TREASURE IN YOU

THE TREASURE IN YOU, A GUIDE TO DISCOVERING YOUR TRUE POTENTIALS- BY ADEKEYE IFEDAYO

THERE ARE TWO GREAT DAYS IN A PERSON’S LIFE- THE DAY WE ARE BORN AND THE DAY WE DISCOVER WHY…                                                                                               

-WILLIAM BARCLAY

LET YOURSELF BE SILENTLY DRAWN BY THE STRONGER PULL OF WHAT YOU LOVE  -RUMI

Let me tell you a story…

In 1928, there was this rush for gold in Abidjan, diamonds and precious stones have just been discovered the previous year, everybody wants to go into gold search and so this era was called the GOLD RUSH ERA. Most of the peasant farmers, laborers and even the white men servants and those with white collar jobs such as secretaries and clerks who were considered the elites in the societies left their jobs and went into the GOLD RUSH MADNESS. The irony was that most of them could not recognize these precious stones. In order to get to these stones they teamed up in groups and employed one or two persons who recognized these stones just to guide them in their quest.

In a little village somewhere close to Abidjan, there was a certain farmer (let’s call him MrKalou).MrKalou was a poor farmer who owned just a rocky little piece of land which has been passed down to him from his ancestors; on this piece of land was a small hut where he lives. He could not even marry because he can’t afford the bride price and he could hardly afford three square meals. The land he owns was a rocky and barren landwhich consists of stones and some weird shinning little stones which he usually digs out while tilling the land. He was so unhappy that he cursed the day he was born. Unknown to him, those weird shinning stones are precious stones and the cute little ones diamonds. Can you imagine, MrKalou has so many riches within his reach and he doesn’t even know it #sadmuch. After a lot of thinking, he decided to sell his rocky piece of land and join in the GOLD RUSH BUSINESS with the hope of fortune shining on him.

Sadly, he sold the land to another laborer in the community (let’s call him MrDrogba). MrDrogba, a laborer bought the land just for one reason, THE HUT!!! He needed a place to rest his head because just like MrKalou, he is a church rat. After selling the land, MrKalou embarked on a journey to Abidjan in search of diamonds.

It was not surprising when Mr. Drogba startedleaving on the gold studded land and did not recognize the precious stones too, he was so ignorant that he used raw gold as stones to hold the pot for cooking and will even get mad when it melts away. He will throw them screaming “why did I buy this f**king land, it is so useless sef, ordinary cooking stone I can’t get off it grrrrrrrr”. Fortunately for MrDrogba, his cousin (lets call him uhmmmm Yes! YayaToure) lives in Abidjan. YayaToure came around to greet his uncle on his new acquired property. He nearly fainted when he saw the gold studded paradise. He screamed UNCLE WE ARE RICH!!!.Confused he asked, Yaya! Yaya!! Yaya!!! How many times did I call you? Have you started smoking the cocaine that Tevez do take *lol*. Yaya explained to Drogba that all these stones are gold and the tiny ones diamonds. He could not believe his eyes and ears. He stayed watch on the land till YAYA returned with men to buy the gold and diamonds and poverty vanished. Meanwhile MrKalou got to see what gold was and rushed down to the village crying but it was too late for him. He failed to discover the treasure in him.

While reading E-MYTH why small business don’t work by Michael Gerber, I was almost in tears while reading the chapter on finding your life purpose, the writer asked the readers to picture their funeral, what will you want your eulogy to consist of, what will you want your life achievements to be, what will matter most at the end of your life? He now asked the question is what you are doing RIGHT NOW ensures the success of those things? Let me add this, if what you are doing now is not in connection with what you want your eulogy to carry then padi you are doing something wrong.

We are all born with an inheritance in us planted by God, but a lot of us have the problem of not recognizing those treasures, some of us don’t know we have them #sad. Some of us have not discovered our talents.

