What is the difference between being good at something and being GREAT at it? I think it’s DISCIPLINE. Yes there is a place for God gifted talents, intelligent minds, and creative genius, but all of these are absolutely nothing without hard work and discipline. Often what separates the good from the great is the level of commitment, discipline and hard work you are willing to put in.
Over the past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about people who have made a mark on the world, I have studied the people that have remained constantly successful in their chosen fields, those that have come and gone and come again even bigger, the one hit wonders, the people that made only one discovery and then dropped off the face of the planet, I have studied trends, I have read about them on Wikepedia, I have read interviews they’ve given, watched documentaries about their lives. The one thing that is CONSTANT with the people that have made it big and remained successful is DISCIPLINE, Discipline and Hard Work. The kind of discipline that wakes you up 2 hours earlier than everyone else in the morning, keeps you up late at night, the kind that pays attention to the smallest details in every task, that strives for excellence, and that combs out the unusual in the midst of the mundane.
It is my very strong belief that EVERYBODY is meant to make a mark on the world, in their own sphere of influence, it may be the little market stall that you work at, the entire market, it may be your local government area, your city, your entire country, or the whole world. We all have our spheres; yet because we lack discipline we don’t even manage to leave a watermark or even a graze on them.
In my humble opinion (Oz if you’re reading this forgive me) Beyonce is not the greatest singer of all time, there are far more talented artists than her, but the one thing she has that other more talented singers lack is discipline. I share my birthday with Beyonce, and for that reason I just didn’t like her, because she kinda stole my special day. That was until I watched the “Year of 4” documentary. I saw how hard Beyonce works for everything she’s got, the personal commitment and discipline that she puts into nailing every lyric, hitting every note, mastering every dance step, and producing quality in everything that’s got her name on it. If every one of her ‘stans’ (aka fans for the chronologically challenged reader) took anything away from this woman it should be her discipline. The extra ingredient that puts her a head and two shoulders above those who have more natural talent than she does.
Michele Obama in a recent magazine interview spoke about how nobody ever saw Ivy League material in her, but after her brother got into Princeton on a basketball scholarship, she took a decision to be disciplined and consistent enough in her studies to get in also, and I guess the rest is history.
Steve Jobs got kicked out of the company that he founded, it would’ve been very easy to quit at that point, but because he was disciplined and hard working he continued to found Pixar, NeXT, and eventually go back to Apple, create the the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, etc. At every one of these milestone technologies it took discipline to keep thinking and looking for the next great idea.
Without taking paragraphs more to say what can be contained in a sentence. Discipline is that extra ingredient that excellence is made of. It is often said that ‘the richest place on earth is the graveyard’, it is full of the potential that the dead could have achieved if they just had a little bit more discipline. It would be remarkably sad to leave this world with all the talent that you came in with because we slept more than we needed to, didn’t strive to excellence at even the small tasks, or because we didn’t put in the extra effort to think outside the box because we didn’t HAVE to.
If you go into a store and there are two brands of chocolate both the same price, one is wrapped in discoloured and patchy brown paper, it says: average bar of chocolate, no additional ‘gra gra’, just chocolate. The second bar of chocolate is neatly packaged in gold foil, the paper wrapper on top is embossed with the manufacturer’s logo in the richest of inks, there are a few ribbons and pretty bows, and it says: chocolate prepared with love from the best cocoa bean on the planet. You would go for the second bar, even if the first bar actually tasted better. The same goes with us, our skills, talents, and that thing that we are meant to mark the world with, we must commit to disciple to achieve our ‘tour de force’, because NOBODY BUYS AVERAGE.
xoxo.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The Government We Deserve
When it comes to politics my favourite quote (because it pertains to Nigeria) is: “Every Nation has the government it deserves” Joseph Marie de Maistre. If you know me well enough, or have read my blogs long enough, no doubt I would’ve whipped this one out before. The truth is that for as long as we sat in our offices and homes providing our own electricity, healthcare, security, education for our children, and generally accepting the status quo. The government we had was exactly the government we deserved. Our sitting and accepting the nonsense they dealt us was license enough for them to continue dealing it. Not until the #OcuupyNigeira movement started, did I see a people that deserved a better government, all I saw were a group of sweet talkers that were not ready to put their money, their lives, or their time where their mouth was.
