It is a general belief that experience is the best teacher. As true as this may sound, learning via experience has a lot of disadvantages. It is expensive to learn from experience. I learn as much as possible from experience when life forced it on me, but I rather prefer to learn via evaluated experience by studying those who have gone ahead of me and learn from their successes and failures.

After taking a deep observation of the life of an average Nigerian, I discovered that majority of people are likely going to make the mistakes highlighted in this article and most of them have no choice but to live with the consequences when they reach age 30. These mistakes include:

1. Thinking you are too young to achieve great things:Most Nigerian who are in their 20s are still pursuing their tertiary education, some will not even graduate until they reach their late 20s. In your 20s there is this tendency to think you are too young to pursue your dream. You will often feel you don’t have experience and that people won’t take your seriously. This mindset will make you defer some of the things that would have speed up your success in life to a time you feel you will be competent to live your dream. The truth is that thinking you are too young to live your dream in your 20s is nothing but a limiting belief. Once you reach age 18, you are not too young to pursue any dream except where a higher age is required. People who made it big in their 30s started in their 20s. And if you are just waking up at 30, then you will be disappointed in yourself. You will regret wasting those precious years of your 20s by the time you reach age 30.

2. Focusing your life only on academics: In Nigeria formal education is overrated. The reason for this is because we have not been able to differentiate between education and academics. The object of education is to help you understand your environment, and learn how to adapt to it without constituting nuisance to others. Education also empowers you for success in every area of your life. Academics on the other hand focuses on certificates or degrees. A person may have a degree but yet not educated. However academics can help to enhance one’s education.

The average Nigerian believe so much in the power of certificate and all his hope is bent on securing a good job after graduation through this certificate. In order to achieve this end, he tend to put in all the possible efforts needed to get good grades. It is important to note that this formular of getting good grades to ensure a good job is no more valid in today’s world as we have graduates with first class who are not employed. In a situation where all your efforts was put into getting good grades without having a plan B for a situation where your certificate does not give you your dream job will only land you in regret, depression and frustration, which is the lot of so many Nigerian graduates today. TRUE EDUCATION PREPARES YOU TO SURVIVE WITHOUT YOUR CERTIFICATE.

To avoid this mistake, as you pursue your academic degrees, also find time to acquire some or at least one vocational skill. There are many of them out there that can fetch you real money the moment you become an expert. If you have graduated from the tertiary institution and you don’t have any vocational skill yet, it is not too late to acquire one.

3. Not working to earn an income: There is this tendency for you to rely solely on your parents for every dime you spend. All you are exposed to is how to spend money. This will put you in a position where you don’t know how difficult it is to make money. All you will have in mind is, as soon as you graduate, you will hit your dream job and you will be able to do what your parents or guardians are doing. This kind of thinking is not always true. By the time you graduate and your dream job doesn’t show up and have no option but to take care of yourself, then you will wish you understood earlier how difficult it is to make money. This period will be the first time in your life when you will have a genuine appreciation for all the money your parents spent on you. If you are currently relying on your parents for your up-keep and still in your 20s, then I say to you that you have not started living. LIFE BEGINS THE MOMENT YOU ASSUME TOTAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND FOR EVERY DIME YOU SPEND. You can’t afford to just be sitting at home eating, watching television, and hanging out with friends. Start doing something that can fetch you money. It may be a paid employment or personal business. This will expose you to how difficult it is to accumulate money. The moment you know this by experience, you will begin to appreciate money and become wiser in the way you use it.

4. Thinking there is still time: Thinking you still have all the time in the world is one of the illusions of the 20s. You tend to live your life carelessly and spend your time on frivolities. However by the time you hit 29, and moving towards your 30th birthday, you will begin to realize that you are no more a baby. You will realize you have been sleeping all this years if your achievement does not measure up with your age. It would be done on you for the first time that you no longer have time on your side. At this period you will wish you have done so many things in your 20s which you felt you were too young to accomplish.

5. Not equipping yourself with skills to survive in the real world: If you are not the discipline type, you will likely spend your 20s engaging in frivolous activities, which will prevent you from having a grasp of basic skills needed to survive in the real world. Some of them include, ability to save money for a project, empathy, understanding, ability to delay gratification, and so on.

Also Young Nigerians who are academics oriented may end up spending their 20s pursuing only degree without any practical vocational skill that can guaranteed them job after graduation. When the dream job doesn’t show up, these youths tend to end up being underemployed, doing job they hate out of no choice.

