YOU ARE
THE ARCHITECT OF
YOUR OWN SUCCESS by:
OLANREWAJU FAGBOHUN Associate Professor FACULTY OF LAW LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY
This inspirational booklet booklet by Lanre Fagbohun, Fagbohun, is published with the kind permission of the author. It is the full content of the lecture he delivered at the book launch/lecture of the 5 golden books written by Yemi Omogboyega Held at Agip Hall, Muson Centre, Marina, Lagos On Thursday, June, 29 th , 2006
First published in July 2007 ©Lanre Fagbohun Except for the purposes of research studies or review, no part of this publication may be reproduced without the author’s express permission. ISBN 978-071-020-5
For further inquiries, contact the publishers Treasure Vault Integrated Services Ltd. P.O.B ox 71946, Victoria, Island Lagos tel. No. 08035200090 (Yemi), 08035200122 (Mary) website: www.treasurevault-ng.com website: www.treasurevault-ng.com e-mail address:
[email protected] [email protected];;
Books Published By
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Better Tomorrow This Thing Called Marriage Family Budgeting: A Must For Your Home A Gallery of Positive Thoughts Positive Flashes Treasure Post ( A Monthly Magazine) Yemi Omogboyega’s 4-in-1 and 6-in-1 (For easy access, these two books combine in one volume each, four •
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and six books (listed above) by the same author Others
This Regime, Their Regime – By Chief Titus Oladunni • •
You Are the Architect of Your Own Success Ten Commandments for Academic Excellence.
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Acknowledgement
I remain grateful to my family, friends, acquaintances and colleagues who have constantly and continually influenced my life.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the glory of God, the giver of life and knowledge and to all those th ose faced with life’s challenges, but, who have kept on keeping on.
Table of Contents
Part I
Understanding the concept of success
11
Part II
Identifying Key Characteristics 17 Of Achieving Success
Part III
The Choice Is Yours
38
Introduction Every good good success is preceded by a measure of pain, after which pleasure pleasure follows. follows. Many people waste away away their their lives because they refuse to accept this fact or are ignorant of the fact themselves. Either way, they are the losers because refusal to accept the truth or ignorance is not tenable as excuses for people to fail in life. When I was invited to speak on the topic “You Are the Architect of Your Own Success” by Yemi Omogboyega, during the launching of his 5 books on June 29, 2006, it was not difficult for me to quickly come up with what turns out to become the small book in your hands. I say this because the author himself is a practical evidence of a good success that was achieved by the applications of virtually all the time-tested success theories I am postulating in this book. If the author, who had everything working against him (as fully recorded in his autobiography titled “Better ) could take on the challenge to mould himself Tomorrow” to achieve success in life (now taking up the challenge to motivate others to follow suit), it then follows that every reader of this book can succeed. It is therefore my sincere hope that this book will be a blessing to all its readers. Lanre Fagbohun
Preface
By all standards, I must admit, I am not qualified to write the preface to any book written by Prof. Lanre Fagbohun. Rather, it should work the other way round. However, to every rule there’s an exception. It is that exception that, with his own kind permission, grants me the privilege to write this piece and I particularly thank him for the unique opportunity. My greatest motivation towards taking the challenge to write this preface was the overall encomiums, accolades, and general acceptability and appreciation showered on the author of the book by more than 250 participants, cutting across the high, the middle and the lower (including young children) members of the society during the event. The lecture proved to be one of the greatest inspirational lectures I ever received in my 50 years of sojourn in this world and the reactions of those present tended to support my view! After the lecture was delivered on that day, I kept on receiving requests for a copy of the lecture lecture material. Not only this, I also made a public promise that the material will be made available to the generality of those present. However, during the preparation of the book, I realised that circulation of this valuable document should not be limited to the privileged few. few. Rather, it should become a gospel to be spread far and wide – even to the yet unborn. I also resolve to use it a resource material cum gift item wherever I deliver inspirational lectures thenceforth and to market them
in the open market being a publisher and marketer of books myself. The initial challenge I had was whether Prof would allow me to go this far but that fear was with allayed with his timeous and express permission to proceed with actualizing my dreams. dreams. I wasn’t surprised at this kind gesture because because that has been and remains the Nature of Prof. Fagbohun who would not hesitate to give whatever he has for the betterment of other people for I have been a beneficiary of such gestures in many ways during and after my University education. I am indeed indeed very grateful to him for this gesture. This book is just too precious to confine to the archives. Though small in size, it is a life-changing book and so rich in content to achieve that purpose. I therefore commend it to all who have made up their minds to succeed in life. Yemi Omogboyega
