YOU'RE FIRED!

These are definitely two words that scare the living day light out of almost every executive although endearing words have been cooked up to replace them – from downsizing to laying off. The effect is the same; the fact that some group of people that wanted you suddenly found you repulsive for whatever reason (I don't think the victims care). Last year December alone, more than 5, 000 bank executives were relieved of their jobs and if the bank drama continues, more bank executives would feel the impact of the axe.

Anyway, Happy New Year! I have been on a project that needed my full concentration and I am happy to announce to you that I am back. This year comes with great tidings and also great insight into our everyday life phenomenon; everything is on deck to produce articles that would stimulate your minds, arrange your thoughts and motivate you towards successful living but there is definitely a caveat, especially to those who enjoy reading my articles.

Reading without active participation is a waste of your precious time; you are not just wasting the time you should be using to increase your personal worth, you are cramming your mind with provocative information that would render you inactive towards productivity. The worst thing a man can do to himself is to have multiple visions for his life or being in an «unsure» state. This means any wind can take you to any destination it deems fit.

You should be sure of the destination despite the hazy nature of the process. This is why things like being «fired» should not cause the kind of emotional repression it does to its victim. In the film; «UP IN THE AIR»; you would get to see a clear picture of what people go through when they are fired. If you have not watched this outstanding film, you can pick it up via Mobile Moviz. Getting fired is actually a report card of what you have learnt in life – it shows different perspective to different people – to some; it says it's time to move to greater things – to some; it says you are not the right fit for this organization – to some others; it says your skill is not important enough for consideration.

All in all, you did not play your cards right, so you got booted out; the problem thus becomes getting booted out instead of booting yourself out. The organization gives you a habit and decides to take away that habit from you – you must get to work before 8am and leave at 6pm and now you can do whatever you feel like doing with your time. I believe this is actually the most painful part of the whole drama (even more painful than the economic disempowerment) – the ability for a man to alter your habit at his own discretion.

Habit is the single most important element of man – though we are not our habit, our habit defines us. It can act as a map to our future; someone can review your habit and can extrapolate your future. Your neighbors or colleagues at work don't know who you are, they can only guess from your habit. The success of any man can be attributed to his habits but something quite funny about habits is that when they are formed over time, they are very hard to remodel.

A good example is Andre Agassi – one of the best lawn tennis players of all time. In his self-authored biography titled «open», he described his hatred for lawn tennis but through his childhood habit of rigorous training for lawn tennis success, he found it difficult to break. Habit can thus make you hate something and be the best at it. Most people under-estimate the power inherent in forming a habit, it is so powerful that it can define the characters of your fifth generation.

This is why this year, I would be focused on those who have or are willing to form the habit of reading and doing rather than just reading. The people who do what they know are far better than those who simply know – no matter the failures experienced by those that do, they are in every position better than those that do nothing. You can sit at your desk, read, assimilate, make comment, analyze, call me to discuss my articles but if you are not doing what you know, you are as good as not reading my articles at all.

In Luke chapter 5, Jesus made a distinction on those who listen to his words and those that do his words. By the Lake of Gennesaret, were a crowd of people listening to him and a bunch of people doing work. The people doing the work have just arrived from a failed expenditure but this did not matter to Jesus as he was drawn to them. He later showed them a successful way of doing the work. Those who listen alone are always in the crowd and they chase after Jesus while those that do the work are few and Jesus goes after them. Those that do the work are always successful despite their initial failures.

Few months after the mid of last year, I introduced the CAR VACUUM CLEANER competition which dealt primarily on selling. This competition was developed by me to aid the Nigerian work force develop the skill of selling which is undoubtedly a prized asset.