TRUE EDUCATION PREPARES YOU TO SURVIVE WITHOUT YOUR CERTIFICATE.

To avoid this mistake, as you pursue your academic degrees, also find time to acquire some or at least one vocational skill. There are many of them out there that can fetch you real money the moment you become an expert. If you have graduated from the tertiary institution and you don’t have any vocational skill yet, it is not too late to acquire one. If you look around you, you will notice that most of the people who are making real money are not necessary those who are working with their certificates, but those who have answers to the problems of people around them. Beside your certificate what problem can you solve for people and get paid for? If you don’t have an answer, it is high time you identify major problems of the people around you, and proceed to acquire vocational skill that can empower you to provide answer to such problem. The more problem you can solve, the more your capacity to make money. In zig ziglar’s word ‘’you will have all that you want if only you can help enough other people to get what they want.’’ ONLY PEOPLE WHO DON’T HAVE SOLUTION TO OTHER PEOPLE’S PROBLEMS DIE IN POVERTY.

6. Not reading enough books: It has been said that if you want to hide something from an African, hide it inside a book. This tells about how poor our reading culture as Africans is. One of the major problems the average Nigerian will make in his 20s is not reading enough books. We are all born into this world without a manual, all that we know and that we will know are all products of learning. The 20s is a time of preparation for the future ahead and reading good books will definitely assist you in your preparation. Reading good books will expose you to the life time investigation of those who have gone ahead of you. Learning from their experience is the best way to learn. Reading good books will enable you to begin from where previous generation left off. It is important to note that every form of success has its own governing principles. Books will expose you to the principles that govern the kind of success you desire. As an African most of the things you were indoctrinated to believe while growing are myths, only reading and critical thinking can help you flush those erroneous beliefs out of your mind. If you don’t read enough books in your 20s, then you are an accident waiting to happen. Every youths in his 20s is expected to have a full grasps of the principles that govern money , relationship and success generally. This can only be achieved by reading books that teach the principles governing them. There are millions of them out there. I want to suggest here that as a Nigerian in your 20s that if you have not read the books I am going to list below or the ones related to them, then you are probably not ready for life. The books include the following: Think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill, 7 strategies for wealth and Happiness by Jim Rohn, The richest man in Babylon by, Rich dad, Poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki, Why you act the way yo do by Tim Lahaye, 7 habit of highly successful people by Stephen covey, The science of getting rich by Wallace wattle, From poverty to power by James Allen, As a man thinketh by James Allen, Acres of diamond by Russell Conwell and many more. These suggested books contains timeless truth of how things work in this life and reading and acting on the content will help save you from so many mistakes you would have made in life if you have not read them.

Author: Taiwo Emayosanlomo, success coach and personal development expert.
You are allowed to share this post on your blog or website without modifying the content, and by including the source link.

Source:http://taiwoemayosan..com/2015/10/6-mistakes-you-will-likely-make-between.html

Nairalanders feel free to comment.

Brb

wizean:
I rep FGC Idoani '02......... Breeding thugs all the way !

I rep FGC Idoani 2006 set

Chartey:
We've recently been sharing secondary school memories in my school's old students' Facebook group and I thought to write this.



Source : Inspired by old friends.

Tosyne2much, emusmith, wristbangle and all the other list-makers una dey try o.

@Op from your write-up it appears you attended a federal goverment college. My experience at FGC Idoani is not different from the points you stated.

May the soul of the departed rest in peace.

www.taiwoemayosan.com - Success Tools for Smart People.

This is a food for thought for Nigerian graduates.

Nice one

This post is insightful and loaded with wisdom. Op thanks for this info.

I want to say thank you to the moderator for moving this thread to the front page. I also want to appreciate everyone who has taken their time to read this post and for commenting. I will react briefly to some of the comments.

• That people write thrash just to get on front page: If you are hurt by this article, I am sorry about that. My intention was never to get on front page but to share the experience most private school teachers are going through, but fortunately it was moved to the front page. The post was meant for my blog, I only share it on nairaland for the benefit of others.


• That the post is discouraging: Yea, it may be discouraging for those who are victims of the truth of my post. However, that the post is discouraging does not eliminate the reality of the content of the post. I agree that it is not a bad idea to start with a private school teaching job, my emphasis lies in the fact that the probability of going far in life via these private schools is very slim.


