It’s very depressing observing people in my environment everyday. Right now as I write, I am on the road, and I’m writing and staring out the side glass, I see different people, different shapes and sizes, different classes and at different stages. Sometimes I look beyond what I can see, and try to ask myself what some people could be thinking? Many people are so bothered about the basics, that they are clearly stuck in the present. The immediate gratification of our basic human desires, kind of mortgage our future possibilities. It’s either that our quests to satisfy the immediate that blinds us from the ultimate, or the fact that we haven’t set our ultimates is what makes us slaves to the immediate. Even I am inclined once in a while to stray and think in the line of our regular excuse, the fault of our leaders, the lack of accountable leadership, the lack of systems that can bring to office people that have visions and the capabilities to drive us to achieve. My mind strays, but not for long. Leaders are men like you and I. They were not born with crowns, nor with leadership tattooed on their butts. They were born like you and I, crying and wailing, wondering why they had to come to this world at this time. If we must get a better life, we must stop looking outside ourselves but inside. We must know that to fix the king, we must train the child. Yes we need great leadership, much more we need a system that will make it impossible for mediocre leadership to reach the throne, but most importantly we need to be a people that deserve a better life. We need to be an enlightened people, people that are easy to govern, difficult to rule and impossible to enslave.
I’m in the office now, I made it through the car park, lift and corridor of the office without closing my laptop. Yeah, every morning that’s my routine, I always keep the laptop opened. I wonder what my neighbors at home and at work think J. So back to the quest for a better life. My assumption is that I want it, and some other people do too. We need to get a few things right. We know some of these things already, but few of us put them to practice. In the cause of last weekend, I spent a considerable amount of time with an Australian friend, and it occurred to me that there are many things I know that I don’t practice, yet this guy knows a few things, but practices them like a religion. I got challenged to take some things more seriously, and I consider it a privilege to remind you about a few of them.
1. Goals per Match
I made a bold statement on my facebook status last week that elicited 35 comments in 2 days. I wrote that I had just confirmed that 97% of mortals don’t have clearly documented goals. It raised a lot of counter perspectives, but I just discovered after then however, that if that data was western in origin, as it is, it might actually be worse in Africa. My friend asked me a question, “this particular business that you are doing, what is your goal?” It got me tongue tied. I have goals for my life, but I didn’t have goals for the particular match. Sportsmen know that they must have a goal per match, the whole strategy of playing the particular game is a function of the goal that you have for that game. He went ahead to explain to me, and practically show me how he had clear goals from each milestone, and how he has pictures of what he wanted all around him – laptop, wallet, e.t.c., and how he actually goes out ever month to test drive his dream car. His goal is different from a dream, because he’s engaged in business that should get him his dreams, he only refreshes the picture of his goal in his mind regularly to motivate and stimulate him.
What’s your goal in that Job? How long will you spend in that company, and what will you achieve that will make you know that you have accomplished your goal? What is your goal for that trade? What is your goal for that stock? Have goals per match, and form your plan and strategy based on those goals. Don’t set them alone, review your goals regularly – millionaires do it averagely once a day, billionaires twice a day. Can you imagine a football match without goal posts? It robs the game of a lot of fun, and reduces the players to idiots.
2. Failure is Golden
Thomas J. Watson is being reputed to have said, “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate”. That quote is one statement I feel like downloading into my psyche this year. Success doesn’t come when we stop, it comes because we fail but refuse to stop. I’m afraid to take advice from someone who has never failed before, he/she will have no clue where things can go wrong. Failure means you are one step closer to success. My friend told me how the last 19yrs of his life (he’s currently 45) has been moving from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm, and how he got his big breaks. The reason why we fail and stop is because we have other options. For successful and wealthy people, the real option is to start again more intelligently. A child tries and fails averagely about 10,000 times before he/she walks. Many wealthy people failed very many times before they succeeded, we don’t know, because it doesn’t matter.
How many times have you failed? Yes you did Nospetco, yes you did Clubfreedom, yes you were caught in the stock market plunge, count your losses but don’t stop. Just learn a better way to do it. Some people didn’t do, yes they didn’t lose anything, but they also didn’t learn anything, and you know the funny thing, you and them still have the same account balance. They didn’t invest, they didn’t venture, but they spent the money anyway. Failure is used to scare the feeble minded from venturing for more. Keep going, success is on the way.
