The Whole Shebang...Mental Malaria

          A lot has happened since I last posted a blog! I turned 23, I made up with some enemies, I made new friends, I slipped and fell and I picked myself back up. In fact I have been so preoccupied with my own internal and external battles for much of the past month or so to do much about BMIC but something has really crystallized for me today so I have been able to finally put down my thoughts on ‘paper’. I was writing everything down at a really furious pace until I just ran out of things to say – I got a mild case of “writers block” that robbed me of my ability to blog. I have sat down over and over staring at my computer screen not really knowing what to say. Even now I feel as though I am waking from a dream; a dream that was filled with much more of what I used to be and much less of what I am trying so hard to become. The question that I have been battling with is simply this; how do I motivate and inspire others when I am running out of steam, when things are not going right, when The System is succeeding against me in this endless struggle called life. After much melancholic deliberation one thing became crystal clear – I am up against insurmountable odds and at present I am inadequately resourced to fight the battle much less win the war. But forge on we must because once the ball has been set rolling things must be seen through to the end no matter what.

            One of my neighbors in my hostel is a member of BMIC, and for the past 4 weeks I have been rather ashamed whenever he asks me if the blog is up yet. I would immediately assure him that it was imminent, as I would assure myself and alas it would all be for naught. Nobody requested that I form BMIC on Facebook, register it or begin a blog. I took on this responsibility myself therefore I have only myself to report to, blame or congratulate. Truth is there is a certain pervading sense of pride I have in my work when it succeeds on the one hand and disappointment when I can’t meet my personal deadlines, or when deals keep falling through, or when bright business prospects just simply fade in the face of constant failure. My Godfather called me not too long ago asking about business and I found myself ranting about how terrible things were going so he listened, laughed and said that it is only when you are rewarded for your efforts that you feel motivated to continue; no matter how much you love what you do or are good at it. And perhaps it is this lack of any tangible extrinsic reward that has sapped me so much, and in the face of such a bleak reality I must concentrate on the intrinsic rewards I get from what I do to – and sometimes my personal satisfaction from writing seems trivial and unsatisfactory, a feeling akin to eating a lot of Fufu with little soup and having no meat to complete the experience.


            I feel as though my mind has been suffering from Mental Malaria: a situation where one’s mental, emotional and physical reserves are almost completely depleted. I dug incredibly deep, far more than I have ever done in my short life so far but it is just not enough. Sometimes I feel as though I have taken a load heavier than I can carry – but how else are my ‘mental muscles’ going to be stronger if I don’t keep surpassing the comfort of those responsibilities that I can do easily. That I am up against incredible odds is a fact, that I don’t have adequate resources is a given but if I want to achieve my goals I must face these odds and locate the necessary resources, be they internal or external. The only other option is utter failure and I decided a long time ago that failure is not an option so now I must bear my load with grace and resolve. We all have our very own loads to carry, but the question is never how heavy the load is but rather how well you carry it. So I will continue to eat my raw fufu chaperoned by puny soup and entertain a temporary proclivity for vegetarianism, for now. It shall be joyless, it shall be unsatisfactory but it is necessary in the meantime because there is always hope for the future, a future filled with the whole shebang; an incredible assortment of exotic meats. The cure for this Mental Malaria is self-evident, I need to take some Mental Chloroquin, and that my friends is a bitter pill indeed! 

The Otherwise Wasted Reserves....On Motivation

Whenever I go on a jog it is always easier at the very beginning but after about 15 minutes it becomes difficult as the lactic acid begins to build up in the muscles that are active. And then its downhill from there; every single step, every breath, even the cadence of tapping feet on the ground and swinging arms demand more and more effort. Each strained breath and drenched attire attest to the effort being employed to move the body closer and closer to the finish line, the final lap – the end of the road. Sometimes I have to run against a hindering breeze that feels like invisible strands slowing me down or sometimes I have the wind behind me pushing, urging me forward like a yacht with a gale filling up its sails. But through all this one fact remains, an hour into the jog I have used up all my energy and consequently I am tired, smelly, aching, my throat feels parched and sometimes I am even blinded by the sweat constantly dripping into my eyes because my arms are too tired to even mop them up quick enough. This is when I feel like quitting; stopping for a breath, or a sip of water – my heart is racing furiously and my ankles may be reluctantly obedient but my knees are on the verge of mutiny. Almost without fail this happens approximately an hour my jogging session (my target is 2 hours at 2 or 3 miles per hour) – and I am always faced with the same quandary, should I go on, should I rest a while or should I just stop? This is when I have to dig deep into my Reserves, that 95% of my mind that is just being not utilized and wasting away until such a moment when it becomes critical to the achievement of the goal at hand.

Any experienced athlete, especially long distance runners will tell you that once you begin to run you must never stop until you reach the end of the race, or you achieve your target. They will also tell you not to either run too fast or to slow but to maintain an even pace from the beginning to the end, whether going up a hill, down a ravine, against the wind or riding in front of a breeze. They will also tell you to regulate your breathing and to endeavor to take long deep breaths instead of short shallow breaths that are tempting and almost unavoidable but with training can be overcome. When I begun to jog a few months ago I couldn’t do any of these things and it has been an incredible [and ongoing] struggle to become disciplined enough to jog constantly and correctly. In the very beginning I could not even jog for 10 minutes straight without stopping 4 times; I used to take water breaks constantly, I used to wheeze, run out of breath, cough and generally do more walking than jogging. But I dug deep into my normally wasted reserves – that part of the mind that is just kept tucked away until a mother’s baby is trapped underneath a car and she is suddenly strong enough to lift the heavy car to save her child, or a fellow soldier is shot and wounded and needs a brave soul to run into danger to the rescue. Human beings are constantly outstripping their perceived limits to achieve impossibilities especially in the face of insurmountable odds. For me its every time I defy 5 years of heavy smoking and jog for 2 hours non-stop; its every time I take 10 – 15 hours of my week to write and correct this blog (YES! It sometimes takes that long to craft these 3 paragraphs or so); its every time I wake up and stare depression and unhappiness in the face and smile regardless; its every time a business deal goes awry, I am cheated, circumvented, unpaid, disappointed or things just don’t work out and I still press on with essential lessons and more experience; its every time I work out when I wake up, and every time I refuse to regress and smoke another cigarette.

For though my victories may be small, my realization is that digging into my Reserves for these minor things on a constant basis has begun to transform me into a more motivated and disciplined individual than I have ever been. I can still remember clearly the first day I jogged for a full 2 hours and almost 5 miles; that night I couldn’t sleep because my knees and ankles felt like lead weights and my whole body was undergoing fierce agony. To top it off, my morning was even worse! But I dug into my reserves, even deeper than before and got some Deep Heat medication liberally soothing all the ‘trouble spots’, bandaged my knees and wore double socks and went running again. I did this for a week by the end of which all the pain was gone, and I could push myself for 2 and a half hours, sometimes three hours even and I didn’t have to do so with trepidation because it was becoming easier and easier to reach deep into and utilize my innate Reserves. I spent my whole summer jogging, pushing up, crunching, lifting weights and there were times that I slacked, I injured myself a few times and even now I just don’t have enough time to work out as much and also take care of all my responsibilities. But I can say one thing for myself – I have learnt one of the most important lessons in my short life so far: I can do anything if I put my mind to it. If does not matter how impossible it seems, how difficult it will be, how much effort, time, energy and sacrifice that will be required but so long as I can dig deep within myself, within those reserves that God put in each and every one of us, I CAN AND WILL ACHIEVE ANY GOAL! If you don’t use your reserves, then they will just waste away and you will just not fully achieve your true potential. Dig deep into your reserves and Success will be inevitable.

Cheers and God richly bless you all!

            

The Lucky Percent’s 10,000 Hours...The Truth About Talent!

