Hard-Work : Sojourn towards Success

“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”  (Napoleon Hill)

“Working hard becomes a habit, a serious kind of fun. You get self-satisfaction from pushing yourself to the limit, knowing that all the effort is going to pay off.”  (Mary Lou Retton)

“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”  (Albert Einstein)

It's very easy to look at successful people and discard their achievements as the product of luck (a word I still don’t understand but we Nigerians believe so much in when it comes to making money both legitimately and illegitimately) & having “a good destiny” (Nigerians will  understand this also as it’s part of the mentality we have grown around), being in the right place at the right time or being born with extraordinary talent or having a privileged background and the most ridiculous of all, telling all who care to listen that their mothers must have simply fortified them with some powers and which is why “these rich people” take care of their mothers and other bla bla bla myth cash-strapped mediocre people(I don’t belong here o) use to console themselves on belonging to the lower side  of the success chain.

There is nothing you will not hear my people when people are analysing the bourgeoisie class of the society.

The successful people I mean here are those people that make their money legitimately and through the right channel o. Because it seems yahoo guys and other fraudsters are now being termed “successful” by the public and even the media homes seem to be confusing “being rich” with “being successful”, thereby allowing many illegally wealthy people to be listed as most powerful or most successful in their locale.

Dey dia dey deceive yasef! Your time is coming. Just ask the Lead City University Fraudstar currently in jail & Ade Bendel(even though that one was able to acquire landed properties even while in jail. I was quite young when his name was everywhere but what I remember him to be is a FRAUDSTER. Daz all.

Anybody can actually be rich if money acquisition is all that matters which can be gotten dubiously. But it takes exceptionally deserving individuals to become successful. That is to say, no matter how much ponmo is boiled, it will never be seen as an equal with ifun eran.

People are the greatest deceptors (Immediately I typed that word, I knew it did not exist even before Microsoft word underlined it with that annoying red marker) but I am just too lazy to find a synonym or check Google.

And besides, there is a more pertinent topic at stake jare.

Deceivers! That is the word! Choi. Old age is setting in mehn!

Anyway, as I said earlier, people are the greatest deceivers of themselves. Everyone wants to become rich without sacrificing or doing much. The average man wants to earn so much for so little. That is why you see supposedly educated people buying books on “How to Get Rich in 15days” from a man wearing a very rumpled coat that is a wanna-be blazer, or worse still, pay 4000 over the internet to download a 350 page book on “Step By Step Guide on Becoming as Rich as Linda Ikeji by Blogging”, and some even go the whole extent of attending Workshop Seminars where they squeeze out maybe like 15000 or 20000 to listen to someone who became rich or popular by a one-off venture and still needs to continue to make money and by quick thinking, organise a workshop on “ How to Sell Your Ideas to Those that Matter in the Industry”.

Even the bull is surprised someone will fall for that load of crap.

And the people that fall victims of this money making tactics are usually supposed to be very “learned people”(very relative if you ask me) who though are not aware of it, fall under the crooks, the lazy asses, the mediocre goal getters who want so much out of life for so freaking little.

As an aside, Hubby once had this guy who stayed on their street for many years and who looked up to him for the few wads of naira Hubby doles out to him once in a while. Out of pity on a man unable to fend for himself, Hubby now informed the guy that he could help him get a job so he could boast of  some form of personal cash coming in for him. Anyone will appreciate, right?

Mba o! Not the guy my people, and you know what he told Hubby? His church had told him that his “head & destiny” (that means Ori and Ayanmo) is not meant to work but for people to assist him.

Let’s just say my ever generous Hubby came to his senses after that exchange and became a strong candidate for the three wise men and kept his money for me to add to the money in preparing delicious efo riro and ila alasepo for him rather than waste it on a lazy-boned individual whose future I can already predict without any soothsayer helping out.

But I have digressed.

Because, if you think about it, it is extremely hilarious and disappointing that educated people whose parents or some relatives send to school to make use of their intelligence to make life better for themselves fall victims of Internet scam, fraudulent activities and quick money making workshops that promise them a way of getting a lot out of their society without giving much back either through sweat or through financial commitment.

To understand what I’m saying, simply imagine yours truly who is an avid blogger and with a relatively high number of visitors on my page daily coming up with organising a workshop on “How to Make Your Blog Earn More Money than Linda Ikeji’s Blog”. Are you not supposed to ask me why the organiser like myself does not have a blog that is earning as much as Linda Ikeji's?

Abeg, shey it’s not obvious that I am looking for money to travel to Zanzibar or update my wardrobe nii abi does anyone need to be told this simple logic? How can we even begin to nurse the thought there are short cuts to success?

(Insert Hian here)

At my previous place of employment, we usually receive lots of calls from subscribers who had been duped of their money from their bank accounts by fraudsters and they call in and start threatening to sue the company and ranting on the network for compromising their details.

You should have heard these money-hungry lazy asses in their stupid glory ranting and vituperating about the injustice and raining curses on the fraudsters. But we end up making them swallow their words by simply asking “How did they get your bank details”? And that’s when they start stuttering.

