VALUE OR MONEY

Life exists in a constant state of flux and people continually set out through different paths to achieve their desires and they are ultimately rated by the course they choose to follow in life - Value or Money!

Value is the quality that renders something desirable. On the other hand, Money is used to facilitate transactions. For the purpose of this discourse, Money represents the ''immediate'', while Value represents the ''ultimate''.

We live in an era that is characterized by the pursuit of the money at the expense of value. In other words, the society is more receptive to money than value, irrespective of the source of the money. The values and traditions for which the foundations of the world are hinged upon are gradually being eroded in the pursuit of the ''immediate'' (money) at the expense of the ultimate (value).

Value system differs from society to society and the success or failure of any society is hinged upon their predominant value system. The pursuit of currency has weakened several institutions that hold the conscience of the society, leading to the loss of value and general unrest.

For instance, a builder who builds a house with cheap materials just to keep some extra funds have succeeded in satisfying his immediate but would have lost credibility for subsequent jobs (value) and this is the ultimate!

Every time young people get paid by politicians to vote for them during elections, they have sacrificed the Ultimate (Good infrastructure, School, etc) for the immediate(money). When young people pursue internet fraud rather than seeking legitimate businesses on the internet to indulge in, the result is that other nations would shut their country out of most genuine online businesses and rate of unemployment increases!

Also, when Chiefs and elders of communities accept huge monies from companies and share same instead of allowing the developmental agenda of such organizations for their communities thrive, they have sacrificed the ultimate for the immediate and are losing value.

Switzerland has little or no natural resource but it is one of the wealthiest nations on earth today. WHY? How did they become so wealthy? The answer is ''Value System''. The average Swiss citizen is known to be very honest (Value) and over time, individuals from all over the world were comfortably entrusting their valuables to Swiss families for safekeeping and this culture resulted in the banking system. This explains why Switzerland has some of the strongest and reliable financial institutions in the world.

MOVING FROM THE IMMEDIATE TO THE ULTIMATE

Value shift is the answer! No matter how rotten and corrupt a society becomes, there is still a ''faithful remnant''. My target audience is to the faithful remnant in Nigeria.

I urge us all to be social reformers, we must refuse to accept the status quo. You can decide to be the Nigerian with a difference!

Young Nigerians are making giant strides all over the world and we must all synergize with like minds and restore confidence in our country rather than joining the crowd.

While it is good to have money in abundance, without developing a sound value system, it becomes a tool to hunt and frustrate other lives.

It is time to arise and blaze a new trail towards a value-driven country.

Prepared by

Mr. Irikefe Ogbakpah

kefenoble@hotmail.com

CREATIVITY

Preamble

Creativity is the use of imagination or ideas to create an original product. It has to do with using one’s current competencies and resources to achieve the desired results.

According to Clarissa Pinkola Estes, "Creativity is the ability to respond to all that goes on around us, to choose from the hundreds of possibilities of thoughts, feeling, action, and reaction that arise within us, and to put these together in a unique response, expression, or message that carries moment, passion, and meaning."

Creativity is a function of the thought processes of a man’s mind.

FACTS TO BE NOTED ABOUT CREATIVE PEOPLE

1.) They Make Things Happen

Creative people do not wait for things to happen, they deliberately make things happen by their choices and attitude towards things.

2.) They See Opportunities

They see opportunities where many people see difficulties. While majority of people are trying to understand and analyze problems, creative people are thinking of solutions.

3.) They do not like boundaries

They work with the mentality that there is no boundary or limit and hence are able to go the extra mile. For instance when the Wright brothers came up with the idea that they would be able to make a metal fly (airplane), scientists gave them  a number of reasons (including the law of gravity) why they thought they were day-dreaming. Nobody gave their explanation a chance in their days but with a lot of focus, resilience as well as their belief that there are exceptions to the Law of Gravity, their dreams came through and today, metals (airplanes) now fly!

4.) They are great observers

Creative people are those who pay attention to details. They spend quality time to observe things that are of interest to them, making deliberate effort not to miss out any detail. They observe twice as much as they speak!

5.) They take time for solitude

They are great thinkers. Sometimes our creative abilities are dampened because of the distractions in our immediate environment. The need therefore to take some time out for reflections cannot be overemphasized if we must remain creative.

