Disregard Detractors.

Have you been rejected, thrown away, and written off as good for nothing? Have your efforts for self-improvement and personal growth been ridiculed, mocked, despised and characterised as "feeble", "poor" and a "waste of time"? Are you considered a no-good, never-do-well, perpetual failure? Are you seen as some sort of a pariah, a cast-away, a refuse dump, a shameful person that is to be avoided and treated as rubish? Have you been thrown out of the club or refused membership and kept at bay because you are considered not qualified or not fit simply because of class or social status?

Do not worry one bit or feel bad about it. Do not, even for a fleeting moment, accept their verdict about you by resigning to the negatives around you or playing the poor role they assigned you. Do not give them the pleasure of seeing their negative verdict and opinion about you become true or come to pass. Do not append your signature to their opinion about you. Do not allow yourself to be pushed to insignificance by anyone, no matter who they actually are or claim to be.

You know what? They are not prophets nor are they God. And they are not sent by God either. None of them have the design and masterplan of your life. None of them is the master builder of your destiny. So, nothing they say or do against you is final or irrevocable. You can disappoint their devices by working hard and turning your story around, away from their expectation to a true celebratory success that they cannot ignore or write off, anywhere or anytime or any longer. Yes sir.

You see, I was once told that I was good for nothing and, therefore, would never amount to anything good in life. Yes sir, told straight to my face! And this was by people I looked up to, respected and expected much from. They failed me woefully and, I must confess, it was painful but I swallowed it and moved on, regardless. Today my story has changed and they have had to swallow their words in shame. I am now all the things they said I could not be or do, and even more.

You know what I did? I took the negative current of their rejection and despisement  and hatred and converted it into positive energy on my part and worked harder and more enthusiastically. I did not allow myself to feel down or dejected, neither did I allow myself the deadly leisure of hatred or bitterness. I remained sweet, positive and focused. I took their condemnation and turned it into motivation. I remained standing and joyfully walked to my goals and targets when they expected me down and out.

They could not stop the positive change or my forward movement, because none of them had the power to do so. You see, none of them is God. Only God can stop your growth or success. Only God can define where you will end or what you can become, and HE has already defined your destiny to be a great one. No man, therefore, no matter how rich or powerful or connected, has the power or even the right, to alter or change your destiny. You are more and better than any definition or limitation or description man can make of or put on you.

So, do not give up because men do not believe in you and have written you off. Do not waste time and energy fretting over it. Rather, define your life, by God, and determine where you want to be. Develop an action plan accordingly. Get up and get going in the direction of your plan. Get to work on the processes of life, disregarding all the noise and the distractions around you. Focus intensely and exclusively on your goals. Be detailed. Cover all your bases. Work hard and work smart.

Sooner than later, the Sun of Glory will rise for you and your light will begin to shine. Your story will begin to change for good. You will grow and improve. You will get better and stronger. Doors will begin to open for you. Life-changing opportunities will come to you. You will beat all the odds stacked up against you. You will defeat your opponents. You will prove your detractors wrong. You will come into success and eventually attain greatness. You, even you, will shine in this life because nothing is impossible. You can do all things. You are wired for success and greatness. 

Let me leave you with two (2) quotations that, I am sure, you will find very helpful:

1. The first quotation is by Bryant McGill, a human potential thought leader, international bestselling author, activist, and social entrepreneur. Here, he emphasizes the need to hold on to your unique goals as opposed to what others think or say about you:

"Hold faithfully to your unique vision and your detractors will eventually tire and give-up." - Bryant McGill.

2. The second quotation is by Ghanaian teacher, author and motivator, Ernest Agyamang Yeboah. Speaking about the need to face your life and concentrate on building your strength, he said: 

"Concentrate on your strength and strongly build your strength whilst others concentrate on your weakness! When your strength is strong enough, you shall surely put them to shame with your strength, and they shall surely see their own weakness better!" - Ernest Agyemang Yeboah.

So get to work.

Overcome your weakness and turn it to strength.

You can do it.

It is all within you.

It is me, Agoso Bamaiyi, your friend for a greater Nigeria and the best things of life.

Focus On Goals.

Life, by its very nature, is full of obstacles and challenges and problems. There is just no such thing as an obstacle-free or problem-free life. Everyone of us, including the strongest and the best of us, is always fighting one kind of battle or the other. Thi is a fact of life that is as real as the air you breathe.

