Over my career, I've tried to time things perfectly with the goal of entering and exiting opportunities at the right time. 

In some instances, my timing was spot on, and in other instances, I stayed too long or left too early. There are so many variables – alignment, when preparation meets opportunity, and plain old chance. 

Great timing is really about being in the right place at the right time, and below are a few things to think about as relates to timing.

The First-Mover Advantage

Being the first to enter a new market can offer a solid competitive edge. You're potentially ahead of everyone and can blaze a path that shapes the landscape in your favor. 

As an individual, you're on the ground floor in a position to get more equity, opportunity, on-the-job training, and exposure at a career-defining organization that could be a rocket ship. 

When you get there first, you have the opportunity to establish yourself and create a substantial professional and commercial lead. 

The Early Adopter

Correspondingly, by virtue of timing you can become an early adopter. Think about the folks at OpenAI or Uber. They were not only first movers, but their timing of embracing emerging technologies and methodologies positioned them ahead of the pack. 

When you combine first-mover advantage, early adoption, and (being operationally excellent), it makes the bet more viable – as applied both to career choices and entrepreneurship, it can pay dividends.

I've worked with people who were early Meta, Uber, and Google – their careers have soared. I've also worked with founders who've created multiple companies and have seen dramatic opportunities unlock before them because they got there early.  

The pattern I've noticed from working up close with these folks is they have great timing and an innate ability to see what others haven't. They know when to join and, in most instances, when to exit.

Leaving Too Early

One of the most common pitfalls folks face is leaving a company prematurely. It's necessary to strike a balance between recognizing a dead-end situation and the temerity to weather the storm. 

A hasty departure might mean missing out on potential growth, valuable learning experiences, or a bull market. The thing about timing is it shouldn't be knee-jerk. It should be painstakingly deliberate.

Staying Too Long

Head starts are helpful, but leads can be lost – whether a founder or an early-stage employee, staying too long can hinder personal and professional growth. I've seen early employees who steadily moved up the ladder but ended up staying beyond their shelf life. 

It's not that they weren't good but it was no longer a fit – the company changed and so did they. When you begin to see the skills or products undervalued or as obsolete, or how they could be leveraged elsewhere, start planning your exit.

Founders aren't immune from staying too long. They've built the company from scratch, pitched investors, raised several rounds of funds, and introduced products that had a market fit. 

They may be a great founder at the earlier stages, but when a company gets to a certain size founders need to consider whether new leaders are needed to take the company where it needs to go. When a founder doesn't realize this, they hurt the entire enterprise with their presence. 

It takes a great deal of maturity to know when to exit, and that requires constant introspection. When you find yourself stagnating or not adding value the way you once did, it's time to assess whether your continued presence serves your goals. 

Exiting

The decision to exit a business or role shouldn't be taken lightly – there's the competitive landscape, market demand, and even your own capabilities when considering an exit. Similarly, knowing when to exit a business involves understanding the market, and assessing the upsides and downsides.

Balancing Factors  

Timing is a balancing act that represents the totality of reasons why one might choose to start or join a company – impact, market, mission, values or to add value, compensation/benefits, reputation, role/scope, culture, the challenge, opportunity to work with a key team/leader, to deliver a project/program/product, purpose, etc. 

Create a rubric of your why, assign a value to weight each goal, and constantly calibrate to ensure that you're honoring what you set out to do. With each of your goals having a weighted value, you can better ensure that they continually align.

It's about maximizing moments so you can take full advantage before the window closes. Ultimately, in both career and entrepreneurship, timing is a critical factor. Recognizing when the door of opportunity opens or when it's time to leave can be the difference between success and stagnation. 

 

Inc

The Naira plunged to new lows on the parallel market, as dwindling reserves and dollar inflows have made it difficult for the Central Bank of Nigeria to fund corporate and individual demand for the greenback.

The local currency weakened to 1,045 naira per dollar on Wednesday from 1,015 the previous day, according to Abubakar Mohammed, chief executive officer of Forward Marketing Bureau de Change Ltd., which compiles data on the informal market in Lagos, the commercial capital.

The rate has diverged further from the official rate, which was cited at 765.8 a dollar on the FMDQ OTC trading platform. That showed further pressure remained to devalue after Africa’s most populous nation allowed its currency to trade more freely in June as part of reforms to help attract more foreign investment and boost the economy.