THE GOLDEN ADVICE
By Bill Clinton “ When When
I was a young man, just out of Law School and eager to get on with my life, …I briefly put aside my ready preference for fiction and history and bought one of those ‘how to books’ “ How How To Gain Control of Your Life and Time” by Alan Lakein. The books main point was the necessity of listing short, medium and long-term life goals and categorizing them in their order of importance with the ‘A’ group being the most important and the ‘B’ group, next and THE “C” group the last then listing under each goal, specific actions designed to achieve them. I still have that book now almost 30 years years old. And I am sure I have the whole list whole list beneath my papers though I can’t find find it. However, I do remember the 8 (items (items in the the list). I wanted to to be a good man … I wanted to be a good man, have a good marriage and children, make good friends, make a successful polit ic ic al al career and write 1 a great book….” My Life by Bill Clinton Disk Disk 1 ):
Above statement is a confirmation of how powerful good inspiration or ‘how to’ books can be in igniting or inspiring their readers towards attaining great heights in life. To attain the height he attained in life, all that Bill did was simply to obey the golden rules that were contained in Alan’s book! No matter your present status in life , this book is relevant to your life as Alan’s book was to Bill Clinton’s life. I therefore strongly advise you to read it meditatively and/or prayerfully; do whatever you are asked to do and avoid whatever you are advised to avoid and see your life transformed beyond your own imagination!
©
2004 by William Jefferson Clinton (P) 2004 by Random House, Inc.
Part I
Understanding The Concept of Success The first question to resolve is to understand what “Success” is in order to appreciate why anyone would want it. It is only then that one would readily recognize the need to work on the essential qualities that can guarantee success. Success Can Be Positive or Negative
The word “Success” is fluid in content. It has been defined defined as the accomplishment of what is desired or aimed at. To be successful and have success is to attain a desired end.
It is the accomplishment of what the seeker
desires .
A military man can desire military success; a
student can desire academic success; a businessman can desire attainment of wealth and prosperity; a politician can desire political success; likewise, a criminal, vagabond or rascal
can
desire
success
of
his
unworthy
ideal.
Consequently, while on one hand, you can identify Professor Wole Soyinka; Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr.; Late Chief Rotimi
Williams; Late Nnamdi Azikwe; Late Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo; King Sunny Ade; Onyeka Owenu; Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie; Professor (Mrs.) Dora Akunyili; Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo – Iweala; Honourable Mr. Justice Chukuwudifu Oputa; Honourable Mr. Justice Kayode Eso; to name but a few as successful personalities in their respective fields, we can on the other hand
equally refer to “Dr.” Ishola Oyenusi;
Lawrence Anini and Monday Osunbor as having succeeded in several exploits which gave them dreaded fame and notoriety before they eventually met their waterloo. Oyenusi’s Ph.d I guess must have been in armed robbery and allied matters. From the above exposition, what comes out clearly is that success and failure are not opposites, rather, they are products of the same process.
It is now left to each
individual to choose which category or classification of success we desire and that is where we become the architect of our choice. I will come to the importance of word “choice” later in my presentation. If indeed we acknowledge that a good plan can succeed badly, it then stands to reason that one can acquit oneself satisfactorily or do well in an
accomplishment that is negative in intent.
It is for this
reason that James M. Meston noted as follows: “Success has a price tag on it, and the tag reads courage, determination, discipline, risk taking, perseverance and consistency – doing the RIGHT THINGS for the RIGHT REASONS and not just when we feel like it”
To my mind therefore, therefore, `. At the risk of repeating part of what I have just stated, a persons success only becomes real when it has incorporated the value of others.
Success and Happiness
In defining defining “Success” , therefore, therefore, we must ensure that we we do not equate it with happiness. To be happy is to be successful, but being successful does not guarantee happiness. Louis Binstock began his book “ The Road to Successful Living” with the following words: “The most conspicuous failure in in our time is success. No age in man’s history has been so feverishly occupied with success; no age has been so noisily boastful of it. The reality or the promise of “good things” pervades our view of the world; almost everywhere plenty has replaced or has begun to replace poverty.
