Melancholic Deliberations......ON CHANGE and WORK

"I have dreams, many dreams, Big Dreams! But I no longer dream when I'm awake because life is a nightmare." I wrote this statement in my notebook on 05/10/05. Its been four years now and it is only now that I fully understand why I wrote that on the first page of my Notebook/Diary/Planner then. I bleed Ideas constantly; and these Ideas metamorphose into written thoughts, then plans, which translate into dreams, BIG DREAMS, but they mostly stayed in the notebook, and never came out. It hit me 2 years after I begun using the notebook that there is no point to keep these thoughts and plans in the book, I need to bring them out and evolve them into reality. I have come to realize that merely dreaming is not enough, merely planning is not enough, the only satisfaction to be garnered is through ACTION. The world now does not even allow us to daydream anymore - what with protesters being brutalized in Iran, murderous earthquakes and ethnic violence brewing in China, unravelling Ponzi schemes, Bank failures, discernible Climate Change and the World Economic Recession - it bombards us with sensory overload and requires ever increasing levels of skill and proficiency; it is no longer enough to simply type anymore, you must be able to multi-task as well. I sometimes wonder, when will we get some respite to breathe and day dream again? It seems that every step we take and every where we go Our generation is dogged by serious obstacles; both real and imagined, immediate and delayed.

Unfortunately we tend to look to all the wrong places from which to gain our inspiration - drugs, sex, booze, pointless entertainment, venial and heinous crime, apathy, selfishness etc - for these reasons I dedicate my time to writing this blog; to be part of a system wide change against these cankers for they never end in anything but sorrow and needless pain - that much we all know to be self-evident. I don't know much, I haven't done much nor can I claim any substantial accolades but I will try to use the little opportunities, tools and talents I have at my disposal to be a force of good. I want to be part of the revolution of Change; a change in mindset, attitude and character, a change like Obama preached all the way to the pulpit of the Oval Office. That kind of inspirational change, the positive and motivational kind of change - I am trying my hands at it and I'm encouraging you to do the same because its working wonders for me - otherwise you will not truly succeed; even with my limited scope of experience I can guarantee that unless you Change and become the primary channel for and gateway to your own success you will never become what you want to be, at best you will be a shadow, a hollow version of your true self. I would hope that you can start taking control of your life instead of relying on anybody else to help you for apparently even 'God helps those who help themselves.'

This change echoes in one of my favorite songs, 'Bittersweet Symphony', by The Verve. The lyrics of the song go, "Cos its a bittersweet symphony, that's life, tryna make ends meet, your're a slave to money then you die....You know I can change: I can change, I can change....". I listen to this song whenever I am broke (and that's quite often nowadays, I'm not recession proof yet folks) and sing along heartily to remind myself that I could be dead and rich so I should be glad I'm broke but alive. I was chatting with a friend recently and we were arguing this one point; is money important? I mean at first glance it seems that money is important but in reality its not money that is important but rather what money can Do, Get, or Cause to occur that is important......MONEY is a MEANS to an END not an end in itself.......Its not like we suffer to make several thousand at the end of the month and then sit there and stare at the cash, and store it and watch it day in day out......like some piece of art or as people hoard jewelry. What happens when you have money, you use it, simple. You can use it wisely whereby it brings some benefit or even brings back more money or you can use it stupidly where it brings no benefit but harm and loss.....but you don't hoard it. In case you don't know saving money is using it; money that is saved represents Personal Wealth because it is not expenditure going to another person to enrich them......when you save money in the bank they pay you interest, it may be small but its still profit at the end of the day........so it makes sense for me and for you not to become slaves to something that is not permanent, something so fleeting and transient that it cannot be fully grasped and displayed for ages and aeons like gold, or love.....it is there then its not......in the pocket then its buying food.....in the cash register then its in the bank......from the tellers hands to the vault......no rest for the note is off on some other round trip again.......sometimes I feel sorry for these notes the way we mishandle them. Its even worse for electronic money because its just a value, a number on a computer somewhere and I keep having this weird feeling that some kid is going to write a virus that crashes the banking systems computer grid and erases our credit and debit histories.......its not so impossible you know. And then what next when you make all the money you want and more......you die and leave it all behind - I am trying not to be a slave to money and I hope you can also succeed in doing so.....that is if you want to be free from the 'love of money': the root of all evil.

