The World as I see it.

By Believing we become willing,

By willing we become driven

JIDEOFO OBIANYIDO 2007

As someone who - for a very long time – has watched and wondered from the sidelines why certain people achieve success “no matter what” while others seems equally incapable of making good of themselves in similar circumstances, cracking the code very late in life is such a relief.

These feelings started to awaken in me ten years ago when I dropped out of university. I now conclude that for some reason which I can only attribute to a very personal “family experience”, I assumed that success was, in my case a birth-right waiting to happen.

Wrong.

It is hard graft or nothing. And anybody willing to put in the pain will definitely get the gain. I am yet to meet a person who does not agree with but history always repeats itself. Some succeed while others don’t - period. As we are intelligent [ability to learn] beings it should be very shocking to us all that some people in this relative land of immense opportunity still fail to succeed. My joy today comes from actually realizing that agreeing with or knowing something that is accepted to be common sense is not enough. Knowing is very different from believing and knowing is worlds away from willing. For those of us with no blue blood, connections in high-society and simply with no skills and want to succeed in life, it is more of a belief and will thing than anything else. Majority of us are not believers and the same majority are not willing [in possession of little or no will power].

By believing you become willing, by willing you become driven.

Belief is very important because that is the only way you keep going [driven] when the going gets tough. To illustrate, consider yourself a boxer. If you believe you are a superior boxer to your opponent but he/she manages to catch a clean shot at you and actually knock you down in the first round, what do you do? Say he was lucky to get a clean shot and give up altogether or comeback to the second round with a point to prove. We have seen this over and over again. It is very likely that if initially you believe to be stronger, even if your opponent knocks you out in the first round, you will come back in the second round even more aggressive. If on the other hand if felt your opponent was stronger, chances are you will throw in the towel. Why carry on fighting with someone who will beat you up anyway? It is just like that with life and that is the difference with driven people and the rest of us. Most of us give up too soon or do not try hard enough. It is all about belief. All other attributes necessary for success will be added on to those of us that are willing and driven. All that nonsense about natural ability, talent, gifted, that-type-of-person, and whatever excuse mediocrity has used to describe personal triumph is nothing but signs of weakness and ignorance. Sadly there is a lot of that in society. I do not believe anybody will wish themselves failure if they knew success is very much within reach. They fail simply and squarely because they do not know any better.

Now question is, what do you know? And now that you know, what are you going to do about it?

Environment where one comes from is of the essence here minus the “very few greats” amongst us. People who do well academically for instance do “certain things” that make them good – they study more than the average. It is very sad that through out our formative years that for some reason, majority of us believe that we are not the type to succeed.

Naturally after failing to secure a job after dropping out of university, I started to wonder if there was something wrong with me. I assumed that employers would discover my talents and employ me anyway. But that never was the case. How that troubled and affected me. Logic should have told me that it is not what you are capable of doing but what you have done already. Put yourself in any employer’s shoes. Who would you employ if you were to – a graduate with glowing references or a university drop-out? That is it. Life itself is like that. Winner takes all. So the question is – Are you willing?

At the depth of my lows, I read so many biographies of men I so much admired. Martin Luther King Jr, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Wole Soyinka, Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Che Guevara, Nelson Mandela, Samuel Smiles, Malcolm X, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, Karl Popper, William Spencer Churchill, Bob Marley, George Soros, Milton Friedman, Booker Taliaferro Washington, and many more that I wont bother to mention and one thing becomes staggeringly obvious – self belief and hard work.

I must note here that not all human success stories follow this theory down to a T. For some people, success comes with little or no evidence or awareness of difficulty, struggle, courage, drive, confidence or ambition. They just cruise into it. Good luck to them. Now is not the right time to compare the relative ease with which some find their journeys in life. Let them be. You should only worry about yours. So bottom line is you got to believe in yourself. You got to be willing to succeed.

Are you really willing to believe?

You are a student? Good.

You are ambitious? Good.

You want to achieve the very best? Good.

In fact everybody should answer yes to the above questions. If not – piss off. If yes, read on!