3. Risk doesn’t equal Loss
Many people are afraid of losing. They are afraid of failing, afraid of falling short, afraid afraid afraid!
Risk is a concept that denotes the precise probability of specific eventualities. Technically, the notion of risk is independent from the notion of value and, as such, eventualities may have both beneficial and adverse consequences. However, in general usage the convention is to focus only on potential negative impact to some characteristic of value that may arise from a future event. {wikipedia}
When the pessimist sees a risk, he sees loss, when an optimist sees risk he sees reward. An entrepreneur however is someone who in the face of risk and uncertainty is able to identify opportunities and bring resources together to capitalize on it. Risk does not always mean loss. I have heard people give their reasons for not taking part in a venture, as saying it is risky. Of course it has to be risky, if it’s not risky, why should if be of benefit? Life itself has it’s attendant risks, and when we risk nothing we gain nothing. Imagine if you had stayed at home all of your life and never gone out, imagine you did this because your parents felt going out was risky? Or if they had carried you all through your childhood because it was risky for you to fall? Yeah, you would not have forgiven them yet.
What is that thing you are afraid to lose? You will still lose it. Go and check it out, when successful people lose money for example, it’s no big deal, it happens all the time. When poor people (it’s a state of mind) lose money, they whine and grind! Take risks, calculate before you make them, but make them. Which would you rather be, one who tries and fails, but has battle scars he/she can use to tell quality autobiographies or be amongst the company of those who never dare anything, but know 101 ways it could have been done?
Great piece.
“I’m afraid to take advice from someone who has never failed before…” Good thinking. Failure is an opportunity for an intelligent begin again.This is because you would have become acquainted with everything that can go wrong ,and that is why people say “Experience is the best teacher.” History is replete with inspiring stories of men whose outstanding failures could have earned them laurels but they later moved from failure to success.Abraham Lincoln is a legend in this regard.Deolu “Eku ise o”
Do i have goals? Yes, but for everything? No.I think i need to wake up just like you. I spend most times learning things and gathering materials that i don’t put to use.
Looking at any success in my life ,the position I am now is as a result of not giving up in the face of a clear failure. My character has it in me that ”Nothing is impossible”. It has only not occurred because we have not thought of a better way or we are too lazy/afraid to to do it.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmh(sighs) this is really hard or do i say a bitter truth to swallow. this one hits me right on the spine.
God bless you my brother. Can you also include the name of my colleague on your distribution list.
his mail: XXXXXXXXXX
Thanks once more
good talk sir. Failure only tells you one way not to achieve a thing. Try again.
http://www.holidaysandcash.com/ifects
Hmmmm… Deolu, thanks once again, this post has added strenght to my spirit especially The part “Failure is Golden” ““If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate”.
I’ve gained extra energy to keep pressing on, 2009 is my year of becoming.
True talk!
While I can say for my self that I write down thigns lot
but I need to make ‘clearly documentented’ goals like you said for all areas of my life by God’s grace.
Thank you
Everyone fears failure but breakthroughs (success) depend on it. The people we call success today embraced their mistakes and failures and learnt from them. Look beneath the surface of many great business successes, and you are likely to find a trail of failures that preceded them.
Describing the trial-and-error process that led eventually to the creation of the light bulb, Thomas Edison said “I have not failed. I have merely found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Don’t give up. keep trying!!!
welldone cm, what i really love about your blog is your consistency and creativity. nice animated gif. i do well to live a better life each day and I desire this for more than 5 million Nigerians too. have a great day!
Profound truths
Goals are like goalposts. When they are out of place, the game of life is over. I need to define goals for every match, going forward from now
Failure should be a teacher, not an undertaker. Failure isn’t bad if it doesn’t attack the heart. Success is alright if it doesn’t get to the head.
failure is truly golden
i am afraid that i have goals but for every match i play, i dont.
The truth be said “the devil is always in the details” A well laid out in every facet of your life definitely puts you unavoidably in a place where you cannot but progress in life.
Thanks Dee another humbler.
Now I know how you keep posting, your lap top is perpetually open………….Thanks for the pep talk. have started reading afterall.
Hmmmmmm (a big sigh of deep thought).
Better life is attached to how many goals you can score (http://spiritofjesus.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-many-goals-can-you-score.html ).
