WE ARE THE SOLUTION.

                                    

In oneself lies the whole world. And if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself. - Krishnamuti Jiddu.

ROAD TO WHERE?

That we contend with enormous challenges as youths is an accepted reality of our lives: talk of the struggle to get an education with the hope of being equipped for a better life; consider the reality check that we get upon graduation when it dawns on us that our lives are more than scrambling for the very few jobs that may not even guarantee security and fulfillment; and not also forgetting the dynamics of a society that demands more from us than it has given. Our responses to these challenges have been varied. While some of us continuously look for ways to migrate to 'greener pastures', some have resorted to life-deprecating vices; and yet others have resigned to fate, believing that "what will be, will be".

However, we deserve more! And I posit that it is because we are cut out for more that we face our current challenges. If there had not been darkness and the lull that the lack of energy brought, the world would not have celebrated Michael Faraday's discovery of electricity. If gold had not passed through the fiery heat of fire, it would not become the treasured asset everyone desires today. If there was no problem, the solution would not be appreciated.

Fellow Nigerian youths, we are the solutions that we seek; and these problems are for us! Each one of us has treasure mines lying deep within, waiting for exploration. With some introspection aimed at self discovery, imaginative creativity, and committed hard work, we can all bring out valuables from these mines and offer solutions to the world. This way, not only do we make our nation a better place, but we also open our lives up to a massive inflow of wealth, as it is a self-proving fact that wealth follows value.

To the problems of unemployment, underdevelopment, poverty, etc, we are the solutions. We cannot afford to continue the blame game. We cannot afford to sit idly by and watch, expecting things to turn around positively. We have to take responsibility for our destiny. That is the Law of Reality.

We are the greatest assets of our generation. We are the solutions to its problems. Let us arise and live our purpose. Let us set out this morning to deploy ourselves as the Solutions that we are.

Do have a Top Day!

STEP-UP: Decide to consciously identify at least one thing considered a problem around you, anywhere. Just one! Go ahead and fix it!

THE RENAISSANCE: TEEWIK Is Back!

THE RISING SUN.

 In every adversity, there is the seed of an equivalent advantage.  In every defeat is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time. - Robert Collier.

Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that is wrong. - Muhammad Ali. 

On the second day of January, 2013, “TIWIK” was born. Long conceived in my mind in the previous year and delivered by the keypad and screen of my Blackberry smart phone, the first issue of Top Insights with Isaiah Kumuyi (TIWIK) was broadcast to my “BB” contacts, followed by subsequent issues in intervals of one week. The response was good and the feed backs encouraging. I was well on the way to fulfilling my mission- inspiring people to conscious, creative living. I had my hands in other things and my heart was set upon receiving good news about some of my enterprises. I was living my belief!

Enter the 13^th day of March, 2013. My phone beeped. I had an email. It was from the Commonwealth. My application for a postgraduate scholarship to study at Newcastle University had been unsuccessful. OMG! I had been expectant in optimism, and I had cogent reasons to be so: I had been offered the admission unconditionally; I had been given the school’s postgraduate scholarship for international students; and I had received a couple of correspondences that made me look forward to September 23, 2013-the resumption date. A dark cloud of disappointment descended on me and quickly, on its heels, the incubus called depression.

While in that state, I did my best to keep up with my commitment to TIWIK broadcasts. I continued my research, took notes, and made drafts- all on my Blackberry. I got employment opportunities that were at variance with my life mission and personality. I got tutored in how not to place your trust or the prospects of your future in a fellow human being. I witnessed, first-hand, how a ‘friend’ can suddenly become a stranger upon an improvement in fortune. I witnessed the cruelty of the Rat Race and the horror that awaits anyone who does not take control of his own mind. While in that state, on the 16^th day of May, 2013, I lost my Blackberry to theft. And with that loss went TIWIK.

Enter 25/10/2013. It is a positively different story today. For the losses, confusion, and disappointment, I have invaluable knowledge and experience in return. Over the ashes of TIWIK, like a phoenix, TEEWIK™ has risen, better packaged and positioned to fulfil the mission- inspiration for conscious, creative living. TIWIK was shared in the limited world of my Blackberry contacts; TEEWIK™ has a blog of its own where top minds across the world can be engaged and fired-up for greatness.

TEEWIK™ sets out celebrate the awesome powers of the Mind, to promote and prepare its content users for the fulfilling world of entrepreneurship, and to get them primed for a solution-driven lifestyle.

