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| Alimi Wasiu (Managing Director, Walim Global Enterprise) |
INTRODUCTION
A statement by Julia Cameron Read:
“Most of us are not raised to actively encounter our destiny. We may not know
that we have one. As children, we are seldom told we have a place in life that
is uniquely ours alone. Instead, we are encouraged to believe that our life
should somehow fulfill the expectations of others, that we will (or should)
find our satisfactions as they have found theirs. Rather than being taught to
ask ourselves who we are, we are schooled to ask others. We are, in effect,
trained to listen to others' versions of ourselves. We are brought up in our
life as told to us by someone else! When we survey our lives, seeking to fulfill
our creativity, we often see we had a dream that went glimmering because we
believed, and those around us believed that the dream was beyond our reach.
Many of us would have been, or at least might have been, done, tried something,
If we had known who we really were.”
It is on this statement i would
premise my discussion about Image on. Image is something i specifically
designed for the purpose of addressing the theme of today’s conference- MY
IDENTITY; MY FUTURE.
I.M.A.G.E Stands for
Identification, Manifestation, Abandon, Goal setting and Execution. These are
the principles, i believed if followed could help you identify who you are
(IDENTITY) and what you are trying to do (FUTURE). We cannot be everything but
we can be something and my aim is to help you identify a picture of your future
so that you can begin to nurture thoughts that would create your desired
lifestyle.
The ideas presented here, are as a
result of my interest in personal development by listening to various audio
learning programmes, attending conferences, meeting with people and from
various speaking engagements.
IDENTIFICATION
When you closed your eyes, what did
you see? Have you ever been asked to identify yourself? How about if i asked
you to tell me about yourself, right here right now, what would you say?
These are questions i don’t need
you to answer but to ponder upon, not because i underestimate you but because
the answers to all these questions would be provided in the course of this
presentation, but before that i need you to do one thing for me and here it is:
Below are prominent Nigerians, try
to identify as many of them as you can and know what exactly they all have in
common:
Abu Abdullah Adelabu, Alexander
Ogomudia, Aliko Dangote, Agbani Derego, Aminu Kano, Anthony Olubunmi Okogie,
Babatunde Shofoluwe, Bisade Ologunde, Bisoye Tejuosho, Bukola Elemide, Cecilia
Ibru, Chinua Achebe, Chioma Ajunwon, Dan Fulani, Enoch Adeboye ,Eyitayo Lambo,
Festus Okotie-Eboh,Gani Fawehinmi, Hakeem Olajuwon, Innocent Idibia, J.J
Okocha, Ola Rotimi, Omotola Jalade, Pat Utomi, Philip Emeagwali, Peter Rufai,
Rashidi Yekini, Richard Mofe Damijo, Sade Adu, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Sani
Abacha, Sir Victor Uwaifo, Wole Soyinka.
Your task is not to know all of
these people but you must know at least ten. How did you identify them? At any
point in time there can only be one answer to this question and that is who
they are. For instance if I mentioned Wole Soyinka you already know he is a
writer, Tuface Idibia (Musician) Aliko Dangote (Business man) etcetera.
We identify people by who they are
and my aim is to help you discover who you are and help you to identify steps
that could be helpful in building your future.
Could you please tell us about
yourself? That’s a popular interview question. Now imagined that you were about
securing a #15Million Naira Job but you must correctly answer this question
before you could be given a chance. How would you go about it?
To do this, there is only one thing
required: A correct definition of who you are. Most people when asked to introduce
themselves would say, “Hi, I’m Cinderella and I am a 17-year old, Unilag
Undergraduate.” It does not tell you about who Cinderella is; it only tells you
her present preoccupation. To gain insights about yourself, you need to look
closely at your beliefs, values, and principles aside from your economic,
professional, cultural, and civil status. Moreover, you can also reflect on
your experiences to give you insights on your good and not-so-good traits,
skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses. Whatever your approach to
defining yourself is, try to be real. Never try to imitate any of the
personalities mentioned above because if you do, you not only be a bad
imitation of them you’d also eliminate the possibility of becoming the person
you were meant to be.
Delve deep into yourself and bring
forth your strength, ability and talent. It is your personal responsibility to
give yourself an Identity something that will be uniquely yours. We are all
weak but there is something unique about each of us, it is this uniqueness that
gives us our place on earth whether as an Artiste, Doctor, Photographer,
Lecturer, Accountant, e.t.c. Try to find your place on earth, this is the only
way to avoid been displaced.
Don’t be that guy people want you
to be, just be that person you think you should be. Say no to being susceptible
to what i called the “AL”
factors. These are the parental, societal and environmental factors which can
have a tremendous effect on the definition of our future.
Chuck Palahniuk Choke, commented:
“We can spend our lives letting the world tell us who we are. Sane or insane.
Saints or sex addicts. Heroes or victims. Letting history tell us how good or
bad we are. Letting our past decide our future. Or we can decide for ourselves.
And maybe it's our job to invent something better.” So the Big Question is: WHO
ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?
MANIFESTATION
This is the second important step
in identifying yourself and defining your future. There’s a direct relationship
between your thoughts and what you manifest and what you manifest is how people
see you. Start acting like the future you, talk like the future you and behave
like the future you until the whole process begin to sink. If only you can hold
the mental picture of your future self long enough, you’d soon reach a point
where nothing else on earth would matter to you except what you are looking at.
William Sommerset Maugham Said: “It’s a funny thing about life; if you refuse
to accept anything but the best you very often get it.” Here is another
question for you to answer: What do you think about and how do you think about
it?