THE BIZMIC himself is back! It has been a while since I laid bare some of my roaming thoughts and opinions because I have been battling against a great many business priorities as well as personal and emotional issues. Yes, even the motivational and inspiring Bizmic is sometimes unmotivated, uninspired or simply has little time to write. But then BMIC must live on; and I must be disciplined and focused to educate, motivate and inspire others with my gift; my writing; My Talent! My question for you today is are you also one of the so called ‘lucky ones’ who are talented in something like art, sports, music, dancing, cooking, inventing, or in a particular area such as mathematics or comedy. Are you one amongst the fortunate few, the extremely blessed, the exceptions to the rule – The Lucky Percent? Is your gift as simple as being ‘beautiful’ or ‘handsome’, being remarkably intelligent, or easily learning languages? Have you identified your innate talent or are you a one of the vast majority I call the Other Percent: unremarkable and seemingly normal in every way. During my ‘intermission’ from writing I have dedicated a lot of thought to why I write and always seem to be musing over philosophical subjects, reading, writing and pursuing profit-making business ventures. I was beginning to think that I am simply one of those lucky people who are naturally talented at writing, and also one of the lucky few with an uncanny ability to monetize my time and energy. It appears that I am just plain lucky, that I was simply born this way, right? I begun to harbor a rather elitist view that I was an esteemed member of The Fortunate Few and thus I was better off than most other people and would naturally succeed no matter what. Thanks to a YouTube Video a friend posted on my Facebook page I have done some further research and come to the conclusion that Talent is not necessarily equal to Success.

Being talented at something is not a guarantee that one will excel in that area. According to bestselling author, Malcolm Gladwell in an interview promoting his recent book, “The Outliers”, talent is not simply about being naturally good at doing something but rather gaining proficiency at that task over constant and ‘deliberate practice’. He stresses the “10,000 Hour Rule” which he uses to illustrate the point that to be truly great at doing something you need 10,000 hours of practice, which is also equal to about 4 hours of practice everyday for 10 years. Gladwell asserts that achieving greatness requires enormous amounts of time spent practicing; he used the musical talents of the greatest and most successful rock band in history, The Beatles, as well as the programming talent of the world’s richest man, Bill Gates, as examples. The Beatles performed live in a strip club in Hamburg, Germany over 1,200 times, doing 8 hour daily sessions from 1960 to 1964, amassing more than 10,000 hours of playing time and Gladwell deduces that this incredible amount of time performing was critical to shaping their talent, “so by the time they returned to England from Hamburg, Germany, they sounded like no one else. It was the making of them.” Bill Gates gained access to a computer in his high school in 1968 at the tender age of 13 – he then spent way more than 10,000 hours programming it and any other computer he could lay his hands on. Gladwell interviews Gates, who says that unique access to a computer at a time when they were not commonplace helped him to succeed. Without that access and subsequent constant practice, Gladwell states that Gates would still be “a highly intelligent, driven, charming person and a successful professional”, but that he might not be worth US$50 billion or so he is worth today.

These and many other examples reveal the real truth about talent: Talent consists of a profound Love for something that is transformed into a Desire to succeed in turn inducing Constant and Deliberate Practice. I mean what if Bill Gates had not spent copious amounts of time programming, or The Beatles gave up playing long 8-hour stints at the German strip club, or I didn’t spend thousands upon thousands of hours reading everything I got my hands on. Would Gates be the wealthy computer genius he is today; would The Beatles be the greatest rock band; would my vocabulary be as polished and erudite as it is? People always ask me why I read so much and my response is always that love reading and I desire to improve my vocabulary and sentence construction and I am not quite at 10,000 hours of writing yet but I’m getting there, day by day, blog by blog. I have been involved in one kind of formal business or another for more than 3 years now and I gain more proficiency and experience in my various businesses as I spend more time deliberately practicing proposal writing, drafting of contracts, deal negotiations, understanding financial information and implementing ideas to create value so in another 7 years of continuing on this path I can guarantee that I will be a Business Guru who is wealthy and quite successful. It appears that the whole point of going to school from Kindergarten through to University, Internships, Apprenticeships and the like is just to equip a young inexperienced individual with their 10,000 hours of practice. It is important to note that it is only something that you love and are willing to work hard at, patiently and with resilience that you will become extremely skilled at doing – in other words your talent is equal to what you desire to constantly and deliberately practice. Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney said in reference to his job that, “You can’t get to places like this without working really hard, loving what you do...and having enormous amounts of energy, patience and resilience”. Note that he was with Disney for almost 30 years before becoming CEO. To reiterate, you may be lucky to have your talent but you will succeed only if you hone that talent with constant and deliberate practice because it takes a long time and massive amounts of effort and toil to succeed at anything so get to work amassing your 10,000 hours at the end of which you are warmly welcome to the much vaunted ranks of The Lucky Percent.

Cheers and may God bless you all!

Underestimated Virtues & Overestimated Faults!

This article was written by L. John Jones, and though he tends to be full of himself his thoughts are really interesting so I edited it and put in a Sun Tzu quote. Enjoy!

Sometime during my teenage years I decided that my personal motto would be "to have my friends always underestimate my virtues and my enemies to always overestimate my faults". I didn't coin this phrase myself but I borrowed it from Mario Puzo’s famous character, Don Corleone, in his novel, ‘The Godfather’. I have come to believe that this is the greatest advantage that a human being can have over others, be they friend or foe: that their true worth should be underestimated and their inevitable blemishes overestimated. Instead of correcting the mistaken assessment, Do Nothing; sometimes I will even go as far as to even stoke the fires and encourage an erroneous approximation of myself. If a friend does not appreciate the full measure of my virtues or an enemy has over estimated my faults, they are at a serious disadvantage to me, so I always try to remind myself to keep things as they are. It is however very difficult not to assert oneself in such situations because most human beings naturally desire to have their full worth appreciated by others. Perhaps I am a bit fortunate in this because I am one of those people that enjoys shocking people constantly; excelling in doing things that they did not think were possible for me to do. Consequently I have decided that it is necessary for me to ensure that both my allies and adversaries never have an accurate measure of what I am fully capable of, what my true intentions, actual goals and inner motivations really are; always be prepared for the unexpected, the awe inspiring and the baffling when it has to do with me (...okay it appears he’s blowing a horn here...ignore this hubris filled narrator when the horn blows – KAA).

At first it appears that allowing people to hold a wrong assessment of you is not just ill advised and irresponsible but reduces your prospects with them; or does it? Underestimated virtues and overestimated faults have been the cause of a great many disappointments and innumerable huge surprises and account for the victories or losses of a myriad battles. They remain an inextricable part of fiction and non-fiction tales as well as movie plot twists. They are a recurring theme in epic anime saga’s that have bleached their mark on our psyche and inspire true-life tales of impossible triumphs. If you assess my virtues and faults inaccurately I have a great advantage over you because you will always be unprepared when I prove that I am more virtuous or less faulty than you thought. This fits in perfectly with what ‘our’ favorite Chinese philosopher has to say, “All [warfare] is based on deception, hence when able to attack, we must seem unable, when using our forces, we must seem inactive, when we are near we must seem far away and [vice versa]”. This is the hallmark of excellence, the ability to deceive people without lying to them but rather allowing (or encouraging) them to lie to themselves about you. It involves using the other persons preconceptions, biases, attitudes, upbringing, observable traits and the like against them in such a way that is simply reaffirming what they expect of you, instead of what you can really do – until the point where it is advantageous for you to play your hand!

To fully explain this concept would be impossible in a three-paragraph blog so I encourage you to deliberate more on this. Essentially this is how magicians create illusions and seasoned poker players always seem to win – they play on your perceptions and misdirect you from the truth about what they are actually doing (or holding) so that your assessment of what is going on is completely wrong. It is important for every Business Mind to appreciate the power of ‘intentional misdirection’ in order to maintain a critical advantage over any competition. Never ever make the mistake of putting all your cards on the table, rather put up your most useless cards first and wait until the advantageous moment to reveal your ace in the hole. But before you can create illusions on your virtues and faults you must first know yourself completely – you must be completely honest about your capabilities and limitations to yourself before you can try to make others assess them inaccurately. When you are completely aware of what you are truly capable of then can you truly become a master strategist who excels at befuddling other people's expectations of you. There is nothing I love to hear more than statements like, “I know you Jones, you can’t do it”, “I have you all figured out Jones” or something along those lines – I laugh with joy inside because I know that there is only one entity that knows me through and through. Anybody else who thinks they have ‘read’ me accurately is only being misled and Yes, preparing to be SHOCKED!