On TEEWIK™, you’ll have access to inspirational and applied knowledge-based resources (articles, e-books, and audio) that cut across many areas of life; and which can be studied, referenced, freely downloaded  and utilised with due acknowledgement.

On TEEWIK™, you can look forward to gaining invaluable knowledge from monthly reviews that cover various utilitarian subjects; and from the stories of ‘ILLUMINANTS’- people who have lit up their worlds and have shown us the possibilities of heights we might attain if only we dared to take charge of our minds and consciously deploy them to creative living.

On TEEWIK™, although references to and emphasis on the Nigerian experience will be made, cognizance is taken of the global readership and efforts will always be made to satisfy it.

This is the Renaissance, my Friends. Today, I live my belief; and with TEEWIK™, I welcome you to a world of solutions and continuous ascent to the top.

Do have a Top Day!

Copyright©2013, Top-Conscious International. All rights reserved.

BE AN EXECUTOR!

"Execution is the missing link"- Larry Bossidy& Ram Charan

Have you ever wondered why you come up with ground-breaking initiatives and yet, you never seem to get them off the ground? Has it bothered you that the dream you have nursed in your heart for years are yet to become reality? Do you feel helpless when you see your desired destination and compare it with your current location? How do the unchecked boxes on your to-do list make you feel at the end of every day?

According to Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, in their masterpiece titled 'Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done', execution is the missing element. You see, it is relatively easy to envision and draw up plans. Indeed, you can set goals and draw up a corresponding plan to follow to the end of reaching them. But without the critical element of 'Execution', your goals are as good as fantastic wishes!

Execution is what breathes life to your wishes. It is what takes your plans from the rosy world of conception and brings them into the no-nonsense, cold world of reality. Execution is what makes you sit down to identify what you want, how you will get it, when you will get it and what it will cost you to get it. More importantly, it makes you resolve to get it, and you actually get it! Execution is what gives the backbone to your wishbone. According to Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan," the absence of execution is the single biggest obstacle to success and the cause of most of the disappointments that are mistakenly attributed to others". Execution is the missing link between aspiration and results. It is the single most important element that separates those who succeed, and those who wish they could!

Great One, the extent to which you will see your vision become reality is entirely up to you. It is not up to your level of education. It has nothing to do with your intelligence. In fact, it is possible for one to be brilliant and hardworking but might not be effective by giving priority to getting things done. And that, exactly, is what execution is about: GETTING THINGS DONE! Now, I urge you to do a quick appraisal of yourself. How many uncompleted assignments or projects have you to your name? This dispassionate assessment of  yourself and the result(s) you get will reveal to you how much of an executor you are.

In the paragraphs below, I share, with you,steps that can be taken, either to commence your journey to being an executor or to reawaken the executor in you. Irrespective of the environment in which you operate, to be the go-to man that everyone comes looking for, you need to do the following:

1. Set your goals on the basis of your identified capability and capacity.
This is what makes the journey to realisation more real to you. And the more real the journey is to you, the more motivated you will be.

2.  Research, discover,and identify the 'Hows' of achieving them. What resources do you or do not have? Who around you has such resources that you lack, the support of whom you can then solicit? What do you need to do to get the job done? How can it be done with less waste and more results.'The intellectual challenge of execution is in getting to the heart of an issue through persistent and consistent probing'.

3. Set milestones for the progress of your set plan. There must be deadlines. There must be the commitment on your part to finish an aspect of the project by a set time-and you must keep to it. Doing this successfully has a somewhat psychological effect on you. It makes you lose your fear and self doubt, as you begin to discover the executor in you. It makes you know that you can ,after all, do it!

4. Make contingency plans in anticipation of the unexpected. This is strategic thinking at work.This requires you to see beyond you excitements. It instills in you that discipline of the mind that makes you sensitive to the dynamics of events around you. It makes you appreciate the importance of timely information and the utility of such. You see beyond your nose,and you act as such. Every executor is a strategist.

5. Follow through with discipline and consistency. Discipline get things done. Your stick-ability is put to test  from the moment you set the execution process in motion. If you have kept faith with yourself up to step 4, this should be no problem for you, because you would have developed an orientation and character that is malleable. Situations do not deter you. Sudden occurrences do not throw you aback. You set your eyes on the goal,and you go for it. Last week, you were encouraged to hold on. Remember, persistence propels potential to perfection!

