₦airaland Forum

For sometime now I have been trying to clear my mind on how to put my thought together and get this piece across. I think I have finally been able to do that and hope that what you are going to read here will encourage you to keep holding on and if need be, help you to make adjustments where necessary.

If you are used to reading the Bible, you should be familiar with the very popular story of Laban and Jacob.

In case you are not the Bible reading type, let me quickly run you through the story.

Laban was a very successful businessman who had two beautiful daughters - Leah and Rachael. He also had a very thriving business as a farmer in cattle-rearing. Somewhere along the line, Jacob came into the picture and was to marry one of the daughters of Laban. Rachael to be precise. But there was a tradition that said the younger could not marry before the older, hence he had to marry Leah whom he did not love. But to marry his true love he had to work for his father-in-law for another 10 years. What a story of love.

But the essence of this article is not even about the sacrifice that Jacob had to make in order to marry the woman he truly loved, though that is something many men need to learn from. How far can you go for the woman you claim to love? What sacrifices are you willing to make to prove the genuineness of your love for this 'woman'?

Now, let us get back to the meat of this piece. Gen. 31:6-7, "You know that I have served your father with all my strength. Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me."

Sincerely, I have seen this happen to people and I also have firsthand experience of a boss changing the staff salary. I have been in HR practice for a while and have seen bosses take advantage of their workers. They use all sorts of manipulative excuses to rob their workers of their due wages/salaries. Maybe they forget that "You shall not muzzle the ox that threads out the corn" (Deut. 25:4, I Cor. 9:9, I Tim. 5:18) is still in the Bible.

These bosses, sometimes out-rightly just act wickedly, thinking and behaving like no one can query them or ask them why! Sometimes, some hide under the guise of down-time in business and then 'change' agreed wages, in some cases up to about 50% reduction.

This is gross injustice. Yes, for many Nigerians, they would rather not fight back, because they don't want to be eventually sacked. After all, "Half bread is better than none", they console themselves with. And you won't blame them. If they leave that job, when/where will they find another? And they also know that if they leave, the boss too will be happy, since he knows that there are many out there who will still accept the position for the same amount.

So where does one find respite when he faces a situation where his boss cheats on him as it was in the case of Laban and Jacob?

My submission is simple. And they are summarized thus:

1. Quit that job. Yes! You can quit and will not die. It may be difficult and take sometime before you find another, but sometimes it is better to stand up for what you believe and not accept any injustice that belittles your person. Believe me, you will eventually find another job.
2. Remain on the job. This is especially if the reason that your boss claims to be the excuse is true. I mean it was obvious and you could see that your boss is not the wicked type, only that situation has forced his hands. Then there is no crime in waiting and weathering the storm with him till things improve and your worth in terms of salary is restored.
3. Trust God to do justice in the matter. In this case, you will not need to fight and become slothful on the job because you feel cheated. In the case of Jacob, he remained and never complained about anything, and his wage was changed - reviewed downwards 10 times. But in the end, God showed up and there was a TRANSFER OF WEALTH.

This was a supernatural intervention. God can give you a better job via recommendations from people you have interacted with on the present job. God can actually bring a situation into your bosses business that will make him begin to negotiate with you, because you are the one with the skill to attend to that situation.

I see God giving you justice in every area where you have been cheated.

God bless.

The concept of goal setting is not new and has been taught for ages. Its importance cannot be over-emphasized if one is to make any meaningful progress in ones endeavours and in life generally.

Experts teach that when you are inking your goals on paper it should be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. I totally agree with this age-old concept of setting goals. And you must do so too.

However, what do I mean by redefining goals? May I even say that my focus is not on the definition of the term or concept but in the characteristic feature of the concept and what it does to the person who purports to have a goal.

The presenter and studio engineer
I was a guest on the programme Ladder to Success on UnilagFm 103.1, the first University radio station in Nigeria on Monday the 16th of December 2013 where I discussed on this topic – GOALS REDEFINED.

By intuition, I know you are eager to know more about how to REDEFINE YOUR GOALS. But before I go ahead with the expose, let me help you see a few other things you need to know as far as goal-setting is concerned. Things like: The Anatomy of Goals, which deals with “The What” to be achieved, “The Why” it has to be achieved and “The How” it is to be achieved. It is important you answer this question(s).

Then you have to consider the Types of Goals; Short Term – usually within a twelve month period. The Medium Term goals – usually between two to five years and the Long Term goals, which deals with anything from five years and above. But I added another type, which I called “Immediate Goals.” These are goals that have a life-span of between one day to one month.

As you consider setting goals, you must always think in terms of growth and development. Any goal you set and achieve must live you better than it met you before you set out to pursue it.