Constantly ask yourself this
question and anytime a negative thought wants to creep in, “SNAP YOUR RUBBER
BAND” this is a technique for interrupting negative thought patterns. Never
sell yourself short and anytime you feel uncertain about the future LEAN ON GOD
the one who knows you and your future. There is no limit to what you can
achieve on earth so go into the world confidently and let your light shine.
Marianne Williamson said: “Our
deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are
powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens
us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and
fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your
playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about
shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant
to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that
is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our
own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates
others.”
WHAT DO YOU MANIFEST? FEAR OR
FAITH? Remember. You manifest your thought anytime your thinking is not
positive, in other not to SINK SNAP YOUR RUBBER BAND.
ABANDON
This is a critical step in your
journey to the future and you must be attentive to know why you need to abandon
some of the things you do. You see, we all have our callings in life and your
primary responsibility is to find this, next to that is to mind your business. Everything
in life is a function of time and to fully maximize your potential you must
learn to let go of some certain things, people, places and events that do not
add any value to your purpose in life. Learning to say no is a useful hint in
this regard. You must learn to abandon things that have no relevance to you.
Doing this will help you focus on things that are most important to you. Never
feel sorry for trying to be productive, but you must know how to do this
intelligently without sending the wrong signal to the other party because at
any point in time they may be useful to you and this is a very good lesson in
human relationships; we need ourselves to succeed but that’s not to say you
should sacrifice your own destiny just because you want to be nice. Jack
Canfield said: “success depends on getting good at saying no without feeling
guilty. You cannot get ahead with your own goals if you are always saying yes
to someone else’s projects. You can only get ahead with your desired lifestyle
if you are focused on the things that will produce that lifestyle.” I believe
your time is your life that’s why there’s life time. It is your time that you
convert to anything you want to become in life. For instance if you want to be
a doctor that means devoting more time to studying than anything else and this
applies to every other disciplines as well as any other thing you want in life.
Time is a terrible ting to waste-
you cannot save time, loose time, turn back the hands of time or have more time
tomorrow than today. Time is unemotional, uncontrolled, unencumbered it moves
forward regardless of circumstances and in the game of life creates a level
plain field for everyone. By abandoning things that do not add to your purpose
in life you learn to make best use of your time. Abandoning things that do not
add to you is a way of controlling your participation in certain events that
coordinates with the clock and that’s the best way to manage your time. How you
use your time is very important and remember time is a terrible thing to waste.
GOAL SETTING
At the beginning of this
presentation i asked questions that could help you identify yourself and by now
i believe you should have gained some insight into who you are. The next
important thing for you to do is to set goals that would allow your mission to
be materialized.
What are goals and how do you set
them? Goals are what you are aiming for –they are statement of what you want.
The theory of goal setting is based on the fact that your subconscious mind
does not know the difference between fact or fiction. Here are some examples to
help you better understand what goals are: “I never win anything.” “Nothing
ever goes right for me.” “That’s just my luck.” “Nobody likes me.” “I can’t
spell.” “I just can’t seem to get anything done.”
Do some of these sound familiar? We
have all used these types of goals in the past without knowing it. The
subconscious mind takes these statements as fact and carries them out without
question, yes these are all harmful instructions that you can give yourself
without thinking. Be careful of what you say when you talk to yourself. What i
am trying to do for you is to help you turn your mind around. Think about what
you can do instead of what you can’t.
There are four steps necessary in
setting goals. These steps are:
1. Define your
dream precisely and concisely, exactly what it is that you want.
2. State it in
the present tense as if it has already happened.
3. Write it
down
4. Spend time with it everyday
There is a fact about brain I’d like
you to you to know: The Brain recognises pattern which is why what you do on a
consistent basis often becomes habitual. It comes to you naturally, almost
effortlessly. Believe in the goal, spend time with it everyday until it becomes
a habit. An effective goal identifies where you want to be. It gives you
important information on how to get there, and it tells you when you have
arrived. To have an effective goal, two things are essential: Decision and
discipline- the two can be called Goal setting and Goal getting. You can set an
effective goal without deciding on what exactly you want in life and after the
decision comes the discipline to make sure that you are following up on your
decision. When you set goals you give meaning and purpose to your life. This
allows you to be proactive and take charge of your life. It has been said that
if you don’t know where you are going chances are that you end up somewhere
else. Goals must be Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound. By
setting unrealistic goal you’ll often end up been frustrated, stressed and
hopeless. The point i am trying to underscore here is that you cannot set two
major goals such as earning a master’s degree and a doctorate degree within a
period of 3 years since the minimum number of years to complete a master’s
degree is 2 years. My final note on goal settings comes from the statement of
Denis Waitley : “ The secret of productive goal setting is in establishing
clearly defined goals, writing them down and then focusing on them several
times a day with words, pictures and emotions as if we have already achieved
them.” Thanks Denis, i have already said that but in a different way. Isn’t it?
EXECUTION
Sir Isaac Newton said: “A body will
continue in its state of rest or uniform motion until it is acted upon.” This
known as the Newton’s
first law of motion law of motion or the law of inertia. Without action all the
principles and techniques discussed in this presentation will amount to
nothing. Don’t put till tomorrow what you can do today. To get things done we
must act. Nobody cooks vegetables by mouth, it’s by putting all the ingredients
together and taking action on getting it cooked, that a leafy plant is turned
to a delicious meal. There’s no time, start acting on your goals. As Will
Durant commented: “Forget mistakes. Forget failure. Forget everything except
what you are going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day.”
I appreciate Red Cross
society of Nigeria
for organising this program, to all my listeners; i wish you all unlimited
success in your endeavours. Till we meet again, be successful.