But we grow and become stronger and better, not because we have no challenges or battles to face or fight but, because we faced our challenges and successfully fought our battles. We grow and become better with each obstacle we overcome. Challenges are meant to make and not to mar us. This also is a fact of life as real as the ground you stand on.

Our focus, therefore, should be on the possibility of growth and strength and not the obstacles or challenges or problems before us. Make becoming better and growing stronger your goal. Focus on that as you face each day with its share of difficulties. Focus on your goals and not your obstacles. If you do, you will grow from strength to strength.

That is how winners and champions are made. They carefully analyse every challenge or problem, note the areas of weakness they must exploit, plot an action plan and then take the challenge head-on. In the preceding strategizing and training and the ensuing battle, they learn and grow, becoming better and stronger. That is how they eventually become winners and champions, trendsetters and record holders. 

I remember how I dreaded school because I could not read or write. As a matter of fact, I was bad in everything. I was so bad my teachers beat me, hoping to spark intelligence in me, and my mates mocked me. I remember how I was told that I will never amount to much in life simply because I was not good in school. It was a real challenge that I almost succumbed to. I even dropped out of school.

But I refused to accept that I was good for nothing. Instead of allowing such a huge challenge and difficulty to push me to despair and failure, I fought back. I set my mind on the good things I could do with a great education and a functioning mind. I resumed school and faced my challenge and difficulty. I worked hard. Eventually my brain opened up and I began to do well. My story changed and today I walk in the manifestation of my expectations.

So, next time you are faced with a challenge or difficulty, do not shy away from it or run away and hide. Take it on. Learn from it. Remain focused on your goals and objectives. Grow bigger and better. Stand taller and stronger. Prosper in the face of opposition. Live out the reality of your dreams. Focus on your goals and not on your challenges and difficulties. 

You can do it.

It is all within you.

It is me, Agoso Bamaiyi, your friend for a greater Nigeria and the best things in life.

Beating The Odds.

A lot of people blame their restricted or limited or unfavorable background for their failure or inability to rise to their potential in life. Such restricted or limited or unfavorable background could be their ethnicity, location or abode, family, poor parentage, misfortune (such as the death of a parent early in life or a handicap arising from an accident), lack of or bad education, and so on. Many turn those obstacles into excuses instead of challenges to be taken head on and overcome. Excuses never helped anyone to success anywhere. You will fail woefully if all you have to give to life are excuses. Only he who takes on those obstacles in the arena of life and demystify them through enthusiastic enterprise and dogged drive will eventually run the victory lap, singing the victory song. The world can stand up for you as the champion, regardless your background.

One man who overcame such limited or restricted background, making no excuses, and became a huge success in his day was Will Rogers (1879 – 1935). We will study his life with the intention of discovering some clues as to how he made it.

Will Rogers was an American comedic actor, nationally syndicated columnist, and radio personality. During his day, he became one of the best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s. But he was not born into fortune or fame, nor was he born into a big or influential ethnicity. Though he was born into a leading Cherokee Nation Family in Indian Territory in the state of Oklahoma, USA, his birth was considered ordinary since the Cherokee Nation were a minority people, faced with discrimination and other uncommon odds.

Will Rogers overcame his restricted and limited background and travelled the world 3 times, made 71 movies, wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns, and became a world-famous figure. He became the public face of the Cherokee Nation. He died, at the height of his popularity, in a plane crash in 1935 at the age of 55.

Will Rogers beat the odds. How did he do it? He made a statement that gives us a clue into how his mind works and the reasons behind his success. In this famous statement, he listed two ways by which a man can learn and improve himself. He said:

“A man only learns in two ways, one by reading and the other by association with smarter people” – Will Rogers.

He points out two ways to self-improvement:

1. Reading.

2. Association with smarter people.

Let us now consider these two factors of self-improvement, as listed by Will Rogers, a little more closely with a view to learning how to move our lives forward from a hard place to a place of success.

1. Reading.

Let me point out, from the word go, that the best and most effective way any one can develop and improve their mind, and with it improve their personality and chances for success in life, which is the primary function of education, is through reading. All the information you need to become a better person and succeed in life is already in a book somewhere. If you are not willing to read and dig it out, you will struggle in the avenue of average and below, all your life.

Additionally, reading can do the following things for you:

- Reading increases your knowledge of the world and the various subjects that relate to it and the human experience.

- Reading opens you up to new ideas and experiences that make you a better person.

