According to the economic theories of choice, man is a rational being who makes choices based on an order of preference.

So, as an example, let’s assume you had the option of choosing between chicken and fish. As a rational being, the economic theories predict that you would choose chicken if you prefer it to fish.

Now, what if the options were expanded to include beef?

The theories predict that if you prefer chicken to fish, you only have two choices. Either you select chicken, or, you select beef – if you prefer it to chicken.

Let’s go a step further.

What if after the options were expanded, you decided to pick fish, despite your initial preference of chicken? Well, according to the economic theories of choice, you just acted irrationally!

Truth be told, a lot of us are living irrationally.

If you conduct a simple social experiment asking random people whether they are satisfied with their current status in life, you can be sure that 8 out of 10 will express dissatisfaction. As it were, the reality is that a lot of people are stuck in the valleys of life – doing jobs they hate and running helter-skelter just to make ends meet.

Given the opportunity to choose between their current lives and a much better one, a lot of people will say that they prefer a better life.

However, if you take a moment to observe what people do in their day-to-day activities, you’d find a great deal of irrationality.

The result? The crowded valley remains full while there’s ample space at the top.

Do you desire to climb out of the valley?

Do you desire to take rational steps that would increase your chances of remarkable success?

If that’s you, keep reading to learn practical paradigm-shifting ideas that will uproot you from the pit and lift you to the mountaintop…

1. Understanding Where Your Responsibility Lies

You know, it’s funny that many people in the valley are quick to let others take responsibility for the position they find themselves in.

They are a number of favorable parties they love to pass the blame to.

It’s because of their family.

It’s because of their genes

It’s because of their color.

It’s because of their degree.

It’s because of the government and politicians.

It’s because of this, or that.

Naturally, the blame game works and many people end up postponing the time when they finally take responsibility for the direction their lives are headed. And in my opinion, this is one of the biggest reasons why the valley is crowded.

One of my role models, Andrew Wommack says it best:

“Until you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, you will continue to endure the same results you have now”

If you don’t like the results your seeing in your life, take stock and reflect on the choices you’ve made in the past and maybe…just maybe, the answers you’re seeking have been hidden in plain sight and you didn’t know all along.

2. You Always Have a Choice

As I’ve hammered time and time again, the valley is crowded because many people are irresponsible with their thoughts. They are not deliberate with their thoughts and their lack of thought discipline allows weeds to grow in their minds. A person who is disciplined in his thoughts would have a cultivated mind that yields desirable actions and desirable results.

Understand: The first step to thought discipline is having a deliberate perception and awareness of your thoughts.

When you deliberately choose to elevate your perceptions, you’re also deliberately elevating your life.

Moving even deeper, there’s a perception that separates the Rich from the middle-class and poor. The valley is crowded and will continue to be so because a lot of people take this kind of perception for granted.

If you can handle it, here’s the mystery:

The poor and middle class avoid thinking about worst-case scenarios, while the rich deliberately think about worst-case scenarios.

I know that would rub many of you the wrong way, so let me explain!

In The Aggregation of Marginal Gains, I share the story of how I quit my job and jumped headlong into a business.

I did not have any safety nets. Neither did I have any extra funds to see me through the first rough months of my business.

Instead of factoring worst-case scenarios, I was busy visualizing success and how I was going to rake in millions of naira from people who bought my products.

That’s why this quote by Carl Jung resonates deeply with me:
“Until you make the unknown known, it would dictate your life and you’d call it fate”

Success is predictable because it is built on a foundation of principles. The valley is crowded because many people are oblivious to these principles.

Am I saying positive confessions and visualizing stuff is stupid? Of course not! I still do it to this day, however, I’m learning how to do realistic thinking by factoring worst-case scenarios!

And that’s how the wealthy’s perception elevates them to the point of wealth.

At this point, it’s also appropriate to mention that merely thinking worst-case scenarios is not enough.

The truth is that in the few times that poor people think of worst-case scenarios, they do it so that they can worry about it, or use it to create excuses.

For the Rich, it’s different. And here’s where choice perceptions and thought discipline comes into play.

