THE OFFICIAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY – INTRODUCTION
It is stated that “…. life is all about decision making…’. Each one of us makes decisions every second, minute, hour, and throughout our entire life. In general, decisions can broadly be categorized into two main groups:
Subconscious Decisions:
These are decisions many of us make in life without even knowing it or understanding its consequences. These are subconscious because they are decisions we make out of our habits, attitudes, way of life, and what we have become as individuals due to the exposure we have in our environment, society as well as the people we associate ourselves with. It is stated that; “about ninety-eight percent of the decisions we make every day are subconscious decisions”. In many cases, we make these decisions without knowing we have decided because it is already ingrained deeply in our brain that it becomes “business as usual “. There are many people who never achieve anything SUBSTANTIAL in life and will die worse than they were born because of these types of decisions.
Someone may ask ” …… Nhyira, what are these types of decisions…” I will not specifically state any decision here. However, the litmus test is that whatever decision you make without sitting down to THINK thoroughly about WHY you are making that decision, WHAT will be the consequences of that decision, WHO will be impacted or affected directly or indirectly by that decision, WHEN exactly is it right for you to make that decision, among others, can be referred as SUBCONSCIOUS DECISION.
Conscious Decisions:
These are the decisions that transform an individual’s life. These are the decisions that make an ordinary person like Bill Gates build Microsoft; Mark Zuckerberg to build Facebook; Jeff Bezos to build Amazon and Jack Ma to build Alibaba. These decisions are the ones that require a lot of thinking, planning, sacrifices, dedication, and utmost commitment to make them come to pass. One of the reasons why only a hand full of people ever become successful in life and achieve their goals while the rest wallow in abject poverty, hatred, and regret all their life is about how many decisions they make CONSCIOUSLY.
You see, thinking is difficult, it is the most difficult thing to do in the world. It is not like getting up and going to the field as a Coach and his team and starting the match. Instead, it is about sitting down, analyzing, strategizing, asking technical and crucial questions which enables the Coach and the Team to develop the right MINDSET, strategies, and tactics to win the match.
As a young adult rising, I was taken to the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) – Christ Temple by one of my teachers called Mr. Cornelius Kweku Eshun. He is one of the most intelligent and interesting characters I have met in my life. He had a certain MINDSET and way of dealing with issues that fascinated me until one day he invited me and another colleague (Prince) to church.
To be frank, I was lost when I got to the church premises located at Abossokai – Accra. It even got worse after service when I saw children holding tablets, iPhones, eating burgers and the flashy cars and the sense of luxury in the atmosphere. The message by Dr. Mensa Otabil was evolutionary because it was the first time, I experienced faith, and understood that I could be a good Christian and Wealthy because that’s God’s purpose for each one of us.
From that day, I started thinking differently about my life. I realized even though I was coming from a wretched background, I could become successful and wealthy if I become conscious of everything I do. This thought was intense partly because of the level of Excellence I saw throughout the service, on the church Compound, and the orderliness of everything.
My life is increasingly getting better each day because of that experience I had and the Revelation I got that day.
When I look back to where I started from and look forward to where I am going, there are many decisions I have made in life even at a young age that has contributed directly or indirectly to my life. In this article, I will share with you the THREE KEY DECISIONS that changed my life, and I will be adding a fourth decision which I am yet to make, and I know that will also transform my life.
My objective is to share my life with you so that you can also pick some key Principles and ideas that you can implement in your life today to enable you to become successful.
So, I know you are asking “…Okay, Nhyira what are the three decisions that have transformed your life and brought you where you are today? ”
Relax my friend, as I surprise you with these decisions.
Ready!!!! Let us talk about them.
To be Born – again:
This is where it all started back in high school. I was a student whose focus was on studying and showing off to my then-girlfriend in class. It was an honor for me when teachers come and mention our marks from the exams and I topped with the highest mark while my answer booklet becomes a marking scheme especially for subjects such as Economics, Financial Accounting, Cost Accounting, and Business Management. You see, I was not studying because I am in school. My focus was to make my girlfriend proud of me. Because that MINDSET guided me not to misbehave in class or even outside of class. Even though nothing romantic happened between us, she was the reason I was serious in my first and second years in high school.
But something happened in the second year of high school when she was taken out of my school to another school by her father for some reasons I still do not understand up to today. After the incident, I was a little “paralyzed “. I was not motivated to study anymore since the one I want to be proud of me is no more.
All this while, there was a Scripture Union (S.U.) in our school and I kept getting invited to their meetings, but I never attended, partly due to the way the President approached me and how he preaches all the time against some of us including our nicknames. I remember one sermon of his at the school’s morning assembly where he explicitly mentioned my nickname and ridiculed me in front of the school.
Do you want to know my nickname in high school? I was called De Don. I took this nickname because the word DON means “ahead or fellow in a college of Oxford or Cambridge University; a university professor “. However, the name has another meaning which is “…. leader of criminals…”. And it was this second definition that this young preacher was using against me always.
