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Food for Living: Why You Need to Plan Your Life
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Everyone, without an iota of doubt is familiar with these sayings; failing to prepare is preparing to fail; the journey of life begins with a right step in the right direction; whatever you don’t manage, you lose it, and if you don’t plan your life, somebody will plan it for you.
On the surface, it is easy to regurgitate these sayings, but difficult to implement them. These four quotes or statements are the summary of planning your life if you really want to make an impact.
Planning one’s life is not as easy as it appears, it comes with diverse processes, especially when there is a targeted objective, goal, mission or vision. During planning, one is likely going to experience frustration, disappointment, failure, stress, depression among others. However, one will have to be focused and determined on the task. This is simply because a lot of variable interests will be battling for your time.
The first step in planning one’s life is to know oneself and then decide what you want. You can’t plan your life if you don’t know who you are, and what you want. It’s sad to note that most people are confused about life. They just exist as opposed to living.
As human beings, we all have different test books as well as different interests in life, just like our choices differ when it comes to the kind of house we would like to build, the kind of major we would like to study in college, the kind of partner we would want to have as a friend, mentor, spouse, etc., the kind of career we would like to explore, the kind of business we would like to engage it. The list is literally endless.
So, when you decide on what you want, the next step is to map out a strategic plan to actualize it. It’s instructive to note that nobody will sing your song or write your story more than you. You are the orchestrator of your life, and if you are not intentional in fixing it, you might end up living your life by chance.
It’s quite unfortunate to see how we miss opportunities in life due to lack of understanding and poverty mentality. We fail to understand that sometimes opportunities don’t really come to us, we must create and nurture it like relationships, and this entails planting, watering the seed, removing the weeds and adding manure, before harvesting will take place. All this entails planning.
When you plan and fail, please don’t be hard on yourself. Life happens to everyone. I have planned numerous times and failed woefully. I have failed in managing friends and life challenges. Did I get stuck there, no. I learnt from my mistakes, and improved myself.
It’s not the day you plant a crop that you harvest. You must take time to cultivate the crop by managing it well, and where you fail to manage it, you might lose it.
According to Myles Munroe, “whatever you don’t manage, you lose it” If you don’t manage your business, marriage, academic, relationship, health, opportunities and position, you are bound to lose them. Nothing is guaranteed in life, just like no condition is permanent. That’s why we must be intentional in living a fruitful life by planning our lives.
The people we see today as successful are people who have paid the price by planting seeds many days, weeks, months, years, decades, and tens of decades during their silent days. Those were the years they were planning their lives. The good news is that everyone has the potential and opportunity to exceed expectations if they remain focused.
It’s sad to see people operate on chance. While luck does exist, one must be prepared to grab the opportunity. Most times, when I people say to me, you’re blessed, lucky, privileged, intelligent, and so on, I just smile in my heart knowing full well that I have done some work to be where I am. It’s worthy of mention that I have written and spoken about my life in recent times. Of interest are some of the books, articles, and networks which have exposed me to numerous opportunities. Most of these opportunities were because of the work I have done in the past.
Note that every day is an opportunity to amend the past or build a better tomorrow. You have the choice to wake up every day with a renewed mandate to correct the errors of yesterday, make adequate use of today and prepare for tomorrow, or continue to remain stuck in the past. According to a philosopher, every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. So don’t be hard on yourself if you have missed it.
Here is a practical step to assist you to plan your life.
Create a vision board
In this vision, you will have to write what you would love to accomplish. Affirm it every morning and look at it every night. Your vision will enable you to have a mission. It’s in your vision that one can determine your values and interest in life.
Perform an assessment
This is one area most people fail to take serious attention. As human beings, we don’t take time to examine ourselves, strengths, weaknesses, personality, technical and soft skills to see how we can fit into the big picture. Most people don’t accept criticisms with kindness.
According to Socrates, an unexamined life is not worth living. You can’t be doing the same thing everyday and expect to have a different result. If you have tried a process several times and it’s not giving you the desired result, how about you reach out to friends, mentors and experts for advice.
Action plan
The next stage is implementation and execution. Talk is cheap if it’s not implemented. No matter the passion, drive, skills, belief, knowledge etc. one may have, if you have not taken the bold step to implement it, it will be mere wishes. Part of my success is because of my books, articles, business, and network. Imagine if I have not taken the bold step to do the work, these opportunities won’t be at my disposal.
When implementing your plans, also look at what is working and what’s not working. You don’t have to be sentimental about it. Your family, friends, job, wellness, finances, home environment, and many other areas of your life can be both sources of joy and stress depending on how you handle them. If you don’t plan your life, they will assist you to plan it.
