Winning As the Ultimate Goal

On The Path Of Winners

By Bayo Ogunmupe

Winning As The Ultimate Goal

IN order to gain financial freedom, winning should be your ultimate goal in life. Thus, in your pursuit of excellence, never rely on secondary sources or hearsay evidence as to how to win. Life is a school, so be an open-minded skeptic. You should be open-minded enough to listen to a variety of opinions and sources. Then go to a library or cyber café to check the authenticity of naysayers. If you want to develop a habit of winning then you should be an open minded skeptic.

  Those who own personal computers can expand their knowledge by networking with different data banks which put them in touch with huge national library of information on almost any subject. The software explosion in computers is incredible. The internet is a huge reservoir of information. You can do just about anything with your computer. One of the most disturbing things is people, including leaders, depending mostly on television and a brief glance at the papers for most of their knowledge and inspiration. Knowledge is out there waiting for you. Don't fail to devise your own system for building a knowledge base that will help you win in whatever you choose to do.

  Then, seek out winning role models. When the term: role models, is mentioned, many of us think of it as something needed only by children. Those seeking greatness need them too. Parents are expected to be good role models to kids. So are teachers, coaches, athletes and leaders. Moreover, it is true that children do need role models. Experts have been saying so for centuries. About 300 years ago,  Rene Descartes of France, the world’s greatest philosopher of his time said: “The chief cause of human error is to be found in the prejudices picked up in childhood.” And George Santayana, the famous American philosopher added the comment which bears on role modeling, “children insensibly accept all the suggestions of sense and language.”

  In learning how to win, you need to choose role models who not only are winners but who are also worthy of emulation. But indeed, you need to reject role models who prove by their conduct that they are not worth being imitated in the slightest way. That is why I do not pick Nigerians as my champions. Apart from Afe Babalola, Wole Soyinka and a few others, you cannot find a successful Nigerian who made it honestly. No history of tax returns over decades to prove his riches. He is either a fraudster, oil bunkerer or proxy millionaire fronting for those who defrauded the nation while in power. This is so because Nigeria is an importer of consumer goods. We have no pioneer manufacturers who made their riches like Henry Ford, Bill Gates or Soichiro Honda.

  One of the greatest career boosts that can happen to you is to find someone who represents what you want very much to become and who also is a fine role model after whom you can pattern your own conduct and attitudes. The best role model is someone who most nearly approximates who you are, where you have been and where you want to go. A good rule is choose models you can learn the most from, not ones whom you would like most to be. The ones you can learn the most from got where they are now by overcoming the same kinds of problems you are facing now. Choosing your role models tie right in with building your knowledge base. It is the reason I did a champion at the end of each of my columns.

  One other thought on role modeling can be found in the just for fun quotations like: “How can I soar with eagles when I have to work with turkeys?” The truth in this quip is that you become like those with whom you spend your time. Though you cannot always choose the people with whom you work, but you have some control over people with whom you spend your spare time. Lord Chesterfield, the 18^th century British diplomat and statesman, said it well: “We are more than half of what we are by imitation. The great point is to choose good models and to study them with care.”

  After  you have chosen the vocation where you want to excel, you have set reachable goals obtained the right kind of knowledge of  your career, you have chosen a role model; the next step is the idealisation of actions you must take to succeed in reaching your goals. One of the best ways to internalize these actions is simulation. The word simulation means to assume the character of or identity of another person. It is to imitate or come closely to identify with pilots and astronauts as a result of watching the television coverage of projects Mercury, Gemini, Apollo or the Space Shuttle of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States. Simulation isn’t a spectator sport. It is a critical skill to be mastered by those who want to be proficient in whatever career they want to excel. Simulation is used in role playing drills to ensure production safety in corporations pilot training by airlines, airforces and in public speaking.

  The keys to simulation are one, learn the techniques of a positive role model. Two, memorize the materials in exact sequence of performance. Three, rehearse the performance until you master it. Four, drill in realistic environments until successful performance becomes second nature. Then ask for critique from your role model, teacher, coach or supportive family and friends. Use their feedback to correct your open world performance.

  Our champion for today is Ruth. Ruth is the protagonist of the Bible Book of Ruth written by Prophet Samuel in 1090 BC. Ruth’s story opens during famine in Israel. Elimelech of Bethlehem crosses the Jordan with his wife, Naomi and two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. They settle in the land of Moab. There, the sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Tragedy strikes, father and sons die, leaving three childless widowed women, with no seed to Elimelech. Naomi returns to her native Judah. The daughters-in-law set out with her.

  Naomi pleads with them to return to Moab. Orpah returns to her people and gods. But Ruth, strong in her conversion to Judaism, sticks by Naomi. However, the widowed and childless Naomi arrives Bethlehem with Ruth, permitting her to glean barley in the farm of Boaz, kinsman of Ruth’s father-in-law. After the harvest, Naomi encourages Ruth to marry Boaz in order to continue Elimelech’s lineage. Then, before witnesses at the gate of the city of Bethlehem, Boaz buys up the estates of Naomi’s dead husband, Elimelech and marrying Ruth, the widow of Elimelech’s son, Mahlon. Boaz declared his hope that doing so would cause the name of Elimelech to rise.

  Thereafter, Ruth bore a son, named Obed who became father of King David of ancient Israel. The women of Bethlehem blessed Naomi and praised Ruth for being better to Naomi than seven sons would have been. Through Ruth, God preserved the unbroken royal line of Judah leading to David and finally to the Greater David, Jesus the Christ. Ruth was blessed as was Naomi who raised Obed as if he were her own. The lives of these women stand as vivid reminders that Jehovah notices all who toil humbly to provide for their own. God never fails to reward faithful people who earn a reputation for excellence in whatever they do, as did Ruth.