Record Low

Acute forex shortage prompts dollar to trade at parallel market at premium Capital inflows into the West African nation dropped 33% from a year ago to $1 billion in the three months through June, according to the statistics agency, as investors fret over capital controls and a weak economy. External reserves fell to two-year low of $33.2 billion, central bank’s data shows.

“People are looking for dollars, both the seller and the buyer,” said Umar Salisu, a foreign-exchange operator in Lagos. “Until there’s enough supply, you can’t predict the exchange rate.”

 

Bloomberg

All Progressives Congress (APC) says Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), is looking for “cheap” media attention.

During a press conference, Obi said President Bola Tinubu should reintroduce himself to Nigerians because the debate surrounding his academic records has worsened the country’s image.

Obi said the controversy over Tinubu’s academic records has made foreigners start profiling Nigerians as “fraudsters, certificate forgers or identity thieves”.

But in a statement on Wednesday, Felix Morka, APC spokesperson, said Nigerians who voted for the president know him and were not “groggy” during the polls.

Morka said Tinubu does not need a re-introduction.

“Unwilling to miss out in the orchestrated campaign of calumny against Tinubu over his certificate from the Chicago State University, Obi jumped on the tailboard of Atiku’s bandwagon to satisfy his uncanny and insatiable thirst for cheap media attention, long after his Labour Party had dissociated itself from a bogus call to action by the former Vice-President,” the statement reads.

“In his drivel, Peter Obi demanded that the President reintroduce himself to Nigerians, as though the 8.9 million Nigerians who voted him last February were all groggy when they made their free democratic choice.

“Obi must know that Tinubu does not need a re-introduction. He does not have any identity problem, except the one contrived by the Atikus and Peters of our political firmament.

“The 8.9 million Nigerians who voted him into office were, and remain, aware of his outstanding record and accomplishments as a defender of democracy, freedom, social and economic justice for over three decades.

“Nigerians know Tinubu as a thoroughbred professional and former auditor and treasurer of Mobil Nigeria, now ExxonMobil.”

The APC spokesperson said Tinubu was elected lawfully.

 

The Cable

Niger's junta has demanded that the top United Nations official there leave the country within 72 hours over accusations that Niger was excluded from the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders in New York last month.

Niger military officers ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in July, suspending the constitution, dissolving all former institutions and declaring General Abdourahamane Tiani as the West African country's new head of state.

In a statement dated Oct. 10, Niger's foreign ministry accused the U.N. of using "underhanded manoeuvres" instigated by France to prevent its full participation in the high-level U.N. General Assembly meeting last month and in subsequent meetings of U.N. agencies that were held in Vienna and in Riyadh.

As a consequence, the government has ordered U.N. resident coordinator Louise Aubin to leave, said the statement.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres deeply regrets the move, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, reiterating "the unwavering commitment of the United Nations to stay and deliver for the people of Niger."

"The decision ... hampers the ability of the Organization to effectively carry out its mandates and disrupts the essential work we do for the people of Niger, where 4.3 million are in need of humanitarian assistance, mostly women and children," Dujarric said.

No one from Niger addressed the gathering of world leaders in New York last month after competing claims were made by the junta and Bazoum's government for the country's U.N. seat.

U.N. accreditation issues are dealt with by a nine-member committee, whose members include the United States, China and Russia. The committee is not due to meet until October or November, when it will make a decision.

The French mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the accusation by the junta.

The junta is following a pattern seen in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, which also grew hostile to the U.N. and former colonial ruler France after their militaries seized power. Niger has already kicked out French troopsand the French ambassador.

Burkina Faso expelled its U.N. resident coordinator last year and Mali endeda U.N. peacekeeping mission that had been there for a decade.

All three countries are struggling with an Islamist insurgency that has spiralled in recent years, prompting power grabs by army officers who promised to improve security.

The coups have been accompanied by accusations that France exerts too much influence in its former colonies, and a shift toward Russia as a strategic partner instead. France has denied exercising undue influence.

 

Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined with a top political rival Wednesday to create a wartime Cabinet to oversee the fight to avenge the gruesome weekend attack by Hamas militants. In the sealed-off Gaza Strip, Palestinian suffering mounted as Israeli bombardment demolished neighborhoods and the only power plant ran out of fuel.

