First Gentleman with Wilson Orhiunu
Email: babawill2000@gmail.com Twitter: @Babawilly
At the start of the year there are many goals listed for achievement. Hopefully these goals will be realised. Goals need a detailed plan of action that we are committed to working on consistently. Since the time frame is usually one year, the goals can be broken up in to four parts for the sake three monthly reviews. The dreamers also make their own mental lists. “I must hammer this year” (strike it rich) is a favourite. The action plan in the case of dreamers is someone else’s responsibility. When pushed for their plan they say “God go do am”. The dreamers are unaware that God has done it already by giving them a brain and two hands to work with.
The potential goal getters will need information, as knowledge is the power for attainment of new things. Before rushing into action, it is always good to know what knowledge we would need and where we hope to source it from. It is also important to do an inventory of the present state and quality of our knowledge base and where that knowledge came from. This helps us to know where the self-sabotaging thoughts in our brain originate from so as to close the door on those sources.
Personal information
How do we learn what we are capable of? How smart are we and who told us? Were they telling the truth? How strong are we mentally and physically? Just how much work can our minds and bodies cope with in a day? Goals need time and effort and if we believe we cannot work at an intense pace for long periods then there would be no success this year.
Common sources of information about what we are capable of come from parents, former teachers, friends and work colleagues. If they call you ‘olodo’ (dullard) long enough, that self- image sticks. One who believes he is a dullard needs to first dismantle that negative self-image before going out to conquer the world. It might mean cutting off all those who think you are unintelligent for they feed the negative self-image. New friends and new books will need to be acquired.
With regards to a solid work ethic, those not fortunate to be born into a home of hard workers truly believe they need to rest three to four hourly when engaged in a task. Achievers work long hours consistently while non-achievers watch long films regularly. Study all the people you come into contact with and weed out the ones who label every industrious goal getter a workaholic
Sources of information
Television, radio, newspapers and the internet.
There is a blog or TED Talk on every topic on earth. We pick and choose what we have itchy ears for. We need to make sure that the sources of information we choose are in keeping with the goals we have set out to achieve.
Someone who has purposed in his heart to improve his spoken English this year has no business with rap songs or soaps full of slangs and clichés. Pod casts on the great speeches are the places to go to. Television and social media eat into one’s free time so it is best to use these mediums to learn about topics related to our goals.
One who has listed great goals on paper but spends all free hours on the gossip articles about music and film stars will probably get to the end of the year with empty hands and a head full of useless information
Lectures, conferences, networking meetings
Technical information can be obtained at meetings full of serious minded people. TED conferences are a good place to go as you hear inspirational people talk about their achievements. Professional gatherings usually have a high entry point. Everyone present has achieved something thus the eco-system is lazy peeps free.
Books, magazines, blogs, audio book
These sources of information come in different categories and they do not force themselves on anyone. You actually need to seek the type of material you want. The information in the brain sometimes exerts a gravitational pull for similar information. If you know all the TV stars that have had breast implants you desire to know new entrants to the list. That information will not turn up in the Harvard Business Review. We live in an information age in which many know a little bit about everything and no in-depth knowledge of meaningful things (Reading tweets versus reading books). For those who spend hours in the car every week, that is an opportunity to listen to audio books of subjects that concern listed goals rather than listening to random pop music and stories about awards and who has beef with his or her fellow man.
Formal education
This is where we sit down to accumulate information. Society sends it young to be given information that prepares them to be useful contributors to Queen (or Oba) and country. Based on how the individual responds to what they are being taught, the teachers might class them as exceptional, average or ‘scraping the bottom of the cerebral pot’. It is hard to shake the labels assigned in school. Those who do well feel pompous and think the world owes them great things. They soon graduate from school and learn something different.
Those who don’t do well might leave school with low expectations of themselves and go to the grave with their low expectations intact.
It is pertinent to find out who told us what and why? Why did we believe them?
Great universities with Nobel Prize winners in their faculties produce students who can creatively solve problems. The same textbooks are available to students worldwide but degrees from Ivy League universities are more respected because of how the professors think. Thinking is contagious.
What kind of professors taught you? Parrots who regurgitated what creative people wrote or real creatives? If you were brought up by professor parrot, you need a top up of knowledge and attitude from professor creativity
Faith
Things of a spiritual nature are learnt from places of faith. Do we need to change what we listen to or perhaps listen more to what is being taught by way of audio tapes and regular attendances at places of worship?
