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Adding Value

Adding Value: Be an Inspiration by Henry Ukazu

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Dear Destiny Friends,

There is no genuine success without inspiration. Fact. Inspiration comes in different ways, and we all need to be inspired one way or another. Some get inspired by parents, mentors, friends and even the less privileged. The truth remains that we all love to be inspired by people we admire; our boss, our spouse, or someone who has accomplished great things in the community. This makes us feel good and motivates us to replicate similar feats.

Some people get inspired by reading and viewing the works of other people online. In this era of social media, people listen to what you say, watch what you do, and learn from your attitude and behavior.

There is a unique style of inspiration most people don’t talk about. It is called self-inspiration. Self-inspiration comes from within. Nobody can inspire you more than you can inspire yourself. Many of us have inspired others without knowing, and many people have inspired us as well without knowing.

However, the word inspiration is taken for granted in many social parlances. In reality, inspiration is the fabric that holds our society. Different things inspire people. Just like you can be inspired by someone’s authenticity, your own authenticity can also inspire someone. In the same vein, your success can inspire someone in the same way your love can inspire someone. You can also be inspired by the courage of someone standing up to another person’s rude behavior.

Note that we are all called to be an inspiration to someone. Today, I charge you to inspire someone with your lifestyle. You can be the reason someone’s hope is rekindled. You can be the reason someone changes from bad to good. You can be the reason someone decides to love again. But may we never be the reason someone changes from positive to negative.

We must never lose sight of the fact that in our contemporary society, some people also get inspired for the wrong reasons. Some people even trend for the wrong reasons. But real inspiration comes with admiration and goodwill.

It is instructive to note that you can’t inspire others if you are not inspired. The question we need to ask ourselves therefore, is how do we get inspired and how do we inspire others?

The first way to get inspired is by being passionate about a cause that is so dear to your heart. When people see how passionate you are, they will be inspired to support you. Another way of getting inspired is by taking care of yourself. Nobody will come close to you if you don’t have anything to offer. You must appreciate yourself before other people can appreciate you. When you are inspired by your work, it will be easy for other people to get inspired by your work.

To inspire yourself, you must challenge yourself, and ensure you do it every day. The best way to begin is by doing something positive daily. Nobody likes a negative person because they come with negative energy.

To inspire others, you must be able to communicate with them in a way that is understandable and effective. When people see you care, they will open up to you. According to Lewis Howes, “People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Here are some tips on how to be an inspiration.

Be positive: Inspiration comes by being positive. Negative people cannot inspire anyone because they are filled with toxicity. Nobody will be inspired by a person who grouches.

Be energetic and passionate: If you’re going to inspire others, you need to be passionate and energetic about what you value. If you simply go about your day without expressing that spark of excitement, you’re not going to get others excited either. Be passionate about what you do and share that with those around you, and you will see a corresponding inspiration.

Inspire with love: You won’t inspire people if you’re overly judgmental, harsh, or critical. Instead, find the positive in everything. By focusing on the positive, you can inspire people to see the best in themselves and adopt a more positive outlook.

Mentorship: A great man can be likened as someone who can help people who can’t pay them back for their good deeds. This is the hallmark of selfish leadership. A big part of being an inspiration is about helping others achieve their goals, and get over setbacks.

Great and exceptional leaders always make themselves available when their mentees want to talk about their challenges, dreams or goals. This is because you can’t be busy with your friends and family. Encourage and support their steps to accomplish these goals. It’s instructive to note that despite the advice of mentors, if you are not ready to walk the talk, you will remain where you are.

In conclusion, just like a contract can be by word of mouth, conduct or writing, you can inspire someone today with your generous acts, words, writings, attitude, personality and heart of service.

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

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Adding Value

Adding Value: Right Timing, Critical for Success by Henry Ukazu

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Dear Destiny Friends,

The Bible records that there’s time for everything under the heavens; a time to sow, a time to reap, a time to laugh, a time to mourn; a time to read, a time to sleep, a time to work, a time to pray, and a time for leisure. The list is endless. When one therefore, apportions the wrong time for the wrong thing, they will surely get the wrong result.

It’s noteworthy that the mistake most people make is spending major time on minor things and spend minor time on major things.

It’s also important to note that application of right timing in the guise of being at the right place and at the right time is critical to success. When one does things at the right time, there’s the tendency that the right results will be achieved.

