Why is it that some people will watch helplessly as their lives fall apart when, within their easy reach, is information that can make all the difference in their lives?
This was the thought that occupied my mind in the closing days of last year. I'm sure you will be glad to know that I found the answer. But before I share with you my exciting discovery, let me first tell you what led me into thinking about the subject.
After we held the last
Business Leadership Forum in 2001, the monthly mentoring programme that I host every third Saturday of the month, I was consumed with the desire to see more members of
SuccessDigest Leaders' Club start to write their own million naira cheques.
But how can this dream be realized? This question was directed to my Father in heaven. I seek His guidance in matters like this. A couple of days afterwards, the answer came: “Go and teach them how to use information”. “Use information?” "Yes," was the firm reply. For, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," (Hosea 4:6).
If you are a regular reader of Success Digest, you of course know that you get a truckload of quality information every month. Which means that having information is not enough. You must apply (use) it If you want it to work for you. And in applying it, you must do so correctly.
Is there a big difference between applying Knowledge (Information) and getting Information? Yes, there is. I can use my own life as an example. Let me go as far back as 1974 to show how using (not just knowing about) information can dramatically change a life that’s headed nowhere to a meaningful life.
First, I encountered the word of God that says I should stop worrying about tomorrow. That word came to me at a time when I used to fret about where my family’s next meal would come from. That was in 1974. Just trusting God’s word eliminated that problem from my life for good. Since 1974 till date, my family has never had cause to worry about tomorrow. God has faithfully provided for ALL our needs.
Second, in 1975, I read a pamphlet by Herbert W. Armstrong titled,
Seven Laws of Success. The booklet spoke about setting goals, getting the right education, persevering, etc. Without hesitation, I began to apply the information to my life. In less than two years, I'd earned two passes in GCE, finished a correspondence course in Journalism and started filing sports stories for newspapers - two giant leaps in my life that was previously headed nowhere!
Third, I came across
Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill in December 1983. By January 1984, after I'd read the book, an idea to become a sporting title publisher had formed in my mind. By November 3 of the same year, with N6,500 as my startup capital, I started the publishing business. Despite all the odds, I've been in the same business continuously for the past 18 years.
Fourth, early in 1995, while researching the contents of
Success Digest magazine, I found a book by James and Wayne Gonyea on Internet, titled:
Selling On The Internet. It was the first time ever that I would hear the word "Internet." I decided to apply the information in the book. Today, Internet provides me one of my income streams.
As you can see, learning to use the information that you have every reason to believe would change your life, is a vital key to success in life. But this fact is known to almost everyone in search of success in our land today, So why is it that, in spite of their exposure to this truth, many are still finding it difficult to change their lives? What is it that is holding them back?
I've given this subject a deep thought.
And the only culprit that I can find is the strong desire to want to change our situation instantly, almost over-night. Let me explain. Let us assume that for three years you were out of job. Before you lost your job, you had plans to get married, move into a new flat and buy a car. Then, without warning, your employer fired you.
And so began an agonizing search for another job. None was forthcoming. Things began to deteriorate fast. You couldn't buy a new dress. Feeding even became a problem. You had to endure this humiliation for three years before another job turned up.
On your first week back in work, you take stock of your life. What you see is not so good.
Your fiancée had gone with another man. She had told you she couldn't wait. You have a debt burden hanging over your head that would take two years to write off on your current salary. Instead of a new flat, you have moved from a two-room apartment into a single room. And there is no hope for a car. I mean, you couldn’t even afford a tyre not to talk of a car. Suddenly the joy that filled your heart when you got a new job disappears. What could bring you happiness is if you could lay your hands on a magic wand that could restore all what you were supposed to have acquired in the last three years in one fell swoop.
As you continue to think along this line, you lose interest in your job. Instead of thanking God for the opportunity to build back, you start to look for that job, that contract, that connection, that magic wand that will change your situation over-night.
In the process, you lose the new job, get back on the dole queue, and dig deeper and deeper into the quicksand of poverty. If you’re lucky, you realize your mistake and make a 'U' turn. If you are unlucky you become disgruntled about life constantly looking for someone to blame for your lack of success.
The new job here represents new information you come across that teaches you how to get to where you've been planning to be. When you receive the information, you get so excited. "Eureka!”, you scream excitedly. “This is it!!” Then you start to apply the strategy. Along the way, you discover that it will take you time before you get to where you want to be. “Eh this wasn't the quick fix I wanted", you say to yourself in frustration. And you jettison the Idea, going back to square one.
Listen to me, friend. If you’ve been making this mistake, you are going for self destruction! Let this article serve as a red light to you. Turn back!! The only way you can be where you thought you ought to be over-night is by going against the law. You can’t change God’s law about sowing and reaping. There must of necessity be a gap between when you plant a seed and when you harvest the seed's increase. Stick to your game plan. If you don’t have one, go back and read my column in the January edition. It will give you total victory over this dangerous disease. For, indeed, it is a madness that you must cure by all means.
Sunny Obazu-Ojeagbase is the Chairman of SADC, Publishers of SuccessDigest. He is also the founder of Complete Communication Limited, publishers of Complete Sports.