One of the major mistakes most people make is not being truthful to themselves. One of the worst things, if not the worst thing anyone can indulge in is to lie to himself. You can lie to others, but you can never lie to yourself. If you do, that’s tantamount to suicidal.
In conclusion, I don’t know what your storyline is about, today, I urge you to take time to examine your life, write down your ideas, and get to work by exploring people and organizations that will assist you to design your destiny.
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
The Zone 2 Command Headquarters under the leadership of AIG Adegoke M. Fayoade, has held a lecture on measuring gender-related killings of women and girls (femicides), with a view to presenting recommendations for data systems improvement, advocacy and Action.
The lecture, which was held at the MD Abubakar Conference Hall, Zone 2 Command Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos, was was presided over by AIG Fayoade with senior personnel in attendance.
The presentation, according to a statement by the Zone’s Public Relations Officer, SP Ayuba Ummah, and made available to the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP), was an awareness and training programme, which aims at closing the statistical gap and establish a framework for measuring femicides within the Nigeria Police Force and relevant stakeholders to enhance policy making in ending this brutal manifestation of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) as well as provide a comparable data for global reference.
During the lecture, the Force Pathologist, ACP (Dr.) Samuel Keshinro, spoke on “Measuring Gender-related Killing of Women and Girls (femicides) in Lagos State to Present Recommendations for Data Systems Improvements, Advocacy and Action” focusing on the importance of data collection to assess the burden of femicide according to the framework of the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS). The ICCS is a classification of criminal offences developed by the UN based on internationally agreed concepts, definitions and principles to enhance the consistency and international comparability of crime statistics and improve analytical capabilities at both the national and international levels.
At the presentation, Dr Keshinro cited the Spotlight Initiative (the United Nations high-impact initiative to end violence against women and girls) on VAWG stating that one in three women experience sexual, physical, and psychological abuse including victims of trafficking, or violent social norms. The pervasiveness of VAWG which is a subset of GBV that specifically targets females are perpetrated by intimate partners i.e. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) which includes husbands, boyfriend, ex-husband and ex-boyfriends causing sexual, physical, and psychological harm to the female gender. The extreme form of VAWG that causes death is called FEMICIDE defined by the UN as the intentional killing of a woman or a girl with a gender-related motivation.
Dear Destiny Friends,
The best helping hand you will ever find is at the end of your own arm – John Mason
One of the best forms of love, if not the best, is self-love. The ultimate truth is that apart from the creator, nobody can love you more than you can love yourself.
As human beings, sometimes, we depend on other people’s love to feel loved. Some people even desire social media and online love just to be accepted into the society. No doubt, everyone loves attention and approval.
Everyone loves to be accepted, appreciated, and recognized, but some of us are not ready to do the needful to attract the desired attention. The simple truth about life is that nobody can give you attention, neither will anyone give you recognition if you have not given them a reason to do so. So, one needs to help themselves before other people can help them.
Helping yourself is the best thing that can happen to you. When you help yourself, the joy hits differently. Helping yourself is not limited to adding value to your life. Did you know that self-care is a lifestyle, and it is one of the ways to help your life. Some of the ways self-care can help your life are engaging in regular exercise, eating healthy, avoiding drugs and alcohol, and sleeping well. Self-help also involves taking care of your mental, emotional, physical, environment, recreational, financial, social, physical, and spiritual needs.
Did you know that practicing simple self-care activities can help one achieve greater mental clarity, and gain a better understanding of their feelings?
Helping oneself is okay so long as it doesn’t involve unlawful actions or breach of peace. It’s sad to see people engage in illegality just to get what they want.
Those that depend on fellow human beings for help might be disappointed. Even though they may not have the intention to fail you, life sometimes, happens. They too might be going through personal challenges. Always leave a space in your heart to forgive or overlook when supposed friends, mentors, family members, mentors and benefactors don’t come through for you.
The sad reality of life is that, most times, we like to receive from resourceful persons, but we don’t seem to ask who will give to them. Do you think manna will fall from heaven for them? No. They must find creative ways to make ends meet. One of my mentors once stated, ‘you can work alone, but you can’t eat alone’.
What you don’t know is that these resourceful people were able to help themselves. That’s why they were able to get assistance from established institutions and resourceful people. Some of them might have had a business plans which they pitched to a team of panelists. Some developed programmes, sowed seeds, traveled far and wide and made mistakes while searching for the right path. These are some ways of helping oneself.
I have always stated, we all go through a secret frustration which nobody knows. For a fact, it is easier for people to assist you when you have added adequate value to your life. When you do, people won’t see you as a liability, rather, they will see you as a resource being.