This age has beheld one of humanity’s
recurrent disillusionments, one of the great unlearned lessons of history. Success does not create happiness… For half half a century it has been taught by both precept and example that material success – distinction in the acquisition of fame and money, position, and power – is the most important goal in life… Material success is what a man has; spiritual success is what he is and we had tended to lump them together to
assume that happiness was the product of wealth. We had been proved wrong.”
Several examples abound of those who lacked happiness in spite of the “Success” of their chosen enterprise.
Such
people achieved the kind of success that ended up devastating and destroying destroying them. A classic classic example is John D. Rockefeller who by the time he was fifty-three his life was a wreck. Throughout his business career he said, “I never placed my head upon the pillow at night without reminding myself that my success might be only temporary”. He was the richest man in the world and yet he was miserable in every sense of the word.
He was sick
physically, mentally and emotionally. There was no humor, balance or joy in his life. Then, a transformation occurred. occurred. He determined to become a giver rather than an accumulator.
He began to give his millions away.
He
founded the Rockefeller Foundation, dedicated to fighting disease and ignorance around the world. He lived to be ninety-eight years old and was a happy man.
We can
conclude here that the above is dynamite advice, but, experience has shown that there is significant difference between recording the meaning of success and becoming a
success. Thinking, writing or talking about success success does not make a successful person.
This takes me to the next
segment of my discourse which is identifying key characteristics for achieving true and real success.
I am an Awori man, and the little I know of our Lagos, it has never been a place for the lily-livered, yet, that was where young Omogboyega took up the gauntlet of carving a niche for himself. When it comes to perseverance, the energy of Yemi Omogboyega knows no bound, his spirit is unquenchable, his commitment undying.
Part II
Identifying Key Characteristics of Achieving Success In the book, “Getting the Best Out of Yourself and Others ” (Harper & Row 1988), Buck Rogers offered this bit of advice: “To be successful, you have to believe you can change the conditions in your life. You have to get out of the the back seat of someone else’s car get behind your own steering wheel. You can’t wish away the things in your life that make you unhappy and you can’t day dream your hopes into reality. You have to consider options, reach decisions, take steps, and make moves. Make things happen.”
In the case of Aristotle, the Greek Philosopher, he also devised a formula for success and happiness. Firstly, he wrote, “Have a definite, clear, practical idea – a goal, an objective”.
Secondly, he recommended attaining it by
whatever means available, whether “wisdom, money, materials, or methods.” Third, adjust all you means to that end. As reported in the Little Gazette, a former president of General Motors Corporation first started out as a stock boy. At the time of his retirement he was asked whether it was still possible for a young man nowadays to start at the bottom and get to the top and if so, how? He answered in the affirmative but noted the sad fact that so few young people realize it. Thereupon, he outlined his formula for success: “Keep thinking ahead of your job! Do it better than it needs to be done. Next time, doing it well will be child’s play. Let no one, or anything, stand between you and a difficult task. Let nothing nothing deny deny you the reach reach opportunity opportunity to gain strength in adversity, confidence in mastery. Do each task better each each time. Do it better than anyone else can do it.
Do these things and nothing can keep the job ahead from reaching out after you!”
Strikingly consistent to all of the above is that to achieve success that is progressive and capable of earning respect and dignity, one must have a clear goal; be forward looking; be ready to persevere and seek to make yourself the master of what you you are doing. We can consider these in turn. (i) Clearly Defined Goal
The primary purpose of goal-setting is to pull change in the direction you have chosen – one which fits your expertise and overall plan. You goals are what will give you the specific direction to take to make your dreams come true.
The purpose of goals is to focus our
attention. The mind mind will will not reach toward achievement achievement until it has clear objectives. The magic begins when we set goals. It is then the switch is turned on, the current begins to flow and the power to accomplish becomes reality.
In Do Right With Lou Holts, coach Holtz
proclaims:
“I’m a firm believer in goals. Take a good look at me. You’ll notice notice I stand five feet ten, weigh 152 pounds, wear glasses, speak with a lisp, have a physique that appears like I’ve been afflicted with beriberi or scurvy scurvy most of my life. The only reasons reasons why I can stand up as head football coach at the University of Notre Dame are: I have a great wife and I am very goal oriented.”