- Reading stretches and expands your mind, thus increasing your mental capacities and abilities.

Joseph Addison (1672 – 1719), makes the following famous observation about reading:

“Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body”

Marcus Garvey (1887 – 1940), agrees with that observation when he said:

“A reading man and woman, is a ready man and woman…”

Ray Bradbury (1920 – 2012), makes the following on how lack of reading can destroy an entire culture, talk less an individual! He said:

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them (books)”

So, if you must learn and grow and rise up to your potential, and be successful in life, you must:

- Read always.

- Read widely.

- Read relevantly (i. e. in connection with any particular project or pursuit before you).

- Go for relevant courses and study for relevant degrees and certification.

All these will improve your personality and provide you with better chances to lead a successful life.

2. Association with smarter people.

This is an underlining fact of life: the people you associate with rub off on you, negatively or positively, depending on what type of persons they are and, hence, go a long way in determining how far you go in life. If you associate with criminals, for instance, chances are you will be influenced by their lifestyle and philosophy and, thus, may be driven to criminality. If you associate with negative and bitter people, chances are you will be influenced by their lifestyle and philosophy and, thus, may be driven to negativism and bitterness. If you associate with failures and non-achievers and people with low self-esteem and lack of drive for success, chances are you will be influenced by their lifestyle and philosophy and, thus, ending up exactly like them. If you associate with successful and smarter people than you, chances are you will be influenced by their lifestyle and philosophy and, thus, becoming a smart and successful person.

This fact of life is as real as the ground you walk on and the air you breathe: if you want to go far in any field in life, you must humble yourself and associate with people who are smarter and more successful than you in that field.

John Chow puts it this way:

“You are who you associate with”

General Collin Powell, former chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Secretary of State, agrees and added:

“The friends we keep define who we are as a person… if you run with wolves, you will learn to howl, but if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights…The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate – for the good and the bad” – Collin Powell.

There you have it. If you plan to rise high and go far in your profession or chosen field in life, my advice is that you seek out people who are smarter, more experienced, and more successful than you are in that field and associate with them. Approach them with a humble and open mind. Learn their success ways and methods. Put to practice all that you learn, and watch how quickly you will begin to rise and grow in your profession and life. Keep moving forwards and upwards.

It is Agoso Bamaiyi, your friend for a greater Nigeria and the best things of life.

Focus Your Energy On Adding Value.

One very useful lesson I have learnt, and I take it very seriously, is that you cannot, no matter how much you try or how good you are, please everyone. There will always be some who, for no apparent reason and for no fault of yours whatsoever, will dislike you, or even hate you, actively and relentlessly.

Nothing you say or do, therefore, no matter how valid and useful, makes sense or has value to them, because they have made up their minds, for reasons best known to them, to dislike or hate you. All they want, and work for, is to see your downfall.  Nothing less than that will satisfy them or assuage their active dislike and hatred.

They will swear that white is black as long as the white comes from you! It is not that they do not know the truth. No. They know the truth. They are just blinded and misguided by their hatred and prejudice, and so will always oppose you and work against you. Acting unreasonably and misguidedly, they constitute themselves into an opposition against you and everything you stand for.

Sometimes you are tempted to try to win such fellows over, but is is all wasted time and wasted effort. They usually are irrevocably committed to disliking and hating you. Therefore, do not waste your time and energy on such people. Do not try to defend yourself or work to win them over. It is not going to work. They will only take your goodwill and throw it back at you with negative energy and spiteful enthusiasm.

They assume that if they work to belittle you and your contributions, they will gain an upper hand over you and, thus, promote their brand above yours. It is always a nonstarter with lots of negative repercussions for those who engage in it. They usually end up regretting their spiteful engagement because it wins them nothing. You go on and succeed in like inspite of their venomous spite.

I encourage you, on your part, to take your gems and precious nuggets and share them with those who believe in you and value you. Invest your time and energy on strengthening and building such persons and relationships as cherish and value you. Band with those who value you. Build positive reinforcements all around you.

Your investments in positive relationships will bear handsome dividends and stand as a positive testimony for you, such that will eventually drown out the negative cloud created around you by the dirty dealings of your detractors. You will overcome every evil plan and evil persons that mobilize and work against you.

Remember: light will always prevail over darkness, no matter how long darkness appears to hold sway. Light, therefore, need not to be afraid of darkness. All that light needs to be or do is to be light and continue to shine. Continue to shine in good works, no matter the negative counter pull. You are stronger than all the negative forces arrayed against you.

