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Creating Your Future Roadmap Today

Today is the tomorrow spoken about yesterday. So, each time we put off what we are supposed to do today till tomorrow we are only saying we are not ready to be in control of our lives. To be in charge of one’s life one must be willing to live each day on purpose. In fact, a man who is leading a purpose-driven life does not procrastinate. He/she is driven by the purpose he/she has discovered. Show me a man who is living a purpose-driven life and I will tell you he is a man who is creating his future today.

The future is not a long time away. The future we talk passionately about is now. It is not tomorrow. It is not the day after the next. Neither is it years to come. Every second we breathe in and out we have a chance to create our future. As long as we still have life in us the opportunity to create the future we desire presents itself to us. Life is a journey. I am yet to see a man who will want to go on a journey from one point to the other without a map. It is the map that will help him/her to navigate through. The same thing is applicable to the way we live our lives. Continue reading “Creating Your Future Roadmap Today”

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Start with the End in Mind

Isaac Oluyi

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. Some will say with a step in the right direction. As for me, all I know is that it starts with a step. You cannot complete what you have not started; neither can you have any experience on that you had wished for. If wishes were horses beggars would ride. Those ideas you endlessly talk about are mere wishes. And they may remain so if you don’t act on them. To bring to fruition those beautiful ideas of yours, you need to step out and expedite action on them.

It has always been my dream and it is still my dream to have a-200 acre farm where nations will be fed and several unemployed people are given sustainable means of livelihood. Yes, I dream of a farm where technology and nature will meet without causing any harm to the environment. It is a farm where nature will inspire ideas that will uplift humanity and lead to sustainable development. What a commendable and lofty dream, you may say! Lofty, yes! But it is achievable. I believe it is accomplishable and I am also aware that things don’t just happen. They are made manifest by those who believe and follow their beliefs with actions. We need to inject life into our dreams for them to become realities. For this reason, I started out my farm with 35 birds in January 2011 in a single room. One and a half years after, the birds have grown to about 500 and we also have some rabbits on a-2 plot of land. This is a step in the direction of having a-200 acre farm. We had taken the first most important step with the end in mind. And we believe in not too distant a future we will get there. Continue reading “Start with the End in Mind”

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You Can Only Be Young Once

Isaac Oluyi, Author and public speaker

No one will live forever. We are all here for a short while. It is actually not how long we live that matters but how well we live. To live well and live a life of meaningful impact we need to discover purpose on time. Nobody will be celebrated for what he/she would have done, only for what he/she did. There is no better time to start living one’s dreams than yesterday. After all, you can only be young once.

Methuselah lived for 969 years on the surface of the earth! That was the only record we read of him in the Bible. No record of what he did nor what he would have done. Each time I read this portion of the Bible, the question is: What did this man do with his youthful years? As I write I am still at sea over living for such a long period of time without any record of meaningful impact. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, lived for 33 eventful years of impact. At 12 He knew His purpose and wrought his first miracle at 30 – he turned water to wine. He actually fulfilled His mission on earth within 3 years! He set forth at dawn knowing full well that he could only be young once. His impact still reverberates throughout the world more than 2000 years after His death. Methuselah lived for 969 years of no impact and Christ lived for 33 years of indelible impacts. What a contrast! What are you still waiting for? Remember, you can only be young once. Continue reading “You Can Only Be Young Once”

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Thank God It’s Monday

Many people are fond of saying “Thank God It’s Friday”. Why is this so? It is so because Friday comes as a big relief to such people. They look forward to Friday right from the beginning of every working week. Some cannot wait for Friday to come before they go into wild jubilation. Friday becomes a day of escape from the drudgery they call “work”. They are ecstatic about Friday simply because they are not enjoying what they do. When you enjoy what you do you will look forward to the beginning of every working week rather than the end of it. In fact, everyday is your Friday. Your slogan will then change to “Thank God It’s Monday”.

In the course of my interaction with people at various fora I have come to realise that if you are not passionate about what you do you cannot make any meaningful impact in life. People that eagerly look to the arrival of Friday are only working to survive.  They are not doing it because they crave for fulfilment. So, they will only be happy on Friday when they can escape from the torture they call work or job. Continue reading “Thank God It’s Monday”

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What You Should Never Compromise On While Building Your Career

Kathy Caprino

As a career coach to mid- and senior-level professionals, and in my former work as a therapist, I’ve come into contact with thousands of questions, concerns, mistakes and crossroads that emerge in people’s personal and professional lives.  Observing the long arc of many careers, I’ve noticed that the worst missteps – the ones that make us feel deep pain, regret, sorrow and remorse – are mistakes reflecting what people have chosen to compromise on or to give up in order to be “successful.”  These compromises don’t feel like “choices” at the time, but they are, and they lead to common crises and challenges that are disastrous for the individual.

