Success As a Mindset_Stage 3 (Adaptation and Motion)

                                                                   ADAPTATION
                More than anything else, attaining success and developing a mindset in tune with success entails infusing to the mind, body and soul, a great deal of determination, courage, desire and action! Thomas Edison said; ‘Success is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.’ The proof of your belief in something is in your doing of that thing. It is not enough to just believe, it is necessary you also behave. No particular environment, location, clan or community, dishes out success to its inhabitants. It is a choice, decision and desire. The proof that an individual wants something is in the way and manner such individual goes for it, irrespective of the environment such individual finds him or herself. The question is; how bad do you want success?! Being able to improvise, live and adapt in a given environment is an indication of your mind’s intention to succeed in your called mission.
              In Wallace Wattles’ ‘Science of Getting Rich’, he made an analogy of two businessmen who carried out business activities within the same location, both were in the same line of business and while one succeeded, the other kept struggling. Who or what is to blame for the other’s failure? Was it the environment or was it his inability to plan, strategize, improvise and adapt to the business environment he found himself? Most people have unconsciously subscribed to the notion that in order to adapt in every environment/economy, they must compete for the so called ‘scarce resources’. This is where greed, corruption and avarice emanate from. Why do you think some public servants in the country engage in corrupt and sharp practices, despite the huge salaries they earn annually? Contrary to popular opinion, there is more than enough to go round in every environment/economy. Absolutely not resources, but ideas by which available resources can be transformed and multiplied is lacking, leading us to take a second look at issues earlier discussed- i.e. self-integration and information. The seeming unwillingness of people to constantly learn and develop themselves through knowledge and skill acquisition make such people, businesses and enterprises jostle and compete with the notion of resource scarcity. Adaptation is thus not about competition but creativity and creation. Don’t you think there was more to what God meant when He said in the book of Genesis; ‘be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth?’ God created the universe because He had in mind the coming of man to inhabit it. Man wasn’t to live, survive and adapt in space but on a terrestrial habitat called the earth. And to do that successfully, man was to acquire knowledge and skill, assume the attribute of God and create from already created resources of nature. By being creative, you do not deprive another to have your way but you add value to yourself, life, the environment, economy and the universe as a whole! There is power in authenticity. When something new is created, the benefit such a thing brings to its creator is as enormous as the benefit it provides through its function or purpose. In essence, every environment is like a battle field. You are expected to be at war against every mental conditioning provided by the environment that seeks constantly to rob you of your creativity, integrity and diligence - that should be your operating strategy. Without first configuring your mind into determining who, what, how and why you are in any location, one may never attain victory. ‘He who goes forth without first determining the opponent’s strategy is bound to have himself killed in battle.’ (The Art of War- Sun Tzu) Note that, in trying to adapt, you don’t just intend to hang in there, but you should ensure that your hanging in there is absolutely worthwhile.
                                                                          MOTION
 Everything is subject to motion as long as a greater, irresistible force moves against it. The living faith is one that believes in its ability to move mountains whenever and wherever. Your mind is absolutely in tune with success when you live a life of motion. You intend never to mark time but to always set the ball rolling, not unguardedly but in a specific direction, having in focus an already envisioned destination. In the words of Albert Einstein ’Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance you have to keep moving.’ The advice to keep moving is not an invitation to participate in an Olympic athletic event or a 100 meters cycling or hurdles race. No, far from it! In essence, it is actually telling us to constantly maintain a momentum in every legit, productive and profitable venture we engage in. I won’t be wrong if I say that in this part of the world, we are always in a hurry! It’s very evident everywhere; at the bus-stops, at queues in fuel stations, among motorists on the road, in public places and government offices etc. Hastiness most times is an indication that time is running out, and sometimes is a by-product of fear and anxiety which has crept into the hearts and minds of the average Nigerian individual. This is however not unconnected to the ensuing uncertainty in the land. However, depending on individual personality, some view life as a race; they admire speed a lot, while some others believe life and success to be as easy as nature itself, they love patience. Whichever one you choose, always remember that it is usually not how far but how well. In summarizing this issue, I came up with a scenario; Two individuals were to compete for the first position in a race wherein they were to move through a bush filled with sharp, heavy thorns to get to the finish line. Individual A even before the blast of the whistle dashes in with great desperation and speed but gets brutally wounded that he faints on the way very close to the finish line, due to huge blood loss from bruises meted to him by the thorns. Individual B carefully meanders through the thorny path maintaining a constant momentum and gets to the finish line absolutely unhurt and eventually celebrates briskly with so much energy! Like success, the above event is a risky one. Success can be described as the finish line in this race and the sharp thorns representing obstacles to be encountered on your way. Individual A is a rash risk-taker, a hasty and thoughtless mind that acts before thinking. Individual B is a calculated risk-taker, a thoughtful mind that thinks before acting, making him move through and surmount easily the obstacles (bad political leadership and social structure, unemployment, inflation, unfavourable government policies, ungrateful employers/employees, peer pressure and discouragements, epileptic power supply, fuel price hike, bribery/corruption, robbery and burglary etc.) that constantly seek to choke the purpose, vision and dreams towards success which we carry in our minds! The concept of motion is summarized in the popular saying that; ‘slow and steady wins the race’ and while our mind’s eye focuses on the finish line, our actions towards success should be born out of deep and careful thought-out plans and strategy. Success is all about getting what you want, meeting targets and specific needs either in the short-term, middle or long-term. Just like getting any other thing, something must give way or happen for such thing to be acquired. Hence, success is about cause and effect. It is actually the positive effect that results from a particular successful cause or phenomenon. According to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, an individual is possessed by some kind of a natural spirit that inspires him or her toward a specific need as he or she progresses in a given job or career and life in its entirety, namely: Basic/Physiological needs – Psychological/Safety needs – Ego/Self esteem needs – Self Realization needs – Self Fulfillment/Actualization. Whichever position any individual lies on the hierarchy, his/her state of success is determined by an inward mindset and not in regard to the things he attains. To some attaining the Basic or Physiological needs may well replace fulfillment needs as far as they are concerned. According to Wallace D. Wattles: “The cause of success is always in the person who succeeds...” I hereby conclude that Success in its absoluteness is the product of an activated mindset! Thanks for following. I hope you have been transformed and your mind is now a Success Canon!

