What If It Does Not Work Out?
Well, we read books and other resources so that we can understand what happened and what might happen in certain situations. But sometimes, still, with all the knowledge, we still mess up and still do the wrong thing even though we know we are wrong.

I had to yell at a Taxi Driver yesterday all too well knowing that between my stimulus and my response is my ability to choose my response. I could have calmly responded and would not have gotten into such a big issue with the taxi man.
We sometimes plan and they simply do not go the way we want. Well, it happens. What do we do in such cases? The most important thing is to always learn why what happened happened and try your best to ensure that it does not repeat itself again. Time and time again we would fall short but the most important thing is to pick yourself back up and keep going.

When you offend or wrong another, immediately seek to apologize. We are humans and when something we cannot change happens, all we need to do is to be contrite and remorseful about the situation. Since you cannot prevent what has happened from happening, all you can do is to sincerely apologize.
So I did sincerely apologize to the driver and hope that he finds it in his heart to forgive and forget. Because seeking forgiveness is indeed a very noble and difficult thing to do. Have you ever had to apologize especially for something you believe you were right about? You feel so mad but at the end, you feel better because by apologizing, you clear it out with the other person.

Whatever it is that you are doing that did not go according to plan, all you need is to regroup your plans and start again. It does not matter how small or how big the plan is, all that matters is the tenacity, the persistence. Keep trying and never let the reason for stopping something be that you are incapable of doing it. Do not limit yourself. This is different from remaining adamant even when all conditions show that you should stop.
Rather I mean situations where you can still get something out of it. Even if does not work now, try harder next time. Even if it does not work now, I am sure it would work the next time.

Peace and Unity In Africa
Peace can simply be defined as a period when there is no war or war has ended. But what is war especially in the African context? War can be defined as a state of armed conflict between countries or between groups in a country.

In a continent of more than 1 billion people, what is our source of conflict? The major source of conflict in any environment is when a group either feels that its right has been denied or indeed their rights are been denied. When a group feels that its rights are been denied, it simply means the mind of such group is either misinformed or simply corrupt. When the mind of a group is misinformed, how do we fix that? To fix such minds the people must be educated. Education is not only about going to school. It is about stating the facts and making it available to everyone. It is about been transparent and open in every transaction carried out. It is about carrying everyone along in all the processes involved. Most people who are usually misinformed are usually fed with biased information which makes it really difficult to guide such people. However, by presenting the information in every media outlet, people can be able to think for themselves and hopefully see the truth and follow it. And for the people who provide this biased information, a stern judgment would have to be delivered to deter others who want to follow in such footsteps.

So the most important way to ensure peace and unity is to educate people. Provide them with all the necessary information they need to make informed decisions about what is happening in their environment. As such, the minds of people is repaired and peace can find a place. It is said that our thoughts become our actions. And our mind is the factory of our thoughts. If our minds are clean, then our thoughts and consequently our actions would indeed become good.

Moving on to the group of people whose rights have indeed been denied. How do we return peace to the mind and environment of such people? It begins with accepting all the mistakes that have been done in the past. The idea of accepting mistakes is not to go back to the past, but because without understanding the past, the future might be very hard to achieve. After accepting the mistakes of the past, people must understand that sacrifices have to be made to make the future better than the present. By accepting mistakes, solutions on how the problems would be fixed are stated and everyone is informed of how it would be done. The idea of explaining the solution is to create in the mind of the people a solution-oriented government. By understanding how the solutions would be achieved, it would be much easier to carry everyone along.

Also, the minds of people who are indeed denied their rights must be made clean. Revenge is never the way to solve a problem. Learn from your past and build a better future should be the motto of the society.

Fast-tracking the development of infrastructures that improve the lives of people. The basic needs of people which are food, clothing, and shelter must be given higher priorities because, in fact, the African continent is still overwhelmed with providing these basic infrastructures. Agriculture which is one of our major source of income must be subsidized to make food provision a problem of the past. Also, by providing food, employment issues can be greatly eradicated. The African continent is still battling with hunger and famine. With great food supply, people would be able to focus on more important things like education, peace, and unity because, without food, we all cannot do anything.
Eradicating diseases will help improve the lives of people. By improving lives, it is easy to discuss peace and unity because when people are sick and dying, who are we going to discuss people and unity with.

Programs that help introduce ethics in every human endeavor is introduced. This is because the ethics of almost every profession in the African community has been thrown to the dogs and people simply want to feed their own stomachs and their families. Living extravagant lives with the funds meant for the development of the community. People can now sacrifice almost anything just to be rewarded with money. Introducing ethics would definitely make everyone aware of what is right and what is wrong. And also enforcing the ethics is very necessary. It is surprising that a lot of these professionals understand what the ethics are, but they simply do not follow it. But by creating institutions that enforce ethics in every human endeavor, people are indeed careful in the way they behave. And with such moves, peace and unity is achieved
Punishment for every crime is enforced because as humans, we sometimes need to be scared to do the right thing. By introducing unbiased laws for every crime, every person is more careful in their conduct.

History of past leaders who have fought for the liberation of the African continent from the hands of our colonial masters must be taught in schools. This is necessary to help mold the current generation into a set of selfless youths. This is because if the current generation is left to continue in the current state that we are in now, it would not be long before all the history of our great leaders is forever lost. The culture of the people must also be upheld. The culture that promotes moral uprightness in every area of life is inculcated. The belief that our culture is inferior to that of the western world must be discouraged.

Leaders who have been found guilty of running the country to the ground must be made to atone for their sins. It is not enough to simply discuss peace and unity, but also lay some examples so that everyone realizes that the struggle to maintain peace and unity is real. When people can see that equality between the rich and the poor is upheld, people would follow their leaders and secure peace and unity for their communities.
Lastly, rewards must be put in place to encourage those who have taken the path least followed. The path of Patriotism, honor and higher moral conduct. People who have sacrificed their personal gains for the betterment of the whole humanity are highly rewarded which would, in turn, encourage everyone to become better. By being better, we become more peaceful and more united.

This is one of the most asked questions about learning to program. I have had countless number of people ask me this question and much more would do in the future. Before I give my honest opinion, it would be important to understand what programming language means and how to go about choosing a language.

A programming language is basically a way to tell your computer what to do. To tell your computer what to do involves writing certain instructions. Learning a programming language involves understanding the syntax and semantics of a certain programming language. So what factors must be considered before choosing a programming language?

One of the most important factors to consider is which section of programming you want to be based. Do you want to be a web developer, an application developer, a mobile developer? A web developer basically develops applications for the web. An application developer developers application for Desktop or other media and mobile developers develop for mobile devices. There are definitely more than these sections of programming. So after determining precisely what you want to learn, then you can decide which language to go for.
Before choosing a language, ensure you understand the fundamental principles of programming like loops, methods or functions, programming paradigms and many more. Understand the core concepts of programming even before you start. The various levels of abstraction of programming languages should also be familiar. These concepts allows you a brighter view of how programs are executed and as such would help in making choose the right language.

