ADJUSTMENT

“It is possible to intervene to make your life move in a direction that suits your desires and expectations.” - Terry Mante

WISHES are not horses. Many times, we find that our prevailing realities do not line up with our desired outcomes. If your life is not going the way you desire or expect, will you just put your hands on your head and wallow in a pity party? If your spouse is not happy because of a particular shoe, will you complain or change the shoe? If you desire to lose some weight but you find that you keep gaining more pounds, are you just going to be embarrassed or will you alter your regular lifestyle practices so you could achieve your desire?

You see, there is nothing in life that happens which is not made to happen. Things don’t just happen. If you don’t like how your life is moving, you can intervene to make it move in a direction that suits your desires and expectations. You can alter the circumstances of your life. For you to make those alterations, you must understand the concept of adjustment.

According to the Encarta World English Dictionary, adjustment refers to the act of making “a slight change intended to make something fit or function better.” Sometimes, the steps you need to take to make your life better may not be so big but they could be little actions that produce big results. Nevertheless, you have to learn to take those steps.

Adjustment is an imperative. It is extremely important and cannot be ignored. It is perhaps the only sensible and logical way to change undesirable outcomes in your life. If you don’t learn to adjust, you cannot change your life.

As important as adjustment is, it must be deliberately engineered. Adjustment is an alternative course of action that is pursued to make a desire become real. If you throw a pity party after a bad business deal, it will not necessarily lead you out of indebtedness. Merely wishing that the next semester will produce better grades will not change the grades for you. There has to be a carefully crafted strategy that will help you to achieve the outcome you desire.

In making adjustment, you have to be careful not to allow the status quo to get in your way. Don’t permit the usual to bar you. The purpose of adjustment is to produce new results. New results come when you do things you have never done before. Thus if you are adjusting, you are displacing some current practices with new practices. It implies you are creating new experiences; you are doing things you have never done before. Adjustment requires shifting your paradigm.

Adjustment is a tough call. It is not done lightly. It may be contrary to your senses. It may be unreasonable. But you must see the need to amend your ways. The price may be high but the value could be priceless. You have to be able to defy your senses to make the adjustment necessary for you to reach where you want to be. You have to be willing and ready to resign from your comfort zone. Delivering the keynote address, Anthony Cudjoe remarked at DECISION that “Comfort is the enemy of significance.” You can’t have a significant life if you are not ready to swim against the tide.

If you want to see a change in your life, you must be prepared to make changes. You must live as if you are an engineer. You must design, plan and construct your life. At any point in time, if you don’t like something about the condition of your life, make a move. Initiate a new process and effect a change.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

INDECISION IS DECISION

“The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.” - Maimonides (1135-1204)

DECISIONS form a strong basis in every person’s life. Our lives follow the paths charted by the decisions we make. Our decisions determine our actions and our actions carve the outcome of our lives. Every moment of life is a moment of decision. There are decisions we make consciously and those we make unconsciously. And for every single decision we make, there are consequences.

It is thus critical that we take charge of the decisions of our lives. We must be deliberate about our decisions. We must take responsibility for our decisions. We must be alive to the consequences of the decisions we make.

DECISION
DECISION is a choice made out of possible or alternative courses of action. This implies that there are always options in life. In life you never run out of options. Usually, when people say “there is no option,” they actually mean the other option is a tough one and they are unable or unwilling to bear the risks and consequences that reside in pursuing that path.

Every decision has risks. Risk is the probability that the decision you make may not lead to the desired or expected outcome. It is the price you are likely to pay for your decision. Many people shy away from making decisions when they realise that the risk is high.

Another thing to note about decisions is that they have consequences. So consider your life as the outcome of past decisions. Decisions you made by yourself and those made by other people on your behalf. Your future will be constructed by the decisions you are making today. Your legacy after you are dead will be a reflection of the decisions you are making today. Hear Tony Robbins, “It is in the moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.”

INDECISION
IF YOU hesitate to make any kind of decision, you suffer from the cancer of indecision. People use indecision as a tool to recuse themselves of the responsibility to make decisions. I hope you are not one of those people. I hereby bring to your notice that indecision is one option in decision-making. That means there are consequences for indecision. There is a price for indecision. And I have noticed that the price is mostly higher than the price you pay for your decisions. Hence the thought of Spanish philosopher Maimonides (1135-1204) that “The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.” Trust me, indecision is a notorious terrorist.

If you refuse to take charge of your decisions, you lose control of your life. You relinquish your destiny to forces outside your realm. It’s easier to be indecisive than make decisions. But it is easier to live with the consequences of your decisions than your indecisions. You know why? George Canning says “Indecision and delays are the parents of failure.” Thus if you want to avoid misery in your life, you have to learn how to make decisions that give you success, significance and substance.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

A CASE STUDY ON INFLUENCE

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Lula da Silva of Brazil

LUIZ Inácio Lula da Silva. Everybody calls him Lula. He served as 35th President of Brazil (2003-2011). At the time of his presidential mandate, Lula was regarded as the most popular politician in the history of Brazil. Greeting him at the G-20 Summit in London, UK in 2009 United States President Barack Obama endorsed him saying, "That's my man right there... The most popular politician on earth." Call him “saviour of the poor” and perhaps no Brazilian would debate you.

Uneasy path
He was the seventh child of Aristides Inácio da Silva and Eurídice Ferreira de Melo in the midst of eight children. Lula’s childhood was quite tough and challenging. Just two weeks after his birth in the Brazillian Caetés district, Lula’s dad moved to another state with Eurídice’s cousin named Valdomira Ferreira de Góis. At age seven, when his mum decided to rejoin Aristides in São Paulo, they arrived only to discover that Aristide had started a second family with Valdomira. After sometime, Euridice decided to move Lula and his seven other siblings from Aristides’ home since the two families were not coexisting peacefully. They found a place in the back room of a bar. And since then Lula scarcely saw his father.

Being raised by a ‘single’ mother who was not well-to-do had its bouquet of limitations for boy Lula and his seven siblings. His formal education was quite limited. He didn’t start school until he was ten and by the fourth grade had to quit in order to work to support his family. From age twelve Lula worked in various capacities as street hawker, shoe shiner, lathe operator in a copper processing factory, press operator in an automobile parts outfit and union leader.

Leader, not just president
In the course of time Lula got interested in politics, teamed up with a group of intellectuals and union leaders to form the Workers Party. After three failed attempts at the presidency, he eventually won the elections of 2002 and served two terms as president from 2003 to 2011. He was a president without a university degree; the first such person in Brazil. Lula was also the first working class person to lead that huge South American state.

