Stepping On The Scale Of Relevance Part 1

While thinking on what to write, the words of one of the greatest gifts for this generation kept rolling in my heart.

“People are designed for accomplishments, engineered for success, and endowed with seeds of greatness”. Zig Ziglar.

This is very inspiring! Nobody was created to be a liability. Inside all of us is a reservoir of seeds for greatness. All of us without any exception have the propensity and the genetic make up to blaze new trails and become models for the world to follow.

True success in all facets of life is not an exclusive right for certain elite or clan. It is not a question of your race, colour, sex, creed, age or background. Disability in any form is not an exit from this greatness. Everybody was created as an extension of divinity and to colour their generation.

“There is a genius in every person”. Bob Richards.

True and lasting greatness starts from within. Impacts start from within. We must all take responsibility to move away from noise the world is presenting and take a journey to the very cradle of our being- heart. Responsibility must be taken to know what gives us the greatest joy. We all have special strengths in our lives and this is where greatness resides.

I remember when I left Nigeria about 7 years ago to study in England. Everything in the plane looked very strange to me including the meals and the drink. I couldn’t sleep; my mind was focused on my destination. What a joy when we landed at Heathrow in London- a land of milk and honey where there would be no challenges apart from making all the money and sending them home for projects. Am sure you could see the reasons why I couldn’t sleep.

I asked all kind of questions from my guardian till we reached home. When I woke up the next day, I was faced with many challenges and responsibilities ahead of me. After doing all the registrations and getting all the documents for work and bank account. I began the search for work. I had to leave the university I came for because I had no money on me to pay for the instalments the school requested.

After some time at home, I finally got this wonderful job in a restaurant to work as a cook, after working for 7 days, I got my hand burnt and left. After some time, I got another job as a market cleaner in day broad light, I did this for some weeks and later went for another cleaning job from evening till day break. This was carrying refuse from the street to the back of the truck. Am sure you must be wondering if I had no choice, well I had to pay my rent and save money for university. After this I got another job in the bakery to arrange bread and pushed some heavy load in the night.

The path of destiny is a lonely path. Finally after this I got the most respected job as a security officer and I was very good at this such that all my colleagues and managers just liked me. This was 12 hours shift and sometimes I worked the whole 7 days but mostly 5 days a week.

I forgot to tell you that all the people I met when I got to England gave me pieces of advice that I was around to do all these kind of jobs to survive and should forget about anything called decent jobs because of my colour. Unconsciously, my mind recorded their voices and each time I saw an advert that looked like what I had ever thought to be, the music played in my mind and that became a limitation for me.
While working as a guard, one of my white friends who was a customer at the premise I was looking after came to me and said “do you realise that you are more than what you are doing and that there is something about you that always inspires people”. If there was ever a moment in my life that called for provocative thought, that was certainly the right moment.

This became my thought for months and finally the contract finished. I made up my mind to find out my greatest strengths and deploy them despite all the apparent limitations around me. This was not easy, as I thought but very rewarding. I began to connect with certain people that purpose brought my ways and received coaching in many areas of my life. After months, I got the kind of job I wanted as a finance officer and after much practice and relevant trainings and exams I got to the post of Finance manager.

The pinnacle of the whole experience is that am now using my experiences and training to coach individuals and organisation on crafting image of value. Nothing makes me more fulfilled than bringing the best out of people.

Always remember that you are at the centre of your universe and you can make anything to happen.

To be continued.
Tunji Ishola.
Empowering generations to live life to the fullest and die empty.
Author- Live Your Life To The Fullest.