After understanding the core basics, then you can move on to choosing a language. Ensure your first language is a language that has a high level of difficulty. Well, I give this as a personal advice. This is because it is easier to start with the tougher ones so that future programming languages you would learn would not give you a tougher time than you have already experienced. Because of this, I would advise that you never start learning programming with a framework.

A framework is like an abstracted version of a particular programming language providing you only with the abstract and not the main core concepts. A lot of things you need to learn would have been wired and you would simply be consuming an end product. You do not want to do that as a beginner in programming. You would need to get your hands wet with codes before you become much comfortable.

Well, the most important part which even professional programmers face is that the journey is challenging. Ensure you always have a high level of motivation to keep you going even when a single semi colon prevents your code from executing. Be steadfast and consistent.
Also, stay away from too many readings and tutorials without real implementations. Start something as soon as you have understood a concept, create something and build something. That is how it all starts.

Also, ensure you have made a good research in the invention and scope of your chosen language because new languages keep coming up and some people are easily persuaded to join another language. Do not be desultory in choosing languages. Do not keep jumping from one language to another. Learn well your language and definitely be open to new changes if the new stuff makes your task easier. But ensure you know the basics.
Programming is a world for everyone. Choose a language today and get started

https://codeburst.io/what-programming-language-should-i-learn-f3f164ca376c

Mean It When You Say It
More than anything, you are what you say and do. The most important way to be what you say is to never say anything at all but that would mean you are dead. But as far as you are alive, you would have to say some things to people and people would only regard you as important as how you mean what you say.

People make and break a lot of promises and never feel any remorse about it. Well, it's no big deal, I would make it up the next time. But well that is easy to say especially if you are the person who is at fault. We find it easy to break every piece of the promise we have made and would have no remorse in doing it again or even be contrite for a few seconds.
But take a few seconds and imagine yourself in the other person’s shoes. The other person has made their plans because of what you said and all of a sudden, you simply do not meet your own end of the bargain. How then would you feel? In some cases, it is way beyond our power to control how events go and sometimes they just happen. Well, most people would understand when you explain before hand why you might not be able to make it.

But without any prior notice, you simply fail to meet up on your end and feel like the other person should simply forgive and forget. Well, we are humans and one other thing is that we are emotional. We remember events especially those that shatter our emotional hopes on something.
So make a decision today to make as few promises as possible. Never promise more than you can accomplish. Start small and when you know that you might not be able to meet up with some expectations, kindly respond before time so that the other person can make other plans so that you do not undermine their efforts because they depended on you.

A lot of us are definitely guilty of not holding up to our end of the bargain but it is not too late to begin fixing the few ones we can. That does not mean going around and telling everyone no to every thing they ask you. What I am saying is try to always explain why you might not be available for some events or actions rather than promising and never showing up.

prizlezzlalasky:
@OP this is realy amazing. Happy I stumbled on this. pls sir how do I get started because Im a fresh graduate who needs practical backup especially in JAVA. Are there scholarships and trainings, would gladly apreciate ur response.

Hello, Thanks very much for your wonderful feedback. Visit flexisaf.com/company/careers/ and apply for the internship program. You can also contact me on abdulazeezidris28@gmail.com for more info.

Thanks

Just Start Something
Few of the very important things I have ever wanted in life is to become a world-class programmer and a professor of Computer Science. But how I would get there is something I do not fully have planned. But that is okay because all that is important is not only to have dreams or hopes but most important is to start something.

A lot of us have what we hope to achieve and become but we are yet to start something. It does not matter where you want to be, you simply need to start. A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. I use to look back at the time I wanted to start something and wish I started back then. I am sure I would not be where I am if I have not started a few things I wanted to do.

Well, I am not yet a world-class programmer but I have also developed from the developer I used to be 2 to 3 years ago. I do not know if I would one day be a world-class programmer but all I know is that I am not where I used to be. If I continue on this path, I would one day be better than I am and hopefully become the world-class programmer I have always wanted to become.

You might not want to be a world-class programmer. Whatever it is you want to become, all you need to do is to start something and be persistent with it. The secret is to start small. We usually underestimate what we can achieve in a year and overestimate what we can achieve in a day. One hour every day for the next 365 days is already 365 hours spent getting better. Imagine what that would have made you. Way better than the first hour I can assure you. All you need is to see the end goal and keep pushing.

A lot of us usually want to have it big. This sometimes makes us underestimate the little contributions we put in every day. Do not worry if you start small. All you need is to remain committed when you start. No one assured you it will be a free ride, but then no one said you cannot at least try. But then ask yourself the question, what else would I use my life for if I do not start now? Time would definitely still pass away no matter what I do. All I have is to simply make good use of the time that I have.
Take a few moments today to start something. Something you wish you started a long time ago and keep going every day. Start small and keep going.
Thanks for Reading

Plan Your Day
Time is truly a non-renewable resource because it is one of the very few things we can never get back once it is gone. But how then do we spend this wonderful resource? How we spend our time goes a long way to determine how we would live our lives till the end. The way you spend your time determines how you would work on every other task.

But how then can we make good use of our time? Well, the simple answer is to plan our time. How best can we organize and spend our time well? It involves taking your time in small bits and making good use of each small bit. You do not have to plan the whole day. That might sometimes be too difficult to achieve.

Start by blocking out a certain period of time in the day and making good use of that time. You might start with just one hour. Make sure you can decide what would happen in that one hour. You can choose to be better and do something that would improve your life. It is a good idea you find such a time early in the morning so that the energy after the fixed time activity can spread to other activities of the day.

Planning the whole 24 hours might look too difficult because we just realize that some part of the day are simply too hard to track. But if you start small, it would be easy to monitor how you spend that few period of the day and you can continue increasing and improving your time management from there

What is most important is that you are willing to start and maintain that period. If you are consistent, then you would definitely achieve. Also ensure that you have the plan for that period of time set. Do not have to come into the period and start thinking of what to do. Have the plan and simply execute it when you start. By thinking about our plan during the fixed time might cause us to loose some extra time in trying to get ourselves ready to start. All you need to do is to get started.

Prepare your plan for the fixed period a day before and ensure that all you do within the fixed time is only what you have allocated to that time. By doing that, you have developed the willpower you need even before starting. When you start thinking whether you have the willpower or not, it means you are yet not sure of what you want to do. But if you are sure, simply go for it. No need to think about it after you have planned it.
Take a few minutes today to decide something and set a fixed time every day to do it. Start small. It is important that you start small. Starting small and been consistent is the most important thing to do.

