Self Mastery As a Catalyst to Sucess by Bayo Ogunmupe

SELF mastery, also known as self control or self discipline, which comes from knowing and understanding oneself is the first step toward building wealth that lasts. It is the only foundation that can hold together whatever structure you are building in life. Anything can go wrong but once your self mastery remains intact, everything else will be restored in no time. But there is no quick fix.

Self mastery requires that you take control of your habits, thought, decisions and actions. And you must practice them consistently. These habits will determine and shape your destiny. Your habits to date, determine both how you feel and what you are going to become in the future. So it was with Steve Morris, who we came to know as Stevie Wonder. He never let his blindness stop him from reaching his dream of stardom as a singer. Self mastery requires you if you want to build a house to first sit down and find out what you will need to complete it, instead of realizing midway that you cannot complete the house you started.

Here is a popular story among soccer historians. It concerns Tom Dempsey of the New Orleans Saints in the United States. Tom was disabled at birth. He was born with only half of the right foot and with only the stub of his right arm. In spite of his handicap, he had a strong desire to play football. His unbending quest to excel in soccer motivated his parents to support him in his dream. They provided for the design of a special shoe that encased an artificial foot, so that Tom could practise the sport he loved. Tom practiced kicking football day in day out. Fortunately, he was recruited by the New Orleans Saints Football Club. And during a memorable game, Tom kicked an amazing goal that gave victory to his team. Many said it was a matter of luck. But this is what we call an act of God. This is self mastery. Tom chose to adapt rather than give up his dream. His persistence and determination gave God an opportunity to show Himself strong on Tom’s behalf. Think over what you just read. What picture did you see of it. Here is my own view of an allegory, of a man blessed with farms and a vine yard that could make him prosperous. However, he allowed weeds to grow therefrom. Due to a lack of vision and through neglect, he abandoned his duties of pruning and repairing of his crops. Thus, he was doomed to a life of poverty and endless want. Therefore, this man’s penury was not as a result of deprivation, but owing to misuse. Then, self mastery is the chisel with which we carve out of whatever life or nature gives us, transforming it into a work of art that we want it to be. That means we must take charge of the following three areas of our lives: thinking, decision making and action. These areas affect the level of results we achieve in our daily lives.

You are what you think. Whatever you are today and whatever you will be in the future are decided by your thoughts. Change your thoughts and you would have changed your life, take control of your thoughts and you would have taken control of your destiny. As we know, “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of everyone that is hasty only to want,” Proverbs 21:5. And as we also know, “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” Proverbs 23:7. If you want to change your circumstances, you must change the way you think: what you will achieve will amaze you.

Active thinking is a proactive process of identifying what is true and relevant to your goal. It is independent of your environment or circumstances. It is an alignment with your chosen destination. Active thinking allows you to think in line with your desired goal, regardless of your current circumstances. To become an effective thinker, you must do the following: Constantly distinguish between fact, fiction and rumours. You must divide your fact into relevant facts and irrelevant facts. Relevant facts are those useful for attaining your goal.

Never accept opinion as fact. Most opinions are based on bias, ignorance, intolerance, rumour or plain guesswork. Accept advice that is based on facts. Don’t allow anyone to do your thinking for you. Don’t let your society influence you. In seeking information from others, avoid letting them know in advance the type and purpose of the information. People often distort facts to please you. Your goal must be constantly watered through meditation as Joshua was commanded: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth… that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for that shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success,” Joshua 1:8.

In the attainment of your goal, you should indulge in creative visioning to provide a bridge to the unknown path that will take you to the realization of your dreams. Of the power of imagination, God said: “And the Lord said: Behold the people is one, and they have all one language, and this they begin to do, and nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do,” Genesis 11:6. Not until the Almighty had confused the language of the people was He able to stop them from completing the Tower of Babel they had envisioned.

Your imagination is the soil upon which your creativity blossoms. It is crucial to your building unlimited wealth. Thus, the ability to think creatively has been the characteristics of great leaders. Creative men aren’t able to tell the difference between new inventions and what is genuinely impossible. Inventiveness is like prayer: you first see the accomplishment of the thing you desire, so that when you pray, you believe you already have them in fulfillment of your request, and then you shall have them in the end.