But one day after school, as usual, I study with my colleagues. So, as I was going to get a duster from another class, a young lady who I admired so much invited me to the S.U. Friday meeting and for some reason, I could not say NO. It was that day that everything changed. I accepted Christ as my Lord and Saviour and started to participate consciously in the things of God on campus.
I was later asked by the Headmaster to preach which was all good for me. At the end of high school, I was the Scripture Union President and assisted in the spreading of the message of Christ in school and outside school.
This decision gave me a new perspective on life that, I need to be the best version of myself because I cannot be a Christian and fail my exams for people to laugh at me that I spent my time preaching and doing S.U. and failed my exams thereby discrediting the grace and power of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To make this a reality, I made a PERSONAL COVENANT with God which is still in place that “…Lord, for whatever time I spend promoting your Kingdom and doing the work you have called me to do, grant me the Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding that I will stand out and be a testimony academically…”
I must say, this decision was the beginning of the life you now see today.
Let me ask you this question:
Are born – again? Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Personal Saviour? Do you have that personal relationship with Christ?
If you answered NO but you want Him to come into your life, then say this prayer wholeheartedly with me now:
“Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of life, I surrender everything about me to your will and accept you now as my Lord and personal Saviour. Come into my life and transform me. Grant me the grace to live for you for the rest of my life, in Jesus’ name. AMEN!!!”
If you prayed that prayer consciously with your heart, I could guarantee you in the Authority of the Word of God that you are born- again. From today, be conscious of your life and look for a Bible-believing church near you to attend and study the Word of God for yourself and know God for yourself. That is how you can experience His supernatural power in your life.
To Become Successful
Immediately I got born – again, I started studying the Word of God and with the exposure, I had at Christ Temple, I decided that my life cannot remain the same. I cannot be poor, I cannot be average, I cannot be thinking about what I will eat or wear each day, I cannot continuously be looking at the price of things before I buy them even though I needed them.
I realized; I must become successful. But this was the biggest question “To become successful doing what?”
This was really a tough question for me to answer. However, I sat down with a pen and my diary and wrote out all the things I cannot become and the thing I could become.
Can you guess some of the things I wrote down?
After thorough investigation and thinking about my life, I realized the following (some of which may sound arrogant or odd in your face, but that was me)
I cannot become a hawker on the street
I cannot be a truck – pusher in the market, even though I had done that in the past
I cannot go to school, graduate, and go and sit in an office cubicle for eight hours and take a salary; partly because I did not have money!!
I cannot allow others to direct how I should live my life or control what I can and cannot do.
I cannot continue living where I was, I needed to change my environment and it must be now
I cannot be a bodyguard or go to the Police, partly because of my height.
I can become a World – Class Educator; because that was what I was doing. I was a Teacher
So, did you realize all the things I knew I could not do? And remember, there was only one thing I realized I could do best. That is to become a World – Class Educator. Why was this description important to me?
Simple! If I was going to become a teacher for the rest of my life, then I cannot be an ordinary teacher. I must be distinguished. I must demand a high salary and fees. If I am going to demonstrate the power of God in my life and transform myself from the poor boy to a successful man, I need to be exceptionally great at my craft.
It was this MINDSET that started everything.
So, I asked myself the next question “How can I become a World-class Educator?”
This question is what I call the BILLION DOLLAR QUESTION.
To get answers, I went back to my diary and pen thinking consciously about what could happen. I read some articles, watched some YouTube videos, and listen to some Podcasts from various individuals, and I concluded what I must do to become a World – Class Educator.
The following were some of the conclusions I came to:
I must have emotional intelligence
I must study tremendously and teach convincingly
I must become a Published Author with books that my students will use (as of this article, I have published fourteen books)
I must be known by many people and not just my students in the class (therefore we have our YouTube Channel, Facebook page, Podcasts on iTunes, and website)
I must understand MINDSET; how people’s brain works and how to transform them by changing their MINDSET first.
As an intelligent individual (I know that is self-praising), I asked myself another question that changed everything.
What could stop or prevent me from Becoming a World-class Educator?
This question got me thinking and researching the greatest people in history and of our time and what brought them down. I went to the Bible as well to identify what made people like Abraham, Sampson, Samuel, Solomon, Job, David, and others become successful and what brought some of them down?
The outcome of these thorough investigations will blow your mind. I realized that the following are some of the things that could stop me from achieving my dream:
Evil or wrong Associations (the people who you call friends, colleagues, or even family)
Evil or unrighteous behaviors
Lack of The Spirit of Excellence in your life
Chasing after ladies/women because of the little success
Being arrogant and not humble when you are rising to become successful
Lack of Self – discipline/ Self – Control
Lack of understanding of Money and Wealth Creation
Lack of Direction and Focus
The Spirit of greediness and jealousy
So, you see, these now enabled me to reverse engineer and I eliminated immediately things that I realized could prevent me from achieving my goal, and for the rest of my life, I am going to be guided by the above to achieve my dream.
