Who pays?

In his book Seizing the Moment, James W. Moore recounted his experience when he was in college.

A new student has just been transferred to their school and who in their classroom sat opposite him in semicircle arrangement. Often he would look across and see him sitting there.

He had the saddest face. He seemed lonely, and understandably so. He had arrived at mid-semester, didn’t seem to know anyone, and was always alone. He remembers feeling sorry for him and thinking he ought to make an effort to welcome him, get to know him, introduce him around, befriend him. But somehow he just never got around to it.
 
Then one morning he picked up a paper and was shocked to read the headline: “Local College Student Commits Suicide”.

It was the transferred student! He had left a note saying he couldn’t go on because he felt so lonely. It was then that James realized he had missed his moment of caring. 

Beloved, now is the best time to show someone you care. This is the best moment to do that which you have been putting of for ages.

The next second, minute, hour or day maybe too late. You and I do not know what will happen next except our creator.

According to Napoleon Bonaparte “Every moment lost gives an opportunity for misfortune.”

It is said that tomorrow is pregnant and neither of us knows what the outcome will be. So now is the time to do it. Or else someone may pay with his life.

Culled from Uju Onyechere

The Magic of Daniel Webster

He was just beginning his career as a lawyer; he took a case for a fee of $20. The case turned out to be a very difficult one, and in preparing for it, he had to make a trip to Boston, which in itself cost more than he was going to earn as a fee.

He was determined, however, to do a thorough job on the case and win it, which he did. In retrospect, it seemed like a small case, but at the time, it was a big victory. Years later, a large company approached him on short notice, asking him to undertake a case for which they were willing to pay a very handsome fee – in fact, a fee quite stunning at the time.

As Daniel Webster reviewed the case, he found that it was almost identical to the one he had researched and won nearly twenty years before for the fee of only $20. He took the case, and just as before, the verdict was in favour of his client. Mike Murdock said, “The quality of your preparation determines the quality of your performance.”

Stop thinking about the money; rather think of how to do a good job first. If you deliver quality job, surely, the money will come. Target to be indispensable. Autograph your job with excellence, and the rest will be history.

Culled from Uju Onyechere.

Across Niagara Falls

The story was told of a tightrope walker who inched his way across Niagara Falls. The crowd gazed in awe when he began and cheered when he accomplished the feat.

Then he turned to a man and said, “Do you think I could carry someone across?” “Sure,” the man replied.

“Let’s go then!” “No thanks!” the man exclaimed. So the tightrope asked another man, “What about you? Will you trust me?” “Yes, I will,” he said. That man climbed onto his shoulders and with the water roaring below they reached the other side.

Sometimes we really need to trust others in other to get to the next level. That also depends on how we live as individuals.

If we live an upright life and associate with men and women of integrity and high repute, achieving our dreams and aspirations becomes a little less tasking.

What is the use of Living?

St. Thomas was born in 1225 near Aquinas, Italy, thus, the name Thomas Aquinas. By age fourteen, he was a student at the University of Naples.
From there he decided to become a Catholic priest, a Dominican. His family was not happy about his plan and developed a strategy to dissuade him.
They kidnapped him and held him for fifteen months, in hopes that he would change his mind. But he did not.
The family became more daring in their attempts. They arranged for him to be with a prostitute. That attempt likewise failed. Finally, they unsuccessfully offered to purchase for him the position of archbishop of Naples, a practice known as investiture and was common with the wealthy in the Middle Ages.
He became profoundly respected through his brilliant mind and voluminous writing, which earned him the nickname Angelic Doctor.
He attempted to reconcile two large bodies of thought: the writings of Aristotle (and other philosophers) and the Bible. So influential was he that his thinking was giving a name (based on his name). It is called Thomism.
Many followed his teaching, because his intellectual prowess and theological acumen commanded respect, and he got it.
Winston Churchill once observed, “What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place to live in after we are gone?”
Individuals who have great vision and how to go about achieving it will automatically have followers who buy into their dreams. They don’t go about begging for people to respect or fear them. They earn it.

Who is More Qualified?

In Germany, “experts” proved that if trains went as fast as 15 miles an hour – considered a frightful spread – blood would spurt from the traveler’s noses and passengers would suffocate when going through tunnels.

In the United States, “experts” said the introduction of the railroad would require the building of many insane asylums since people would be driven mad with terror at the sight of the locomotives.
 
When the idea of iron ships was proposed, “experts” insisted that they would not float, would damage more easily then wooden ships when grounding, that it would be difficult to preserve the iron bottom from rust, and that iron would play havoc with compass readings.