WHO IS AN ENTREPRENEUR?.......Part 2

This is the second part of the article written by Samuel Okore Mintah, the Operations Officer of BMIC. What a marvelous piece - Enjoy!

I initially stated that the journey of every entrepreneur starts with an idea that begins in the mind. But the idea has to be fully developed and nurtured to the extent that it becomes a Burning Desire. It is this burning desire that invigorates the entrepreneur to go every extent no matter the inevitable impediments to attain his or her goal. This burning desire reinforces the mind to focus on a goal and propel the entrepreneur by reinforcing them for the long arduous journey to their desired destination. Having a burning desire will only take an entrepreneur halfway on the journey required to turn an idea into reality: unless the whole mindset of the entrepreneur is consumed by this desire. A consuming desire is stated by Noel Bempong “as the energy, fuel or power that is capable of launching one into action to bring the goal in mind to reality”. This means that consuming desire is what encourages, strengthens and motivates the entrepreneur to endure and act even in the face of adversity. Without this consuming desire, the entrepreneur is bound to stop pursuing his goal when unavoidable obstacles surface, but with this consuming desire any impediment is seen by the entrepreneur as a minor obstruction or even an opportunity in disguise. Apart from external impediments like a lack of funds or required experience, there are internal obstacles that emanate from within the entrepreneur’s own self in the form of low self-esteem, doubts, fear, procrastination etc. Acting at all times and in the face of all these obstacles is the underpinning manifestation of consuming desire that will get you to your destination. Action is the bridge between our dreams and reality, so ACT NOW because without action there is no progress.

They say what you see is what you get but this is not necessarily true in the world of business because what occupies your thoughts most of the time is what tends to manifest in reality. I prefer to say ‘how you think it is how you get it’. How you visualize an idea in your mind’s eye determines the probable reality that [with enough work] will materialize. Therefore as an entrepreneur, the positioning of your thoughts after every experience is what will make or break you. For example after your business suffers an unexpected setback, you have two options; you can admit failing abysmally and give up; or you can decide to see the setback as an opportunity to re-examine what caused the problem and consequently correct mistakes and root out inefficiencies. The second option allows you to approach the same project again but from a different direction which will yield the desired results, but the first option prevents you from trying again. So the difference between the businessman who succeeds and the one who fails lies in their mental outlook to life. Those with a consistently positive mental attitude tend to succeed even after many hiccups whiles those with a negative outlook to life inevitably give up. Human thoughts are powerful enough to transform into a reality exactly as has been envisioned. This means that Success or Failure is already decided in the mind before it manifests into observable reality.

A true entrepreneur never gives up because in the dictionary for entrepreneurial skills the word ‘quit’ does not exist. Perseverance [or persistence] is the word that defines every entrepreneur’s success. Though giving up may seem the best thing to do, your success is inevitable if you refuse to cave in. They say the darkest time of the night is the moment just before the break of dawn; this means that in every endeavour the point where going on seems impossible is when you must realise that victory is just a step away. Persistence is a mental attitude cultivated from self-discipline that will get you to your final destination no matter the odds you face. It is easy to dream but to be determined enough to achieve those dreams is the hardest of all the traits that an entrepreneur must cultivate but with self-discipline and hard work nothing can stand in the way of a person who desires to be an entrepreneurial success.

Acres of diamonds exist right beneath our feet therefore it is up to us the young entrepreneurs to identify these burgeoning opportunities so we can develop them for the benefit of the masses. Though lack of funds and experience may cause us to doubt our capabilities it should be understood that though many have tried and failed those who succeeded were the ones that never gave up. No matter the obstacles that may exist nothing can prevent you from dreaming. Dream and imagine where you want to be and work hard and sacrifice to make them realities. Imagination is the ‘workshop of the mind’ where ideas are assembled together to form big dreams; true entrepreneurs are those individuals that persevere in their efforts and use their failures as stepping-stones to propel them to their final destination - SUCCESS.

WHO IS AN ENTREPRENEUR?.......Part 1

This article was written by Samuel Okore Mintah, the Chief Operations Officer of BMIC. He is a true friend and a brilliant business partner with the mind of a business guru in the making. Enjoy!

I have been asking myself the same question time and time again, “Who is an Entrepreneur?” From the many books I have read on Entrepreneurism the same answer to this very question pops up; simply put “An Entrepreneur is anybody who DESIRES to take the risks necessary to employ him or herself and others in a business venture.” Desire is a required mental attitude for an entrepreneur, but in the harsh world of business it is not enough to simply have desire, in order to succeed you need something more. An entrepreneur , formulates a definite goal(s) from an Idea, identifies an Opportunity and without procrastination works diligently towards achieving his or her objectives no matter the inevitable impediments to create value from a potentially profitable venture. Ideas are the children of the brain, which means that Entrepreneurism begins in the Mind. It is important to note that any business idea is potentially profitable but transforming the idea into a lucrative reality depends of the amount of work and determination that the proponent of the idea wants to expend in the pursuit of success. It is most often fear of the uncertainties of self-employment that results in most people giving up potentially profitable entrepreneurial opportunities in favour of securing a ‘safe’ and secure job, which was created by someone else.

The striking fact of economics is this; entrepreneurs are the minority who create opportunities for the majority to make a living. Every successful business, big or small, local or global, was the brainchild of a determined entrepreneur(s) that consequently created opportunities for others to benefit from, either as employees, shareholders or consumers. Their activities buttress that of state-run institutions by providing occupations for all the people seeking jobs that cannot be employed by the government. Entrepreneurs make up and define the Private Sector of any economy, which in most capitalist societies is much bigger than the Public Sector. All these jobs and opportunities originated as a little idea in the mind of an entrepreneur, which consequently contributes to nation building, creating jobs for the people and wealth for him or herself. Wealth creation through job creation is the universal attribute that is seen in every entrepreneur. Members of the entrepreneurial minority usually start with nothing but a simple idea, massive amounts of Determination, an incredible Work Ethic, the refusal so accept Defeat or Failure and eventually accomplish great feats in diverse areas because of their willingness to work, work harder and then work some more. With an idiosyncratic CAN-DO attitude and a NEVER-GIVE-UP spirit, entrepreneurs have been able to change the destinies of others and the fortunes of entire nations.

During a conversation a friend once asked me, “If entrepreneurial skills and job creation was important why wasn’t it being taught in schools?” I responded as Robert Kiyosaki wrote in his book, “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, “wealth creation or entrepreneurism is not taught in schools”. The syllabus taught in schools teach nothing about job creation or how to realize value out of an idea because the syllabus has been designed to turn us into job seekers instead of job creators. Therefore entrepreneurism is an individual pursuit that begins with an idea and manifests into reality through Determination, Hard Work, Perseverance, Discipline and Creativity. Indeed because of the unique and rare qualities that are necessary for a true entrepreneur to be born, not all of us can become entrepreneurs, which means job creators must not necessarily equal job seekers to decrease the large rate of unemployment. According to Noel Brempong, if just 5% of the citizens of Ghana become bona fide job creators then the unemployment rate of this country would reduce drastically.

An entrepreneur doesn’t wait for opportunities to come their way instead they actively search for opportunities and when they find one, they are able to capitalize on it to create value through which they create jobs for others and wealth for themselves. They use these opportunities to create an efficient effort-based system where wealth is generated by taking hold of the idea no matter how simple or complex and putting in the work necessary for it to become a successful reality. These entrepreneurs have Limitless Courage, a Positive Mindset, a Persistent Spirit and most importantly Self-Belief. Besides the above traits, entrepreneurs take responsibility for their actions; they have confidence in others, they cooperate with others and learn from their mistakes. When they sense an opportunity they move into action without leaving any room for procrastination. In entrepreneurism one’s level of education, sex, age, and race have no bearing on becoming successful......

To Be Continued!

YOU ARE THE FUTURE: JUST BELIEVE!......On Success and Positive Change

This article was written by Gilbert Nii Lartey, the Chief Strategic Officer of BMIC. A most refreshing and motivating piece. Enjoy!