Success As a Mindset_ Stage 2

                                                  *CREATING THE SUCCESS MINDSET *
There is nothing more productive, significant and impactful on human nature than ‘mental conditioning’. Even animals used for home security, entertainment in circus events etc., undergo some level of mental conditioning through training in order to fit into the role expected of them. Mental conditioning is one of the reasons behind being disciplined or wayward, cultured or uncultured, decisive or indecisive and most importantly, successful or unsuccessful. Once the mind has been conditioned or configured to reason or act in a specific way, it is almost always difficult to alter it. As long as you can mind it, you can have it! So it is with success. In creating a mindset in sync with success, I would be examining five (5) key issues under the following headings; Definition, Self-integration, Information, Adaptation and Motion.

DEFINITION
 Success, just like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. What success is to one may be a sharp contrast of what it is to another. However, in this discourse, I categorized success to be of two forms; Success as an Individual & Success as an Incident. The mind happens to be the senate house of the whole being, where decisions are made. Like I always say; ‘Decisions are as delicate as destiny.’ Once decisions and conclusions have been passed in the mind, the effect of such decisions, tend to manifest. There are many who carry about this feeling of being successful as an individual everywhere they go, even though they don’t or are yet to possess the wealth, influence, power and all it takes for society to describe them as successful. For such people, the social-structure in which they have found themselves, do not in any way define their personality. These people are potentially successful and often times society view them as exuding a mediocre attitude. But if they are intrinsically-motivated and self-driven by set goals, purpose, vision and work towards achieving them daily, then they are successful! On the other hand, success as an incident or an event is when you set out on a particular mission and everything works out as planned at the end of the day. One thing you must note from these two definitions is that; your personality as being successful should never be altered by either success or failure in any incident or event! In other words, failure in a particular mission shouldn’t change your opinion about the nature of who you are as a success. One of my mentors in this field of motivation and writing, Pastor Sam Adeyemi in his book; ‘Success is Who You Are’ made it clear that: ‘…your library is incomplete if you have many books on success and none on failure.’ As much as you constantly learn to create a personality and mindset of success, you should also learn how not to fail.

