Never put too much trust in power outside yourself
The reality of the economic woes in this country cannot be underestimated. I now drive on Spintex Road at different times of the day and do what I couldn’t do this time last year. Zoom with my car from one end of the road to the other because of less traffic on the road. People just don’t have money to buy petrol like they use to do, so fewer cars are on the road.
Go to a forex bureau on Spintex Road and comment on the unusual nature of the free-flowing traffic on the main road, and the attendant will point to the 4x4 car behind you. How a well-dressed woman who owns the car, parks it outside their shop every morning to take a trotro to work and come back and pick up her car since her home is near Spintex Road.
And yet if Power is defined as:-
-The ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way or
-The capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events
In a financial context, when discussing the economic woes most Ghanaians face due to the state of the economy; what would happen if millions of citizens did just that? Become citizens for themselves by empowering themselves to have the ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way when it comes to their finances. Or within themselves, develop the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events in their lives.
I say this because as a self-made entrepreneur that re-entered Ghana with just under 500 dollars to my name at some point in my early thirties; I didn’t sit around waiting on better economic conditions externally but built a website from a domain I bought; and one by one attracted particularly international clients that could afford the invoices I self-generated from my old laptop at the time.
Opportunity is created in this life, for no one gives it to you. Like power, you have to take it yourself! After all, we have no safety net in this country like the U.K which has Universal Credit for housing benefits and a monthly bursary when any citizen loses their job.
The benefit of being self-reliant as a Ghanaian citizen, particularly during an economic downturn is that lack gives us the ability to go where most have not been before, WITHIN!
To think, create, strategize and roll out, with whatever resources we have, a way to charge for goods or services on our terms in a way that attracts clients. The sky is the limit when you strategize even from the desk of your current employment, let your mind fly away to what you want to become and use your subconscious mind whilst awake and asleep to come up with a plan to economically liberate yourself.
For I tell you another mystery reader, power is taken, never given in this world and if you sit around waiting for someone to save you, particularly any form or party in government, you can wait your entire life. Be made well in the fortune of your desired future by rising from within. For as the prophet said over 2000 years ago “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”
As endearing as it may be watching the tears that fall from many of our citizens' faces as they bitterly complain on radio and tv about just what this government is doing to them in terms of how tough the economic conditions are in this country; the truth remains you are not a prisoner of your mind or life. Write a new story of your life, one where you are successful, self-generate resources; and move step by step with what resources you have to your desired reality.
If you remember nothing else from this article, remember these few points as further expanded upon in the book 48 Laws of Power:
1. Never put too much trust in power outside yourself, they [government or individuals] will betray you more quickly because of your naïve belief that they are there to help
2. Enter action with boldness
3. Do not commit to the system, become your system
4. Concentrate your forces to get what you want in life
5. Make your accomplishments seem effortless
6. Re-create yourself by not accepting the roles that society forces on you, and forge a new identity by being the master of your image and fortune
7. Plan all the way to the end
8. Make your accomplishments seem effortless and control the options others get to play with the cards you deal
9. Become like a government, play to people’s fantasies
10. Master the art of timing
11. Like the government, get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit
12. Win through your actions, never through your words
13. When asking for help, appeal to people’s self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude
14. Crush your enemy totally
15. Think as you like but behave like others
16. Work on the hearts and minds of others
17. Do not go past the mark you aimed for, in victory, learn when to stop
Make no mistake reader, Wakanda is not a dream. We create Wakanda even within this country by rising one by one and looking to ourselves to be saved!
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