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Get M.A.D (Make Apt Decisions)!
By Tolulope A. Adegoke
Ideas are best implemented for maximum results when you make decisions and stay committed to them. Winning comes by sticking. To succeed, you must start doing something now and stay committed to it.
People often react differently to the ideas they receive or generate. Some choose to hibernate with their ideas because they are afraid they might fail or they might have to spend their last dime implementing it.
Some people procrastinate. They keep postponing acting on their ideas, until it gets stale or until someone else beats them to the implementation. Fortunately, however, there is a selected few who run with their ideas until the ultimate goal is achieved. I hope you are counted among these few.
Never wait until you are fully “ready” before taking decisions on your ideas – otherwise you may never be able to accomplish a quarter of what you could. The difference between high achievers and low achievers is that high achievers almost always make decisions before they are ready to move – and they stay committed to such decisions.
Your commitment is a vital key to actualising your desired dreams at every level or stage in life. Be wise enough to be dedicated. Do not waste the most precious thing in the world – a good idea; do not waste time either. Good moments and good opportunities must be treasured and fully maximised.
Begin now to harness your empowered zero. Do not wait for any special “inspiration”. Open your eyes; use your head and your heart will follow. Do not wait until you “feel” like it; otherwise, you will be acting by emotion, instead of reason. Your winning starts with your beginning; and you begin by DOING.
Your life today is the aggregate result of the steps you took in the past and the choices you made. Bearing this in mind, you must strategically plan your future because you must live in it to the fullest. Ensure that you get started; never accept defeat (don’t quit). Keep pressing forward, until the hero in you is fully activated and harnessed – until you become a living legend!
Capsules for Effective Harnessing
Remember these capsules at every point of harnessing your potentials:
- Always affirm
- Be Alert
- Applaud
Anybody can amount to something if he will affirm himself and his potentials. Affirm that you can do anything. You can solve that challenge! Yes! You can seal that multi-billion deal. You can get that job! You can be great! You must strongly affirm that you deserve to succeed as much as anyone else. You are an embodiment of God-given potentials which naturally gives you the privilege of deserving to succeed. If you do not believe in your abilities, you may not be able to fully maximise them.
I once could not write the letter ‘g’ correctly. I usually wrote it in the shape of a dumbbell. My mind was not really clear, but through God’s intervention and the help of a very few people that believed in me, I was able to overcome this challenge, as well as developing my latent abilities. I rapidly gained the stamina to believe in my God-given potentials. However, as should be expected, while a few people were helping me to improve, some others were far less considerate, including those who were downright nasty. “Don’t waste your time on him,” they said. But as I continued to strive for the best, I ended up graduating as the overall best student in my department at the first degree level – and becoming even more confident that I was born to deliver solutions and possibilities to peoples, organisations and nations.
I urge you to keep believing strongly that somehow, through God’s intervention and the help of people, you can always reach the peak of your heart desires and fulfil your dreams. You can always make it, even if your approach is different from that of others.
Today, choose to transit from being a zero to a hero, by upgrading yourself intellectually and professionally with a new skill or new trade. No matter the level of your challenges, there is always someone who has the key to wisdom to set you free. This is why you must choose the right mentors and associates.
Understand that you were created in the image of God; you have latent abilities that you must harness. Dr. Robert Schuller said: “When you are inspired with a dream, God has hit the ball into your court. Now you have to hit it back with a commitment.” You cannot fully harness your empowered zero without commitment. Many people harnessed their potentials, but couldn’t stay focused and ended up being devastated.
Bear in mind therefore that, being an embodiment of God’s treasures, you must not fail your generation, and you must not fail God. Cancel negative thoughts, and then count your blessings. Be committed to your decisions. And, more importantly, be ready to take risks because without taking risks, you will never be able to solve problems.
(…The End…)
Watch out for the Book titled: “The Power of an Empowered Zero” (Awakening the Giant Within You) by Tolulope A. Adegoke. Foreword by Dr Yomi Garnett (CEO/Chancellor, Royal Biographical Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S.A., U.K., Abuja, Nigeria.) Edited by Ola Aboderin.
Tolulope A. Adegoke is an acclaimed “globalpreneur”, with the mandate to enrich lives and provide the professional, spiritual, academic and leadership empowerment needed to birth, maximize and sustain possibilities in peoples, corporates and nations. He is a prolific writer, frequent keynote speaker and spoken word poet, among others, having written countless articles in diverse reputable fields and honoured many public invitations.
He is also a Senior Administrator.
Tolulope Adegoke can be booked for public events via the contacts below:
E-mail: adegoketolulope1022@gmail.com
Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has reacted to her acquittal by a London court after bribery charges brought against her were dismissed.