I was perusing the BMIC page a week ago and the constantly increasing number of new members truly amazed me. Within a short period of our conception BMIC has exceeded our initially modest 500-member target. This reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend back in Senior Secondary School (now Senior High School). My friend and I were just chatting when I complained about how difficult it was for me to get a certain idea of mine to materialize. I had discussed this idea with my uncle earlier but he consequently discouraged me totally from pursuing it through to fruition. Funny enough, someone else had the same idea and now it has become one of the most successful projects in Ghana as at now. To ridicule a brilliant idea from a person merely on the grounds of their young age and seeming lack of experience is an unfortunate reality that we all face as Ghanaian youth. Is it not common knowledge by now that, “Age is just a number?” I told my friend that The System had to change and his discouraging response was, “But our parents said the same thing when they were our age and yet nothing happened. They rather grew up and got used to the system and nothing has changed still.” Years have gone by and this conversation floods my mind daily. Is what he observed true; will we end up paying lip service to change and fail to effect any palpable change till we grow up; will we become just like our forbears?

The System is not right! But who can change it? The answer lies with its greatest victims; The Modern Youth. I honestly believe we did not need President Barack Obama to reiterate what we already know – The simple fact that the future of any nation lies with its youth. Take a good look at any developed nation’s human resource framework and you will realize that a majority of its Research, Inventions and Development are propelled by the youth. The older generation must complement our youthful exuberance with Experience and not to quell our raging fires of creative talents and ambitious dreams. Experience comes from doing something repeatedly over a long span of time. You cannot gain experience if you do not do anything or if you are not given the opportunity to do something. The knowledge gained from either succeeding or failing at doing anything over a period of time regularly generates experience. The question is what complementary experience is the bulk of Ghana’s older generation [The Dinosaurs] imparting to the youth? As a nation we are obsessed with Age and Seniority forgetting that while both are important, they should be used to inspire and motivate the younger generation for their future success and well being.

The System has got to change! It begins with the youth and in our minds. We have to become the purveyors of positive change otherwise we will become just like The Dinosaurs who discourage us. Every dream can become a reality but only if we are willing to believe in it and work towards achieving it. Dream big, develop ideas in your mind and commit yourself to seeing it through to reality no matter what. Take inspiration from the humble beginnings of other success stories and be willing to put in the work required. This is what got me involved with BMIC. I want to spend my lifetime encouraging and creating avenues for young people to fully develop their potential. BMIC creates the best platform for you and me to bring our ideas together to achieve a common goal – Success and Positive Change. Indeed this must be change we can believe in but it must begin with you, as a small seed in your mind that will sprout into an amazing and motivating success story.

YOU ARE THE FUTURE! JUST BELIEVE!

EYE-REDISM: The Movement of Pure Tenacity.........An Essential Element of Success

I have observed that I am part of a new conscious movement of mostly young people; an ultramodern counter-culture right here in Africa that is rejecting the status-quo of poverty and subservience and is claiming a new heritage of wealth and success for themselves no matter the cost involved - This is "EYE-REDISM". In Pidgin English "ma Eye Red" simply means 'I am extremely determined'. This is a movement where simply, "Wena Eye Red" - we are extremely determined to succeed no matter what! Personally, I live, breath, believe and practice Eye-Redism to a large extent; and I am beginning to see similar "Eye-Red Tins" all around me. To be honest there is a kind of risqué, devil-may-care element to being Eye-Red in the Ghanaian sense of the phrase - on the face of it Eye-Redism even has several negative connotations: aggression, materialism, greed and self-centeredness. This is because the Eye-Redist believes that the end fully justifies the means and will consequently do all it takes to achieve the required end. However, the way I see it, being Eye-Red is an essential element of every approach to success because at the core of this philosophy is Dogged Determination; the refusal to capitulate to obvious disadvantages and the will to use whatever means necessary to rise above prevailing circumstances and succeed. I do not sanction Eye-Redism as the only way to succeed, but inculcating some aspect of this attitude into your psyche is essential to succeeding in your ambitions; i.e. if you have ANY - it can be harnessed positively as the essential fuel behind your personal drive and ambition.

From University Graduates to 'Trog Pushers'; breakthrough Hip-Life artistes like Sarkodie to 'Sakawa' Boys; 'Burghers' to 'Wild Guys' with 'Locally Acquired Foreign Accents'; Legit Young Business Men to Juvenile Drug Mules; struggling 'Kayaye' to murderous Armed Robbers; political SRC presidents to apathetic Weed Smokers; Decent 'Chriffe' girls to Immoral 'Shodies' on the prowl for 'Sugar Daddies', there is a sweeping current of urgency and determination in our quest to thrive in 21st Century Ghana and beyond. The youthful masses are converging around the battlecry of "Ma Eye Red oh" and fighting against a system that does not provide adequate jobs and opportunities for self-actualization. However not everybody is Eye-Red, perhaps because not everybody can be. Some people intrinsically have little or no ambition because they are truly content with their lot or they do not know any better. But most others are just plain lazy and do not work to constantly improve themselves and their situation even though they desire better lives - to me they are prosaic and never achieve anything of note. They are born, they live and they die unremarkable lives; their dreams end up a shattered shambles of regret and guilt. That is my greatest fear for my generation; my fear that most of us will end up as a bunch mediocre individuals in the future that are struggling to eke out a living for ourselves and our families because the world is rapidly becoming a more difficult and expensive place to just survive; much less enjoy a luxurious existence. I feel that as a whole the immediate past generation [of Ghanaians] was rather unremarkable; but we can escape their fate and rise up to or even surpass the standard of Nkrumah's liberating generation that gained independence through determination in the face of insurmountable odds - Nkrumah and his ilk would be the epitome of Eye-Redism had they been living in these times.

Being Eye-Red echoes a concept that I came across in my research into martial pursuits - that of 'Deadly Persistence Attack' - the idea that if you persist in attacking a particular force without relenting they will eventually capitulate. That is how I approach problems and obstacles; without hesitation, procrastination or fear, I just delve in and take the bull by the horn, attacking persistently with a single-mindedness that cannot admit defeat and will do the necessary work and make the required sacrifices - and my work speaks for itself. That said I was not always like this; I was just a normal kid who was messing up his life until I realized I had to grow up and face up to my responsibilities in the light of modern realities. I have dreams - BIG DREAMS - and I realized back then that if I was to have any hope of achieving them I needed to stop mucking about and focus on the work to be done as early as possible. I needed to embrace pure tenacity and an unwillingness to compromise on anything less than the ultimate goal; success and legitimate wealth. It is necessary to note that the precepts of Eye-Redism can be applied quite successfully to criminality but to me it is not worth it. Why take this needless risk when I can wait just a bit longer and work just a bit harder for much greater rewards that I can enjoy freely with no labels, harassment or consequences instead of copping out and taking the easier route of crime? I know I am not the only one with this mindset; I am just one cog in the wheel of a Massive Movement. I know people all over who are even more Eye-Red than me; youths like Olleur on his upcoming Debut Album; M.Diawuo in CA of UnitedIcons; my Peer Group of Business Partners; The Brothers at M.I.G; and the esteemed members of BMIC's Executive Committee who are amongst the most Eye-Red people I've ever had the honour of rubbing shoulders with. As for me and most of the people I deal with, "WENA EYE RED FOKEN!": Just how red are yours?

A Total Eclipse of The Brain..........On Common Sense

I am currently reading "Common Sense: Why It's No Longer Common" by Lawrence E. Joseph and I must say its a very simple but entertaining read that manages to be quite thought provoking as well. This book is a wealth of quotes like, "Common-sense approaches to everything from entrepreneurship to home pickling to auto repair proved that anything could be done." If you follow this blog you must know that I am a firm believer in the concept of 'Possible Impossibilities' - the Idea that we are capable of doing anything if we are prepared to do the work required and make the sacrifices necessary. I reproduce a quote here from the book, " 'The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense' wrote Thomas Edison". It seems Mr. Edison was very much my kind of guy; a proponent of WORK, PERSISTENCE and Common Sense. But the premise of the novel and a fact in my book is that more so than ever before, common sense is far less common, and is gradually reducing. It has always been in short supply but it seems the 'C-S' graph took a dip when the 20th century died and dipped even lower when the 21st was born and we can only guess the depths to which it will descend because one fact is certain; Common Sense will never be common.