It is always hard to plan our 24 hours but you can start small. Start today with as little as 30 minutes and continue from there. All that matters is that you start planning your day. Start now.
Thanks for Reading

Get Back Up
I run every day, write Medium posts almost every day. But well that was me a few months ago. Now, I hardly run weekly and I barely write my blogs everyday. But at this point, all I have is two options. To continue whining about the things I used to do or simply continue where I stopped.
It does not matter what your past was, you cannot get it back. All you can do is to use the future to your advantage. That involves getting yourself back up and never giving up. When people think of successful people, they imagine people that never had to fight back. They imagine a set of people who simply had all they asked for.

But that is never the case. The successful ones had to fight their battles. They were sometimes knocked out but only one thing made the difference, they were willing to get back into the race. Willing to give it all they have.
Willing to use today only as the last day. Never think that your struggles would be any less painful. You only need to have a goal. Keep pursuing and keep moving. That is all that matters.

Whatever situation you are in today that seems impossible to get out of, remember that if you do not leave, you would remain there and bear all the consequences that are there. You would remain in the same place and only complain about how you would have been better if you did more.
A life of regret is simply a life of not getting back up when we should have. People regret not doing what they were supposed to do because they could not get back up. A life of regret is simply a dead man living. Because you never really live in the present. You are always remembering the past. The past which we can do nothing about. And also not living in the present.

Living life without living in the present is nothing more than a dead man with thoughts. A dead man cannot do anything in the present and his thoughts are only about the past.So what about you?

Are you thinking and living in the past? You can always get back up and get better than you were before. All you need to do is to get up. Know that you would fall off from time to time, but the most important thing is to never stay down.
Thanks for Reading

What Have You Done About It?
It is easy. Isn’t it. To simply see a problem and talk about it. It is very easy to see a problem, discuss the problem, sometimes discuss solutions but never do anything about it. Every day, we encounter problems, but our response to these problems is what is most important.

In our relationship, work-life and everyday endeavor, we face different problems, but the most important thing is the way we respond to the problems. We should sometimes take a few minutes to analyze our problems and determine what would happen if we looked at the problem from a different perspective. What if we looked at the problem through a different lens? We sometimes believe the problem is from another source but when looked at critically, we are sometimes a part of the problem rather than the solution. Because come to think of it, if you are not part of the solution, then where are you? Well, I would leave you to answer that question.

It is important that we look at the problems around us in a much better perspective. If your colleague at work is irresponsible, If your job is not as interesting as you want it, if your life is not as you want it, what have you done about it? Stop blaming the situation on the economic situation, your past or anything. What have you done today that would help eliminate the problem? If you are not doing anything about it, it is time you start.

Because if you do not start, you would one day regret inaction when another person implements all those actions you so much talked about and did nothing about. You should always not look at the problem from a very big perspective, start small and keep going. All that matters is that you start. When you start, better ways of fixing the problem would come up.

Always think win-win. Whatever the situation is, think about how you and the other person can come out as winners in the end. It does not matter what the current situation is, always find a way to make it better. The people who have succeeded in life are the ones that have been able to fix other people’s problem. Well, those that have caused more problems than they can solve are nowhere to be found. It is okay that there are problems, but how we fix or handle them is the most important thing.

Next time when you want to complain about a problem, ask yourself first “What Have I Done About It?”

Juniorbuba:

Or just int age = 5;

Exactly Sir

Variables In Java
Well well, before we proceed, let us begin by understanding the concept of variables in programming. A variable is a label for data in memory. So what exactly do I mean? The essence of programming is to manipulate a given input to get an output. So when the computer receives the input, how does it label it? How does it save it? That is the essence of a variable. A variable is a named memory location for keeping data. So in Java, to save a certain input, it follows a basic way.

First is to define the type of variable you want to save. Well, there are different types of data you can save on the computer, but let us begin with the basic types in Java otherwise known as the primitive data types. The primitive data types handle Numbers, Characters, and Boolean (True or False).

Numbers are also divided into different categories. We have whole numbers and real numbers or you could just imagine numbers with decimals. Whole Number Data Types in Java are byte, short, int and long. These data types hold different range of numbers. The byte is the smallest and the long the largest. Real Number Data Types are basically double and float. They also hold the different range of real numbers with float being the least and the double the largest.

Beyond numbers, we can also save characters. We use char to save characters. Single characters are what is saved using the char. Also, there is the boolean which handles true and false. They handle logical operations.

To create a variable in Java, you first need to declare its type. This is called variable declaration. By declaring a variable type, you are telling Java the type of data you want to save. This concept where a language tells what type of data it holds is called a Strongly Typed Language. Languages that do not hold this paradigm are called loosely typed languages. So Java is a strongly typed language.

variable_type variable_name;

A semicolon must end every statement in Java. After declaring the variable type, the next thing is to define the value that the variable would hold. So for example,

int age;

age = 5;

The first statement creates a variable called age that is to hold a number. The next line initializes age with a value of 5. The second line is called variable initialization. After declaring and initializing a variable, you can now simply refer to the variable name to get the value you saved.

Variables in programming is a bit more extensive than this little explanation but I hope this little explanation throws more light on variable declaration and initialization in Java.

Thank You

It’s Not What You Do, It’s How You Do It
Most of the time, we feel overpowered by the rate of change and the number of events in our daily lives. We want to get more done, we want to do more and be more. We seem to equate movement with success. When people see your table filled with a lot of stuff, people believe that we are indeed working.

But have you ever reconsidered everything you are doing and wondered if you were doing it the wrong way? What if everything you have been doing is wrong? Who told you that what you are doing is the best way possible? Take a few seconds and evaluate what you are doing now. It is not about what you are doing, it is about how you are doing it.

So you do all these tasks every day and you feel tired at the end of the day over a very stressful job. But have you ever considered automating everything you do? What about delegating the not so important issues to another person who would gracefully attend to them? Whatever it is you are currently doing, there is a better way to handling it. So find that way.

Most of us are focused too much on the future that we underestimate what we can achieve in a day. By focusing on every day as our last, we would better be able to handle what we do. Consider today to be your last day at work, would you do what you are doing the same way? Would you not want to be so efficient that the next person that takes your seat would always remember you for the good work you did?

Life is how you take it. Same as your job. Have you ever realized that someone is somewhere doing exactly what you are doing but living a better and a more fulfilled life? Why then are you different?

Facebook is simply like a messenger. It takes messages and sends them to other people. But have you ever imagined how difficult it would be to communicate if we were to use humans for all the communication Facebook does? We would literally be doing the same thing but which would you prefer. This example might seem like an extreme but carefully look at what your next task today would be.

Can the task be done by another person without supervision? Can the task be automated so that subsequent ones are handled automatically? Can the current task be done on a larger scale so that the task is handled faster than handling it individually? Whatever your task is, you can always make it better.

So take some few seconds to go over all the tasks you have to complete today and determine which ones can be automated, delegated or even deleted. Not all tasks are even needed in the first place.