The Southwark Crown Court in London, United Kingdom, on Wednesday acquitted the former minister of all charges, including five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.
Reacting to the judgment, Alison-Madueke expressed relief and said she and her family had endured years of emotional distress over the case.
Speaking to News Central, she said she has remained in the United Kingdom since the legal proceedings began 11 years ago.
She said: “I’m just thankful to God, it’s been arduous, almost 11 years. It’s been traumatic not just for me but for my family, friends, my 93-year-old mother in Port Harcourt and for my son.
“It has been a hard journey, but I tell you this, God will always do as He will. God will be God and God is not a man that He should lie; when He promises you something, He will see it through.
“For almost 11 years I have been here. I did my job to the best of my ability.”
The lawmaker representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), at the Senate, Ireti Kingibe, says she did not see any report that led to the suspension of Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Kingibe made this disclosure on Wednesday when she featured in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Prime Time’.
She said she was at a retreat with Edo North Senator, Adams Oshiomhole, when she heard about the report.
“I never saw the report that led to Natasha’s suspension. I was at a retreat. I had earlier stated that I was there with three or four other senators who are members of the committee.
“We attended the Committee on Petitions and Public Complaints, signed the attendance register, and I later left for the tax reform retreat, which I considered more important at the time.
“It affects my constituents much more than disciplining a senator, and I figured that the other people who were not part of that committee would take care of it.
“I even complained to other Senators, specifically to Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe. I complained to him very bitterly that I had not seen that report. I didn’t see it then. I have not seen it till now,” she said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Court of Appeal in Abuja to stay the execution of the judgment that ordered the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.
The Commission also threw its weight behind a notice of appeal lodged by the political parties.
Addressing a three-member panel of the appellate court on Tuesday, the electoral body said it was shocked by the decision of Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja to deliver the judgment despite an order that stopped him from doing so.
INEC, through its team of lawyers led by Mr. Haliru Mohammed, decried that it was not notified that the judgment would be delivered, saying it only heard about the court’s decision through media reports.
“My Lords, we are aware of an order that this court made on May 22, which stopped the delivery of the judgment of the lower court, which was initially reserved for delivery on June 5.
“We were not aware of any notice from the court regarding the delivery of the judgment. We only saw it as breaking news in the media.
“We therefore do not oppose the application of the appellant to stay the execution of the judgment.”
Likewise, counsel to the ADC, Mr. Shuaibu Aruwa, SAN, told the appellate court that Justice Lifu notified the party of the delivery of the judgment via WhatsApp.
Insisting that the decision of the high court was an invitation to anarchy, counsel to the ADC urged the appellate court to invoke its powers and sanction Justice Lifu for disrespecting the judicial hierarchy.
“Sincerely, my Lords, a lot has happened to the judiciary and this profession. What the trial judge did was dare this Court of Appeal by insisting that no one could arrest his judgment, even after his attention was drawn to the stay order from this court.
“The action of the trial judge calls for swift and extraordinary measures from this court. We have come to the stage where this court should press the reset button.
“We are calling on this court to exercise disciplinary jurisdiction under Section 6 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
“We urge this court to take disciplinary steps by immediately suspending that judgment. This court has the power to protect its own integrity. We pray this court suspends the judgment immediately without further delay,” ADC’s lawyer submitted.
The other parties also drew the attention of the appellate court panel to the fact that on June 20, INEC would conduct by-elections across six states of the federation.
They contended that if the judgment were not stayed, it would create problems across the country, maintaining that the Court of Appeal has inherent powers to act in a supervisory capacity and not allow its orders to be disregarded by lower courts.
The appellate court is still hearing submissions from the other parties in the matter.
It will be recalled that aside from the ADC, the other parties the high court directed INEC to deregister are the Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
According to the court, the five political parties failed to meet the constitutional requirements to warrant their continued existence and participation in future elections.
It barred INEC from further according recognition to the parties, accepting nominations of candidates from the affected parties, or giving effect to their activities for the purpose of participating in the 2027 general elections.
Moreover, Justice Lifu ordered the defendants to stop parading themselves as registered political parties in the country.
He held that there was merit in a suit filed against them by the National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL).
The group, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, prayed the court to determine whether INEC has a constitutional obligation to remove political parties that fail to meet the electoral performance thresholds set out in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as reinforced by the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC’s regulations.
It was the position of the plaintiff that the five political parties listed as defendants had persistently failed to meet the constitutional benchmarks required to retain their registration.
The former legislators stressed that the requirements include winning at least 25 per cent of votes in a state during a presidential election or securing at least one elective seat at the national, state, or local government level.
They told the court that the ADC and the four other parties performed poorly in both the 2023 general elections and by-elections conducted by INEC, thereby failing to win seats across key tiers of government.
