My NYSC Experience P1

The beautiful experiences in life can never be forgotten in a hurry. I have fond memories of my service year, remembering the skepticism that clouded my mind when it landed home that i was posted to one of the northern states, all my hopes of a grand Abuja based organization disappeared. Indeed, a journey i never imagined I was go to ever embark on.

Snapping out of my apparent predicament, I realized that the best thing I could do for myself is to take the bull by the horn and go out there and make the best of it. Trusting and holding on to God.

Waking up very early the day of departure, confused because I had to go to the end of town to board a bus to Yobe I could not eat anything for fear of the length of the journey. Knowing that if  I was going to an area in the south, Lokoja would have been our break point I did not know what to expect from this axis of the country.

THE NATURE OF REAL LOVE

We live under a massive cultural delusion about the nature of real love. Propagated by mainstream media, from the time you're born you're inundated with the belief that love is a feeling and that when you find "the one" you'll sense it in your gut and be overcome by an undeniable sense of knowing. When the feeling and corresponding knowing fade (for the knowing is intimately linked to the feeling) and the work of learning about real love begins, most people take the diminished feeling as a sign that they're in the wrong relationship and walk away. And then they start over again, only to find that the now-familiar knowing and feeling fade again... and again... and again.

If love isn't a feeling, what is it?

Love is action. Love is tolerance. Love is learning your partner's love language and then expressing love in a way that he can receive. Love is giving. Love is receiving. Love is plodding through the slow eddies of a relationship without jumping ship into another's churning rapids. Love is recognizing that it's not your partner's job to make you feel alive, fulfilled, or complete; that's your job. And it's only when you learn to become the source of your own aliveness and are living your life connected to the spark of genius that is everyone's birthright can you fully love another.

Although it's nearly impossible to capture this elusive word into a single definition, M. Scott Peck says it poignantly in The Road Less Traveled:

Love is as love does. Love is an act of will -- namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.
By stating that it is when a couple falls out of love that they may begin to really love I am also implying that real love does not have its roots in a feeling of love. To the contrary, real love often occurs in a context in which the feeling of love is lacking, when we act lovingly despite the fact that we don't feel loving.

And as my favorite fiction writer on real love, Kate Kerrigan (author of a must-read for every engaged and newlywed couple, "Recipes for a Perfect Marriage"), writes in her fabulous essay, Marriage Myths:

You don't have to encourage it, or welcome it, but you better learn to suck it up from time to time. We have mythologized love to such an extent that people are no longer prepared for the realities of long-term relationships. We are taught that it is good not to compromise, not to put up with anything we don't like, not to sacrifice our own beliefs for anyone or anything. Yet compromise and sacrifice are the cornerstones of marital love.
No matter what way you dress it up, the best thing you can bring to a marriage is not the feeling of 'being in love', but romance's poor relation: tolerance. Add to that enough maturity to be able to fulfil your own needs and you have some hope. Optimism and chemistry, which seem to be the bedrock of the modern marriage, just don't cut it, folks. And while I am pontificating, one more tip for the ladies: Try to find a man who has that most underrated of qualities: character. I did and so far my Oscar hasn't bothered him. Although I am still waiting for my cooked breakfast...

Sound pessimistic? It's reality, not a welcome word in a culture addicted to fantasy. But here's the good news: when the initial infatuation feeling fades and you do the real work of learning how to love and be loved, something infinitely richer and sustaining than flimsy infatuation flowers in the garden of your marriage. Over time, these plants grow roots that are sturdy and strong. They are nourished by soil that is well-worked as you've sat beside each other and yanked out the weeds of intolerance, impatience, frustration, and fear. It's work that can and must be cultivated over a lifetime, and yet we expect to enter marriage with a perfect, rose-filled garden. Again, this is the fantasy that our culture propagates and throws many young people into despair when their fledging relationship fails to measure up to these unrealistic and damaging expectations.