Rather than worrying about worst-case scenarios, the Rich analyze them using these 3 measurements:

• They clearly identify the worst-case scenarios of their choices. Doing this prevents them from living in their heads. In fact, if you notice, thoughts are scarier in our heads than on paper. When written down, even the scariest thing can be solved with a logical plan.
• They think of the likely results that can arise from that worst-case scenario. For instance, if you want to ask your boss for a raise, what’s the worst thing that can happen? Your boss would fire you, right? The poor stop here and starts worrying. The Rich don’t stop here… They go on to think about how likely it is for the boss to fire them. They look at his personality, mood, likes and dislikes, desires for company, etc and see how they can use that information to reduce the odds of the worst-case scenario.
• Finally, they check whether the outcomes of the worst-case scenarios are worth the risk. If yes, they go ahead with their plan. If no, they make safety nets to catch them in the event that the worst-case scenario comes to pass. As the adage says, “to fail to peruse prepare is to prepare to fail’ If you’re building a skyscraper, you don’t buy harnesses when you’re on the 30th floor. Rather, you do that before you even lay the first brick. You might eventually not need the harness, but it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it

3. Ignore Process at Your Own Peril

We live in interesting times where we are so event-focused. 

Someone posts her marriage pictures on Instagram? Event.

Someone launches his book? Event.

Someone earns $1m per month? Event.

Someone graduates from the University? Event.

Unfortunately, our focus on events leaves us overwhelmed because we’re comparing the struggles of our day-to-day lives with the climatic events of other people’s lives.

What you don’t see on social media is this…

The number of heartbreaks the married girl suffered before she met her prince in shining armor. Process

The seasons of writer’s block that nearly drove the celebrated author to depression. Process

The loan that the business dude needed to Kickstart his business and is still paying back in installments. Process

The student who burnt the midnight oil for 5 years. Process

On social media, the more you look, the less you see. The valley is crowded because they do not realize that a picture on Instagram is only telling a part of the story.

The truth is simple: You only know yourself.

Stop comparing yourself with others because you don’t know what they are doing behind the scenes.

4. Begin With the End in Mind

There’s power in vision. There’s power in being able to get a peek into what God has ordained you to accomplish with your life. When you’re able to catch a glimpse of the magnitude of your destiny, you can’t help but be very deliberate with whatever you do with your time. Once you have a glimpse of your destination, you can’t help but be focused.

Sadly, the valley is crowded because the vast majority of people have the eyes of their hearts blinded.

As I mentioned in my book “The Aggregation of Marginal Gains“, journaling is one powerful tool that can help in keeping your vision/destination consistently at the back of your mind.

The perks of engaging in this habit – particularly at the beginning of your day – are very rewarding.

You are able to start your day with remarkable energy because you have something to live for.

You are motivated because you have something to look forward to.

And if you keep at this, it’s only a matter of time before you start achieving phenomenal results!

5. Something More Important Than Money

In my book, You Too Can Be Free, I emphasized on the fact that after the sin issue had been settled, the root of all our problems is knowledge.

You don’t have a money problem, you have a knowledge problem, and your knowledge problem is reflecting in your mental models and mindsets pertaining to every aspect of your life. This is the story for the vast majority. And this is yet another reason why the valley is crowded.

If a computer hard drive is virus-infected, and you keep on changing the monitor, the performance of the computer will still be poor. In the same way, if you take stock of your life to this point and you don’t like what you’re seeing, maybe it’s time to admit that what you’ve been doing isn’t working so you can try something else.

That’s why Paul of Tarsus advises us to engage in an exercise he called “renewing your mind”. You need to deliberately change the way you think in order to attain the results that God has ordained you to have from the foundations of the world.

God has done His part. Would you take responsibility and do yours?

6. Delayed Discounting is Your Biggest Downfall

“If you cannot immunize yourself from the temptations instant gratification, you will be hard-pressed to find success in health or wealth. Both demand a lifestyle shift from short-term thinking to long-term thinking. This is the only defense to lifestyle servitude… When instant gratification entices you to bite the bait…you become a causality…” – MJ DeMarco

At the beginning of 2019, I shared a short course where I mentioned that the year will yield phenomenal results for high-status individuals. I also explained the tool that can enable you to attain that level is increased willpower.

If you’ve read my book, The Aggregation of Marginal Gains, one thing I hammer on, again and again, is how easy it is to stand out today because of the sheer amount of people leading mediocre lives.

The valley is crowded and there’s ample space at the top.

However, to climb out of the valley, you need to be able to harness your willpower to escape the mediocrity that instant gratification brings.

You need to set your face like a flint and make a commitment to place more value on the potential that God had placed within you, as well as the destinies attached to you.

You owe it to them to be the best version of yourself possible. 

