Do you want to be successful?
Well I don't expect you to say no
unless you've got a bug resident in your brain or you want to live like Mahatma Ghandi.
But we live in 2015, in the Internet Age where Mark Zuckerberg could
make more than 36 billion bucks within a space of 12 years, where you know that
21 year old teeny weeny feminine-almost gay Justin Bieber is worth around 200
million dollars, and where the media is so powerful that we see on a daily
basis(through music videos) how those thugs, gangstas, niggas (take your pick) treat
money as if they've got the Federal Reserve Headquarters in their backyard.
But you can only be carried away by all of the above if you've made one fatally
wrong assumption that money is the same thing as success. Here is the deal
fellas: I know you probably only have three shirts, that you eat only once a day,
that your mum gives you a bit by bit report of the ugly financial situation
whenever you call home for pocket money. I
know that you still feel bitter towards that
slimy guy with the sleek Honda who stole your girlfriend but if you are still
chasing money instead of success, then you are chasing bronze instead of gold:
they look alike but they are not the same.
What then is
true success? Sorry to burst your bubble but I haven't got a clue. You see, I am
also a miner in this gold mine called life and while I might have some concept
of what I am digging for, I won't get the whole picture until I've hit the bars.
Nobody can tell you what true success is. You've got to feel it. Therefore you can't
tell with certainty that a certain person is successful, you can only assume.
Because that person probably looks at himself in the mirror every morning when
he is shaving and know he isn't there yet. He hasn't felt it yet.There is a gaping hole
yearning to be filled. I am like a pastor who though knows the way to paradise has never been
there himself. But the good news is: I know the way to success.
You don't know
the way by spending countless years on this terrestrial plane and though the
way is not simple it is fairly plain. Therefore without much ado the way to success
is... Wait, wait, wait. First of all, you have to know that the way is not for
the impatient. While I do understand it
when you whip out your phone and focus on angry birds during a boring lecture,
I am afraid that sort of behaviour isn't gonna help you in the outside world. You won't believe how
mind-paralyzinly boring the outside world is. I mean the outside world is not
exactly a Las Vegas casino with neon lights and hot women and plenty booze. It
is a world of drudgery, lonely nights, ups and downs and days that seems to
drag on forever. So you won't when the going gets tough pick up your bag and
run off to a vacation in your mother's village. You've got to be patient enough and
live through it all because it is during those hard moments, those boring
minutes in the class
that the lecturer drops the most important points, that fine opportunities come
calling.
The way is not for
the attention seekers. Oh, you are Bond, James Bond. Your life revolves around
dressing up to impress people and nothing more. Your outfit and people's
complement on it is the only highlight of your day. You are more concerned about
the girl with the hourglass figure than the use of your hours. Okay we've seen
your high tops sneakers, what else do you do? Sit around all day in the
walkways around and flash your feet at every female. Common, you've got to get
your act together. While I am not condemning playing the stud, I think you will
play it more convincingly if you have something going for you.
The way is not for
the binge movie watchers. Movies are entertainment, don't make it your life. Of
course, you could certainly use a brain like Michael Scoffield's but sitting
around binge-watching Prison Break for hours isn't going to do you much good. But I don't have
anything to do then FIND SOMETHING TO DO. I don't see any reason why you should
spend long hours watching movies when you are not planning to be Steven Spielberg
or Steven Solderbergh.
The
way is not for
the gisters. You see, pointless news is usually the stuff of gists,
especially
celebrity gists: Chris Brown had his name tattooed on Rihanna's groin or
Miley Cyrus had become way too skinny. So what! Why should anybody
care? Why should you
care? Why should you become CNN, analysing and re-analysing every little
pointless news about celebrities? What news are you making?
What then is the
way? Let me tell you a little story before I finally reveal the grand secret. I
was watching Jay Z's Roc Boys video when I heard the voice of my eight-year old
nephew say "I want to be rich and successful like him". He pointed at Jay Z. He
had been at my back watching for a while. ''Success and money don't grow on
trees'' I replied. ''Yeah right'' he said, ''but they grow under them''. He
said this innocently and ran playfully away. But fellas that innocent statement
can never have been more on point: success and money don't grow on trees but
they grow under trees.
The meaning of this is simple: being successful is not
as easy as reaching your hands towards the fruits on a tree and grabbing them,
it is as difficult as uprooting the sturdy root of a tree in order to discover the treasures
underneath. This, then is the way: the way has only two steps. The first one is
Work. The second one is Hard. Take them together it becomes Work Hard. I am sorry
fellas but there is just no other way. The only way to success is also the another way.�
By: Gbenga Samuel
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