The Burdens of Wealth and Talent

Image Source: Khalifat World

Many of the biggest failures in life have, sadly, been people who came from wealthy backgrounds or people who, at one point in their lives, were touted to become the ‘new Messi’, the ‘new Denzel Washington’, the new ‘Steve Jobs’, and so on. The essence of this article is not is deride anyone but rather to motivate the one who thinks he or she comes from an insignificant background and so has to remain insignificant or that he or she cannot amount to much in life because their talents don’t seem spectacular enough.

A Bowl Of Akpu and the Choices We Make [by Alexandra (@AlexandraZion)]

Image Source: CleanTechies

Chidera Taylor had returned to Africa after schooling of six years in Ukraine. Everything seemed somewhat strange to her in the first few months of her arrival: the language, the clothes, and especially, the food. A Ukrainian lifestyle had eaten deep into her now-eighteen-year old system, and she thought it hard to adapt to her roots all over again.

10 Leadership Lessons from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (The Movie)

Source: oyster.ignimgs.com

1. The greatest leaders in the world did not just lead people. They led movements, revolutions and ideologies.
2. Madiba was a selfless leader.
3. Madiba was courageous. He was courageous enough to stand by his vision for South Africa. He was courageous enough to stand for peace when the people demanded war.
4. Madiba was confident in the ideology he stood for: the ideology of freedom for his people.
5. The road to greatness is never ending and always lonely.

Now That I'm a Graduate...

Source: www.busigence.com

I'm glad. I'm happy. I'm elated. By God's grace and mercy, I have bagged my first degree. I can't forget the feeling of satisfaction that pervaded my heart the moment our University Chancellor uttered the sentence "I accept you into your first degree" and our Registrar said "You may turn your tassels." Two days after my graduation (convocation), reality has slowly began to dawn on me. From this time henceforth, I am on my own. It's every man for himself now.

From what I've observed and what I have been told, this life I am about to commence is made up of countless people running a rat race. However, if there's anything I have come to learn from school in the last four years, it is that people who are walking in the center of God's plan for their lives do not run a rat race; albeit, they are running the marathon race of life. The night before we were released as 'Eagles' (as the graduates from my school, Covenant University, are always referred to), our Chancellor gave us 5 Perspectives for an Ever-Winning Life. I'd like to share these perspectives with you guys, hoping that you learn from and imbibe them as part of your life. Whether you are just graduating, you have just graduated, you graduated long ago or you're still an undergraduate, these five perspectives will be important to you if you must live a fulfilled life, and make heaven. They are:

LIFE LESSONS V: HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? (by Queensly Austin @AustinQueensly)

‘A true genius admits that he or she knows nothing’

Albert Einstein

This article title might bring back memories of lyrics to a song released by an artist who shares the first three letters of his stage name with a popular Nigerian gospel artist. Okay, if you still have not guessed it right, oh well!

The subject of this article lived years before our forefathers were born and was one of the closest companions of the greatest human to have walked the face of the earth. He is not the first person that will come to mind when one thinks about lowliness. Before I overwork your brain with my puzzles, let me at least solve this one for you.

How Our DSTV Dish Taught Me Vital Life Lessons

Since June 12, when the World Cup started, I’ve only watched 2 matches because our DSTV was not connected and we hadn’t subscribed. Several attempts to get the Satellite Technicians to come help us connect it proved futile. Each time we called, they’d give one excuse or the other. I even missed the Netherlands versus Spain (5pa1n) match because of this. Subsequently, I started becoming irritated with the situation. Partly because all we had to watch at the moment were religious channels (of which I’m not a big fan), and because my parents were seemingly not as determined as I was to watch the World Cup (a lie I succeeded in telling myself repeatedly). My irritation started guiding my behavior and my parents were obviously not happy with the situation. So, in order to quell the annoyance in the air, I decided to engage in a DIY. I spent several minutes outside my house, figuring a way to fix the dish and connect it. I finally had a Eureka moment.

Assumptions! Assumptions! Ridiculous Assumptions!

Image Source: www.kathyennis.co.uk

Making assumptions about people, an event or a situation often proves to leave you with embarrassing results. In fact, the results can be tragic or comical at times. Take for example this story I came across in the John Maxwell book- Everyone Communicates, Few Connect. It’s a comical story of a traveler between flights at an airport.

She went to a lounge and bought a small pack of cookies and then sat down to read a newspaper. She became aware of a rustling noise and looked to see a neatly dressed man helping himself to the cookies. She didn’t want to make a scene, so she leaned over and took a cookie herself, hoping that he would get the message. As time passed, she thought she had been successful. But then she heard more rustling. She couldn’t believe it. He was helping himself to another cookie.