Common Sense is simply good sense and sound judgment in practical matters, or as the book puts it, "Common Sense is the good sense that everybody should have." - Emphasis here on everybody should have.........But what we have now is what I label as A Total Eclipse of The Brain: a situation where most people are governed more by their Reactions rather than their Actions; their Fears rather than their Dreams; and their Follies rather than by their Common Sense. Common Sense is about, "[identifying] the simplest truths, to [recognizing] striking absurdities and to [being] shocked by palpable contradictions." Lets look at these two scenarios - Exercise and eat well balanced and healthy meals to be fit and to live long - Eat anyhow and don't exercise but go on a crash diet every once in a while to loose weight and look good. I don't even need to explain! So it begs the question how all these 'dieting schemes' have proliferated the consciousness of the populace. Common Sense is practical and does not follow any dogma, philosophy, religion or even education. For example "Working teaches common sense" and it is good sense that the harder you work, the more you succeed; the more you sacrifice now the more you gain later. Simple! Practical! Sensible! FACT!

Sometimes we the so called Literate and Intelligent denizens lack common sense the most because we consistently out-think ourselves and complicate simple matters. We all want to succeed in our ambitions and achieve our goals but how many of us are willing to do the work and make the sacrifices needed. We live in a society that prefers to complain and compromise whereas what we need to do is to focus and be unwavering in our pursuits. I know people whose dream goes something like this; work lesser hours, blow money on useless things, don't really think about saving and still manage to somehow retire early to a Bentley, a nice yacht and a mega-mansion. What a folly! Any sensible person matures when they realize that WORK and WORK alone is the way to survive this increasingly demanding world of ours, but only fools think they can skip the line and succeed. A new wave of Smart-Asses have flooded society, people who prefer shortcuts like crime, superstition, and luck to good old Plain Hard Work - How is undeserved success sustainable? A bemusing statistic shows that about 90% of all lottery winners squander their wealth within a few years of gaining it and most die completely broke or worse off than before they were so 'lucky'. Why? Because EASY COME, EASY GO. Simple, Practical, Sensible, FACT!

Bring back the Fortitude!..........ON Generation XYZ

I have had several requests from some of the readers to reduce the length of the blog; essentially make it a proper blog instead of an article . It would not be easy to do at all.....but I will do my best to make the readability of The Bizmic much better and accessible. I apologize if the length has been a bother; I am a consummate reader who can blast through such a short article in no time......I surround myself with books - Magazines and Newspapers are a steady part of my diet - online articles, more books, even MORE BOOKS.....I love to read so forgive my force feeding you with lengthy content. But regardless I would like to encourage you guys to increase your vault of knowledge by reading a lot more than you do now - my friend Hasaan is always bugged by me using words like plethora or insouciance where I can simply say excess or indifference - but which is more sophisticated? The only way to internalize such beautiful words, thoughts and concepts - and the English language has a myriad of them - is to READ, READ and then READ SOME MORE! Plus it improves your spoken and written proficiency, and your diction will just be steeped in brilliance; doors will even open where there were stone walls! But I have acquiesced to the requests.....the 'blogticle' is now going to be a true blurb.

I think the above paragraph length is about right, yeah......Okay so no more long intense diatribes on Money Centrism; I will keep things simple but spicy nonetheless. But herein is a quandary for me that illustrates one of my greatest concerns for Our Generation; our lack of fortitude and our ever reducing attention spans. We are members of the MTV generation - 5 minute music videos, 140 word tweets, 2 paragraph blogs, everything short and sweet! Where is the fortitude to sit for 2 hours reading The Economist, or 3 hours a day reading a non-fictional biography of an eminent personality like Mandela, or 4 hours at a time doing proper research on assignments at libraries; where is the resilience. We want everything express, even sending text messages constitute simply lining up a bunch of banal abbreviations like, "l8, lol, lmao, brb, blah blah blah." Where is the flavor in that; how good would the meals you eat taste without spice and salt; how good is what you read without refined linguistics arranged with prowess. We have strayed so far from the Poetic Beat Generation or the academic Civil rights Generation; We Are Generation XYZ; epitomizing 21st century simplicity and speed. But I am afraid that we are truly losing the spice in the erstwhile Knowledge-Based society and shifting towards an Information-Seeking soceity......and I am not particularly amenable to this but I am just a lone voice in a sea of echoes; but there is still hope!

I remember when I was studying in the US everybody I met was astounded by the fact that I spoke with such an effortless command of English and erudite authority - it confounded their misconceptions about Africa - thank you Mum and Dad for encouraging me to read Robinson Crusoe et al. Everywhere I go doors are opened not just because of how I look or dress, but because of what comes out of my mouth, or my fingertips. Sophistication will be the most prized commodity as the world shrinks smaller and smaller; as technology makes information prolific and accessible, what sets apart one from the other will be the perceptive and shrewd mind that can be dynamic in balancing the onslaught of sensory overload yet maintain a knack for using the right information in the right manner. I mean who quotes Moby Dick or Shakespeare anymore, all I see are rebranding of classic heroes and themes; Sir Arthur Conan Doyles 'Sherlock Holmes' is now coming to a theater near you as simply - Holmes (I can't wait to see how they will permeate the plot with mindless action to the point where we lose the whole point of the story anyway). But you know what.....I am a proud member of Generation XYZ, we survived the 20th century and we will embody the 21st. I just hope that we do not dilute our intelligence, knowledge and sophistication at the expense of vapidity - Yes, find a dictionary and translate! Socrates said, "I know that I know nothing" therefore I am always willing to absorb productive knowledge when I come across it......and in the Information Age, I am completely surrounded by it. Immerse yourself as I have, and the result will be phenomenal.

From Whence Cometh Thine Inspiration?

A few hours ago I had as yet the great pleasure and honor to hang out with my business partner and mentor, The Oil Tycoon, as well as my good friend The Spy and his friend from Harvard Business School (who is representing GE in Ghana). We were a very unassuming bunch, having our informal 'meeting' at Rhapsody's, where we chatted, ate and drank on the outside porch to a cool evening breeze. I tend to be awed by the company I keep sometimes, especially after the fact of being in their presence and I can later sit down alone and go over all the things discussed and see what I can glean from my reminiscing. During our conversations occasionally I even pull out my trusty notebook because as a young business mind and scholar ensconced in such an august gathering I must be ready to record any grain, drop, or hint of wisdom.....unashamedly and unabashedly. I think the notebook being pulled out also encourages them to keep the knowledge flowing; it is a very sublime exchange, I learn a lot but they learn something from me too......but generally I do much 'colorful' talking and they give me thoughtful proddings. This meeting though was very relaxed, quite a simple affair and everybody went from sizing each other up initially, to later on simply enjoying each others presence and thoughts.......I am glad I 'sacrificed' my Saturday night to hang out with these people instead of my usual group of suspects.......Much can be fathomed not just by observing someone, but by observing the company they keep. Kweku Spy always tells me one thing over and over again, "Kojo, surround yourself with the right kind of people and you will make the right kind of choices."

Ok then, but how does one identify the right kind of people to surround themselves with? I don't have all the answers but I think I figured one facet of it out - Surround yourself with people that Inspire you positively; people that inspire you to greatness; to do good; to be true to yourself and to be better than you are! That is a true friend, that is a true brother, that is the kind of person you can rely on for good advice, for extrinsic motivation, and even for help. Look around you......who are the people you find yourself surrounded by; what kind of clique to you hang out with; what brings your group of friends together; what are your bonds based on; how much to they truly INSPIRE YOU. What kind of friends do you have - you can't change your family and as you grow they become less of an influence as compared to your friends - So what kind of friends do you have? Whenever you want to do something good or worthwhile are they supportive? When you suggest that you should pursue productive ends do they concur, do they actually help you make things happen? What tangible gains can you boast of your association with your in-crowd? What do you spend most of your time doing, and apart from that basis do you even hang out? What do you talk about; how truly beneficial have their advise been to you? Is your relationship based on superficial or deep things; is it based on transient or lasting things; is it based on harmful or beneficial things? And finally, can you honestly be your true self around them; do you have to put up a facade to fit in; can they truly reveal their inner self to you or are you all putting up airs to be able to deal with each other? The questions could go on and on, but the point being driven home is; are you truly happy with the group of people around you; have you surrounded yourself with the right kind of people? I certainly hope you have because I spent a very long time with the wrong crowd and all its ever brought me was pain and sorrow......BUT NO MORE!

