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Food for Living: Succeeding Through Relationship and Association
By Henry Ukazu
Greetings Destiny Friends,
A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people – Will Rogers
Success and failure have many components and characteristics, and one of them is association. However, many people don’t understand the power of association. Association works with relations. When you work and hang out with the right set of people, your chance of succeeding in life will be greater.
Did you know that your mindset contributes to success? As a matter of fact, your mindset can be described as the foundation of success because the success and failure of anyone starts from the mind. If you have the right mindset, you will think of the right relationship and association to belong to. If you have the right mindset, you will be concerned about your environment which can also contribute to your success.
Your attitude will change for the better if you have a progressive mindset, but if you have myopic and fixed mindset, your thoughts and experience will be limited regardless of your experience in a particular environment.
When people talk of relationship and association, it relates to the fabric of our society which starts from the family. A solid family where love and kindness are shown to the children, spreads love and unity among the siblings which in turn affects the society. When hatred, malice, wickedness, ungratefulness, and unhealthy attitude is sowed in the minds of children, they go out to the society with a hostile mindset. That’s why we have funny people and leaders who act like people without conscience.
Most people don’t know how blessed they are to be raised by decent parents in addition to having great siblings, until they meet people who have been damaged by society.
When one nurtures the right relationship, they are bound to reap the benefits when the right opportunity presents itself. It’s sad to note that many people have placed pecuniary gains and materialistic things above access and knowledge.
When you invest time and resources into the right relationship, it will germinate like a seed that is planted on a fertile soil. These relationships will introduce you to the right associations which will in turn provide you with the information you will need to succeed.
The power of information cannot be overemphasized. Information will only come to you when you have the right relationship and association. Did you know that if you are not informed, you are ill-informed and once you are ill-informed, you can’t perform because information leads to reformation and transformation. In fact, information leads to formation. You are a product of what you have learned, if you don’t read, you won’t know.
According to Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, “You are the same person today and in five years except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read.”
On a personal note, I can attribute my success to the relationship and association I keep. Sometimes, people ask me how I do what I do and how I meet the people I meet. I simply tell them, I’m smart by association and I’m a voracious reader. I say this because I am very intentional in what I do and how I relate with people.
Still on association, when people join associations or live in a particular neighborhood, they do it for a reason. When people pay to attend certain events, schools or travel or even volunteer for certain people or associations, they are doing it for a reason. When people seek mentors, they are seeking for people they hold in high esteem either in their professional capacity or based on their principles or integrity. Even the book of life says Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. (“Proverbs 13:20).
One may be concerned; how does one build these powerful associations? It begins with being selective and intentional. The first question, one needs to ask oneself is what do I want from this person or association? It’s important to align yourself with individuals who share your values and aspirations.
The next step is to embrace diversity. It’s imperative that you connect with people from various backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives to life. This will help to enrich your experience, worldview, in addition to making you more innovative and adaptive. We live in a global and social economy. Like I always say, why be local when you can be global?
Furthermore, according to an African proverb “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” You cannot do life alone. All you need is the right people and association. The right people will support your efforts and accelerate your success. The wrong people will retard your progress altogether. According to kola Adesina, CEO Sahara Group, what you need in life is the right people and not necessarily Presidents, Governors, celebrities or people with money.
In conclusion, do you want to succeed in life? Then be intentional with books, people and association.
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
The importance of timing cannot be overemphasized. Timing is everything in life. It is critical to one’s success. You can lose your money and get it back in many folds. You can even lose your health and get it back all things being equal, but when you lose time, you can hardly get it back again.
The importance of timing can be seen in crops. Every crop has a season, a good farmer won’t plant maize when it’s time for oranges, nor will he plant pears when it’s the season for mangoes.
Time is very instrumental to the success and failure of anyone. Imagine having a meeting or interview at 9:00am and you arrive at 10:10am, it will take the grace of God to be interviewed. As an employee, apart from one not being able to diligently do his job, one of the fastest ways for an employee to lose his job is by being late to work.
When I was in New York Law School studying Taxation law, I did a course titled, the Problem of Timing. During the semester, I learnt about cash and accrued income. Let me do some academic exercise here. In cash income, just like the name entails, one is paid in cash as soon as the work is completed. It’s just like going to the market to make a purchase. One can either pay directly with cash or with debit or credit card. But Accrued income refers to revenue a company has earned by providing goods or services, but for which payment has not yet been received, one will have to do the work first before getting paid. This is applicable when one works in either a public or private organization where one is paid either weekly, bi-weekly or at the end of the month depending on the stipulated mode of payment.
It’s important to note that before the money is paid either in cash or accrued, one would have earned it. It’s just like one learning g before earning, and one will have to update to upgrade. These are just the practical principles that will work with life.