I tried very hard to stay away from blogging about the topic of oil subsidy removal, largely for ignorance of the real issues behind it, and my position has very much been one that most Nigerians will not appreciate. After much coaxing by an activist friend of mine I have somehow been moved.
I cannot claim to have the economic prowess of Dambisa Moyo, or the technical depth on all things oil and gas that perhaps a Mr. Sumonu of Shell does, but my opinion for a very long time was that maintaining the fuel subsidy was not sustainable, and furthermore in keeping it we were not under pressure to develop the infrastructure that we need as a country because we had no real need for it. But my opinions were largely ignorant of how subsidy removal will affect the average Nigerian. I cannot be sure how accurate the CIA world fact-book’s figures are but let us assume they are accurate (in actual fact they may be quite benevolent) 64% of Nigerians live below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day, so the average Nigerian is not very well off and a removal of subsidy is actually a case of some semblance of a life and a life lived in the shadows of death. I feel then, that it is in-fact my duty to in any way I can empathise with all those that are occupying Nigeria not just because they are looking for a bit of activity on a weekday or because it’ll just be nice to have that extra cash in their pocket, but because their very life depends on it.
In conversation with my activist friend on Monday I expressed my then nonchalance for the occupy Nigeria movement, I didn’t feel that people were protesting for any clearly defined outcome, but rather just making noise for what it was worth. Do they want the government to bring back fuel subsidy? Or do they want the government to build refineries. It wasn’t so clear to me, and I wasn’t going to stand in the sun on an empty stomach for the government to do something that even the protesters aren’t sure of. Truth is that people are protesting for different reasons, some people want the subsidy back, some people want the government to tackle the corruption that necessitated the removal of the subsidy, some people just like in the Arab spring have taken the final straw and the camel’s back has been broken. It is the standing up that is of essence in the movement, it is becoming a nation, a people that protest till they are worthy to have the government that they deserve.
This house has truly fallen. We are our own government: we provide our own electricity, we provide our own security, we provide our own healthcare, we provide our own education, we provide our own road networks, and now we are being asked to fully fund our own transportation. The fuel subsidy removal is merely just the straw that broke the camel’s back. As a nation we were already down, and people who are down cannot be afraid of a fall.
I do not call for a reversal of the subsidy removal, I think that is the last thing we need, a government that cannot stick to its seemingly informed decision. Instead I believe that we should ask the government to:
• Tighten their belts. We are happy to tighten ours if you tighten yours. And it is of no consequence to “in the year 2012 cut 25% of the salaries (not allowances) of executive government”
• Develop other industries. We have the best Iron Ore, Bitumen reserves in the world, Palm Oil, Cassava, Cashews, Gas, Quails Eggs, sooooo many things... I cannot think of another country that God has BLESSED with more resources than Nigeria. We allowed ourselves to be side railed by the discovery of oil, let us look back at the industries we ignored
• Improve Healthcare
• Improve the educational system, our minds are our best assets and we can achieve anything if we do not developed them, well educated people will produce a better government. Because after all a good president doesn’t come from heaven, he comes from amongst us
• Improve security so we do not feel unsafe even in our own homes
• Provide alternative transportation (not those 1600 buses for the entire nation), I’m talking about railways, metros, water transport, bicycles for rural populations
• ELECTRICITY, If we can no longer power our homes with petrol generators do something about the state of national power generation
• Develop refineries, even if they cannot alleviate the costs of petrol immediately we will feel better to know that in some 26 months we can look forward to cheaper petrol through subsidised production not consumption
• And most importantly CREATE jobs.
