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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
Armed policemen have taken over the Wadata Plaza headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja, as tension continues to mount over the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, which is expected to hold today.
Channels Television quoted an unnamed party official, who alleged that the police were deployed to stop the proposed NEC Expanded Caucus meeting.
Though some staff members of the party were initially allowed to go into the premises of the secretariat without any resistance from the police, they were later sent out.
Journalists were also been asked to leave the premises of the secretariat.
Some policemen were seen cordoning off Dalaba Street, which is the road leading to Wadata Plaza.
The Presidency has said there has been no change in the position of Senator George Akume as Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
“There has been no change in the status of His Excellency, Senator George Akume, as Secretary to the Government of the Federation,” Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said in a statement made available to journalists.
The statement is titled ‘Akume Remains SGF.’
This followed multiple reports which quoted Presidency sources saying Tinubu had named his Special Adviser on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, to serve as the new SGF.
Onanuga said, “President Bola Tinubu, currently in Saint Lucia, has not made any new appointments.
“The information circulating about Akume’s replacement is untrue. Agents of mischief fabricated it.
“The Presidency advises Nigerians to disregard the fake news.”
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
It is everybody’s desire to be successful in whatever field of endeavour he finds himself. It can be in career, family life, business endeavors or personal development. But there’s absolutely nothing good that comes easy. Everything in life involves a lot of hard work, smart work, dedication, discipline, network, sacrifice, prayers, and determination among a whole lot if one is intentional to succeed.
Of a truth, success is not for the faint-hearted. In all honesty, everyone wants to be ahead of everyone, especially contemporaries and funnily enough, the average human being sometimes have a bit of ill- feeling when competitors arise or seem to outsmart them either with better quality or price. The good thing about this however, is that it makes one sit up.
Now, this brings us to the essence of today’s article. For anyone to be ahead of their competitors, they must fly like the eagle. Eagles are known for their powerful build, sharp vision, and fearless nature. They are highflyers, capable of soaring to great heights, and gliding for extended periods. Eagles are also known for their tenacity, using storms to their advantage to gain altitude. Other notable characteristics include their strong talons and beaks, used for hunting, and their protective nature towards their young. These are some of the qualities that make it unique.
The eagle is not regarded as the king of the sky for fun, no. The eagle flies so high because that’s where it gets a chunk of its strength. This ability enables the eagle to take its prey and predators alike to it’s abode where it will have enough emotional and physical strength to dismantle them.
I will be sharing characteristics of an eagle to enable us know why we ought to be like the eagle if we want to soar.
VISION
The eagle has a sharp vision. Their vision is so precise. They can see farther than any animal. They possess exceptional eyesight, allowing them to spot prey from great distances. As human beings, we must have eagle eyes to know what we really want, and what we don’t want. Vision allows us to go for what we desire and deserve. When we have vision, we won’t wait for anyone to tell us when to strike. We flow through the wind despite the waves and heavy current and associated challenges. When our vision is precise, it will give people clarity to understand how they can assist us.
Let’s take a closer look at great leaders of this world who have come and gone. There are many great leaders that came and went but one characteristic that is common in all is “Vision”.
Vision is a successful leadership characteristic
You must have a vision that guides and leads your team towards the organizations or societal goals. The vision must be big and focused. A big, focused vision will produce big results
FLIGHT
Eagles are known for their ability to soar and glide, using their large wings to their advantage. Eagles can fly up to an altitude of 10,000 feet, but they are able to swiftly land on the ground. At 10, 000 feet, you will never find another bird. If you find another bird, it must be an eagle.
An eagle doesn’t mingle around with the pigeons. It was Dr. Myles Munroe who said that. Pigeons scavenge on the ground and grumble and complain all day long. Eagles are not. They fly and make less noise waiting for opportunities to strike their next prey or glide with the current of the storm.
Great leaders are problem solvers. They don’t complain like the pigeons do. They love to take challenges as the eagle does when the storm comes. As human beings, we all have our strengths and weaknesses.
It’s always good for one to take any fight to their home ground where it will give them advantage over their predators. For instance, a fish is stronger in water, but weak on land, a lion is stronger on land, but weak in water, a monkey is strong on trees but weak on air. Just like an eagle is strong on air and weak on water and land. That’s why it always takes its prey to the sky where they have greater advantage to shine.
As human beings, we also must know what we are naturally good at, the ability to know this will enable us to maximize our strength and work on our weakness. We can only do this when we know ourselves and what we are naturally good at. Our ability to focus on our expertise and what we are naturally good at will make us unique and ahead of our contemporaries.
TENACITY
The eagles are known for their ability to withstand storms and use them to their advantage, rising above the challenges. Watch an eagle when a storm comes. When other birds fly away from the storm with fear, an eagle spreads its mighty wings and uses the current to soar to greater heights. The eagle takes advantage of the very storm that lesser birds fear and head for cover.
Challenges in the life of a leader are many. These are the storms we must face as leaders to rise to greater heights. Like an eagle, a leader can only rise to greater heights if he takes up the challenges head on without running away from it. This is yet another leadership characteristic.
As humans, we all will experience challenges and setbacks, however, the ability to apply strength will go a long way to show how determined we are to overcome the hurdles that pose as challenges.
FEARLESS
An eagle will never surrender to the size or strength of its prey. It will always give a fight to win its prey or regain its territory.
Successful leaders are fearless, so we are expected to fear no man, but respect all men. They face problems head on. We are supposed to have the eagle fearless mindset regardless of how big the problem may appear. Confront your fear and rise or face your fear and run. The choice is yours.
VITALITY NATURE
One of the strongest characteristics of an eagle is their vitality. Eagles are full of life and are visionary, but they find time to look back at their life and re-energize themselves. This happens at about the age of 30. What happens is that when the eagles reach the age of 30, their physical body condition deteriorates fast making it difficult for them to survive.
What is interesting is that the eagle never gives up living, instead it retreats to a mountaintop and over a five-month period goes through a metamorphosis. As humans, we are expected to reexamine ourselves, retreat to a safe zone. We can do this by fasting as Christians, we can also do this by learning new skills, volunteering our time and seeking for mentors who can hold us by the hand to show us how the appearance of life is not the reality of life.
In conclusion, as human beings, we are encouraged to be like an eagle if we want to scale through life.
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 and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
