All my growing up days I dreamt of flying but it never came till I was much older. I recall my first time on a plane it was a 6pm flight to Lagos from Ilorin airport. On that funny evening in 2011, I arrived the airport on a bike to beat traffic but flew and stayed in a luxury hotel 4 nights all expense paid by my employer at the time. I asked myself how did this happen and I found it was because I had a gift and skills I had so well developed which my company was willing to pay for. Through my brief stay at that company I enjoyed the privilege of flying for official trips which other staffs were not privy to. You see, I had a unique thinking pattern, and I had developed myself so well at expressing these in writing and in speaking and these in turn gave me my wishes. In fact I did not apply for the job; it was offered me on a platter.
Later on I was to be hired as consultant on OndoYES, a youth project by the Ondo state government in 2012 [I had resigned my former job at this time], and I was lodged in a special chalet within the premises of the government house. Of all the consultants hired on that project only two of us enjoyed such a treatment. The governor was now my neighbor or rather I became his neighbor for the couple of weeks the project lasted. Again I asked myself how did I get here and it was because my skills was needed.
At age 27 I had the rare honor to be guest speaker at the graduation ceremony of an international school. I was given a 30 minutes slot but with skillfulness I did it in far less the time. For the 12 minutes my speech lasted not only were the over 1000 pairs of eyeballs in the auditorium glued on me but so were the cameras and journalists from the various press in town that were covering the event. I got my 12 minutes of fame and a lot of high profile connection from that day that further pushed me up the ladder of my career. Bottom line? I had honed my skills, polished and developed it. The process wasn't funny or easy. I paid great sacrifices to learn, attend trainings and seminars and more so in personal development and self denials. I was grossly misunderstood by friends and folks in the time before I started to blossom. But in the end it was well worth the price, the tears and sacrifice. I recall a conversation I had when I returned from a high profile engagement where I consulted on a rather Mega project; I was sitting across from Yvonne my fiancée and wondering how it all happened, how we became so lucky. She said a line I'll never forget, it went something like this: ‘this way you are going one day you'll just get a call from White House to consult on a project’. For about 30 seconds I stared into her eyes living momentarily in the possibility she just opened up to me. When I returned back to the moment I got up and give her a warm hug in appreciation, but I did not say ‘Amen’ to her words. I didn't need to because we both knew it wasn't a prayer, it was a fact that is just bidding time to happen as long as I kept honing my skills. I’ll surely consult for the American government, and my gift will make it happen.
Do you have a dream, then find your gifts and hone them into a skill. When you do, it will provide you the keys to your dreams. Dream great and make it real, because the collective success of Nigeria and indeed the world is dependent on your success.
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