Great men use their creative vision to chart courses that seemed impossible. They did not let current thinking or paradigms set the limit for their imagination. They allowed their creativity to expand borders beyond the known frontiers. And with tenacity and dedication to their vision, they changed the way we all live. You may wonder how mere thinking of an idea or creative vision manifest into reality. First we see with our minds, what we don’t think in words but in pictures, that our eyes only reflect them back to our brains. Secondly, that thoughts constantly focused send commands to our subconscious which in turn are made to manifest as physical supply. They then manifest as answered prayer.

Our champion for today is Baron Hugh Caswell Dowding, the British air chief marshal who was responsible for defeating the German Air Force, Luftwaffe, in its attempt to control the British skies for the German invasion of the U.K, during World War II. Dowding was born in April 1882 in Moffat, Scotland. He died in Kent, England in 1970. A squadron commander in the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, Dowding remained in service in Britain and Asia to become chief of Fighter Command in 1936. He vigorously promoted radar, Spitfire and Hurricane fighters that were crucial to the defeat of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. Though his command was outnumbered two to one, Dowding’s strategic and tactical skills enabled him to thwart Germany’s strategy. He retired in 1942 and was created Baron Dowding in 1943. He was the greatest British airman to emerge during World War II.

On The Path Of Winners BY BAYO OGUNMUPE How To Fortify Your Success

On The Path Of Winners

BY BAYO OGUNMUPE

How To Fortify Your Success

STOP wishing for miracles, start getting things done through concerted action. Great thoughts influence good decisions, but actions determine results. To achieve your dreams, you must complete whatever you start. Many lives have been changed by timely action. Immediate action is one of the most important traits of successful people. They develop such a sense of urgency and bias for action that nothing dissuades them otherwise. The ability to execute your decisions instantly is a key trait you need to cultivate to harness your success.

  Greatness is a moving target. To win therefore, you must take immediate action. Also, by taking immediate action, you gain instant feedback, which enables you to self-correct. Self correction will allow you to reset your goals and make a more accurate aim. By taking every necessary action on your new goal, you are able to accomplish it. Boldness propels you into the ranks of the highly successful.

  The ways to inculcate the habit of immediate action are as follow: One, develop a compulsion for the closure of everything you start by acting now. You should know that if you sow an action, you reap a habit; if you sow a habit, you reap a character; if you sow a character, you reap a destiny. Two, always be clear and specific about what you want. Action preceded by active thinking and thorough preparation, is the very basis of success in life. A great leap forward is always preceded by adequate preparation followed by action.

  Three, embark upon every action boldly. When you set out boldly to confront a challenge, all power in the universe aligns with you to conquer the problem. Four, expect success from whatever you do. Act as if it were impossible to fail. Five, Act now, never put till tomorrow, what you can do today. Whatsoever thou resolveth to do, do it immediately, reserve not till the evening what the morning can accomplish. By carefully following the steps outlined above, you cultivate the habit of winning. This is the habit of the three per cent who control the affairs of the remaining 97 per cent of the people living on planet Earth.

  Serving others is the key to greatness and wealth for wealth is a reward for service. As a corollary to action, freedom from want is the very basis for human progress. Thus, by our actions we deserve to gain financial freedom. So, building wealth that lasts involves service to our fellowmen. Remember the law of cause and effect. What you respect, you will always attract. Give more to others if you want more out of life. You cannot be truly rich without enriching the lives of others.

  God’s command has been interpreted thus: “If any would not serve others, neither would he expect any reward.” Unknown to many, the wealth they are seeking is dressed in service clothes. Building wealth as against working to earn a living is often the result of delayed gratification. You may currently be poor, in bondage to debt, with no friends and influence. But if you begin from today to serve others with your gifts, caring with love in time, you will amass greater wealth than you can imagine. Just promise yourself that you will not give up from serving others. The reason Nigerians don't have enduring wealth and legacy is that they use their power or businesses to defraud others. The banking consolidation of the past was a ploy to defraud the people of their money and of bankers their jobs. Even fraudsters are perpetrating havoc by changing the profiles of applicants in the current YouWin Women Empowerment Programme. The reason economic principles don't work in Nigeria is negative mindset. The Nigerian is too pessimistic and superstitious to be able to command instant success.

  Blessed is the man who has found his vocation. Which is why unending success awaits the one who has discovered an endeavour that can consume him without tiring. But if you are yet to discover your vocation because your job is ill suited for your talents, I would encourage you to find out what vocation is right for you. Here are targets you can use to gauge potential opportunities in which you can serve.