I must confess, that i do have goals per match. I set goals for everything i do but my problem is that most times i do not meet up to the goals simply because i behave as if they do not exist. I have learnt my lessons from this post and from the life of Michael Faust.
Recently, a friend of mine hinted me on what i call FMP (Friends Mentorship Program). This is between two friends. The details is that we write down our goals (daily, weekly, monthly, yealy, 5 years and 10 years) and send the goals for the next week, month and year to eachother at the end of the week, month and year.
The reason for this is to:
1. Pray for eachother to accomplish the set goals.
2. Mentor eachother to the accomplishment of the set goals
3. Develop partnership where possible. etc
I believe fellow readers can inculcate this and follow it to the dot. It will help a great deal
This is my piece..I will definitely write an elaborate post on this later on my blog
Mr. Deolu, thanks for the inspiration as always
Love you
On a lighter mood. I hardly close my laptop too except for some situations.
Thanks
Goals per match. Failure IS Golden. Risk Does Not Equal Loss. I think these are the keys to entrepreneurship.
Golden nuggets that one would think he knew but then ask oneself: ‘So why didn’t you practice them all these while?’
Many thanx for this reminder.
This is straight to the point. Very bitter truth but it has to be told. Thank you.
success! acheivements! glory! honour!!! wealth!!! …. and list goes on and on. there are what we all want but unfortunately are afraid to do ALL that it takes to get it.
deolu, let me ask you a question. do you think the advice of your friend saved you a great deal from some woes? if yes, let me also say that in this age and time when knowledge has really increased, why do i need to fail as much as thomas edison before getting it right the first time? if i can see Mr. Edison and ask him the right questions, don’t you think i would get the same result in less time knowing that there is a link btw success and time? i think i would….
if by a single advice deolu’s friend gave him made him rearrange a lot in his biz pattern and we know that there are tons of people that have walked the same path we intend to, then i think a great deal of question to be asked is: to what extent are we willing to pursue the right mentoring in other to reduce the failure rates especially when it’s possible to do so?
yes goals are good, especially when detailed. hardwork is good, hit it again when you fail, yes! and i say don’t give up. but listen! just like the holy book says ” the kingdom of God is like a great treasure which a man finds and goes to sell all that he has just to buy that treasure”, i think like deolu said, there are important issues, urgent issues and the likes, but we must see to it that it is not secret pride especially the “i know it all” mentality coupled with “agidi” (bull-headedness) that drives us. no man in true respect is really self-made but with a part played by others.
the bottom line then is this: BE HUMBLE enuogh to ask for help or counsel in what u want to do. ONE INSTRUCTION CAN SAVE YOU TEN THOUSAND ATTEMPTS!!!! nid i say more? rest my case
Deolu, Word
Tosin Fayokun, even more word
God bless
I’m definitely willing to take risk over and over again. The benefits outweigh the losses.
This is deep!
A number of lessons from this wonderful piece:
“We need to be an enlightened people, people that are easy to govern, difficult to rule and impossible to enslave.”
That is one major thing that must happen before anything significant will happen in our politics, and in our national life.
“Can you imagine a football match without goal posts? It robs the game of a lot of fun, and reduces the players to idiots.”
And that is the bare truth!
“If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.”
I’ve asked myself how many times I’ve failed in the last 3 months, 6 months and 1 year and I am unfortunately not impressed with my results! Thanks Chairman for the reminder.
@Tosin,
Correctly put, learning from the experiences of others is very valuable. I call it leverage. We do not have a life long enough to learn from our own experiences, that’s why we must read, that’s why we must ask! Experience is a costly teacher, and we also do not have all the resources to learn by experience all the time.
I noticed something interesting however, that every experience you have qualifies you to draw a lot more out from the experiences of others. I remember a lecture I listened to by a great entrepreneur. I saw many of the students in the lecture sleeping while I couldn’t stop jotting. You know the difference? I could connect a lot more with what he was sharing than anybody else, I could see sense in a lot of his early challenges, and he helped me to plot a course forward. He that pulls a cat by the tail, learns a lesson that can be learnt no other way.
Also, can it not be called agidi, when you tell your family you want to sell all you have for one treasure that you saw? I think we are allowed some agidi, but our agidi must be born out of instructions from God, or what do you think?
@Tope.. deep stuff
“Failure isn’t bad if it doesn’t attack the heart. Success is alright if it doesn’t get to the head.”