Therefore as part of my growth, maturity and desire for Change in my life I have had to and still am having to cut out so many people from it simply because they no longer fit the profile of what I want to be, where I want to go and how I want to get there. I don't call them anymore, I don't hang out with them anymore; our lives no longer cross because they did not truly inspire me.......these were the kind of friends that were envious of me, rarely helped me when I truly needed their help, always sought to use me for their own selfish ends, and sometimes even actively sought to undermine my success. I was and will always be open to all these people; I will always seek to help them better themselves as others have helped me, but I can only open my door, I can't drag them in......they have to decide to do so themselves. I realize now that these are people that I always sought to find a way to cut out of my life even then but couldn't because of love, genuine respect, pity and unnecessary mutual dependencies, but the truth is they were holding me back......From my dreams, my health, my wealth and my peace of mind. I always say this to most people I care about especially in terms of relationships, "We each carry 100% of our problems and managing that is hard enough so when you want to manage another persons 100% as well, make sure that its a fair exchange." And so I try now to as much as possible surround myself with the right kind of people now, people who say things like, "When you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Oh, How they inspire, my new crop of friends.....HOW THEY INSPIRE ME TO ASPIRE TO BE BETTER THAN I AM......to be true to myself in such a way that my God-given talents, energy and life are not wasted but utilized in such a way that my success is assured.

So that is the primary motivation behind the formation of Business Minds Investment Club - To inspire the youth to aspire to be better than themselves in such a way that they can achieve success, greatness and fulfill their true destinies. The question for you then is this; are you a true Business Mind? Being a part of BMIC begs of you to answer this question, and it is because if you are to really benefit from what the club has to offer then you have to be a true Business Mind who is willing to work and sacrifice now to rack up the inevitable gains later on. BMIC is more about inspiration, motivation and determination that it is about money. BMIC is about proving that nothing is impossible, so long as the necessary work is done. What motivated you to join the club - was it because the name sounded cool or because you just randomly add invitations to groups? Is there any tangible reason for you being a member; is it something that just looks good on your facebook page; what engagements have you made to the group so far even; what comments, suggestions, tips have you put in? We at BMIC do not require anything from any member save to say that they should be active, supportive and we all should use this forum to HELP each other. Why I bring up this issue is that BMIC is growing so fast that I am becoming afraid that we will become just another group that was born and then died on Facebook. BMIC is bigger than Facebook, or the blog, or some off-shore bank account - BMIC is primarily an Inspirational, Motivational and Youth Empowerment Networking Hub. I want to encourage the breeding of true Business Minds - because some people made the concerted effort for me to change into what I am today not because of anything but the fact that they cared about more than just themselves. Before the meeting I was at the mall trying to 'evangelize' BMIC to some interesting pre-med students and they liked the idea lots but quickly kept making assumptions that it was all about money, if I had money to invest, and how they would love to join it because of all the money they could make but I didn't enjoy their money centrism.......chasing money never yields enough.....rather "Chasing work and value bring wealth" (Mr. Ampofo Snr.)

Even if I had the millions necessary to invest, I would not just invest it in any youth's businesses that would not yield assured profit, and being a member does not automatically qualify you to attain funds anyway. Neither can I, in good conscience, ask for members to invest their money in this venture because they can't; they don't have money themselves. Right now members of the 'Executive Committee' are in dire straits trying to organize funding to hire out the British Council, provide refreshments and rack up motivational icons and business gurus to come speak - I bring this up because we need constructive input and help from members who can provide some assistance - we don't need money, we need links, help with planning, cleaning up after and things of that sort. My greatest fear is that people will not even show up, or participate adequately thereafter - but fears and worries have to be dealt HEAD ON so things will go as planned, Godwilling. In the long term I see this group evolving into a full blooded Financial Services Institution - essentially an Investment Bank! Thats a HUGE goal......and I felt that members should know where we are right now and where exactly we are headed; I can just envision the amount of sweat, pain and suffering it will take for us to get there, but the end result will be well worth the work that will be put into it. It takes ordinary people who face impossible odds to make an extraordinary difference.

For now BMIC remains an organization focused on Inspiration, Motivation, Youth Empowerment and Counsel using the resources that are available. In time though, who knows where we will end up.....Nelson Mandela said he see's the celebration of Mandela Day not as a personal honor to him but a "way of demystifying that only extraordinary people can make a difference." Another inspirational friend (whose also a member of BMIC) said this to me in response to me telling him that people always say that my head is up in the clouds, "Its the only way to SPACE!" Mr. Kweku Spy also said, "If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters first. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude." Again....how inspirational!!!

The Art of War; Fighting for Success and Achievement.......ON 'THE SYSTEM'

When I turned 14, I received one of the greatest gifts ever from my father, a small book called The Art of War, by Sun Tzu. At the time I was only slightly intrigued but now, this book is second only to my Bible because it revolves around the timeless teachings of Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher and acclaimed war general. It is such a good read that I can honestly say I have read it more than 20 times, and I refer to it all the time; I'm still working on memorizing it word for word, that's how good the book is. Sun Tzu was one of the most respected experts on war in ancient times and even after 2500 years his teachings are treasured by modern generals (its a required read for generals in the US army), Fortune 500 CEO's, jet-setting business executives, politicians and career diplomats the world over. In fact The Art of War is primarily responsible for several remarkably successful war campaigns from antiquity to modern times. It was applied by Emperor Wu to unify all of China; by the fearsome Mongolian Hordes as they swept all over Asia and Europe unchallenged; to the victories of Napoleon Bonaparte in Europe (he subsequently lost against the Russians only when he broke with the precepts of he book); to the victorious campaign of General Mao Zedong. In fact it even accounts for the rapid resurgence of the Japanese economy after WWII because it was a mainstay of study for most samurai families; and I'm truly seeing Sun Tzu's teachings being applied flawlessly by the Chinese in their quest for World Economic dominance, already at number 3 and slated to become number 1 by 2020. Personally, I ignored this book for most of the time I possessed it, reading it only as a great book to pick sayings and simple tricks from. But once I decided to apply it rigorously and appropriately I begun to see amazing results in every aspect of my life and even in business; I don't smoke anymore, I exercise religiously, I own my own company, I am a director of 3 more, and I even took the initiative and formed BMIC (Truth is these firms are not yet yielding substantial profits.....for now!). In fact for a time I even applied the teachings to chasing women, and OH my success rate was incredible......Abi U For Kno! I am glad I begun paying rapt attention 6 years after receiving it and I now know how truly great a gift my dad gave me then.

The teachings of Sun Tzu go way above and beyond warfare; I actually have another version called The Art of War for Executives (actually stole this copy from my dad; and he's not happy) and it basically re-translates everything from army lingo into business sense. I would advise both versions to anybody that wants to succeed in competitive situations in this world from business to sports, religion to personal health, The Art of War applies. One of the greatest teachings of this book is this, "To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." Imagine, in a book exhorting the best strategies and tips to wage and win war, it gives the highest marks to winning without fighting. When I first read this I didn't quite understand its true meaning, but as time went on I realized what Sun Tzu was trying to say, especially in terms of succeeding in business - Never fight your enemy directly as much as possible; refuse to go along with your enemy's plans rather let your enemy go according to yours, delay, frustrate, irritate but never attack; be patient and wait for the perfect moment, and then strick so decisively that your enemy succumbs against your onslaught without retaliation.