To do very well at anything starts with a very simple decision. This decision is for those who consider themselves not doing well enough in their desired field. The decision simply is to do better! If you are on top of your game without even thinking about it – you are the lucky one everybody wishes to be. If not, worry not. You are making the right decision. The only thing left is to follow the decision through.

All that you will read here is nothing new. In fact your parents, your teachers, your guardian at some point, have all tried to relay this message but one way or the other it did not get through. The only difference now is that you are reading it from someone who doesn’t really care if you read it or not. Most likely you will not take it seriously because it is free. But one day many like you will be paying people like me just to repeat all this crap. It really is a funny Old World.

If you are not already super confident about the journey you are embarking on by seeking an education, I want you to forget all you think about yourself. How you feel you are not good enough. How you feel there are people better than you. How you feel that no matter how hard you try, you will not be as good as certain people. How you feel other people have more advantages than you do. In fact the list goes on. The time spent worrying about all these things could have been spent becoming better!

The fact that you have all these thoughts means that you will never be able to focus on the thing that really matters. What people do not realise is that there will always be such people anyway and so what? You think they are better than you – so they are. I say, to hell with them, worry not about them. As disadvantaged as you might be – I do not give a toss. Better put, employers certainly do not. Just read on.

If you are one of those already super confident – believe you me, you do not know the value of confidence in real terms. People will pay millions just to be confident. And I do not mean no-hopers. Even the most confident, get sweaty palms every now and then. My advice, you must be doing something right and that is firing you up with confidence – keep it up son! But just for the sake of it – read on also, nothing to lose!

Now all you need in this exclusive club is to be honest with yourself about your level of intelligence now. At one point in your life, walking seemed a big deal. In fact if we list all the things you could not do at some point that you can do now – we would run out of time and space. Yet people believe that they can never do well in this subject or that subject without even trying hard enough. When learning to walk or ride a bike, how many times did you fall? So why worry that you failed this exam or the other. You are just not thinking right. Let me be honest here, not even your teacher can say how good you are. They are just saying what they think! Never even worry about what your teachers think of your academic performance. How come they are experts on your affairs? Does it not sound silly? The only person that knows how good you really are is YOU. You fell many times when you were learning to walk and ride a bike but that didn’t stop you. In fact quitting never crossed your mind. Did you not realise how bad you were? Let’s face it – you were awful. But that did not stop you. In your teens you were riding all day and all night on this same bike that gave you so many bruises and scars. So why is it like that in education? Just one of those things! Education as important as it is, it does not seem as interesting as riding a bike – that is what your attitude tells me. Falling constantly and getting back up again when riding your bike but not doing the same in education. You never felt A or B or C will be a better rider than you forever did you? You just kept at it and bingo – you can even cycle with no hands! In this field of academic brilliance the only person you are worried about is yourself. Start thinking back to when you learnt to ride your bike whenever you feel less than 100%. Riding a bike is easy, you might say. What about driving? How many teenagers learn to drive before time? And do you know why? Simply because they want to. So now ask yourself – do you want to study?

Why are you at College/University? – To set yourself up for the big time!

If your answer to this question is to get a good job, then you are wasting time. Why would anybody employ you when there are much better people out there? Chances are the job you will end up doing will not require a university degree. People go to University to become something e.g. a Mathematician, a Doctor, a Lecturer, an Engineer, a Lawyer and so on. Why waste 3-4-5 years of your life to get a job. 90% of the jobs on this planet do not require a University Degree or even a College Diploma! When I was at university, I had the same stupid attitude – to get a good job! At university you should be getting yourself ready for your rightful place in society. And this place is a place nobody else will occupy but yourself. If you are doing Mathematics, you are not doing it to end up working in some clothes shop as a sales assistant or some police officer. You are just preparing yourself to become a Mathematics lecturer, a Statistician, an actuary an accountant and so on. Notice how I refrained from saying, “Getting a good job”. I said, “Becoming something”. At University you are acquiring both knowledge and skills you would not have acquired otherwise. Roll into any oddjob and you pick up on the job!

What are you doing now that you are here? – Getting ready for the real world!

