Le Dynamique Professeur

I am sure you would have at one stage of your life being a recipient of at least one of these statements or something similar. I think I have gotten almost all. If you've gotten any of these statements, what it suggests is that you are not good enough. It reminds me of the story of a senior PhD colleague (lets call him, Jude). When he started his PhD, he was assigned to a supervisor who after working with him for about 6months suddenly decided to write to the PhD committee that Jude was incompetent and unfit to be a PhD candidate. She went as far as suggesting his prior certificates may have even been forged. Jude however fought back. He made known to the committee that his (student-supervisor) relationship with the lady had only gone sour and none of her claims was true. After several push and pull, Jude was given another supervisor to prove the lady wrong. To cut the long story short, Jude is currently a PhD holder of the same university where he was once told he wasn't good enough. Imagine how his graduation ceremony will look like with that former supervisor as one of the officiating staffs...

I have discovered a powerful weapon that can elevate a man from zero to hero. That weapon can lift the once 'good for nothing' to a world renown celebrity. The weapon is relentlessness. Others may call it passion. Permit me to call it relentlessness - positive stubbornness. A zeal that is not easily defeated. The difference between success and failure often times could be the zeal people possess towards achieving their objectives. If you lack zeal, life may end up sealing up your dreams. What do you do when people say you can't achieve your dreams? What attitude do you emanate when they say no more vacancy for you? Do you result to alcohol and drugs to take your pains away or you set the stage for your come back? Do you listen to that voice of failure that often say, "its the end"? I once was told I may not be a university material and that I should try out other tertiary institutions. I have repeated classes twice in my life - once, with a Fail in Mathematics and another a result of an incomplete O'level result. Today, I am not boasting, if I do not tell you about these incidents, you cannot trace where I am today to them. I am in my 4th university doing a second postgraduate study at the age of 24.

Listen, no one! I repeat, NO ONE has the right to tell you that you are not good enough. Not even your father, your mother, your uncle or aunt. Not EVEN YOUR TEACHER! Apologies to my non-christian readers but I love making references to the bible a lot as I believe in creation not evolution. I was reading my bible recently and I found something that inspired this post. "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." - Genesis 1:31. Heads up! If God sees you as good, who dares see you as 'not good enough'? God took so much time to craft you, deposited dreams and visions within you, planted capacities and abilities specially for you and then you think someone has the right to come to you and tell you that you are not good enough? Shut your critics and mockers. Be relentless... Set the stage for your come back... Apply again! Try other places! Continue dreaming! Refuse to be knocked down! Get right back up! YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH!

1. Dissociate yourself from those who constantly tell you that you are not good enough

2. Tell it to yourself daily as many possible times as you can't count - "I am good enough for that job, that girl, that school"

3. Educate yourself with stories of people that have made it through and you will just find out they passed through almost the same thing as you are right now.

4. Pray, pray, pray! My Dad loves to say, "if you pray well, you will live well" - Pastor John Ekundayo

Thank you all for reading and for nominating my blog for the Nigerian blog awards 2010. You are awesome!

- Le Dynamique Professeur

Hubby had not arrived. I was all alone to go through the struggle. It was the 30th of May, the day our baby was born. I laid on the bed with belts strapped around my belly to monitor the baby's movements and heartbeat.  I was only able to identify two faces, my gynaecologist and a nurse. The contractions became intense. The worst of all, I had pains all over my body. I was breathing so hard and was hoping that the pain didn't get any worse. I was then asked to start pushing. The moment I felt the contraction again, I was told to push harder. "Take a deep breath, hold your legs, exhale and PUSH! PUSH!! PUSH!!!" That was repeated many times, almost a whole hour! It wasn't easy. I was already fully dilated yet the baby's head could not be seen. For a whole hour, that was what I did, push. I just wanted to get my baby out as soon as possible... after a while, it finally came out. At 3pm on the dot of time, the final push was done and out slided our bouncing baby boy...

There are four things that could happen at such situation: first, both the mother and baby makes it alive out of the labour room; second, the mother could die while the baby comes out alive; third, the baby could die with the mother surviving the labour room experience and lastly, both the mother and the baby might die in the labour room.

Hmmm... in the labour room of dreams, some dream bearers make it alive with their dreams while some don't. Some die in the labour room of their dreams but their dreams didn't die with them. Their dreams lived on in their stead. Some gave up and their dreams died in the labour room and they came out empty handed.

