Right versus Successful: Dipo Tepede.POeT

Right versus Successful

Average time to read3:19 minutes aprox.

As I re-read Pope Benedict XV1's speech addressed to an academic audience at the University of Regensburg on September 12, 2006. This speech incited Muslims to demonstrate against the Pope for calling their religion a violent one. For more on this speech click HERE. I became very convinced of the effect of perception to the degree of success we attain in this world. How we interpret circumstances is the key difference between success and failure. It is not new that everybody has a belief system that seem legitimate to their eyes, but it is rather true that it is not every belief system that is successful. The journey to true success has been a major quest to my everyday living and I hope to convince you with my less than 30 years experience in life that being right does not always translate to being successful.

I had an eye opener to the reality of perception one beautiful morning when a colleague entered the office and announced that he had bought a red Volkswagen car. He was so thrilled that he drove it to the office without the license number plate. I was not so interested because in my mind's eye I saw a used Volkswagen Golf car (maybe Golf 3, at the best Golf 4) but in order to felicitate with my joyful colleague, I got inquisitive. I followed him to where he parked the car to give a test drive. I almost tripped when I saw my colleague using his key to open a Touareg. Alas, my perception of my colleague changed immediately. I could not fathom how a colleague that earned the same salary could purchase such a car.

If I told you I have a red Volkswagen car, what does your mind tell you? A Bug, a Passat, a Golf, a Santana or a Bora? Whichever one you come up with determines your level of thinking. The best answer to such question should have been a question – what type of Volkswagen car? Understanding this has actually opened me up to various multiple perceptions when dealing with issues. What do I view as success? What does my neighbor view as success? What does my dad view as success? What did I view as success when I was in high school, in the university, as an employee, as an entrepreneur? Since the lenses are different, the answer to this question would be different. This is the reality of life.

Arming myself with this tool (Multiple Perspective), I greatly understand the effect of the Pope's speech. When you ask an average Christian's view on the agitations of the Muslims on the Pope's speech, the response always converges to the same thing – the Pope was only saying the truth. In their minds' eye, the Pope was right in his execution and excuses like the Pope was quoting examples from Professor Theodore Khouri as an alibi. To be successful in any given endeavor, one can not assume the position of being right but the position of tutelage. This is the universal position that produces success. The bible says it in a better way «everyone seems right in his/her own eyes». Even the armed robber that kills for money believes he/she is right. I am yet to see a human that does not justify his action whether it was generally regarded as wrong or not.

So how do we gauge the truth when we see differently? Will knowing the truth make us successful? Is telling the truth a successful approach? In order to fully answer this question, I will let us into a story of 2 pieces of marble. Marble A was a statue visited from all over the world while marble B was the pavement the visitors walked on when visiting marble A. Marble B was so angry with the attention given to marble A that he questioned the reason why it had so much influence. Marble A reminded him of the days when the sculptor wanted to carve both of them and Marble B refused the carving and claimed it wanted to be left the way it was.

This is the general reaction of most unsuccessful people; they congeal, therefore refusing fluidity, they stick to their opinion, therefore refusing others, they believe they are always right while others are wrong. I remember replying a comment on one of my articles without acknowledging the view of the person that made the comment. That was very wrong of me; I acknowledged it when I was told by a friend and guess what? I was better for it. I learnt a better way of getting my ideas across; it was cool.

Straight to the subject, I would rather be successful than be right. What do I gain by being right? I will gain nothing except a boost of ego and a sense of pride. What will success give me? The opportunities of these are numerous; I don't think my whole site can contain it……………..

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44 comments

#44. Freddie
1 year ago

This is super.
And includes a wealth of information.
Glad to see other.

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#43. Grad
1 year ago

Best site!
Moon Freddie.
It's vonderful.

#42. Peter Egulam
2 years ago

Since leaving school i been driving okada, im a graduate, i cant continue driving okada all my live, loook like i will move to abuja or lagos ,okada business is big there. the only problem im scary to driving my okada from aba to lagos, arm robber can thif am form my hand. Maybe i can take ova night bus, or plane , do you know if they will carry my okada inside airoplane

#41. Peter Egulam
2 years ago

Danladi. pls do you know how we can starting cement sellings in Aba. Akin is MTN needing mechanics engineerings, i have MTN GSM, can u help me with fire line. Pauline do you know akpan in unical. Oga J pls thanks you for all ya information, i did not know that soja is d one controlling naija like this. My land lord is always asking for rent advance in my boys quater, be like say i go need some soja make dem beat am for me. pls once again i needing a job if not i will join police as lance corpral and follow my papa

#40. Danladi Danjuma
2 years ago

Hello everybody Danladi here..........

I'm an accountant for benue cement company , i had to leave jos breweries because of the way the MD ran the place as if it was in an armor brigade.

#39. J
2 years ago

WoW @ Akin

nice info, please tell us more

#38. Akin Kalewo-Darocha
2 years ago

J you seem to have very valid points, my MD is very dictatorial, i work for MTN!

#37. J
2 years ago

I must remind everybody that human beings are naturally dictatorial the brain dictates to the rest of the body, so you as a human being are not a democratic organism but dictatorial, Similarly, why is there no democracy in your companies? if there was couldnt you tell your MC/CEO what to do? but the CEO dictates. Also there was no democracy in your homes growing up, it was the father dictating , so what democracy are you looking for? Those who have children , will your children tell you what to do or is it vice versa?

#36. J
2 years ago

Everybody will argue their thought process is right because from birth, peoples brains were more developed in some areas than others for those of us that are not psyciatrists, psychologists or medical doctors heres the explanation:

Temporal(bottom of brain/connected to mouth and ears): this area when more developed in people are more prone to verbal use ie talking and listening (auitory) i.e parrot mouth and dogs ears disagvantages: are prone to epileptic seizures. they see the solutions to life as being dialogue i.e alex akinleye, jerry gana, gambari, chukwumerijie.

occipital (rear of brain/connected to ): when more developed people are prone to more advanced visual, color and motion differenciation use ie eagles eyes disadvantage are prone to depression. feel solution to lifes problems are to look at them from various views/perspectives e.g ibb, bill clinton

frontal (front of brain/connected to hands,legs-movement) when more developed , these people are more involved in physical movement and activity. they also have better long term memory
ie the memory of an elephant disadvantage: schizophrenia they see solutions to lifes problems are through physical actions and from what they learned from the past. eg buhari, nuhu ribadu, george bush jnr

pariental(top of brain): coordinates/integrates information from all other lobes and used to identify shapes and patterns.

cerebellum (mini/backup brain near top of spine) is used to interlink senses to movement ie if you touch fire you immediately remove your hand.

to enhance your use of all areas of your brain ie brain execises then do the following:

verbal play scabble, do crossword puzzles, public speaking, learn words and opposites
physical: learn any sport or new hands on skill ie plumbing, electronics, how to paint, how to weld etc
visual/reasoning: chess, drafts, ayo, tic tac toe i.e X and O, practice maths calculations

#35. J
2 years ago

ibb is known for being an avid polo player and horse owner. He also is known for having a horse mounted soldier company escort him on idenpendence day celebrations, obj however does not.

Similarly ibb has released an eagle on indenpendence day before before, however obj has not. Based on this who believes more in the ideology and concept of nigeria? after all our coat of arms has horses and an eagle! eagle signifies our vision, aim, and watch over our country , horse signifies our stength, hardwork.The rivers niger and benues signify our naural resources.

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