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Food for Living: The Humbling Effects of Success and Failure
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friend,
Nothing humbles a man like failure, and nothing elevates like success. Every human being aspires to succeed in every aspect of living including academic, business, career, family or personal life. In the same vein, everyone runs from, and detests anything called failure. The truth remains that we all experience both success and failure at one time or another in the journey of life. It is inevitable. We can only attempt to manage them very well when they occur.
Life is dynamic and unpredictable. As human beings, we always strive to achieve success because we are aware of the doors and opportunities it will open for us. In the same vein, failure can expose you to the other side of life – humility. By the time you taste success and failure, you will truly understand what life is because it will balance your understanding.
It is only a fool that will be exposed to wealth and turns around to use it to humiliate the poor or those he perceives as inferior despite being part of them during his humble beginnings.
A former Presidential aspirant in Nigeria, Chief Dele Momodu, once told me of the advice his late mother always gives him whenever he’s going out; “never forget the son of who you are and never forget where you are coming from”. The import of that message is never to forget your humble beginnings whenever you become successful.
There is this other mentor of mine, who was once a bus conductor in Nigeria when he was a teenager. It is instructive to note that this man now owns a private jet. This mentor of mine once told me, “I never forget who I am”. It may interest you to know that this man has a strong reverence for God. According to him, it’s God who has brought him this far and he’s always conscious of where he’s coming from. Again, what’s the significance of this message, having attained wealth in the society, this man understood that no condition is permanent, and as such success has humbled him.
Success and failure play an important role in our lives. Just like a certified pauper can become a man of means tomorrow, a rich man can become a poor man tomorrow. So, it makes no sense to brag about whatever you think you have today because whatever you think you have is somebody’s “toy” “change” or “rag”. Let me share some examples with you, Youssou N’ Dour, the richest African entertainer has an estimated net worth of $145 million, Aliko Dangote the richest Black man on earth is estimated to have $14.2 billion, while Elon Musk is estimated to have $220 billion dollars. The interesting thing here is that while Youssaou N’ Dour is regarded as Africa’s most wealthy celebrity entertainer, George Lucas, who is the wealthiest entertainer in the world is estimated to have a net worth of $6.5 billion. While Dangote is the most celebrated wealthy black man, Elon is celebrated as the wealthiest man on earth.
The interesting thing here is that both George Lucas and Elon Musk can employ or even buy over Youssou N’ Dour and Aliko Dangote. Do you see why nobody should brag about wealth or whatever they think they have because everything can be lost within a twinkle of an eye, after all, before Dangote and Elon Musk came on board, there were other great and wealthy people on top of the list.
Furthermore, even with Elon Musk being the richest man on planet earth, if Joe Biden, the United States President calls him for a meeting, he will be there within 24hours. The significance of this analysis is that despite Elon Musk’s money, which the American President does not have, President Joe Biden can humble Elon Musk with his position.
Failure on the other hand has been the major reason most people work hard. This set of people have tested poverty and know that it is not a good place to be. Both failure and success have their advantages and disadvantages. Your ability to manage them well will be the game-changer for your life.
While some people allow their success to get the better of them, informed minds are humbled by their success. While poverty stricken and myopic minds complain about their condition, “poor” progressive and rich mindsets don’t allow their situation or environment to limit them.
Question: where do you belong?
When you allow success to humble you, you will be celebrated. But when you allow failure to define you, you will be relegated. Therefore, to live a fruitful and productive life, the higher you go in life, the more humble you should become. Never allow worldly fame to rule you. Never allow money and material things control you, rather control them by making them your slave. My late dad will always say he trained himself as a poor man and as a rich man; anyone that comes, he will accept it in good faith.
In conclusion, as we journey through life, embrace your mistakes, successes and failures, and see how you can learn from them to develop your future. Also ensure you pay adequate attention to your success to expand your territory.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer Design Your Destiny and Unleash Your Destiny. 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.