I am sure no one wants to either die with his/her dreams unborn or make it out of the labour room empty. The beauty of the labour room is for the baby to be born. No one wants to come out of the labour room empty. Some people, even though they died in the labour rooms of their dreams. They died PUSHING. They laboured for something worth more than their lives and the whole world celebrates them till today. People like Martin Luther King Jr. He found a cause to die for and he lived and died for it. Awesome! If your dream is a cause worth dying for, do not relent or give up in the labour room. Give birth to that dream and we'll celebrate you.

Maybe your dream is not a cause to die for. Perhaps yours is one you'd have to live to see it come alive. I urge you today, do not give up PUSHING! PUSH! PUSH!! PUSH!!! Are the contractions becoming more intense? Are the pains becoming unbearable? Is it beginning to look like you can't make it beyond where you are right now? It's part of the labour room process. Do not be scared if you go through it alone. Still don't give up if your parents, husband, boyfriend of girlfriend leaves you to it. The dream is yours and its yours to bear. You must give birth to it.

Circumstances may be hard. You may experience so much pain in every facet of life. Your school fees may be so difficult to pay. It is possible that debts are about swallowing you up right now. Your peers might have gone far ahead of you. Your parents may have even disowned you because of your dreams. It is very possible that your friends are always mocking you. Listen! When you are going through tough times, take a deep breath. When it seem as if you can't go on anymore, I tell you it's time to hold your legs and PUSH! Yes, that's what happens in the labour room. It's never a pleasant experience. But the beauty of it is making out of their with that baby in your hands. Do not give up my friend. Your are in the labour room of your dreams... PUSH and PUSH REAL HARD!

Dad came back from a wonderful conference with his Mercedez Benz E230 (V-boot) only to discover something had gone wrong somewhere. I cant remember if he had taken notice of it before he got home but I remember we were all startled at the sight of what happened. One of the side mirrors of the vehicle had been stolen. For a Mercedez Benz car of that calibre, at that time costed money. The week he was going to purchase a replacement, the repairer [mechanic, for my nigerian readers - haha] advised, "Sir, if you don't want them to steal this one too, I'd suggest you engrave [PUT A NAME ON] it." In other words, it can still be stolen; someone else can still toil with it if you don't put a name on it.

When I was in secondary school, whenever a valuable became an argument between two people, the most common question was, "whose name is on it?" I remember then, if it doesn't have your name on it, it probably doesn't belong to you. Moreover, should your name be on it, you'd just start  beaming with confidence knowing it's still coming back to you at the intervention of a superior (a teacher or a senior). This post has nothing to do with the car you now own or the house you currently live in. It likewise has nothing to do with the degree you have bagged so far or the glories of the past you now rejoice in. As interesting as it may sound, this post is about that dream, that vision, that car, that career, that home, that life you are looking forward to having. yet unborn. Yes, you need to put a name on it.

Let me give you an illustration.. not a perfect example as I am not there yet. When I was around age 15, in secondary school, I often refer to myself as 'Dr Smart', not because I wanted to be a medical doctor but because I wanted to be a professor and I knew I had to get a PhD and be a doctor before becoming a professor. When I got into the university, I changed it to 'Prof Smart'. Although I was studying for an undergraduate degree but I felt I had moved up one step towards becoming the man of my dreams - a professor. Today, although I am still studying for a PhD, I now call myself, LDP - Le Dynamique Professeur, which literally translates as 'The Dynamic Professor' in English. I have decided to, since the age of 15, put a name(s) to my dream. The good thing is, it has always propelled me towards becoming the man of my dreams.

I once heard of Abraham Lincoln, despite his many failures, often say to himself, "I, Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States" long before he became president.

I also heard of the current United States President, Barrack Obama, often looked himself in the mirror and called himself, "president of the united states"

Mahummad Ali, never stopped calling himself the world's greatest. Countless of his videos showed him screaming on top of his lungs, "I am the world's greatest". He once said, "I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was"

These men had one thing in common, they owned their dreams. They put a name on it. I am sure you know many more examples than I do. People may mock you for calling yourself a doctor, a professor, a lawyer, an engineer, a star, a famous TV presenter now, let it not bother you, you'll make it and they'd see you when you get there. There are four things putting a name on your dream helps you with...

PUT A NAME ON IT :)