And how are you going to do that? By the proper use of willpower to escape the temptations of instant gratification

7. Be Ruthless With Your Biggest Asset

When your outlook on life is from an abundance perspective, you’d realize that we’d never arrive at a point where we’d exhaust money. The worst that could happen would be that the Central Bank would print more cash.

When all is said and done, the true equalizer of life is time. The valley is crowded because the vast majority of people fail to recognize that time, not money, is your biggest asset!

It doesn’t matter whether you’re Black or White, Christian or Atheist…

You’ve only got 24 hours in a day.

That’s why the wealthy are very aggressive with their time.

It’s not pride.

It’s not personal.

It’s just an elevated awareness of the abundance of money and the scarcity of time

How have you been disrespecting time while hoping to make money?

Take stock of your life and make the necessary arrangements.

8. Clarity of Perception Isn’t Far From Perspective

We live in interesting times where more and more people are trapped within the quagmire of consumerism. For many people, as soon as their monthly salary/ weekly wages come in, they embark on a mindless shopping spree for either thing they cannot afford or things they don’t need. Needless to say, this contributes greatly to why the valley is crowded.

Interestingly, the wealthy understand that the very things that make you rich are not things. Rather, wealth comes when your perspective is first of all elevated from that of the common man. With this perspective, you realize that in the gold rush, your best bet is not to join the masses digging for gold in the valley…but to sell shovels.

Remember, you don’t have any other problem but that of organized knowledge. Little wonder Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”

9. Appreciate the Power of Systemic Thinking

If there is any story that emphasizes why the valley is crowded, it would be the mythological story of the Pharaoh and his two nephews.

So, once upon a time, two nephews were commissioned by their Pharaoh uncle to build two mighty pyramids. As a reward for completing the task, there would be riches and luxury until the rest of their lives.

The first nephew started hauling large stones to his building site. The people of the city hail him as a great hard worker. At the of the first year, the first nephew had completed the base of the pyramid while the second nephew is yet to lift a stone. 

By the second year, the first nephew realized that he needed more strength to lift rocks to the next level, so he employed the services of the strongest man in the city to assist in lifting the rocks. On the other hand, the second nephew had not even started clearing his land.

Then, at the beginning of the third year, the second nephew arrived at his plot of land with a powerful machine that is capable of lifting heavy rocks with minimal effort. By the end of the week, the second cousin had finished the foundation of his pyramid – the same foundation that took the first cousin nearly a year to build. Then by the end of the 40 days, the second cousin as arrived at the same level as the first cousin who simply worked hard.

Needless to say, the second cousin finished his pyramid in record time – while also having spare time to engage in scholarly works and other creative inventions. The first cousin, on the other hand, never finished his pyramid because he died from a heart attack as he continued to toil lifting heavy stones.

So, which are you? The first cousin who spends his time toiling on a system that doesn’t work… Or the second cousin who spends his time building an efficient system that allows him to achieve more in less time?

10. Ignore the Law of Effection to Your Peril

There’s a concept referred to as The Law of Effection, which states,

‘The more lives you affect in an entity you control, in scale and/or magnitude, the richer you will become. Affect millions and make millions. The amount of money you have (or don’t have) is a direct reflection on the amount of value you’ve provided (or not provided)’

I think that’s self-explanatory: The more value you create, the more money flows towards you.

The valley is crowded because everyone is consumed by self-interest. No one wants to bring value to the table. Rather, everyone is a default money-chaser.

When you have a money-first paradigm, money seems to run away from you. As Napoleon Hill said in Think and Grow Rich, money has to be wooed like a beautiful damsel.

People don’t walk into the street and ask the first person they see to marry them. Rather, they become acquaintances, then friends, then they become romantically involved, then they court, get engaged, and then married. It’s a value ladder where every step makes the next step easier.

In the same way, if you want to woo money, you have to learn how to be a value dispenser everywhere you go.

Check the Bible, check the history books, carry out your research on the internet, you’d find an unmistakable pattern – money flows towards incessant value.

It’s not personal. It’s just the law of Effection at work.

So, how can you get the Law of Effection to work on your behalf as you gradually inch your way out of the valley?

It’s simple.

You see, many times we take our differences for granted. We’re so familiar with our uniqueness that we forget how they make us stand out.

Something that is second nature to you is the answer to another person’s prayers.

Stop waiting for an audible voice from the skies to strike you with innovative insights.

God has commanded you to dress and keep your Eden.

Why? Because that’s where your food will come from!

Go out there and be a solution provider in your environment.