Do I need to remind you that The Wright Brothers were not given any chance by “experts” who insisted that it is impossible for an airplane to fly.

You see dear reader, one thing you can never think of is throwing in the towel at any point in time. You must keep going until you achieve what you want. If you must, you can alter your procedure, but keep at it till you succeed.

Now the question is: who is more qualified than you to believe in the beauty of your dreams? No change agent has ever been given a chance. And I doubt if yours will be different. So if need be, break the rules.

Culled from Uju Onyechere’s

Each job is like a signature

Hello my viewers for sometime, I have not being able to share my thoughts on issues and things happening around me. I guess its because I’ve gotten too busy that I’ve forgotten the reason why I write. I know someone out there is learning one thing or two from my blog so just to get you inspired like I am, I share what I’ve read that could move you to be all you can be. Today, I share from the fountain of my mentor’s wisdom. Its the middle of the year and I do hope you enjoy every bit of it and feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think.
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The story was told in Reader’s Digest published in 1995 about a young man named Greg. As a twelve-year-old he took summer jobs in his father’s small brick-cleaning business. His father made sure that he instilled the attitude of high standard into him. This he did by leading with examples.

At seventeen, Greg married his childhood friend who was only fifteen then. His marriage to Verlyn necessitated his moving out of his parents’ home into a housing project known for drug trafficking and gang violence where most people got killed or went to jail.

Everybody expected the marriage to break up soon being the fact that both Greg and Verlyn were teenagers. But the love and belief they had for each other kept them going and they worked hard to succeed.

Greg worked in a food packaging company as a bagger from where he was promoted to the position of a stock clerk. He took his job very serious and was very efficient which resulted in his being promoted to the position of a stock manager. He later joined a new company. His new company sent him to manage one of their unprofitable stores. The unprofitable store was the very one where he started as a bagger sixteen years earlier.

After 12 months, Greg and his wife decide to buy the store. Within a short while he turned the fortune of the store around and began to invest in other stores. Within ten years they owned eight stores with a total revenue of $52 million a year. Greg didn’t forget his father’s advice – each job is like a signature.

Sometime ago my car broke down in an environment where I did not know anybody except my host. To get the car fixed, he insisted on a particular mechanic and nothing could make him change his mind. I later saw the reason for his insistence. The mechanic signs his signature on every car he touches. I nearly convinced him to come open a shop in Lagos.

Most of us think of benefits first before embarking on any job. Attention should be focused on doing a good job first. The most important thing is to make a good name in whatever you are doing, so that when anybody wants services in that area, your name readily comes to mind.

Beloved, your name is only as good as the quality of work you do, so aim to be the very best in whatever you do.

Culled from Uju Onyechere’s post on MODELS & MENTORS INT’L group on facebook

Iron Persistence

The little country schoolhouse was heated by an old – fashioned, potbellied coal stove. A little boy had the job of coming to school early each day to start the fire and warn the room before his teacher and his classmates arrived.

One morning they arrived to find the schoolhouse engulfed in flames. They dragged the unconscious little boy out of the flaming building more dead than alive. He had major burns over the lower half of his body and was taken to the nearby county hospital.

From his bed the dreadfully burned, semi conscious little boy faintly heard the doctor talking to his mother. The doctor told his mother that her son would surely die – which was for the best, really – for the terrible fire had devastated the lower half of his body.

But the brave boy didn’t want to die. He made up his mind that he would survive. Somehow, to the amazement of the physician, he did survive. When the mortal danger was past, he again heard the doctor and his mother speaking quietly. The mother was told that since the fire had destroyed so much flesh in the lower part of his body, it would almost be better if he had died, since he was doomed to be a life time cripple with no use at all of his lower limbs.

Once more the brave boy made up his mind. He would not be a cripple. He would walk. But unfortunately from the waist down, he had no motor ability. His thin legs just dangled there, all but lifeless.

Ultimately he was released from the hospital. Every day his mother would massage his little legs, but there was no feeling, no control, nothing. Yet his determination that he would walk was as strong as ever.

When he wasn’t in bed, he was confined to a wheelchair. One sunny day his mother wheeled him out into the yard to get some fresh air. This day, instead of sitting there, he threw himself from the chair. He pulled himself across the grass, dragging his legs behind him.

He worked his way to the white picket fence bordering their lot. With great effort, he raised himself up on the fence. Then, stake-by-stake, he began dragging himself along the fence, resolved that he would walk. He started to do this every day until he wore a smooth path all around the yard beside the fence. There was nothing he wanted more than to develop life in those legs.

