Columnist: Achieving your dreams through thriving

By Fassy Yusuf

Columnist, Despite the perilous state of the economy, and the debilitating and inclement environment we all live in, we cannot afford to give up.

We must stop our daily lamentations. In essence we must continue to THRIVE.

Thriving involves flourishing, growing vigorously, prosperity, progressing toward or realising a goal despite circumstances and notwithstanding difficulties.

No matter what the situation is, there should be no room for indignation, complacency, and self-pity.

It is expedient that as individuals and nation, we grow and develop strongly to be successful, strong, and healthy.

Albeit thriving is a choice, but as a writer puts it ‘It is an attitude, and (your) ability to thrive in the world is deeply connected to the actions you take daily and the belief structure you embrace.’

According to Panache Desal, there are thirtyone ways to move from surviving to thriving.

These include taking time in the morning to find your centre and set intentions for the day; consistently letting go of expectations; listening without judgement; operating enjoying nature; eating nourishing whole foods; getting up to dance when you feel too serious; unplugging one’s devices and relishing in the stillness; and being mindful of complaining too much.

They also include detoxifying from television; showing appreciation for the people who support us; doing something (good) we have never done before; getting lost in a storybook; spending time with family; practising radical gratitude; writing in a journal or capturing your emotions/thoughts for five minutes a day; setting goals and taking daily action to make them happen or actualise them; formulating a personal mantra; learning something you assumed to be difficult; putting yourself in someone else’s shoes (building empathy and connection); and planting something (inspirational and empowering action).

The ways to move from surviving to thriving also incorporate complimenting a stranger; embracing alone time; enjoying your sleep; stop assuming; remind yourself that you are light (be a luminous being and let light be contagious, shine forth); transform your to-do list; choose love over fear; seek out the good in whatever situation you find yourself; laugh as much as possible; pay it forward (doing kind deeds/things for others without expecting recognition or reward); and above all, find your purpose in life.

Amid the present chaos and new normal as witnessed the world over, especially in Nigeria a young, versatile, and resilient lawyer cum thrive advocate, Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem has compiled ‘a ‘manual’ or compendium of teachings on resilience and growth strategies for a successful career and business’.

‘Thrive’ is especially published for our youths and it is a publication that can assist them to unleash their potentials and rediscover themselves from their restiveness and uncertainties.

The hijacking of the #EndSARS protests and the various anti-social behaviours currently ambivalent or prevalent are attributable to our youths not thriving. If they work on their potentials and endeavour to thrive during this chaotic environment, the future holds a lot of potentials for them.

Migrating to other countries, embarking on ‘yahoo-yahoo’, pursuing money rituals, and perpetrating fraud are not the ways to go.

According to the Chief Executive of ZKTeco West Africa, Afolabi Abiodun, who wrote the Foreword, ‘It is pertinent for us to note that what Ahmed has come to show us through this book is that “The way to thrive is to help others thrive; the way to flourish is to help others flourish; the way to fulfil oneself is to spend oneself ” as stated by Cornelius Plantinga. We all need to continue thriving.’

In the book’s introduction, Ahmed AdetolaKazeem asked rhetorical questions: “Are you looking for a book to serve as a training manual for corporate staff, social entrepreneurs, tech enthusiasts, management staff or soft skills development generally?

Are you a youth struggling with finding your career path? Wondering what is the next stage in accessing opportunities to fulfil your dreams?

Confused about managing a profitable business yet making social impact? Or totally clueless about dealing with people and dealing with potential connections?”

If nothing else, the book “identifies problems and proffer intellectual and practical solutions, highlighting the stepby-step approach to a successful career and business, with emphasis on the core values of reliance, recovery, and growth.”

This book which is particularly targeted at our youths has five sessions- Mentorship, Storytelling and opportunities, Business, Skills in the global space (21st Century and COVID-19 focused, and Leadership.

What follows the five sessions is the profile of the contributors. Adetola-Kazeem’s Gain of Mentorship as depicted in Session One, is a compilation of the mentorship journeys of outstanding millennials.

We read about the informal mentorship of Nojeem Subomi Yusuf, a manager at Deloitte, who says: “Now, mentorship has helped me to identify my ultimate career goals and how I should ensure my daily activities are targeted towards achieving that (ultimate) goal.

So, mentorship has helped me to be a lot more focused, to major in only the things that matter and not just doing everything that comes my way”.