Netanyahu vowed to “crush and destroy” Hamas. “Every Hamas member is a dead man,” he said in a televised address.

The new Cabinet establishes a degree of unity after years of bitterly divisive politics and at a time when the Israeli military appears increasingly likely to launch a ground offensive into Gaza. The war has already claimed at least 2,300 lives on both sides.

The Israeli government is under intense public pressure to topple Hamas after its militants stormed through a border fence Saturday and massacred hundreds of Israelis in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival.

Netanyahu alleged that the attackers engaged in atrocities, including binding boys and girls and shooting them in the head, burning people alive, raping women and beheading soldiers.

The prime minister’s allegations could not be independently confirmed, and authorities did not immediately offer further details. Rescue workers and witnesses have described horrifying scenes, including the slaughter of elderly people and finding bloody rooms crowded with massacred civilians.

Militants in Gaza are holding an estimated 150 people taken hostage from Israel — soldiers, men, women, children and older adults — and they have fired thousands of rockets into Israel over the past five days.

The Cabinet, which will focus only on issues of war, will be led by Netanyahu; Benny Gantz, a senior opposition figure and former defense minister; and current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Still, Israel’s political divisions remain. The country’s chief opposition leader, Yair Lapid, was invited to join the Cabinet but did not immediately respond to the offer. It appeared that the rest of Netanyahu’s existing government partners, a collection of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, would remain in place to handle non-war issues.

Israel’s increasingly destructive airstrikes in Gaza have flattened entire city blocks and left unknown numbers of bodies beneath debris. A ground offensive in Gaza, whose 2.3 million residents are densely packed into a tiny, coastal strip, would likely result in a surge of casualties for fighters on both sides.

Hamas on Wednesday launched a fresh barrage of rockets into Israel aimed at the southern town of Ashkelon.

The UN said late Wednesday the number of people displaced by the airstrikes had soared 30 percent within 24 hours, to 339,000, two-thirds of them crowding into U.N. schools. Others sought shelter in the shrinking number of safe neighborhoods in the strip of land only 40 kilometers (25 miles) long, wedged among Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

After nightfall, Palestinians were plunged into pitch blackness in large parts of Gaza City and elsewhere after the territory’s only power station ran out of fuel and shut down. Only a few lights from private generators still glowed.

Israel on Monday halted the entry of food, water, fuel and medicine into the territory. The sole remaining crossing from Egypt was shut down Tuesday after airstrikes hit nearby.

The Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, has only enough fuel to keep power on for three days, said Matthias Kannes, a Gaza-based official for Doctors Without Borders. The group said the two hospitals it runs in Gaza were running out of surgical equipment, antibiotics, fuel and other supplies.

Ghassan Abu Sitta, a reconstructive surgeon at al-Shifa, said he had 50 patients waiting to go to the operating room.

“We’re already beyond the capacity of the system to cope,” he said. The health system “has the rest of the week before it collapses, not just because of the diesel. All supplies are running short.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said other hospitals’ generators will run out in five days. Residential buildings, unable to store as much diesel, likely will go dark sooner.

Egypt and international groups have been calling for humanitarian corridors into Gaza. Convoys stood loaded with fuel and food Wednesday on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, but were unable to enter Gaza, an Egyptian security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

In Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, rescue workers and civilians carried men covered with blood and soot toward ambulances after strikes toppled buildings. Streets were left blanketed with metal, chunks of concrete and thick dust.

Medical teams and rescuers struggled to enter other areas where roads were too damaged, including Gaza City’s al-Karama district, where a “large number” were killed or wounded, according to the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. Strikes have killed at least four Red Crescent paramedics, the organization said.

The risk of the war spreading was evident Wednesday after the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli military position and claimed to have killed and wounded troops.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack but did not comment on possible casualties. The Israeli army shelled the area in southern Lebanon where the attack was launched.

U.S. President Joe Biden called Saturday’s Hamas attack “the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.”

“This attack was a campaign of pure cruelty, not just hate, but pure cruelty against the Jewish people,” Biden said at a meeting with Jewish community leaders at the White House.