Remember, because you are moving does not mean you are progressing. You might simply be moving in the wrong direction. You would need to come back to your current position before you think of improving. So in essence, you are killing yourself more. So start today and make that task better.

Learning Java Series — Part 1 — Comments In Java
Learning the basics is the most important way to learn anything. To learn a language also, you need to begin from the basics which are why I have decided to learn the Java Programming language again from the beginning.

I would try to explain what I have learned when I read with the hope that others would indeed learn and I would also become better in the process.

So I would be talking about Comments In Java Today. So what is a comment in the context of a programming language? A comment is a piece of information that is meant to shed more light on a certain piece of code. It is meant for humans to fully grasp the meaning of a certain code without having to spend much time understanding the implementation of the code.

Comments are necessary for that they aid readability of programming languages. In Java, there are 3 forms of comments. We have

The Single Line Comment
The Multi Line Comment
Documentation Comment
The Single Line Comment is usually used to give a line or a few lines of comments. It starts with a (Double Back Slash) // and everything on that line becomes a comment. Single line comments are very important because we sometimes need to make very short comments and this is the basic way to achieve a single line of comment. An example of a single line comment is

// Welcome to The Java World

The whole line above is now a comment. The compiler does not attend to it when it compiles the code and is only useful for the human programmer.

Multi Line Comment is used when you have a little more comments than a few lines can take. You use a multi line comment which allows a number of lines to be commented without having to use multiple single line comments. An example of a multi line comment is

/*

Every thing within here is a comment

*/
Documentation Comment is similar to the multi line comment except in very few ways. The documentation comment is used to have a large note to serve as comments. These types of comments are usually needed if the comment is to be transferred to another page maybe like a website.

/**

This is a document comment

*/
All these forms of comments are needed to help make our code readable. But ensure that your code is so readable that comments are barely found anywhere in your code. You would need to use comments no matter what, but kindly reduce it to a bare minimum. It helps.

Please do submit your observations and recommendations to help make this better. Thanks for Reading

Silence, A Form Of Speech
A lot of the time, we want our ideas and opinions to be heard. We want our presence and impact to be felt by the people around us. So we seek any means possible to achieve this. But note that it is not always about what we do, it is about how we do it.

What we want to do sometimes might be a very good thing, but following the wrong way might just make it all wrong. Sometimes, to make an impact or an opinion, we fall into the valley of arguments. We say what we believe or know to be the right thing and the other person also says the same.
But sometimes, to make a point, all we need to do is to be quiet. By being quiet, we simply pass on a message. A message so quiet that it creates some of the best results. Our colleagues and friends would come to respect us for that. I do not mean that we should always be quiet in every situation, but rather evaluate the situation and understand that it is better to be quiet at some point.
Take for example, in your marriage life, you see something which is clearly the truth but your partner sees it in another way. You already know that both of you are obstinate about your decision. You need not continue in the path of disapproving the ideas of your partner but to rather accept and give up the wonderful argument moments which might result in things not expected. Sometimes, in the silence, we have a break to really think about the whole situation and also probably have a paradigm shift about the whole situation.

When you have gone through the same situation as your enemy, you would definitely do the same thing as him. But you cannot know this if you do not take some few steps back and reevaluate the whole situation. A period of silence creates that. A period of silence creates a medium of deep thought about what really you are talking about.
So take as a lesson today the spirit of silence in situations when you believe arguments or other issues might rise up. This does not mean to keep quiet when bad things happen, it simply means to keep quiet when you know that your lack of silence might indeed lead to a bad thing.
Thanks for Reading

Communicate Please
Information is powerful. With the right information, people can well be aware of what is important and what is not. In the absence of any information, people try to fill in the blank spaces information is supposed to occupy. So as such, getting information and getting the right level of information is a very important concept in our daily lives.

For example, couples in a relationship must communicate in other to understand what each other is going through. But without communication, they both begin to speculate and guess what is happening to the other person. They begin to get suspicious and if the matter is not properly handled, it degenerates into an uncontrollable problem and issues soon start rising.

However, all these could have well been cleared from the beginning only if we all communicate. It would have saved us all the time we needed to think and fill in the blanks for ourselves. Such time would have been spent organizing some better affairs in our lives.

So I speak directly to you today to seek for the information you need. If you need to understand why your parents do what they do, communicate, if you need to understand why your friend is the way they are, communicate. If you ever have any information you need to have answered, all you need to do is to communicate.

Because if you do not communicate, it creates an atmosphere of suspicion. An atmosphere of complete distrust which is neither good for any of us. So whatever the issue is that you have, do communicate.

But in communicating with other people, choose your words carefully. It would rather be advisable that you read “How to Win Friends And Influence People” By Dale Carnegie before you embark on the journey of communicating with people. It would help in a very long way. Whatever your needs for information are, always seek to understand the major reasons from the person directly. Do not go around seeking to fill in the blanks from inappropriate ways.

But some people are very hard to communicate with. That would be the response some of us would give. For different people, they have different ways of understanding. Seek to find the best way to communicate with the other person before you communicate. It would really be very good for us all in the end.

So make a decision today to seek to get the information only from the right source. No form of gossip should be entertained.

Thanks

Building Strength Through Challenges

Every single day of our lives, we are challenged. Directly or indirectly, our fundamental beliefs are challenged, our way is challenged, almost in every area of our lives. But would life be any better if we were never challenged at all? Would we rather prefer to live life without any problems? Well, I do not know how much we would like that. But life would be better if we indeed faced our challenges and got better at facing them.

The human muscle grows stronger when it faces a challenge, it breaks and dies. Another muscle grows in place of the previous muscle and gets better and stronger than the previous muscle. It derives it strength having been challenged previously. So in whatever area of life, we find ourselves, challenges would always come. How we meet them is the most important thing.

When we are challenged, a certain way of life we believe or are used to is always questioned. So it becomes really difficult to function because we are now working outside an environment we once were used to. It feels difficult at first to get used to the life. But once we get used to it, we become better at two fields. Our previous way of life and the new way of life. So we have indeed grown. But explaining it this way makes it seem much easier than it actually is. But we can always try.

In whatever situation that we are in, for the current challenge that you are facing, imagine you have no other option than to fix the problem. How would you go about it? If you are in a relationship that is being challenged, in a workplace that is being challenged, how do you face your challenges and get better at it? Do you simply give up and say it can never work out? Do you simply lament and complain about the situation of things and hope an angel out of nowhere fixes your problem? Well, that is possible but I doubt if it is on this planet.

So today, take a different look at your challenge. Relax and assure yourself that this challenge would only make you stronger. Nothing more. You would become a better version of yourself and nothing more. This is the way to start your day. Whatever I am going through now would only make me better. I can always face this challenge. By having a challenge at something, we are been challenged, and according to one of Newton’s Law, actions and reactions are equal and opposite. The more you react better, the more you get better at facing challenges.
So rise today and face it. Make it and give it all you have.