Let me ask you these questions:
Who do you want to become?
What will it take to achieve your dream?
What might prevent you from becoming the person you want to become?
It is your answer to each of the above questions that will make you successful and wealthy or unsuccessful and poor.
To Be Single:
People are fascinated when they ask about my girlfriend and I tell them “I’m single and I love it”. This was the third biggest decision that has changed my life. As at the time of writing this article, I am blissful and Single, and I love it very much.
But you may be asking “Nhyira, why are you single?” “Why did you decide to be Single?” ” Why aren’t you dating anyone? ” ” Did you get broken – heart?” I am laughing right now!!!!!
Let me kill your curiosity. It was not because of a broken – heart or anything like that. It was a conscious decision I had to make because of the experiences I was having in my relationship.
Remember, after becoming born again I had decided to become successful. This means sacrifice, dedication, focus, and a high-level discipline. At that early age I understood that if I am going to become successful, I cannot dissipate my energy and resources on things that would not guarantee my future.
One thing that you must know about me is that I am a devoted person. If I decide to do something, until it is done, everything else is not important.
So, when I decided that because of who I am I cannot do certain types of jobs and based on my gift and talents I can be an Educator, I decided to become a World-class Educator. Someone that the world would look up to one day. However, my time, energy, and Resources were partly getting distracted by relationships. I may not share specific details here but all the ladies I had met were demanding time with them, money, and other things which I knew that should I give into, my dream will never come to pass.
It is, for this reason, I decided to be Single and blissful. I have been mocked and ridiculed by people who are close to me; telling me how stupid I am being single, and I am missing a lot of things. What they do not realize is that I knew that was the price I had to pay to become successful in life. Because the relationship was a distracting thing to me.
Imagine a young adult who wants to become successful, I needed money to publish my manuscripts, educate myself to become better, spend time to study, and teach my students excellently because that was the source of my income. However, I was being distracted every second to spend time with my “girlfriend “, spending money that I could save for my future and all other issues.
So, after a Conscious deliberation, I decided to say goodbye and focus on my life to become successful. And I know I will meet that Lady who will understand who I am, what drives me, and walk-in my shadow to continue with me the joyful life I have now.
Now, as of today, these three decisions have been what has changed my life and caused me to do what I do and be who I am today. However, there is a fourth decision that I know I must make. This decision will be critical because it could increase me further to achieving my dream or reduce me to zero.
Aside from being a Christian, I think one of the most important decisions is who you marry. So, my fourth decision which is yet to be made is ……
Who To Marry?
I must say I have been thinking about this lately. This has nothing to do with what people say or any pressure from somewhere. At this stage of my life, I do not do things to please anyone. I am responsible for my life, and I make decisions based on the Scriptures and my happiness.
To make this decision, I have been asking and thinking about these questions:
Who Must I Marry? What Qualities Should She Possess? & How Will My Life Become After Marriage?
Let me share this; I have learned that successful marriage is not about marrying the “PERFECT PARTNER”. It has nothing to do with being perfect, marriage is not a destination but a journey.
To answer the first two questions, I am guided by some life principles found in Scripture. That is Proverbs 31: 10 – 31
So, my wife should be or willing to be thought or learn the following:
Someone who is a committed Christian
Someone with a Dream and a Strategy
Be trustworthy
Be a person of Integrity, Wisdom, and Understanding
Be Self – DISCIPLINED/ Self – Control
Be Devotedly smart and hardworking
Understand how to make money, keep money, and multiply the money
Be respectful to all persons
Be generous and kind-hearted
Passionate about life and willing to travel around the world
She must be TEACHABLE!!!!
These are just some of them off my head as I write this article. I know exactly what I want in life and that is why the rich become richer; the successful become more successful, while the poor remain poorer for the rest of their life. KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT eliminates distractions and enable you to focus on life and enjoy the best out of it
The third question under this decision is, “How Will My Life become After Marriage? ” Is also something I think deeply about. I have a simple dream and objective. That; My wife and two beautiful daughters have the best life.
Why is this important to me?
It is because of my past. I saw how my mother struggled to take of me and two siblings. I saw the pain she went through and the neglect we had from my late father. It is that imagery that has made me vow to myself that, my wife and children will have the best of everything I could not have, and my mother and siblings could not have.
So, this is my commitment when I become a HUSBAND and Father…
Spend quality time with my wife and children
Continue to transform people’s lives across the globe with my wife and children
Continue to make more money to live better with the people around me
Provide my wife and children with the best as they require to live a blissful life
Continue to take absolute care of my Mummy and siblings
Passionately continue doing what I love always
So, what lessons can you glean from this article?
Implement them now and become successful.
That is how I am building my life and I trust you can glean some lessons to apply in your life to become successful.
Another similar article THE TRANSFORMATIONAL VALUES OF BEING SINGLE