On Tuesday, he warned other countries and armed groups against entering the war. The U.S. is already rushing munitions and military equipment to Israel and has deployed a carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean as deterrence.

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked a village south of Nablus, opening fire on Palestinians and killing three, the territory’s health ministry said. More than two dozen Palestinians have died in fighting in the West Bank since the weekend.

Israel has mobilized 360,000 reservists, massed additional forces near Gaza and evacuated tens of thousands of residents from nearby communities.

Toppling Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, would likely require reoccupying Gaza, at least temporarily. Even then, Hamas has a long history of operating as an underground insurgency in areas controlled by Israel.

Hamas said it launched its attack Saturday because Palestinians’ suffering had become intolerable under unending Israeli military occupation and increasing settlements in the West Bank and a 16-year-long blockade in Gaza.

In the kibbutz of Be’eri near Gaza, Israeli troops were still removing the bodies of dead Hamas militants who stormed the community and killed more than 100 residents, then battled soldiers for nearly three days.

Major General Itai Veruv told visiting journalists that the military found evidence of Hamas militants cutting throats of bound captives, lining up children and killing them and packing 15 teenage girls in a room before throwing a grenade inside.

Shock, grief and demands for vengeance against Hamas are running high in Israel.

In a new tactic, Israel is warning civilians to evacuate whole Gaza neighborhoods, rather than just individual buildings, then leveling large swaths in waves of airstrikes.

Israel’s tone has changed as well. In past conflicts, its military insisted on the precision of strikes in Gaza, trying to ward off criticism over civilian deaths. This time, military briefings emphasize the destruction being wreaked.

Even with the evacuation warnings, Palestinians say some are unable to escape or have nowhere to go, and that entire families have been crushed under rubble.

Other times, strikes come with no notice, survivors say.

“There was no warning or anything,” said Hashem Abu Manea, 58, who lost his 15-year-old daughter, Joanna, when a strike late Tuesday leveled his home in Gaza City.

Israeli airstrikes late Tuesday struck the family house of Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, killing his father, brother and at least two other relatives in the southern town of Khan Younis, Hamas official Bassem Naim told The Associated Press. Deif has never been seen in public, and his whereabouts are unknown.

The Israeli military said more than 1,200 people, including 189 soldiers, have been killed in Israel, a staggering toll unseen since the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria that lasted weeks. In Gaza, 1,100 people have been killed, according to authorities there.

Israel says roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed inside Israel, and that hundreds of the dead inside Gaza are Hamas members.

 

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces launch big push on key eastern Ukraine city

Russian forces were pressing on with a major push on the key eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka on Wednesday after many months of besieging it, Ukrainian military officials said.

The Ukrainian officials said Russian forces had redirected large numbers of troops and equipment to Avdiivka in their largest attack on the town since launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Major assaults have been under way since Tuesday.

Russian accounts also indicated the fighting had intensified, saying Moscow's forces had "improved their position in the immediate outskirts around Avdiivka". "It is not quite as heated as yesterday, but the battles are continuing," Vitaliy Barabash, head of the town's administration, told national television, noting about two dozen hits in the town's old district and others in the city centre.

"This is the largest-scale offensive action in our sector since the full-fledged war began."

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed forces said 10 enemy attacks on the town had been repelled.

Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine's southern group of forces, told the television that Russian forces were pressing their attacks "sometimes using infantry and in some areas deploying quite a lot of vehicles into battle".

Most attention in the Russian military's push through the eastern Donbas region has focused for many months on the city of Bakhmut, captured by Moscow troops in May.

But Avdiivka, home to a large coking plant to the southwest in Donetsk region, has been under attack for virtually the same length of time. Much of the town has been reduced to rubble.

Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive in June focusing on two theatres. The aims include securing areas around Bakhmut in order to retake the town and recapturing villages in the south on a drive towards the Sea of Azov to sever a Russian land bridge between positions Moscow holds in the south and east.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other officials acknowledge that the advances, undertaken with the help of Western equipment, have been slower than hoped.

But they dismiss suggestions by Western critics that the counteroffensive is too sluggish and hampered by strategic errors.

** NATO assures Zelenskiy of support even as world's eyes turn to Mideast

NATO members assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday that they would sustain military aid to his country as it braces for another wartime winter, even as Western attention focuses on the fallout from Hamas' attack on Israel.