Your value in life is in the positive impact you make on others. Focus on that. Regale in that. Relish that. Specialize on that. Dwell on that. Enjoy doing good. Grow a glorious garden of beautiful works fed with positive energy and the light of enlightened understanding. Rise above dislike and hatred and be a source of positive energy and love engagements.

Cut out the haters and detractors. Do not dignify their negativism with attention and response. Starve them of the flawed victory and demented satisfaction they crave. Shut them up with superior works and positive energy. Rise above their trap and live freely in the light of love and understanding.

You can do it.

It is all within you.

Selah and Shalom!

It is Agoso Bamaiyi, your friend for a greater Nigeria and the best things of life.

The Benefits of Reading.

Let me begin this piece by making reference to a quotation on the power of reading by Mark Twain. Mark Twain, whose birth name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher and lecturer. Apart from his most popular pen name Mark Twain, he also used, and was severally known as, Josh and Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass.

Among his most notable novels are “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (1875) and its sequel, the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1885), which is often called “The Great American Novel”.

Let me point out, by the way, one unique thing about Mark Twain: he was born shortly after an appearance of Halley’s Comet in November, 1835, and he predicted that he would “go out with it” as well. True to his prediction, Mark Twain died of heart attack a day after the return of Halley’s Comet in April of 1910.

Due to the prosaic power and the intellectual and substantial depth of his literary works, Mark Twain was widely regarded as the “greatest humorist this country (America) has produced” and William Faulkner – another great American writer and Nobel Prize laureate – called him “the father of American literature”.

It was this great American writer that once said, and I quote:

“A man who does not read has no advantages over a man who cannot read” – Mark Twain.

These are very strong but true words. Let me quickly emphasize here that Mark Twain was not trying to scorn people who can read but, for whatever reason, are not or do not read. No. He was rather pointing out, in his usual humoristic way, the fact that the ability to read is not an end in itself, but a means to an end; the end being continuous self-enlightenment and self-improvement that reading widely bestows. The man who can read but does not read will be cut out of information and knowledge that can make him a better person just like the person who cannot read. None of the two, therefore, has an advantage over the other. Both of them will remain backwards and live at the periphery of human development and advancement, consigned by ignorance to serve as spectators and consumers in life, failing to advance to the more profitable level of being trend-setters and producers.

The Power of Reading:
David Royston Bailey (born 2nd January 1938) is an English fashion and portrait photographer whose outstanding works earned him the prestigious title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE). He is widely considered as one of the greatest photographers of all time and, even in old age, continues to provide pace-setting innovations for the photography industry. He once pointed to the secret of his huge success in these words that underline the power of writing:

“The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading” – David R. Bailey.
He followed the advice religiously and the habit of lifelong reading opened the door for greatness for him. Reading and its beneficial outcome, knowledge, combined and made him a leader in his profession, hence proving the saying that “readers are leaders”.

You see, the man who does not know the way will always follow the man who knows the way. That is the way it has always been and, certainly, that is the way it will always be. Knowledge leads ignorance and, since reading is the pathway to knowledge, reading indeed makes you a leader. That is the power of reading.

Reading makes you:
- A solution-provider and a problem-solver.
- A progress-facilitator and a development-mover.
- A trend-setter and a pace-setter.
- A participator and a contributor.
- An innovator and an inventor.
- A producer and a manufacturer.

The Benefits of Reading:

1. Mental Stimulation.
When you read, you actually stimulate your brain cells into action, a sort of exercise for the brain cells. This makes them fit and strong for longer, in line with the principle of “use it or lose it”. The more, therefore, you read, the more you strengthen and retain, for longer, your brain functions. As a matter of scientific fact, the habit of active reading significantly delays the onset of Alzheimer and dementia.

2. Stress Reduction.
Modern lifestyle has resulted in a drastic increase of stressors and difficulties. Modern man, as a matter of course, leads a stressed life and this has increased the incidences of lifestyle diseases. There is now a whole industry working to reduce stress for man and, thus, help us to lead more healthy and qualitative lives. Reading has been proven to be one of the best and cost-effective ways to reduce stress.

3. Knowledge.
Reading increases knowledge and if you read regularly you will be better prepared to face the challenges that the world throws at you. This is because knowledge is the key to all the answers we seek. We face difficulty with a thing only if we lack knowledge in that thing. What you know is no longer a challenge or difficulty.