In spite of his coarse background, his presidency saw the Brazilian middle class grow by 29 million people enhancing the purchasing power of many Brazilians. Another 20 million people were lifted from deep poverty. Remarkably, Lula so improved the Brazilian economy that by the time he was exiting office, Brazil had become a lending nation to the IMF making available up to $5 million as loans to other nations. Not only that, before Lula left office, Brazil was awarded the hosting rights for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Together with Ghana’s former president John Kufuor, Lula was awarded the World Food Prize 2011 for his role in curbing poverty and hunger in Brazil.

Undoubtedly, Lula made an indelible imprint on his nation. Coming from highly challenging circumstances, he was able to rise to become a very influential person in Brazil. Like Lula, each one of us can be influential. We have the capacity to make a difference in the world. We have what it takes to influence the society, or at least an aspect of society.


© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

LIVING WITH A SENSE OF LEGACY

“Success expires. Value endures. Value creates legacy. Your legacy is your testament.” - Terry Mante

JESUS Christ once said, “… whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” In other words, if you put your life in safety mode you will be in danger but if you are prepared to bear calculated risk, then your life will be preserved in the face of danger. Each of us must necessarily bear some risk to make the world a better place.

We don’t have perfect families, companies, communities and countries. It is the duty of the human race to improve those spheres and make the world a better place. Instead of joining the bandwagon of complainants, we should strive to be counted among the difference makers.

LOSE YOUR LIFE…
YOU can’t keep to yourself and have a meaningful life. If you want your life to be valuable, you’ve got to let something flow out of it. You must let your life reach out to touch the society you live in. You must let your family get a taste of you. You must offer yourself in service of your country. That is how you can make your life valuable.

To be able to lose your life, you must see yourself as an original being. You are not a photocopy of another person. There is a unique space you must occupy on earth. It’s a space only you can fill. It is your ability to fill that space which defines your essence. Don’t just wander on earth without the concept of originality. You must know for sure that you are original, you are authentic; that there is a reserved seat for you on earth.

Further, you must see yourself as a solution bearer. Decide to be part of the things that move your society forward. When you see a problem in any situation, don’t just describe the problem and move on. Attempt to prescribe a solution. If you don’t have an immediate solution, take time to think and research in order to obtain a solution.

To lose your life, you must also learn to use your abilities. Everybody can do something. Focus on what you can do to make the world a better place. Your abilities can make you a global impact person. Make a decision to use them.

…AND YOU WILL SAVE IT
IF YOU commit to making the world a better place, you will live forever. You may die physically but your memory will be in the hearts and minds of posterity. Think of people like Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, Kwame Nkrumah, Alfred Nobel and of course Jesus Christ. These people show us that the best way to preserve your life is to lose it.

Don’t only focus on what you can get out of life. Be driven by what you can give. Don’t be solely motivated by success. Let significance be your motivational factor. Don’t be too salary-conscious. Be value-conscious. Follow Albert Einstein’s advice, “Strive not to be a success but rather to be of value.” Success expires. Value endures. Value creates legacy. Your legacy is your testament. It will speak on your behalf on the day of reckoning.



© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

THE PRICE OF IGNORANCE

“There is always a price to be paid for what you don’t know. You pay to get it or for not getting it.” - Terry Mante

YEARS ago, when I was at St. Peter’s Secondary School (now St. Peter’s Senior High School), I ventured into students politics. I aimed to be the school’s library prefect. There were three other contenders for that same position. I had very good policy propositions that I thought would prevail in the school’s political market. In the run-up to the elections, I did quite a good work interacting with small groups and individuals.

Then came the big day; the crowning moment. The day all aspirants were to deliver their final message to the entire student community. Without a plan, I stood in front of the school and I went dead. Everything in my head evaporated. I stood there and managed to mumble some stuff that I still don’t remember. The election results? You can guess.

Then onwards, I realised that what you don’t know is a big deal and can kill you. I did not realise hitherto that public speaking is an art that ought to be deliberately learnt. Even if you have something in your head, you should know how to spill it out. Subsequent to that experience, I picked up a copy of Dale Carnegie’s How to Develop Self-confidence Through Public Speaking and began my speaking course. Now I find that a substantial aspect of my professional life involves speaking to people. I give talks, interview people, moderate meetings and even teach people how to speak. Learning how to speak has become an integral part of my professional life. Imagine the opportunities I would have missed if I had not looked at that aspect of my personal development. I couldn’t become the Library Prefect of St Peter’s simply because of my ignorance. I didn’t know that I didn’t know how to speak.

That is life. Every space of ignorance in your life is a breeding ground for failure in certain aspects of your life. Is it possible that the state of deprivation of many third world economies is as a result of something the people and their leaders do not know? Have you considered why you may be broke? Maybe it’s because of something you don’t know. Why is it that people who are so much in love with each other could become fierce enemies? That is likely to be the price they are paying for something they didn’t know earlier or still don’t know.

There is always a price to be paid for what you don’t know. You pay to get it or for not getting it. You’ve got to find a way to cure your ignorance before it kills you. To do that, I offer four prescriptions.

1. Make a conscious decision. You have to decide to learn. Your resolve will impel you to take the necessary steps to knowledge. Jim Powell recounts what an associate of Thomas Edison said of the great inventor, “He spent his money buying apparatus and books, and wouldn’t buy clothing. That winter, he went without an overcoat and nearly froze.” Isn’t that ridiculous? Well, that was Edison’s decision. That was his price. You too must decide. Will you read or sleep? Funeral or study? Which will you sacrifice – party or library? Learning is a deliberate course of action that has its opportunity costs.

2. Be open-minded. All of us have prejudices. Most of the time, prejudices are not substantial. They are formed on the basis of misinformation or false perceptions. On the flip side, if we are liberal about our beliefs, we would be able to learn correctly.

3. Be conscious and honest about what you don’t know. Will Rogers thought that, “Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” I definitely concur. There is no person who can claim to know everything. Ignorance is not wrong, although it can be costly. Honesty about our ignorance will position us to pursue knowledge.

4. Be eager to cure your ignorance. While I emphasise that we cannot know everything, we should not use that as a pretext to stop learning. Life is dynamic. New things emerge everyday and we have to consciously take steps to keep abreast of issues. What you don’t know can cost you your job, your friends or even your life. Don’t settle for ignorance.


© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

FOUR RICH FOOLS

IF YOU have money, you can do a lot of things. You can afford a decent accommodation, pay for your utility consumption, eat good food, finance your medical bills and so forth. All things being equal, the availability of money could reduce a person’s level of stress in life. With lots of money, people can live significant lives by making an impact on society; feeding the poor, offering educational scholarships and supporting other good causes. All these make the pursuit of riches noble and desirable.

But then, it must also be noted that an untamed desire for wealth could make one a rich fool. A rich fool is one whose only claim to significance is the wealth they possess. They see their worth only in the fatness of their wealth. I present to you four categories of such people.

THE HEADLESS

HEADLESS people give up their conscience in exchange for money. They are prepared to do whatever it takes to make money. They suppose that the end justifies the means. They don’t think of the consequences of following a particular path so long as that path will lead to money. Some pursue money at the expense of their dignity. Others do so by trading off their mission in life.

If you make money the most importance thing in your life, it will cause you to devalue yourself and make compromises that will have irreversible consequences. Before you make a choice for money, have a second look at what you are giving up for it. If it includes your head, then you’ve got to think twice.

THE HEARTLESS

ANYTIME I hear a report on human trafficking, I cringe. It is only those who have no heart for people who would be involved in such obnoxious money-making enterprises. I’ve seen friends become bitter towards each other because of money. Families break up due to people’s uncontrolled desire to make money.

But you see, you can’t sacrifice key relationships to be rich and think your life will be enriched. Money is worthless without people. If you prioritise money to the neglect of crucial relationships, you will be a lonely soul.

THE HINDLESS

THE net worth of an individual is determined not by what they have but by what they contribute to society. Your legacy is more important than your empire. If you focus only on acquisitions, society will repudiate you. If you strive to build an enduring legacy, society will respect you. Your memory will be honoured.

Hindless people care less about posterity. They are only interested in the here and now. A good life is one that continues to live even after it is dead. In 1888, when brother of Alfred Nobel died, a French newspaper erroneously published the death notice of Alfred. The paper discredited him for his invention of dynamite. The notice said, “The merchant of death is dead” and went on to narrate that “Dr Alfred Nobel… became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before.” This publication disturbed Nobel hence his decision to leave a better legacy after his death.

Later in 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament which bequeathed the bulk of his estates to fund the Nobel Prizes. Today, the Nobel Prizes are arguably the most prestigious, coveted and credible brand of honorary scheme in the world. Many people do not remember Alfred Nobel for his wealth. His name is not even often mentioned in reference to his inventions. The world celebrates him because of his legacy of the prizes.

Don’t live with the sole aim of making money without a design to leave a lasting legacy.

THE HEALTHLESS

MONEY without good health is vain. Why would you sacrifice your health to make money and use the money to pay for treatment? In your pursuit for wealth, be sure to make time for callisthenics, balanced diet, recreation and rest. If you love your life, you will give consideration to your health when you make your money moves. Without good health, you will not live to enjoy your money.


© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

LOSING YOUR VIRGINITY

“Curiosity kills the cat. That is very sad. But the good news is that you are not a cat.” - Terry Mante

THE CURSE OF IMMATURITY

YOUNG, not fully developed, lacking wisdom, emotional instability – that is immaturity. In my life I have met thirty-year olds who are not so mature and I have met twenty-year olds who I would describe as quite mature. Let me tell you how I make such judgements.

If you are thirty or fifty and you feel that the reason your life is in bad shape is because your parents didn’t take care of you well, or your boss doesn’t pay you well then you have a problem. Those situations may be factual but the truth is that you are immature. When you are immature, you expect others to take care of you. You don’t have a sense of responsibility. So you blame the government for the sickness of your child when in fact there is a choked gutter busily breeding mosquitoes right in front of your house. You run out of cash and you point fingers at your employer for not paying you well enough when on Fridays, you give up your money at the bar or cinema.

Maturity is not a matter of age. It’s a wisdom issue. Without maturity, you cannot live a fulfilled life. You will not be able to do the things you must do in life. You will lack the attitude, skill and knowledge to drive the course of your life towards the destination you desire. Immature people do not step out to do anything worthwhile because they are afraid to make mistakes. They do not want to be held responsible for their actions. Mature people take responsibility, act and when they make a mistake, they learn from it and move on.

THE CRY OF INEXPERIENCE
IS IT possible to achieve something new without doing something you have never done before? I don’t think so. In her book Sudden Death (1983) Rita Mae Brown defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.” I agree with this definition. As a matter of fact, I think it is an extreme form of insanity. Without the willingness to alter your actions, there will be no improvement in your life. You need to cultivate a degree of adventurism and dare the odds.

Don’t be too comfortable where you are. Be prepared to change. Decide to do something you have never done before. Acquire new experiences. Travel to a place you have never been before. Listen to a genre of music you have never paid attention to. Make a new friend. Learn a new sport. Take your children to an event they have never attended before. Wear a dress you wouldn’t ordinarily wear. Whatever it is, do something new. Experience something you’ve never experienced before.

Your inexperience could limit you and prevent you from reaching your highest potential. If the Wright brothers had said that only birds could fly, there probably would be no air planes in the world today. Or if Yuri Gagarin and his team had not dared to change their experience, the spatial realm would still have been a mystery. But these guys dared to stretch the frontiers of their experiences of life and opened all of us up to new possibilities.

YOU ARE NOT A CAT
YES, curiosity kills the cat. That is very sad. But the good news is that you are not a cat. You are a human being with a brain that can think, analyse and imagine. Don’t be afraid to dare the odds. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Feel free to ask questions, even controversial ones. Don’t worry so much about criticism. Don’t be afraid to be the odd one out. Most of the time, the odd ones are those who initiate change and progress. Listen to Einstein, “I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.” Immature people are uncomfortable with solitude. Mature people enjoy it.

If you are afraid to be alone, then you are immature. But if you want to demonstrate your maturity, then show that you believe in certain principles and ideals, which you are prepared to stand for. You may not fit in the class of your peers but you could be in a class of your own.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

4 STEPS TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Don’t just proceed with an idea simply because it looks juicy. Take time to nurture the idea and prepare yourself before you hit the ground running. - Terry Mante

MORE THAN A MARATHON
IF YOU woke me up from bed and you asked me, “How nice is it to be an entrepreneur?” I would yawn and say to you, “It’s a nightmare.” The entrepreneurial journey is a challenging one. Entrepreneurship is a tough marathon, perhaps much tougher than a marathon itself. It’s not a quick sprint. It is characterized by sleepless nights, empty bank accounts and sweating body.

