News
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
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Secrets are exclusive preserves of certain individuals or institutions. They are one’s advantage over others, in the sense of ‘there’s something I know, which no one else knows. No one can ever claim that they don’t have a secret, either in the good or bad light.
Secrets therefore, exist in the family circle, business terrain, academic environment, career/professional pursuit, health management, spiritual connectivity and even in everyday personal living. It is an undeniable fact that everyone has a secret that works for them.
Let’s take a minute to discuss some of the aforementioned secrets.
Family
Every family has a secret. It will be foolhardy for anyone to disclose family secrets. Most families die with their secrets. To understand how family secrets work, imagine the Coca-Cola company. The family is said to be the only one in the world that has the formula for the beverage; a trade secret that originated with its creator, John Pemberton.
It is said that not even all family members enter the room where Coca-Cola is mixed or manufactured for fear of the secret being divulged. Imagine where spouses have access to the room and the marriage goes south, there’s a tendency that a spiteful divorced partner might leak the secret and the rest as they say is history.
There are many secrets that bind many families which only the immediate family members know. In some cases, only the parents or grandparents know. They can decide to share the secret to either the first male child, first female child or even a member of the family that one considers rational. For instance, imagine where a family is faced with a peculiar life threatening illness which ordinarily might scare anyone who wants to get married into that family, it will be stupid for anyone to spit it out, that act alone can make the intending spouse to reconsider his/her plan to marry from the family.
Business
Every business has a trade secret. Trade secrets are what makes a business unique. Every business has a unique selling point. (USP), which is a distinct benefit that sets the business or product apart from its competitors. A shrewd businessman will never leak his secret to his employees or competitors. The best his employees will know are the values, the operational systems or structures of the business and how his mindset works. But what makes the business stand out is the mystery that one will need to unravel.
Academic
Every student has a distinct trait that makes him/her succeed academically. This unique trait makes the student exceptional. For any student to succeed in their academics, he must know himself and what works for him. While some might study at night, some might study during the day, others might just listen during the lecture and understand the key points.
It’s sad to see students, who haven’t discovered who they are and what works for them following students who have discovered who they are. For example, while some students have good listening and understanding ability, and can listen to lectures and read a little and pass their examinations, some other students will have to read the course material before the lecture, listen during the lecture, read after the lecture and read thoroughly for examination before they can get a decent grade.
In some cases, they might not get the desired grade. Some students will even party hard during the day and at night they study, while some will party at night and study during the day. So, you can see that while some students have discovered themselves and what works for them, some others follow them sheepishly. Moral: Know what works for you and do what works for you because according to Oscar Wilde, “be yourself because others are taken”.
Career/Profession
Every career professional has a secret that works for them. In the same way, every industry knows what makes it stands out. The secret of what makes someone in the entertainment industry successful is quite different from what makes someone in politics or law enforcement, energy, education, legal, or health sector different. They all have different strokes, and the ability of one to do the needful in addition to playing the associated game can be the game changer.
Health
Health is a personal thing. Nobody knows you more than you know yourself. To show you how secretive and important one’s health is, it’s been said that there are three kinds of life: Public life, private life and secret life.
Your public life is the life that is generally known by everyone. It is the character we exhibit in the public space. It can also be regarded as the image perception lifestyle; we don’t generally go around revealing our health status in the public domain except where necessary. The private lifestyle; this is the kind of life only our family and close friends know.
Again, we don’t disclose such pertinent information to them only where and when necessary, then we have the secret lifestyle which only us and our creator knows. In some cases, we go to the graveyard with this. Do you see why health is a personal issue which needs to be kept in a secret place?
Personal
As mentioned earlier, everyone is unique. One of the best things that can happen to anyone is knowing themselves, and knowing what makes them different. I strongly believe we all have seeds of greatness in us. What works for Mr. A might not work for Mr. B. Like I always say, you can copy my style, but you can’t be me because imitation is a limitation.