I know you all want to be Adele, Linda Ikeji, ,SergyBrin and Larry Page (google guys), Daddy Adeboye, , Bill gau- Face and all. Ask yourself this questions. Where will Adele be if her heart was not broken? Where will Linda Ikeji be if she did not discover blogspot.com? Remember she was a model and she failed, but she did not sit back and cry, she stood up and found another treasure in her, where will Bill gates be if he did not discover Microsoft? Where will thegoogle geeks be without google? I remember ready their autobiography and they said they were geeks in school and people laugh at them, hot coed girls don’t want to be with them but it is no surprise now that they hire these so called high school and college big boys and girls now. When I saw the picture of Larry Page’s girlfriend I was like WTF!!! I am 100% positive that she would never have associated with him in high school lol. Long story short, all these people discovered the treasures in them, Iam positive a lot of them would have failed and gotten discouragements but they stood up to the task and did something new. You all can’t be bankers, lawyers and business tycoons but you can all make it in your own ways, doing what you love doing.

I prepared these 10 ways to help you discover your potentials.

-          STOP WAITING FOR A MIRACLE: - Don’t get me wrong padis, I am a believer of miracles but even an adage says heaven helps those who helps themselves. You can’t just wake up in the morning and start playing PES 2012 or gossiping and  praying to be wealthy and flush in 10 years mehn all you are gonna be is an expert in Pro evolution soccer and a versed expert in latest gists and rumours #justsaying. I was talking to a friend last week and I said to her, Padiwhat is your plan now that you are a graduate and guess what she said? I will serve the nation, marry a rich guy and live happily ever after. I felt so sorry for her. Most of the people out there are like my friend, they are looking for a ready-made recipe to success, and some of them have even made the recipe. A series of steps and ingredients you mix together to make a better life. Am so sorry to tell you these but the recipe are nothing but handwork, prayer and diligence. Ladies no guy wants to marry a dull lady and a liability. Even though you are as beautiful as HELEN of TROY, they want a presentable lady, you may disagree but as for me I do want a career responsible lady as the mother of my kids. Guysno rich girl will see you and marry you because you have a good heart and because you are good looking mehn those ones only happens in Ramsey Noah’s movies. You have to stop looking for that miracle and take your fate into your own hands. God will not bless nothing.You have to place your hand on something for God to bless.

-          NOTICE WHAT CAPTIVATES YOU: -Check the kinda music you listen to, your secret wish list, your passion and all. What do people always ask your help on, what is it that you can do all day without you getting bored, hungry ortired? What is that thing that makes you wanna do more every time. That is your passion. Linda Ikeji is a top blogger in this country; she recently appeared on FORBES MAGAZINE, she finds pleasure in gossiping and bam!!! It got her to forbes and she also makes money. Discover that diamond and the rest will be a story, you won’t even know when the money starts coming in.

-          WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WILL REGRET NOT DOING WHEN YOU GROW OLD :- I will be unhappy if I don’t become a TV personality at my old age, you picture that thing and start making it your passion

-          MAKE A LIST: - Go somewhere private, somewhere calm that you can think. Pick up a pen and a sheet of paper and write out 10 things you have passion for, that you love doing. Those are what you want to do. Work on them and develop yourself. Don’t let anybody tell you you can do nothing.

-          HAVE PLAN A-Z: -I was walking with Shola and Joe recently and we were talking about plans after school, Joe said something that got me thinking for days. He said and I quote “Don’t have a plan B alone, have plan A-Z, all can’t fail unless you are cursed from your village” For days these words gave me a lot of sleepless night. I kept thinking am I doing enough? What if my law career is not that buoyant as I want it to be *God forbid*, what if blah blahblah? Do I have any other things am doing and all. My dear, because you are succeeding in school does not mean you should not have a plan B. Prepare for the worst in all. Have plan A-Z and one of it if not all will be a success. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. It is time to start planning for your future.

-          PRAY AND BE CLOSE TO GOD:- My favorite verse of the bible Jeremiah 29 v 11 said “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you saith the lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” No matter your religion, pray to that which you believe in, divine intervention is needed in realizing your dreams. I wish you success.

That’s it guys….. I hope you find your treasure and maximize it. Well me I want to be successful so my children can sing emiomo baba olowo*in DAVIDO’S VOICE. LOL