That is essentially what separates the wealthy from the poor, one is a master and the other a slave to money. Unfortunately most of us (myself included) are slaves to money so I'm trying to change that situation with myself. Its not easy releasing the shackles of slavery to this absolutely essential phenomenon called Money. How do you do that you may ask? Its really simple yet very difficult to do.......LOOSE ALL THE RESPECT YOU HAVE FOR MONEY! Detest money, revile cash, denounce wealth and rather concentrate on the END for which you seek money to attain. It is not money that buys the food you eat.......No no no.......the money represents a certain value......the commensurate value of the WORK that somebody - your parents, family, friend, spouse, YOURSELF - has done to be rewarded that amount. This means that instead of respecting money, respect work; instead of worshiping money worship work; instead or praising wealthy people praise the work they did to gain their wealth; hate money but love work. It seems unintuitive and self-defeating, even impossible but its truly the way to becoming wealthy. It is work, and work only that creates the value which is rewarded with money; the back-breaking hard work of John D. Rockefeller has ensured that generations of his descendants won't have to work as hard, the agonizing work of Lakshmi Mittal ensured that his daughters wedding was the most expensive, and the laborious toil of my own loving parents that initially bank rolls all my business ideas; but it is my own hard work that will ensure that I succeed and create value for myself and others.

I keep wondering why all truly wealthy people give out money freely and I realize that its because they don't respect the money they have but they respect the good it can do. They don't just dream, they live the dream; they don't just plan, they implement; and they work hard, work all the time and work even harder to get to where they are and to stay there. I can tell you this fact I know - most Fortune 500 CEO spend as more time working and traveling than they sleep, and their plush private jets are not for movies and sleep......they are essentially mobile offices where they work around the clock, sleeping an average of 4 hours a day; imagine that, 4 hours of sleep a day though they are all worth several hundreds of millions if not billions. Case in point, Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of both Renault of France and Nissan of Japan has this to say about how he got where he is today, "As you know, I was born in Brazil, I spent some time in schools in Lebanon, and I went back to France for my graduation. But I have been confronted by change all my life. I changed friends, I changed schools. You start to understand that [while] it's unpleasant, it's also enriching. That's what I want to tell you. Going to another country and confronting another culture, I don't feel any anxiety about that. I feel curiosity, I feel interest." (Business Week) This guy doesn't just manage one but two of the biggest companies in the world, he is one of the most respected CEO's of the world not because he earns hundreds of millions of dollars, but because is among the hardest working CEO's and because of that he has a reputation for turning around failing giants and making them profitable. They all work so hard and you would think that after making it and growing old they would retire and enjoy their hard-earned wealth. But you see they never respected the money, only the work and that is why they are so blessed, so I hope that you can begin to see that this represents the only way for you, me or anyone else to 'be all we can be'. Money is nothing but a flatterer of your mind and ego......he makes you loose sight of the reality.....His bigger brother is Work and he doesn't pamper, but he will reward you eventually if you impress him enough, so Love Work and Hate Money; thank God for giving you strength, youth and intelligence.....don't waste it!

Be focused on that which matters,
Dwindle not on that which flatters!

Cheers and May God richly bless you.

Preparation Meets Opportunity.........ON DESTINY

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!......In fact this is simply because there is really nothing new under the sun. There is nothing that you want to do that has not been done before; maybe not the same way or during the same time but the circumstances of your 'unique' situation have been faced by someone else before you. History repeats itself because we either fail to learn from the past or we learn too well. The only difference is the time, the scale and perhaps the people in that situation; but whatever it is someone has been there before, and believe you me they probably had it worse but they made it through just the same so why not you? How much control do we have, are we in charge of our own destiny, are our utmost dreams, fantasies and goals necessary or should we allow common sense and society to dictate to us what is and is not possible to achieve? I know not much but I can boldly venture and say this, 'In the no-nonsense world of legitimate business, the most important asset is to be honest to yourself, know yourself and your capabilities and align your goals and objectives to them - learn from the past, study and prepare yourself for the future - see obstacles as opportunities and seize these opportunities when they come and success will surely follow if your mind is disciplined, your steps are determined, you are self-motivated and doggedly persistent.'

Your level of happiness, achievement; your beliefs, actions and ultimately your Destiny are all tools that are right in your power to determine, control and direct......Only if you decide to have faith in your ability to do these things. I've not experience much, but from the little I've seen and heard it appears to me that we have far more power and control than we think we do as human beings; maybe not as much as we would want but just as much as we NEED to be able to fulfill our true destinies here on this Planet. Ultimately though, most of us compromise and let our power whither away; consequentially we are not as happy, acclaimed, content and fulfilled as we would like to be. But a life full of compromise is also a life full of regret; why compromise on your goals, your beliefs and your dreams and rather acquiesce to popular mentality......that is the road to mediocrity for in order for somebody to stand out, they must first make a conscious decision to do things different from what everybody else is doing.