For instance, I have unique energy and inspiration when it comes to writing. I have developed a keen interest and passion for writing. If tomorrow I become very successful or attract a unique opportunity, and someone decides to try writing to attract similar opportunities, the person might fail because God is the one that decides what opportunities come to anyone nor matter how hard someone may work.
Spiritual
This is another interesting aspect of life. Life is indeed spiritual. There’s nothing that happens physically without taking place spiritually. Everyone has a covenant point that was assigned to them at birth. Once that covenant point is touched that fellow might lose their blessings, anointing or what makes them strong.
There have been many testimonies about this. For instance, in the Bible, Samson’s touching point was his hair. He knows his power lies in his hair, that’s why Delilah tried so many times to know the secret of his strength, but Samson refused to tell her. She tried to make him drunk, but Samson still has the power. Samson repeatedly lied to Delilah about the secret of his strength, first saying it was new bowstrings, then new ropes, and finally by weaving his hair into a loom. Each time, he easily broke free, but Delilah continued to pressure him.
Weary from her constant questioning, Samson finally confessed that his strength was tied to his hair, which had never been cut because he was a Nazirite from birth. Delilah then called for a man to shave Samson’s seven locks of hair while he slept in her lap. His secret was revealed. His hair was cut. He strength was gone.
Do you see that Samson’s secret place was his hair?
In conclusion, depending on what we are working on, we all have our secret strength and place. The onus is on us to cultivate and dwell on this secret place to avoid losing power and focus.
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 and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
Amid growing insecurity in different parts of the country, Niger State Governor, Umaru Bago, has urged residents to defend themselves against persistent bandit attacks.
He insisted that his administration would neither negotiate with nor pay ransom to criminals under any circumstances.
Bago made the declaration during a visit to the Rijau and Magama local government areas, where several communities were recently attacked by bandits operating from the Kontagora axis.
The governor said the State has reached a critical stage that demands collective action, warning that ransom payments would only embolden the criminals and turn kidnapping into a profitable venture.
“I will not negotiate with bandits. I will not pay ransom.
“The moment we start paying, they will open shop on our heads and continue kidnapping people,” he said.
“The situation has reached a state of war that requires collective resistance. We are surrounded by enemies, but we will not give up.
“The constitution gives us the right to defend our lives and property, and we will do just that,” the governor added.
Describing the recurring attacks and displacement of residents as “embarrassing and unacceptable,” Bago announced plans to recruit and train 10,000 personnel into the state’s joint task force to strengthen community security and restore peace.
In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Print Media, Aisha Wakaso, the governor also announced a total ban on all mining activities across Zone C of the state.
The affected local government areas include Magama, Kontagora, Rijau, Wushishi, Mariga, Borgu, Mashegu, and Agwara.
Bago explained that illegal mining had become a major driver of insecurity in the zone, noting that many miners had unrestricted access to forest areas considered unsafe for residents.
“It is suspicious that miners can enter the forests freely, yet the bandits don’t touch them. I have ordered the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to arrest anyone caught engaging in mining activities,” he said.
Governor Bago also reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to ending the cycle of violence and restoring lasting peace throughout the state.
The Nigeria Police have reportedly arrested human rights activist Omoyele Sowore.
Sowore was taken into custody at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
This was revealed in a post on X by human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong, who accused the police and President Bola Tinubu’s administration of undermining Nigeria’s judicial system.
He wrote: “The arrest of Omoyele Sowore at the Federal High Court in Abuja moments ago is preposterous.
“The police and the Tinubu regime are making a mockery of our judicial system.He should be freed immediately. Stop the shenanigans.”
Sowore had earlier posted on Facebook that he was with Kanu Agabi, the lead lawyer for Nnamdi Kanu, at the Federal High Court.
According to him, Agabi disclosed that his team would be withdrawing from the case, leaving Kanu to continue his trial without representation.