Now that you are here, it is time to get real son. Look around you, there are thousands of students just like you both in and outside the country [you didn’t realise that UK is a world destination and graduate applications come in from even Tim buck Tu!] doing the same subjects as you and probably have the same dreams as you do. Just imagine your self when you graduate and find yourself at an interview with 10 other similar students. Now why will anybody employ you? If you graduate then start reading books on how to do well at an interviews, you already have been p’nked son. The time to prepare for your graduate interview is now. So every thing you are doing, or intend to do is with that in mind! You have to be good – very good. Every book you read, every lecture you attend, every project you hand in, every assignment you do, every research you undertake, you are doing it with the simple desire to be the best. Your choice. Remember you are not the only student out there.

Secrets of Writing – Clear and logical thinking!

Many people wrongly assume that to write, one has to read a lot. Yes, it does help but it is not fundamental. To be able to write you need one thing and one thing alone – to be able to think clearly. You should be able to have clear [and in most cases - logical] thoughts then use words to express them. That is all it takes! I bet my last pound that anyone who can think clearly, inevitably will also be a good writer. When I realised this fact not so long ago, the volume of my literal output quadrupled. We all have thoughts. We spend all day thinking about one thing or the other. Many of us think about the same things. The funny difference is that some people can write them down far better than others. How many books have you read and failed to see the big deal? Or better still how many books have you read and thought you could have done the same – if not better! Many stupid people will call it talent – how that word is misused! There is no big deal here. If you can think, then you should be able to write. Simple test, have you ever had a vivid dream? Then try writing it down for someone else. That is it. Just replay the dream and start writing scene by scene. You might get stuck, but the thought is clear. All you have to do is start looking for the appropriate words to express those thoughts. Even the dumbest illiterate has thoughts and dreams, but maybe because he doesn’t write very often, he never exercised that skill and now he thinks writing is beyond him. Equally, even the best writer will not be able to write about something he knows nothing about! You have been tricked into believing that some people have that writing talent – Bullshit. If you can think, then you can write. As far as I am concerned there is an article, an essay, a book in every single one of us – and a bloody good one too! So now…

Stop singing – start swinging.

Stop dreaming – start weaving.

Stop priding – start writing.

So now that you have discovered the biggest secret in the universe – go forth and dazzle your teachers. No matter the topic, just spend some time thinking about it before you write. The silliest assumption is that with writers, words just flow – Wrong! They have the same difficulty as the average Joe. The difference is they think about it before they write – you just hold a pen in your hand and expect the words to flow. The more you think about your essay, the more the words come to you. If you still have not got a clue then you have serious problems mate.

Secrets of Reading – Being selective!

Now that you know how to write, you must know how to read. Writing is all about visualising and thinking. Reading is all about looking for the right words to express your thoughts. Speed is not important. I am a very slow reader. When I was younger, I thought I was mentally slow to be such a slow reader. It has not really improved much with age but I find that if I find anything interesting, I read it faster. I never read anything these days if I do not believe I am going to gain either some specific knowledge or ideas or greater powers of expression from it! Remember your imagination is just as good as the best writer out there. They just happen to know more words and suitable expressions to define them. Without the right words, even the most interesting event becomes boring. From now on be selective in your reading. You should only read for two reasons. To gain specific knowledge e.g. a Textbook or a manual, or to gain expressive power e.g. fiction.

What is common with all well-read people is that they have favourites. For me, in fiction it’s Jeffrey Archer. In Faction it’s Fredrick Forsyth.

Secrets of Doing Very Well – Being consistent, Being committed!

To do very well at college/university you just need to be consistent.

Secrets of Dealing with Teachers! – Become their friends!

If you are a student and there exists beef between yourself and your teachers, be assured that you are not going to get the best academic reference. Glowing references are worth their weight in gold. I do not understand students that do not get on with their teachers or lecturers. What can be the problem apart from most students becoming spoilt prats these days? I don’t care what the problem is, you need the education – you might as well kiss your lecturer’s ass!

Secrets of Landing that dream job – Being as good as you should be!