• That my points are not true for all schools: Anyone who properly read and understood the content of this post will never raised a point of this kind. I indicated in my first point “poor salary” that some schools pay good salaries to their staff, but such school constitute only 2% of the private schools in Nigeria. I went ahead to write that my article focuses on the remaining 98%. 90% percent of the private school teachers in Nigeria can bear witness to the points raised in this article, and will ever accept them to be true.


• That the article is not complete because I didn’t suggest alternative means of survival: That point is true, I intended to write on the conditions that should make one to take a private school teaching job as part of the post, but I assume people will find it too long, so I decided to stop where I stopped. Truth be told, one can start life with anything, but you must know where your life is going. Imagine a graduate who finished school at 28, by the time gets out of NYSC he would have hit age 30, that is if he or she was mobilized on time for NYSC. At that age the society is already expecting much from him, like having his own apartment, getting a decent job, and starting a family. Now imagine such a person still living with his parents or a friend and doing this type of job that has little or no future prospect for him. At what age will he become a man? The point I have made indirectly in this article is to take the bull by the horn and do something that can fetch you money and has the potential of becoming big instead of slaving away. Teaching in a private school to raise a capital is not a bad idea, but taking it as your job will never get you anywhere. I have written some unpublished thought-provoking articles that will serve as answers to the way forward for young graduates, I hope to publish them soon on my blog and if possible share them on nairaland.

• That the points are true: Anyone who has at any point in life taught in any of these school, or has a friend, sibling or neighbor who has done will agree that the point raised are absolutely true.

• Finally I observe some persons raised points which have been addressed in the post already. I suggest that people should learn to read and digest any post properly before commenting. If not so, your comment will be nothing but the exposure of your own foolishness. Even the bible says, ‘’ a fool is considered wise when he keeps quiet.’’

After dedicating some volume of thoughts to private school teaching job, I found out that such job is not worth doing for any graduate.

It is no news that getting a good job as a fresh Nigerian graduate is a difficult task, due to the fact that the available lucrative jobs are not sufficient for the number of graduates in the country. As a result of this you may resort to taking up a private school teaching job to keep yourself busy while waiting for that dream job. You may also tell yourself that you can’t afford to be sitting at home doing nothing, and decides to give private school teaching a try.

It is a good idea to keep yourself busy and probably make some money to meet some of your needs why searching for that job, but taking up a private school teaching job is not an option. There are more rewarding jobs you can involve in that will offer your better financial reward than what a private school can offer. Without much ado, let me go straight to my points.

1. Poor salary: The salary paid by these mushroom private schools is too poor for your level of education and too small to meet your needs. Most of the schools pay you salary not based on what you are worth, but on what they can afford to pay. I remembered one of those schools offered to pay a friend 9,000 naira per month. Most of these schools cannot afford to pay more than 20,000 to university graduates and only very few of them can afford to pay such amount. You may say what about those international schools that pay as high as 100k-200k per month? It will shock you that schools of that type does not constitute more than 2% of the private schools will have in Nigeria. So how many graduates can they employ? This article focuses mainly on the remaining 98% of private schools whose owners are after nothing but profit making, I called them mushroom schools. But think about it, is it 10k, 15k, or 20k you are worth based on your level of education? Are you pleased with doing such job? If you can’t provide a yes answer to any of these questions it is high time you quit that job.

2. Too much of work: In order for these private schools owners to maximize their profit, they prefer to recruit few teachers and load them with tedious work that would have been effectively carried out if more teachers are involved.

If you teach in any of these schools, the minimum numbers of subjects you will be taking will be between 4-8 subjects. For example if you are science oriented, you will likely be given math, physics, chemistry, biology, integrated science, basic technology agricultural science to teach, if the school owner is considerate he may eliminate one or two.

It doesn’t end at taking these subjects; the number of classes you will be taking is another issue. For example of you are taking basic science, you may have to take it for jss1-3 class. Imagine where about 5 to 8 subjects are involved, then you will know you are in for a serious business.

It doesn’t end at that, these schools even with the loads of subjects you are taking will make the writing of lesson notes compulsory and must be submitted a week ahead. Writing a lesson note is a necessity for all teachers, but it would have been easier if too many subjects are not involved. Imagine a situation whereby you are taking five subjects, and many classes are involved, you will have to spend every bit of your spare time writing lesson note. And you call this work? As far as I am concern it is modern slavery.