If you're in a fulfilling, long-term marriage, you know what I mean and I'm preaching to the choir. But for the women and men who I work with every day in counseling, it's a crushing moment when the infatuation drug wears off and they're left to begin the real work of loving. And it's even more devastating when this happens during their engagement, a time our culture hammers into their head as the happiest in their life. It's time to send a different message to young people about the difference between infatuation and love. If we're going to restore marriage to a place of honor and respect, we must teach that the role of one's partner is not to save you from yourself and make you feel alive, fulfilled, and complete; only you can do that. It's time to teach a different message. 

THE SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE

“Be The Best – At Everything You Do”

Every single time I’ve said this to someone, they come back with an argument:
“But how can I be the best in the world at everything? Or even anything?”

I then explain and clarify:
“I never said ‘best in the world’. I only said ‘be the best’.“
So, what’s the difference?
One is comparing yourself with everyone else in your universe, and engaging in a futile struggle to be ‘better’ than them. The other is only looking within at yourself – and asking “Did I give it my all? Could I have done more?”
Look, in the ultimate analysis, there is only so much you, me, or anybody else can do. We all come with our built-in limitations, restrictions and boundaries. No matter how eager and determined he is, a man without legs cannot win the world high jump competition, and a lady without eyesight can’t shoot brilliant world-class photographs.
But d’you know what matters? Not that you do better than everyone else, but that you do as best as YOU can. And that’s within reach of every single one of us.
When Being Merely Ok Is Enough…

How many times has this happened to you before?

You hardly prepare for a test, but score the highest in your class – because the others studied even less than you.
You delivered a barely adequate project, but were warmly praised by the boss – because the others were not even on schedule.
You uploaded a bare-bones draft of your new ebook, spelling and grammar mistakes galore, just because you were too bored to correct and edit it – and anyway made a barrel-load of sales.
We have all experienced situations where simply being “good enough is good enough”.
And, sadly, many of us have settled for that norm.
Why strive for excellence when ‘barely good’ is more than sufficient? Children adopt this paradigm at school. Adults at work. And many of us do even around the house, or in our family lives.
Yet, in an over-crowded marketplace where everyone is screaming for attention and an audience, there is one thing that overwhelms and dominates – and that is EXCELLENCE.
Being the best is what you can take to the bank!

Authority Charms Crowds

When you walk into a bookstore, which books do you see in the front display rack? Nine out of ten titles will be written by best-selling authors, names that you are already familiar with, and whose other books you have probably read before.
On the poster of a blockbuster movie (or when the opening credits play), who gets top billing? The famous superstar whom audiences love and rave about.
It’s the same everywhere. Authority charms crowds.
And broadly speaking, the authority these people wield comes from being the best in their field. You know James Patterson or Stephen King as the best novelists in their genre. You know Johnny Depp or George Clooney as the best Hollywood actors. You know Venus Williams and Roger Federer as top tennis stars. You know Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking as brilliant scientists.
These are folks who are at the top of their game. The very best.
And that’s a good reason to strive to be the best.

Perfection Is A Lifestyle

But… but… but didn’t we just talk about how hard it is to be the best at anything? So how can you strive to be the best at whatever you do?
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle.
Habits are tough things to establish – or change. It takes repetitive and intentional action. If you want to create a habit of waking up earlier in the morning and reading for an hour, then you must intentionally set your alarm for an hour sooner, act when it goes off, force yourself out of bed, and sit down with a book. And you must do this repeatedly, over and over again – until it becomes almost automatic.
That, in essence, is also how you become the very best at anything you do.
You start by intentionally deciding to give it your very best. You follow up on that intention by making sure you put the right kind of focus, effort and energy into it. And you remain consistent with that attitude for as long as it takes for it to become a habit.
And then, suddenly, you’ll discover that “doing your best” has become a habit! A part of YOU.

