Only You Can Be The Exception
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The document provides 21 strategies for becoming an exception and achieving success and fulfillment in life. The strategies include knowing God, living productively, maintaining strong focus and energy, paying attention to oneself, having respect and humility, adopting a free strategy of adding value to others, properly allocating time, setting goals, keeping trying after failures, using the LIFE strategy of love, innovation, fun, and enterprise, having mentors, taking time for oneself, having a clear vision, planning, following through on commitments, having passion, innovating, not being anxious, having fun, being nice to others, and continuously learning. The author advocates adopting positive habits aligned with these strategies to attain one's dreams.
Only You Can Be The Exception
- 1. OCAN YOU NLY BE THE EXCEPTION Written by David Lanre Messan
- 2. The word Exception means: An action that is part of an ordinary operation; when you surpass the routine or standards; not conforming to the general rule.
- 3. Why You Must be Different? Your Life HABITS can steer you forward if they are positive enough. I became an exception through the following adoptable:
- 4. 1. KNOWING GOD – He was my first consult and I had to talk to Him to direct my life affairs because I know He knows everything and only him can help me succeed as well as comfort me in the times of trouble – I mean challenges. 2. I LIVED PRODUCTIVELY – ensuring that no day passes without me learning something new and I did this mostly by reading, researching and creating ideas to every problem I sense around me. Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.
- 5. 3. I MAINTAINED A STRONG FOCUS AND ENERGY: I was so clear on the kind of life I want to live – A positive one –so, I designed it by creating a mission statement and as I grew, it gradually changed to fit my true personality, dreams and ambitions. The key was a high octane spirit filled with focus and energy. 4. ATTENTION TO SELF – I paid very close attention to myself in order to find out my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. By doing this, I made maximum use of what I know about myself to grow, live and control my habits towards life.
- 6. 5. RESPECT AND HUMILITY – I ensured every man – my elders, my parents, my friends etc earns good dose of respect from me and I approached life with a great deal of humility and this brought to me countless opportunities. 6. I ADOPTED THE FREE STRATEGY – By adding value to fellow men for free; my talents, my skills, my time, my ideas, my knowledge, every single good virtue of mine, I gave out for free and most of the time I get unrequested returns for it.
- 7. 7. TIME USE – I apportion time appropriately to my goals and I prioritize my tasks and this helps me to record measurable success in my activities. 8. GOAL SETTING – I never stopped setting goals every day, every week, every month and every year. I tell myself my future by first writing it down in goals and afterwards act on them. I always attain my goals through strive and God's favour.
- 8. 9. I KEEP TRYING – Even when I fail, I keep my head real high up. That is to say even as determined, talented, skilled I am, I still record a few failures and it has helped me learn more – especially realizing more reasons why I should not make such mistakes again. 10. LIFE WAS MY MOTTO – I used the LIFE strategy as my destiny rudder. It is my wheel of hope, my steering of action, my beam of service to humanity. LIFE; Love; Innovation; Fun; Enterprise. This is the only reason why I live and would be fulfilled.
- 9. 11. THE MENTORSHIP STRATEGY – I started by having an email mentor, John C. Maxwell who taught me leadership and life direction and afterwards I got other mentors whom I have learnt so much from. 12. Be ON YOUR OWN (Be OYO) - A little privacy to think back and forth can help you put your life in order, especially when you have to think of your actions in the past towards the present in order to further make your future better. After all, it is your life and if your destiny is truly in your hands, you have to stop and ponder at some point…this can only put your future right in your face.
- 10. 13. VISION IS A NECESSITY: A living picture of your future is just ok to keep you going. If you don't have one, better do now (It is what you see yourself become) and if you got one, put it on paper and hang it on the wall near your face. This is because; you will need to always see it to get the right kind of motivation to activate it. 14. PLANNING IS KEY TOO – Always make this a major part of your routine before the action.
- 11. 15. WALK THE TALK – Always act on whatever you say you are going to do. Keep your word! Act on the plan! Say what you mean and mean what you say! Integrity has no family…You can't make it up…so always walk the talk. 16. HAVE PASSION – It is the kerosene of every burning fire; the gas of every cooker. If you don't have it, you can't love it and you can't claim it – I mean if you don't have passion, you can't have a real ambition, a real dream, real fulfillment. A little dose of passion will keep growing until it sizes your dream and destiny.
- 12. 17. INNOVATION RULES! – It is the antidote to making the world a better place. Learn to improve on yesterday, make today better and create tomorrow even better, value and change driven. It is a simple way to “bring ideas to life” and it begins by creating the ideas from everything around us. 18. BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING – Desperation does not pay and it always put one in a compromising state. Rather than be anxious, just keep keeping on. God is the rewarder of all things including hardwork.
- 13. 19. HAVE FUN – Hardwork all through stresses the mind and weakens the body. So take time to have fun, relax and play with some real friends. It usually puts one back on track and the end result is always productive. 20. BE NICE – How about if you decide to help the needy – you just don't know how much that can save someone's life. You are better off simply because God wants you to better somebody's life. By smiling, you put a smile on someone's face too. Mahatma Ghandi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. So, just do it!
- 14. 21. LEARN, RELEARN AND UNLEARN – Finally, never stop learning, it is the fountain of knowledge. No one is too big or small to learn. By a gentle walk, we see more of the tiny dots and stones hidden in the sands of the ground; by humility, we learn to reach the top by a continuous growth process; By a constant quest to know more, we create knowledge for the other generation that stare at us in anticipation of what we got to offer. And we create the future through the tiny dots of knowledge and all these put together make us better people, making the world a better place.
- 15. To conclude this piece, I believe this would make some sense to you and serve as a lesson for you to move a bit forward. Remember, a little here, a little there, we get closer to our mega dreams. Only you can be the exception if you choose to be different in your thoughts, actions and attitudes. Only you can choose to either build your life or destroy it – and your habits either positive or negative will be responsible for it. So, I advise, you adopt only the habits that will take you a little bit further until you attain your dream and find fulfillment. With you by my side, we will together change the world. I am DLM – the Innovation Strat-Artist. Innovation Rules!
- 16. I am DLM D avid Lanre Messan is a pioneering Innovation Strat-Artist in Africa, leading corporate, organizational and societal change through his many innovative concepts and strategies. A multiple award winner which include The Laspotech Masscomm Academy Award; The 100 Best Author Award in the 2006 World Bank International Essay Competition; LEAP Africa Youth Leadership Award; Brand Nigeria Top 100 Youth Award and a onetime 101 Young African Leader adoptee by the Business in Africa magazine and LEAP Africa, he has created and spearheaded massive revitalization and empowerment programmes cutting across many industries some of which include governments, telecommunications, banking, consulting, entertainment, sports and the youth market amongst a host of others. As a trainer, he has conducted seminars and workshops in a number of African nations, Nigeria inclusive and has worked as a communications consultant to the Lagos State Public Service Staff Development Center.DLM has created several ideas among which is the award winning idea, Green Yaggy, a youth empowerment concept for young Nigerians abroad. He is a graduate of Mass Communication from the Lagos State Polytechnic, a presenter course graduate of the JCI University and the LEAP Africa facilitators training respectively and currently studying his master's degree in Innovation and Change Leadership offered by York St. John University in partnership with Robert Kennedy College based in Zurich.