3. Lack of opportunity for advancement: When you work for some organizations, a time comes when you will be promoted and have your salary increased. So when you work in this type of organization you have something to look forward to. The reward ahead will help to soot the pains of the job. However, working in a private school has no future. All you are doing is helping the school owners to build their empire after which you can be discarded at any time just like a tissue paper used to wipe the anus. If the school owner is so magnanimous to increase your pay, there is no way you can be earning 15,000 and have your pay raised to 50,000. The best they can do is to add a maximum of 5000 to what you were offered as at the time of entering the job, so what difference does that make?

4. Too many expenses: In addition to the poor salary offered by these schools, the money you expend working for them is a huge amount. You may want to know how. As a teacher you will be expected to look good at all times. This means your clothes must be properly washed and pressed with iron on regular basis. And if you are the type that like showing off, you will have to go for more wears so as to avoid wearing same cloth repeatedly within the week.

If your clothes must be neat always, it means you have to wash your cloth regularly. The more you wash, the more the cloth fades, and when your clothes fades you will be forced to buy new ones. Clothes that could last for two years will fade within few months when you wear them consistently. Furthermore, looking good demands good shoes. The same fate that befalls your clothes when you used them on regular basis is applicable to your shoes.

If you are a lady, you wouldn’t afford to leave your hair unkempt. To elevate your look you will need to make your hair regularly, doing so also requires cash.

What about your daily transport expenses? If you spend 200 hundred naira for transport every day, multiply it by the number of days you go to work in a week and subtract it from your salary, then you will know how much your are spending on transportation alone.

What about feeding during schools hours? Teaching involves talking and the more you talk, the more you lose energy, to regain energy, eating good food is a necessity. You will definitely spend a lot of money on food during school hour.

By the time you deduct all these expenses from your salary at the end of the month then you will find out that your take home cannot take you home. So what are you working for? Don’t you think you are wasting your time?

5. Salary irregularities: Even as ridiculous as the salary is, many of the proprietors don’t pay on time and even when they do they don’t pay in full. For example during the last month of a term, while the school is going on vacation, a teacher earning 15k per month may be paid 10k at the end of the term and be told that the balance will be received when the school resumes. I wonder why this is a common practice among these schools, I guess it is their own tactics of making teachers to come back. This may surprise you, but that is what most of the schools practice.

6. A reckless waste of your precious time: If you don’t want to consider any of the above reasons, the fact that taking a private school teaching job is a reckless waste of time is a good reason to consider. It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “he who love life should not waste time , for that is the stuff that life is made of.’’ If you agree with this truth, then you will choose something more rewarding than teaching in one of these private schools.

You may want to know how it is a waste of your time. Working in place where you have no hope of a better life for working for such organization is not worth your time. When you leave the school, you are starting all over again.

If you are well paid that would have been a reason to consider it , but in a situation where the salary is not even enough to meet your needs, then at the end of the day you will see that you have nothing to show for all your years of work. It is a pity that many have been victims of this, and they are seriously regretting it.

7. Lack of appreciation: Sometimes when you are appreciated for your efforts that alone will soot the pains of your labour and underemployment. But for most of these schools, that is not the case. Few of the school owners are humane and show genuine appreciation for the efforts their staffs are putting into the advancement of their respective schools. The truth is most of the school owners doesn’t show appreciation and are full of pride. They lack understanding and talk to you anyhow over every little mistake. Some will even go as far as being proud of the salary you are earning from them. It is always out of their mind that you are over-worked and under-paid.

8. Frustration: There is no way you won’t be frustrated working for these mushroom private schools when you consider how much efforts you put into getting your degree and your dream of a fantastic job after graduation, only to find yourself in a job that offers you less than 20k at the end of the month. As you go to work on daily basis, pondering on the disadvantages written above will start to make you to feel depressed. Your morale will become low and you may even start considering suicide if care is not taking.

Source:http://taiwoemayosan..com/2015/08/8-reasons-you-should-never-take-private.html

Your comments are welcomed below.

donsparky:
No p 08161852006

Thanks

[quote author=donsparky post=37018352][/quote]

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Inspiring post!

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kelvinnaira:
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You can never FEATURE in a FUTURE you cannot PICTURE. Choose to think the THOUGHT and ACT in a WAY that will manifest the kind of life you desire.

You were born ORIGINAL, don't die a COPY. Personal branding is the key to exposing your ORINALITY.

