Our dreams, ambition
and aspirations for the future are all a matter of hope, not certainty. So we
work, plan, strategize and pray hoping our expectations from the future shall
be met, at times things turn out in our favour but at other times things turn
out different.
Not knowing tomorrow
is a critical reason for mankind's dependence and relying on God. We pray to
God to bring to pass all our hopes and aspirations, we pray our dreams come
true, we wish for a bright, fulfilling and rewarding future. We all want a
happier tomorrow than today, incidentally the power of tomorrow does not lie
with us.
As impossible as it is
to tell accurately and with precision the details of how your tomorrow will
unfold, and as the control of your future is beyond you as mere human, there
are however, some rules, some principles, some ordinances and habits that can
to a degree help influence and shape the quality of your future and make your
future almost predictable.
In this life, the law
of sowing and reaping is rife and real. It is evident from experience and we
mostly agree anything a man does, either good or bad, one day he shall reap it.
It's also called the law of karma. This simply means a great part of our future
holds for us the consequence of our choices, our deeds and habits of today.
If what I do today
will affect or shape my tomorrow, then to a large extent I may be able to
create the kind of future I want for myself. I may not be able to achieve or
create my future in detail, but I'd at least have a good idea of how my future
will turn out.
Predicting tomorrow
may be tough, but shaping tomorrow is highly possible through our dreams our
choices and our actions.
My dear friend, what
does your tomorrow hold? What kind of seeds have you been sowing so far? What
kind of harvest are you expecting? Good, bad, ugly? How will your life be like
in another three to five years? What will you be doing, where will you be
working, how much will you be earning; what will you be owning? How will your
family life be like, your profession, your life quality and your income? What
is that major accomplishment you would have delivered before the next five
years? What are you sowing today with expectations of a great harvest in the
future? What investments are you making in yourself, your family, your business
your career with high hopes of great harvests in the future? How old will you
be in five years from today? How much older will your kids be if you add five
years to their ages now? how will you cater, provide, nurture and meet most of
their needs? Their financial needs, academic needs, material needs, emotional,
psychological and spiritual needs? For those who are still single, would you be
married with children in five years? What are you doing about it?
Ladies and gentlemen,
the fact that the future is not promised to anyone is not a good reason not to
plan for a great future. Your mind sight – that is your ability to see your
preferred future through the eyes of your mind should guide your daily
activities and choices today, not your circumstances or today's economic
situation.
Are you seeing and
thinking beyond this year or even next year? Are you working towards a better
tomorrow or just living for today – spending half of your time complaining and
lamenting doing nothing about yourself and your future? What are the things
you're doing or you need to do to create a great future for you?
Our lives, ladies and
gentlemen, is like a journey through a maze. There is definitely an entrance
and exit opening, but finding our way through the paths in good time is the
most challenging part of our journey to success and greatness in life. There
are some virtues, behaviours and attitudes you need to take on today that will
make your journey smarter, progressive and rewarding through this maze of life.
There are some things you need to start doing today in order to enjoy a future
of peace, joy and fulfilment. These required traits, I'd like to share with you
today.
1. Intelligence. This
is the ability to acquire knowledge and skills and apply them excellently. To
be able to positively influence your future, you must decide to improve in
intelligence. Intelligence is not just about the ability to think, it's about
the ability to think excellently. It's about having a good and healthy brain.
To succeed in life you need a spirit of power, a spirit of love and you need a
sound mind. A sound mind is a very healthy mind, which is a product of a very
healthy brain. You can grow your intelligence by exercising your mind through
regular study –not reading, studying, these are two different activities. When
you study regularly, you sharpen your minds ability to comprehend, judge
correctly, process information quickly and respond to life with superior
answers. The health of your brain also determines your intelligence. There are
some food types that help sharpen the mind and there are some food habits and
life style habits like smoking, doing drugs and drinking excessively that makes
the mind sick.
Not resting and
sleeping enough can also hinder your ability to think excellent thoughts. If
you can't think well, you can't effectively plan a successful future.
2. Information. Dear
friend, what do you know? How much do you know? How accurate is all the
information you have stored up in your memory? What kind of information do you
have stored up? How relevant to your future and up to date is all the
information you have? To pre-determine a great future for yourself, you must
hanker after quality, relevant and important information. When you're correctly
and adequately informed, you can make excellent decisions and right judgements.
