Dear Destiny Friends,

It is no longer news that every living being desires success. This is because nothing gladdens the heart like success. This success is seen in form of solid financial background, sound health, harmonious family, impeccable academic achievement, constant personal development, and vocational triumps.

However, Success has become a word often used, but poorly defined. This is because it can mean one thing to someone, and mean a different thing to another. It is therefore, sad to note that many people don’t understand the true meaning of success. Uniformed minds think that success entails just money. They fail to understand that if the only thing one has is money, that person is poor.

Some schools of thought opine that there’s no magic for success; you can apply hard work, confidence, persistence, consistency, great organisational skill, emotional intelligence and resistance, growth mindset, courage, gratitude, risk, responsibility, smart work, and many more, and still not succeed.  You can even apply the SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Measurable and Timely) and still not succeed. In fact, you might even have everything in place, yet someone with luck will outshine you.

There are many ways to achieve success. One of the simplest strategies is to align your success with your natural talents, abilities, and mental faculties. Everyone is wired differently and as such we are unique in our ways. It’s your responsibility to discover what makes you unique and special.

Here’s the strategy for smart work: First, you must know your strength and weaknesses, and what you are good at. Focus on using it and transforming it into success and prosperity. It can be an ability, talent, or skill, with which you can help others or prove your excellence and value.

It is instructive to note that once you attain a certain level of success, other people will begin to associate with you, brands will begin to identify with you. There are principles and strategies that are necessary for success. The truth is that success comes to you to the extent you want it, and to the extent you are willing to work for it. You get what you invest in it.

Sometimes, you need luck to succeed. This is without prejudice to your right connections, right information, right resources, opportunities and facilitating factors.  However, for this luck to work, you must be prepared. The trick is you must organize and surround your life around goals for the things you need, want or enjoy.

To fully understand what success is, one must define what he/she wants.  According to Dr. Yomi Garnett, “Success has a master plan” and this plan includes questions like: “What do I want? When do I want it? Why do I want it? Where am I starting from? What obstacles must I overcome? What information will I require? Who are the people whose help I will need”.

Let’s elaborate on this master plan. There’s no success without clarity. No successful man or woman who has attained genuine success achieved it without being clear and focused. They were all clear on what they wanted. They didn’t allow distraction to confuse them.

When you are sure of what you want, challenges will come, and will betrayals and disappointments. You might even doubt yourself if it’s not adding up, especially as it relates to finance, but if you are determined, you will overcome. All the setbacks and challenges are there to serve as a test and inspiration to the vision one has.

The next step is to map out a strategy. Apart from the God-factor and hard work, strategy is the most important ingredient to success. Even if you do the hard work, if you are not strategic, or have a plan, you will fail. Strategy involves knowing the right people who will buy your products or services; networking with the right people, sacrificing for the project and most importantly, knowing how to execute the project.

Another dynamic way of understanding success is understanding the concept of relationship. This ‘relationship’ might be your business partner, spouse, friend or manager. Once you are properly aligned, all the minds, energy and spirit must be at peace, otherwise it will be difficult. It’s widely stated that the best thing that can happen to anyone is to have the right partner whether in business or marriage.

Understanding success also works with finding the right job that aligns with your natural skills, talents and gifts. When you focus on the money as opposed to fulfillment, success might erode you because you might earn money, but lose joy.

In conclusion, to succeed, the first step is to know yourself. This entails practising self-discovery and meditation. Take time to know what’s unique about you, and ask yourself, what’s the one thing I can do with relatively ease, and which can ultimately give me the most result. Once you find it, swing into action, and groom it through self-development in theory and practice.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator.  He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer Design Your Destiny and Unleash Your Destiny.  He can be reached via info@gloemi.com

Dear Destiny Friends,

Knowledge, without an iota of doubt, is very critical to success. This concept is backed by the Holy Book, which states that ‘my people perish for lack of knowledge”.

One of the major reasons people pay for services, or products is simply because someone has invested knowledge to solve a problem. The constant use of this knowledge, therefore, can metamorphose into vision.

Note that one of the ways knowledge works is through vision. Did you know that understanding leads to vision, and vision leads to realization. When you understand what you want in life, you will know how to get there. This is because vision paves the way to clarity.

Vision is not about having ‘eyes’, because many people have eyes, but can’t see.

Vision is the ability to use your eyes to see and interpret the world around you.

As a Human Capacity Coach, one of the key areas of my training is focus on vision for every progressive company and individual. Any company, business, family, relationship, or association without vision is merely existing as opposed to living. It is the vision that sustains the company.

But what is vision? It is rather unfortunate that many people don’t understand what vision is. Vision can mean several things to several people. Some see vision as what they want to be in the nearest future; some see it as the change they would like to implement in the world, while others might see it from the angle of prophecy.

Just like every organization, company, government has a vision, every human being has a vision. It is the vision that separates every organization and human being. This vision is encapsulated in the values they hold dear to the heart. The vision of Mr. A is quite different from the vision of Mr. B. When you have a vision, it’s important for you to hold it close to your heart. Your vision is meant for you to implement. If you share it with the wrong person, you might get discouraged or the vision might be stolen from you, and implemented in a different way.