Being chosen to coach the Notre Dame Football Team was one of the 107 lifetime ambitions that Holtz listed on a piece of paper in 1966. Unemployed at the time, Holtz dreamed of dinner at the White House, an appearance on the “ Tonight Show ” jumping out of a plane, and other aspirations befitting this over-achiever. Perhaps, I should also avail us of an incident that involved Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes when he misplaced his ticket while traveling on a train one day. Watching him fumble through his belongings and pockets in growing frustration, the conductor tried to ease his mind “Don’t worry about it, Mr. Holmes. I’m sure you have your ticket somewhere. somewhere. If you don’t find
it during the trip, just mail it in to the railroad when you reach
your
destination.
His
Lordship
though
appreciative of the conductor’s empathy was dismayed by his predicament. He looked the conductor in the eye and responded, “Young man, my problem is not finding my ticket. Its to find out where in the world I’m going”. The response of Justice Holmes may not properly sink until you imagine yourself in an aircraft and then you hear the voice of the pilot over the intercom, announcing thus: “I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we have lost one engine and our direction finder. The good news is we have a tail wind and wherever we are going we are getting there at a rate of 600 miles an hour”. While I do not know about you, I would be greatly disconcerted by the news. A number of people often fly along like this plane, lacking in direction, lacking in energy, but being propelled and pushed swiftly along by the winds of circumstances.
Let me emphatically state here that the fact that you have a clearly defined goal will not in itself insulate you from life’s life’s struggles. struggles. The challenges and vicissitudes vicissitudes of life will continue to daunt and torment you, but it is your goal that will keep you focused. The truth of the matter is that almost all who have achieved greatness and success have suffered one set-back or the other. Let me recall few of the miseries that late Chief Obafemi Awolowo
went
through
as
recorded
in
autobiography “AWO” (1960). “I was present, in January 1920, when father discussed my future educational career with a townsman who worked in Lagos as a teacher … But the January 1921 of my dream dream never never arrived. arrived. With the death of my father in April, there was an abrupt cessation to my schooling, and all the hopes and aspirations which father had systematically and relentlessly instilled in me were remorselessly dashed. At the time of his death, my father had more than enough property to cater for my schooling at least up to Standard V, and for our sustenance and maintenance for some two to three years thereafter. There was a large
his
quantity of unsold planks and joists. There were outstanding debts due to father which were later collected. There were at least five parcels of farmlands planted with yams and other crops which were doing well. There was some money too. Notwithstanding all these, mother and we her children were left destitute immediately after father’s death. We were the victims of a native law and custom which gives precedence to the deceased’s younger brother and sisters, and to the children of his elder brother and sisters in the disposal of inheritance. inheritance. The unwritten unwritten maxim of this unwritten Law may be stated in English thus: ‘Brothers and sisters of the deceased had been before his children ever were’. A few days after father’s death some of his friends together with some elderly members of his relations on the maternal and paternal sides congregated to administer his estate. Nothing came to me, except a big gown. This was given to me by the administrators, not because I was entitled to it, but as a token of the profound affection which my father was known to have had for me. I sold it in 1929 to swell my meagre saving in order to pay for the correspondence
courses which I took in that year in English, commercial knowledge, shorthand, etc. In the course of the administration of father’s estate, mother was assigned to one of father’s brother. But she did not favour the arrangement. So she moved to her parent’s house and took us with her. It was an uphill task for her to maintain us and herself unaided. She was unable to pay my school fees, and in fact, for a time, I felt as free as a lark and did not think of going back to school. Then two of my father’s brothers made representation to mother and her parent, and as a result I was taken back to my father’s house to live with them. Instead of sending me to school, they took me to the farm farm to assist them. them. This arrangement arrangement did did not at all appeal to me, and father’s repeated remonstration came constantly rushing into my mind: ‘Femi is not cut out for farming, I want him to be an outstanding clerk in Lagos’. I endured the situation, and did what I considered to be my best on the farm. But my uncles thought I was a failure as a young farmer. One day, I felt so maltreated that I left them in the farm, and came came to stay with my mother. For the
first time since I learnt of my father’s death, the irreparableness of the loss overwhelmed me. I wept and be-moaned my fate. Why did father die so early? If he had lived, I would not have suffered so. From this moment on, I made up my mind to resume schooling and told mother so’. Defining Your Goal
The place to begin defining your goal is with the exploration of your inner territory that is, your mind, your being. Where do you want to get? What do you most want to accomplish? What do you want your academic, business or professional life to be in three years? How about your personal life? Your answers will determine whether you want to be a spectator or an active participant in the game of life. Once you are clear about these, translate them into a set of guiding ethos. It is to the implementation of these that you now apply all power available to you. At this moment, you are WHO you are and WHERE you are because of what you have allowed to inhabit your goal-box.