Yes, you did hold open that door for me, no you can’t have my number

It has nothing to do with you not being alpha. It has everything to do with your arrogance and entitlement to my sexuality and privacy

Can you just leave, now
I’m really, really tired of this excuse: ‘You don’t like me because I’m nice.’
On the contrary, I don’t think I’ve ever dated someone I didn’t consider nice. As someone who is widely considered the most vanilla girl-next-door on the planet, I’m not really into massive jerks. I like nice men. That’s probably my type. I’m nice-sexual. So why don’t I like you?

Because, frankly, you act as if doing me a favor, or treating me kindly, somehow grants you the god-given right to my body. Not so, sir, not so. I’m grateful you lent me your pencil or showed me how to open that locker, but that sense of gratitude doesn’t equal all encompassing lust. I’m flattered you said my dress was pretty and it was extremely kind of you to pay for my coffee, but again, nil points for being nice. I’m nice to women. I don’t demand they date me. Why do you?

This particularly grates me if we are friends. Maybe I chatted to you at a party or we went out for lunch between lectures, but now you are trying to kiss me or have begun sending me very sexual questions. When I politely say I just want to be friends, you say I’ve rejected you because you are ‘nice’. Dude. No. Has it occurred to you, that maybe, just maybe, I’m not sexually attracted to you? Is that even possible? Has that thought crossed your fragile ego at all?

You could be amazingly good looking. God knows I’ve just not had chemistry with the most obscenely attractive men. You could be smart, funny, witty, rich, charismatic, charming, successful, great at roller skating, whatever. The heart wants what it wants. And that’s just not you. Soz.
If you take it VERY personally and get abusive with me, all you are doing is irritating me further. If you start accusing me of leading you on, or friend zoning you, I’m not going to magically turn around and strip. I will just walk away. Becoming antagonistic towards a woman for not wanting to sleep with you is simply childish and petulant. Also, have you considered that I might actually be an okay friend? I have other qualities beside my ability to lie on my back. Most women do. Don’t lose us completely because you see us as pokemon to catch in various public spaces in order to sleep with. We do have more. There is more than relationships.

I blame this in part on our stupid culture. In this day and age, a man over 15 without a girlfriend, or, even better, regular casual sex, is kind of pathetic. So some young guys go around their merry way desperately looking for any female to fill in this weird phallic shaped void in their social ego. And failing to ‘catch’ a girl can be a massive blow for their security.

They normally- in my experience anyway- don’t particularly like you. They just become obsessed for a week/month with a girl they think is achievable. When we aren’t, they respond as if they have failed in some way. Newsflash: women aren’t in tiers. We aren’t neatly stacked in levels of achievability. We aren’t goals or status symbols. We aren’t there to decorate your profile pictures. We are people. And don’t tell me there aren’t men who think like this because I know so many women who experience the same thing.

I’m onto you, Nice Guy. Now please stop bitching about how frigid I am.

Source
https://medium.com/athena-talks/dear-nice-guys-this-is-why-i-don-t-want-you-e54edf531e08

Sorry, I Am Busy
Every human wants to feel a sense of importance. When you are freely available, amenable to everyone, you become as some people think less valued. But by being busy, unavailable to a whole lot of people, you seem to be very important. So politicians, businessmen and a lot of successful people have a lot of things to do, so they are busy and people see them as very important, so you also decide it is time to feel important. You become busy, you become so busy that you forget to eat, drink and even sleep.

Being busy is not the problem, but have you ever thought of analyzing what you do when you are busy. What are you essentially busy doing? A life they say is short but it sometimes becomes shorter based on how you spend it. If you spend 10 years doing exactly the same thing every day, you simply have lived for just one day repeatedly.

So what decision are you going to make? Are you going to become busier or focus on what is more important? A lot of us spend a considerable amount of time doing mundane tasks while they seem very tasking. We finish and we say to ourselves, wow, I have been very busy. But excuse me, busy doing what? It is time you begin looking at your calendar and how you spend your time. Your time is your most valuable resource. Use it well.

By saying use it well does not mean having a complete plan of every single second of your life. It simply means doing more creative and value-added tasks than just doing the same thing over and over again. Have you ever considered that if it can be done over and over again, maybe a computer can do it? If a computer can do it, then get your computer to solve your problem and move on to more cognitive activities.

Our time here on earth is limited, it is finite. Let us make everyday count.

What Is Stopping You?

I recently realized I wanted something but kept procrastinating about how I am going to get it. What I want is to prepare and take my GRE exams but every day I find a wonderful, auspicious reason to tell myself that I would start tomorrow. Too many tomorrows have passed and I am yet to get started with the tempo that I want. I must have found a way to belie my wishes. I really do want to get my GRE. I so much want to get it that I am willing to be more gregarious with people who also have the same goal.

But this is also happening to a lot of us. What is that thing you want so badly but you convince yourself that you cannot get it? You assure yourself that it is only meant for the great among us. We seldom talk about what we want and become laconic about our goals. We develop a sense of brevity in the use of words to explain our goals. We reprimand ourselves when we even try. We chastise, castigate, censure or reprimand ourselves when we dare try to think of what we want to achieve.

We begin to think in terms of what we want not happening. What if I do not get the job or money I intended to get? What If? No matter what is stopping you, you can only get better when we decide to get better than we used to. It is when we say to ourselves that minimum is no longer acceptable. It is by looking in the mirror and saying that this day shall pass whether I achieve my goal or not. Then make the best use of the day.
I have decided to look straight at what is stopping me. The fear that I may not be able to get enough finance in the time when I prepare for my GRE and take a break from work. But who says I need to be broke. I can still find ways to compliment my finances while still preparing for my GRE. But even if I do get financial issues, would it not be better I face it now than face it 20 years from now when I would wish I did what I was most afraid of?

What separates a successful person from the unsuccessful? The successful person is able to look at his/her problems, pray about it and go straight to solving it. Nothing more. But most of us whine and complain about our problems without ever doing anything about it. We wish everything was perfect. Then we would also be better. Well, you know for sure that everything would never be perfect if you continue to wait for it to be perfect without doing anything about it.

So ask yourself today about what you need to do. Think about what is stopping you and move straight to fighting that. It is not the lack of knowledge that limits us, it is the abundance of fear in our hearts that limits us.
Never set a goal so small that you would achieve it because that creates a comfort zone where you would forever feel successful while you are indeed languishing in a pot of misery.
Start today. Fight that which is stopping you

https://www./what-stoppingyou-idris-azeez?published=t

Dealing With People
I recently started listening to “How To Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie and I must confess it indeed holds a lot of knowledge every one of us should know about. It explains why we should not have a parochial view when dealing with people but venerate every one we meet. People value their opinion and care about what they say. People want to be spoken about mostly in the right ways. The book does indeed explain to always use the right words and not to be parsimonious or frugal or stingy with kind words. We should always feel free to use the honest and most kind words for people even when we do not agree on the same thing.

