By Okechukwu Onwuka
Last week we started this piece on drawing comparisons with the difficult and cumbersome process of finding
and processing gold out of the usually ugly looking ore deposits. We conclude with further practical illustrations.
Perceptions of a great job or contract.

Traditionally, many would prefer to work in big companies where very little is demanded of us and the rewards are handsome. We hate it when our clients insist on making us comply with rigorous procedures and steps. The tendency is to perceive as wonderful, jobs, bosses or contracts that makes very little demands on our efforts.

We don’t want customers who are discerning and always force us to produce top quality products or services. We hate Government Regulations that force us to spend money on regulatory compliance and standards when the money could have been converted to profits. Anybody, client, supervisor or manager who demands hard work and commitment from us is seen as wicked, mean or too hard. It is only when we see the outcome of children from homes without discipline and control that we begin to realize the gold hidden in parental control, spoiling the rod and discipline.

When you see children who inherit hundreds of millions of naira and waste it all in less than 3 years after the parents pass on, you realize that the gold or opportunity is not in the physical wealth inherited. The wealth (cash, houses etc) are only appearances of luck, opportunity or gold but never the gold in itself. Gold never looks like gold in its natural state. In our common expectation, we make a fundamental mistake. We are all born as raw materials, like gold ores.

For us to become choice people, companies or institutions, compulsorily we have to go through the process of discovery, heat treatment and refinement to release the gold in us. The more rigorous the effort and experience, the purer the gold in us becomes. For this to happen, we have to recognize the practical ways that we must go through for value-adding refinement.

With this recognition, we are able to accept the challenges of refinement that ultimately leads to our breakthrough without major complaints. When people become entrepreneurs, thinking it is an easier way out, they realize that the real gold in them was formed through the lessons leant from that mean or wicked boss. Lessons in discipline, hard work, submitting to authority, focus on details, integrity, control, leadership and other golden virtues.  Within the jobs or contracts (small or major) that your company is currently handling lies the gold to your ultimate triumph tomorrow.

If gold was given the privilege to shout or refuse the hardship that comes with processing it into pure gold, it may have lost the opportunity to become the icon of minerals in the world. For this reason, man is created higher than inanimate objects because we have the ability to learn through the many examples that the Almighty God has provided. The implication is that any job or situation that does not challenge your creativity, endurance, learning, discipline or commitment is most probably not developing you. In a similar fashion, when you start exercising, until you put up with the right number of press-ups, you think exercise is easy. But when you do enough to challenge your shape, you wake up two days later thinking you must have had an okada accident, with cramps and pains all over your body. Stop the exercise and you go back to your flabby out-of-shape condition.

But when you persevere and go even higher, over time, you begin to experience a healthier state of being and start to enjoy the exercises. You start to feel empty without the exercise. While others think you are punishing yourself, you are having the time of your life.

My advice is that you should not see as enemies those who pressure you to improve on your work ethic, education, performance, efficiency or focus. They are actually your friends in disguise. They are the real angels sent your way to refine you to success. These are the exercises that raise your performance levels to such a height that you excel anywhere you go to. Having gone through such refinement, you become a blessing to not only yourself but to the larger society. You and your company also become a reference point.

Just like Gold. The somewhat unfortunate issue is that many of us never get to go back to these great people who have shaped our destiny positively because we did not appreciate them at the time. When we finally do, we may have lost their contact details.

Another crazy occurrence is that the press and the media like to tell stories about successful people or companies in the light of overnight success. In one sense, it is true, because they never saw the people or company in the grueling, difficult, formative years. But to the gold, it has enough scars and stories from the experience to never forget that it was never an easy path.

The beautiful part is that, like a woman who successfully delivers a baby, the pains of labour and pregnancy is nothing compared to the joy of being a mother.
Misconception on Talent. It is not uncommon to hear people say that are not talented. Or that their talents are not the great ones. The reality is that we are all born with one gift or another. If you think your talent is small or tiny, consider that the amount of gold in gold ore is very tiny and insignificant. But through steady refinement, treatment and polishing, it becomes the king of metals. In the same way, despise not your talents or abilities. Allow yourself to go through the rigorous of development and you’ll be amazed at what your ‘small’ talent will do for you. Some years back, football talent in Nigeria was considered a waste. Today, footballers are multimillionaires. If you despise your talent, no one else will appreciate or nurture it for you. In the early years, try your hands on as many things as you can. You never know what you are good at until you tried it out. Over time, you start to recognize your golden touch. Pursue further development with a vision to being the best. The higher your goal, the more refinement you’ll submit to. I have no business encouraging people to be average because shooting for average has a high risk of resulting in failure. Shooting for the very best increases your chances of true success. You may not become 24 Karat Gold, but 18 Karat gold is better than rusted iron.
Realilty Check. Opportunities and luck are the same. They do not often appear like opportunities. They easily come disguised as hardship, struggle, challenge, difficulty and sometimes hidden in tragedies. The ability to recognize them this way may never be common knowledge. Many who pay millions for refined gold will throw away a field of gold deposits because of lack of knowledge.
The few who know will continue to apply the wisdom and sell their finished products or services at the high price that the impatient are willing to pay.
File-risk
June 18, 2010