In the multitude of counsel there is safety… so says the bible, i quite agree with Tosin Fayokun that good mentoring does not eliminate failures, but will drastically cut down the rate of failure and increase your speed of achievement. well in any case if you chose to fail, pls fail forward!
http://www.undergraduatesinbusiness.com
Deolu,
More grace,thank you for reminding us to forget the former things and press on to the future.Tell me a sucessful man who got to the top without facing one challenge or the other, i will tell you a man who got is wealth in his dream.
Can you imagine a football match without goal posts? It robs the game of a lot of fun, and reduces the players to idiots. …..are you calling me an idiot if I do not set goals???……how could you??!!!……the day we understand how foolish we have been is the day we start being wiser…….lol. Nice one Dee.
Great insight. if there’s no target, then there’s no accomplishment. In-fact, how would we know we are there, if there’s no predetermined destination in mind?
On the risk/failure/reward subjects, i’d like to take a different perspective. We’ve all got resources, and we’ve got to learn about the Time/Chance convergence. We must learn to identify our opportunities and take advantage swiftly. However, recognizing opportunities is more art than science, and is often learned by experience. Nevertheless, utilizing opportunities and taking risks ought to be done with due diligence.
People often take “uninformed decisions” in the name of taking risks. For example, it’s absolutely unrealistic for me to expect to make 100% ROI in currency speculation (FOREX) consistently after just two weeks in training (Peter Bain warns that you require at least 6 months of consistent/intensive training before playing around with real money).
Fela Durotoye says the exams of life do not announce themselves before they show up, so we’ve got to “Live Ready!”. I think we need to focus more on spotting true and fair value, investing in our abilities, and making our brands distinctive before engaging greater ‘risks’, so we don’t repeat the errors of wall street over the years.
Great insight once again.
Deolu,that was edifying enough.May God continually increase you in wisdom.
A WORD IS INDEED ENOUGH FOR THE WISE.
I LOVE YOU BROTHER!
Deolu,
Thanks for this, i used to think i was the only one who failed at things, soteeh! i became so afraid of taking risks, it got to a stage i started believing that i was born to fail in all things.I almost believed the devil’s lie that God doesn’t like some people e.g people like me. Thanks be to God for he has used these failings/falls to build me up and make me stronger. Now i am so resolute and convinced beyond every doubt that, I can and will not fail in life, that whatever i can see i ‘will’ get.
However, i did not get here in a day, it was a long painful journey. Maybe you could do a write up on historic people like Abraham Lincoln, who despite his failings and falls became the most celebated citizen in the U.S.A till date.
To most people these issues of risks,failing and falling could be very deep and might lead to despair, depression or low self -esteem. The possible way out apart from the ‘word’ is to read articles like this and have peole to talk to. I am priviledged in having all these.
Now how about continuing to talk others through this, you will be amazed how many people this kind of write-up will ‘deliver’ motivate and empower. Thank you, BebeC.
Tosin you have spoken well but you should also understand that has Deolu as rightly said “every experience you have qualifies you to draw a lot more out from the experiences of others”,we cant learn it all in one life time,we can only draw lessons from other peoples’ experiences if we can only connect with it and that is what can save us the 10,000 times of trying having said that we also need to pass through some of these lessons ourselves,it only makes the whole learning process better understood,take for instance a man that has never been denied food was told to fast,how do you think he will feel?if he has a little experience of starvation for an hour dont you think he will have a better idea of starvation for a month.Practice that which you already know and try to connect with that that you dont know.
Good comments to all ya!
Thank you Deolu.
ododo oro,
“If I want to increase my success rate,I should double my failure rate”. I will try again,Chaiman thank you.
Key words: GOALS and RISKS
Living without a GOAL is living like a GOAT.
It is risky not to take risks.
Bless you brother!
Hmmm, this is wat I need to usher myself to a greater level….Goals!This right-up is a word in season.
Deolu, we are together in the future movement.
thank you
Mehn. . . i woke up this morning, sorry, from yesterday, i risked going the extra mile and it cost me big time. . .hardly slept, just thinking and moping myself real bad. . .Got to work and couldnt quite shake it off my thoughts. . .this article is what i neded. At least, it makes me feel better even though i hate to fail(ha ha)!!!
Cheers
I dont even have a laptop! This three post in one. Goals, Failure and Risk…..i need to read it 3 times.