Entrepreneurs create, innovate and build ventures of value around perceived opportunities. In spite of how challenging entrepreneurship is, it can be one of the most internally fulfilling and rewarding adventures one can ever be involved in. Entrepreneurship can be approached in four cyclical steps.

1. Envision: See
Entrepreneurs can see. They are visionaries. You cannot be an entrepreneur if you don’t have the ability to see through the binoculars of the entrepreneur. You have to see what non entrepreneurs do not see. The question is, “What must one be able to see in order to embark on the entrepreneurial journey?” Three things:

First, see opportunity. Opportunity often presents itself as a problem, need, deficiency, question on the minds of people, issues of complaint and so on. Take the case of Ghanaian businessman Kofi Amoah. As a diasporan, he observed the challenges Ghanaians who lived abroad faced whenever they needed to wire money to family and friends in Ghana. While everybody complained, Kofi Amoah struck a deal with global money transfer service provider Western Union and got a franchise for Ghana. Amoah thus capitalised on the problem and got a business out of that.

Nevertheless, it is not every opportunity you spot that can be a business opportunity for you. You have to pay attention to your heart. See your passion. You have to consider whether you have the internal motivation and energy to travel that road. Consider your natural interests, ambitions, values and principles. If you want to be an entrepreneur, the second thing you have to see is your heart.

Third, you must see your talents and abilities. Before you embark on an entrepreneurial venture, you have to conduct a self-check and know what you have and what you don’t have. You have to know what your competencies are so that you may proceed on a strong footing.

2. Engage: Seize
Entrepreneurs don’t only see opportunities; they seize opportunities. They garner insight about the venture they want to embark upon by learning. They also incubate the idea through strategic planning and inspire themselves with a positive attitude. If you do not take hold of your opportunities, you cannot run with them.

Don’t just proceed with an idea simply because it looks juicy. Take time to nurture the idea and prepare yourself before you hit the ground running. If you do this, you will be able to leap over the rumps and walls along the way.

3. Enable: Start
It’s good to see and seize an opportunity but if you don’t start running with your idea, you will not overthrow the status quo. There are many people with viable business ideas but because they never run with them, they do not get to see the fruit of their ideas. By all means, you have to begin your business. Start with whatever you have. Form a team of competent and trustworthy people. Look for the other resources that you don’t have. It will be tough but there is no other option. You’ve got to set your ideas in motion.

4. Enact: Secure
Definitely, you have to deliver outcomes. You have to show some results. You have to ensure that what you build is not a blue dog. Your business must endure. It must stand the test of time. That is the best evidence of success. You can achieve this by ensuring that your organization has good leadership; leadership that is characterized by vision, integrity and competence. You must also have a system that focuses on the most important aspects of your business.

SIMPLE?
THOUGH I have broken down the entrepreneurial journey into four simple steps, I dare warn you that entrepreneurship is not a four-day journey. It’s a lifetime process. And throughout the journey, you will always go through all the four steps at every stage of your enterprise-building adventure.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

"STAY HUNGRY. STAY FOOLISH"

“Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” - Steve Jobs

I HAVE often wondered why somebody with university education will graduate from school and hope that the only thing they can do with their degree is to look for a job. And very often, the jobs are not available. If you graduate from university or any tertiary institution and there is no employer willing or able to take you on, what will you do? Will you just sit and wait or complain about the system? Many get really frustrated.

You know why people get frustrated when they don’t get a job? It’s because they are thinking success and not significance. They are preoccupied with survival not substance. They want to get a salary but they don’t want to invest their scholastic treasure. To many of those people, their picture of success is that of a suite-and-tie dressed person with a nice car, great family and able to afford a good meal in a fine restaurant. What a narrow picture to have?!

On June 12, 2005 when Apple founder Steve Jobs (1955-2011) delivered the Commencement Address at Stanford University he crowned his address with an awkward advice. He emphatically told the graduating students that his wish for them was that they would “stay hungry” and “stay foolish.” Steve Jobs was not calling for a hunger strike when he gave that advice to those graduating students.

What Jobs implied was that, if you want to pursue meaning and significance in life, you will be hungry and will be deemed foolish. Instead of merely looking for a job that pays you a good salary and gives you a comfortable life, you should pursue that which gives you meaning. After just six months in Reeds College, Jobs dropped out. Why did he do so? He told the Stanford community why:

“After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.”

He admitted however that, “It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.”

That was Jobs’ path and it was very foolish for him to have left the university. And he paid dearly for that. No degree. No accommodation. No decent meal. Complete loss of comfort and dignity. Foolish and hungry he was. But that was only for a while. Ten years later, a venture he had started in his parents’ garage at 20 was worth $2 billion with over 4000 employees. It is this venture that gave the world Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes, iMac and many more. Yes, he was hungry and foolish initially but now we know that he was not foolish and his initial hunger was a price he chose to pay to be great.

In Ghana, the norm is that after graduating from college, one must get a job that pays a salary. Many graduates of today feel that the government and society owe them a job. Family members expect that once you’ve graduated from college, the next thing is to get a job and start dishing out notes and coins. No sir, no madam!

In that same Commencement Address, Steve Jobs also entreated his audience, “Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Getting a job is nice but before thinking of a job, discover what you really love and that which gives you true meaning and satisfaction in life. After that, you can look for a job or create your own job out of that.


© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

CONNECT THE DOTS - Steve Jobs

This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.

Steve Jobs delivering the Commencement Address at Stanford University in 2005

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.


Source: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

AUTHORS CAFE

In this knowledge economy, writing is the chief value-producing activity. But you may not be writing as well as you could. That may be because you think writing requires a special talent.
In fact, writing is a process that can be managed, like any other business process. If you can manage people, money, or time—then you can manage your writing.
And you can profit from the result.
—Kenneth W. Davis, professor of English, Indiana University

AuthorsCafe is organised by PEDNET in association with the Youth Chapel of Calvary Baptist Church, Adabraka-Accra to:
1. Empower and equip you with tools to become a world class author
2. Enlighten you about the essence of writing and publishing
3. Expose you to the techniques of writing
4. Express avenues and opportunities that exist for writing and publishing
5. Encourage you to be able to augment your writing skills with public speaking skills
This event takes place on Saturday October 22, 2011 at 4:30pm GMT.