4. Vocabulary Building and Expansion.
The ability to speak well is an asset that we all should aspire to have. It sets you in good stead in any profession. Good speech, to a large extent, is a function of good vocabulary. Reading widely builds and expands your vocabulary and, hence, helps in making you articulate and fluent. By the same token, reading also improves your writing skills and, with it, the quality of your writing.

5. Memory Improvement.
Reading makes good use of your brain. The more you use your brain, the stronger it becomes. This is good for healthier and stronger memory which, in turn, improves the quality of your life.

6. Builds Stronger Analytical and Thinking Skills.
Robust analytical and deep thinking skills are absolute necessities for resounding success in any profession. Constant and wide reading habit helps to develop this all-important skills.

7. Improves Focus and Concentration.
The ability to focus on the work at hand and to concentrate all mental energy on it, is an important ingredient of success in life. You get to start and finish what you started. Constant and wide reading helps you to develop your powers of focus and concentration.

8. Improves Writing Skills.
One of the best ways to improve your writing skills is to read constantly and widely. The more you read, the more you improve your vocabulary and, consequently, the better your writing becomes. It is that simple.

9. Gives Inner Peace.
Inner calm and peace are important for a healthy lifestyle and for overall success in life. Reading, especially reading for fun, can help secure that peace. Even in examination situations, the more you read in preparation, the calmer you are during the exams. That inner peace is very instrumental in academic success.

10. Provides wholesome Entertainment.
Reading can be a real healthy and wholesome fun. Very few forms of entertainment are in this class.

Conclusion:
Let me conclude this call to develop the habit of lifelong reading by sharing three (3) quotes that I find relevant and useful:

1. Confucius was a renowned Chinese teacher, editor, politician and philosopher who believed in human capacity building through education. He promoted the habit of lifelong reading as a means of individual as well as community development. He revered books and had this powerful words to say about them:

“You cannot open a book without learning something” – Confucius.
True!

2. Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865), the 16th President of the United States of America, was a self-educated and self-taught lawyer and businessman. He studied on his own and wrote and passed all the necessary professional exams to be certified as a lawyer. He had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and, hence, befriended books and made reading a routine habit. This is the lovely thing he had to say about books and reading, and his words agree with those of Confucius:

“The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read” – Abraham Lincoln.

Little wonder then that he became such a great leader. Americans consider him as one of their greatest leaders and students of international leadership are unanimous that he is one of the greatest leaders humanity has produced.

3. Joseph Addison (1672 – 1719), was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He lived for writing and for books and, even in his political engagements, encouraged learning and intellectualism. He believed in, and personified, the power of reading to change individuals and communities positively. Hear him:

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body” – Joseph Addison.

Exercise your mind, therefore, for greater performance in life. Reach out for the highest and the best in life by building your mind through lifelong reading. Keep reading. Keep growing.

It is Agoso Bamaiyi, your friend for a greater Nigeria and the best things of life.

The Anti-Climax

I woke up that Saturday morning with an excitement and enthusiasm that was beyond circumstances. I had this huge inner turbo-charge and a forceful go-go tug that had absolutely nothing to do with the situation on ground or the reality in my country as (under)reported by the media. And, I assure you, I was not high on anything, neither did I get a credit alert the previous night or early that morning. Far from any of all that. The excitement I had was beyond ordinary. It had everything to do with an inner conviction and nothing to do with outward circumstances or stimuli.

I just have (and I have had it since my days in Secondary School way back in the 80s!) this seemingly irrevocably fixed inner conviction that, despite all its self-inflicted pains and developmental backwardness, Nigeria will, slowly but surely, overcome all its malaise and organize itself well enough to come into genuine growth and development, until it becomes the best place to be born and to live and do business in Africa and one of the top-ten best places to be born and to live and do business on Earth. All my work and engagements, both public and private, draw motivation from that inner conviction. 

On the strength of that inner excitement, I literally bounced into Gotel FM studios, in Yola, that Saturday to present my weekly programme, "The Nigeria Of My Dream". The programme is a collaboration between me and Gotel Communications, aimed at bringing enlightened motivation to Nigerian youths to push themselves for self-actualization, as they reach out for the highest and the best in life. It acts on my well-publicized social law which states that "the strength of a community is the cumulative strengths of the individuals and institutions that make up that community".

