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Food for Living: Take That Bold Step
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
“Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If you will agree with me, the beginning of any task is usually the hardest step, but if you can take the bull by the horn and begin, you will be happy you took the decision to start.
There’s a popular Chinese proverb that says: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” Basically, this means that if you want success and growth in the future, the best time to act is now.
Every day we look for opportunities, but we fail to see the opportunities around us. If we can look inward, we will see that we are the opportunities we are looking for. This is because we can create opportunities for others. It is instructive to know that any opportunity we have today was created by somebody. Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft was created by Bill Gate. iPhone was created by the late Steve Jobs. The question you should be asking yourself is, what opportunity are you creating for the next generation?
It is interesting to note that Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gate, Jeff Bezos all dreamt of whatever they have today; they didn’t just dream, they took bold steps to actualise their vision. You are not different. Your academic background, environment, or finance is not an issue when you have an idea. Just begin, the universe has a way of meeting you halfway, provided you are solving a problem.
It should be noted that each of these individuals are not different from you. They have the same capabilities as you, with slight modification which is the enabling environment, but the difference is that they acted. Do you know that you are carrying a billion formula? You have a million-dollar idea waiting to be tapped.
You have a voice; you have a message the world needs to hear. You are sent for a reason. You are resourced for a purpose. You are a problem solver. You have a purpose and an assignment to fulfill. Don’t allow your vision and dream to go with you to the graveyard. No wonder they say that the graveyard is the richest place on planet earth.
For you to create an opportunity you must Dare to succeed, and you cannot dare to succeed without taking a bold step. Taking a bold step involves risk. This is because it can go either way. When you succeed it becomes an opportunity and success story, but when you fail, it becomes an experience which you will have to learn from. However, for you to take a risk, you need to study the risk involved, and ask yourself hard questions like, what will I gain if I pull it through? What will I lose? Calculate the risk by looking at the indices namely the advantages and disadvantages, and which one has a heavier weight.
As human beings, we all have dreams and ambitions, but one of the greatest challenges facing us is execution. Nothing is easy to attain in life. If you don’t take the bold step, you will remain where you are. One of the greatest pains and regret we don’t want to have later in life is having a feeling of disappointment. so why not take that bold step.
In every sphere of life, you need to take the bold step. There’s an African proverb that says, “you can’t be at home to know the cost of a product”. This literally means that if you need something you must go to the market. It’s like a young man who sees a lady she likes, if you don’t take the bold step of asking her out, you’ll never know what’s in her mind.
I can vividly remember when I began writing my first book, I didn’t really know how to begin. Even when I begun, I wasn’t sure of what I was writing, but guess what, I didn’t bother to know if I was making sense or not, I kept on putting my thoughts down as it flows. At the end of the day, I had friends, mentors, and angels who came in handy to provide materials, proofread and edit the contents.
I also remember when I began my company, Gloemi. I didn’t have all the right structures in place, but as I look back after a year on the global recognition, opportunities and partnership I have gained over time, I do know that if I have not taken the bold step, my business wouldn’t have been where it is today. Of a particular interest to mention here was the interview I had with New12 and New York Times because of my book and business. Now imagine if I had not taken the bold step to begin, would I have such global opportunities? Your guess is as good as mine.
Trust me, taking the bold step is not easy, it comes with its own challenges which is not limited to the fear of the unknown, failures, and negative vibes from friends, family, or strangers. This is because nobody might believe in your vision or understand what you are going through. But then, you don’t really have to care about what others are saying if you have a strong feeling about the journey you are about to embark upon. You may consider their thoughts, but the ultimate decision is yours to take.
You may be wondering how to take the bold step? The first step entails having self-confidence. Self-confidence is different from arrogance and pride. When you know yourself and your capability, you wouldn’t make noise about it. Isn’t it true that an empty vessel makes the loudest voice?
Furthermore, wealthy people don’t make noise about their money neither do they seek validation, but average and poor people always are mostly seen flaunting their wealth. According to a philosopher, “Wealth is quiet, rich is loud, poor is flashy”.
Most times we allow criticism and what people will say to hold us back. It is instructive to note that, the only way to avoid criticism is to say nothing, do nothing and be nothing. As human beings, it’s hard to avoid criticism. People will definitely say something about you whether you like it not.
Criticism comes in many ways and sometimes is disguised as good advice. For example, if you want to buy a house, start a new business or even marry, you get a thousand and one advice and warnings. This suggestion(s) may be good, but what’s the relative value you will gain if you decide to listen to them?
Now, tell me this; what’s preventing you from taking that bold step?
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
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.