Are you already thinking about how you can partner with this law? My book, “The Aggregation of Marginal Gains” is an important tool that will provide you 5 key areas where you can start dispensing immense value.

11. There’s Something Bigger Than Ideas⁩

The valley is crowded because people naturally have a tendency to be loss averse. That means if there’s any chance of them losing time, money, effort or resources in any activity, they would run away from it. There is security in being loss averse.

The successful on the other hand are freaks of nature. They are not loss averse because of one important factor.

They see failure as feedback!

That’s why the wealthy are almost paranoid about execution.

They understand that there’s a learning curve in everything new, so they want to fail as fast as possible. They want to make the mistakes as soon as possible. By doing this, they are able to separate the gold from the dross and home in on the variables that work.

The poor on the other hand are there, folding their arms in the valley, waiting for the planets to align before they get their hands dirty.

Then when they eventually someone else executing their ideas, they complain to all who care to listen, “Ah! They stole my idea again”

Don’t be this person!

So, how can you be the person that is ready to get your hands dirty as quickly as you can?

Break the ginormous task down into smaller baby steps.

The valley is crowded because many people have a syndrome I call Difficulty Intolerance where they are extremely sensitive to the slightest difficulty.

As I shared in The Aggregation of Marginal Gains, the ability to fall in love with learning difficult things quickly is a superpower that would put you head and shoulders above the rest.

The poor and unsuccessful don’t know this. That’s why they are stressed and overwhelmed by difficult things. That’s why the valley is crowded and will continue to be.

People in the valley prefer to hang out on social media and continue scrolling down their news feed to infinity.

That’s the easy path of least resistance.

The Rich and successful think differently. They are not overwhelmed by difficulty. Rather, they think and act strategically by breaking down ginormous tasks to actionable chunks.

You too can do the same.

In high school math, we were taught that a number series could be expressed in two forms. These forms are Arithmetic Progression and Geometric Progression.

In an arithmetic progression, the difference between any two consecutive numbers in the sequence is constant. For instance, in the number series 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24…, the next number in the series is gotten by adding 3 to the previous number.

On the other hand in a geometric progression, the numbers follow a pattern such that the next term is found by multiplying by a constant called the common ratio. For instance, in the number series 3, 9, 27, 81, 243, 729, 2187, 6561…, the next number in the series is gotten by multiplying the previous number by 3.

‘Great example’, you might think, ‘but how does this relate to growth?’

It’s simple. Some people are going through life in an arithmetic progression where there is no difference between where they were 8 years ago, and where they are right now. On the other hand, there are people whose lives are marching forward in a geometric progression. The fruits their lives are able to produce in just one year trumps what their peers are able to achieve in 10 years. As it were, the only constant in these people’s lives is predictable progress.

Do you feel like you are trudging through life in an arithmetic progression Well, the good news is that you are not condemned to a lifetime of mediocrity. I will be sharing with you some lessons I got from American bestselling author, speaker, and coach, John Maxwell, in his bestselling book: The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential

Growth is Impossible Without Deliberate Intention

‘To reach your potential, you must grow. And to grow, you must be highly intentional about it’ – John Maxwell

I’ve come to understand that we don’t have a potential problem. In fact, once you have a glimpse of the potential you have bubbling within and around you right now, you will never think of yourself as a small person anymore.

Unfortunately, for all the potential we have within and around us, many people will lead mediocre lives.

Why? They lack intentionality.

It’s just like the person who is extremely hungry, but goes to a buffet with a table spoon and a saucer, while others are piling up food on large plates and even going for second and third servings.

In my analogy, the problem is not the availability of food. The problem is the lack of intentionality on the part of the hungry man. There’s nothing or nobody stopping him from picking up his larger plate and stockpiling it with assorted cuisines. He exercised his own power of choice to play a smaller game.

Similarly, unless you’re intentional, you would appear very busy and hardworking with very little to show for it. Why? Because you’re showing up to God’s abundance party called life with nothing more than a thimble to pick your blessings.

You need to be intentional!

You Have to Commit to Growth Now

“The greatest danger you face in this moment is the idea that you’ll make intentional growth a priority later” – John Maxwell

A quote I’ve come across countless times in the past weeks is this: ‘The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time to plant a tree is now’

Stop waiting for all the planets to align before you take a first step. Take intentional steps towards your growth right now. Your goal is not perfection in the beginning.

You will fail. Yes, you will fall. But you will also find out what does not work in the process, even as you home in on the processes and systems that work.

