I previously wrote a Post about the need to account for your time.
Then I added that:
I want to point out that Lionel Messi is 27 years old and he is a world class footballer. The difference between Messi and his jobless 27 year old Nigerian fan who pays to watch Messi play football is in the way they used their time. They have both spent 27 years on the planet, but obviously, one of them has used his time more productively than the other.
This quote made its way into Facebook where different people have reacted to it, the summary of the responses are:
- Unfair comparison because they grew up under different conditions
- Nigeria is too terrible a place for world class talent to develop
- Time is not a basis for progress
- bla bla bla
But I think Its all irrelevant, so here are more thoughts to buttress my earlier point.
Time management, Opportunities and Circumstances
If you are able to also decide on what you want to do with your life early enough just like Lionel Messi decided at age 12 and concentrate on it (this is the hard part), you too will become a world class expert in that profession by the time you clock 27. (Actually, when you clock 22. I will explain)
You see, people made research and concluded that it took 10,000 hours of training to become an expert at anything. Getting this 10, 000 hours will take you about 10 years. So, if you decided at 12 that you wanted to become a Civil Engineer or Pastor or Computer Programmer and you stuck to the objective, spending 6-10hrs everyday on that objective, you would achieve it regardless of whether you are living in Nigeria, USA or even Siberia.
I am always telling people: “Excuses are merely excuses to put your brain to sleep”. There is always another way!
No power supply? Buy a generator
No money to buy it? Be friend a barber shop or cyber cafe around you, go and squat with them. Be humble!
No laptop? Pray and start saving! Buy a desktop computer, do something! If you focus your mind towards getting a PC, it will happen!
If you are convinced Nigeria cannot grow your dreams, MOVE OUT, you are not a TREE! Although I should point out that there is NOTHING you want to do that you cannot get done in NIGERIA, but if you can’t see it, move out. We will allow you to come back, no wahala.
Great guys like Nikola Tesla (Serbia) and Elon Musk (South Africa) migrated from their homelands to the USA to seek greener pastures. We can argue that it didn’t work so well for Tesla, but its working very well for Elon Musk. But at least, the drive to ensure their dreams stay alive made them jump ship.
The key thing is to NEVER give yourself permission to embrace a false evidence appearing real (F.E.A.R) or allow an excuse to hamper you and then give up. Once you do, you’ve lost it!
Opportunities?
They abound. Everyday presents opportunity to you, it is about how you respond.
Many people failed to invest enough time into what they claim they are doing and as such when the opportunity comes, they are half-baked and so they lose it. Interview anybody old and poor, if they are sincere with you, they missed a series of key opportunities that would have turned their life around. How can you be planning to start a business and yet you are clueless as to the inner workings of a business?
How can you aspire for the post of a President and yet be clueless as to how to run such an office??
Look, when others are playing away and you choose to invest that time into your life’s progress, will the difference not show? When life presents opportunites to you, will you not be in a better position to take it?
I also enjoy watching Lionel Messi dribbling through the field, I really like sleeping 8-12 hours daily if I had the chance and a few bottles of beer won’t send me to hell fire. But I choose NOT to engage in all that because I’m a man on a mission and ruthless focus on what I do is what makes me so different from every other person you know. Good time management will always lead to more opportunities and a good focus on the objective will allow you have better control over your circumstances.
You are the one solely responsible for the way your life will turn out, not the government, not your parents. It is just you, your time and what you make of it.
Let me just summarise everything with this next illustration:
If ADE works 8hrs a day, 40hours a week. And BIMBO works for 80hours a week, even if they are doing the same things, whatever ADE achieves in a whole year will be done by BIMBO in 6 months!
So, how will you now say time management and optimising your 24 hours is not essential towards becoming very successful? How will better time accountability NOT open you up to more opportunities?
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Here is a big thank you to everyone who helps us share #TMP with their friends, colleagues, and bosses. All the Facebook shares, BBM, Whatsapp broadcasts and email forwarding really helps us to get more people reading.
God bless you all.
