive Energy
It is instructive to note that changing a habit requires strong motivation. When you like what you are doing, you will need patience to make it work. When you like a person, you will also be patient, and tolerate the person, in addition to sacrificing for them to make the relationship work. It is the the other way round if you don’t like your work or the other person.
Smart decision-making
Patience helps us to make informed
decisions, and proper use of patience makes us to see things clearly. You will avoid rushing into a relationships, signing an agreement, making a promise, or taking any form a of decision when you take time to think through the process.
Hope
Patience brings and gives hope. When we are hopeful, we tend to have a natural resilience and willingness to keep trying because we trust in the possibility of a good outcome. A positive hope makes us understand that delay is not denial.
Positive team culture
Patience brings a good working culture. Patience can help us to manage people, especially when they irritate and try to frustrate us. When you have and exercise patience, you tend to be better at managing people.
Excellence
Building a brand and reputation takes time. We cannot plant a seed and expect it to flower overnight. Success always begins with patience and the commitment to put in due diligence necessary for excellent outcome. Patience develops excellence because it makes you dedicated and attentive to the work at hand. As Thomas Edison said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
In summary, the simple truth is, nobody knows when they will achieve success despite applying all the principles. We all have different biological clocks. But one thing for sure is as long as you keep trying, exercising patience, the universe will favour you at the appointed time.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s a Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright to Success. He can be reached info@gloemi.com
Telecommunications giant, Globacom, has charged Christians to embrace the virtues that Christ preached as the 2025 Easter celebrations hold this weekend.
While congratulating Christians in Nigeria in a goodwill message released from its Lagos Head Office on Thursday, Globacom admonished them to imbibe the noble qualities of Jesus Christ.
According to Glo, “Peace, love and sacrifice are the central message of Easter. Christ offered himself in atonement for the sins of the world and he lived a life which made Him an eternal symbol of peace and goodwill for mankind”
Globacom charged all Nigerians to espouse the lessons of selflessness, a necessary ingredient in the growth and development of every society and called on all Nigerians to join hands to make Nigeria a better place for all.
The company praised their perseverance through the 40-day Lenten period which comes before Easter as it emphasized the ideals of selflessness, love and peace among all as a way of demonstrating the exemplary life of Jesus Christ.
Easter comes yearly at the end of the Lenten season of fasting and prayer considered as a ritual of purification for the Christian faithful. It also precedes the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ on Good Friday and His eventual resurrection on Easter Sunday.
The company assured its customers of unhindered voice, data and Short Messaging Service (SMS) during and after the Easter celebrations, while urging them to avail themselves of the various data and voice offerings on the network.
Dear Destiny Friends,
Every human being loves to get approval, either for the great work they have done or the ones they are doing. They love to be appreciated and admired. They also love to be given attention when they have something valuable to say or do. In all of these, one thing is certain, there is something special about us, and this special thing makes one unique, and ultimately attracts people to us.
Let’s face it, nobody will admire you, appreciate you, approve you and give you attention if you don’t have anything to offer. The reason most people associate with someone is because they feel or know there’s something they can gain from the person. It’s hard for someone to relate closely with someone who they don’t see potential value in.
There is no doubt each and everyone of us is unique, yes, there’s something unique about you. You can sing, you can write, you can dance, you can lead, you can serve, you can cook, etc. One can even be a good actor, athlete, comedian, or preacher. The list is literally endless. Now, what’s unique about you?
When you discover what’s unique about you, please do all within your reach to nurture and develop it. One day, the right person, who truly appreciates and knows your value will celebrate you.
I have a friend who is exceptionally skilled in writing and developing creative contents. I call him a genius because he can literally write a book within a week. How he does it is what I don’t understand. I was surprised when he once told me he wrote a book and manuscript in one week. According to him, he has been developing the contents mentally, but hasn’t found time to put his thoughts together, and when he finally gets his thoughts together, he was able to write the book and manuscript. This is a typical way of knowing a unique being.
Many, however, do not know what’s unique about them. We focus our energy chasing what is not chasing us instead of focusing on developing what we already have. It’s sad to see young and old people living their lives in an unintentional manner with a belief that somehow lines, favour or opportunities will fall in place for them.
Sometimes, we rely on other people’s affirmation and opinion, and accept it as our fate. For instance, just because one is tall, he might be told he will be a great fit for basketball without considering if the athlete loves basketball; again, just because someone is very intelligent, his parents will encourage him to major in a particular discipline, which is perceived as lucrative without considering if the person likes it pr not.