There is only one thing over which you have CONTROL, and that is the content of your own MIND. Only you can decide what you are going to THINK and how you are going to think about it. This POWER, this CONTROL is all you need to create a wonderful life.
-Brian Tracy

Definiteness of Purpose is the foundation of all achievement- Napoleon Hill

Make sure whatever you accept as truth is consistent with universal reality.

If you want a radical change in any area of your life all you have to do is to change your thinking, then your life will change.
Always have it in mind that you are captain of your soul and the architect of your own fortune.
I wish you a happy day.

Whatever you are looking for is within you. Find yourself and show it to the world through personal branding. I wish you a happy day.

ortopazz:
Great and deep tips @ Op, would throw in my own cent , guess it boils down to how much or how deep one truly wants this things, I mean everyone wants to be great right? but how many are willing to pay the price... liken to someone who wants first class but not willing to read or a great body and not willing to work out, I mean really work out, ........ HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT IT? is the mantra ......

Once again nice tips, definitely learnt, like the post reads, Consistency is key.... Stay Classic peeps...

Thanks for your contribution.

Branding is the act of giving a product a distinctive identity by means of characteristic design or packaging. The characteristics design and packaging in the above definition simply indicates the unique value that is provided by the brand or product when it is been used. Similarly, personal branding involves creating a unique identity for yourself. It is a promise of the value you are competent to provide for a set of clients. Your personal brand is what comes to the mind of your clients or people when your name is mentioned. You are what your brand is. A typical example is the relationship between Facebook and Mark Zuckerberge, Steve jobs and Apple, Sam Adeyemi and motivational speaking, Tuface and hip hop music etc.

Just as Rome was not built in a day, so also is creating your personal brand can’t be done in a day. Creating a well established personal brand requires time, effort, and consistency. I am persuaded that the following steps will help you to develop your own personal brand.

1. KNOW YOURSELF

The know yourself concept could be traced back to the days of Socrates, the great Greek philosopher, who lived between 469-399 BC. His dictum was very simple and easy to understand, "Man know thyself." This was also emphasized in a Japanese legend, as "the power of the mirror." This indicates self knowledge. The average Japanese were taught to respect three major kinds of power. The power of the sword which stands for weapon, the power of Jewel which stands for money and the power of the mirror which stands for self knowledge. However, more emphasis was placed on the power of the mirror compare to the other two kinds powers .The know yourself concept is a universal tool for personal success and originality. In the quest to create your personal brand, you must take a swot analysis of your personality. You must have a thorough knowledge of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and your limitations. This is an unavoidable task in creating a genuine and unique personal brand. In most cases, we are often tempted to do what others are doing, forgetting our own uniqueness. There is something that is unique about you that the world needs, and that is your brand. In life we are not rewarded for our similarity but our uniqueness. You must be able to identify the things you do easily without much preparation or practice. The area you are truly brilliant should be what your personal brand should revolve around. It should be based on your outstanding inherent capacity to solve certain human problems. Self discovery is a simple, but powerful tool that will separate you forever from the league of the vast majority of people who lie aimlessly at the base of the pyramidal society, because of their total ignorance of the well of treasure that reside within them. Your personal brand is the key to your relevance in life. Your answer to the question: what do you want people to think about you when you name is been mentioned, is a key to you personal brand.

2. WRITE YOUR VISION AND MISSION STATEMENT

Vision defines the way an organization will look in the future, while mission includes every step that is taken to achieve the desired end. Your personal vision statement should define your ultimate priority in life. It should state vividly what you want to become in the future or the kind of relevance you want to attain. Some years ago I stumbled into a material that emphasized the need of writing ones obituary while still very young. To me, it was a powerful idea and if you can take this approach, then that will give you some clues as regards your personal vision statement. I strongly believe that vision without a mission statement is useless . Having a good personal vision statement without a mission statement can be compared to an individual who desires a beautiful product, but lacks the purchasing power .As you write your personal vision, it is vitally important that you put in place your strategies for the realization of the vision, and this is where your mission statement comes in. Many appear to be working hard on their personal brand but often produce little or no result. The reason in most cases is because they apply force in the wrong direction. Your personal brand will begin to gain ground, the moment you start acting in the direction of your vision.

3. IDENTIFY YOUR MARKET

The sole aim of creating your personal brand is to produce value or service that will serve as solution to your clients’ problems. Your market constitutes where there is demand for the value or service you provide or the problem you solve. It includes Individuals and organizations that will be ready to pay for your service or brand as a result of providing valuable solutions to their problems. It is essential you identify your market as you develop your brand, because developing a brand without a market is effort in futility. I'm a success coach, personal development trainer, and a motivational speaker. My clients include everyone from all works of life who is interested in personal growth and extraordinary achievement. Likewise, you should identify your market, because that is where you exhibit what you've got and earn the dividend of your personal brand.

