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Food for Living: The Need to Add Value to Yourself
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friend,
No one likes a liability. No one wishes to be a liability. These are undisputable facts in our contemporary society. As a result, anyone without a value is considered an anathema in the scheme of affairs. He can neither help himself nor someone else.
Regardless of how one sees life, value is at the centre of any assistance programmed to or fro any productive mind. Most persons, who need assistance, however, find it difficult to show a genuine reason such assistance should be rendered to them. It is worthy of note that most resourceful and selfless leaders who empower entrepreneurs, donate to Non-Government Organizations and support worthy causes, do it because they see value in the work. The reason is not farfetched: it is easy to build on existing foundation as opposed to breaking new ground without any track record.
Without a iota of doubt, free lunch is not guaranteed anywhere, and a good number of generally put their mouths where their money is, except one percent of the most celebrated people. Only selfless people who can support without any form of attachment are on rare occasions open to valueless adventure. These set of people can support someone who can’t pay them for the service or opportunity. It is pro bono opportunity.
Even at that, anyone who wishes to assist another generally has a reason for doing so; if for nothing else, at least they believe the creator will reward and favour them.
What therefore, is value? Value can be defined as the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. It can also be seen as a person’s principles or standards of behaviour. From another angle, it can also be the monetary worth of a commodity or property. Just like we all have different taste buds, value means different things to different people. What Mr. A appreciates might be what Mr. Be detests. Value is indeed priceless and, in some cases, it cannot be estimated.
However, Value in this context, means offering a service or selling a product.
As a Human Capacity coach with expertise on self-discovery, most times I come across youths and career professionals who need opportunity to thrive. Sometimes, I see people begging for money, sometimes, I see people who would like to meet their idol (mentor, celebrity, benefactor, etc.), but they don’t know how to navigate the process.
Each time I come across such people, I ask them several questions like, who are you? What’s your talent/gift? What can you do with relative ease? What makes you happy? If you are told, don’t work again in your life, what will you do with your time? What kind of causes are you passionate about? All these questions are targeted at knowing what the person likes to do, and what brings fulfilment to him.
What uninformed minds don’t understand is that one can literally get anything he wants in life if he know hows to cultivate his value.
For instance, anyone, who wishes to meet an influential person, must in the first step know what that person likes. He must come to terms with the fact that the person supports any of the causes relating to education, good governance, youth, health, women empowerment, sports, etc. It will be wise to know how your value can play a role in alleviating the problem or challenges that sector or cause is experiencing and see how you can solve the problem by adding value to the sector.
Hear this:
When you know the value you offer, and how to present the value to the desired people, the world will resonate with your service. The reason most people are poor is simply because they are not solving the right problem for the right people. One of the major reasons most people are neglected is because they don’t have any substantial value to offer. When you have value, people will generally be attracted to you.
In my personal relationship with the high and mighty in the society, I have discovered that nobody is too busy to pick your call or respond to your message. If they don’t pick your call instantly or respond to your message, they always find time to revert when you are a person of value to them. Your goal is to be sugar that ants will naturally be attracted to.
Proper use of value can attract wealth, opportunities, and relevance. When you know your value, you won’t be priced cheap. Most of the great people the world has celebrated have either been able to make a great impact in the world or solved a problem with their value. It should be noted that no value is higher or has more relative importance than another.
If you can sing, dance, teach, write, act or draw, you can literally use it and get whatever you need. I strongly believe that any day you discover your gift, that’s the day you become a millionaire. It should be noted that talent is not enough to make one valuable; hard work should also play a role. In addition, a progressive mind must endeavour to hone their talents by seeking ways to improve themselves because we live in a competitive world.
If you are in the academic space, continuous education should be your friend. If you are in the training space, taking certification classes should be your friend. If you are in the entertainment industries, getting theoretical knowledge should be your ally. All these added benefits help to add value to your life. Sometimes, it’s the extra work you do that adds value to your life or craft that makes you valuable and priceless because of the experience you have acquired.
Value can either be in the form of a product or service. A cursory look at the Forbes list of billionaires, will reveal that all the billionaires on the list either have a product or service they are offering to the world.
Sometimes, price is used to know the value a commodity possesses. The price of a Toyota Camry is different from a Mercedes Benz, Lamborghini, Tesla, Bentley, BMW, Cadillac, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Porsche, etc.
Do you know your value can be used to determine your expertise in a particular field? Your expertise does not have to be related to a degree or years of experience. Your expertise can come from your unique perspective or approach to your craft, your knowledge of your industry or a particular field career due to your gift or talent you pose.
When you know your value, your next big target will be to use your value to solve a problem in order to be compensated. Your value is not meant to be a hobby, rather, it should be horned for the service of humanity. You must understand the market to know how to market your value.
In conclusion, as you sojourn through life, endeavour to seek ways to add value to your life. Whether you are single, married, an entrepreneur, career professional, skilled or worker, the more value you have, the more opportunities, resources and relevance you will attract. This is simply because we live in a competitive economy. Nobody is indispensable in life. Never believe you are the best because somebody somewhere is competing for your position.
Isn’t it true therefore, that it’s easier to get first position, but it’s more difficult to remain in first position? Hence the reason one should endeavour to continually improve himself by getting additional value
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 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.
