EYES WIDE SHUT
What is the secret of success?, why is it that people in same or similar operating environments produce different results?, Are there some laid down rules that must be followed for one to succeed or is success a function of our choices, decisions and beliefs? I do know that success means different things to different people and one cannot really measure how successful one is until you are able to ascertain what being successful means to the person but for the purpose of this write up, lets pretend that success for everyone means “The accomplishment of an aim or purpose”. Even with this definition, you would agree with me that before one can adjudge something successful or otherwise, the aim or purpose must first be determined. Ok, enough of the semantics, Let’s get on with it.
Please permit me to walk you through this with my findings from a one year study conducted on a Mallam who owns a small kiosk very close to my house. So this young man started as the normal Aboki you would go to for little things like biscuits and candy for the children, sachet beverages and detergents, noodles, batteries, eggs etc.
At first, he started like every other Aboki kiosk scattered all over the place until I started noticing something different about him which would be the personal touch he brought / brings to his relationship with his customers. Well, I moved on with my life as I am even hardly at home due to work and other personal engagements. (The usual Lagos 5am – 9pm life style induced by traffic gridlocks) until one day, I went to buy something from his shop having just returned from a trip where I spent a week and he said to me “Oga, welcome back ooo, you have not been around for the past one week”. So at first I was so confused, with so many questions begging for answers: Am I safe? Is he monitoring my family? could he be an informant? (No thanks to the security situation in Nigeria ) So I politely answered him and left his shop with the intention of being extremely careful with him but then I started noticing that he knew most of the children by their names as well as their preferred candy or biscuits that when a parent goes to his shop unsure of the particular biscuit or candy to buy for the children, He would say to you “Madam, na this one your children dey like” and trust me, you will be amazed with the joyous uproar that would erupt at home when the children see the things you bought. I began to wonder, what other KYC (Know Your Customer) manual could be better than the one habituated by this Aboki, and I decided to see if this impacts his business in any way positive or otherwise, so life continued until one evening, I noticed on my way back from work that the little kiosk had been expanded and more products displayed in his shop, I also noticed the following weekend that sub-dealers use their operational vehicles to now come and supply him products. To cut the long story short, 2 weeks ago I went to his shop and saw a brand new medium sized freezer and when I surprisingly enquired, He smiled and said to me “Oga, I sell all types of drinks now”. Ladies and gentlemen, This is the only Aboki within my neighborhood that retails cold drinks and I can tell you that he is competing strongly with the mini-marts within the estate.
Did you grab anything from the story above? Are your eyes wide shut? and by this I mean: Are you refusing to see something in plain view, because of preconceived notions of what this something should look like.?
Are you driving maximum yield from what you are currently doing? are you still waiting for what life has to offer instead of focusing on what to offer life (What life expects of you)
Are you already thinking of being the next big thing that would happen to the world or you are still weighed down by pre-conceived notions and limiting beliefs which tells you that you are not enough.?
Are you acting on life or you are waiting for life to act upon you?
Many of us focus on our weaknesses rather than our strengths and by that have continued to wallow in mediocrity, some of us are specialists in majoring in Minors without realizing that what you focus on appreciates, what you think about, you bring about. I want you to take charge of 3 major things going forward –
a) Your Words – Your words create your world, always speak positives and when you have nothing positive to speak about a situation or someone, please keep quiet.
b) Your thoughts – Think only positive thoughts because our subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between an image that we envision and one that is real (Psycho Cybernetics)
3) Your deeds – What we do in life echoes in eternity – Marcus Aurelius . Every good deed returns to us in unimaginable ways.
Are you ready to be the only Aboki with a freezer in your neighborhood?
Think, Create, Know, Grow.
Watch out for my new book – The Awakening!!!