7 Things You Need to Know that Enhance your Productivity

1. Learn how to wake up early. People who wake up early have the capacity to be more productive than those who wake up late. The thing about waking up early is that it gives you the opportunity to plan your day before it starts. Furthermore, waking up early allows you to create a good pace for your day. Whatever your day will be like is defined by the actions you perform in the first few hours.
2. Learn how to read a lot. The more relevant stuff you read, the more knowledgeable you become. Reading a lot is no guarantee that you’ll be better but it is the foundation for getting better at what you do. The more you know, the better you get and the more productive you become. Reading someone’s book or work gives you access to all the knowledge the person has about what you’re reading. Imagine reading a book that took a man thousands of other books and many years to write, you’re able to gain access to that person’s knowledge simply through the book.

The Truth About #YOLO - Kristine Tsiknaki (@DarcRose22)

On Friday I found myself explaining what #yolo means to a new friend of mine. Out of any social context and with no knowledge of all the negative connotations the word has accumulated, he immediately found it a great word and a great mentality. This instantly reminded me of the first time I heard that word used, my first night in my student dorm in London, when all the new people got together in the common room and spent the whole night drinking, chatting and becoming friends with each other. Yolo was used in the context of ‘Don’t go to bed, have another drink and let’s do some shots’. Please, feel free to roll your eyes and say ‘students!’ with a sigh. You can imagine how it can all go downhill from there and how very soon you end up showing up in class straight from the club and desperately trying to stay awake, whilst sitting in a small table with your lecturer and the two other students who signed up for that class, till he gives up and makes you some really strong coffee. Bless him.

A Tale of Two Sick Men #BeInspired

I saw this short story on Facebook and I thought I'd be nice to share it with you. Be inspired:

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.

His bed was next to the room's only window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end.

They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on
vacation.

MY STRUGGLES WITH FAITH (PART 1)

I came into the university hating God. I didn’t disbelieve His existence. I didn’t argue with His works but I just did not like Him. There was no relationship between us- at least none that I was willing to create. I knew that coming to a Christian university would change that in some way but I wasn’t ready to let it, not yet, I wasn’t. My father is a preacher. Almost every day prior to my resumption, I heard about God. Almost every day for the next four years, I would hear about God. I knew I was going to be bombarded but I wasn’t ready to be committed to any faith. The idea of being in faith was too restrictive. I’d rather I remained a ‘free’ man.

Like I said, my father was a preacher so I had mastered the act of pretending I cared about God and His things. Frankly, I didn’t mind pretending for the next four years, as long as no one was going to bother me to ‘give my life to Christ’. I wasn’t bothered that they’d call for people to come out for the sinner’s prayer, I would simply take my off ‘things’ at that moment. I had the ‘perfect’ plan to escape God. I wasn’t about to let anybody tie me down. But the thing I was most ignorant about was that God’s Love allows Him to be patient…to wait for the right moment to swoop in and sweep you off your feet.

It was late in the evening on October 8^th, 2010. I can’t remember what brought me to the university chapel. I think, I vaguely remember. I was hanging out with a female friend. I liked her. She asked us to go see someone. Her mentor, she called him. So I followed, blindly. By the end of the night, I met Pastor Iren Emmanuel, then he was still a student. We had a little chat and before I knew it that which I feared most had befallen me. I gave in and accepted Christ. I went back to the hostel mixed emotions, asking myself if I was ready for this. I wasn’t.

…To be continued.

LIFE LESSONS IV: HOW HANDICAPPED ARE YOU? (by Austin Queensly @AustinQueensly)

Imagine not being able to see the world around you, the beauty of nature, and the faces of your loved ones. Terrible, right?  Now throw in the inability to listen to good music, or the voices of those around you.

Well, that was the case of Helen Keller who was born with good sight and the ability to hear but lost both senses when she was 19 months old which made her situation feel even worse. Some of us may have heard the story of Helen Keller but not about the person behind her story.

It is hard enough teaching people who have their 5 senses intact and harder to teach someone with a disability. Anne Sullivan definitely had her work cut out for her with the responsibility of tutoring Helen Keller who was both blind and deaf; these two senses are unarguably the most necessary for smooth learning to take place.