(ii) Forward Looking
Having defined your goal, you must encourage yourself to keep to your goal and follow your vision, you must have a clear sense of direction and a concern for the future. When you are forward looking you will be able to see across the horizon of time and imagine what might be. As noted by Henry Luce, “Business more than any other occupation is a continual dealing with the future; it is continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight”. While our past is important, it is not nearly as important to our present as the way we see our future. It is for this this reason that our own Platinum- Platinum- Habib Bank Plc (Bank PHB) will tell you that “One day cars will drive themselves” while the “Green Eagles of Nigeria will play in the finals of
”. The future belongs to the World Cup Soccer Fiesta ”. those who believe in the beauty of their goals and see possibilities before they become obvious. If you do not think about the future, you cannot have one.
I have always enjoyed the different names that Victor Hugo gave to the future – for the weak “Future “ is impossible; for the faint hearted, it is the unknown; but for the thoughtful and valiant, it is ideal. Back your goals up by being forward looking. (iii) Perseverance
It was Edmund Burke who stated that “You should never despair, despair, but if you do, work on in despair”. despair”. We all know the stories of woodpecker and likewise the ant – their success is largely due to the fact that they keep at it until the job they start is finished. Many men fail fail because because they they quit too soon. They lose faith when the signs are against them. They do not have the courage to hold on, to keep fighting in spite of that which seems insurmountable.
John Rockefeller
appreciated this much, thus, his famous statement that “I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.
Permit me to bring you back to the Author of the five (5) Golden Books Yemi whom I have from this moment and with your kind permission renamed “Honour” Omogboyega. After his primary education at Iyin School “A” Iyin Ekiti in 1972, he came to Lagos in search of the golden fleece. He came in the company of his brother who enrolled him in a Secretarial Institute in February of 1972. The gesture lasted only four (4) months because his brother could not continue to sponsor him. He could have given up at that moment but he refused to.
He took up the challenge of
sponsoring himself to survive in no other place than “Eko Akete Ile Ogbon”. I am an Awori man, and the little I know of our Lagos, it has never been a place for the lily-livered, yet, that was where young Omogboyega took up the gauntlet of carving a niche for himself. When it comes to perseverance, the energy of Yemi Omogboyega
knows
no
bound,
his
unquenchable, his commitment undying.
spirit
is
I can
truthfully claim that I have been a beneficiary of this embodiment of perseverance. It was in 1997 and I was the Co-ordinator of the Law Centre of the Faculty of
Law, Lagos State University. The Law Centre wanted to
organize
an
International
Conference
on
Environmental Law and Policy. Prior to that year, the Centre had always organized National Conferences. I was however determined to make a difference and I was convinced that an International Conference was what we needed. I have come to conclusion that since I did not have a heart attack in the course of raising money for that event, I am never likely to be a victim. Back to the Conference, I presented the Budget for the event which was about N3million to my ViceChancellor then, Professor Peter Okebukola now the Executive Secretary National Universities Commission. He sympathized with me, saw the good that the Conference would achieve, but quietly, he told me that the University has never given more than N150,000 – N200,000 for that kind of event. event. In my case, he was was ready to assist in appealing to the University Management to increase increase the grant to N250,000. At this point, we had invited speakers from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia with promise of air ticket, feeding and accommodation and all of them had
accepted the invitation. At the very critical critical point when it appeared that all our efforts had come to nought, only two men remained standing – Yemi Omogboyega and myself.
