For all of you who don't believe you can ever live in Eko Atlantic, but are telling yourself, let my #goals be iyana ipaja, let me give you some tips how you can achieve it.
Step 1: set your goal right. I know a man who was very wealthy. He called his sons and told them: I want all you to have houses. Pick a house, I will buy for you. But you will repay me monthly for the house till you have paid it off. One Son picked a house in Yaba. One in Ikoyi.
The Yaba repayment was N100k a month. The Ikoyi repayment was N500k a month. They repaid for 6 months. After that, the Dad told them to stop repaying and they can keep their houses. One had a house worth N30m, one had a house worth N300m. Irrational confidence gave him that.
You must set the goal to where you want to end up. Without this, forget the rest. This is just your mindset, but mindset determines the rest.
Step 2: Who do you converse with the most? The people you have one on one conversations with, are they ahead of you or behind you. Because if they are behind you, they will pull you back. If they are ahead of you, they will move you forward.
Every Day, do the work to connect with someone on a one-on-one basis who is ahead of you in any way possible (not necessarily your field). If they don't want to connect with you, bring gifts. Show you are serious. Don't ask without giving. Offer to help.
And as you advance, go for more challenging people to talk to. People you never imagined could be your friends. Show you are trustworthy. Opportunities come from people, not from hard work.
Step 3: Build a (or multiple) skill to be better than 95% of people. Being you is not a skill. Whatever you do, be so good at it that it will take years to train your replacement. You are only as valuable as what you can do, and how quickly someone else can do it.
Step 4: Keep trying. Leave discouragement from your vocabulary. If you want a job, you apply 10x a day. You don't keep stopping, you keep going. Be like the Terminator, once you start, you cannot be stopped. Take a small step first, someone achievable.
Step 5: once you have achieved that goal, then start working hard to get to the next step. Found a job? Once you stop learning, start trying to find a better one. Challenge yourself to be better next month than this month. Be like Oliver Twist: want more.
Final Step: speak up. Never hide, hoping that saying nothing will avoid trouble. Look for trouble and speak up. Where you work, among your peers, in rallies. Get noticed. Do not be a silent friend, stay top of mind for people who can help you.