Defence chiefs issued the assurances as Zelenskiy visited NATO headquarters in Brussels for the first time since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

His visit came against the backdrop not only of violent turmoil in the Middle East but also political turbulence in the U.S. Congress, which has held up approval of aid for Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he was confident that members of the military alliance would continue to support Ukraine as it was in their own security interests.

"We have the capability and the strength to address different challenges at the same time," he added. "We don't have the luxury of choosing only one threat and one challenge."

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivered a similar message.

“In terms of our ability to continue to support both the efforts in Ukraine and support the efforts in Israel as well, absolutely, we can do both and we will do both,” Austin told reporters.

After attending a meeting of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group of some 50 nations that support Kyiv, Zelenskiy welcomed the assurances but acknowledged there was uncertainty.

"My question was ... will your support be less than now?" Zelenskiy told reporters. "The partners say 'no'. But who knows how it will be? I think nobody knows."

Zelenskiy stressed Ukraine's need for more air defence systems - as it braces for Russian attacks on its energy grid through the coldest months of the year - as well as artillery and ammunition to allow its forces to keep fighting in winter.

Ukraine started a counteroffensive over the summer to try to retake territory in the south and east but has so far failed to make major breakthroughs in Russia's network of fortifications and minefields.

"The winter air defence is a significant part of the answer to the question of when this war will end and whether it will end justly for Ukraine," Zelenskiy said.

FRESH PLEDGES

Stoltenberg pointed to a series of fresh pledges of military aid to show NATO members remained committed to Kyiv.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

Austin announced a new $200 million defence package for Ukraine on Wednesday, including air defence munitions and weapons to counter Russian drones.

Washington has provided $44 billion to supply Kyiv with dozens of tanks, thousands of rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition, but support is falling among Americans of both main political parties.

On the eve of the meeting, Germany announced a new "winter package"worth around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) that includes new air defence systems, while a UK-led group of countries announced help with mine-clearing.

Zelenskiy also secured promises of F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and Belgium, though the latter were slated for delivery in 2025.

He made explicit comparisons between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

"Terrorists like Putin or like Hamas seek to hold free and democratic nations as hostages and they want power," he said.

Russia has denied targeting civilians and has blamed the West for the war in Ukraine, saying it had no choice but to launch what it calls a "special military operation" there. It describes as baseless suggestions from Ukraine that Moscow is seeking to inflame the situation in the Middle East.

Hamas, which calls for Israel's destruction, says its attack was justified by the plight of Gaza under a 16-year-old blockade and the deadliest Israeli crackdown for years in the occupied West Bank.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Support not ‘indefinite’, White House tells Ukraine

The US is running out of money for Ukraine unless Congress approves additional funding, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.

“In the near term, we’ve got appropriations and authorities for both Ukraine and for Israel,” Kirby said during the daily press briefing. “But you don’t want to be trying to bake in long-term support when you’re at the end of the rope.”

“And in Ukraine, on the Ukraine funding, we’re coming near to the end of the rope,” he added. “Today we announced $200 million, and we’ll keep that aid going as long as we can, but it’s not going to be indefinite.”

Asked to define “near term,” Kirby said he could not point to a specific date, because that depended on how quickly Ukraine and Israel expended their equipment and ammunition “or what the need is and what our ability to do it is.”

On Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesperson assured reporters that the US had the ability to “continue our support both to Ukraine, Israel, and maintain our own global readiness.”

Kirby, however, admitted that the money previously appropriated for Ukraine by Congress is “not going to last forever” and that the lawmakers needed to approve more and soon.

“The sooner there’s a speaker of the House, obviously, the more comfortable we’ll all be in terms of being able to support Israel and Ukraine,” he said.

House of Representatives has not had a speaker since last Tuesday, when Kevin McCarthy  became the first-ever speaker to be ousted in a House vote, over an alleged secret deal with the White House to approve more Ukraine funding. Several Republicans led the charge against their California colleague, backed by all of the minority Democrats. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the Republican nominee to succeed McCarthy, has been supportive of funding Ukraine in the past.

Since February 2022, when the conflict with Russia escalated, the US has channeled almost $44 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine, as well as billions more in cash, humanitarian and economic assistance.