The success of Nigeria, therefore, starts from building and equipping individual Nigerians with functional education and modern skills that will secure their self-realization and self-improvement, leading them to success in life. Their collective success, in turn, becomes the framework and engine holding up and fuelling the success of Nigeria. To build a successful and great Nigeria, therefore, we must build functional and successful Nigerians. That is what all great countries do. It is the people that make the country great, and not the other way round. Build the people and the people will build the country.

You see, genuine and sustainable national development and prosperity is, first and foremost, human (social) before it is economical or infrastructural or anything else. Without social development, comprising adequate and equitable social welfare services and social justice, all other forms of development will not stand the test of time, and will, sooner than later, be inundated and destroyed by disorder, corruption, poverty, violent crime, nepotism, bigotry, etc. And that is exactly what is happening in Nigeria today: the chicks of long-standing disinvestment in social welfare and social justice and general human capital development have returned home to roost.

That is why I tell people that corruption, crime, disorder, intolerance, disunity, insurgency, separatism, etc., are all symptoms of social dysfunction occasioned by the failure in the social welfare and social justice systems. Fighting these ills without a corresponding commensurate genuine attempt to fix the social root causes, therefore, is like fighting Typhoid or Malaria, or any other pathogenic disease, with painkillers: you only suppress the dis-ease for a while without killing the pathogen. It, obviously and unfortunately, will bounce back stronger and deadlier. If we truly want to win the war against corruption and violent crime and other related ills, we MUST fix our social welfare and social justice systems. Period.

That is where my radio programme, and many other related efforts, come in. Without allowing myself to be bogged down by a mere recitation and recounting of our well-known national woes, I pick any given developmental issue and work on it, proffering better alternatives and encouraging our youth to rise to the challenge so as to ensure that they do better in their turn. I delight in providing solutions. I have no pleasure whatsoever in reinforcing failure and negative stereotypes. 

So, that Saturday morning I spoke with a particularly forceful zeal and infectious passion as I called on our youth to uphold and promote education and skills acquisition, enterprise and industry, self-improvement and self-actualization, orderliness and social decorum, constitutionality and the rule of law, human value and human rights, friendship and acceptance, honesty and truthfulness, etc. I then went ahead and painted the glorious future and prosperous Nigeria that is possible if we all, from government to the organized private sector and the society at large, truly adhere to and promote these universal principles. From the phone-in responses I got I knew the show that Saturday morning was a huge hit. People called and spoke about how they are motivated to do more for Nigeria and for their personal growth and progress.

After the show, I drove from Modire Hills back into metropolitan Jimeta, stopping at a chemist shop to buy some prescribed medicines. I met two gentlemen there who, coincidentally, had tuned into and listened to that morning's show. They immediately recognized me and walked over and, having politely greeted me, went on the attack. They told me, point blank, that I was naive to believe that things will ever get better in Nigeria. They concluded, with some degree of relish, that things will only get worse and inevitably end in the breakup of Nigeria.

I stood there and listened to their recitation of woes and the ill-informed and misguided finality in their conclusion, saying nothing, not because I lacked what to say but, because I knew it was a waste of time and energy responding to such characters. Their minds are made up and, in a self-serving and self-fulfilling push to actualize their prophecy, they actively participate in the negative happenings to bring the country down. That is why they find such enlightened motivation, as my programme gives, a direct threat. So, instead of rejoicing in the possibility of a truly great Nigeria where things are working and dreams come true, they actually fear it and, misguidedly, work against it. They, hence, view people like me who believe in the possibility of a great Nigeria as a threat.

Well, after giving it to them that they were entitled to their opinion as I am to mine, I paid for the drugs and walked back to my car. Driving away, I felt a strong wave of discouragement wash over me. It was a bad feeling, a down feeling, an anti-climax, to the feelings with which the day started. I felt bad, not because I believed their gloomy diagnosis or, even for a moment, entertained any fear that their prophecy may one day come to pass but, because it was so disheartening to see two young men holding such negative and hostile opinions against the possibility of a great Nigeria.

Such energy as they put into working against the possibility of a great Nigeria, if they turn it around and put it into working for a great Nigeria, will go a long way into helping them attain massive individual success and, thus, helping Nigeria come into greatness. Yet here they were, working against the country of their birth, under the illusion that it will soon breakup and, in the resultant chaos and fragmentation, they will find the country of their dreams. What a negative mentality.