TASK FOR THE DAY: Bring out your to-do list, fill it out, and commit to following the execution process. Expect to succeed at it,and you will!
Do your best to get a copy of the book,'Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done' by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan.

Your Partner in Ascent
 Isaiah Kumuyi, AOGE
 26C8C618

HOLD ON!

" As a precursor to every gain comes a season of pain; but it takes a heart of persistence to push forward to excellence"- Isaiah Kumuyi.

Have you observed that no sooner had you made a decision in favour of something good and progressive in your life than you began to experience situations that seemed to conspire against your noble intentions? Take a few minutes to reflect on this.

Last week, you were challenged to open up to change. You were told that your positive evolution is eagerly  expected. You were told that it all began with you! And you made a resolution. Or, did you not? But, one week into it, and this is where you are. You ask yourself if the pain, the 'insults', the sacrifice, the hunger, the cut hours of sleep,etc are really worth it. "I am just gonna take it easy on myself", I can hear you say. But, wait a  minute!

That good things don't come cheap has so much become cliched to you that you seem to ignore the ageless wisdom in it. Look around you. What thing or who ever of great repute, which or whom you have cared to inquire about, attained their greatness the easy way? In life, there is always a price to pay for anything of note. And to the eternal credit of the Divine, there is always a dividend for every price paid. Every head that receives the knock is a potential candidate for the crown. What separates the pretenders from the contenders is persistence.

Great One, as you continue your pursuit today, persistence is one ally you must court. The knocks you will receive-which you might have been receiving-are indications that you are a potential candidate for the crown. Let your staying power push you through to actually wearing the crown. Let the clear image of the future you pursue be so real to you that it consolidates your resolve. Have you heard of the concept of the Vital Few and the Trivial Many? A big difference between them is persistence. Resolve to belong to the former group. Against whatever you come in the pursuit of your happiness, resolve to hold on! Stay put and push on; and soon, when you take the photo shot of yourself on 31/12/2013, the result you will get will be the most pleasing to you.

TASK FOR THE DAY: Today, in whatever you want to do, close your eyes and imagine what you will be like when you are done with it. Repeat the process as many times as necessary.

Have a Top Day!

Your Partner in Ascent,

Isaiah Kumuyi,AOGE

26C8C618

Light up Your World!

"You are the light of the world... Let you light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven"- Jesus Christ.

The story is told of St Augustine of Hippo. Many years ago, in the course of evangelism, he came across a leprous man who had being a serial victim of rejection, hunger and frustration from his family members and neighbours. On sighting him, St Augustine smiled at him, hugged him, and gave him some money. Astonished, the leper said, "Sir, are you Christ?" Humbly, St Augustine replied, "No, I am not Christ". With a face lit up with grateful surprise, the leper averred, "No, you are Christ! Because only Christ touches lepers. It is only Christ who does what you just did".

This story says it all. It summarises the essence of your being. It shows you in ,practical terms, what and how it means to be a living being. A living being is the one who is not only open to positive, progressive change; but also undergoes it, and blesses his world in the course of undergoing such change. A living being is always a light. He illuminates!

Look around you. You find challenges everywhere. In fact, the 21st century has been a significant one for the human race as it contends with one upheaval or the other. From natural catastrophes to political and economic turmoils, the challenges are indeed enormous. But here is the good news: these challenges are actually for you! They exist so that you can respond to them creatively. They exist so that you can evolve as you reach down to mobilise the problem-solving resources that lie inside of you. They exist so that the genius that lies inside of you can be called upon to fulfill purpose. They exist so that you can proffer solutions to them. Take the Creation story for example. The disorganised and ugly state of the world waited in need of the sublime touch of the Divine for it to be the master piece that we have today as our world. Close your eyes this minute and imagine what the world would have been had there being no sun, for example. You have also been created to create, innovate, and provide answers to questions.

The darkness of challenges pervades virtually everywhere you go, even beginning with your personal self. But it is not meant to overshadow you. You are meant to illuminate your world by putting to work the creative genius that lies inside of you. Faced with any problem, commit yourself to either finding a way or to make one. Be rest assured that there is always a way out, if you stick at it. The same disposition you should put up when it comes to challenges that are external to you. When you do this, you will see yourself becoming a solution provider. You will see yourself becoming a value creator. Life will be made easier for others because of your initiatives. And, one day, you will also be asked, "Sir/Ma, are you Christ?".  Resolve to be the light that will illuminate your world. That's your purpose!