4. CREATE AWARENESS FOR YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

I'm very convince that no one who put so much effort in lightning a candle will put it under his bed, instead of where it can illuminate the room. Developing a personal brand takes a bunch of effort that no one can afford to waste .Having identified your market, next is to reach out to individuals and organizations that constitute your market to keep them informed about what you do and how you do it better than anyone else. This can be done directly or indirectly, but it must be noted that irrespective of the method you're adopting, you must be very smart at selling yourself to your prospective clients. You can create awareness about your personal brand by one or the combination of the following methods.

· Create a business card: Your business card should contain some vital information about your brand, and how you can be contacted should your service is needed. A good business card should contain your name, position, email address, phone number, blog url/website address, office address in case you have one, the logo of your organization, and a succinct phrase of what problem you solve in the world.

· Blogging: One of the ways you can get people to know about your brand is by owning a blog, and writing post that are related to the problem you solve for you clients. As a personal development trainer, a post like this one you are reading is a good example, because it's related to the problem I solve. Through your blog, several persons in the world can get to know your personal brand.

· Social network: Meeting people on social network is a very good way to connect your prospective clients across the world. The invention of the social network has bridged the barrier which exists among people in the world, unlike before it is now possible to connect with just anyone through the available social networks. For example LinkedIn is a good professional social network where you can provide a detailed description of your personal brand, so as to get hired by prospective clients. Others include, facebook, Twitter, Google+ and so on.

· Organize seminars and attend conferences: Among others, one of the ways you can create awareness for your personal brand is by organizing seminars, and attending conferences .In a seminar , you have the privilege to disclose to your audience what you do and the problem you solve for people. A seminar will also help you to exhibit your credibility since you will be taking an active part, and performing the role that is associated with your brand. Similarly, attending conferences will enable you to meet people who share your passion and the relationship in most cases results in a symbiotic one, where you can get hired by your new found friend, or get invited to assist in solving a problem. It is essential you make contribution in every conference you attend. This may enable other attendees get some hints about your credibility or competency in your chosen area.

5. PROVE YOUR CREDIBILITY

The major objective of creating awareness for your personal brand is to get hired. However it is vitally important to keep in mind that first impression matters a lot. This implies that you should make judicious use of every opportunity that is available for you to render service to clients. Your job should be so amazing that it will speak of your credibility. Anytime you perform a good job for a client, there is a high possibility of getting referral from such client, and that is the best form of networking you can ever get. Establishing a high credibility will not only help to retain your existing network, it will also create for you more clients through the referral service of your existing network. The rule here is that you must be excellent in what you do or the service you render.

6. MAINTAIN YOUR BRAND

Personal brand maintenance has to do with consistency. You must be consistent in the value/service you stand for. For example, if yesterday you told your client that you are a success coach, and today you are a barber, definitely you are not consistent. To be successful in any human endeavor consistency is a core factor. You must keep working on your personal brand until you get your desired result .Consistency in this situation involves rendering the same service over and over without deviating from the value you provide.

7. ALWAYS GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR EXISTING NETWORK

You must create a system through which you can always get in touch with your available network. Corporate organizations and some personal brands often make use of bulk sms, newsletter, emails and social network to keep in touch with their customers or fans as the case may be. You can reach your clients by any of the listed method or find out a suitable means through which you can reach them. The merit is that it keeps you in the mind of your clients, and enables them to get in touch with you should they need your service, or refer their colleagues who may be in need of your service.

8. GET YOURSELF UPDATED

Change is one thing that is constant in life .Compare to any other time in history, the 21st century is uniquely characterized with a rapid change in the way things are done. Being an information age, the rate at which information doubles has become faster .As a result of this, the knowledge of yesterday may no more be valid in solving today's problem. If you must meet up with global competition, then you must be consistent in upgrading your knowledge in your chosen area of influence. You must stay in tune with every recent development, and flow in line with recent knowledge. This will not only boost your credibility, it will also prevent you from being a one eye king in the city of the blind, or a local champion.

Create your own brand today!!

Source:http://taiwoemayosan..com/2015/07/strategies-for-personal-branding.html

Your opinions and comments are welcomed.