Venue: Conference Room (Calvary Baptist Church, Adabraka), Accra-Ghana

Speakers:
• Terry Mante, Author and CEO of Personal Development Network (PEDNET)
• Bernard Avle, Host of Citi FM’s Breakfast Show


Call +233.246.574.850 for more information about the event.

STAND OUT WHEN TOLD TO SIT IN

It pays to be different. When people see you as different, they are attracted to you. – Tony Bennett

IN OUR circle of engagement there is always the pressure to conform; to be like others. People try to influence how you act, to get you to do something - to dress in a particular way, talk in a certain way, eat a certain kind of food or partake in a kind of activity. Making decisions on your own is hard enough, but when other people get involved and try to pressure you one way or another it can be even harder.

Peers can influence your life just by spending time with you, even if you don't realize it. You learn from them, and they learn from them. It's only human nature to listen to and learn from other people in your domain of work. The danger with such pressure is when it is in a direction that you consider negative. What will you do when everybody in your office uses the company telephone for their personal business? How will you feel when you attend a party where everybody is boozing away and they urge you to join in?

You see, there is nothing strange about such pressure. So long as you live on earth, you will feel such pressure one way or the other. But the problem with such pressure is not the pressure. The problem is with the person who is the target of the pressure. When pressure comes your way, you must have a response. You must coordinate your actions.

REFUSE TO CONFORM
YOU see, pressure is merely conformity. The best way to free yourself from pressure is not to fall for the fact of conformity. To conform is to actually do what others are doing, and it isn't always verbal, it could be just implied by behaviour.
To overcome pressure, you need to have an impotent attitude toward the things at hand; things you don't approve of. Don't be scared of rejection. Real friends won't force you to do things you don't believe in and if they do, they are not your friends. Don’t worry about being called boring. After all, is it wrong to be boring? Just be who you are and show your true colours all the time!

RECOGNIZE THE CONSEQUENCES
BEFORE you pursue any course of action, always consider the potential consequences. For instance, when there is pressure on you to cheat on your spouse, you have to consider the impact an extramarital affair will have on your marriage. Whatever you do today, think about tomorrow. The only reason there is a day called tomorrow is today. Today is the seed for tomorrow. In his book Buy The Future, Mensa Otabil remarks that “Tomorrow is only the fruit of seeds sown today. Tomorrow has no power to design itself. It only takes the form and shape of the consequences of our actions and inactions.” When there is pressure on you to act now, think of the impact the action will have on your future.

RETOOL YOUR COMPANY
WHEN the people you associate with are constantly on your nerve to do what you don’t want to do, you’ve got to make a move. You have to rearrange your network; change your company. If you want to live out your ideals, then associate with people who share your values. Just as bad company corrupts good morals, good company enhances great values.

You must set your own agenda for your life and based on that agenda, decide who fits in. Have a protocol for dealing with people. The fact that you work in the same office with someone does not mean you should allow them into your house. Just because you have to get along with your mates in school does not mean every one of your mates should be your friend. A friend influences your values. Before you call any person your friend, check their values first!

ANYTIME you feel the pressure to conform, remember what Tony Bennett said, “It pays to be different. When people see you as different, they are attracted to you.” Anybody who pressurises you to give up your principles to become like them is just a myopic person. Eventually, they will see the essence of your ideals and would want to swing to your side. Stay true to yourself.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

EFFORTS, RESULTS AND REWARDS

In life, you will be paid for the results you produce, not for the mere efforts you expend. - Terry Mante

MY FIRST attempt at writing a book for publication was during my junior high school days in Koforidua in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Then, my focus was on fiction. I wrote quite a number of stories with the intention of compiling them into what I called Tesmah Tales. Yes, intention, that’s all it was. I never went to press with my compilation. As good as I think the stories were, they never saw the light of day. Nobody saw them. They were never published.

After senior high school I made my second major attempt. I began writing Insights for Living. That too, was a windy effort. It got blown off midway. But in my final year at the University of Ghana, Legon, I launched what is officially recognised as my first book; Winning with Confidence. Because Tesmah Tales and Insights for Living never got published, no one recognizes them as part of my works. As a matter of fact, I’m the only person who is aware of the existence of such works.

So what’s the point? In life, you’ll not be recognised or rewarded for the things you start, but you will be rewarded for those you finish. You will be paid for the results you produce, not for the mere efforts you expend. Have you seen an Olympic race, say a 200-metre race? Even though eight athletes run, only one gets the gold. In spite of the other seven’s perspiration, they don’t get rewarded for sweating. The first three receive the honours for placing first, second and third respectively. The others receive nothing. Nobody will count Tesmah Tales or Insights for Living among my literary works unless I publish them.

I have learnt that whenever I start something worthwhile, I must endeavour to pursue it to its utmost conclusion. Whether I start well or not, I must ensure that I finish and do so remarkably.

Whenever you start something, begin with the end in view. Think about the results you want to have. Consider how you want to finish. Look at the consequences. Don’t do things without taking into consideration the end result; because at the end of the day, your reward will be based on the results. Nobody rewards efforts but results. It is said that actions speak louder than words but I have found that results speak louder than actions.

You must also know how to adopt and apply the right knowledge. On September 12, 2010 Legacy and Legacy Chairman Albert Ocran delivered the keynote address at the launch of my book It’s a Big Deal. Commenting on the critical role that knowledge plays in a person’s career, Albert remarked that career success is not just about “what work you do, it’s about the kind of understanding that you have.” Without relevant knowledge, your results will not generate reward that is commensurate with your effort. Without knowledge, your effort will be like a building without a roof. You will work so hard but when there is a rainy test, you will be overwhelmed. Give the acquisition and usage of knowledge an elevated position in your life and what you do will be elevated above the rains of life.

The ability to delay gratification also consolidates the results we produce. People who are able to delay gratification have the patience to endure until they see results. They have fortitude. They pay the right price for what they expect. Without the ability to delay gratification, your results will always come out pre-mature. People who are unable to delay gratification will not win the applause of their patrons. And they themselves will lose a bite of the satisfaction that comes with performance. Anytime you feel like cutting in and reaping up, check to be sure if the time is right. Otherwise you would be reaping pre-maturely.

Don’t get me wrong. Your effort is important because without your effort, there will be no results. But never lose sight of the possibility that there can be effort without results. So when you act, think three things: results, results and results.


© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

THE SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE

Excellence is a LITTLE THING that makes a BIG DIFFERENCE - Terry Mante

WHEN I first stepped foot at the Qodesh – the headquarters of Lighthouse Chapel International – I was wildly impressed by the finesse and precision that characterises the church’s compound. I saw no single trait of mediocrity. It does not surprise me that their ministry continues to inspire many people and transform myriads of souls. Much of what I saw there goes beyond what is expected of the average church in Ghana and perhaps Africa. What Lighthouse has done under the able leadership of Bishop Dag Heward-Mills is a vivid manifestation of excellence.

Excellence is a non-negotiable requirement for any person, organisation or nation that seeks to attain extraordinary heights. When delivering the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encouraged that, “Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” Jesus is thus urging us to pursue excellence. What He said has three implications for our lives.

1. Exceed requirements. In every field of endeavour and at each stage of one’s life, there is a yardstick by which people’s output is evaluated. By choosing to do a little above what is expected of you, you place yourself in an outstanding position.

2. Extend limitations. Excellence means doing better than average. There is a lot of traffic on the road of life but only a few people travel on the mile called extra. It is those who go the extra mile who excel in life.

3. Exercise innovation. When everybody is doing something in a particular way, you can choose to do it differently. Doing the same thing in a unique new way is a hallmark of excellence.

CULTIVATING THE SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE

If you desire excellence in your life, here are five keys that can help you:

1. Do what you love. Don’t do what is popular. Deep within you, there is something you truly cherish. What you cherish is what you mush devote your attention and energy to. When you settle that in your life, you will churn out sterling results. By focusing on doing what you love, you will stretch yourself to attain the highest possible standard. Jim Collins said this better: “If you’re doing something you care that much about, and you believe in its purpose deeply enough, then it is impossible to imagine not trying to make it great.” Love bears all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love never fails.

2. Specialise in what you can do best. Although we are all humans, each one of us is unique. We must not do things just because others are excelling in them. There is something our gifts and talents give us competitive advantage in.

3. Don’t neglect small things. In athletics, a time difference of one second can distinguish a record holder from a non-record holder. Sometimes, small things can make big differences. Don’t overlook small habits, little mistakes and seemingly insignificant relationships. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Excellence is a little thing that makes a big difference.

4. Learn to sacrifice. Sacrifice is one thing that will set you ahead of the pack. It is demonstrated by doing what nobody else is willing to do, working while others play or relax and selling present pleasure for eternal rewards. It may mean staying up a little late at night to finish that business proposal, forgoing that TV programme to attend that prayer meeting or breaking a relationship that is inconsistent with your vision.

5. Strive for God’s best. The highest you can attain on earth cannot be higher than God’s standards. By determining to reach for God’s best, you inevitably set yourself above every challenge and competition around you.

All these hints must be integrated in your life. They are not mutually exclusive. Like those folks at Lighthouse, I believe you too can be excellent in what you do.


© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana
W: http://terrymante.blogspot.com
E: terrymante@live.com
T: +233.268.816.545

THE THRUST OF LEADERSHIP

Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. – Jesus Christ

AT THE number one spot on John C. Maxwell’s list of 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is the Law of the Lid. According to the leadership sage, the Law of the Lid stipulates that “Leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness.” “The higher you want to climb,” says Dr Maxwell, “the more you need leadership. The greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence needs to be.” In the corporate world, people who occupy top positions are labelled leaders. Heads of states are referred to as leaders of their respective countries. Parents are called leaders of the home. People who rise to the top are leaders. If you sincerely desire to advance, then be a leader. The height you will attain in your life is linked to the amount of leadership you have in you.

LEADERSHIP IS NOT POSITION
IT IS possible to be in leadership and not lead. The world is stuffed with scenarios where top level people have been removed from office for non-performance, incompetence, ineptitude...whatever it is termed. A crucial thing to note about leadership is that it is not merely attained by having a title or a position. Leadership is more functional than it positional. Anyone who does not perform creditably in a leadership position will receive the boot – later, if not immediately.

A true leader ranks competence and service above position. They have a bottomless desire to instigate positive changes wherever they find themselves. On top of their desire, they develop the capacity to translate their wishes into actions which produce tangible results. By doing so they qualify themselves for promotion into high offices. Leadership does not begin with a position or title. It can start from anywhere; by deciding to and actually becoming a pillar of influence in the lives of people around you.

LEADERSHIP IS SERVICE
THE biggest companies are the ones with the most numerous clients. Large churches are defined by their huge memberships. Big schools have many students. To be a great leader, you must be a great servant. The more people you serve, the higher you rise in your leadership walk. A leader is a servant. Jesus taught his disciples that, “whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.” Instead of seeking for privileged positions and big titles, we must determine to offer useful service wherever we find ourselves. Leadership is a function of service and contribution to people around us.

Companies which serve their customers well become market leaders. Churches that are congregation-oriented grow from strength to strength. As you serve with excellence, you attract more followers and by attracting more followers, you expand your influence.

THE LEADER’S MANDATE
I PERSONALLY believe that our leadership mandate originates from God. Primarily, God wired us to have dominion and rule over His creation. There are four implications I would like to address:

1. Leadership is fundamental and universal. It has no gender or skin colour. Every human being has a mandate to lead in one area or another.

2. Our mandate to rule is not necessarily over each other but over the earth. Being a leader is not the same as being a boss with many servants under you. Leaders use the resources at their disposal to enhance the lives of their followers.

3. You lead best by engaging your gift. Billy Graham and T. D. Jakes are great leaders in the church world. They’ve both made landmark impacts in Christian arena; yet they are very different. While Dr Graham is a calm evangelist who speaks primarily on salvation, Bishop Jakes is a charismatic preacher who addresses a wider range of issues. The difference in their ministry styles is brought about by the distinctive gifting and anointing on their lives. The best way to influence people is to serve them with your God-given gift.

4. Leadership must be purpose-driven. As you lead, you must do so with a sense of purpose. You have to sort out why you do what you do and live with that consciousness.

I believe that leadership is a ubiquitous fact of life. It exists in the home, church, corporate world, politics and even in our individual lives; everywhere that human beings matter. The bottom line is that each of us must develop and grow in our leadership abilities and skills.



© 2008 Extracted from the book Attitude is Everything! by Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

TOUGH QUESTIONS OF LIFE

The day we stop asking questions, we cease to extend the frontiers of our lives - Terry Mante

WHO AM I?
THIS is a question of identity. It’s a question that will be asked of you. The interview panel will ask you. The person you want to marry would demand an answer to this question about yourself. Your kids will ask you; even your parents will ask you at a point in your life. And more importantly, you will ask yourself. To be able to answer this question of identity, you must recognise that:

1. You are an individual. Your fingerprint, DNA, voice structure, and many things about you are exceptional, exclusive and unique. You are the only person with your fingerprint, DNA and voice. Throughout human history, there has never been anyone like you, there is nobody like you and there will never be any person like you. There is nothing we can do to change our fingerprints and DNA. This implies that each of us is distinct in form, character and personality.