It is usually just a case of, Eni n wafa, a ri ofo. (He who is looking for awoof will discover futility)

Funny, you will be amazed that people who fall victims of this are actually very learned, enlightened but dubious fellows looking for quick ways out of their misery and if you ask me, I am of the opinion that people who are victims of fraudsters are potential pen robbers and fraud menace to the society.  EFCC needs to extend its arm to arresting victims of scams as I really cannot reconcile how someone will call my line and tell me I have won 20 million naira and all I need to do is send a recharge card of 2000 naira or better still, send my bank details AND my debit card details.

Is that not madness? Does it not even put to debate my business intelligence capabilities and ridicule my educational certificate? I mean, if I were to be the CEO of a company and I get to find out that an employee of mine was duped via such means, that is automatic termination of employment especially if the person holds a managerial position.

You are fired mehn!

You will find out that this scam cuts across several classes of people, even rich men & women looking for more money are always duped and bested at their own games and I am amazed that EFCC has not been arresting them because the single question they should be asked should be “What did they promise you in return & what did you give out?

To even come down to the mekunus like us, we go to the market and our ever sharp and cunning Igbo brothers will tell us that they will sell a generator going for 35000 in the market to us at 15000 and we are very happy to pay and we go home with the unbelievable sale only to come back to the Igbo man few days later that it’s no longer working. Lmaoo.

Oga Ade, you just bought something for half the market price and you want the same quality. Abeg, shey na the manufacturer organize the promo? Dem suppose arrest you o.

Is this beginning to sound familiar? Let me break this down for the sanctimonious people who may be reading this and still shaking their head that they do not belong in this category:

1)      Do you respond to text messages from networks saying “Send an SMS to a number to win a certain amount of money?”  (Yeah my brother, you like shortcut gaaan and iseju kan loku tema fi te.)

2)     Are you the type that buy “motivational books” of 1000 naira on “How to Make It Online In 10 days” from a road side sweaty, slippers wearing, long coat buttoned up in the heat elderly man whose formally white but now closer to brown shirt has seen the days of yore?  (Egbon, EFCC needs to arrest all your ancestors because you need to ask the seller why he never read the book he dey sell)

3)     Have you by any chance attended those workshop seminars organised in a family garage for 5999 naira discounted price on “How to Get the Best Jobs in Nigeria and Network with Top CEO’s?” (My dear, you are this close to starting a farm in your paternal village.)

4)     Did you ever call back a number that sent you a text that “You have won the sum of 5 million naira from the just concluded La Casera draw and you should send your bank details to same number or just call 07034677856 and ask for Baba Seki?” (Please I have a qweshion for you alabirin, have you drank La Casera this year and if I may ask further, just how many bottles have you drank and did you apply for any draw? You can’t answer abi? I pity your unborn children’s intellectual capabilities o.)

5)     Have you by any chance dated someone because you saw his/her account balance and the person keeps promising you monetary items which you receive and then use your body to pay back? (Biko, that you are not carrying gun does not stop us from calling you a burglar o. You are a potential armed robber).

There are so many scenarios of such that shows more of stupidity than gullibility of educated people and I wonder whether they actually ask themselves if the successful people they are trying to emulate their success stories made their money from reading ridiculous books and attending unfruitful workshop and seminars.

I wan ask sef, how many of una can beat ya chest and say the money you are making now or the job you are currently on is as a result of that money you spent on the workshop or the book you bought from the road side hawker?

Because if we think am well, all these fraud victims are just educated herbalists who are looking to make quick cash and just because they did not visit Ayelala shrine in Ijebu Ode does not differentiate them from the people that actually make blood money.

And if you ask me, what you are actually looking for is blood money. Plenty cash, less or no work! Succinctly put!

Now, how many successful CEO’s or power wielding executives can you lay claim that their money was made through short cut approaches?(politicians do not count here I assure you because it takes brain, brawns and brightness to con out huge sum of money from the society and still be walking free, so yeah they do not belong here).

I am talking of successful people who actually gave their blood, sweat and tears to become not only rich in terms of money but successful as a result of the amount of legacy they are leaving behind, men of power who know that there are no short cuts to success, men and women who gave it all to get everything, men and women who toiled during the early days of their lives so they can sit today and have huge reasons to look back and know they gave it all it took.  People such as; Tayo Aderinokun of GTB who made GTB what it turned out today and his legacy and memory leaves us in reverence, Oprah Winfrey who started from the scratch from the days of racism but came out though scathed but well worth it,, Ibukun Awosika, an entrepreneur and goal getter after my heart and admiration, Subomi Balogun who turned FCMB into one of the leading banks it still is today, Nimi Akinkugbe a young career and family focused woman that gave not just Nigeria but Lagos its own Monopoly Game(talk about creativity at its peak)  and thereby giving women an opportunity to know that work and family life can actually be balanced out to pan out just fine, Funke Opeke, a Minister and a technology entrepreneur making a name for herself and giving back to the society, Folorunsho Alakija, a billionaire that started out as a secretary but got to become a billonair because she never removed her eyes from her intended goal, Tunde Agbaje who seems to be keeping Aderinokun’s legacy on, (I mean who is not using GTB right now, seriously?) Adedeji Adeleke, a huge philanthropist who is so selfless and generous that at times it hurts to watch the purity of each selfless act of generousity, Wahab Folawiyo, late icon but his Folawiyo Industry lives on, Mike Adenuga, (that is my mentor if only he will acknowledge my existence), a man whose brain, guts, brawn, persistence and never ending success stories knows no limit, Aliko Dangote, who I am certain is an employer to almost a quarter of Nigeria’s population.