SELF-INTEGRATION
Research has shown that the environmental, external or outside force accounts for only 20% of reasons on your inability to attain your goals and succeed. The rest is inside, mental and internal. Therefore to create a mindset of success you must first begin with yourself. It is very necessary to acquire indestructible assets, I mean knowledge and skills. This couple equips you with the right composure and feeling that what you have inside of you is enough to create the right internal environment necessary for success, just as the invisible controls the visible and the spiritual controls the physical. This leads us to the second issue- Information.

INFORMATION
The word- Information is as popular as the diverse levels of understanding people conceive of it. Information gathering involves constant learning, renewal and improvement. 'Your unwillingness to learn and improve yourself from within would only move you further into the depths of stagnancy'. The answer to the question of how you feel when you have learnt something new, especially something positive and productive, no matter how minute is the sweet therapy information provides you with. It alters the stereotyped nature of your mindset. Personally, I view the mind as a tiny golden box of excess treasures, the more you get informed, the more you increase the level of its inexhaustibility! Information does to the soul, what food does to the body. Information is both an entry point and exit door for all forms of ideas. Success in business most times, if not all times is a product from feasible and workable ideas and such ideas would only come when you have at your disposal, a large reservoir of information that produce them. Hence, the strength and workability of your ideas is directly proportional to the level of information you have about them. Whichever way you look at it, information is key to developing a mindset of success in all facets of life’s endeavours; academic, financial, career, relationships, marital etc. Therefore, as much as possible, stop to get informed and you can move on! I hope you enjoyed this. Stage three is just few days away. Awaiting your comments and contributions.

Success As a Mindset (Stage 2)

                                              *CREATING THE SUCCESS MINDSET*

 There is nothing more productive, significant and impactful on human nature than ‘mental conditioning’. Even animals used for home security, entertainment in circus events etc., undergo some level of mental conditional through training in order to fit into the role expected of them. Mental conditioning is one of the reasons behind being disciplined or wayward, cultured or uncultured, decisive or indecisive and most importantly, successful or unsuccessful. Once the mind has been conditioned or configured to reason or act in a specific way, it is almost always difficult to alter it. As long as you can mind it, you can have it! So it is with success. In creating a mindset in sync with success, I would be examining five (5) key issues under the following headings; Definition, Self-integration, Information, Adaptation and Motion. 

DEFINITION:

Success, just like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. What success is to one may be a sharp contrast of what it is to another. However, in this discourse, I categorized success to be of two forms; Success as an Individual & Success as an Incident. The mind happens to be the senate house of the whole being, where decisions are made. Like I always say; ‘Decisions are as delicate as destiny.’ Once decisions and conclusions have been passed in the mind, the effect of such decisions, tend to manifest. There are many who carry about this feeling of being successful as an individual everywhere they go, even though they don’t or are yet to possess the wealth, influence, power and all it takes for society to describe them as successful. For such people, the social-structure in which they have found themselves, do not in any way define their personality. These people are potentially successful and often times society view them as exuding a mediocre attitude. But if they are intrinsically-motivated and self-driven by set goals, purpose, vision and work towards achieving them daily, then they are successful! On the other hand, success as an incident or an event is when you set out on a particular mission and everything works out as planned at the end of the day. One thing you must note from these two definitions is that; your personality as being successful should never be altered by either success or failure in any incident or event! In other words, failure in a particular mission shouldn’t change your opinion about the nature of who you are as a success. One of my mentors in this field of motivation and writing, Pastor Sam Adeyemi in his book; ‘Success is Who You Are’ made it clear that: ‘…your library is incomplete if you have many books on success and none on failure.’ As much as you constantly learn to create a personality and mindset of success, you should also learn how not to fail. 

SELF-INTEGRATION:

Research has shown that the environmental, external or outside force accounts for only 20% of reasons on your inability to attain your goals and succeed. The rest is inside, mental and internal. Therefore to create a mindset of success you must first begin with yourself. It is very necessary to acquire indestructible assets, I mean knowledge and skills. This couple equips you with the right composure and feeling that what you have inside of you is enough to create the right internal environment necessary for success, just as the invisible controls the visible and the spiritual controls the physical. This leads us to the second issue- Information. 