Let us #OCCUPYNIGERIA till we have the government we deserve!!!!!!!!!!!! A government that can provide us with the basics!!!!
xoxo.
I tried very hard to stay away from blogging about the topic of oil subsidy removal, largely for ignorance of the real issues behind it, and my position has very much been one that most Nigerians will not appreciate. After much coaxing by an activist friend of mine I have somehow been moved.
I cannot claim to have the economic prowess of Dambisa Moyo, or the technical depth on all things oil and gas that perhaps a Mr. Sumonu of Shell does, but my opinion for a very long time was that maintaining the fuel subsidy was not sustainable, and furthermore in keeping it we were not under pressure to develop the infrastructure that we need as a country because we had no real need for it. But my opinions were largely ignorant of how subsidy removal will affect the average Nigerian. I cannot be sure how accurate the CIA world fact-book’s figures are but let us assume they are accurate (in actual fact they may be quite benevolent) 64% of Nigerians live below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day, so the average Nigerian is not very well off and a removal of subsidy is actually a case of some semblance of a life and a life lived in the shadows of death. I feel then, that it is in-fact my duty to in any way I can empathise with all those that are occupying Nigeria not just because they are looking for a bit of activity on a weekday or because it’ll just be nice to have that extra cash in their pocket, but because their very life depends on it.
In conversation with my activist friend on Monday I expressed my then nonchalance for the occupy Nigeria movement, I didn’t feel that people were protesting for any clearly defined outcome, but rather just making noise for what it was worth. Do they want the government to bring back fuel subsidy? Or do they want the government to build refineries. It wasn’t so clear to me, and I wasn’t going to stand in the sun on an empty stomach for the government to do something that even the protesters aren’t sure of. Truth is that people are protesting for different reasons, some people want the subsidy back, some people want the government to tackle the corruption that necessitated the removal of the subsidy, some people just like in the Arab spring have taken the final straw and the camel’s back has been broken. It is the standing up that is of essence in the movement, it is becoming a nation, a people that protest till they are worthy to have the government that they deserve.
This house has truly fallen. We are our own government: we provide our own electricity, we provide our own security, we provide our own healthcare, we provide our own education, we provide our own road networks, and now we are being asked to fully fund our own transportation. The fuel subsidy removal is merely just the straw that broke the camel’s back. As a nation we were already down, and people who are down cannot be afraid of a fall.
I do not call for a reversal of the subsidy removal, I think that is the last thing we need, a government that cannot stick to its seemingly informed decision. Instead I believe that we should ask the government to:
• Tighten their belts. We are happy to tighten ours if you tighten yours. And it is of no consequence to “in the year 2012 cut 25% of the salaries (not allowances) of executive government”
• Develop other industries. We have the best Iron Ore, Bitumen reserves in the world, Palm Oil, Cassava, Cashews, Gas, Quails Eggs, sooooo many things... I cannot think of another country that God has BLESSED with more resources than Nigeria. We allowed ourselves to be side railed by the discovery of oil, let us look back at the industries we ignored
• Improve Healthcare
• Improve the educational system, our minds are our best assets and we can achieve anything if we do not developed them, well educated people will produce a better government. Because after all a good president doesn’t come from heaven, he comes from amongst us
• Improve security so we do not feel unsafe even in our own homes
• Provide alternative transportation (not those 1600 buses for the entire nation), I’m talking about railways, metros, water transport, bicycles for rural populations
• ELECTRICITY, If we can no longer power our homes with petrol generators do something about the state of national power generation
• Develop refineries, even if they cannot alleviate the costs of petrol immediately we will feel better to know that in some 26 months we can look forward to cheaper petrol through subsidised production not consumption
• And most importantly CREATE jobs.
Let us #OCCUPYNIGERIA till we have the government we deserve!!!!!!!!!!!! A government that can provide us with the basics!!!!
xoxo.
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