Anyway, I have my conviction intact and I continue to motivate our young men and women to work hard and smart, as they reach out for the highest and the best in life. All things are possible and a great and glorious Nigeria is a possibility. I see tangible possitive indicators and signs, amidst the mountain of challenges and difficulties, that things are changing for good. It is a trickle, for now, but it will soon turn into an unstoppable torrent. Nigeria will soon come into it's own and stand up, tall and strong, as the Giant of Africa and the Leader of the Black Race. 

My young friends, leaders of tomorrow, be positive and channel your huge energies, relentlessly and tirelessly, into self-improvement and self-actualization efforts. Build yourself up, tough and strong. Be the best that you can be.

Nigeria needs you.

Nigeria waits for you.

Nigeria needs you capable and successful.

You can do it.

It is all within you.

It is Agoso Bamaiyi, your friend for a greater Nigeria and the best things of life. 

The Quest for Excellence.

In the course of my work as a Life Coach and a Motivator, I come across many young men and women, of various backgrounds and religious persuasions, who feel inadequate and grossly incapable to face life and put up an excellent performance in their chosen field of endeavour,  each time and as each situation demands. They see the few who walk in and manifest excellence, and desire to be like them, but just don't know how.

Some of them have come to believe, wrongly though, that excellence is some sort of magic or supernatural phenomenon that they can only access through juju or voodoo or through membership of some shadowy fraternity or cult group or through the prescribed occultic procedure of an international organisation steeped in mysticism and fabled abbracadabra and other such myths. They go to ridiculous lengths and do some horrible things, all in the name of magically or supernaturally accessing and possessing excellence. At the end of it all, they discover they had just wasted time and resources in exchange for nothing.

They fail to see that excellence is in them and that they are the crafters of their destinies and nothing and no one else. You are what and where you are today because, consciously or unconsciously, you chose to be and do just that. You can choose to be better and you will be better, if you work at it. You can choose to develop the characteristics of excellence and, with time, you will own excellence and manifest it daily. It is all within you.

This is how Aristotle (384 BC - 322BC) - Greek philosopher and polymath - saw it:

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit" - Aristotle.

To step up to excellence, therefore, and master it and own it and walk in it daily, you must go beyond merely wishing for and talking about it to actually training for it and habituating yourself in the practice of excellence. You must start doing, on a consistent basis, the things that will build excellence in you and make it second nature. 

Please find below some steps that, when taken constantly and consistently, will gradually but surely lead to excellence in your life and pursuits:

1. Challenge yourself to know what is right, in every situation and in every given scenario, and always do and insist on it.

2. Be willing to follow those who are ahead of you and to learn from those who know more than you do.

3. Be open to new ideas and be willing to try new methods and to adopt new practices.

4. Read daily, widely and relevantly. This is one of the most useful tools to self-improvement. 

5. Deliberately seek out and learn something new every day. 

6. Always act deliberately and intelligently. Use your brain power and not brawn. The key lies in brain power, not muscle power.

7. Practice the art of your profession or vocation daily. This will help you grow and constantly remain sharp and focused.

8. Work hard and smart, and give your best to every assignment or project before you.

9. Never go to bed until you are satisfied that you have covered all your bases and have done all that you can possibly do that day.

10. Never accept second best or settle for mediocrity in all that you do. Constantly stretch yourself and press for the highest and the best.

11. In all that you do or are engaged in, always put up a professional performance and uphold international best practices. Do not be held down by local standards or expectations.

To buttress the need for constant and unrelenting effort in self-improvement and the quest for excellence, let me leave you with two (2) relevant quotations.

The first is by Pat Riley, US professional basket ball executive, former basketball coach and NBA player and the current President of the Miami Heats. He said and I quote:

"Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better " - Pat Riley.

The second is by the philosopher, Aristotle. This is what he said about the quest for excellence:

"Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution. It represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny" - Aristotle.

In conclusion:

I would like to advise you to give a deaf ear to armchair critics, backbiters, maligners, small thinkers, narrow-minded people, spoilers, and all such likes. When they attack and mock your efforts to grow into excellence, it is mostly jealousy: they are not good or cannot do it as well as you do and, misguidedly, do not want to see you do it. Ignore them and keep on with your quest for excellence. As long as you keep working at it, gradually and eventually, you will come into excellence. You will become a recognized and celebrated brand and authority.

It is all possible.

It is within your reach.

Grab it and live it.

It is Agoso Bamaiyi, your friend for a greater Nigeria and the best things of life.