HITTING THE BULLSEYE BY 40.

I can't remember the day the day these wild thoughts jumped into my mind. I have always been a deep thinker right from the day I first encountered failure. That was in 1991 when I received my report card in Secondary School. The Secondary School happened to be Ijebu-Ode Grammar School, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. I was expecting to move on to JSS 3 the next term. What I saw shocked me to my bones. I was told to repeat Form two. Tears welled up in my eyes and I was so down in my feelings, that I had a tough time packing my luggage for the onward journey home. It was the last day of the term and all boarders had to vacate the hostel and head back home for the two months holiday. To make matters worse, one of my classmates blamed me for being unserious with my studies. I can still remember his name. Ayodele Samaiye.

Anyway, due to a twist in my situation when we resumed, I was promoted to Jss 3. I don't know what happened to this date. However, that incident which nearly saw me repeating a class [ something which had never happened to me ] created the desire to succeed in me. I have since come to the understanding that every great man or woman, must receive his or her wake up call at a period in life. I also believe that we don't need to wait till we are 40 years old to start striving to achieve our goals. We can be made before we are 40. It all has to do with how early we start on the journey to success. It also has to do with our focus. Life throws a lot of challenges before us and I also know that plans fail. I'm not trying to paint a picture of life being a bed of roses. The path to success is full of thorns and people staying on the sidelines mocking you. However, you have to keep going on. You need to keep moving. It does not matter if you take two steps a day, just keep on moving. You will get to your destination before you know it.

Whenever I read about people like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Christiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Chimamanda Adichie, Jimoh Ibrahim et al, I often can't help but wonder when they started their journey to success. They were all comfortable and famous before they became 40 years old. Some of them are still far from being 40 years old. It is not good to be struggling to survive when you record two scores. I don't pray for you to be struggling to pay the school fees of your kids at that age. I think a lot about the topic i'm discussing today. It is an issue that makes me sober when it crosses my mind. I have this belief that nobody owes you anything. It is really good for a man to take care of himself and be independent. However, we cannot do without support from others. We all need each other. Which brings me to the scourge of Self Centredness that is threatening to eat up the world today. We might not be able to hit the bullseye by the time we are 40, without help from others. No one that became successful did it all alone. There must have been some assistance along the way, in whatever form it was received.

We need to share our ideas and learn from others. Networking is the key to financial independence and success. Information cannot be gotten in solitude. It can only be received when we are in constant communication with other people of like minds. What are you doing now to ensure you're comfortable by the time you're 40? How much time do you spend thinking and working on your goals? Do you have a goal in life? Have you ever had this feeling that you are born to be a change agent to people you know? Have you also had the feeling that you were created to do something specific? I don't know what calling you have, but I do know that God created us all for different reasons. Hmn, to be made by 40? It is possible. I know I can. I can do it with the help of God. What about you? What do you think? And how was your day, mate?