6.) When they fail, they come back up stronger

This is a very strong point for creative people. They do not take failure as hard as many people do. They only see failure as the indication that they had not got something right and as such, they revisit with a view to getting it right. They are not afraid to fail and like Thomas Edison who after several attempts at inventing the light bulb without success said “I have not failed. I've just found 10000 ways that won't work”. He eventually succeeded. The truth is that once one succeeds, no one is interested in how many attempts that had hitherto been made. One day of success can make fifty years of failure records irrelevant!

7.) They follow their true passions

Creative people are noted by how hard they follow their passions irrespective of what the opinion of the world around them is. They are not easily dissuaded. If they find themselves at the wrong job for instance, they are willing to quit irrespective of how good the pay package is. They are willing to take a huge risk for the sake of following their passions.

8.) They learn something new everyday

For the creative minds, allowing a day pass by without learning something new is a huge loss, and as such they learn to make their day count by learning something new. It is their culture.

THINGS THAT KILL CREATIVITY

1.)   Stress

2.)  The fear of failing

3.)  Inaction

SUMMARY

Creativity starts with an inner spark, intuition which needs to be nurtured towards achieving a goal. It is the force that is needed to drive this generation towards greater level of success. They more creative the youths of today become, the more colourful their destinies in the near future, thus living a life short of creativity is abnormal for every youth. As a matter of fact, the reason why most organizations are looking for young people as staff is for them to introduce creativity and innovation in their systems. You can change the course of your life from today as you employ more creative ways to achieve success in life.

LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION: LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION: WHO DID THIS TO ME?

LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION: LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION: WHO DID THIS TO ME?: LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION: WHO DID THIS TO ME?

LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION: WHO DID THIS TO ME?

LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION: WHO DID THIS TO ME?

LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION: THE SECRET OF PASSIONATE PEOPLE

LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION: THE SECRET OF PASSIONATE PEOPLE: It was a very cold Monday morning, yet I had so much enthusiasm to get off my bed early and prepare for the day. It started like every other...

LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION: TALK ME THROUGH THIS!

LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION: TALK ME THROUGH THIS!: People, from time to time, attend workshops, seminars, conferences in order to get vital information needed for peak performance in life but...

TALK ME THROUGH THIS!

People, from time to time, attend workshops, seminars, conferences in order to get vital information needed for peak performance in life but one vital truth is that less than 60% of such people get answers to their quest, not because they do not get the right information but the problem is in paying attention to the ‘details’ of the information. 
When a man pays less attention to the details accompanying any information, he can only be an average performer at best! There are very salient details locked into the success system of life and only thorough people can decipher them. 

I was once told of a job aptitude test where applicants were given sixty (60) questions to solve in fifteen minutes; while most of the applicants complained that the time was inadequate, a few of them to paid attention to the instruction written in very small font size on the question paper which reads “answer three questions only!” Majority were trying to solve fast so they can cover more grounds in fifteen minutes yet those who paid attention to details were taking their time to attend to the three questions only! 

It is amazing how detail oriented people get their leverage in life. There are many success stories that have been short lived because of lack of depth! There are people who make resolutions at the beginning of the year with so much zest, enthusiasm, tenacity, drive and optimism to achieve greatness but discover after 365 days that they have been running the ‘rat race’ because of the dearth of depth in their lives. Life circumstances and situations are subdued only with the right details! Too many people are struggling, suffering, toiling through life with no clue on how to better their fortunes; they do not just understand why they have to struggle all the way while others are effortlessly at their peak. 

People passionately want change, they want to excel in all facets of life but their biggest challenge is in the “HOW’’ and you obviously need someone to talk you through this. There are details you need to pay attention to for your business and career to jump, you do not actually need to struggle with ignorance, just know enough!

Most Africans do not like paying attention to details; they are always in a hurry to get things done. They buy electronics, they do not study the manual until it is either faulty or they are unable to get the settings right. Just then will they make reference to the manual only to discover what they should have done from the beginning! To be sincere, this happens to me sometimes. There is a fundamental problem with people who operate this way; they sometimes do first things LAST!

The day a man starts paying attention to details, ‘the committee’ in his head begins work, he gains confidence, uniqueness, precision, exudes excellence and above all, he becomes a trailblazer!
Finally, you will always need superior information to understand the details of life. You need knowledge to talk you through some of these details. Most times people fail in life not because of the lot they know but the little detail they are yet to know.