Oluyemi Adeosun
Great! Great! Great!!! Wow, i love this one, it’s quite inspiring for so many reasons. As a matter of let me start by saying, blessed is the breast that you suck. I am captured by failure, risk and goal-purpose aspect of this blog.
“i cant take advise from someone who has never failed” is something i can vividly associate with as i read this, and i am still taking notes in between lines.
My father once told me, that he who risk nothing, does nothing, knows nothing and he is nothing.
Sincerely, not until i read this post, i have never been able to comprehend the broadness of that fact especially as it applies to failure.
I am energised to see the beauty of this whole concept and i am happy i read this today.
I have goals but not on everything i have, and i am begining to see the sin in it. “He who knows what is good and fails to do it, to him it is sin.” I therefore REPENT.
Thank you Deolu, I am now a born again again.
Here’s another mind-boggling piece. I’ve heard this word (goals) a lot in the last few weeks…..I need to re-strategize!!
Deolu,
Earlier in the morning when i read this post, i felt like calling you immediately to tell you how joyful and blessed i am. Fortunately or …, i do not have your mobile number.
I am just fired up. Fired up to dare more.To strive harder.
I am also blessed by the indepth comments of people on this post.
This is one post that has changed the course of my life forever. Please share all with us and not just this few.
God bless you.
DEFEAT DOES NOT FINISH A MAN,QUITING DOES.A MAN IS NOT FINISHED WHEN HE IS DEFEATED.HE IS FINISHED WHEN HE QUITS.
BEING DEFEATED IS OFTEN A TEMPORARY CONDITION.GIVING UP IS WHAT MAKES IT PERMANENT.
EVERY ADVERSITY,EVERY FAILURE AND EVERY TRIAL CARRIES WITH IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT OR A GREATER BENEFIT.
The end of learning is not knowledge but ACTION. There’s so much we know but little we are putting into action. Now is the time to practice, doggedly, the little you know and you’ll be shocked at where it will get you.
Who wouldn’t love to hear the story of how a person, stood against odds to stand out? Our lives are just stories, stories of how we kept at it till we succeeded (being all God made us to be). People are willing to listen to those who can comfort them with the comfort they have been comforted with.
cant shake it off!this sinks deep.its really the little things that makes the difference!
thanks dee.
THANKS DEOLU, PLEASE PEEPS LETS TRY AND CONTINUE TO FAIL FORWARD AND NOT STAGNANT, OR BACKWARD.
you ae good.
An inspiring write up,kudos to Deolu and his research work on the subject matter.However,i want to add that despite all these afore-mentions,one should make the love of God surpass all.Great advice men.Bingo!
this article reminds of Ray Kroc, the leader of mcdonalds. ok! some pple expected me to say the “founder” right? for as many as read the story will know that he was not the founder i.e the initiator, but thru vision, leadership, persistence took the company the next level and ultimately where it is today. anyway that’s not my focus.
my focus is the story of the man’s persistence in the face of failure. he had so many failed projects totalling about 30 somethings years before the mcdonald project became a huge success. what i like to point out here is that those years that it seemed that things were not working were what prepared him eventually for what became a success story today.
our often failed attempts is what eventually helps us develope stamina for success. believe me! i know it takes great emotional stamina to push through in difficult times. whatever goals u’ve set, however u’ve set them, know this one thing! it is the finisher that eventually has a story to tell. pls let ur case be “those who thru faith ……inherit the promise” and not “those who thru …… explained the promise”. inherit and don’t explain it.
This is absolutely revealing!!! Write the vision make it plain…that they may run… GOAL setting is key and makes run towards it achievement. Thanks for these words on marble!!!
Great piece! It’s really good to try out something new.It adds experience to ones achive of experience.
its a tough one. this article reminds me of thomas edison when he was asked how many times he tried before he was able to come up with the light bulb and he said 10,000 times. to tell the truth, failure is a bitter experience but when we remember that evry failure comes with it the seed of an equivalent success, we press till we obtain our prize.thank u sir for a job well done.we will meet in the winners circle.God bless naija.
i guess H&C biz is going to give a lot of opportunities this year. let’s plug in
Paul says i do not fight as one hitting the air. the best thing in life is to be purposeful. even when failure comes hitting hard, propose keep you in view. every wants the best…take your position