To be able to appropriately focus your goal-setting effort(s), you should consider these different areas of life: Personal, Health, Recreation, Family, Friends, Community, Career, Financial, Household and Spiritual life.
Enough of the pre-amble. Let us get into the heart of discuss.

My concept of GOAL is a little different.

A ‘GOAL’ must do and achieve certain things, which are:
G – Go
O – Optimism
A – Appeal
L – Lift

In action as I emphasized
my points
Now let us dig deep.

G – Go: Just like football players on the pitch of play, goals keep you on your toes. They put spring to your steps. They make you restless. Goals make you sleep late and wake up early. When you have goals you don’t lay back and watch things happen, you make yourself happen to things. You are asking questions and learning in order to gain knowledge that will help you in your quest to achieve your set goals. When you have goals that are compelling, you will be willing to pay any price in order to gain your desired prize. Goals make you proactive rather than reactive.

O – Optimism: Optimism is a necessary currency that you must learn to trade with if you desire to win in the market of life. Why would you set a goal that you don’t believe you can make happen? Optimism is looking at the cup of life as half-filled rather than as half-empty. You must have a positive outlook towards life. That in itself is an antidote that will help to inoculate you against failure. Believe in yourself and in God. Believe you can do it and make it happen. Have you seen a football team going to play a match expecting to lose? Every team expects to win even though they know they may not win. Such is the game of life. You must always expect to win!

A – Appeal: When you have realised your goal, would it have general appeal? Would people be proud to associate with you on the account of your accomplished goal? In other words, whatever goal you set must be positive and must be something that you can be proud to say you accomplished. It must also be within the confines of legality and morality. You can’t set a goal that will have a negative impact on the lives of others and be proud of it at accomplishment. If you kill someone else to rise in life, that is not an accomplishment that has appeal.

L – Lift: As noted earlier, when setting goals you must always think in terms of growth and development. Any goal that does not improve your life/those of others either directly or indirectly was not a worthy goal in the first place. Since goals are like the rungs that you climb to ascend a ladder so it is to help you ascend the ladder of life. Ask yourself at the starting point of setting the goals, where would it lead you when accomplished? The answer should show you if you should pursue that goal.

I am confident that you have learnt something new about setting goals. I encourage and challenge you to go and make things happen while I await your success story.


I remain your life coach and friend, Abiodun Mabadeje; Author, Public/Motivational Speaker, Minister, MC, Actor and Publisher. Contact me on 234 8023771690, 234 8135891291.

As an actor with many years of experience, I know that for every story you always have major or main characters and minor characters. Apart from these, there are also such characters that are referred to as ‘extras.’ Here in our local setting we usually refer to these ‘extras’ as “WAKA-PASS.”

These extras are characters whose roles are not usually important; they are part of the crowd. Their inclusion or non-inclusion in the play does not affect the story or its message.

My dear, I want to tell you that a story has been written by the Creator concerning your life, in this story you are supposed to be the R.M.D or Ramsey Noah or any other actor or actress you know. But the question is do you realize your role; how important it is to the story?

God who is the Chief Director expects you as the main character to give your best so that people can come and pay to watch you.

So unfortunate though, is the fact that most people do not understand their roles in the story of their own lives. They do not know how important they are to the Chief Director who is also the Producer putting so much resources on the ground to get the best out of them.

Most people see themselves as “WAKA-PASS” – ‘not important,’ ‘insignificant,’ ‘won’t amount to anything,’ ‘can’t change the story,’ and so on.

I tell you today, that is a wrong perception of who you really are. Rev. Sam Adeyemi titled one of his books – “You Are More Than This.” In other words all we see of you right now is not all there is to your life. Bishop T. D. Jakes says, “The only number you add to another and does not increase the value of that other number is the number zero.” You are not a zero but a hero. You may have written exams before and you failed. It does not mean you are a failure, it only means you are yet to succeed. Your business may be experiencing doom instead of boom, but I want you to know that in spite of the gloom there is still room for improvement. Bishop David Oyedepo on his part said, “There is a treasure in your nature, which you can use to terminate all the pressures in your life.”

I will simply put it to you like this, God did not create you for a life of mediocrity or obscurity but to be a celebrity and that is why He gave the ability to counter the effects of the reality of the calamity that subsist in your society. God gave you ability so that you will not be a liability. You are an asset!

It has been proven that there are over six billion people on the face of the earth today but none is like you. There is no second you; none has the same finger or footprints as yours. You are special. “Fearfully and wonderfully made” says the Bible. If you want the glory make sure you fulfill your purpose by playing your role as the main character in your story. You are not a “WAKA-PASS.”

God bless you!