However, in choosing our words, we must learn to not prevaricate. Speak only the truth. Do not flatter people. By flattering people, you simply tell them what they want to hear whether true or false. But to deal with people, you need to find the truth about people and say it. You do not need to be frugal with words.

To deal with people, never criticize, chastise, castigate or censure their opinions no matter how bad it is. By trying to correct a person, you simply try to belittle his/her intellectual capacity and people would see you as an enemy. What you should do is listen carefully and purposefully to the angle of the other person. Listen not to respond, but listen to understand. When two people are in disagreement, sometimes, one of them is wrong and you do not want to be the wrong person. Rather than criticize, simply explain from another angle stating the facts as you know them. But be sure to explain that you might be wrong. No one would really call you off when you explain that you might be wrong. It does not create a higher intellectual power, it simply creates an environment of diverse opinions.

Also, learn to appreciate the good things about people. Most of the time, all we want is an acknowledgment that what we are doing is indeed needed. But the number of responses we receive sometimes does not commensurate or measure up to the work we put into the activity. So by appreciating others, we help them achieve an innate goal which they may not be directly aware of. But never speak only to flatter, speak only the truth and be honest. Find something good about the other person and talk about it.

Finally, talk about the other person. Talk about their wants, their needs. Even if the other person is prodigal, profligate in their spending, they would not find it hard to admit when you focus the attention on them. Rather than lampoon people for every small mistake, take the time to really know them. You might not behave differently if you were in their shoes. So demur making a judgment and get to know the other person well. Talk to them and get all the information you need.

Living Life To Its Fullest
Have you ever had a time when you wanted to do something? Then you hesitated. You said, okay, I would do it when I have more money. I would do it when I get comfortable. Then fast-forward to sometimes later, you have all you wished you had but you still cannot do that one thing you wanted to do. This is the way a lot of us live life. We add impertinent issues in the issues of life. Issues that make life less auspicious. But we are meant to live on this earth once, enjoying all it has without being prodigal or profligate.

How then can we live life to its fullest? By using our physical, mental and spiritual powers to its fullest. Not denying any one above the other. It is about living life with such great hope for the future but never having a parochial view of life. Anything you pray and work towards would most definitely happen. But why then do we hold ourselves back by the fear that might never happen? Some of us create our own vacuum and then stay stuck in there for life. You have to start doing things you are afraid of doing because if you don’t, you might never leave your comfort zone.

Living life to its fullest is always never comfortable in your comfort zone, trying to be better but enjoying whatever comes along the way. It is about enjoying all that you come across whether good or bad. Every human in life has one problem or the other, but the only way to live a full life is to have a positive mentality about your problems. It is about believing that your problems are meant to make you better, not weaker. It is by carrying the heavy weight that a boxer becomes stronger. So are problems. By carrying bigger problems, we become better problem solvers.
So we are indeed here on earth to worship and also solve problems. So what problems do you see that you can help solve or eliminate? Start working on that and enjoy yourself along the way.

The difference between a human and a pig is the mind. Every other thing a pig has. But if we continue to undermine the power of our mind, then we continue to become less human. Living life is about being more human than you were yesterday which means using more of your mind than you did before.

Using your mind involves understanding what the problem is, and rather than whining and complaining about it, you do something about it. You use your mind. Any animal can see a problem and complain about it, but it takes a human with a mind to see a problem and fix it. In your path to living a full life, you need to make optimal use of your brain.

Thomas Edison was quoted to have said that “The human body is simply meant to carry the brain around”. So the human body must also be optimally utilized to help aid the movement of the brain. So in living a full life, care must be given at all times to the body. Good food, good body hygiene, exercise and good sleep are ways to make the body function optimally.

A human who does not believe in a power higher than him/her is living in a mirage. Our lives are not amorphous and we want to argue that there is no creator. Oh, No. We must also seek to become spiritually optimal in our quest of living a full and great life.
Being successful is not among the wealth we amass, but the optimal use of everything we have here on earth.
Thanks

How To Change The World
Most of us want to have this great idea that would simply make everyone marvel. An idea so cool that everyone wishes they thought of it first. But certainly, not every one of us would create this idea before leaving this earth. Some of us would simply have thought of the idea while some would have indeed implemented it. Some would never have thought of the idea at all.

But the secret to creating this idea is simple. Ask yourself this question: “If I had all the resources on this earth, what would I use it on?” This type of question tries to take our mind away from monetary values but into a more beneficial realm. Most of us want to have a lot of money, but what would you do if you had all the money. This question would help give you a vision of what you want to do.

For me, I want to make people better. I would love to make people think wiser and be better in whatever endeavor they find themselves. I would love to help people discover the better part of themselves. Isn’t it funny that these days, we have more resources at our disposals but a lot of people now use less of their mind? People think less and consequently, do less. It matters that you have a vision.

You do not need to have a very big vision. Just a small one that would indeed keep you going. Where you are going, you might not know and that is all right. Start with a very small idea. Do not overthink it. You can start implementing your idea in your current job, your school or anywhere you currently find yourself. It is limiting to say that you would need a certain resource to achieve your dream. Start with what you have, start small.

After the idea and starting small, keep going. Be consistent. You do not need to change the world in a single day. That would take a while. Steve Jobs spent a greater part of his adulthood changing the face of Apple. Bill Gates has spent almost his entire life changing the world. It means your changing of the world would take time. But most importantly, be ready to be consistent. Consistently start small. That gives you the momentum to continue. As one of Newton’s Law of Motion states: A body at rest continues to be at rest and a body in motion continues to be in motion unless acted upon. So if you are at rest, you need to start small. If you are already in motion, you need to be consistent.

All the paths to your changing the world would not be clear at once. So you need to keep trying everything you can lay your hands upon. Failure would want to force you to stop, but remember that the people who changed the world were never quitters. If Graham Bells had given up on making the telephone, If Steve Jobs had given up on making the Macintosh, If Mark Zuckerberg had given up on making Facebook. They all might not have been successful. So you also should not be discouraged by failure.

And lastly, I am trying to make people a better version of themselves which is why I write these articles. I do not know whether it would change you or not, but I hope and pray it does.

Thanks for Reading

Adamsfunakaye:
Dear flexisaf. Am trying to print out my slip and it's showing error in trying to load my basic info, what will I do please?? Thanks

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Thinking About The Positive Side

Too many times, a lot of us are limited by our fear of if something goes wrong. We are paralyzed by the thought of our next project going wrong, not getting a better job if we resign at our current job, or not being able to get the partner of our dreams if we do not stay with the person we currently are with.

