MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 21: They Keep Good Company

‘Success is as much a product of being in the right company as it is of working hard. If you look for success secrets in the Bible, never read Proverbs 22:29 without reading Psalm 1:1!’

The moral is very simple: hard work, diligence, commitment, passion and everything like these virtues will take you really far but the truth is how fast you go most often depends on what company you’re in. Think about when you wrote the references part of your CV. Except you’re from some planet where nothing makes sense, you must have had two primary concerns when you selected those whose names you put in that section: one, they must know you, at least; and two, you must have some certainty that they know you ‘well’ – ‘well’ in this sense meaning that they know well enough to say some good things about you. In fact, if there’s anyone that knows you ‘unwell’ and you’re aware of that, such person would probably never get listed on your CV as a referee. Why don’t your grades or records of achievement matter here?

In my short life experience, I have seen people’s connections make the difference for them. This teaches me all the more that it’s not only about how much you know, but also about whom you know! People get admitted into top-rated colleges just on the recommendation of the right person; people get jobs by bearing a note from someone that matters; businesses sometimes break through by referrals; and the examples can continue of how the right connections can make. There are also many ready examples of how the wrong connections can mar. In fact, a time comes in the life of everyone when all that matters is just whom we know and/or hang around. That is why the most successful people that you will find around hang around with similar people – and the same goes for the most wretched people.

Give a lot of time to keeping in touch with good people; stay in touch with people who share your values; network with your peers who have a sense of purpose; keep a good address book, an up-to-date email list and a business card holder. Go for that conference to meet people, subscribe to that mailing list, join that professional association – do all you can to put yourself in the right company and stay there, it will definitely pay off!

 

‘A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years' study of books.’ (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hyperion, Chapter VII. Quoted from the Chinese)

No excuse, really

It's about 5am and I've not slept a bit since last night. Doing what? Studying, reflecting and thinking. My attention was also partly on the TV - CNN precisely. The news of the Tucson, Arizona mass killing that took place yesterday had lingered almost all night. When I heard the name of the suspect for the first time at 5:09am, I typed it into my search engine and got hundreds of thousands of hits - from the relevant to the downright nonsensical. One of the top hits had a profound effect on me. There was already a full-blown wiki page complete with detailed references! 

'How could anyone have done this so quick?' I asked myself. 

'Well, it's the information age,' I answered myself.

And that is really true; that wiki page demonstrates the power and speed of information in this age that we live in for two important reasons:

1. On most interest websites or information portal, someone is responsible for updating content for some pecuniary gains. On Wikipedia, to the best of my knowledge, that does not happen. It's an 'open day' so if something comes up on wiki, it must mean that an interested person simply put it there.
2. Considering that the event occurred at about 1700hrs GMT (and I am writing this approximately 12 hours later), the wiki page came up in record time, kind of.

So what am I getting at? Whatever information you need to move forward this year, believe it or not, someone has put it out there. And every piece of knowledge you require is readily available because now people talk about things as they happen. If you did not realise it before, well, I am now telling you that 'thou art inexcusable, o man.' Just look around and you'd get all the knowledge you need. But like I did with that piece of news, you've got to look; things don't just happen, people make them! So if your typical excuse is still along the lines of 'I don't know...' then my news for you is that 'you have no excuse, really.'

 

MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 8: They Work Hard

‘None of the secrets of success will work unless you do … often the simple answer to your problem is: GO TO WORK’ (John Mason).

Someone has said that laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes it. On the road to success, nothing can replace hard work. An American TV game show host, Monty Hall once said, ‘Actually, I’m an overnight success. But it took me twenty years.’ Nobody makes it legally without working hard. Ask any celebrity that you know. They’ve been at it for a long time but no one notices until they pull it off. Work, work, work and work. Nothing in the world can take the place of hard work.

About 500 times the Bible speaks of work. Jeremiah said it is good for a young man to bear the burden in his youth*; King Solomon said, ‘He whose hand is slack shall be poor.§’ Slack here is used in the sense of sloth and negligence. You’ve got to sweat if you want to succeed.

General Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, started out in life as a floor scrubber. John Major, British PM worked as a cashier in Lagos. Bill Gates walked door-to-door to sell insurance. M.K.O. Abiola sold firewood … and the list can go on.

You can’t get anyone to work for you if you don’t work for yourself. There is honour in hard work.

‘All hard work leads to a profit’ (King Solomon).

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* See the Holy Bible; the Lamentations of Jeremiah 3:27

§ See the Holy Bible; the Proverbs 10:4