Ultimately through his daily massages, his iron persistence and his resolute determination, he did develop the ability to stand up, then to walk by himself – and then – to run.

He began to walk to school, then to run to school, to run for the sheer joy of running. Later in college he made the track team.

Still later in Madison Square Garden this young man who was not expected to survive, who would surely never walk, who could never hope to run – this determined young man, Dr. Glenn Cunningham, ran the world’s fastest mile!

However bad the situation may be currently, there is room to start all over again. For no reason should you think of giving up. NEVER!

The Sixth Sense

Intellectual education influences the head and values-based education influences the heart. In-fact, education that does not train the heart can be dangerous.

If we want to build character in our office, homes and society, we must achieve a minimum level of moral ethical literacy. Education that builds fundamental traits of character—such as honesty, compassion, courage, persistence and responsibility—is absolutely essential.

We don’t need more academic education; we need more values education. I would stress that a person who is morally educated will be a lot better equipped to move up in life or succeed than a morally bankrupt person with excellent academic qualifications. Character building, teaching of values and ethics come in the formative years because a child is not born with this knowledge.

A study attributed to Harvard University found that when a person gets a job, 85% of the time it is because of their attitude, and only 15% of the time because of how smart they are and how many facts and figures they know. Surprisingly, almost 100% of education budget go to teach facts and figures which account for only 15% of success at work!

We are born with five senses – touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing. But successful people have a sixth sense – commonsense. Common sense is gained in spite of, not necessarily as a result of, education.

How come one person moves forward with one success after another, and yet some are still getting ready? How come one man goes through life crossing one hurdle after another, accomplishing his goals while another struggles and gets nowhere? If the answer to these two questions can become part of the curriculum, it could revolutionize the educational system.

Most people don’t make any attempt to learn new things because they assumed that getting university certificate means being experts in what they do. According to Charles Handy “Those who are always learning are those who can ride the waves of change and who see a changing world as full of opportunities, not damages.

They are the one most likely to be survivors in a time of discontinuity. They are also the enthusiasts and the architects of new ways and forms and ideas. If you want to change, try learning one might say, or more precisely, if you want to be in control of your change, take learning more seriously.”

The highly successful you see in the society still learn, that’s why they are successful. Ayo Arowolo once said, “Most informed millionaires treat learning as a life long venture. They seek knowledge no matter how expensive.”

Are you willing to invest in yourself by learning a new thing today? Remember each one of us is directly or indirectly responsible to what happens in our life.

Culled from Uju Onyechere’s post on Models & Mentors Int’l group on facebook

Life Is About Making Sacrifices

Morgan started early to keep his needs minimum. When he graduated from college, the young Morgan decided he would become successful by brokering real estate investments. In order to do this, he approached one of the most successful real estate investors in the country and agreed to work at whatever job he was assigned if the investor would teach him how to put together real estate syndicates.
 
For the next five years, Morgan found himself working in various cities across the country as an attendant in parking lots owned by his mentor. His income was so small that a hamburger was a special treat. He couldn’t afford to get married. But he did learn the real estate business. In the four years following his tutelage, Morgan was able to put together real estate syndicates which made him a millionaire by the time he was in his early thirties.
 
Beloved, there are times you need to do the things you don’t like to get what you want. Life is all about making sacrifices. If you really want something so much, the way to go about it will come. There is nothing like something for nothing.
 
A young man once asked for a startup capital. I asked him what he wanted to do and how he was going to invest the money. He began to stammer. He has not done his home work well. He has no business plan. He has nothing. He just wants money with no idea.
 
Decide to keep on going till you get what you want. Remember the ants. Nothing stops them from moving except death.

Culled from Uju Onyechere

By what standard are you measuring success?

Olakunle Soriyan Blog

There was a time in my life where I was living my greatest potential totally unfulfilled simply by letting others define what success meant for me. Back then, when I looked around at my peers, I saw brilliant people who were doing amazing things and making tons of money, bankers, lawyers, blossoming corporate champions, entrepreneurs…people doing what society expects and getting all the honour and respect. Starting school all over again from year one after losing it earlier in my final year was challenging and intimidating. Even my younger ones were ahead of me academically. Friends and class mates who didn’t have any issues in their academics had moved on to get some of the best jobs, and some had started thriving businesses. I began to make efforts to quickly succeed; and before I knew it, I had allowed it become a measure of my worth. All of a sudden…

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