INFORMATION: 

The word- Information is as popular as the diverse levels of understanding people conceive of it. Information gathering involves constant learning, renewal and improvement. Your unwillingness to learn and improve yourself from within would only move you further into the depths of stagnancy. The answer to the question of how you feel when you have learnt something new, especially something positive and productive, no matter how minute is the sweet therapy information provides you with. It alters the stereotyped nature of your mindset. Personally, I view the mind as a tiny golden box of excess treasures, the more you get informed, the more you increase the level of its inexhaustibility! Information does to the soul, what food does to the body. Information is both an entry point and exit door for all forms of ideas. Success in business most times, if not all times is a product from feasible and workable ideas and such ideas would only come when you have at your disposal, a large reservoir of information that produce them. Hence, the strength and workability of your ideas is directly proportional to the level of information you have about them. Whichever way you look at it, information is key to developing a mindset of success in all facets of life’s endeavours; academic, financial, career, relationships, marital etc. Therefore, as much as possible, stop to get informed and you can move on! I hope you enjoyed this... Stage three is just few days away. Feel free to leave your comments; commendation, contributions and criticisms.

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INTRODUCTION/ PREFACE

 “All successful people are big dreamers, they imagine what their future could be in every respect and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.” Those were the words of an apt, dynamic, eminent and intelligent management consultant of our time - Brian Tracy in his article titled ‘Goals.’ I was inspired to write on this topic a year ago. While still an undergraduate and walking with a couple of friends one morning to school, someone asked; how do people measure success or when can one claim to be successful? A very deep question it was. While we walked, still ruminating deeply over a befitting answer to my friend’s puzzling question, I remained silent as others kept pouring out their opinions as their immediate thoughts gave them utterance. As soon as we got to the entrance of the lecture hall, I pulled him aside and said; Success is a product of the mind; it’s your mind that presents and indicates to you, the level of your success! While walking, I had thought; if people had different choices, preferences, goals, visions, dreams and aspirations, as being products of their thoughts, it is only logical to say that; ‘thoughts become things’ and as much as they could conceive within their minds, they could equally achieve. Hence, before anything else, Success is first a product of your mindset! There are two (2) key words to be examined in this piece; ‘Success’ and ‘Mindset’. There is apparently no iron-cast definition to the word “Success” as people’s interpretations differ significantly in relation to their background, environment, personality and essentially, their mindset. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary defines ‘Success’ as a person or thing that has achieved a good result and had been successful. The word ‘Mindset’ is described as a set of attitudes or fixed ideas that somebody has and that are often difficult to change. Inferring from the two definitions above, you would realize that having a mindset involves having an attitude – which is a habit or behavior that has become constant in your subconscious. As soon as success which involves achieving a good result becomes an attitude (i.e.; fixed or constant in your subconscious mind) it becomes your personality! Once you become conscious of the fact that whatever or whomever you constantly believe or think of, is what or who you eventually become, you are on your way to becoming who you constantly think of. The greatest book ever written, the Bible, reminds us of the aforementioned fact in Proverbs 23: 7 – ‘as a man thinks in his heart, so is he’. In other words, what you give the majority of your thoughts to is what eventually becomes of you. Hear this; ‘Your mind is your greatest success Asset!’ One reason we become problems for God, ourselves, others and the future is because we refuse to allow our mind’s eye, believe and see what God wants it to see. In the physical world, there are extreme limitations; we seem to be limited in so many ways, by so many things – finance, time, resources etc. In the realm of the spiritual where our mind is expected to operate, we adopt God’s character and are extremely unlimited. In just a matter of seconds in our minds’ imaginations, we can experience the good life; drive the best of cars, eat the most delicious of delicacies, live in beautiful edifices etc. Like imagining things, so also is thinking. You do not need anyone’s permission to think right, be right and act right. It is essential to know; that once your mentality is changed, your realities are re-focused! And if you are not ready to think, you are not ready to succeed. What do you think Paul the apostle meant in the Bible (Ephesians.3:20) when he said that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think, according to the power that works in us? However, one may be forced to ask; how do I create a mindset of success? This would be discussed in the STAGE 2 of this piece (CREATING THE SUCCESS MINDSET). The journey into a world of realities and possibilities is just about to begin. Do keep the tabs on!