Writing on choosing a mentor that aligns with your philosophy, a lawyer, arbitrator and politician, Faruq Abass, pointedly said “Most importantly, I learned my solid work ethic from my parentswho were my first mentors, as I grew up observing them working very hard, reading regularly and upholding integrity as one of their core values”.

He believes that some other tips on mentorship he learnt include the habit of investing good books, punctuality, regular consultation, and the need to keep improving one’s knowledge daily.

The founder of Association of Young Arbitrators, Abayomi Okubote talks about getting mentored and mentoring others to widen one’s sphere of influence.

He narrates how he was formally mentored ‘by a partner in one of the top international law firms in London’. Coupled with the efforts of others, he is now giving back by mentoring others.

He gains a lot from mentoring others- new ideas, developed new relationships, and new friends. In conclusion, he declares ‘mentees are everywhere speaking good of you and your name has travelled to places you haven’t been to physically.

Mentoring people has challenged me a lot and given me a different world view of how people perceive things.’

Segun Fatudimu, founder of Sozo Leadership Institute says ‘Be bold to ask for mentorship and make the most of your relationship with your mentor; while the Executive Director of MPAC, Disu Kamor (not a millennial) talks about how mentorship prepares one for the challenges of life, just as Hammed Kayode Alabi, Sub-Saharan Africa Representative for Peace First and Founder KLCI says we can attract mentors by discipline, hard work, consistency, and showing up.

Aisha Adams, founder of Sidiqqah Street Kitchen discusses ‘When there is no mentor’.

She counsels that we must take our responsibility quite seriously and whenever we are placed in a position of leadership, we must be conscious of our role to shape others through our actions or inactions and hold ourselves to high standards.

One of her biggest motivations in life has always been to leave footprints in the sands of time and doing so, she sets high and seemingly difficult standards for herself to scale through.

Her advice includes the assimilation of ‘optimism, commitment to learning, open mindedness to constructive feedback and most importantly, praying harder than one works on one’s growth journey the dream is the focus, and it is bigger than any other thing.’

Session Two of Thrive is on Storytelling and opportunities. Onyedikachi Ekwerike discusses ‘Tell to Win-The art of purposeful storytelling in applications and business; and, Winning Hack: How to write winning applications for scholarship and fellowship opportunities is handled by Hammed Kayode Alabi.

Business is the title of Session Three. The first topic which is beautifully crafted by Kabiru Olanrewaju is on preparing your business for financial growth.

He recommends that an appraisal process should be included in the Business Planning cycle.

While stating some features of a good plan, he mentions four types of risk- technical, economic, commercial, and political, and two methods of planning: top-down and bottom up. Disu Kamor in his second debut in the book discusses Building organisational structures and fostering partnerships; while the farmer in suit, Usman Alli Lawan handles Overcoming setbacks and running a profitable social enterprise.

In the same league, Fuad Abayomi Shobowale talks about Brand communication and management; with Abisola Akinrin handling Questions and Answers in Legal Education for Start-ups.

Session Four is on Skills in the global space (21st century and COVID-19 focused).

Olatunji Adegbite’s Contribution is on diversifying for global relevance. Kehinde Oseni, a young Nigerian based in California, USA talks about Opportunities in the tech world and achieving more with tech in the COVID-19 era.

His narration is particularly intriguing. This young Enterprise Systems Adminstrator is adept at using Salesforce,com platform and other cloud-based technologies to optimise business processes and proffer business solutions.

A trailblazer, ever since migrating to USA, he has received some honours and he is currently a Senior Salesforce Administrator at PagerDuty- a cloud-based incident management platform.

He is of the opinion that an employee needs technical and transferable skills. According to Kehinde, the opportunities in the tech space include social media marketing, content marketing, user experience, front end and back end development, and systems and data management.

He mentions the role of specialist group including security specialist, and curious specialist, among others.

His final submission is how to achieve more with technology post COVID-19.

Hammed Kayode Alabi introduces readers to Global citizenship. The last session (Session Five) is by the editor himself.

Here Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem writes on the Challenge of becoming a great leader. Ahmed talks about the Mammalian and Reptilian leaders, and Reptilian and Mammalian excellence.

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He also discusses the qualities of great leaders. Finally, Climbing the corporate ladder is treated by Nojeem Subomi Yusuf.

Yusuf gives fifteen tips on this. The curtain is drawn with eleven Questions and Answers on leadership and mentorship.

This column x-rays Thriving with the edited book by Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem with the hope that our youths can gain an insight into what they can do with themselves despite their perceived hopelessness.

It is after all, a good world if we do not give up.