Below are the top five things you should never compromise on while building your career (or you’ll regret it deeply):

Your Standards of Integrity

I view “standards of integrity” as core principles and values that guide our behavior.  Integrity is a choice, and while it is influenced by a myriad of factors (your culture, upbringing, peer influences, etc.), it can’t be forced.  (If it is, you have played a part in that.)  One who has strong and well-defined standards of integrity behaves with wholeness, integration, honesty, and does right by himself/herself and by others.  Standards of integrity involve values and virtues such as honesty, kindness, trust, wisdom, loyalty, transparency, objectivity, acceptance, openness, empathy, and graciousness. Continue reading “What You Should Never Compromise On While Building Your Career”

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Rethinking Segregationist Policies

My lawyer-friend, Timi Olagunju, recently sued President Jonathan and six others over what he called gender discrimination in the YouWin Women programme of the Federal Government. The policy, in its current format, my friend argues, violates section 42 of the 1999 Constitution. Aside the YouWin Women, the recently launched Almajiri Education System by the Federal Government, and the proposed 5000 naira note by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), are, to say the least, segregationist.

The YouWin programme should be for all young Nigerians, irrespective of their gender. The federal government can attempt to bridge the ‘gender gap’, if that truly exists among millions of unemployed Nigerian youths, through a more humane and gender sensitive quota (say 60/40 percent in favour of women). I think that was the method they used for YouWin last year.

Similarly, in the wake of incessant Boko Haram menace in parts of the North, the federal government introduced the Almajiri Education System, whereby potential (future) recruits by religious extremists would receive free primary education and feeding along the line. It is meant to integrate Islamic and Western education. Whereas, like YouWin Women, Almajiri education is meant to bridge some gap, it might end up widening the gap. Just like the YouWin Women would endanger gender equality and promote segregation among our youths, Almajiri education would foster social, economic and religious segregation. Continue reading “Rethinking Segregationist Policies”

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Man Behind Anti Islam Film Nakoula Basseley Nakoula Arrested

By GREG RISLING

LOS ANGELES — The California man behind a crudely produced anti-Islamic video posted to YouTube that has inflamed parts of the Middle East was arrested for violating terms of his probation, authorities said Thursday.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was convicted in 2010 for federal check and sentenced to 21 months in prison. Under terms of his probation, he was not allowed to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.

Nakoula was arrested after federal probation officials determined he violated the terms of his supervised release, said Thomas Mrozek U.S. Attorney’s spokesman in Los Angeles.

A U.S. District Court hearing was scheduled for Nakoula on Thursday afternoon. It was closed to media and the public.

Protests have erupted around the Middle East over a 14-minute trailer for “Innocence of Muslims,” which depicts Muhammad as a womanizer, religious fraud and child molester. Though the trailer was posted to YouTube in July, the violence didn’t break out until Sept. 11 and has spread since, killing dozens. Continue reading “Man Behind Anti Islam Film Nakoula Basseley Nakoula Arrested”

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My World as Credited to Ara!!

I sat before the screen of my T.V set lately to behold a documentary to the credit of a young talented, resourceful and world acclaimed artiste popularly known in the Nigerian creative arts and entertertainment industry as ARA. She is a drum expert,with specialization on ‘talking-drum’. Ara of a noble background, developed interest in musical art while growing up as a child. She developed love for music after her parents. Ara craved for the drum as she went out of her way to associate with local artistes whom she felt could assist her in her quest to become a drum beater. She was laughed at and not taken serious despite her sincere interest in creative arts. She took the bull by the horn by creating ‘her world’ after her passion for the drum.

Today, history tells her story and generations unborn will come to learn and appreciate her ingenuity as the GUINNESS World book of Records has ARA as the first FEMALE in the world to be an artiste into ‘talking drum’. This has not only brought Ara into the limelight, but as opened doors of outstanding opportunities to her world. She has had the unilateral privilege of meeting with the Queen of England, Stevie Wonders, et al owing to her achievements in creative arts. Ara is a gem,a pride of Africa and a living icon of sheer creativity in arts. Continue reading “My World as Credited to Ara!!”