What does this mean for the discerning business man or woman? I mean gone are the days of Genghis Khan, General Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte and Mao Zedong. In the world of small business and big business, entrepreneurial and carrier-oriented approaches to making a living, who is the Enemy - who is my enemy, who is your enemy in business? The Enemy is The SYSTEM.....Yes......The Socio-Economic and Political framework that we all find ourselves in; the World economic 'matrix' that ranks you according to your race, age, gender, family, educational level and soon to come your genetic makeup. Your present situation, your inability to fully realize your dreams, your inability to get all the things you need and want, your undue dependencies and your insecurities are all part of the System - and that is Our Enemy. To prevent sounding unduly anarchic I must clarify one point here: the System is the Enemy of Ambitious people ONLY. If you are content with your present state of being as well as your social and economic status then The System is not your enemy but rather your best friend; I hope.

Now then, why would I make such a statement, accusing something quite so abstract as "The Enemy" in the Fight for Prosperity? The reason is rather simple; The System tells us what we can and cannot do when in fact there is nothing we cannot do if we set our minds to it. Our parents, our siblings, our families, our friends, our teachers, our acquaintances, we ourselves are all part of this intricate System; it stratifies every one of us into an arbitrary hierarchy of power and privilege; sets equally arbitrary boundaries and limits for each individual and then rigorously enforces these whims for most of us. The System polices us and ensures: that the rich stay rich and the poor remain so; that a farmer's son is most likely to farm instead of acquiring a University degree; that most women will strive and work just as hard as men but will not get the respect and treatment they truly deserve in the workplace; that Africa will always remain a poor supplier to the developed world; that 80% of business start-ups fail; that most Ghanaian youths should go slave for peanuts abroad and this same System also says it is impossible for me, a mere 22 year old to make my 'drop dead' million in the oil industry by the end of 2010; yes that System is my enemy....and if your are as ambitious as I am then its your enemy too.

Wow.....this kid is truly insane......a million......fight the System.......How do I fight the System that spawned me, nurtured me and provides for me? This was my exact thought pattern when I begun making these realizations even before I got into business, back when I was just a normal kid who liked partying and fooling about. In fact I became so depressed when I realized a version of the system was my enemy that I gave up on my ambitions, a pretty sweet lifestyle, some amazing opportunities in the US and decided to come back home to Ghana where the system was easier and more forgiving.....and indeed it has been exactly so......Until I decided to fight the System when I recovered my ambitions again and realized that the System Here (In Africa) is even more rigid and resistant than abroad. But I am truly glad I am fighting now, to me its a personal battle and I do not encourage you to join in this fight unless you are truly prepared to work, sacrifice and become extremely self-disciplined all in the hopes of enjoying greater rewards later on. In fact a lot of people don't realize that the reason why religion makes so much sense is simply because it echoes practical realities but packages them in an appealing, stimulating and motivating format. So back to the question at hand: How does one go about fighting The System? How does one even defeat This System? If you have been avidly reading this article things must be making a little bit of sense now; you must see why The Art of War is so important to me and should be to you too.

One of the teachings of The Art of War is this, "All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near." Deceive the system by figuring the system out and then fit in perfectly and abide by its rules. Remember don't try to fight the system openly as much as possible, fight the system covertly (internally); work harder, study harder, sacrifice the fun for now, refuse the opiates and enticements the system throws at you to slow you down. Be Disciplined, Be Determined and Be Dynamic and you will not only succeed in waging war on the system but you will defeat it. Sun Tzu also says in the book, "Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose." This essentially means that if you want to defeat the System; and not be bound by what it says you can and cannot do and achieve you have to plan better than the system, work harder than the system and be better than the System!! You can't just sit there and hope the System will capitulate and some lucky break will fall on your lap right when you need it; operate on the basis that Luck and Chance will meet your Preparation and Work and surely you will succeed. One cannot hope to achieve greatness by being average or merely above average, one must be exceptional indeed. "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

Why am I so confident and optimistic; why am I so assured of success; WHY? These are valid questions especially when I haven't achieved anything; when for all my encouragements and admonishments I am a Junior Brokeman just like you - why should I advise people I am more or less the same as - sometimes criticisms like these are not just valid but warranted. The answer to this question is simple; regardless of what you think I am not doing this for you as much as I am doing it for myself ! Why should I stop what I am doing knowing the potential benefits that will be accrued from this venture later on? Why must Sarcasm douse the Fire of Optimism. Alas, for many of us we will succumb to The System because this War is just too much work, too much sacrifice, too much required therefore if it is not a fight you cannot wage then give up and be content with whatever comes your way; try to make yourself happy on what The System says you should be happy on. As for me, I cannot be content, I REFUSE to be content with Mediocrity......I will continue to Fight on......Alone if necessary.......For "The art of war is of vital importance.....A matter of life and death, a road to safety or ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.....In times of war prepare for peace and in times of peace prepare for war."

A Faulty Charger, Pepper Soup Extraordinaire and Several Moments of Realization

Unfortunately I have been sick and bedridden for the past 2 days; I have a combined Cold and Malaria affliction and that is a very debilitating and disturbing melange of pain and discomfort indeed. But even though I am not fully recovered I have had a moment of realization (which has led to the earlier than hoped resumption of the blog).....If I set my mind to anything, I CAN DO IT. Case in point: My Macbook's charger finally gave up and my beloved Mac subsequently ran out of juice; I live on my Mac, I need it for work, for almost everything (including bathing, sleeping.....and yes even THAT!!) and then at the worst possible time, when I'm sick and overloaded with work I need my Mac to finish - Out goes the little green light - what an unfortunate and stressful situation to be caught in. How was I going to Work, Communicate, Write and Research; I was really distraught for a short while. That is UNTIL I decided to be proactive; I took the charger apart, identified the problem, did some delicate cutting, exposed wires, and Voila! It Worked.....only for a short while but it still worked and I will fix it fully later on - Consequently I do have a serious deadline to finish this before my Mac goes off :(. This experience gave me such a huge boost that I forgot and ignored my headache and incessant coughing to revel in the fact that TRULY I CAN DO ANYTHING.......I CAN REALLY DO IT, regardless of any real or imagined disadvantage, flaw or excuse. To be honest, since my sickness begun I have been looking for inspiration to write my next article but it was not forthcoming until that moment. So then here I am, INSPIRED not because of any external force but rather because of an INTERNALLY produced DECISION to write. Its all in your mind; and within its two halves are endless possibilities. Therefore adjust your mindset and rely mostly on Self-Motivation instead of external stimuli because it does not get easier as we progress, it just gets easier to give up!

Time and Opportunity really wait for no man; whether you are sick, disabled, young, old, black, male, female, limited educationally or suffer from any other 'perceived' disadvantage we claim prevent us from fully utilizing our time and opportunities well. As I have been lying in my bed coughing my lungs out and shivering, my parents have travelled, my siblings still go to work, my friends are still partying, my business partners are still working, and BMIC is still growing. Its sometimes seems to us that we can relax, sleep, chill instead of work, work and work because we feel like we deserve it.....Well you may think you deserve it, but as you relax somebody is working, as you sleep somebody is toiling and as you chill somebody is sweating! That feeling of unearned Entitlement to success or greatness or its opposing but even more disturbing brother, Hopelessness, are just about the two greatest enemies to our generation. Entitlement encourages complacency and laziness and Hopelessness encourages pessimism and despondency. Well then, great to know but how does one keep up with Time and utilize Opportunity so as not to be left behind then. Its another simple truth in theory but difficult to put into practice: Rise above prevailing circumstances, strive to always plan well ahead and be disciplined and determined especially when things don't go as planned.