Well, all these thoughts could happen. But wait, its opposite could also happen. We can indeed get the next project right, we can get a better job, and we can indeed get the partner of our dreams. Imagine how the world would be if we did begin to think more of the positive side.
I do not say that we all have to start doing things without properly considering the negative effect. But many a time, we are limited by the fear of the wrong. And this has even translated in causing more issues than we can realize. For example, people seem to want to be corrupt for fear that they may not have the same opportunity tomorrow. What if we all thought that the opportunity would be available tomorrow?

A lot of people do not want to get married because we are too focused on the negative things that could happen. Financial issues, health issues and much more. But have you ever considered the positive things that could also happen? Think of the type of love you would have to share, having someone who would care for you as much as they care for themselves.

It matters that we are not only limited by our negative thoughts. Another example is giving birth to children. Many people want to have few kids so that can they have enough resources to care for them, but have you ever thought of having many kids and still having the resources to care for them? Have you ever thought of having a large successful family? Why are we only limited to a small successful family?

I believe it is a time we did some soul searching and begin to limit the effects of negative thoughts in our minds. Rather than thinking of the negative things that could happen, think of all the positive things that could happen anyways. None is sure. But why do we empower one over the other?

It makes more sense that we have positive thoughts and positive outlook on life. Because our thoughts are indeed what becomes our actions and our actions create our life.

Living Life The Agile Way
Recently, my boss gave a wonderful presentation on the Agile methodology of building Software. Agile methodology is simply a diversion from the well-known waterfall model of developing Software. Well, I’ll explain a little about what each of these terms means.

In a Waterfall model of developing Software, you have different stages in Software development and you move to another step only after you are completely done with the previous step. And once on the next step, no going back. You have to take all the time you need to complete a stage before moving onto the next one. This model of Software Development did indeed allow for the development of Software, but recently it has been found to be too restricting. It limits the ability of what programmers can do.

So then new models have grown but they all share in the model of the waterfall in that they understand a certain stage well and then move on. But recently, a new kid on the block of Software Development, the Agile Methodology was born. The idea behind Agile is not to have a set of rules but to simply create a set of principles one should adhere to when developing Software. This gave birth to the Agile Manifesto
Agile Manifesto is based on a set of 4 ideas which I believe can as well be applied in Life as is in Software Development

Individuals and Interactions OVER Processes and Tools
Too much in life have people been focused on the irrelevant things. People focus on things that are not the most important. For example, in seeking to get married, people are too focused on the process and tools rather than focus on what is most important. The individuals and their relationship. People at a wedding do not even care to understand whether the couples are happy, people are only interested in the way the husband proposed, the event center and very very immaterial things. Examples abound about how we focus too much on processes and tools. I believe that if we all begin to look at life through this lens of Agile Methodology, we would develop more and more useful and long lasting relationships.

Working Software OVER Comprehensive Documentation
This is a really tricky one to explain. Most people are interested in what is written on a piece of paper. People want to rank people not by what they have done, but by what they have on paper. This is not a very bad thing but it limits the level of progress that would be made. It matters that we give more focus to things that work rather than what we hear people talk about. It matters that we care for originality in our lives. Not playing to the script that has been documented by our family members. You have to become a medical doctor now that no one in the house is a medical doctor while what you want to become is a teacher. We need to value people working at their best rather than following a certain written document that is only strengthened by repetition.

Customer Collaboration OVER Contract Negotiation
In different real-life activities, people are more concerned about what they would make out of the whole process in terms of monetary value rather than creating the real impact on the community. People sign contracts waiting for the day the other party would be at fault and they would gladly collect the whole profits of their partners. Married couples are simply waiting for the proceedings from divorce or waiting for the other partner to die so that they inherit the whole property. And in this process, people forget to enjoy the only time which they have which is NOW. People are always looking over their shoulders hoping that no one finds out their secrets and eventually leave this earth with no impact.

Responding to change OVER following a plan
“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable”- Dwight D. Eisenhower
This quote by Eisenhower I always remember when people talk about plans. Plans are meant to give you a picture of how you hope the end should be. But it should never restrict you in your everyday plan. Most people are so focused on a single plan that opportunities pass them by without even noticing it. The plan should be simple and clear. It should be easy to comprehend and understand but the path to achieving our goal should be malleable. It should be open to change. All too much, we become rigid in our plans. We follow the waterfall model and in the end, if it does not work out, we follow through life with regrets.

Our plan should be to live this earth a better place than we met it. But the path to achieving this should never ever become rigid. Keep an Agile method of achieving your goals.
These ideas of Agile Methodology I believe are reproducible not only in the Software Development environment but also in the Human Development environment.
Thanks For Reading

What Would You Regret?

One of the inevitable things to happen to every human is death. If we all know that we would die one day, why then do we act as if we are immortal? Why do we put up the tasks of today till tomorrow?

Take a few moment to imagine what you would regret you did not do if you are to die today? List them. Make sure you live every day without regret such that if you were to die today, you know that you have no regrets. Some of us have very large goals to accomplish but we sometimes put them off to another day and sometimes another day never comes. All we have is today.

Most people usually think that to follow a goal, we need to take big steps towards them everyday. It sometimes require baby steps every day to achieve what we really want in life. All that matters is that we remain consistent.
You do not need to take all your tasks at once. Simply think and note the ones that you can start with. Start with those ones. All that matters is that at the end of everyday, you can tell yourself you did the very best you could have done. Sometimes, what we regret is not doing the very best we could have done.

Some of us did not have very wealthy parents, but we are truly happy because we know that our parents gave us the best they could ever have given. Sometimes in life, that is all that matters. Your best.
Start today and list out the things you wish to accomplish before living this earth and take everyday at a time. All your plans might not be very connected, but simply keep them anyway. All that matters is that the tasks you have listed give you enough joy and happiness in your heart.

As an example, here are some things I would really regret not doing if I die today:
Worship my Lord more and be more grateful
Do more for my family
Do more to help humanity
Be more truthful in everything
Give my best to my job
Marry the girl of my dream
So, would I just sit still and regret? No, I make sure that in all tasks I do everyday, I find how to fulfill all these tasks in them so that I live with no regret. For example, I would like to further my educational career and be better at my job to serve as an inspiration to upcoming generations. That is still in line with my goal 3.

You also have a lot of those goals in your mind, It could be mending broken relationships, telling someone how you truly feel. Whatever it is , live today with no regret. And live everyday to its fullest. Let the past be in the past and let the anxieties of the future remain in the future.

All you have is today and make sure you live it with no regret. Today is yesterday’s future. Live it well.

Kindly confirm that when you have received the email with the exact time

kolladey:

Sir,
In the first email i received,my test center was Chams City, Maitama Abuja,
Now i got another email with
Chams City, 19A Yedseram
Street (Farmers’ Market Road off IBB
Way), Maitama, Abuja as my exam center,i hope it is still thesame venue? Waiting for your reply sir. Thanks.
NB: in the new email,no exam time,what i can see in tha exam time is null,and i don't understand.