2 Secret Keys To Doing Excellent Work

Let’s face it. We’re never going to be excellent or top-class or brilliant at everything. Even Einstein couldn’t find his way to the neighborhood grocery store! (He said, famously, “I don’t clutter up my mind with trivia!”)
Anyway, we don’t need to be the best at everything – just the things that really matter. And those will vary from you to me to someone else.
There are two keys to making sure that you do your best at what counts or matters to you:

1. Being Able

The thing you decide to give your best to must be within your capacity to carry out. If you read an inspiring tale about heroes who conquered Mt.Everest, and state with passion and fire that you are going to attempt to scale the world’s highest peak too – but you have never even tried trekking up that tiny hill in your town – well, let’s just say you’ve got a long, hard climb ahead of you!
But if it’s something you already do, or are capable of doing, and you just haven’t thought about putting in your very best effort to execute flawlessly, then that’s an ideal place to begin. Intent. Practice. And soon, it becomes a habit.
Pick an area or activity or niche that you can dominate by focusing on being the best, and you could soon establish a beach-head that no competitor can storm. Your effort to do YOUR best will end up making you THE BEST of all!

2. Being Willing

The other factor that makes it easier for you to do your best is to have passion for the job. Ask a fan of World War history if they want a copy of Winston Churchill’s six volume account of WW2 (4,736 pages!) – and they’ll jump at your offer! That’s passion at play.
The enormity of the task, the challenge of getting it done, the hardships along the way – everything fades away into the darkness when the brilliant light of passion is shone upon it.
Bringing passion to whatever you do is a guaranteed way to make sure that you give it your best shot. So you can select only those things you’re passionate about – or you can become passionate about anything you want to be the best at. Either way works.

Be The Best

Make this a simple challenge you set yourself for this week. Pick a task. Anything. It should meet the two conditions – you should be able to do it, and it should be something you’re passionate about.
Then set out with the conscious intention of putting your best into it. Practice it over and over again, until it becomes second nature. Then come back and tell me how it feels to be the best!
Remember, authority stems from being the best at what you do.
And excellence is a habit.
Be the best you can – always!

- Dr. Mani

JOSEPH SCHUMPETER’S ‘CREATIVE DESTRUCTION’

The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process of industrial mutation—if I may use that biological term—that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism.

Although Schumpeter devoted a mere six-page chapter to “The Process of Creative Destruction,” in which he described capitalism as “the perennial gale of creative destruction,” it has become the centre piece for modern thinking on how economies evolve.

Schumpeter and the economists who adopt his succinct summary of the free market’s ceaseless churning echo capitalism’s critics in acknowledging that lost jobs, ruined companies, and vanishing industries are inherent parts of the growth system. A process I would like to term the economic boom and burst cycle. The saving grace comes from recognizing the good that comes from the turmoil. Over time, societies that allow creative destruction to operate grow more productive and richer; their citizens see the benefits of new and better products, shorter work weeks, better jobs, and higher living standards.

Herein lies the paradox of progress. A society cannot reap the rewards of creative destruction without accepting that some individuals might be worse off, not just in the short term, but perhaps forever. At the same time, attempts to soften the harsher aspects of creative destruction by trying to preserve jobs or protect industries will lead to stagnation and decline, short-circuiting the march of progress. Schumpeter’s enduring term reminds us that capitalism’s pain and gain are inextricably linked. The process of creating new industries does not go forward without sweeping away the pre-existing order.

MOBILE BANKING

Mobile banking (also known as M-Banking, mbanking, SMS Banking) is a term used for performing balance checks, account transactions, payments, credit applications and other banking transactions through a mobile device such as a mobile phones.

Nigeria is now going through a revolutionary stage in the financial sector with the phase introduction of mobile banking to the country.

With such innovative banking tools, the CBN hopes to capture a large population of the unbanked public to ensure that its monetary policies are effective.

Licences have been granted to interested firms that met the criteria of the Apex Bank. Many Nigerians are now coming home to position themselves for the opportunities that will obviously be created from this innovative which is being adopted. According to one of the many opportunity seekers, the fast-growing ranks of mobile phone users will make Africa's most populous nation "the next frontier" for the mobile payments industry.

One of the licensed firms now employs 68 people and has more than 42,000 Nigerian customers who can transfer money, purchase airtime credit, and pay bills with their cell phones using the system.

The number of mobile phone subscribers in Africa more than doubled from 246 million in 2008 to 500 million last year. Nigeria alone has more than 75 million mobile phone subscribers today according to an industry source.

The worth of this virgin industry can only be imagined, the opportunities are enormous.