Have you ever come across the motto of failures? Failures wallow in self pity and have it tattooed on their mind that people who succeed extraordinarily have what they lack. They believe that successful persons are smarter, more intelligent and more gifted than they do. One thing that is constant is that in as much as their mind is programmed based on such a dirty and self limiting phrase, they will never make a headway in life, because it is an indisputable fact that “as a man thinks, so is he.” I state the motto failures as “all fingers are not equal.”

I hope you will agree with me that this phrase is commonly used by failures in every facet of human endeavor as a tool to explain why they never rise beyond average, or attain the peak of their potentials. You may want to argue that the phrase is not restricted to failures alone, that even successful people also use it. But have you asked yourself, what situation would make a successful individual use this phrase? Unlike failures, successful individuals may sometimes use it as a tool of sympathy for the average people, at least to make them fill comfortable about themselves, and their poor state and condition. They never use it to explain their shortcomings, but failures do.

In the academic world for instance, a C student may defend his grades category by capitalizing on the things he lacks as against the straight A student. In a situation where the straight A student is the son of a teacher, and probably from a richer background, the C student can quickly explain his failure by saying he’s a C student because his father is not a teacher, and that he couldn’t afford the necessary textbooks because he’s from a poor background. Though the excuses of this C student seem justifiable, but in reality, it is never a reason for him to remain in that category. His limitation is more attitudinal than his acclaimed facts.



This is not different from what most of us do. We shy away from our responsibilities, and we keep blaming the circumstances of life for our failure. I believe that any C student has the potential to become a straight a student and that every average individual has the capacity to rise to the peak in his chosen career, but this will never be possible if all we do is to keep blaming life variables for our averageness. “You are never a failure” said a great thinker “until you start blaming people for your failure. If we must rise from the dungeon of failure and mediocrity, we must learn to accept responsibility for our failure by finding out our own contribution to our retrogression, and take action that will bring advancement and improvement to our lives. This is the only means through which personal success can be guaranteed

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Litrarily, it is accepted that all fingers are not equal, but it isn’t the same thing as everyone cannot succeed. We can all succeed if we know success recipe and act on it. Anybody can achieve success if he can rightly apply daily the basic fundamentals that are related to the actualization of his desired goal. Likewise, anyone can fail or continue to fail if he continues to repeat the errors that lead to his failure.

In life, no two persons are the same. We are differentiated by several factors. Some are fortunately born with a silver spoon, while some are raised in abject poverty. Some are born physically fit without any form of defect, while some are unfortunately born with pitiable physical defect and disability. However, despite the differences that exist among individuals across the world, history and evaluated experiences have revealed that anybody can become successful and rise to greatness in life irrespective of his body makeup, sex, education, race, religion, and economic background. The life of top achievers like Edmund Hillary, Napoleon Hill, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Henry Fords, Hellen Keller, Bill Gates, Barrack Obama, Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela and others are proofs of the reality of this simple truth.

You must have it in mind that the world is waiting for your name to be enlisted in this hall of fame .Success is a choice, and failure is a choice either, though these choices may be made unconsciously by the individual, both are products of choice. Our daily habits is the factory where we generate our life realities. Success is not guaranteed for anyone, and similarly nobody is doomed for failure, it’s in our hand to choose whether to succeed or to fail.

Choose!

Source:http://taiwoemayosan..com/2015/07/the-motto-of-failures.html

I was fortunate to discover early in life how the outcomes in human lives are created. Every result we get in life either success or failure is a product of thinking, but a lot of people have not come to terms with this reality, they still blame God, devil, or their family background as the reason for their wretchedness not knowing they are responsible for the outcomes in their lives.

The foundation of every creation process is thought. If anything exists today, it is because someone thought about it. If there is anything you have right now, it is either you thought about it and got it, or someone thought about it and got it for you. The physical eye is useless in the creation process, though it can serve as a source of information from the external environment, it is what the man sees with his mind, and which he later converts to material of its equivalent through action that the eyes can see and interact with. The popular maxim says, “sow a thought, reap an action, sow an action reap a habit, so a habit reap a character, and sow a character, reap a destiny. The creation process proceeds from thought to action, from action to results or outcomes. The way you think is the way you live, said harry lorayne, I add, the way you live determines the outcome you get. So in the long run it is your thought that shapes your life.