To further illustrate this point comes the tale of the Pepper Soup which occurred simultaneously with the conjuring of this anecdote: I have been in dire need of Pepper Soup to help combat the parasites in my blood stream - the soup my sister made was wonderful but the quantity left was inadequate....but I needed my Pepper Soup really bad, how was I gonna survive. I realized that I couldn't just go and bother my sister to prepare the remedy for me because she was asleep, my parents were not at home and my little brothers are useless when it comes to anything other than breakfast and videogames. So you know what, I PREPARED IT MYSELF! This might seem ordinary and unremarkable but I have never in my life prepared soup before; so why would I begin to when I am terribly sick? Well I had to rise above that circumstance, and then I had to plan how exactly to do the soup......Its not really hard, it involves chopping, blending, and boiling, throwing in spices, salt and protein and waiting for it all to amalgamate into an edible consistency over a period of time.....the difficult part was managing to do all that whiles dealing with a throbbing headache, a disturbing cough, joint pain, fever and an overall feeling of tiredness and depression, as well as a serious case of doubt; I was trying to convince myself the whole time to just wait till my sister woke up to do it for me especially when I got to peeling onions.....pure Horror; my eyes still sting from that, that, that......TORMENT. I am truly glad I did my Pepper Soup because it turned out great, in fact it was far better than I had hoped and I am proud and consequently more motivated to rise above my circumstances no matter how hopeless. When effort and determination pave way for success, the individual is positively reinforced, encouraged and even more motivated. I will still have to face the familial taste test but regardless of their verdict I DID IT........and I am happy and better off because of that and I have enough pepper soup to last me for the duration of my illness.

Now as I sit here lavishing praise over my Pepper Soup Extraordinaire (trust me after the pain I went through to make it happen I am entitled to adjectivize my creation) I have had yet again another moment of realization; It is in times of great distress that often we witness great achievements. Wow.....all this over simple pepper soup......Of course not; the pepper soup was a rather tiny success, but it embellished another fact, on the battle field it is the combination of a great many individual and tiny triumphs that eventually lead to Overall Victory. And since I am on this motivated streak of small successes I still have to complete the challenge of fully fixing my beloved Mac's charger; after 2 years of faithful service it has succumbed to overuse and machine madness and that task is proving to be a great challenge indeed......I am using my usual tools; a knife, a pair of scissors, sellotape and a CAN-DO attitude.....The green light is dancing when contact is made so I know that 'permanent luminiscence' is not far off......Then I'll ramp up to my Dad's Grundig radio to tackle its erratic performance once and for all.....Then who knows whats next because it will surely be figured out......How can a headache or cough defeat me?

Ghana's 21 Hours of Fame.......The Aftermath!!?

OBAMA CAME TO GHANA!......Now that he's gone back 'home', the mania, the glitz and the glamour have died down and practical realities are setting in. The question I have for myself and everybody else is this; how have we benefited from his 21 hours here and how will our lives change for the better now that his entourage is gone? What tangible gains have we made as individuals, as a country and as a continent?.....I've realized that Barack H. Obama summed the ultimate point of the speech himself, "We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans." So did this guy travel all the way from Washington to Accra via Moscow and L'Aquila to spend 21 hours here only to tell us a lot of things that are self-evident? Why would such a busy man, in fact the most powerful man on the face of the earth take such a humbling trip to a little known country in Africa which has little significance on the global socio-political kaleidoscope; WHY?.....Why not a bigger African country; why not a more developed African country; why did he choose the most boring place in the whole of Africa? No wars here; we have pliable roads, electricity, Mobile Internet and ATM's; many lovely hotels and its hot and rainy this time of year; in fact we are so boring that we rarely (if ever) appear on CNN or BBC!.....Why not Kenya, or Senegal which is much like Ghana in many respects? I mean, to be honest and fair, Ghana is neither the best, the richest, the most developed or even the most peaceful African country.....I mean Botswana is a fair example of another consistently democratic African nation......talk about South Africa, or Guinea or Nigeria (Ok....ok.....but its not such a bad place you know). I'm just trying to figure out all the other reasons for his choice apart from the obvious because the obvious reason has been bandied about for a while now but does not adequately address the whole picture.

I personally think Obama coming to Ghana was as much a personal trip as it was a political statement. He is a very astute and talented politician and his choice of a very small but quintessentially African 'success story' (by the relatively low African standards) for his first trip to sub-saharan Africa as the sitting president gives him and the US a great opportunity to kill many birds with one stone - commend Ghana, and vilify the so called miscreat nations; to affirm his own African roots and concurrently show Africans that he will not simply throw money at us simply because he is one of us; his trip also highlighted how truly safe and sound Ghana is especially in terms of its ripeness as a tourist destination (refer to I SPY....00.What is there to spy on in Ghana) which I think this was an intended consequence as well; but ultimately (and obviously) Obama's trip was to reward Ghana and Ghanaians for our commitment to democracy seeing as how we appear to be an island in a sea of poverty, tyranny and oppression.....right? Pardon my slight sarcasm here but it is important to realize that we still have such a huge amount of WORK to be done so we shouldn't be patting each other on our shoulders yet......we should rather saddle up for the tough times and painful choices ahead.

Another significant statement President Obama said was, "Above all, it will be the young people - brimming with talent and energy and hope - who can claim the future that so many in my father’s generation never found." This was after he had recognized the role of the members of parliament and the people they represent as the real purveyors of change; but he emphasized the role of the youth as the most pivotal in this century if Ghana and Africa as a whole is to rise out of perpetual poverty and over-dependence on inadequate Aid and Financial Support from the West. Essentially you don't have to be Nkrumah to effect positive change as well as succeed greatly in this life; you can just be yourself and hone your talents, use your energies wisely and never loose hope; if you are willing to make the necessary sacrifices and do the necessary work success is always inevitable. The main ingredient has already been provided by our politicians over the past 16 years - an imperfect but working democracy that supports the will of the people. We live in a country where anybody can laugh at the president's 'Ecominic' blunders, disrespect and disregard serious efforts by former regimes, where no corrupt official is safe from the media, where anybody can say and do as they like without fear of persecution and we take all this for granted. Consider China where even Facebook and Google are closely monitored and filtered, and insulting the political regime will subject one to severe harassment and persecution - overtly and covertly. It would be impossible for me to do this blog and state my true personal views if I were living in North Korea, nor would I hope to survive long if I were a Zimbabwean making fun of Mugabe's political mistakes and verbal blunders. Why concentrate on criticizing the bad when we can focus on utilizing the good and changing things for the better. We have here a peaceful, culturally rich and diverse, gradually improving socio-economic system that has reputable and working institutions (Obama congratulated these institutions even though they are inefficient for a reason; they work) as a basis upon which we can lay the foundation for our future success and wealth; the earlier you start building your house, the more resources you put into it and the better your plan the earlier your beautiful home is completed, the better it will look and the longer it will stand.

All throughout Obama's speech, I observed that whenever the camera's panned to the audience all one could see were 'old' people, the Giants of Ghana; the big people, the accomplished people.....The Dinosaurs......what a contrast to similar speeches he gave in Egypt at Cairo University and even more recently at the New Economic School, Moscow, Russia where he spoke primarily to students and the youth: their nations' future leaders - making similar profound policy statements to the Arab world and the Slavic nation - as well as dealing directly with the incumbent leaders.......I'm not saying that him speaking to the Giants of Ghana is wrong; it just appears as a stark contrast to what happened elsewhere, especially in the US where he toured the countries Universities and gave numerous campaign speeches. Discernibly with all the clapping and according murmurs there was a certain undercurrent of hypocrisy that wafted through the hall, for Some (but not all) of these same Giants are part of the very problems that Obama's speech sought to highlight and address; perpetuating corruption, inefficient bureaucracy, enriching themselves at the expense of the people they represent, begging for help when they mismanage things instead of doing their job well in the first place.....Some of these Giants are the problem but we are the solution because in time we shall also be giants like them. It is my hope that when that time comes we will be an even wealthier, stronger, more peaceful and democratic country.......but for that hope to become a reality the WORK starts NOW.

My challenge to myself and any youth reading this is simple; how do we claim the future that our forebears never found and are still struggling to find? Claiming our future would definitely involve honing and polishing our skills and talents for being young is like being a freshly discovered, unpolished, uncut and rough diamond; and growing up is the painful and difficult process of shaping that diamond into a glittering and beautifully cut stone that shines brilliantly always. This is a very difficult process to implement well especially here in Ghana and Africa in general where opportunities are easier to exploit and utilized by those with political and economic connections - but why loose hope when the whole world lies at our feet and opportunities abound and beckon - why loose hope when it is very possible and success is staring you right in the face......it is folks so don't blame blindness when Mr. Opportunity passes you by.......we can all create a better future for ourselves....Yes We Can.....YES WE CAN!!!