  One, your vocation must be self chosen. There’s nothing more disastrous than having an opportunity and not be prepared for it. Two, you must have passion for your vocation. It must be your magnificent obsession. Three, your vocation must offer opportunity to associate with those you can rub minds with. You cannot achieve excellence alone, it always involves cooperative efforts. Your vocation must enable you form a mastermind alliance. Four, your vocation must be beneficial to others. It must be a means to leave your footprints on the sands of time.

  Five, your vocation must provide opportunities for limitless growth. Six, it must permit the use of your creative abilities. Your unique creative power enables you to rise and shine. Seven, time must be your tool not as the basis of your compensation. Trading time for money is the lowest form of reward for any vocation. Reward must go to the value created rather than the time spent. Eight, migrate to a new vocation if you found that your present profession is facing extinction. Only foolish people end up being wiped out by the winds of change.

  Our champion this week is Rosa Mc Cauley Parks, the African American civil rights activist whom the US Congress called the First Lady of Civil Rights and mother of the Freedom movement. On 1^st December 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey a bus driver’s order to give up her seat in the coloured section to a white passenger after the white section was filled. Although Parks was not the first person to resist bus segregation, but the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) believed that Parks was the best candidate for seeing through a court challenge after her arrest for civil disobedience.

  Parks’ act of defiance became an important symbol in the Civil Rights Movement. She became an icon of resistance to racial segregation. She collaborated with the civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. Parks was active in NAACP then and Dr. King was a NAACP executive which organized the boycott of city buses by blacks that constituted 70 per cent of the riders. The boycott continued till December 1956 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision declaring segregation unconstitutional. Parks attended Alabama State Teachers’ College and made her living as a seamstress. She was born in 1913.

  In 1957, Parks moved with her husband and mother to Detroit, Michigan where she worked from 1965 to 1988 as Secretary to John Conyers, an African American United States congressman. She remained active in the NAACP. In 1987, she founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute of self-development. Rosa Parks received national recognition including NAACP Spingarn Medal in 1979; the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the Congressional Gold Medal and a posthumous statue in the United States Capitol’s National Statuary Hall. Upon her death in 2005, at 92, she was the first woman to “lie in honour” at the Capitol Rotunda, Washington DC, USA.

Book Review Title: Help From Above Publisher: Author House, UK Ltd, UK, 2011 Author: Kingsley Ologe, Reviewer: Bayo Ogunmupe

Book Review

Title: Help From Above

Publisher: Author House, UK Ltd, UK, 2011

Author: Kingsley Ologe,

Reviewer: Bayo Ogunmupe

HELP From Above, subtitled, The Travails and Triumph of a Child of God is a historical volume written by a professor being persecuted. It is dedicated to all those living or dead who as students or staff of the University of Abuja were victimized in the wake of the student crisis of 28 February, 1994. Help From Above has been written for three historical reasons:

  One, to provide a record of what transpired during a crisis and as a body of evidence against military rule in Nigeria which often enthrones mediocrity in authority and the culture of impunity. Two, this book has been published to demonstrate the faithfulness of God in the affairs of those who submit themselves to Him.

  And finally, this volume is to enlighten, comfort, encourage and strengthen people who may be passing through trials. This massive book has three parts and 400 pages.

  Part One is captioned – These Things Happened. It has been analysed as a Descent Into Anomie too. The significance of Help From Above is that it encompasses the history of Nigeria during military rule. More importantly this book chronicled the June 12, 1993 election, which General Ibrahim Babangida annulled. Perhaps it will be more coherent to paraphrase the chronological events as they happened.

  Nigeria was granted independence by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s government of Great Britain on 1 October, 1960. With Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as prime Minister and Nnamdi Azikiwe as President in a democratically elected government. Nigeria trudged on till January 15, 1966. On that day, a military coup overthrew Balewa’s government, ushering in a military dictatorship of mediocres.

  Realizing their own errors, the military voluntarily handed over power to democracy in 1979. But by December 31, 1983, the democratic government of President Shehu Shagari was overthrown by another military coup. Not long after that, in August 1985, a palace coup led by General Ibrahim Babangida overthrew Muhammadu Buhari.