These are people that are using what they have to get what they want and achieve what they desire. (Aristos, gigolos, fraudsters, internet scammers who use what they have in terms of artificial beauty, artificial intelligence in every word of it, cunningness, deceit and lies to get what they want DO NOT belong here). I am talking of men and women who are using the educational and professional experience they have garnered over the years to get what they want legitimately and without making people shed tears of woes and disappointment in the process (Enemies & Envious minded people in pain over their success also do not apply here). I am talking about men and women of honour who are giving us that confidence once again in knowing that whatever you desire to achieve, you just need to work hard enough to get it.

Let’s even narrow it down to successful young entrepreneurs we have as of today; men & women making their mark in today’s industry and who are showing us that being born with a silver spoon does not stop the passion and drive to make a name for themselves outside their family wealth or young men & women who may not have grown up with any spoon at all (not even plastic spoon) but are making a name for themselves in their respective fields and doing us proud and creating themselves as mentors every day. These people certainly, did not read a road side motivational book or attended any 4,999 naira workshop seminar and I am very certain they did not make their wealth from responding to any SMS notifying them on a draw they have won of a product they have never used in their lives. I am talking about young entrepreneurial men & women that are turning the face of Nigeria into a better one, men & women showing us consistently what passion, energy, perseverance can achieve. For the extremely techy and information savvy ones, I am talking about the Jason Njoku’s, the Ladi Balogun’s, the Sim Shagaya's, the Opeyemi Awoyemi’s, the Olalekan Olude’s, the  Ayodeji Adewunmi’s, the Seun Osewa’s, the Chude Jideonwo’s, the Adebola Williams, the Bola Fadina’s, the Olayemi Lawal’s, the Jide Adenuga’s the Mark Essien’s, the Sadiya Umar’s, the Linda Ikeji’s, the Aisha Suleiman’s, the Ola Orekunrin’s, the TuFace Idibia’s, the Tiwa Savage’s, the Deborah & Jessica Umunnabuike and even me sef (na una sabi o, na from egg shell chicken start to dey grow o), young men and woman who are branching out and leaving the cocoon of their family to carve a niche for themselves and getting successful and building a legacy at such early ages.

Where do you want to belong? And this one wey technology just dey grow crazy, make my pikin no go ask me 20 years from now that “Mummy, where were you when your mates were making money”? Abegi, make no child go embarrass me.

For those that are still trying to justify the reason for their mediocrity and why they prefer short cut approach to success as it worked for their neighbour who used to live in front of their flat, know this now and quote me later, THERE IS NO SHORT CUT TO SUCCESS EXCEPT THROUGH HARD WORK, SACRIFICE & PERSEVERANCE. 

Abeg, tell our brothers in the East that sacrifice here no be to go Mazi Iweke’s shrine with human heads o. (Seen too many Kanayo .O. Kanayo films while growing up mehn. I can’t look at that guy with normal eyes again. His roles have scarred him in my eyes for life mehn. Loool. Patience Ozorkwor is another story all together)

All the people mentioned above sacrificed their blood, sweat, time, tears and met with several failures, disappointments, let downs, betrayals, but not once did they give up, nor lose sight of the goal. They knew where they wanted to be in few years’ time and they took that first step.

They simply set the ball rolling.

If there is one thing successful people have in common, it’s hard work, perseverance, strong work ethics, and sacrifice.

Work ethics is another topic for another day and one of the major reasons why many people are either unemployable, mediocre, will never get promoted, will always get fired, will never be successful or will simply not be relevant. Many do not know this and are going about with empty, non-existing professional ethics and are yet to be aware that the only ladder they may ever climb successfully will be the one beside the NEPA pole on their street.

But like I said, that’s another topic for another time.

So, if you really want to drive that latest Porsche, Bugatti, Chrysler, (abeg na the spelling be that?) and the latest cars, have several buildings on Banana Island, you need to work hard and change your professional ethics.

And truth is even if you go through short cut, you will NEVER have that exhilarated feeling knowing that you gave your sweat and blood(not otokoto kind of blood giving o) to be able to sit behind the steering and enjoy the fruit of your labour.

Nothing beats that comfort of knowing that what you have amassed in terms of wealth and achievement right now, you have actually worked for and earned it righteously. That is where your confidence, your triumph, your success stories will stem from. That is what differentiates a rich person from a successful one.

But at the end of the day, it is still your choice. Do you want to be just rich and still have to introduce yourself? Or do you want to be successful and simply let your success story and triumphant achievements walk through the door before you and do the introduction on your behalf?

Like I said, it’s your choice. As for me, I have taken that first step. Getting there is most def a giving!