Do you have people and places you visit for correct information? What and where
are your sources. The person you depend on for information and choose to
believe; what is the quality of this person's life and character?
If all he says that
you hold on to and believe is the truth, has it helped you become as
successful? Dear friend, the key to riches is not hard work, the key to riches
is not “sowing”, these two qualify you though, but the real key to riches is
information. My people perish for lack of knowledge. Dear friend, to create
a future of greatness, seek for correct and useful information.
3. Memory. To go
quickly through a maze and find the exit in good time, your memory must be
superb. To create a great future for yourself, you can't take for granted the
place of a fantastic memory. When you have a retentive memory, it will be hard
to repeat your mistakes and errors. When you have a good memory, you'll easily
recollect what worked for you in time past. You'll also recollect the mistakes
you made hence, you can avoid repeating the mistakes. You'll also remember the
formula that worked and the choices that promoted you in time past and repeat
them. A good memory is important in building a solid future.
4. Good speed.
Time is very critical in life. You can't afford to waste your time
unnecessarily. Whatever you need to do, do it quickly and in good time. I
get confused over people who decide to relax in life or on a particular matter
because they believe they still have time, so they've chose to waste or kill
the time advantage they have, how absurd. The real benefit of having time
advantage is using it not wasting it. Having time ought to be to your
advantage, but when you choose to kill it or waste it, you're losing the rare
advantage you have. Dear friend, go to school on time, get married on time,
have your kids on time, rise to the top of your career on time, start your
business on time and retire on time. It is really a blessing when you retire
from your labour at 50 and all your kids are graduates at 55. If you have time,
use it, don't kill it.
5.
Determination. This is the personal resolve not to give up no matter what
the situation portends. The people that succeed in life are not people who
never made mistakes, got discouraged or failed but those who never gave up
despite their many mistakes and failure.
When you want
something out of life, life itself will test your resolve and determination to
get it. People and situations will work against you, betrayal, disappointments,
frustration, shocking and sudden developments will frequently throw you off
balance. All these will make you want to throw in the towel, but when you make
up your mind that no matter what comes your way, you'll go for what you want,
life and people will eventually surrender to you. Determination is the power
that actually subdues opposition not superior skills. Wear life out with your
resilience and determination. When you're determined, your future will yield
greatness to you. Dear friend, never give up.
6.
Purposefulness. To create the future you want you must define the kind of
future you want. After knowing clearly what you want in your future you must
also know why exactly you want that kind of future. When you're hazy about the
kind of future you want, it'll be easy to give up on it. If you don't have a
strong conviction about that future which you want, it'll be easy to get
carried away by instant gratification and wiles of men. Standing by your reason
for wanting a particular kind of future gives you a sense of direction,
coordination and prioritisation. When you're purposeful, you'll be stable.
7. Focus. It is one
thing not to be deterred by the hurt, pain, disappointment and betrayal you
encounter on your journey into your future, it's a different ball game not to
yield or bend to the goodies, the fun, the thrills and the tempting, feel good
distractions along your journey. Many can easily endure pain and hardship but
find it difficult to reject pleasure. For example some men who ought to by now
have become multi-millionaires through intelligent investment over the years
are very broke and have nothing just because they couldn't resist attractive
women and good liquor. Men with these weaknesses are hardly focused, they
usually get slowed down financially, psychologically and emotionally. To build
an excellent future, you must develop the capacity to ignore both the bad and
the good that can distract you from the best. Don't settle for less than what
you know you want and deserve. Focus is quite key to building a great future.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the best way to predict your future is to create it. If your life lacks a sense
of control today, I'm afraid your future is definitely out of control. Sit down
today and put on paper a mental picture of what you want in your life in
another five to ten years. What do you want for your family, how much do you
want as your net worth in five years? What level would you have attained in
business and career? How much advanced would you have become intellectually and
spiritually? What do you want to start doing differently? Think about it today
and overcome the maze of life in flying colours.
Written By : Muyiwa Afolabi
CEO; Frontiers Consulting Services
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