SIX THINGS THAT DECIDE HOW FAR YOU'LL GO..

"You’ll go far in life” has got to be one of the most rendered prayers by Nigerian elders when blessing a youth. An average Nigerian receives this blessing each time he satisfies an elderly person. Yet, I believe that its not only the rendering of this prayers alone that will take us far in life. If it were, we would not have any youth wandering aimlessly around Iwo Road Motor Park, neither would we have any girl on the queue that forms on Premier Hotel road every Friday night, in readiness for their nocturnal businesses. 

There are certainly a lot of factors that will contribute to the making or marring of one’s life. Let’s take a look at six of these factors, shall we?

MINDSET

“The more you let a single belief define you, the less capable you are of adapting when life challenges you.” - Paul Graham

You are what you think you are. No man can ever be greater than his thoughts. The Holy Bible, attests in Proverbs 23:7 that “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Going far in life depends on how far you can see in your mind.

It pains me to see a lot of teenagers and youth already cutting down their life’s relevance by their mindset. For many, school is a scam that cannot yield positive dividends. The truth of the matter is that, as long as you believe it, that is how life will present itself to you.

If you must break the limitations that the society has placed on youths, then you must first break the mindset that you have imposed on yourself. In the words of Amit Ray, “once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it.” A positive, optimistic mindset produces positive result. If you want to go far and sustain your height in life, your mindset must undergo evaluation and revamping.

ATTITUDE

“A bad attitude is like a flat tyre - you cannot go anywhere unless you change it.” - Joyce Meyer

What you get by changing your mindset, you can lose by sticking to a bad attitude. Indulging in bad habits and behaviours is a form of indiscipline on its own. If you do not have a good attitude, opportunities would keep slipping of your hands. Big dreams are good, but with a bad attitude, they will only remain a mirage. This is because while hard work brings success, good attitude sustains it. Zig Ziglar said, “Your attitude not your aptitude, determines your altitude.”

These days, young people now have a way of excusing their bad attitude. Try correcting them and you’ll hear the “that’s-how-I-am” phrase. We now excuse rudeness for being “blunt”. We excuse immorality for being “youthful”. We even excuse indolence for spirituality. All these are weights that drag down the rate at which we succeed. Get rid of them because only then will the prospect of going far in life be termed, achievable.

HEALTH

“The foundation of success is good health” - P.T Barnum

It is quite astonishing, yet disturbing how we chant the “health is wealth” maxim without really giving attention to its meaning. Even more is the pitiable way in which many young people use their bodies, backing their negligence with the “I-own-my-body” excuse. While this is true, it is also pertinent to note that a body poorly used stands the risk of becoming an obstruction to success. When this happens, it becomes like the biblical case of the mind being willing (to work and succeed) but the body being weak (to sustain the mind on the assiduous journey to success.)

An healthy body is as important as the mind is to achieving long and lasting success. As the old Indian proverb puts it, “to keep the body in health is a duty; otherwise we shall not be able to keep the mind strong and clear.” 

We know that the road to success is a long and enduring one. We need not only the brave spirit to fight through to victory, but also need able bones and sound flesh to pursue these dreams to the very end.Giving attention to how we use our bodies saves us the embarrassment of breakdown when approaching.

 A lady whose dream is to fight corruption in her country would surely have difficulty in pulling that off from a sick bed in an ICU, under a life support. Same goes for a man who desires to dazzle the world of athletics from he regular counter of the pharmacist, after another round of insulin injection for diabetes. What we do with our bodies is our business, but what our bodies eventually do for us is posterity’s business.

SKILLS

“Without sharpening your weapon, standing on the battlefield would not increase your chances of winning.” - Ankit Sahay

Show me a success aspirant without skills and I’ll tell you the number of buckets his silent tears will contain in the end. Show me a successful person that relied 100% on academic qualification in this age and I’ll show you a dog with feathers. This blatant true is the reason millions of Nigeria’s “job-seekers” have faithfully held on to that post for a long time. 

Gone are the days when paper qualification was celebrated, glorified and idolized. The years of “he’s a first class graduate” are long behind us. What we have now is the show-me era; the period in which your creativity has to work in collaboration with your CV to earn you your dream life.

Someone jokingly remarked that anyone who leaves the university without a skill will sooner or later, find out why the Nigerian anthem ends with “so help me God.” As funny as it sounds, it is reality and like all other realities, we tend to toss it aside as fast it dawns on us.

Anyone without a skill in this century is as good as being handicapped. Guardian columnist, Gbenga Adebambo in his article Why Degree Holders Are Poor, stated: “One of the major reasons why most graduates are poor is simply because they cannot think beyond their certificates.” If you will go far in life and be on top of your game, you must equip yourself with skills that will market you. Make yourself worth the life you’re aiming for and you’ll be amazed how things turn out in the end.

RESILIENCE

“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.” - Steve Maraboli

It has almost become my anthem to all who care to listen that resilience is a must-have virtue to qualify for the mere thought of success. Beginning from the moment we say “yes” to the inner voice that propels us to pursue our dreams, we begin to see opposition slowly filter in. It could be anything; parents, siblings, finance, health, society, spirituality…..the list goes on. Like I said in my post The Place of Resilience (http://ihuoma03.blogspot.com/2020/07/resilience.html) , how you view life’s setbacks matters. The setback is not really in failing, but in refusing to try again.

Whenever I get to a spot in my life where the thought of giving in to pressure comes (from exam fever to peer pressure, to habitual depression and spiritual weakness), what helps me stay on tracking is the reflection on how disappointed I’ll be in future if I eventually give up. I think of people that will be affected by that one decision to back out. This has always kept me going.

Sometimes, our reason for keeping up the strive, in spite of raging opinions, isn’t about us. Success never comes to a man who is afraid of failures, counter-opinions and worse of all, rejection. So remember, passion gets you on the track of success, but resilience keeps you there.

COMPANY

“Your network is your net worth.” - Porter Gale

The last thing on my list is your company. My mom would always tell that she’ll gauge the level of my seriousness about my ambitions, by the kind of people I add to my network. Believe it, your companions tell a whole lot about you. For instance, I went through a friend’s LinkedIn connection and I could easily tell that his ambition was related to accounting. Same went for the pages he liked on Facebook and the groups he joined. His dream was reflected in the kind of company he kept.

How far you’ll go in life is attached with how well you build your network or company (on a lighter tone). You cannot aim for a career in law and be “hanging out” with juvenile youths. You want to effect change as a writer and you are in the league of teenagers that specialize in vulgar languages? What a dream!

It is never too late to review your circle. It could feel painful to cut off people that act as dead weights, but in the long run, you’ll appreciate yourself for taking the bold step. Edit your company. Mark out those that are relevant to your dreams and apply CTRL+X on the irrelevant ones!

There sure are many other factors that serve as ingredients to the prayer of success, some of which I am yet to discover. But whether we know them all or we find out as life moves along, what stands sure is that understanding these factors will go a long way in forestalling avoidable errors and unnecessary setbacks in life.

“Not he who knows the truth is wise; he who puts them to the test is indeed worthy of more wisdom.” - Anonymous