In my journey towards life, I have realized that when you have a mentor or leader you respect, your ability to do the work will enable them to put the icing on the cake. I vividly remember when I published my first book, I had to reach out to Dr. Chief Dele Momodu to write the Foreword to my book. He was kind enough to accept my request. Imagine, if I had not written the book, the opportunity wouldn’t have arisen.
Now, you see that I was able to help myself before help came through. Isn’t it true that heaven helps those who help themselves.
In contemporary times, sometimes, we hope and rely on family members, friends, mentors, associates, mentees, benefactors and more, to help our craft just because we feel and think they are in a better position to assist us, depending on their position or status, but the reality is that sometimes we ask people things that are beyond them and when they refuse to assist, we feel offended.
One of my mentors, Dr. Yomi Garnett, rightly stated as follows, “So your aunt won’t help you financially. Your well-connected uncle won’t give you an introductory note to his minister-friend. Refuse to despise or resent them. Forgive them. Make excuses for them, such as they have enough challenges of their own. Then promptly take responsibility for your own life and your own success by asking God to show you His way.”
I can relate to Dr. Garnett’s statement because, in the past, I have tried to reach some people, some I shared my programmes for consideration, while others came via introduction. In most of these engagements, I couldn’t get what I wanted either because I didn’t come prepared, or was yet to develop the required capacity and competence to execute the task. However, when I developed expertise, they came for me, and in some cases, I was highly recommended. This is the reality of life; people generally love ripe fruits as opposed to unripe fruits which don’t taste nice.
During my formative years, I depended on people to the extent I feel entitled for their support because I felt they were rich, wealthy, and highly connected. I didn’t realize life doesn’t work that way. It was much later in life I realized that it will be easier for them to share their network and net worth with me when I have helped myself. As a matter of fact, that has become my fate because I have had opportunities to relate and work closely with some of my benefactors.
Today, I charge you to make an intentional effort to help yourself. Give your life a meaning. Stop complaining and start to take action to change the course of your life. You are not alone in this struggle; we are all in it together. Remember, nobody can write your story more than you and if you don’t talk about yourself, nobody will talk about you.
In conclusion, endeavor to help yourself so others can help you.
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 West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said that its novel Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (CB-WASSCE) is set to commence on Friday, October 25, with a termination date of Friday December 20, 2024. It also noted that the deadline for the registration of the examination has been extended till October 29, 2024.
The information was contained a press statement signed by the Acting Head, Public Affairs Department, Moyosola Adesina, on behalf of the Head, National Office.
The statement noted that “the examination will adopt the hybrid mode of delivering the examination, which implies that, the objective or multiple-choice questions would be rendered on-screen and candidates would be required to give their responses on the screen, while the essay and practical questions will be rendered on-screen, likewise, but candidates would have to give their responses using the answer booklets provided.”
Read the statement in full:
CONDUCT OF COMPUTER-BASED WEST AFRICAN SENIOR SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION (CB-WASSCE) FOR PRIVATE CANDIDATES, 2024-SECOND SERIES: FINAL EXTENSION OF REGISTRATION DEADLINE
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria, wishes to announce to candidates, stakeholders, and the general public that it is set to conduct the novel Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (CB- WASSCE) for Private Candidates, 2024– Second Series from Friday, October 25 to Friday, December 20, 2024.
The examination will adopt the hybrid mode of delivering the examination, which implies that, the objective or multiple-choice questions would be rendered on-screen and candidates would be required to give their responses on the screen, while the essay and practical questions will be rendered on-screen, likewise, but candidates would have to give their responses using the answer booklets provided. Meanwhile, the examination diet has provided an option for candidates who may wish to use Paper and Pen mode, for the whole examination papers.
On this note, the Council wishes to inform all intending candidates that the registration period has been extended to Tuesday, October 29, 2024. Similarly, the “Walk-in-Candidate” opportunity (for candidates who register 24 hours before the particular paper of their choice is due to be taken) will be open at the end of the registration. Final timetable for the examination is available for download on the WAEC Nigeria website (https://www.waecnigeria.org) .
All intending, as well as registered, candidates are advised to take advantage of the numerous learning resources provided by the Council. These include signing up on the WAEC e-Study platform (via https://estudy.ng), purchasing the WAEC Past Questions and Answers’ books, and joining other candidates (on https:// www.waeckonnect.com ) to interact, on the WAECKonnect platform.
WAEC wishes all candidates for the examination success. The Council will always seek ways of delivering on its mandate by deploying technological innovations to make its services easily accessible to all stakeholders.
Issued by Public Affairs Department.