In the same way, in life there’s a seed time and harvest time. It’s a universal principle of life. Whether as a parent, entrepreneur, student or employee. As a parent, if you don’t train your kids very well, they will grow up to reflect the opposite of what you desire. As an entrepreneur when you invest in your business, you will get the reward in due time. As a student, if you take your studies seriously, your grades will improve, and as an employee, you stand to get promotions and opportunities when you add value to your work. In summary, one will have to put in the work before recognition comes on.
To understand how seedtime and harvest work, imagine where parents tend to like one child more than others just because they see potential in him, or he’s smart, hardworking or even creative. They fail to understand that every child is different and as such their timing can be different. Some kinds take time to develop.
I personally believe there’s something so unique about each individual which God has deposited in everyone of us. It’s just a matter of time for it to manifest. Your timing of manifestation is different from your siblings and colleagues.
Personally, I didn’t mature fast with my contemporaries. Overtime, I have seen much improvement in my personal and professional life. Maybe because I have added value to my work with the assistance of mentors and good friends, or God had to humble my colleagues and mentors . Why do I say this? During my formative years, I had little or nothing to show for it. I was looking at my contemporaries as mentor and seeing my mentors as small gods whose feat is unattainable, but now, the reverse seems to be case as I have developed capacity some of my colleagues are yet to attain, while I have even surpassed the achievement of my some of my mentors in some quarters.
In all these, they are all surprised how it happened. Some are yet to comprehend or articulate the feat. It’s just like watching a film where everyone slept and woke up to see the game and tides have changed. The secret behind it is the seed time and harvest time. I was probably learning the trade while in the wilderness, and when the training season matured and ripe enough to be harvested, I became attractive to almost everyone who loved the seed I was producing.
There are litany of examples of people, who have been in the wilderness during the seed planting season. Let’s take a case study of Joseph in the Bible, his journey to stardom took a little twist. Despite the travails he experienced in the hands of his siblings who sold him, his experience while in the jail, and with Portiphar’s wife, who tried to seduce him; they were all set ups for success. The moral here is Joseph seed time and harvest time was quite different, it wasn’t a smooth journey. Ordinarily, one would have cursed his siblings or his friends who were with him in prison and forgot him after they were released. But at the end of time, everything worked out for his favor. Joseph’s seed days were his dark days while in the wilderness.
Another inspiring story of note was that of Pastor Ibukun Awosika, the former board Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria. She once shared a pathetic story during her formative years of being in business. According to her, she sojourned for about 15 years. She cried because lines were not adding up for her and she wouldn’t do what her contemporaries were doing to get opportunities. At a point in her business, it appeared like she was in a race of own life because everything seemed to be against her, but at the appropriate time, lines began to fall in place for her. Appointments, business opportunities, favours and goodwill began to fall in place for her. Again, she had a fair share of seed time.
An interesting question I would like to ask you is, what’s your seed time? Have you ever been in the wilderness when you appeared to be fixed? It’s unfortunate many people are not willing to pass through the storms or experience seeds and harvest time. Amidst all these, one must do some work before they get opportunities. However, before such opportunities will come up, one will have to plant the seed.
In conclusion, seed time and harvest time is critical in the journey of life. Take a seat and determine what seed you would like to sow and what you’ll like to harvest.
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
By Eric Elezuo
The Senate has suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghen for six months over her sexual harassment accusation and other disputes against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Senate also withdrew her salaries for the period of the suspension, as well as her security details.
The chamber however, soft-pedaled on the salaries and allowances of her aides, who it was argued would not have any source of livelihood within the period.
Globacom is welcoming new customers on its network with the introduction of the e-SIM. The e-SIM activated in any Gloworld shop or Dealer outlet comes with an introductory free 5GB data when the customer buys a data plan of N1,500 or more.
Customers already on other networks can now join the Glo network with e-SIM as an additional SIM. Existing Glo customers can also enjoy this “SIM-less” freedom.
With the e-SIM, customers no longer have to worry about space for a physical SIM on their phones. The e-SIM is a software-based digital chip built directly into smartphones or wearable devices, thus eliminating the need for a physical SIM card for customers.
The use of e-SIM enables customers to have seamless switching between phone numbers without a physical SIM. It is ideal for upwardly mobile people who travel frequently. The e-SIM also guarantees security, as unlike physical SIM, it is harder to remove from devices. It is also eco-friendly and reduces plastic waste.
Globacom’s launch of the e-SIM enables enables it to cater to high-net-worth individuals and enterprise customers, and it also reinforces the company’s commitment to providing seamless and future-ready services to its customers.
A customer seeking to activate the Glo e-SIM needs to check the compatibility of the mobile handset by dialling *#06# on his or her phone. If an EID number reflects on the mobile screen, the device is e-SIM compatible.
“The customer can then proceed to the nearest Gloworld shop or Glo Dealer outlet to migrate to e-SIM. The process takes only a few minutes and the customer can thereafter begin to enjoy the use of an e-SIM”, the Marketing Department disclosed.
