DOES NIGERIA WANT TO SUCCEED?

“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful” …Eric Thomas. Born Sept. 1970. American motivational speaker, author and minister.

What is Success to you?

There is no ounce of a doubt that success means distinctive things to different people. I once met a man whose definition of success is to retire together with his wife to a modest country home sitting on an acre of farmland without modern gadgets, even after having excelled in his career and business.

I also know a number of people that would only find themselves successful after amassing all the wealth in the world, driving the most expensive cars, flying jets and living a life of luxury.

It is probably wrong to judge people for their individual characterizations of success, notwithstanding, one’s dominant environment does play an important part in how people choose their apparent success story, which is usually wrapped in lucid fantasy. As strange as it may seem though, some people have not yet decided if at all they want to succeed in life in the first place.

 

“The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda” …John. C. Maxwell. Born 20 Feb. 1947. American author, speaker and pastor who has written many books primarily on leadership.

Being Organized

If you are quite familiar with, or you live in Africa, Nigeria to be precise, you are probably aware of popular sayings such as ‘They keep telling us that we are the leaders of tomorrow, yet the same old people still rule autocratically’ and ‘Our government lacks maintenance culture, they are insensitive to the people, we lack data, our leaders are just too corrupt’ etc.

As local and simple as these complaints of the masses may be, they are probably the core of any nation, people’s reaction to the consistent attitude of government.

Feedback of citizens directly affected in any circumstance may come as denunciation, but criticisms very well go a long way in shaping actions and aftermaths of people and government’s activities.

By principle, and by virtue of the knowledge we have gathered from recent developments, you are better off not embarking on a project at all if you have failed to adequately plan for it.

Other countries like The United States that Nigerians perpetually idolize and imitate have not actually applied rocket science to become what they are, Nigeria can be better than them, but is yet to quite figure out how to escape from the seemingly self-inflicted slavery. Nigeria is not dead yet, meaning there is hope and all she requires is adequate planning and organization coupled with a project that should be embarked upon to inspire and salvage our youths.

“You will never be completely ready, start from where you are” …C.J. Hayden MCC. A certified professional and personal coach, seminar leader and popular speaker.

Heart

Believe it or not, I once heard a story a a sick lady who's dear hubby cared for and carried to several doctors. Upon arriving a spiritualist who promptly asked her a rather silly question "Do you want to get well?" only to receive a shocking answer which was an emphatic "No!" Upon inquiry as to why she wouldn't want to get well, she replied by saying that anytime she was unwell, her hubby usually becomes the most caring man in the world to her, so she'd rather he stayed with her just like that for as long as can possibly be. foolish you may say.

I scoffed not to say the least when I saw the re-branding project embarked upon by the Ministry of Information some years back when they came up with ‘Nigeria, good people, great nation’ like seriously? It’s like resulting to flattery and tomfoolery.

In as much as I understand the effort, having genuine love for a people of a nation goes way beyond cosmetics approach, which the whole world sees but realize that it won’t last, not just because we have a reputation for being inconsistent, but that we are insecure perhaps due to deprivation, greedy due to lack of wisdom, dishonest inspired by hate and discontent due to lack of compassion.

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive” …Dalai Lama

We need to consciously energize ourselves to offer selfless love, and ultimately love our country, it requires hard work and by implication, innovation, even if we make mistakes, just like John C. Maxwell says, we can fail forward.

It has become imperative for us to have an open and positive mind, so that even if we fail, we can laugh at ourselves, as life is neither perfect nor that hard. This humbles us and allows us to see the good in every situation, even in the flaws and imperfectness of others. We need a little more heart to make good of bad situations, and what amazing discoveries we might encounter.

“If you are in trouble, or hurt or need – go to the poor people. They are the only ones that will help. The only ones” …John Steinbeck. (1902 - 1968) Was an American author who won the 1962 Nobel prize in literature ' for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception'.

 

Poverty: Are we really poor?

You have probably heard of the saying that some people are so poor that all they have is money. Yet we all still hustle for money like there is no tomorrow, only to use the money to buy expensive stuff that we probably don’t really need, to impress people we don’t really know nor care about, sounds like we are simply trying to impress everyone other than ourselves.

No one really becomes rich unless he is content and happy with what he already has. If at all we are actually poor, it is due to our massive rate of illiteracy, our blind and ignorant obsession for religion without sacrifice, and self-deception that we need to pilfer and stockpile money at all cost, only to waste it, and then deprive the needy of a comfortable life, which includes basic infrastructure.

“Three rules of work. Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” ...Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) German born theoretical physicist. Einstein developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics. Einstein's work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science.

So, what are you going do…about it?

There are definitely loads of stuff we can do, for instance I have taken the initiative to talk about it on the social media platform, which is my blog that you are currently reading. You too can create a platform where you can either constructively criticize current happenings by government and other people that matter, or you can encourage them if they do well.

You can teach or sponsor vocational skills or simply spread the word of hope that everyone can contribute a vital role towards making our nation greater than it is.

We need to be positive and hopeful in the midst of the apparent hardship, hopelessness, negativity and impulsive anger, disappointments and hate.

Does Nigeria want to succeed? This question depends on you, whether you want to succeed, and what your definition of success is. How badly do you want to succeed and what effort are you making towards such goal? That’s how Nigeria can and will succeed eventually.

Thank you, and be awesome because you can.

Akin Abimbola.

akinzogee@gmail.com

akinzogee@yahoo.com

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SOURCES: Brainy quote, Good reads, Google, The Secret to Success, Time, Wikipedia

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This article is an original piece, reasonably researched and contains considerable opinion and a unique style of the author.

The names in actual stories are not real and the stories in this write-up are usually fictional, consequently, people’s names appearing are purely co-incidental, except for quotes and news that are typically referenced.