TASK FOR THE DAY: Against whatever challenge/problem you come up today, promise to step back and repeat to yourself, "I will either find a way or make one". Say this until you find yourself on the found way or actually making one.

Your Partener in Ascent,

Isaiah Kumuyi, AOGE

26C8C618

A New Year, A New You!

"You can't change your genetics, but you can change your attitude, your persistence, your environment, the people you listen to and hang around with, and the things you do. You  can change. So if you want to, just get started"- Craig Ballantyne. 

It is the constant phenomenon in the life of every living thing. In fact, it is a characteristic of its existence. Let it be absent, and eye brows will be raised. Or what would you say about a three-year old child that is yet to walk? Or about grains of corn that will not sprout after one year of being sown? It confirms the fact that change is not only constant, but is also expected!

Only ten days ago, we were in 2012. And ten days after, it is a NEW year-in only a matter of days. I ask you, in the last ten days, what has changed in you? For anything to be called new, it has to change. For the year to be called new, it had to change its months and dates; for you to become new, you have to change some things about you. In reality, the newness of the year is relative to every individual, to the extent that such a person is open to positive, progressive change. Again, I ask you, what are you ready to change about you?

As from the quotation above, the process starts with you. Just do it. With  the following steps that I share below, just get started. Here they are:

1. Know what got you very unhappy in 2012. What made you feel so sorry for yourself? What made you say, "If only I had one chance..."? Write them down, examine them one by one, and decide to do away with them, no matter what!

2. Know what made you very happy and excited in 2012. What did you do that made you feel like a king? What did you not do, but thought of, that made you say, " If only I could have the time..."? Write them down, look at how near or far they are to you, and make up your mind to go after them, even if heaven falls!

3. Acknowledge your Creator. Decide in your heart to walk with the Divine as you journey through the year. He manufactured you, and He has your manual. Consult Him, always, in the place of prayer and meditation.

4. Hold yourself to a strong promise to do your best with steps 1 to 3. Remember, if you cannot keep a promise to yourself, do you really expect others to keep theirs to you?

TASK FOR THE DAY:  Take a picture of yourself today. Be very honest with yourself. Let the real feelings on your inside-whatever they are- show on your face when you take the shot. Then save it somewhere. You will be comparing this with another one you will take on 31/12/2013. What the comparison will reveal is entirely up to you. And the time starts now!

Once again, I welcome you to the New Year, the time for the New You!

Your Partner in Ascent,
Isaiah Kumuyi, AOGE
26C8C618.

Welcome to Your World!

Hello, Great One!

How would you feel if you slept and had the dream of a deeply-held desire become reality? Let's say you dreamed of owning a choice car, only to awake from sleep and have its keys presented to you. How would you feel? Stuff of fantasy, did you say? How would you feel knowing deep down in your heart that your most noble thoughts and ideas can find their way from your head to your hand; and from your hand to the hearts of others; and from their hearts to their faces, lit up with smiles of gratitude? How would you feel knowing for sure that you are not alone in the ascent to the top: that you have a company of visionary, persistent, and solution-driven folks who will walk you all the way,shield you from the stifling atmosphere of seeming impossibility that surrounds you, and make the journey worthwhile? What kind of person would you become?

It is for the reason of the best you can become that this new world of yours is hereby created. A world of possibilities and solutions. A world of inspiration, ideas, and deeds that produce massive results that further advance  the cause of humanity. A world where the treasure mine inside of you is explored and utilised, both for your good and your generation's. A world where you are fulfilled to be you, and where the real you is empowered to be of value to your time and beyond. A world where the shackles over your mind are broken, and that immense creative machine of the Creator is released to soar and to be at its productive best. This is the new world into which you are invited.

Friend, we welcome you to this blog site, which has been created purposely to keep you company in your ascent to the top. We believe in you and the best you can ever become. We ask that you step into this new world and be ready to be inspired, motivated and involved in the quest to awaken the genius in you. We ask that you step into the top-conscious world where everyone strides upwards vigourously because the bottom is crowded. Sure, you do not want to be left out!

Welcome to Top-Conscious Incorporated, your flight partner in the ascent to the top.

Isaiah Kumuyi, AOGE