So the first step is to know your destiny. I was chatting with a business partner of mine, the Same Oil Tycoon in the article "On Money......Fiduciary Quota", on Tuesday, 07/09 and he gave me several priceless tips on the whole concept of Destiny and success. He first asked me, "Ampofo, how do you know you are on the path to fulfill your destiny?" I'm usually a silver-tongued person who can and likes to rattle on in situations like this. My friends know not to launch me - spark the motor - with questions like this sometimes because I will talk and talk and talk mostly because I am quite well read and probably know something about the issue at hand and therefore have some opinions, answers or thoughts. But for once I was stumped, I mean what was I supposed to say. In fact Mr. Tycoon let the silence hang on for a bit and then asked me the question again. I looked away from his face and reluctantly sputtered, "Honestly, I don't know sir, why don't you tell me". At this he smiled and I knew he was going to let go the magic beads of wisdom he has garnered over so many years of doing business and succeeding in it.

Mr. Tycoon said exactly this, "When your Preparation meets Opportunity, then you are on the path to fulfilling your Destiny". He even went for the theatrical and repeated it again with great somberness. I know my mentor has little tolerance for the comical but in this case he was soon amused by my immediate shock as the truth of the statement dawned on me. It felt like a sledge hammer whacking my brain: Preparation meets Opportunity, of course. He went on further to elaborate, "Your destiny is what you are prepared to sacrifice and work towards; if you are not prepared even when the opportunity comes knocking you will not see it, but if you are prepared you will see it and know that all your work has paid off and you are fulfilling your destiny". So simple yet so true. He said many other things but these two statements just etched themselves into my brain and I have meditated on them much and come to conclude that they are facts of life in general and business in particular.

Our generation is so stressed out chasing great destinies; everybody would like to own a 'Ferrari' or even a humble 'Jaguar' or 'Mercedes', everybody wants to make millions, everybody wants the latest this or that, our dreams are being shaped by our idols; the Music stars, Movie stars, the Millionaires, the Billionaires, and generally people who enjoy the so-called "Good Life". But are we preparing ourselves to grab the opportunity when it comes so that in due time we shall fulfill our destinies? Are we making the necessary sacrifices, putting in the necessary work, educating ourselves and racking up the required experience points? Is that what you are doing or are you just sleeping and chilling, boozing or speeding, enjoying and enjoying rather than sacrificing and focusing, being disciplined and determined, motivating ourselves and others; are you looking for people to help you on your long and arduous journey to these 'millions' or are we just praying that the breakthrough will just fall on our laps somehow?

An Officer of BMIC (Gilbert Lartey) posted this, "Satisfaction does not come with achievement, but with effort. Full effort is full victory" a quote by Gandhi. How can you achieve something, anything, without putting in the required work? In essence satisfaction can only be gained from the full effort that is required to achieve the goal intended. You cannot run 99 meters of a 100 meter race faster than everybody and then become injured fall and hope to win the race; that last meter costs the victory because it is not the FULL EFFORT. Mathematically Satisfaction=Full Effort=Achievement. You will only succeed if you ensure that you have done all you can do, and then more, and more and more until you cross the finish line. Self-made business tycoons have one thing in common, they have struggled against ridiculous odds and impossible obstacles and their story reads like a fairy tale without the magic; its all because they had faith in themselves, and belief in their abilities and as such Prepared their minds, bodies and souls to the point that when the right opportunity came, they saw it and utilized it as a natural progression on their Path to Success, Achievement (Wealth, if you may ) DESTINY!

Nothing is impossible, but are you prepared to make the seemingly impossible possible, are you really ready to make the necessary sacrifices that you know are necessary; can you handle the disappointments, the never-ending stress, the uncertainty, the lack of support or belief, are you preparing yourself, are you really? I certainly hope you are, because Money doesn't make money......No.......Ideas backed by the necessary due diligence Make Money in this world.....Disabuse yourself of the notion that it is your destiny to become rich no matter what because you are talented in this or that, or you can rely on your your family or well placed links; they are not guarantees. Do not also think that you cannot consequently become Wealthy and Happy without doing things illegally by cheating because or some supposed disadvantage or perceived advantage - disabilities exist only in the mind and shortcuts have bumps too. You will only achieve your true destiny if you are prepared when opportunity comes flying by, because it won't slow down just because its for you, so you better get in shape to be in the race. Remember this....the wealthiest man in the world is not some cocaine dealer hiding his money and afraid to die any moment, it is not some African Dictator hiding his money gotten from oppressing his people, it is not even some monarch who was born into incredible wealth. Its a nerdy man in glasses who talks with a whine and is always working, even going as far as to read whiles driving; so one-track minded that he doesn't care what he's wearing or eating, only how to solve this problem or that problem. And he made his first company at age 19, it was called Microsoft, and his name is Bill, and he's a billionaire. His dad said he couldn't do it, but now he's his number one fan, his wife simply believed in him and now she doesn't have to lift her hand, and regardless of what we all think of him, he doesn't care because he was prepared when the opportunity came, and now he's living out his destiny - he doesn't hide his money, he gives it away!

Cheers and May God richly bless you.