It’s instructive to note however, that time is the greatest asset available to man. Another of the major mistakes people make in the affairs of life is inability to maximize available time. Nite that if one loses money, they can get them back, if they lose health, they can get it back; if they lose friends, they can get them back, but once time is lost, the possibility of getting it back is close to zero.

When it comes to succeeding in life, there’s a lot of dynamics that comes to play. But what is more significant is the timing of your success. But many people fail to understand that before one can succeed in any craft, they must develop capacity and competence in certain fields of life.

When you have done the needful, it will be easy for people to assist you. It’s sad to see people looking for opportunity, but haven’t developed the capacity to thrive when given the opportunity.

What most people fail to understand is that there’s time for everything. No matter how hard you work, if your time has not come, you’ll not get the desired opportunity. So, pending when your time comes, continue to add value to your life by reading, acquiring new skills, taking certification classes, and attending to your personal and professional development.

When you have truly added value to your life, it will be easy for people to identify with you. On a personal note, there are resourceful people I have tried to connect with for opportunities in the past; they didn’t respond to me. But when I added value to my life, they began to associate with me.

Let me share a practical example. After I published my first book, I was marketing it like a desperate hustler because I had no paid job at the time. As a result, most people perceived my book and personality as low value, but when I got a professional job, same people began to see me as a resourceful person, who is not depending on his book for survival.

Furthermore, when I reached out to some of my benefactors for opportunity. They technically didn’t respond favorably, but when I developed capacity, they began to give me attention. A case at hand was when I was introduced to the late Chief Operating Officer of Access Bank, Hebert Wigwe, the potential meeting was cut short due to his death. The interesting thing is that I have reached out to the same person three times in the space of 10 years, but the response wasn’t favourable. But here I am being introduced via capacity.

The moral is that not only is the timing right because the late Hebert Wigwe had a strong passion for mentoring youths, he’s also passionate about education with his pet project, Wigwe University. Again, I developed the capacity to fit into the work he’s doing.

Just like there’s time for everything, there’s also a right time for everybody. Imagine planting a crop at the wrong time, imagine putting the cart before the horse, imagine responding without understanding, imagine putting the wrong ingredients without the right timing, etc. what do you think will happen? You won’t get the desired results. That’s simply how timing works.

No matter how hard you work, invest, read, or do the needful, if your time has not come, forget about it. You might even be the best for a position, but if your time has not come, the universe will conspire to work against you. For example during an election, a candidate might possess the right qualities to win an election, but if the pulse of the nation favors a particular locality, or if the pulse of the nation favors a particular ideology or policy, the citizens might vote another candidate with a lesser pedigree.

To show you how important time is; when it’s time to pass your exam, nothing can stop you, when it’s time to get pregnant, nothing can stop you from conceiving; when it’s time to give birth, nobody can stop you.

When you understand the inherent power of timing, your labour will never be in vain. But if you don’t understand the dynamics of timing, you are bound to labour in vain. When you have done the needful, and still fail, be rest assured that it’s either not for you or it it’s not your time.

To reap the benefits of the right timing, one will have to be patient. A pregnant woman will have to wait for nine months before she is delivered of her baby; a person desirous of marriage will have to wait for the right time to see for his life partner to come.

In conclusion, understand that right timing is not laziness or idleness, so while looking out for the right time, endeavor to do and believe in the best, because by so doing, the universe will connect you to the right network.

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

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Adding Value

Adding Value: Your Passion Will Be Tested by Henry Ukazu

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Dear Destiny Friends,

In the journey of life, everyone will be tested, and tests come in various ways. Someone can be tested with power, money, love, work, passion, etc. I think the ultimate test one will experience is the test for the love of God. One might be wondering why the test. Well, tests help to determine one’s interest in life. Tests help to know who someone is, and tests help one to be strong.

According to some schools of thought, if you want to know someone’s character, give him money and power. It’s easy for someone to say if I have an opportunity to be in government, I will do this and that, if I have money, I will help the less privileged, if I marry, I won’t cheat on my partner, if I’m employed, I will do my best, etc. The list is literally endless, but the truth is what will determine how effective one can be is the trial they will have to overcome, and this is where the test of life plays out.

Test is not as bad as some people will see it. Rather, it is used to determine how passionate someone can be to a cause. Just imagine someone saying I’m interested in serving humanity. The passion in that person will make the person look for an opportunity to make an impact in the lives of people. The test this fellow will pass might be leaving a well-paying job for a job that not only pays less, but also gives one the opportunity to serve people.

