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Food for Living: Requirements for a Journey to Success
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
There’s obviously nothing as sweet as success. Just name it; giving birth to a new baby is a success; passing an exam is a success; getting a promotion is a success; publishing a book is a success; celebrating 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years of marriage is a huge success; setting up a business which runs like an institution is a success; winning an election as well as leaving a legacy are success stories. Feel free to add yours.
The journey to success is not an easy route though, it comes with its own challenges. But one thing is certain, there are universal principles of life that are applicable to success. You can’t have genuine success without having a track route to follow. For instance, to attain success, you must plan; you must experience challenges along the way which makes you to adjust your plan; you must work very hard and smart, and this entails sacrificing your time, your sleep, reading, and networking with the right people and organization.
A critical area of success I will like to discuss today is discipline. Without discipline, it will be difficult to achieve success. Discipline plays a major role in success. In fact, it will be right to say that the hallmark and foundation for success can be attributed to discipline.
Discipline is doing whatever you are supposed to do irrespective of the circumstances. For instance, if you are determined to reduce weight, you might decide to spend at least fours hours every week at the gymnasium. You may even decide to do a 30 minutes daily exercise at a conductive time that works for you during the day.
Personally, I exercise daily between the hours of 4:30 am- 4:50 am every day. This is a routine that has become an intrinsic part of me in the last month. Prior to that, I just do 100 push up in the morning and 100 push up at night. This is because I am passionate about my health. I have been drinking two glasses of water every morning when I wake up from sleep for the last 10 years. Now, this has become an integral part of me because if I don’t drink water, it will appear to me I’m missing something.
In understanding the concept of discipline as it relates to success, I will like to shed more light on the concept of well-being. This is because discipline and well-being work together. While discipline entails working on a planned routine in order to achieve a set goal, well-being is knowing when to take it easy.
Let’s take it a little bit further. Well-being is knowing when to be disciplined and when not to be disciplined. Well-being is the common sense of discipline. While discipline is for a season, well-being is for all seasons. Let me share a practical example. While I always exercise every day regardless of circumstance, I do know that my health and well-being are more important than any goal I want to achieve. That’s why I said, discipline is for a particular season when your health is in good shape, but your well-being is for all-season provided you are in good condition.
Another aspect of the journey of success worthy of mention is mentor/coach. In your journey to success, you need the guidance and experience of worthy coaches who have gone ahead to attain similar success. According to a philosopher, if I have attained success, it is because I stood on the platform of those who have attained that height. It should be noted that there’s nothing like self-made. Self-made is a false illusion we believe. Even if you’re talented/gifted or skillful in a particular industry, you’ll strongly agree with me that you’ll continue to improve yourself, and improving yourself entails practicing, and practicing entails having a coach.
Let’s take the case of study of some of the greatest and talented planners, Lionel Messi, Christian Ronaldo, Abide Pele, Augustine Okocha, Kanu Nwankow, Diego Marodona, Zinedine Zidane amongst others. These great players were all skillful and talented, but they still had to undergo numerous sections of trainings from their coaches in addition to personal training.
Let’s take another case. Usain Bolt is currently the fastest athlete on planet earth today with a record of 9:58 in the 100m and 19.19 in the 200m race. But it’s interesting to know that Usain was eliminated in Athens 2004 Olympic during the first round, but today he holds the record of the fastest record on earth in the 100m and 200m men’s race. The moral in this case is that though you are talented and gifted, you must continually commit to process by refining your gift in order to be valuable otherwise you will remain ordinary.
In one of my articles, titled Mentors Are Life Savers. I mentioned the value and importance of mentors. The reason I’m stressing about mentors here is that you cannot reinvent the wheel. According to an African proverb, “if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go with a team”. The value of mentors is priceless.
In the journey of life, you need accountability partners, and mentors/coaches can serve as accountability partners in order to reach your optimal capacity. Mentors/coaches can assist in facilitating your journey to success, and will provide you opportunities which ordinarily might take you years to attain if at all, you can ever attain them.
When you decide to do things yourself or your own way, you will only operate within your limits of understanding. There are high and low principles of life. Mentors/coaches help in showing you the high principles of life. Here are four benefits of having a mentor by Udo Okonjo: Your mind will be transformed, mentors will elevate your actions and performance, they will accelerate your results, and finally, they will help you to maximize your life by reducing the grinding and hustling of life.
In your journey towards life, some of the action plans you need are: awareness, action, accountability, and commitment.
Awareness is like information. It broadens your mind, it gives you the experience to navigate through life by making the right choice. You need to take action. Action can be fast action, correct action, and mega action. To understand these concepts, you will have to attend my private masterclass or coaching session. Without action, your dreams, visions will never see the light f the day. Talk is cheap, you can say and dream whatever you like, but without taking action, they will never see the light of the day. Therefore, it is imperative you list the action or steps you need to take to get to where you want to be.
True success entails being accountable either to oneself or to somebody else. See more insights on mentors and coaches above
You need commitment. You must be willing to pay for your personal growth, financially or otherwise. You must be consistent, in your thoughts, words, and actions/deed. You must be intentional and deliberate in whatever you do. You must take strategic steps to actualize your success by studying the works of people who are more experienced than you in that industry. Read their books, attend their events. There is so much information to gain from them because all information can’t be in one source. Endeavour to meet these people in person if possible, and if given the opportunity, make sure you prepare ahead of time by way of reflecting on important questions and conversations you will like to have with them.
In conclusion, in the journey to attain success, there’s nothing like overnight success and there’s nothing like luck. Just know that life involves a process, and true success is a product of process.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He’s a Human Capacity & mindset coach. He’s also a 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
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.
A Chief Magistrate in the Rivers State Judiciary, Mr. Ejike George, has resigned his appointment.
He hinged his decision on the unease over the appointment of a Sole Administrator to oversee the affairs of the State.
His resignation was contained in a letter dated April 11, 2025, and addressed to the Honourable Chief Judge of Rivers State through the Secretary of the Rivers State Judicial Service Commission.
The letter was titled “Voluntary Retirement From Service.”
George, who disclosed that he had put in 16 years in the judiciary, said the appointment of a Sole Administrator is tantamount to a “quasi-military administration.”
He expressed dismay over the direction of the governance of the State, which he said is “alien” and “antithetical” to the values of the legal profession.
The statement read: “This present is intended to convey my decision to voluntarily retire my appointment as Magistrate of the Judiciary of Rivers State.
“This difficult and regrettable decision is informed largely by my discomfort with the recent appointment of a quasi-military administration to run the affairs of a modern state like ours.
“Milord will agree with me that this type of governance system is not only alien but also runs antithetical to our hallowed profession as legal practitioners and adjudicators.
“Having put in a whopping 16 (sixteen) out of my 22 (twenty-two) years of legal practice into this Judiciary as Magistrate under successive democratic administrations, I find it difficult to work with the current setting, as doing so would amount to a tacit and naive acquiescence.
“Thanks Milord, for the opportunity to serve.”