Dear Applicant,
We are indeed sorry for that. We would send new emails this morning to correct that anomaly.

Thanks very much for your continued patience

Sincerely,
FlexiSAF Support Team

Why The African Woman Must Rise
A woman is the one of the greatest part of creation. When God created Adam, He knew that Adam would never be happy if he did not have a partner. A person to help and support him so that they can all become better. People usually feel downgraded when they are said to be supporters and not the main actors in an activity and as such a lot of people long to be at the center of the action.

As humans, we want to be at the center of attraction at all points but we must realize that to grow a tree that would provide shade might happen far when we the planter is dead and forgotten but the great work he/she did is never forgotten. As such, I speak to the African woman in such light.

O Dear African Woman, the source of joy and happiness to every home. Every home you set foot into becomes the best. Far more than any man could have made it. People think by relegating women to the home, we degrade them and make them inferior. Well, I beg to differ. I simply believe that women have naturally being made to be love givers and never looking for gratitude and expectation. Men on the other hand are simply made to fend for the family. Well, where did I hear that from? The answer is clear and obvious. Unless you want to fight the cause of history, which I am sure you are not ready to battle.

Women are great generation builders. They build far into the future while men are simply concerned with the day to day activities. We all cannot be good in the same thing. So naturally some people are more into caring than others. I believe if we all do our jobs perfectly well, we would all smile at the end. 
The dignity and beauty of the African woman is in creating and building future leaders. They do not deal with minute affairs of everyday. They see long-term far more than any man can. They simply want to make others better even at their expense. But at what point did the African woman loose all these? 

Our African women nowadays would prefer to conform to the ways of the outside world. No one has ever become successful by conforming. Only in our differences are we special. Our conformity would never bring us greatness but downfall. I hear some people say the African Woman must be independent. Independent of what. A man. When a woman becomes independent of a man, does that make her any more woman than a woman who seeks to make her children better than they were yesterday. 
The focus as I have said from the beginning is that the African woman continues to make the future generation better. Does that mean she has to be at home to achieve that? Does that mean she has to be naked in the street in the name of freedom to achieve that? No she has to understand that her purpose here on earth is far more than she thinks. She has more lives to care for and help. She has more purpose and value than simply conforming. Life is far more satisfying when we do not conform. 

The great women in the past never became great simply by competing to take the space of men. They did what they knew best to do and success came for them. So whatever position you are at today, never conform as an African woman. Greatness lies ahead for those who choose a path to greatness. Conforming and becoming sex objects is not one of such ways.
Take the time to realize that Africa can only be great when its women look into their affairs and help improve the life and standard of the building block. Our kids, our future. 

But are the women the only ones to care? Well, the answer is NO. But who is best at caring? The answer is obvious. Why then do we want to leave the task to a quack or an incapacitated person. Let’s all look inside and realize our purpose and go for it. 
Antagonizing men is not the way. We can be better. Thanks

A continent with a population of more than 1 billion. What are the youths using their everyday life for? What are you using your everyday life for? I learned in school that the basic needs of a human are food, clothing, and shelter but I am afraid to report that even this basic need is hardly met on this continent.

Oh African Youth, Think. Can we continue to live this way? Can we live with materialism as our center of focus? With money being our driving factor, how can we ever reach the time when even the basic needs of human would be met. How did it all get this bad? We as youths are the hope of our dear continent. What are we doing to make it better? A youth might ask, what can I do to make it better? You can start my living every day of your life to the fullest. Doing all the possible best things you can ever do because today is all that you have. The past is gone and the future is yet to come.

Oh African Youth, Think. Our forefathers who helped us secure our independence did not seek that in their old age, they secured our independence in their youthful ages. They were not motivated by the number of likes they had on their social media pages but were motivated by the love they had for every African. The love that the African continent be free to think and do things their own ways. But is that still the case today? If our forefathers were to rise from the land of death and see what they had fought so hard for, I am not sure they would be happy they ever gave their lives.

Oh African Youth, Think. Can we continue to be motivated by the love of sex and money? To amass all the wealth the world has to offer? And then what. Then enjoy for 100 more years? And then what? Marry the finest man or woman alive? And then what? Give birth to the finest kids ever? And then what? Then die. Isn’t that a very shallow goal to accomplish in life. The purpose of our lives should be far more than mere material gain. We need to think better and be better.

Oh African Youth, Think. Can you even remember the richest man 10 years ago? It does not matter but we still remember the great men who fought for our rights and freedom. The freedom and right we so enjoy today. Did you ever think that all these freedom we enjoy came free? They came from the hard work and dedication of some people. People whose goal was not to amass wealth but to make the world better than it was.

Oh African Youth, Think. The time is now. The time to change what drives and motivates us. It's time to realize that there is more to life than mere living. We can make the African continent great again. How would we like to be remembered? A youth who did all he could to make the African Continent great again or one who simply benefited himself and his/her family. The choice is ours. We need to rethink our fundamental beliefs. Are they still in line with those of our forefathers? Can we truly say we have done the best we could?

Oh African Youth, Think. Start today. Ensure your activities this day are for the betterment of mankind. If your activity would not be for the betterment of mankind, at least, let it not be for the destruction of mankind. The land of our dreams is not far away. We simply need to be committed to achieving it. The time to start is now. Do all the best you can with the little time that you have. I say again the time is now.
God Bless Africa

Conformity Kills
People are influenced by their environment whether they like it or not. But the ultimate decision to be influenced by our environment lies within us. We are what we continuously pray and work towards. However, in choosing what we want to become, we should learn to never imitate and become others. Become the very best that you can be.

Can you imagine how hard it would have been if Bill Gates wanted to be like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg wanting to be like Dale Carnegie? Everyone of us have a different path in life and we can only become the best when we truly discover who we are and follow it. The possibility of your parents giving birth to someone exactly like you is 1/300000. Imagine that and let it sink in for a minute. We are all here to play different roles. Seeking someone as your role model is different. What I mean by conformity is seeking to do something just because that’s what everyone is doing.
You ask someone why he goes to work every day and you barely get a good answer. Why? Because he conforms. Until you begin to understand the problem you have been sent to this earth to solve, the person you have been sent to make happy, the goal you have been sent to achieve, then you must continue to strive. Strive in your own way possible, but do not live only to conform.

The greatest loss to this whole planet is you missing out on your mission to this earth because you conform. Live every day to its fullest in the fullest potential that you can achieve but never to live another person’s life. You have only one life to live. Live it wholly. Be all you can be. 

Becoming your real self requires a lot of patience and dedication. It would not be easy. No one said it had to be easy. Take the time to discover what makes you really inspired and live every day for that. You do not have to currently be on that path yet, but be conscious of precisely what you want and how you are going to get it. Then go forth. 
Keep going and keep seeking to find your true calling. Thanks