Remember, the successful don’t think in terms of failure. They only see feedback, make iterations with the feedback and then they act again.

That’s why John Maxwell said, “One of the greatest obstacles to curiosity and learning is the reluctance to look foolish in the eyes of other people. There are two easy ways to tell if this is a problem in your life: The first is being afraid to fail. The second is taking yourself too seriously. The cure is to take what I call “learning risks.” Sign up to do or learn something that takes you completely out of your comfort zone…”

The comfort zone is a safe zone. No stress. No stretching. No challenges. Just the same old limited life day after day.

If you want to stand out, you need to be confident enough to introduce new dimensions to your daily experiences.

An example of how you can do that?

Talk to that stranger in the taxi. Who knows, the life-changing information you need might sprout out of that conversation.

Ask questions. More often than not, wisdom is unleashed when questions are asked. And besides, if you don’t ask the stupid questions, you will never get round to asking the questions that matter.

That’s why one quote that I’ve repeated again and again is this,

“The quality of your life is governed by the amount of uncomfortable conversations you’re willing to have”

Form the habit of having uncomfortable conversations. Yes, it’s outside your comfort zone. Yes, the vast majority of people will rather keep mute and fuddle with their phones. But those kinds of conversations are exactly what you need to grow and become that 1% of the population that the Aggregation of Marginal Gains work for, instead of against.

Growth is Impossible Without Direction

“You have to know who you are to grow your potential. But you have to grow in order to know who you are. So what’s the solution? Explore yourself as you explore growth” – John Maxwell

There’s a reason why I have a passion for helping people crystallize the potentials trapped within and around them.

Many people cannot grow because they are totally oblivious to who they are capable of becoming.

Their minds are constantly fixated on the mistakes they made in the past, or their fears and concerns for the future.

True growth begins with identity. 

Your identity doesn’t stop with who you think you are right now. Neither does it end with your nationality, tribe, biases and prejudices. Rather, your identity extends to the desirable future ‘you’ that you’re capable of becoming.

The more you are aware of this future ‘you’, the easier it would be to grow into that identity. I talk about the exact steps you can use in changing your identity here: Identity-Based Motivation: The Problem Isn’t Habit, It’s Identity!

You Don’t Have a Growth Problem, You Have an Identity Problem

Zig Ziglar once said, “It’s impossible to consistently behave in a manner inconsistent with how we see ourselves. We can do very few things in a positive way if we feel negative about ourselves”

If there’s anything I’ve hammered on again and again, it’s this: You don’t have a faith, or power, or purpose problem, you have an identity problem.

Character and behavior arises from your most dominant identity.

That’s why the Chinese will continue to be excellent in math.

It’s the same reason Indians will continue to be drawn towards computer science, engineering and technology.

That’s why the Igbos would continue to be successful in commerce.

These identities resonate with these groups of people and you eventually find their behaviors and career choices being influenced.

To change your behavior in pursuit of growth, you need to change your most dominant identity. I discuss how to go about that here

Growth is Incomplete Without Reflection

John Maxwell said, ‘If we pause to allow growth to catch up with us, it makes our lives better, because we not only better understand the significance of what we’ve experienced, but we can implement changes and course corrections as a result’

There’s so much information in the environment that is constantly bombarding our consciousness. 

Without deliberate reflection, we miss out on the variables that influence our actions, behaviors and results. Consequently, we’re trapped by the same faulty mental models and we make the same mistakes again and again.

Spending time on reflection is an action that is important, but not urgent. And as result, it gets overlooked every time by the vast majority.

If you want uncommon results, you must engage in uncommon actions. 

“It does little good to see something new without taking the time to think about it. It does no good to hear something new without applying it. I’ve find that the best way to learn something new is to take time at the end of the day to ask yourself questions that prompt you to think about what you learned… Remember, experience is not the best teacher, evaluated experience is” – John Maxwell

A lot of people are stuck in their current phase because they have not learnt the lessons attached to that circumstance. As a result, that keep on repeating the same ‘class’ year after year. Unfortunately, you cannot learn if you don’t reflect. And you cannot reflect if you’re not deliberate with making out time to do it.

That’s why you’d see the average person leading a mediocre life. They have formed a faulty hypothesis about life, and in spite of all the feedback, they do not take the time to reflect and make iterations.

Understand: Reflection is a lost art in this generation. If you want to grow, reflection needs to be a vital part of your life. Do this consistently and you’d be pleasantly surprised with the results

Growth Will Have Boring and Mundane Stages

“The successful person has the habit of doing the things that failures don’t like to do. The successful person doesn’t like them either, but his dislike is subordinated to the strength of his purpose” – John Maxwell

One myth of success that is peddled by the gurus is following your passion.