Yemi was the arrow-head of our campaign
while yours truly followed, praying to Almighty God; Almighty Allah (SWT); Prophet Mohammed (SAS); Jesus Christ and “if I remember too well” some uncountable deities. Around 9.30pm of the night preceding the day of the opening ceremony, Yemi excitedly called me to inform that his employers have agreed to sponsor the seminar. Those who know his employers well are in a better position to will attest to it that if “Obi Ezekwesile” is the mother of “Due Process”, Shell is the grandmother of “Due Process”. At the end of the 3 day event, I got formal letters of commendation from my ViceChancellor;
the
then
Chief
Justice
of
Nigeria,
Honourable Justice Muhammadu Uwais, C.O.N; and Professor Neil Gunningham, Director Australian Centre for Environmental Law. No doubt, doubt, Yemi Yemi who believed in our goal was also at the same time the backbone of our perseverance.
. Permit me further to provide you a catalogue of those who persevered for their goals and what they were able to achieve: - The well known author of Children’s book, Dr. Seuss
had
his
publishers.
manuscript
rejected
by
twenty-three
The twenty-fourth publisher sold six
million copies; - In their first year of business, the Coca-Cola
Company sold only 400 bottles of Coke; - In his first three years of business, Henry Ford the
progenitor of Ford Motors went bankrupt twice; - Inventor Chester Carlson pounded the streets for
years before he could find backers for Xerox photocopying process; - Albert Einstein’s Ph.D dissertation was rejected as
irrelevant and fanciful by the University of Bern in
1905. He persevered, persevered, and the result is what we know of him today. Pennsylvanian David W. Hartman went blind at age eight.
His dream to become a medical doctor was
thwarted by Temple University Medical School, when he was told that no one without eyesight has ever completed medical school. He courageously faced the challenge of “Reading” medical books by having twenty-five complete textbooks audio recorded for him. At twenty-seven, David W. Hartman became the first blind student to complete medical school. On and on we can go and everyone of them is like the story of “The Pebble of Success”, an event which took place in 1942. According to the account, Rafeal Rafeal Solano Solano was physically physically exhausted exhausted and defeated. As he sat on a boulder in the dry river bed he announced to his companions, “I’m through. There’s no going on any longer. See this pebble. It makes 999,999 I’ve picked up without finding one diamond. One more pebble makes a million, but what’s the use? I quit!”
The exploration crew had spent months prospecting for diamonds in a Venezuela watercourse. Their efforts focused on finding signs of valuable diamonds. Mentally,
physically
and
emotionally
they
were
exhausted. Their cloths were tattered and their spirits weak. “Pick up one more and make it a million,” one man said, Solano consented and pulled forth a stone the size of a hen’s egg. It was different than the others, and the crew soon realized they had discovered a diamond. It is reported that Harry Winston a New York jewel dealer, paid Rafael Solano $200,000 for that millionth pebble. The stone was named the Liberator and to date is the largest and purest diamond found. Keep going and the chances are you will stumble on something perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down. Whatever our dreams are, the willingness to “Keep on Keeping on” is what will determine our measure of success. Perseverance is self-discipline in action. Perseverance does not always always mean sticking to
the same thing forever.
It means giving full
concentration and effort to achieving your goals. Fire your goals up with passion and perseverance will come naturally. (iv) Competence
The last but not the least important of the key characteristics of achieving success is competence. Given the increasing complexity of our environment, it is doubtful that a person would be able to navigate the waters
of
today’s
competition
without
clear,
competence. Close your eyes and imagine a surgeon who has clear goals, is forward – looking, and is ready to persevere – he is not likely to achieve much unless he has the requisite competence. I do not know about you, but I will not want to lie on the operating bed of any hospital theatre even where I know that our surgeon (more like a butcher) will only pop in to say hello. Not everyone is equipped with the same talents, gifts or abilities. Each of us is created in a unique way. Our personalities are as diverse as the universe itself. Yet,
there is one constant: we can, by developing and using what we have to the fullest, stand out from the crowd. I cannot help but reflect on the biblical story of the talents. Now, a talent was an ancient unit of money, but it serves as a parallel to individual ability. The story opens with the master of a wealthy estate preparing for a journey into a far far country. Prior to his departure, he entrusted a portion of his wealth to three of his servants. To one he gave five talents. To the second servant he gave two two talents. The third servant received received one talent. Each was instructed to use what they had been given. About a year later, the master returned and called together his servants to see how they had done. The servant given five talents had invested wisely and now possessed ten talents. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Because you have been faithful with what you have, I will give you more”.