When you are working on passion, you will experience distraction, your love, loyalty, interest, personality, and faith will be tested in several ways. But if you believe in your cause, you will be determined to overcome it by seeing all the trial and challenges as distractions.

On a personal note, I have experienced my own test of passion. After studying Taxation Law at New York Law School, I refused to work in the industry which pays more and settled for a case manager job. In all sincerity, it wasn’t really a case of passion, but a case of lack of interest, joy, and fulfilment in the industry.

Again, writing and publishing articles every week is not an easy task, because it can be draining and energy sapping. If you think it’s easy to write an average of one thousand three hundred words every week consistently, please try it. Be advised, it takes more than passion to write every week. Discipline, interest and most importantly, the grace of God is at play.

It’s worthy to note that passion means different things to different people. Some people derive passion in acting, astronomy, science, computer programing, cooking, dancing, driving, exercising, family/relationship, fishing, health & wellness, investing, ministering, money, sports, praying, reading, singing, writing, teaching, travelling, swimming etc. This interest probably arose from childhood or experience of life.

Think back to when you were growing up, planning your future. What did you want to be when you grew up? A doctor? An engineer? An accountant, a pharmacist? A lawyer? A pilot? Etc. How did you come up with those occupations? It probably had something to do with things you lived to do or achievements you associated with those jobs.

Maybe you wanted to be a doctor because you had a passion for helping people; an athlete because you loved playing sports; a novelist because you were compelled to express yourself creatively.

Sometimes, I see entrepreneurs who have labored for a while and are on the verge of quitting, what comes to my mind is simply, they are not passionate about their business. Don’t get me wrong, one can still be passionate for a cause and still quit, especially when it’s not adding up, but the point I’m trying to share is the drive, believe, interest, determination, and test for the business will be determined by one’s passion never to give up when the challenges come up.

To determine one’s interest and passion, three ingredients come into play, they are love, faith, and hope. One interesting thing about this trial of excellence is that they are intertwined in one single umbrella – inspiration. According to Dr. Yomi Garnett, Faith- opens the doorway to inspiration. Hope powers the forward thrust of inspiration, Love gives divine direction to inspiration. Let’s analyze these qualities.

Love: As fondly stated, love is feeling, the same is applicable to passion. When you are passionate about a cause, the feeling will be different from that of someone who has a different passion. Your passion can be seen the way you love a person or business. You can’t love a person, business, or cause without making an effort to invest in it.

Faith:  This is what opens the door to inspiration. Do you know some people can be inspired by the faith you have in a project? It’s your faith in your business or “cause” you believe that will enable you to invest time and resources into the venture. It’s only fools and uninformed people who invest their time and resources in business ventures or relationships they have no interest or passion about.

Hope: This is the lubricant that fuels the energy to drive home your vision. When people see the vision and passion you have for a project, they will be inspired to join you in bringing it to fruition or reality.

In conclusion, just so you know, regardless of what you are doing or passionate about, just know, you will be tested, but when you are tested, just know the test is to know how much you believe in a project or person.

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

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Adding Value

Adding Value: The Power of Transformation by Henry Ukazu

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Dear Destiny Friends,

Apart from having access to power, opportunities and being financially independent, nothing elevates a human being more than transformation.

Transformation occurs in different stages of life. Plants experience transformation by metamorphosis; animals experience transformation, human beings experience transformation; children, parents, students, leaders etc. all experience transformation from conception to death.

In the academic or professional environment, before anyone can be transformed, one must have added value to oneself which will enable him to serve and make an impact in the world. Transformation comes in various ways, one can transform by meeting someone, going to school, having a relationship with your creator, learning a skill and being in the political space.

In the journey of life, most people undergo multiple transformations throughout their lives. Although change can be uncomfortable, it can open new layers of life if one is properly transformed. Transformation is a powerful, valuable experience that’s capable of giving one what I call an encounter.

Do you know an encounter can lead to a transformation. Whenever you have an encounter, your life will change. An encounter can be meeting someone, attaining financial independence, getting a new job, or even accruing a formal education.