The problem is that even when you follow your passion, you won’t feel goosebumps and butterflies in your stomach every minute you’re at it. Yet, the gurus don’t sell that part of the story to their followers.

Following your passion involves doing what you hate. For instance, everyone wants to write a book, but not everyone enjoys the pain and bleeding of writing. There’s a price to pay for every prize. There’s a painful process behind every successful event.

In addition, following your passion involves taking the lonely path of mundane routines. The successful understand this and they follow through with their course until they attain their objectives. The unsuccessful, on the other hand, are easily bored by routine and end up on Facebook for their next dose of dopamine-fueled entertainment.

Understand: the path to your desired results would be boring and lonely. When that happens, stick with it because your destination is now closer than before

That’s why John Maxwell went on to make the following remark: ‘If you do the things you need to do when you need to do them, then someday you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them‘

Sometimes ago, two people in my circle of influence told me that they are disillusioned with their jobs and were considering quitting.

And one of the guys had a wife and two kids!

Naturally, I advised the two guys to stay put in their jobs until their “dreams” or “passions” can become a stable source of income. Anything other thing is simply irresponsible.

In every sincere success story – whether in the Bible, or in the history books – you’d find that there’s a period of boring routine.

For instance, between the ages of 12 – 30, there’s nothing written about Jesus, even though His Destiny was to be the Savior of the world.

For the 13 years that Joseph was in prison, there was nothing written about him, except for the dreams he interpreted. Yet, his destiny was to become the prime minister of Egypt.

Before Michael Jordan won his first of 6 NBA championships in 1991, he had been a routine loser for the nearly 7 years leading to his first title.

What’s my point in all of these? 

Behind every success event, there’s usually a boring process that is in no way glamorous. If you feel that your job is getting in the way of your purpose, how about waking up an extra hour everyday to work on your purpose? If it’s as important as you say, then you should be able to make out the extra time for it!

Growth is Stimulated by the Right Variables

‘Do not wait for a change of environment before you act. Cause a change of environment through action‘ – John Maxwell

There are variables that determine the results you get out of life. And when the variables are obscured, you’re liable to continue getting the same poor results out of life.

However, irrespective of how aware of the variables you are, there’s always one constant that you have control of.

That constant is You!

You might be born into lack. You don’t have any control over that. However, you can choose to learn how to get out of lack and follow through with action.

You always have a choice. And when you are deliberate with your choices, with time those choices compound and you’d find yourself translated to more optimal environments!

“Most people allow their lives to simply happen to them. They float along. They wait. They react. And by the time a large portion of their life is behind them, they realize they should have been more proactive and strategic” – John Maxwell

If there’s anything I drummed on again and again in my book, The Aggregation of Marginal Gains, it’s how easy it is to stand out from the crowd, because the crowd has made the standards very low. All you need to do is a little more than the average person and you’d see phenomenal results.

One area where you can do this is strategic, proactive planning. In your regular day, there are factors that you can control, and yes, there are factors that are out of your control. Focus on those that are in your control and follow strategic planning with ruthless action.

Do this over the course of a month, and you’d be pleasantly surprised with your results.

Growth Maintains the Right Perspective for Life Experiences

‘No one likes it when they’re in the middle of a bad experience. It’s usually just painful. But if they manage the experience well, then they enjoy talking about it afterwards. It becomes a great war story’ – John Maxwell

If you study the annals of history, you’d find that there’s always a period of pain and intense hardship at the cusps of breakthrough.

In instances when you’re passing through bitter times, you can always decide to be as bitter as your circumstances, or make the decision to come out of the other side better. Everything ultimately comes down to perspective. Would you keep your gaze on the inevitable light at the end of the tunnel? Or would you throw in the towel at the slightest inkling of pain.

Remember, when all is said and done, tough times really don’t last at all – for both tough people and soft people. What differentiates the two categories of people is their perspective.

