Some years earlier, specifically in the early nineties, I had written a column titled “Rivers In The Desert”, a Christocentric motivational in the Saturday edition of the newspaper. But the political exigencies of the period (it was in the days of the intractable transition programme of the Babangida regime) had forced the column to be rested. A few days after his visit to the church, Lanre Oyetade called me and made a request. He wanted me to start a column in the Business and Personal Finance pages of the Sunday edition of The Tribune. I later communicated my acceptance to him. The thrust of the column was going to be different from what I had done in my previous column. And that was how ‘Empowered For L.I.F.E” was born. The L.I.F.E is an acronym for Leadership, Impact, Finances and Excellence. That was a little over eleven years ago. The first edition appeared on the third Sunday of January 2007. It is amazing how time flies. It was after last week’s edition had gone to press that it dawned on me that it should have been the anniversary edition. And when I eventually remembered, I thought it was the tenth year! How time flies. The column debuted in the Sunday edition, was later moved to the Thursday edition and in 2009, it was moved to Monday where it has featured since.
It has been both challenging and exciting writing this column. First, I am grateful to God Almighty for the grace to be consistent in the writing of the column. I am also grateful to the management of African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc, publishers of The Tribune for retaining the column even after Mr. Oyetade’s exit from the stable. I am also grateful to Mr. Oyetade for the initial provision of the platform even at a time when I thought my plate was already full and of course to the current Group Business Editor, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, for allowing it to continue. My gratitude also goes to a former Managing Director and currently Consultant to The Tribune, Pastor Segun Olatunji. He is a great fan of the column and never fails to commend its contents. He remains one of the motivating forces for the column’s continuity. Sometimes when I don’t feel like writing anything, when I remember that people like him are out there waiting to read what I write, I simply get my acts together and do the needful. And what can I say to you the reader who has kept faith with this column over the years? A big ‘Thank You”. You are the reason for the column. Without your endorsement and encouragement, this column would have been rested a long time ago, either by me or by the management of the paper. I am therefore very grateful to you for enduring my thoughts for the past 11 years. I hope I have made significant sense.
Writing this column has taught me a few lessons about success. No man is self-made. We are all a concatenation of the various influences that God has exposed us to or brought us in contact with.
It is in obscurity that you prepare for prominence. Whatever you know how to or love to do, always give it your best shot, whether or not you are recognized. If you wait for the limelight before you improve your game, you would have waited too late. Those who defer preparation until opportunity comes never excel at anything. Every sports person knows that the game does not make a champion. The game only reveals the champion. A 100-meter race is not won in the ten or less seconds that champion runs it for. It is won in the countless hours that he runs and pushes himself long before the race.
Furthermore, there is power in leverage. You may have the product and not have the platform to showcase it. The reverse could also be the case. In either case, you need to connect with someone who has what you lack; because what you have may be what he lacks and vice versa. This is how the forces of synergy and symbiosis work. Life always holds the door open to contributors. Any relationship becomes parasitic when one party only feeds off the other without the contribution of commensurate value. It is also worthy of note that our highest potentials lie dormant until a demand is made on them. It is for this reason that God sends us divine jump-starters who place a demand on us that fan the embers into a flame. I would never have believed that I could sustain a column consistently for 11, almost unbroken years. The only break that this column ever had in all that period was for about two weeks in 2009 when there was a need to move the day of the week that it featured!
In life, whatever you think you do for others, you actually are doing for yourself. Each time I write, I am mindful of the interests of my readers and so brook no half-measures in terms of the column’s quality of language and content. This has significantly turned out for my own good. The quality of harvest is determined by the quality of seed sown. From the various subjects and write-ups featured on this column, I have been able to publish three best-selling books on the subjects of Leadership, Personal Development and Entrepreneurship and more to come.
Has it been easy? Perhaps it would have been if I was a professional or full-time journalist and had to turn in my story or column from the office. But this column has been written in the midst of a sometimes punishing schedule that meant that I could only stay awake at night to write. Sometimes, I have had to struggle to meet publication deadlines while crossing time zones in different parts of the world. This meant that I often had to write inflight and rely on the Wi-Fi services of airports while in transit. At other times, I have had to struggle with the frustrating data services of Nigerian telecoms providers. There have been times when I was tempted to give up because of these and a few other considerations. But at no time have I regretted doing this. Not for once. I daresay that every effort has been worth it. Each write-up has been worth every second, every word, every page, every night, every research invested in it.
Once again, thank you for keeping faith with me here. Without you reading, it would be meaningless writing!
Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!
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