  At first, self styled President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) cut the image of a benign dictator. However, by the time his promoters, the Anglo American Armada forced him to step aside on 27 August, 1993, IBB had grown to become a pharaoh. But when on 17 November 1993, General Sani Abacha ovethrew the Interim National Government of Ernest Shonekan, his moves stunned many Nigerians. Abacha bought time with the appointment of Babagana Kingibe, Moshood Abiola’s running mate in the annulled June 12, 1993 Presidential election. Kingibe was Abacha’s Foreign Minister.

  However, within a week of the Abacha coup, at a news conference, Professor Wole Soyinka winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature and a human rights activist called for sanctions against the new regime. Subsequent events were to prove him right. Meanwhile, sections of the Nigerian media, notably, The Guardian, Vanguard and Newswatch condemned the Abacha coup.

  When it become clear Abacha had no plans to return Nigeria to democracy, a groundswell of opposition arose calling for the actualization of the mandate, which Nigeria had democratically given to Chief Moshood Abiola. The callers for democracy who oppose Abacha include the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the Campaign for Democracy (CD) and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). General Abacha took on these people in a massive clampdown.

  In defiance of Abacha, Abiola declared himself President on June 11, 1994. He was promptly arrested for treason. Consequently, some members of the opposition were murdered to clear the way for Abacha’s life-presidency. Those killed included, Abiola’s wife, Kudirat Abiola, the prominent Ibadan politician, Alhaja Suliat Adedeji, Admiral Tunde Elegbede, director of the Nigerian Defence Intelligence Agency, Akin Omotshola and Chief Alfred Rewane, believed to be a NADECO financier. Many, including Wole Soyinka had to flee into exile from where Radio Kudirat harangued the Abacha regime and mobilized Nigerians and the international community against him.

  The calamity of Nigeria’s military rule reached its nadir in 1995 when nine MOSOP members including the famous playwright Ken Saro Wiwa were arrested and hanged by a tribunal. That hanging provoked widespread outrage throughout the world. A day after the hanging, Nigeria was suspended from the membership of the Commonwealth, which was meeting in New Zealand at that time. Time Magazine branded Abacha: Thug of the year 1995. Nigeria had become a pariah nation. The state of the nation at that time is well captured by the title of a book written in 1997 by Wole Soyinka, The Open Sore of a Continent: a Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis. In a 1996 report titled, Clampdown on Opposition, Amnesty International branded Nigeria the Killing field of democracy.

  In time, it became clear Abacha was pursuing the agenda to transmute into a civilian president by 1998. For that purpose, the government registered five political parties. Each of these parties held a national convention at which Abacha was unanimously adopted as its presidential candidate, prompting the late Chief Bola Ige to describe them as the “five fingers of a leprous hand.”

  At about the same time, some people were arrested including Abacha’s deputy, General Oladipo Dipo, former head of State, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy – General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. They were tried in camera by a special military tribunal, found guilty and sentenced to long years of imprisonment or to death. While in prison, General Yar’Adua died mysteriously in June 1998. Some alleged he was poisoned. Others say Obasanjo might have died the same way but for an alert from Bola Ige who was in prison simultaneously with him.

  The author, Kingsley Ologe wrote those things to provide the background for the events that prompted the writing of this book. Although Ologe wasn’t a human rights activist or social critic, trouble still located him at the University of Abuja, threatening to terminate his career as a university teacher.

  This enchanting book is a must read for those perplexed by the burden of maladministration and nausea of mediocrity and unbridled corruption in our universities. This book also mirrors the charlatanism in leadership in every segment of our society and the absence of a transparent justice system which often leads people to resort to taking the law into their own hands.

  On the surface, the sheer volume of the work is so intimidating, but one is compelled to read on because it is so captivating with the narrator’s thoroughness, palpable sincerity each time you peep into it that you just cannot put it down. Reading on also avails you with how not to give up hope in the face of adversity, the triumph of evil and the arrogance of the wicked. In the foreword to the book, the Anglican Bishop of Owerri, the Right Reverend Cyril Okorocha avers that Help from above may seem delayed, but it is never denied to a faithful child of God. This is the message of the book. But for the fact that geography is a physical science Ologe would have excelled better as a pastor than as an academic.