John Maxwell shares an insightful story that buttresses this point:

“There’s a story about a chicken farmer whose land was flooded every spring. He didn’t want to give up his farm and move, but when the water backed up onto his land and flooded his chicken coops, it was always a struggle to get his chickens to higher ground. Some years he couldn’t move fast enough and hundreds of his chickens drowned

“After the worst spring he’d ever experienced and losing his entire flock, he came to the farmhouse and told his wife, “I’ve had it. I can’t afford to buy another place. I can’t sell this one. I don’t know what to do”

“His wife replied, “Buy ducks“”

Everything ultimately comes to perspective. If you train yourself to identify pain and failure as feedback, you would be able to make course-corrections as you progress in this journey called life. And as I mentioned earlier, your ability to interpret failure and pain as feedback puts you in an elite category of individuals who will escape the gravitational pull of mediocrity. 

Understand: Sometimes your success is hidden behind your areas of pain and failure. Stay sensitive. Listen to feedback. Make course-corrections. And it’s only a matter of time before you lay hands on the prize.

Growth is a Process, Not an Event

US politician Dan Coats is reported to have once said, “Character cannot be summoned at the moment if crises if it has been squandered by years of compromise and rationalization. The only testing ground for the heroic is the mundane. The only preparation for that one profound decision which can change a life, or even a nation is those hundreds of half-conscious, self-defining, seemingly insignificant decisions made in private. Habit is the daily battleground of character”

Here’s another example of process vs event.

Everybody loves celebrating the big win. The fireworks and sound effects that accompany success.

But when you peel back the layers, there’s nothing more than the boring, mundane process of showing up everyday.

Consistency is boring. But when it compounds over time, it’s really attractive.

So, this is 2019 and I’m currently following the build up to the US Presidential elections. This is the period where people who intend to run are making their intentions clear.

One of the presidential hopefuls is Bernie Sanders. And while I don’t agree with everything he’s saying, he earned my respect, and that of millions of people because of the consistency of his stand on issues.

Here’s an example:

Recently, a 20-year-old video clip of Bernie Sanders made the rounds on the internet. And guess what? The only difference between him back then and him now was that he had more hair on his head back then!

The man showed that he’s consistent because his stand on his values are largely unchanged and that is winning him a lot of fans at the moment!

Understand: There’s power in consistency. It would always compound and you can determine whether it becomes a liability or an asset in the future

Disclaimer: I have never met John Obidi in person. Like you, all I know about him has been through the stories about himself that he shared on his personal development group on Facebook. In addition, he did not ask me to write this.

One superpower that would put you head-and-shoulders above the lot is the ability to see patterns and recognize connections that are not obvious to everyone else. While I am still developing my mastery with this superpower, I can confidently say that earning my master’s degree has played no small part in making me better at seeing patterns. For all the slack that traditional education system has received in recent times, earning a graduate degree in any field equips you with the invaluable ability to quickly go through a glut of information and separate the gold from the dross with remarkable predictability.

Interesting stuff, right? Well, here’s why I am telling you this back story.

Sometimes ago, I wrote a post titled, “The Aggregation of Marginal Gains and a 23-Year-Old Me”. In it, I shared how I foolishly quit a job that paid me ₦30,000 (less than $100) a month without any safety nets to stop my freefall towards lack. My ignorance was pretty costly, as I spent months surviving on ₦500 (less than $2) a week! Among other things, I shared some of the lessons that experience taught me about the Principle of the Aggregation of Marginal Gains. For the uninitiated, the principle simply states that if you decide to improve on a particular skill by as little as 1% every single day, you would be better than at least 90% of other people who have that skill. You can read the post here to learn more. That said, if there is anybody I think has turned the Aggregation of Marginal Gains into an art form, you do not need to look further than John Obidi!

John Obidi’s Paradigm of Success

Anytime I interact with John Obidi’s content on social media, it is easy to see how he views success. Many people think that success is one mind-blowing event that will just happen suddenly. John Obidi is not part of that group. On the contrary, he understands and appreciates the fact that success is a product of process.

Consider this quote he wrote in his post titled “Focus on Your Plate”,

“Focus on your plate and learn to combine contentment with ambition. Keep watering and tending to your garden, your harvest will come. The laws of nature cannot just stop working when it’s your turn to chop. Just keep at it.”

Do you see it?

John Obidi understands that the same way a seed you plant today will not become a tree tomorrow, success is not going to happen overnight. Anyone who tells you that is simply selling you snake oil! That’s why John Obidi implores you to keep on watering and tending to your garden.

Keep showing up every day.

Keep improving every day – gradually and consistently.

Keep doing that 1% extra that the others are ignoring and it would only be a matter of time before your consistency brings you to your place among the great men of valor.

That is how success would overtake you with all its benefits!

