Stages of Life and Accomplishments!
Here’s what progress should look like
You have to understand that there is a standard scale for success and growth. This scale applies globally across the board.
What this means is that regardless of the opportunities in a place like America, the average individual in a place like Nigeria must achieve the same level of success despite differences in opportunities and resources. Here’s another part of it: the world has a balance of opportunities and resources. Where there is freedom of execution without strangulation from regulations — like in parts of Africa — the exact opposite happens in places like America and the UK. Yet, every single person in these countries, as well as Nigeria, must succeed on an equally reasonable and global standard. Everyone has a reason not to succeed, regardless of their location. No doubt, the ease of success varies.
Now, everyone must achieve some level of local success in their primary domain — where they have local knowledge and access to resources. Often, this means a place where they have lived for up to two decades of active engagement. This is why, for immigrants, it typically takes 20 years of active participation in a new ecosystem to attain major local success — if they ever will. The chances of succeeding in a foreign place are halved due to birth conditions. However, it is not impossible. Immigrants are often better positioned to succeed in their local turf if they return home.
Local successes are crucial. To play on a global stage, you must first succeed locally and use that as proof of your capabilities to global players. No one says, “Well, your result was in Africa, so it’s small.” Nope — because success follows a global standard, and everyone must take control of their turf.
Take Nigeria’s Dangote, for example. Nobody says, “Oh, his refinery is in Nigeria, and since it’s a poor place, it must be a small, useless refinery.” Nope. Nobody says that. Why? Because global success is deeply rooted in local plays. Success on a global scale is essentially local success masked in a global success camouflage — with an attractive vest. If you can dominate a significant chunk of your local market, you’ll significantly increase your chances of competing on the global stage.
Let me mention this in between — the biggest thing anyone can do for you is to share knowledge of what works. It’s not to get actively involved in your business or fund it. Those are side dishes, not the main course. Never forget it! It will always be up to you to work things out.
When you’re starting out, do things that don’t scale — often, that means doing “stupid” or expensive things to gain traction. Get into some good trouble. Then, start shedding weight as you grow. More often than not, the people who never start are the ones who lose.
Life moves in stages of accomplishments, which are globally replicable. That means people your age, in different countries and climates, will likely go through similar phases.
- Building yourself and honing a skill — This is universal. Everyone is either going to school or self-training to master a skill. Some aren’t privileged to attend school, so they learn by themselves. But everyone must develop a skill of their choosing.
- Getting a job and growing in it — With the skills acquired, the next step is securing a job. Then, excelling at that job well enough to get a better, higher-paying one. This happens by continuously improving and honing skills.
- Investing in a stable business with equity — Everyone must invest for the sake of growth and wealth multiplication. Equity is crucial because it provides stability and control over one’s financial future. Investments can be direct (owning a business) or indirect (buying shares in a stable, listed company).
After this comes rest, then domination.
During your rest phase, you can do whatever you want — marry, travel, take breaks, etc. But understand that rest comes after these first three stages. Why? Because depending on how you start in life, it requires a significant amount of energy and resources. Once they become sustainable, even if only moderately, go ahead and take a break — so you can come back for more.
These foundational stages matter the most because they shape your life. These things matter the most as they are the ones you may not have time to go back to. Everything else builds on them.
In my previous article on Future, I talked about the importance of defining the future by things that are mainly time bound and only accomplishable within the confines of time. You should read it.