It has been said that thousands of thoughts or ideas run through the mind of the average human being everyday but most of them are negative. This call for the reason why we need to be selective of what we think about, though for a starter is may be difficult, but with practice you can come to a point where you can you choose the thought you think, even when you are constantly bombarded by negative thoughts. I have attained that level of awareness where I can control my thoughts. To become who we want to be it is essential that we develop the ability to select the thought we want to accommodate. Charles Darwin once said, the highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognized that we ought to control our thoughts. For you to be the captain of the thought you think, you have to do three things.

· Learn how to identify you thoughts: One of the reasons why people are victims of negative thoughts is because they can’t identify their thoughts. Controlling your thought begins by knowing the names of all the thoughts that passes through your mind, thoughts are often expressed in emotion such as anger, self pity, frustration and so on, by knowing the names then you can easily identify their sources by asking, yourself of how you found yourself in that state.

· Know the consequence of your thought: I wrote earlier that thoughts manifest inform of certain emotions, it is these emotions that influences our actions and consequently create our destinies. Every emotion carries along with it certain consequence which may be positive or negative. It depends on the emotion or thought. James Allen, the author of ''as a man thinketh’’ said ''lust, hatred, anger, vanity, pride, covetousness, self indulgence, self seeking, obstinacy, all these are poverty and weakness, whereas love, purity, gentleness, meekness, patience, compassion, generosity, self forgetfulness , self renunciation, all these are wealth and power.'' Knowing the consequence of your thoughts will motivate you to shift your mind from destructive thoughts to thoughts that can serve you positively.

· Control your thoughts: Force your mind to focus only on thoughts that can help you to actualize your dreams

Your thoughts are powerful as they are the creator of goods and ills, wealth and poverty, happiness and wretchedness.

To get your desired results you must learn to organize your thoughts and allow the beneficial ones to rule your heart. Napoleon hill said, cherish your vision and your dreams (thoughts) as they are the children of your own soul and the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

Source:http://taiwoemayosan..com/2015/06/how-your-thoughts-create-your-destiny.html

Knowledge is power says the popular adage, and in reality, knowledge is power indeed .One of the indisputable factors that land people in failure in life is lack of knowledge or information. Lack of knowledge can be referred to as ignorance. Knowledge connotes light through which we can see in the dark wilderness of this world. A person in darkness is bound to be stagnant, and if he makes any attempt to walk, his chances of stumbling is high. Knowledge symbolizes the path that leads to the destination in our minds. The dreams we have in our faculty of imaginations are the cities or the destinations we want to reach. To get to any desired destination successfully, it is imperative that one has the road map that leads to the destination.

Just as every city has a road that leads to it, so it is that every idea, wish or goal has principles, methods or strategies that govern how to transform them into reality. Many people have fantastic ideas, but they lack the basic knowledge of how to transform them into reality. Anyone who must succeed in anything must be ready to pay the price to acquire the necessary knowledge on how to make his desire happen. Successful person in any field are always known to be very intelligent, and possess high level of awareness in their chosen field, no wonder they often end up being consultants to the newbie in their field.

One common mistake often made by people is that they play down on the need to acquire the basic how to( knowledge), that relate to the goal they want to achieve, but go ahead to make a trial, the result in most cases is failure. Nothing is bad about making errors, but errors are only allowed if you are the first person to embark on what you are about doing, but if it has been done before by someone else, all you need is to model the person's strategy. The process of finding out such strategy is what we call information/ knowledge acquisition.

Bishop David Oyedepo, the general oversea of winners chapel, one of the churches with the largest congregation in Africa, and the chancellor of covenant university once said, “I will never get into anything I am not averagely informed about.” He wrote in one of his books, ''exploiting the secret of success" that he spent two years, learning the secrets of success in ministry before he started his ministry, No wonder why he was highly successful.

To succeed in anything, try to master the basic information of how to go about it, this is one of the ways to avert failure. There are experts and people who have successfully done what you are about to start, and have written books on how they become successful. It is important to read these books so as to have the needed light and road map through which you can reach your destination.

However, it is important to know that it is not enough to have the knowledge, or information you need to accomplish your goals, you must be willing to apply them. Knowledge is nothing but a potential power, it will accomplish nothing without application. The real power lies in the application of the acquired knowledge.

Therefore to excel in life, you must be willing to learn everything you need to learn in order to achieve your goals, and you must be willing to act on or apply the information you have gathered. This is one of the secrets of highly successful people. Learn and do

Source:http://taiwoemayosan..com/2015/06/knowledge-your-road-map-to-success.html

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