2. You are invaluable. The intrinsic value of every human being is immeasurable. The depth and breadth of the value of any human is deeper and wider than all the oceans of the world put together. You don’t have to place anything above you. You don’t have to look down on yourself. You are priceless. Don’t sell yourself to poverty, ignorance, immorality and small talk.

3. You are influential. Value is expressed through influence. We demonstrate our value through the influence we exert on the affairs of the world. Influence is the ability that we have to have an effect on the course of events. The capacity to influence is an inherent potential of every single person on the face of the earth, including you.

WHY DO I EXIST?

THIS is a question of purpose. For every individual, there is an exact answer to this question. There is an answer that is unique to you only. It explains the reason for your existence. The answer to this question lies in three considerations:

1. Abilities: Abilities are the things we are able to do in a unique way without special training. Your ability is not something you negotiate for. Neither do you pay to acquire them. Every person is born with a certain kind of ability. Your life becomes meaningful when you harness the treasure of your abilities. What you can do indicates what you should do. Your ability tells you what you can conveniently do in a significant manner.

2. Attributes: Every person has peculiar traits and personality characteristics that influence what they do and how they do it. Whether you are an introvert or extrovert person, literary or numerate, temperate or intemperate, it speaks to your purpose in life. Your personality is designed to position you for your purpose. Instead of being worried about how you are, think of what you can do with how you are.

3. Anointing: Anointing is the supernatural gift of God upon your life that complements what you have naturally. It makes up for the holes in your abilities. It helps you to manage the weaknesses that are inherent in your natural abilities and attributes and bestows on you an uncommon capacity to excel in the things that you have been designed to do in life. You receive the anointing when you develop sensitivity to God.

WHAT DO I HAVE?

THIS is a question of ability. It helps you to know your equipment for living out your identity and fulfilling your purpose. Everybody has what it takes to experience a life of meaning and significance. This is packaged in our abilities, attributes and anointing. Your task is to discover your uniqueness by following these three guidelines:

1. Look within. What are the things that you are strongly interested in? What do you often think about? What annoys you consistently? What is the most pressing dream on your heart? The answers to these questions represent your passion. Your passion indicates the kind of problem you are designed to solve. If you know your passion, you can live with purpose and meaning.

2. Look behind. Behind you is a bouquet of elements we call experience. Experience comprises your family background, religious orientation, educational processes, mistakes you have made and anything you have heard, seen, touched, felt or handled. All those elements contribute to who you are and shape how you engage in life. If you are seeking to have meaning and fulfillment in life, don’t overlook your experiences.

3. Look up. Human beings are created as God’s extension. That is why we are seen as God’s image. To discover who we really are and get a grip of our lives, we should nurture an intimate relationship with God. We should get to know God as best as possible. The more we know of God, the better we know of ourselves.

THE day we stop asking questions, we cease to extend the frontiers of our lives. Progress in life is a product of the answers we get to the questions we ask. We can find meaning in life if we ask the right questions and vigorously pursue answers.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

THE MAGIC OF ASKING QUESTIONS

Life is not a mystery. There is a meaning to life. If you know this, you will ask the right questions - Terry Mante

QUESTION DEFINITION
A QUESTION is a mechanism we use to seek information, clarification or opinion about matters of interest. Students use questions to expand their knowledge base, teachers employ questions to assess their students, while journalists ask questions to derive information and clarification from policy makers. Researchers ask questions to gather and analyse data in order to contribute solutions to the problems that perplex humankind. In daily human interactions, we ask questions. Questions are fundamental to the human experience.

Some of the questions we ask daily are: What is your name? What’s for dinner? How is she? Where are you going? What is the agenda for today? How do I raise money for utility bill? Who should I marry? How many children do I want to have? How do I get a job? Which course should I study at school? Why is the earth not flat? Question upon question we ask.

When you ask a question, you expect to get an answer. Thus the answers you get reflect the questions you ask. You may not get the most ideal or desirable answers to all the questions you ask but one thing is for sure; no question, no answer. If you don’t ask questions, you will not have answers in your life. If your life is not moving on the track you desire, then you have to check the questions you’ve been asking.

QUESTION DYNAMICS
1. Wrong question, wrong answer: Of course, if you ask me “Terry, how old are you?” I shall answer appropriately by telling you my age. But perhaps, what you really need to know is not my age but my weight. So in my mind I would have answered your question well but you would have no use for the answer. If you think life is not responding to you the way you expect or desire, then turn and look at what you have been asking life to do for you. If you ask wrong questions, you will get wrong answers.

2. Right question, wrong answer: Sometimes, you may be asking the right questions but you’re getting crooked answers. If you deem the answers you are getting inappropriate, then perhaps you may want to reconsider the direction of your questions. What is the source of your answers? Do you know the basis of the answers you are getting? When you want to ask a question, be sure you are asking the right person. Be sure your source is credible. At other times however, the problem may not be with the answer but with you. Do you understand the answers you are getting? Do you have a frame that is able to correctly analyse and interpret the answers you receive?

3. Right question, right answer: Asking the right question is important but getting the right answer is even more important. When you act on the basis of the right answer, your life moves in the direction you desire. The quality of your life is directly linked with the questions you ask and the corresponding answers you receive. To drive your life positively, you must ask the right questions to the right people at the right time.

QUESTION DESIGN
HOW do you get to ask the questions that pertain to your life?
1. Know life: How can you ask questions about a concept you don’t know about? If you have a general idea of life, you can ask specific questions about life. Life is not a fluke. It is a carefully designed system that can be studied, observed and understood. Life is not a mystery. There is a meaning to life. If you know this, you will ask the right questions.

2. Know yourself: Every person has things that satisfy, annoy, excite, interest or exhaust them. You’ve got to know those specific things about yourself. This will cause you to ask the exact questions that relate to your life. Who are you? Why do you exist? What are your strengths and weaknesses? These are questions you need to ask about your life. And the answers you get will produce order and meaning in your life.

3. Know people: Your friends, family members, business partners, school mates, neighbours – these are people you interact with all the time. How well do you know them? Do you know what their values are? Have you checked what they have been reading? If you get to know these about those around you, you will know what to ask and what not to ask them.