Forget all those “How to do well at Interviews” books. They are written for people who didn’t go to University. To get a good job, all you need is to have been very good at University. Employers will be after you then. Well folks this is the end of my message. If you need help with GCSE or A Level Maths mail me at lucianno66@yahoo.com and we see what we can do. Remember, Time wasters need not apply!!!

This message is not based on any direct research; study, curiosity or quest for any knowledge, need or desire whatsoever. As far as I am concerned - it is not necessary. If you live in my world, you must have lived through similar experiences. All I have written below is from my many years of existence. Besides my audience [Ambitious Students] know themselves.

When a power-hungry politician wants to address the electorate he does research to prepare for his speech. He and his team of spin doctors dig deep and come up with all types of favourable statistics, facts, buzz-words, clichés, captivating one-liners and hypnotic body language to ensure the speech has not only relevant content but adequate razzmatazz to dazzle and bamboozle his audience. When this is done properly, the speech is no longer a speech but a performance. Most likely, it pays off - he gets your vote!

I am no such politician and you are no such electorate. He needs your vote - I don’t.

When an ambitious employee wants to impress his boss, he does his research into what he thinks will impress his boss. He might volunteer to do a presentation or a task nobody else wants to undertake. He might take on extra duties or do longer hours. He might volunteer to more work directly for his boss not necessarily because he likes the work or his boss but because he wants recognition or promotion. When this is done long enough, most likely he catches his boss’s eye and it pays off - he gets promoted!

I no such employee and you are not my boss. He needs promotion - I don’t.

When a man wants to attract the attention of a woman, he normally tries all sorts of tricks to make himself appear more interesting. He may take up bodybuilding improve his physic or appear physically stronger. He may attend dance classes to come across as a good dancer or wear better clothes, spray sweet-smelling deodorants, put on expensive accessories to look rich. He might even go for a better-paying job to be able to afford the niceties that attract females or whatever else he feels will help him achieve his goal. In most cases it pays off - he gets the woman!

I am no female-seeking male and you are no female (so to speak*). He needs a woman - I don’t.

When a salesman wants to sell you something, they try to come across as friendly, they make sure they look good, speak well, and accentuate all the benefits of the product, present both themselves and the product in the most positive sense possible. That way they are trying to get to you subconsciously and not directly. In most cases, it pays off - they make a sale!

I am no such salesman and this message is no product. He needs a sale - I don’t.

When an ambitious student wants to graduate with a *double first class honours* in whatever disciple he undertakes, he makes sure he does his homework. He knows that from his first year, he should be on top of his game - attending almost all lectures, being punctual at lectures, actively participating in lecture discussions, delivering assignments/projects on or before deadlines, building positive rapport with all lecturers and administrative staff, developing a clique of serious and high-achieving friends, seeking an internship by the end of his second year, joining professional bodies while still at University, getting published in both student and professional magazines, maintaining an on-line blog and not to mention putting in hours of private intensive study. How do you compare, Hot shot? By doing so this student is not headed for a first class but a double first class honours with ultra-violet references. What else should a student aim for? Mind you if this is not your aim - you are not my audience.

I am no such student and this is no such homework. The student needs a double first class - I am not a student.

However, when I want to deliver this message, I deliver direct. I do not have to sugar-coat my message for anybody. I do not even stop to consider those that I might offend by saying what I want to say. I will not even stop and think about the less confident, less able or less privileged students. Subscribing to any such “less-this” or “less-that” ideology is self-fulfilling and guarantees failure like death follows life! Mind you who will want to deal with a less able anybody if the best is out there? Definitely not moi! Take it or leave it - I cannot care less.

The people this message is meant for know themselves. They always occupy their rightful place in society - on the top floor of the society house of high achievers!

Second-rates, Defeatists, Semi-ambitious, Soft-hitters, Lightweights, Dimwits, Also-rans need not apply. Sorry - fully booked!

This message is meant for those students who want to gain the most out of a University Education. To achieve the very best, the “Intellectual All-rounders”, “Intellectual Super Heavyweight-wannabes” - just like me.

That was the sweet introduction, now lets get down to business.