Let me share an example of how transformation works. Imagine a parent who saves hundreds of dollars   every week for his child until the child becomes of age, say 18 or 25 years and he decides to pay for college to buy a property for the child. Also, contrast the same scenario to when the father decides to give that child the money or even buy him a property before he becomes of age, what do you think would have happened? The truth is that the child won’t be able to appreciate the value of what he has because he hasn’t been matured or mentally transformed to understand the value of what he has. That’s simply how the power of transformation works.

Imagine, if the father of the child gives the child a car, the child might bash the car which can either lead to his death or even an arrest of the father who will eternally regret his action. The moral here is that one will have to mentally strong to manage certain opportunities, otherwise, it can become a curse as opposed to a blessing.

The reality of life is that, for you to get to a certain position you must be renewed in mind, otherwise one might make a mess of oneself.  The moral of this is that every time you are not mature enough to attract an opportunity either mentally or physically, that blessing can turn into a curse. This is because good things can be destroyed in the hands of someone who is not transformed to handle it.

Let’s take a case of the child who was given a car, imagine a case where a luxury car was given to a ten-year-old child to drive, that might sound like a blessing, but in reality, the car can lead to the death of that child because he’s not capable of driving the car or competent enough to appreciate what is in his hands.

Again, let’s see transformation from the spiritual perspective, sometimes success depends on many factors before they arrive at a certain level. Sometimes, you might be praying for an opportunity and the creator knows very well your mindset and thoughts needs cleansing from certain lifestyles, habits and associations before the blessings and prayers can work. In some cases, the creator knows fully well, you are not qualified for the position you are aspiring for, he might delay you to be fully transformed before your request is granted.

What really is transformation, Transformation is a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance mentally or spiritually. Transformation changes the outlook of something. When you have a simple hair cut, you are transforming your face, just like how beauticians transform the face of someone when you dress, you are transforming yourself. When we talk of transformation, it’s not limited to academic, mental, spiritual, or even career. Transformation can take various forms; it can even take personal or developmental. Transformation can result because of an increase in your finances, health, education, relationship etc.

The blessings and opportunities of transformation are priceless. To get to the next stage of life, one needs to be transformed. Do you know there are certain opportunities you can’t get unless you are transformed, or have acquired certain skills or qualities. This is why Jim Rohm said Success is something you attract by the person you become” For you to become, you must transform yourself by adding value to yourself.

Let me share a personal story with you. During my formative years in New York, I worked as a security officer for many years, many people laughed at me, some used sarcastic words by way of mockery, the future appeared bleak and insecure for me. I was privileged to have good mentors who honed my writing and speaking skills. Some believed in me, gave me opportunities, and spoke life into me. These acts inspired me to write my first and second book in addition to starting a human capacity development company. In three ways, I have seen myself traveling to different countries, speaking on various leadership and human development topics. I have also appeared on television, gained social currency, etc all because of the transformation that has taken place in my life.

If you truly want to be great, you must be truly transformed. After all, isn’t it true that you can’t be doing the same thing repeatedly and remain the same. In the journey of life, transformation is not negotiable. It should be noted, transformation is not a gift, neither can it be received by impartation, you must work for it by earning it.

For spiritual transformation to manifest, you must mortify your flesh, you must be delivered, you must be renewed in your mind, and be circumcised to get to a certain level.

To be fully transformed is not easy. It takes a lot of hard work and principles. For instance, one must be consistent. One of the painful experiences of life is beginning a task and leaving it halfway.

Transformation prepares one for the task ahead. The worst thing that can happen to anyone is entering a relationship, business, spiritual realm etc. without being transformed. It’s just like going into marriage without taking a marriage course to know the basics of marriage or going into a ministry without divine assignment and complete transformation, you might have a hard time succeeding when you hit a roadblock.

To be transformed, one must develop or seek knowledge, practice meditation, and separate oneself from anything that’s not consistent with the principles, vision, and ideology one wishes to uphold.

When you are transformed, there are certain benefits that will come to you. Transformation will position you for better opportunities, which can launch you into your destiny.; and it makes people appreciate you more due to the value you earn. For example, personal transformation can make you healthy if you decide to work on your diet. You can exercise, you can read, you can learn a skill and attend professional or certificate courses to enhance your knowledge on a particular subject matter. Personal transformation can help you to improve personal relationships.

In conclusion, if you want to get to the next stage or attract the next bi opportunity, endeavor to work more on yourself than you do on your job. This is because when you work on your job you can make a living, but when you work on yourself, you can make a fortune.

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

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