Title: The Trick of Financial Terrorists, Publisher: Charleston, SC, USA, 2011 Author: Raymond Akinfolarin Reviewer: Bayo Ogunmupe

Title: The Trick of Financial Terrorists,

Publisher:  Charleston, SC, USA, 2011

Author: Raymond Akinfolarin

Reviewer: Bayo Ogunmupe

The Book: The Tricks of Financial Terrorists, is an expose of the advance for fraud in Nigeria. It reveals local frauds and international scams from Nigeria. By exposing these tricks, the author Raymond Akinfolarin hopes to bring the perpetrators to book, thereby sanitizing the local business terrain.

  Emphasizing that Nigeria isn’t the only country where scams are practiced, Akinfolarin hopes Nigeria’s name will gradually disappear from the global list of fraudsters. In the last 20 years, many Nigerians have fallen victim to the scourge of fraudsters. This book provides a compedium of the intrigues employed by criminals to deprive victims of their finances or valuables.

  According to Akinfolarin, the scope of intrigues is quite elaborate, extending from card games, fake currency to palm reading, fortune telling and the sale of bogus products. Other areas of advance fee fraud include orders for sale or rent of real estate, use of other people’s property as loan security, employment, school and visa scams. The thrift fraud also known as wonder banks also constitute avenues of fraud. Sale of other people’s shares, internet fraud and other forms of obtaining preferment under false pretences are other ways of defrauding the public rampant in the Nigerian Federation.

  Thus, this book serves a dual purpose of providing knowledge and insight into the fraud image of Nigerians thereby alerting the people of wiles of fraudsters. However, this book also offers signals to fraudsters that their nefarious activities have been uncovered. This book has 27 chapters, two parts and 108 pages.

  A discourse on part of The Tricks explores reasons why Nigerians defraud others. The famous section four one nine (419) of the Nigerian Penal Code was designed to punish fraudsters. The law was revised under Decree 13 captioned, Advance Fee Fraud and other Offences Decree 1995. This was repealed in 2005 when we entered the era of democracy. The 2006 Act which amended the previous one took its inspiration from Britain. However, the frequency of frauds in Nigeria made this country notorious. Virtually every adult Nigerian knows what 419 means. Even children below the age of six use it as a derogatory remark, even though they do not really appreciate its true meaning.

  But why do Nigerians obtain things under false pretences? In today’s rat race, it is greed, the greed to build mountains of wealth. Our culture of celebrating wealth does not help matters, either, because it causes many to believe that the end justifies the means. Well known 419 kingpins are being honoured by chiefs and universities. They even enjoy opulence openly at the expense of their victims.

  It is a pity that the powers that be relegate genuine success to the background while celebrating thieves and vagabonds who make it to the top by fraudulent means. That is the cause of 419 and why it is increasing in leaps and bounds.

  Unfortunately, we can not rebrand Nigeria successfully without taming this monstrous 419 image we have so unconscionably acquired. Indeed, it is the collective attitudes of Nigerians not slogans, that correct the warped image of our country. Our 419 image isn’t only disturbing, it is eroding our economy, scaring away investors and rendering our economic policies ineffective. Which is why poverty h as driven some into the fold of Boko Haram insurgents.

  However, according to Akinfolarin, his aim of writing this book is to let the world know that the majority of Nigerians are good people. That a greedy few is causing the 419 havoc. Again the author reminds the Nigerian authorities of the need to urgently attack and destroy this cankerworm by exposing the fraudsters’ tricks, thereby reducing their patrons both at home and abroad. In this way, Akinfolarin believes, the perpetrators of advance fee fraud will change their line of business.

  Written in simple down to earth style, The Tricks is an incredibly readable book. It provides information of great benefit to youngsters usually prone to this trade. Parents wont regret introducing it to their wards, for holding the promise of saving their children from fraudsters. Also, I would recommend this book to the tertiary education curriculum for its use to curb advance fee fraud.

  Author Akinfolarin is a highly successful business man. He conducted research for this book posing as a professional scammer. I like to close this review as the author averred in the book. The purpose of scams is to drain the victim financially. Then the fraudsters will stop picking your calls, or throw away the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card used for the operation. Thus, whoever you are, if you are desirous of helping a Nigerian, you should make your nation’s embassy the go-between. Anything short of that will end in 419. Let me add that in the reprint of this book, the author should add greater information about himself and his publishers. It is one of the ways to undermine book pirates.