Now go to The Message Part 2. http://jideofo74.blog.com/783011/

Just as the shadow follows the body, the body follows the mind. If the mind is racing in a hundred directions due to pressure, the body is also racing, even though the individual may be sitting in a chair. Have you noticed that when people talk fast and hop from one thought to another, they become more restless and fidgety and their breathing becomes faster and more shallow?

The fact that the body follows the mind goes in this way is not commonly recognized. Breathing changes our physiology. For example, if you concentrate in a relaxed manner on a pleasing subject or even a neutral subject or object, your body will start calming down and you are likely to feel relaxed. Why does concentration help?

In order to answer this question, let’s consider the process that enables us to concentrate. The act of concentration has three components: directing attention to a subject; secondly, persisting with the chosen subject and, thirdly, withholding attention from other subjects. It is the action of denying access to things, sensations, noises and thoughts unrelated to the chosen focus that enables us to concentrate for longer durations. The mind has greatly helped humanity, but it has also created stress that causes much suffering, inner tension and many stress related physical disorders. Thoughts can create havoc with the body. Thoughts are not merely abstract ideas or esoteric “brain waves.” Thinking is not merely speaking to oneself silently, as it is often described. Thoughts produce real chemicals and emotions. Thoughts can produce as much stress as the actual experience, and sometimes even more!

As an example try this out: start thinking about some awful, terrible thing that happened to you in the past and observe your bodily and emotional reactions. Now think about an awful, terrible event that may happen in future. Similar thoughts about the past and the future do pop up in our mind without any effort on our part.

Thus, thoughts alter our physical state all the time. Most of us don’t notice it and don’t make the connection between physical- chemical changes in the body and one’s thoughts. These changes are ever so subtle. Also, we get so busy and involved in reacting to what we are thinking about that we rarely notice when our breathing changes, jaw tightens or shoulders stiffen. We surely notice them when these changes escalate to the level of shortness of breath, smothering, headache or stiff neck and back.

We tend to think that the sole purpose of concentration is to improve learning and performance and thus facilitate our success in life. However, when you view concentration as a way of specifically controlling and reducing negative thoughts, you may find that you can use concentration as an effective tool for stress management and mind-body health.

Use concentration to reduce irrelevant and negative thoughts. Set a goal to increase your power of concentration, not just as a means to achieve something else, but specifically to develop your ability to concentrate all the time. Well, almost all the time. Concentrate on the task at hand and when you thoughts wander, instead getting upset or disappointed with yourself, just bring your mind back to the task a hand.

If the task at hand does not require full attention, it can be highly beneficial to fill your attention with awareness of your breathing. Such an awareness of breathing not only cuts down on negative and disturbing thinking, but can also become a useful tool for stress- management. Breath is intimately linked with the mental state. When we become tense, angry or emotionally excited, our breathing changes instantly. When we are relaxed, we breathe smoothly and deeply. Therefore, you can use your breathing as your “stress meter.”

Here are the seven signs that reflect mental and physical stress: shallow breathing (chest breathing); accelerated pace of breathing; jerky breathing (like sobbing or sighing); uneven breathing; mouth breathing; too long a pause from one breath to the next and when breathing becoming louder than usual. These signs are only valid when you are not physically exerting. When you pay attention to the above signs of stress, you will be in a better position to modify them and control your stress level.

These are the characteristics of healthy and relaxed breathing: nasal breathing; belly breathing; slow breathing, smooth breathing; quiet breathing, no pauses between breaths and exhalation being equal or longer than inhalation. These characteristics tend to trigger a relaxation response for the body and the mind, and also improve the ability to concentrate for longer duration.

By utilizing the powers of concentration you can concentrate your powers.