I once experienced this fate when my late dad inspired me to study taxation law in New York Law School, a major I detest with passion. It was like a suicidal mission for me because I do know, it will take miracle to graduate from the program. How I was able to get a scholarship for my grades and graduate in record time is a story for another day. I’m not wired as a finance person, I will better serve humanity in the social and developmental space where my skills, talents, gift and passion will be better utilized. And ever since I joined the space, I have seen results.
There are many cases where many people lose their identities without knowing they are unique. We are all unique in our individual ways. Just like there are several gifts and talents, we have different skills. When you know what’s unique about you, you will stand out and the world will not only appreciate you, but will celebrate you.
When one discovers the power of their uniqueness, we will gather strength to unleash it to the world. Uniqueness works in several ways. For instance, the mere fact that ten people are genius, talented, skillful or valuable in a particular work, the person with the unique gift is the person who will not only stand out, but will be called upon to do the work.
Let me share more insight. If ten people sing a particular song with a great voice, the person who is called to be a singer will receive a unique appreciation because he/she is working on purpose. That is why it is easy to see a lot of people venturing into a particular form of business, but the favour of the business will not locate them because they are not uniquely destined to do business.
Few years ago, one of my mentors shared a deep insight with me. He said that, as a trained medical doctor, he once observed that despite the fact there are hundreds and thousands of medical doctors practicing their profession. One fateful day, he noticed a particular patient was not responding to treatment despite all the medication that had been given to him by a nurse, his health was deteriorating, then another nurse came and administered the same pill a nurse gave the patient, and the patient began to feel better. What does that tell you? The second nurse was probably working in her purpose which aligns with her profession, and as such the corresponding success. This goes to show that when one is unique, it has a way of robbing off on their work.
Furthermore, he stated that Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, and Beyonce are some of the gifted singers and dancers the world has ever celebrated. He went on to say that we have hundreds and thousands of musicians, but only a few have got the spotlight.
What does that tell you? When you are unique, the world will celebrate you. I have understood that the fastest way to get recognition in life is to work in areas where one’s strength and unique gift will better serve the purpose. This is simply because the world does not celebrate one’s weakness, rather, the world celebrates one’s strength.
In recent times, I have seen myself as a counselor and human inspiration. My counseling skills have enabled me to influence people to live positive lives. Overtime, I have realized that when people share their burden with me, they feel relieved after speaking with me. What amazes me most is the fact that even my elders feel comfortable to relate with me on a cordial basis. Maybe, I have a unique gift for counseling and educating.
Today, I am going to charge you to focus your energy and time on whatever will bring you the highest satisfaction. Even if you are looking for a job, applying for school, or seeking any opportunity, your focus should be centered on what you have that the job, school or opportunity will amplify. When you do so, you will be in high demand.
In conclusion, please affirm to yourself today, I am a unique being with a unique personality, purpose and gift.
Say to yourself, ‘I am original’, and refuse to be fake.
Again confess that your originality, authenticity and uniqueness will attract favours, blessings, opportunities from leaders and queens to you, and you will be celebrated.
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
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has emerged as the Best Road Safety Agency in Africa. This monumental achievement corroborates the Corps’ almost four decades of dedication, resilience and passion towards safeguarding lives on Nigerian roads.
The Corps, according to a statement made available to the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP), received the award at the 3rd edition of the Kofi Annan Road Safety Award held in Elzuwini in the Kingdom of Eswatini, South Africa between 14th and 15th of April 2025.
You may recall that Kofi Annan Road Safety Award was initiated by the Office of the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Road Safety in collaboration with Kofi Annan Foundation to immortalize the contributions of African illustrious son Kofi Annan who served as the Secretary General of the United Nations.
The prestigious Road Safety Management Award represents a badge of honour for Nigeria, and a pure testament of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to unflinching support for the Federal Road Safety Corps and his believe in the Corps’ potential to serve as a model for other African nations. Indeed, FRSC’s tireless efforts to reduce road crashes and promote safe driving practices have paid off, earning recognition across the continent.
The recognition further speaks volume, as well as justifies the giant strides Nigeria has made in ensuring safety of road users and her leadership role in the Sub-region.
Reacting to the recognition, the Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed said that it is a testament to FRSC’s unrelenting passion for road safety. He thanked the entire community of the motoring public, stakeholders, partners, and the Nigerian people for their support. Emphasising that together, the Corps was able to achieve the enviable feat because of the collective energy and all round support received from the motoring public.
The Corps Marshal also revealed that FRSC’s winning formula includes, innovative strategies, implementing cutting-edge road safety initiatives that drive results, collaboration, fostering partnerships with stakeholders to promote road safety awareness, community engagement, educating the public on safe driving practices, full deployment of technology and road safety protocols.
The award was received on behalf of the Corps and the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the Principal Staff Officer to the Corps Marshal ACM Meshach Adigizi Jatau.