The second servant had also used what had been given him and the master was likewise pleased with his efforts. Can you imagine the feelings feelings of the third servant? The master inquired how he had done. “You only gave me one talent,” responded the servant, “and I was very careful not to misuse it. In fact, I put it it in a safe place during your absence. Here it is as good as new.” To put it lightly, the master was furious. “ Thou Thou wicked and slothful servant! How dare you not wisely use what I
gave you.” He then took the talent and gave it to the servant who had ten. The third servant was first in the chain of people in human history who cry out: “Somebody else gets all the breaks,” or “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” You’ve heard those rationalizations and probably several others. Listen now to the unwritten message of the master. “Take what you have and use it. What you initially possessed will be multiplied”. Storing our talents talents in a
safe place or keeping them buried inside results in the loss of the very thing we tried to protect. No matter what abilities you have, use them to their fullest. Invest them wisely in activities, activities, projects, people and life and you will find them multiplying. It’s an irrevocable law. reap”.
“What you sow, that will you also
Part III
The Choice Is Yours Let me conclude on this note: The Architect Architect is a person qualified to design buildings and to supervise their erection. He is a planner, planner, creator creator and director of works. works. You are qualified to design, build, supervise and direct your life. Adopting the words of Dr. Wayne Dyer, your life is a sum total of the choices you make. You are free to choose, but remember that the choices you make today will determine what you will have, be, and do in the tomorrow of your life. Chose carefully who, where and what experience you want your life exposed to. We are who we are today because of the choices we made yesterday. Likewise, tomorrow will become the result of today’s choices. choices. We are free up to the point of choice, then the choice controls the chooser. Choose carefully carefully the path your life takes. Once you choose, your choices choices will control you. Do not ever forget forget that “You are the Architect of Your Own Success”.
Media Comments on other books Published Treasure Vault Integrated Services Limited
“This Thing Called Marriage” By Yemi Omogboyega “…is an eye opener for those contemplating marriage…” The Guardian's Art page 13th November 2004 “… came at the right time. A time that the rate of divorce in Nigeria in particular and the world in general is on the increase. This Thing Called Marriage will Marriage will be specifically useful to spinsters and bachelors who are contemplating marriage. It will also serve as a guide for those those who are already married to know how to make their marriages work. - Maureen Chigbo, Chigbo, Newswatch Magazine. Magazine.
“ A Gallery of Positive Thoughts ” By Yemi Omogboyega “ … is indeed inspiring and capable of changing most thoughts negative to human…” -
The Guardian Arts Page 27th November 2004/B27
“From the human foetus to the human corpse, and the soul, either in heaven or in hell, the author gives some thoughts to help the individual shape his life to achieve his set goal here and hereafter.” - Azubuike Ishekwene – Editor, The Punch Also reviewed by Networth Magazine - December, 2005 Edition Edition
“Family Budgeting” By Yemi Omogboyega “… the content is vast and of inestimable value.” The Guardian Newspaper Arts Page January 15, 2005 “ It is recommended that every family, man or woman, married or single, should have a copy of this compendium to help them in planning their lives.” Maureen Chigbo, Newswatch Magazine. June 29 th 2006 Also reviewed by Networth Magazine - November, 2005 Edition p.38.
“Better Tomorrow” By Yemi Omogboyega “…(Yemi) has produced, a thoroughly engaging, entertaining and instructive book that is bound to provoke interest and arguments.” Reuben Abati (The Chairman, Editorial Board, The Guardian Newspapers
“Positive Flashes” By Yemi Omogboyega “ The author, a lawyer, is able to capture activities in recent past and relate them to the current socio-economic and political events, leaving a message that nothing has really changed in Nigeria…” .
“My Life Is In My Hands” By Yemi Omogboyega “… the writer cannot resist the ambition to touch on the issues that are fundamental to the life of each mortal. In other words, from a parent to the child and back to the parent, the book has something revealing for everyone” “…what Omogboyega does in My in My Life Is In My Hands , is to offer practical guides that see the individual through from the cradle to the grave.” Akeem Lasisi, Personal Finance Editor,
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The Punch (Personal Finance page)
