It’s almost 2am in the morning, five minuites more actually. I’m not suffering from amnesia, once I close this laptop i’ll be gone in less than 60seconds. What keeps me awake is my passion! My desire to see you improve, to see you grow, to affect you positively, to be your partner in success, yes -you!
It has been a great weekend for me, I was in Ife on saturday, I had a speaking engagement in two places, will be back there again next week, Ilorin the upper week and so on. Just yesterday (Sunday), I heard 4 deep thank you’s. They were deeply refreshing. I felt great joy when a complete stranger approached me and said, “I applied what you told us 3 weeks ago, and I have a job now!” I love to live life deeply and have no fear of death!
However, in as much as there are people with genuine interests in helping others, you must help yourself! The world meets nobody half way! No living human being has two heads, we all have one, and are all qualified for the futures that we desire. You have the responsibility of setting your life vision and following through with it. You can’t stay idle, you can’t just go to sleep. There is no vacuum in reality, everyday counts for or against you. The farm that is left idle soon grows weeds, the life that is idle, literally worsens. One year more, is one year less. Excellence is not an event, it’s a habit. What 2-3 things do you do everyday that will take you in the direction of your vision?
“Hell begins on the day when God grants us a clear vision of all that we might have achieved, of all the gifts which we have wasted, of all that we might have done which we did not do” -Gian Carlo Menotti
I remember a story I love to tell, the story of the stray horse. This horse wandered far away from home. It went to a place where, neither it nor it’s owner was known. Some small children saw it around and tried to move close, perhaps the name of the owner was written somewhere on it. Unfortunately, it was not. Horses were expensive back in those days, in fact they were the units of wealth. Very rich meant very many horses. These children were pondering what to do with the stray horse, when their father came out of the house. The children narrated their ordeal to their dad, “the horse was stray and unlabelled, it just has to be kept until someone finds it”. The father felt differently, he asked that they get him a rope, that he would take the horse to it’s home. The children wondered what majic their father had in mind.
In a short while the rope was tied on the horses neck, and man and horse strolled together. Initially the man was ahead, after a while he withdrew to the sides, holding the rope lightly. The horse will stray into the bush at times to eat some grass, the man will tug the rope a bit, and the horse will move back on course. The horse moved, the man moved, a little tug here and there, the journey lasted for 2hrs. After two hours a man ran out of a particular house and shouted, “thank you, thank you, how did you know it was my horse, I had lost hope on it?” The man answered him and said, “I didn’t know it was your house, I only guided it and it lead me to its home”.
Nobody can guide you to a home you don’t know. We can guide, we can’t show you there. Take a pen right now, and write it down -Where do you want to be 5 years from now? Write it down, say it out. Set your sails, then the winds will favour you. People will remember you when the opportunity they know you need comes up. Write it down, make it plain, let it be what motivates you. Don’t go with the flow, the river ends in a waterfall. Paddle yourself to your desired end. Help yourself!
“People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.” — St. Augustine