It is our belief that

1. The most important thing in education is the student’s attitude towards education.
2. In every student, there is always room for improvement. We want to be that agent of improvement.
3. A good education no matter how expensive, is the safest investment one can make towards ones future.
4. Ambition is more important than ability - make a man hungry and he will look for food. Ambition drives people to want to achieve more and by so doing making them more able.
5. Access to education is more expensive, more competitive and more dire but in comparison even less students are driven or motivated enough to face the challenges ahead - this, we believe, is the problem faced with our education today.
6. A University Degree - irrespective of where from - can take you anywhere job-wise. It just might take longer.
7. A University Degree - irrespective of where from - can be made good enough to compete with Top University Degrees.
8. Despite the successes, many students will face hard times after graduation, much of which can be avoided by motivating students to be hungrier for success.
9. Many Students sleepwalk through their education. At the foundation, we intend to make students live-walk through their education.
10. Most institutions have enough teachers, and facilities, it’s just that students are not taking full advantage - we hope to change that.
11. To improve standards in education, it is not necessarily about more funding, more teachers, more student loans, but ultimately about more motivated students. That is our aim and we can and will achieve this.
12. Time spent in Colleges and Universities should be not only self-defining, but career defining as well.
13. Students should be encouraged to get more involved with activities at Colleges and Universities
14. Students should know exactly how education can change their lives for the better.
15. Students should know the full implications of studying with borrowed money. As bad as it sounds it should increase motivation and not otherwise.
16. Millions of students nation-wide can and will benefit from our Foundation.
17. With this program, we will experience the first revolution in education in the history of our nation and there is no time like the present.
18. With a noticeable rise in student motivation and confidence, and an educational revolution in place, this country will experience biggest economic boost since the turn of the 19^th century.

We go round Colleges and Universities all over the country talking to students about the seriousness of education, how education opens doors, how education changes lives, how class and social status pales into insignificance with a good education. We basically talk to students in as much detail as possible and with as many examples as possible on how education can and should be a positive live-changing experience.

At the Foundation we do not just talk to students, we connect with them.

The First Principles Foundation will go all the way
The First Principles Foundation will make a difference.
The First Principles Foundation can achieve this with you.
The First Principles Foundation wants you to be part of this revolution.

We stress on how students tend to take things for granted, how almost everything they need is there for them but they still overlook it. We also stress that our message has nothing to do with ability, as they have proved that by being at college/university in the first place, but everything to do with ambition, focus, motivation, drive, planning and self-belief. These are the things we talk to students about. We bring home the message that with a good education, the good life is a given. We talk about the effect those 3, 4, 5 years will play in the rest of their lives. Hard – yes, it is, but once our message gets through, you get more confident and more ambitious people who are destined for a better deal in life.

We illustrate our talks with real-life examples of successful and not-so successful stories. We also invite people from all walks of life to share their experiences with students – anything to kick-start what lies sometimes latent in all of us – the desire to succeed. That is where you come in. we are looking for sponsors. More on that later.

We change the way students – especially inner city students – see themselves and their education. We put fire in their bellies and we believe this is what is lacking in our inner city institutions.

Also we are setting up a “must-buy” student’s magazine. This magazine is going to be a favourite for students from A levels to fresh graduates. Depending on further research we might have a section for up to MBA and PhD students.
The sole aim of the magazine is to motivate students and give them ideas on undergraduate courses, pay scales, careers paths, career prospects and opportunities, job hunting and career development.
We are approaching personalities and leading firms all over the country to be contributors. Every contribution will be extremely beneficial to students. What we will most like from you and your firm is an article on your idea graduate. By this we mean the type of graduate you most wish existed or applied to your firm. It is our belief that as employers of graduates you will have your ideals. Every employer has something different that they want from graduates. This will be priceless information for aspiring graduates and it will help us achieve our ambition of firing up motivation to succeed in students via our magazine.

Also, imagine the picture if we succeed. Every major employer, Organisation, industry will want a part of us. We are giving you the opportunity to be part of a revolution never before seen in this country.

But to do these things we need sponsors. Above all else – we need you to contribute to our magazine. We need you to accept an invitation to speak at, at least one of our seminars. This is not mandatory but very valuable to us.

As I said earlier, we intend to go to college-to-college, university-to-university. We will go very far in this country. We are going to start the first revolution in education since the 1944 Education act. Be part of us. You have nothing to lose. Education is a huge market and with ambitions like ours, we cannot fail.

We will be waiting.