This is how the dynamic aspect of vision works. Every leader works differently and many have different visions for their citizens. In school, all students might be in the classroom, but their learning and understanding might be different, and a group of people might be walking, but what they are seeing might be different.

The power of faith works with vision. According to Dr. Yomi Garnett, “to really succeed, you need real faith, which is simply an inner vison of great spiritual laws. This faith allows you to see what you desire even before attaining it, much like the farmer who holds seeds in his hands and sees the stalks of corn that fill his fields at harvest time. All great men and women have this type of faith”.

This simply tells you vision works with the principle and spiritual laws of success. If the farmer don’t see hope in harvesting, he/she won’t bother to plant crops.

Again, if Martin Luther King Jnr, Nelson Mandela, Barak Obama, Henry Ukazu and other great visionary leaders, who have make great impact in the world didn’t see ahead and believe in the vison they imagined, they wouldn’t have been able make great impacts in the world.

Vision comes in different ways; it can come directly from God, via inspiration; it can also come due to the prevailing societal ills you’ll like to change. It can also be because of an impact one would like to see in the world.

When God gives you a vision, that vision is for you to implement, it’s not meant for another person. If it’s meant for another person, it will be revealed to that person. That’s why vision is not meant to be shared to everyone. This is how vision works. God might show you a vision, but he won’t give you everything you need to fulfil it. He also needs your input to bring it into existence. That input might be faith, understanding and skills/talent to execute it. For instance, God will give you wood, and you will use the wood to manufacture a chair or furniture.

Furthermore, vision is the difference between where you are and where you want to be. In between where you are and where you want to be, you must have a plan. This plan doesn’t have to be figured out. All you need is to believe in the vision and what you are feeling and seeing. This plan comes with a process. This process is what will lead you to your destination. It is during the planning that one’s faith is tested, and skills harnessed. Your plan must come with preparation, it must be concise, clear, and compelling. The plan is the process that will take you to your destination.

In conclusion, if you have a vision, believe in it, and get back to work to fulfil it by preparing for it. The world is rooting for you.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator.  He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer Design Your Destiny and Unleash Your Destiny.  He can be reached via info@gloemi.com

Dear Destiny Friends,

The test of character is having the ability to meet challenges – Walter Anneberg

In life, one test everyone will surely experience, is the test of character. Our character will surely be tested. It is therefore, instructive to note that circumstances don’t say who we are, they reveal who we are. The character of a human being is manifested when they face challenges. This is why the best qualities of strength, courage, love, persistence, and loyalty are manifested when one faces betrayals, disappointments, failures, and challenges of life whether it is small or big.

When you face challenges, it is advisable to respond positively and constructively. When you react negatively, it shows how your mindset works, knowing that according to Walter Annenberg, “The test of character is having the ability to meet challenges”.

It is easy for people to say, I will do this, I will do that, I won’t do this, I won’t do that etc., when they have power, but when they are faced with trials or opportunities, their true being will manifest.

Some schools of thought opine that one can hardly advise these four sets of people: a woman in love, a rich man, a religious bigot and a member of a political party.

Do you know your character can manifest when you experience challenges? To show you how character works, imagine that as a driver, a passenger or stranger forgets a million dollars in your car, what would you do in such a situation? Again, imagine when you see a million dollars on the ground, and no one is there around to claim the money. What will you do  in such a situation? Will you return the money or give it to the appropriate authorities? If you decide to return the money, that again, is the test of your character. When you keep the money, that shows how your mindset works. Again, circumstances don’t say who you are, it reveals who you are.

Furthermore, one of the ways to know a great man is by looking at how he treats those who can do nothing to him. The true being of the man will be shown via his humility, kindness, respect, and more importantly, his understanding of life. This is because, according to Charles Beard, “the two great tests of character are wealth and poverty. How you act when you have money is quite different from how you act when you are poor.

Ultimately in my humble opinion, the three tests of character are” adversity, temptation, and power. As human beings, we’ll surely have one form of adversity or the other, and this adversity can come in the form of various temptations. Our prayer should be, God, grant me the grace to overcome the temptations and adversity of life.

Furthermore, a man can’t say he’s strong until he’s able to withstand the temptations of a woman in addition to being able to control his anger when his wife annoys him.

According to Abraham Lincoln, “any man can stand adversity, but if you really want to test his character, give him power.” I will add money and women. If he’s able to control and manage them very well without them managing and overpowering him, he is a man of repute and influence.

It’s one thing to be generous, loving, compassionate, etc. when life is rosy for us, but quite another to maintain noble attitudes when things are no longer going our way. Adversity, it seems, has the power to bring out the best or the worst in us because circumstances don’t say who we are, rather, they reveal who we are.

In conclusion, if you are passionate about a cause, one of the ways to determine if you will be successful about the project is through your ability to forge ahead with the right attitude and character when adversity and temptations bring up their ugly heads, and I pray when you finally get to the top, may God grant you the grace to bring up a virtuous character that will attract and humble the world.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator.  He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer Design Your Destiny and Unleash Your Destiny.  He can be reached via info@gloemi.com