IF YOU want to gain mastery over your life, you must constantly ask questions and seek answers to those questions.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana

APPRECIATE YOUR WORTH

We are human beings, not doings. Who we are shapes what we do. Our worth transcends our works - Terry Mante

ONE day, Jesus posed a rhetorical question, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” In this question, Jesus juxtaposed the value of one human soul with the whole world. He considers the rich oil fields of the Arabian Peninsula, the pyramids of Egypt, the magnificent Buckingham Palace of England and says that none or the amalgamation of all of these is worth more than any individual. The value of a human being outstrips the value of the entire universe. That is why human trafficking is such a major crime. There is no commensurate medium of exchange for any individual. You are priceless.

If you own everything in the world and lose your sense of identity, no benefit will accrue to you. But if you have a good sense of identity, you can create your own world. Without people, the world is nothing. The world works because people work. The world derives its value from the people who inhabit it. Without the ingenuity of humans, diamond would simply remain a colourless stone. Human intellect makes it valuable by processing and polishing it. Crude oil is a dirty black liquid found under the earth. Yet, it is a major driver of the global economy. Why? The human intellect! All the technology and processes that are adopted to refine oil and generate several hundreds of useful commodities originate from the human brain. Thus you don’t have to evaluate your worth on the basis of your possessions but do so on the basis of your person.

We are human beings, not doings. Who we are shapes what we do. Our worth transcends our works. Our value as human beings does not emanate from the grades we attain in school, the friends we have around us, the positions we attain in society nor the size of our bank account. It is completely wrong for anybody to devalue themselves simply because they have not achieved much. The richest person in the world is not more valuable than the poorest person. The president of a country is not more human than other citizens. We are all humans and each of us has the same intrinsic value as other humans. When you see yourself in terms of who you are rather than what you do, you can appreciate yourself better. After all, is it not because of who you are that you are able to do what you do? Don’t look down on yourself because of what you lack or what you haven’t accomplished. As a person, you are worth more than everything that exists in the world.

Life is not measured by how much you own. Your confidence in life should not be based on your achievements, acquisitions and awards. It should be based on your humanness. Humanity derives value from God who created human beings in His own image. The same God who made human beings also created everything else that exists in the universe. If God made both humans and everything else, then He is definitely greater than all. But then, He imparted His image and likeness into human beings. The other creations of God do not have the benefit of this impartation. This impartation automatically bestows greater value upon every human being above everything else that exists in the world.

When you feel tempted to look down on yourself, remember your intrinsic value. See who you are and deploy yourself accordingly.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana
http//terrymante.blogspot.com

HUMILITY IS NOT TIMIDITY

“Humility is a choice we make to focus on higher issues. It is not a sign of weakness.” - Terry Mante

YES, I agree that humble people are expected to respect people, give consideration to others and exercise a great deal of restraint. Because of these attributes, humility has often been misconstrued as passive involvement, unbridled acquiescence and obvious timidity. Such misconstruction has caused a dilution of the virtue of humility. Hence the value of humility has been lost on many people, as if it is an attribute of weak people. On the contrary, true humility is real strength. It is strength under the clothing of composure, circumspection and consideration.

COMPOSURE
AFTER being unjustly incarcerated for nearly three decades (1964-1990), Nelson Mandela stepped out of his Robin Island cell to the cheers and applause of the entire world. The whole machinery of the South African state was at his disposal and the wider international community on his back. He had every opportunity and justification to exact his fair share of retribution against his jailors. Instead, Mandela adopted a gracious posture and let bygones be bygones. He chose to focus on weighty matters of reconciliation, development and other issues critical to the positive evolution of his country South Africa.

Mr Mandela composed himself. He did not allow himself to be driven by the pain and stain of his unjust incarceration. He remained calm and steadily controlled his emotions. He did not allow his emotions to drive his actions. That is what humility is; choosing to pursue what you believe to be right without necessarily responding to the provocation of circumstances within which you find yourself. By not pursuing vengeance, Mandela got the nation to focus on issues that would engender development and progress in the country. Humility is a choice we make to focus on higher issues. It is not a sign of weakness. It is a choice only strong people like Mandela can make.

CIRCUMSPECTION
HOW do you arrive at your decisions? Do you carefully consider the pros and cons as well as risks and consequences of your choices before you proceed to act? I know that in many circles, the ability to make decisions quickly, firmly and clearly is a celebrated virtue. It is called decisiveness. Inasmuch as I don’t discount decisiveness, I equally believe that taking time to weigh options and assess potential risks and consequences to arrive at a moderated answer is even worth more than gold. As a matter of fact, it cements and consolidates the decisions you make.

However in certain places, when you take time to decide, you are likely to be seen as slow and timid. But it takes a lot of discipline, intellectual dexterity and maturity to be able to hold on and make decisions. A weak person cannot do that. A strong person can do that. If you choose to be humble, you choose to be strong. You elevate yourself above your emotions and the circumstances around you. You are able to coordinate your responses to situations and live more purposefully.

CONSIDERATION
IN ONE sense, the Encarta World English Dictionary (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 1999) renders consideration as “thoughtful concern for or sensitivity towards the feelings of others.” Consideration is about paying attention to the feelings, difficulties and circumstances of others before you embark on an action.
Think about Jesus; a man considered to be part of the Triune God. As the second person of what Christians call the Trinity, Jesus has all power at His disposal including power over life and death. He has power to restore life to the dead, command the storms of the sea and walk on water. He is the one who died and resurrected on the third day of His death – a man of tremendous power and authority; a man who was also God.

In spite of all that, Jesus appeared on earth as a natural person, served God and humanity and got Himself unjustly maltreated and eventually executed by the Roman authorities. Why did Jesus do that? Why would such a powerful person allow Himself to go through such humiliation? Was it because He was weak? Definitely not! He thought about the impact His life, death and resurrection would have on the entire human race. He did not just look at His God-position, but He wanted the human race to have a dignified position in life. Certainly, any individual who purposefully gives up a privileged position for the sake of others is not a reed. Today, Jesus has become such a powerful phenomenon that His name is not just that of a person, but it is the centrepiece of the Christian faith – the largest religious ideology in the world. Jesus now lives in the hearts of many and is the first and final hope of many who are worn out, weak and weary.

HUMBLE people are not fumbled people. Meekness is not weakness but it is strength at its peek which is deliberately constrained. Choose to be humble and you will be strong.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana
http://terrymante.blogspot.com