How to Become a Person of Value

We’ve talked about the Law of Value Addition (Read about it here) and now it is important we learn how to become such persons. So here are simple ways through which you can become a person who’s constantly making life better for others (these are but a few, the list is inexhaustible):

When the Trumpet Sounds

Something funny happened recently. At about 6:30 pm on Thursday, 27^th of March, the weather suddenly changed. The clouds became thicker than I have ever seen in a long time. They were extremely dark and seemed like it was going to rain heavily. I was out that day, walking back to my hostel when I heard a sound and then it was followed by people screaming. A fellow was walking at my back and he made a joke. He said that the trumpet just sounded. At that time, I looked up coincidentally trying to decide if I should continue my journey or look for shelter before the rain started pelting. My friend who was with me on the walk started laughing at me. He claimed I was scared I had missed the rapture, I found this funny so I started laughing with him. But frankly, it wasn’t funny. I started thinking: “what if that was actually the rapture? What if it actually happened?” I looked around me at that moment and I saw a large number of people walking around. I thought to myself: “what if all these people, all of us, had actually missed the rapture? What would life be like?”

The Penalty of Leadership

I saw this in a textbook I read recently, Introduction to Mass Communication by Stanley J. Baran and I thought it’d be nice to share with you. It’s a 1915 Cadillac Motor Car Company Image Advert.

In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be merely mediocre, he will be severely left alone- if he achieves a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues wagging.

They're Leaving God Out of Everything! (The God Omission by Tobi Ogunfusika -@cutendpetite)

When I got home last year after school for the Christmas break, I was watching TV one random day. We were flipping through channels trying to look for something entertaining to watch. We stumbled on African Magic and then for a few minutes we were watching the movie. I noticed that some words were censored and I remembered that they started censoring swear words and curse words a while back and I shrugged my head and continued watching the movie. Something very interesting happened there and then, I noticed that the actress whose present words were being censored wasn’t cursing or saying anything wrong, she was not even angry or pissed with anybody in the movie. She was shocked and she said “Jesus” and after a while she said “oh My God”. It was so hard to read her lips considering the fact that it was a Nollywood movie and those words are the usual things we expect when a situation like that comes up in the course of watching a Nigerian movie.

My Addiction (by Ehidiamen U-Mark)

ADDICTION. Whenever the word comes up, it brings to mind images of junkies and alcoholics, passed out on some high. Indeed, as one dictionary puts it “It is a habit or practice, that damages, jeopardizes or shortens one’s life but when ceases causes trauma”. If you are being truthful to yourself, most of you agree with this definition as this is what most of us think about addiction. We hear addiction and all that comes to mind is negatives. Well here’s a shocker, I don’t fully agree with that description. If this were a questionnaire, I would tick the box that says “strongly disagree”.

I would rather align myself with the definition that describes addiction as “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice that is psychologically or physically habit forming, to such an extent that its cessation causes trauma”. Pause. Now go back and read that sentence, it makes mention of habit forming. I believe that addiction can either be good or bad, positive or negative. ~as we all know, there are always two sides to a story, two sides to a coin and the same can be said for addiction.

Praying to a God I Don't Trust

So I woke up this morning to the darkness of my room. The darkness that has characterized my life for quite a while now. I stared into nothingness for a while before turning on to my right side to stare at the wall I could not see. Immediately, my brain alerted me that it was time to pray. I sighed. Not again. But by reflex I got up, put my t-shirt on and stepped outside to the corridor and before I could say Jack Robinson, my personal prayer session had begun. I knew I didn't want to but I just felt I should. I had no reason to, I thought. I'm tired of doing this every morning and still nothing has changed. Last I checked, none of my prayers had been answered. Could it be that all this was just fake? That religion is all but a blatant lie? I mean, I had read somewhere that someone said that religion is just man's excuse to explain what he can't comprehend. Nevertheless, I had this scratching feeling deep down that I should banish that thought.

LIFE LESSONS 2: MUM IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT… by Austin Queensly (@AustinQueensly)

“My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”

                                                                                                                           

James 1:19 (NIV)

‘No! We should stay in this bus until it gets to its park at Oyingbo before getting a tricycle to his house...’ I tried to let my mother see reason. ‘…it will save us time and stress and…’

‘Oh, you forgot about the cost part right’ my mother cut in. ‘Hiring a tricycle from Oyingbo will cost us more money, so let us just forget about it and alight at Ojota bus stop, take a bus to Yaba and from there we can get a tricycle to your brother’s house’

‘Oh…ok mum’…I said resignedly like I always did when I did not want to cause a conflict. There is obviously a flaw in our relationship. You guessed right…Communication!

How to Identify Low Self-Esteem

It's easy to want to teach people how to develop their self-esteem when some folks don't even know where they stand. So, for the next few days or so, I'm going to point out to you how to know where you stand. After now, you'll be able to identify if your self-esteem is low, or high or unhealthy. Here's how to identify low self-esteem:

1. You're always looking to other people for approval. You an never feel adequate and good enough for anything. You live on complements and other's appraisals.
2. Criticisms kill your morale. No one is allowed to say something 'candid' about you. If they do, you'll be downcast till kingdom come.