Unfortunately, a lot of the self-proclaimed gurus out there peddle magic pill after magic pill – promising to give their gullible followers results only process can bring. However, I do not think it is the fault of these gurus. Usually they suffer from what I like to call the “Mandela Effect Syndrome”

How John Obidi’s Destroys the Mandela Effect Syndrome

As I mentioned here, the Mandela effect is a phenomenon where people have a vivid false memory of a real-world event. It could be a historical event or something that happened in their lives. It is a problem that has plagued every human since time immemorial and sadly there would never be a cure until we leave this side of eternity.

If you stay aware, you would find out that there is a kind of ‘selective amnesia’ happens when people are finally able to break through the stranglehold of poverty and lack. When you sit these nouveau-rich people down to ask them to share the exact strategies they did to achieve their goals, they tend to misremember the events. It seems like they totally forget the sacrifices, hard work and sleepless nights that they put in to get the results they had. They forget the systems they had to learn to set up. Instead, they prefer to share platitudes and spiritual advice on how God gave them everything on a platter of gold.

Don’t get me wrong. I have a firm belief in God, as well as the spiritual realities that govern the events in the physical realm. However, there are certain practical steps that God expects us to pass on to others that may find it beneficial. Little wonder Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever… . Centuries later, Paul of Tarsus would say, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

Understand: Until we learn to transfer knowledge in Africa, the continent’s development will continue to move at a snail’s pace when compared to other parts of the world.

For his part, John Obidi is very deliberate in the transfer of knowledge. He does not mince words. I think this is because he has seen both sides of the divide. He has learned how to suffer and he has learned how to enjoy abundance. As a result, John Obidi is even more determined to play his part in the liberation of the destinies of countless people. Yes, John Obidi’s faith in God is the foundation of everything he has achieved till date. However, you are not going to see him tell you that your answer is going to come if you keep on fasting every Thursday.

Consider this John Obidi quote from “NO LOOSE ENDS”,

“You just met somebody really attractive. Keep your pants on my child. Know their roots first. Ask all the questions that they consider to be beyond your years. Where is their village? Who are their friends? Who are their enemies? Who have they previously made a pact with? Have they ever made a blood covenant? What price are they paying for juvenile foolishness? For where you’re going you might be forced to choose. Them? Or Destiny? If you’re afraid to choose, still you’ve made a choice. NO LOOSE ENDS, my child. Some exes are like your shadow. They will never go away. NO LOOSE ENDS!…Discipline can be confusingly painful and sometimes saddening, but it is the only path to a life of freedom and unlimited options. You don’t know it yet, but that’s what you really want.“

Here’s another one from “Dig Deep”,

“A large part of my brand value and the demand it generates globally is attributed to what I do when the world is asleep. At this hour, there are less social media notifications, SMSs, phone calls, etc. Less demands on my attention. So I take maximum advantage of the serenity to research, study and carry out experiments on the best ways to solve tomorrow’s problems. Sometimes, I’m at it for 5 hours nonstop. To many, it’s not an attractive activity because it cannot be immediately transmuted into MONEY.”

And that’s how John Obidi crushes the Mandela Effect. He does not suffer from selective amnesia – conveniently blotting out the lessons and memories that could give you that added advantage. Rather, John Obidi chooses to bare it all. And as you guessed, his blessings are doubled even as God is happy to continue conspiring with the universe in John Obidi’s favor.

How John Obidi Keeps Showing Up for Marginal Gains

In a previous post titled, “The Commonly Overlooked Secret To Success That No One Is Talking About, I shared a story of how Emeka Nobis shut down one of his vibrant Facebook groups in order to focus his creative energies on one group. Emeka Nobis’ choice to focus gave him a marginal advantage in the thought leadership space. You see, success is predictable and it leaves clues. Naturally, since John Obidi is successful in his own right, you can bet your arms and legs that he is prudent with his focus.

Consider this quote from John Obidi’s post titled “PRESCIENCE” to see a glimpse on the mentality that powers the marginal gains he has over his peers,

“…you should learn to: [1] HEAR what isn’t said [2] SEE beyond that which is shown [3] OBSERVE the pulse of time. Heighten your powers of FOCUS, observation and perception…A distracted Nigerian is a defeated Nigerian.”

With a mentality like that your spirit man stays sensitive and your mind is constantly primed for opportunities to advance the mandate that God has placed in your heart. Not only is this the responsible way to live as an adult, it is also going to save you from unnecessary bouts of stress and burnout. And when all is said and done, the principle of the aggregation of marginal gains would work in your favor – not against you.