** Zelensky ‘starting to annoy’ everyone in US, Europe, says Kremlin spokesman

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has found himself in a rather challenging situation, as he is getting on the nerves of everyone in the United States and Europe, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the Moscow. The Kremlin. Putin TV program, an excerpt of which was posted on anchor Pavel Zarubin’s Telegram channel.

"Zelensky is in a rather tricky position. First of all, he is starting to touch a nerve. He is starting to annoy everyone both in America and Europe," Peskov said.

"People are starting to wonder: What is this man spending our money on if Ukraine is a country most famous for, you know, being such an oasis of corruption on Earth?" the Kremlin spokesman said.

"Certainly, nobody likes it, and this dissatisfaction with Zelensky will grow," Peskov concluded, pointing out that the Ukrainian president feels this and "is beginning to crack."

Moreover, the Kremlin spokesman continued, "he [Zelensky] still has that professional greed: How could the weapons promised to me be given to Israel?"

"That is why things are not so easy for him. Things are not so easy. Traditionally, they are already spoiled and are used to this sort of mentorship. We will wait and see how [the situation] unfolds from here," the Russian presidential spokesman added.

 

Reuters/RT/Tass

Since 1999, there is hardly any Nigerian president who has not said—or of whom has not been said—that he is no magician. So when the wife of the president, Mrs Remi Tinubu, made the same statement regarding her husband, it was déjà vu. Here we go again! Nigerian leaders gallantly fight political battles to get political power, only for them to be close enough to observe the scale of responsibilities involved and instantly lose their will to perform. When they say they have no magic, they are frontloading excuses for a governance record that will not do more than offer a few additive gains that might hopefully trickle down a long food chain. They create an alibi to distance them from an impending administrative crime scene.

Unfortunately, precisely what they say they are not—transformational leadership—is what Nigeria needs.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo started out in power yelling to the world that the country he had been elected to rule had been vandalised by his predecessors and he would rebuild from ground zero. His various anti-corruption initiatives—which set the tone for the showy way Nigeria pursues corruption allegations today—were a drive to reform a polity that had been degraded by military rulers. During his 2003 swearing-in, Obasanjo said, “Four years ago, we had no illusion that we will put right in a few years the destruction of two decades. We did not possess a magic wand with which to achieve instant transformation.” His successor initiated a series of probe to investigate the alleged financial mismanagement that racked up while Obasanjo was in office. So much for repairing what had been damaged.

Shortly after Goodluck Jonathan became president in 2011, he too would make a similar self-disavowal. At an interdenominational service preceding Nigeria’s 51st anniversary, he announced he was not a magician to make the nation’s wishes come true, but God would use him all the same. What made his attenuation of leadership expectations even more ironical was that he was supposedly running a “transformation agenda.” His supporters picked up the refrain about his not being a magician. They would spend substantial time reminding us how thoroughly despoiled the country had been before their man became president, and that it would take him a significant amount of time to achieve meaningful progress. Like his predecessor(s), he too never fully rose to the occasion history had thrust upon him.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari had hardly been elected before he started extricating himself from responsibility. Like the previous presidents who told us what they were not—and never settled on what they were—Buhari was quick to tell us that his “old age” would limit his performance. While age and health impacted Buhari, they were not the primary causes of his disappointing rule. He was both apathetic to offer distinguishing leadership and also lacking in fellow feeling. At the height of collective suffering, at a specific point in our history when people starved to the extent that a man exchanged his child for food, Buhari’s spokesperson, Femi Adesina, went on a radio station to preach patience. He said, “It (governance) is not a magic wand that can be waved, and everything happens. It is a process, and a painstaking one that something good would come out from.” For all their promises that if we believed and waited, we would eventually see “the good of the land,” what came out of it?

Exactly a year ago on AIT, the same Mrs Tinubu who said her husband was no magician also said the same of Buhari. He was no magician, she said, but Buhari had laid a good foundation for her husband to thrive if he became the president. For some funny reason, these leaders—their spokespersons and partisan supporters—tend to fall back on the language of magic to disenchant themselves, to rid the public of any illusion of any potential radical change their administration portends, and to opt for mediocre leadership that adds a few gains here and there but leaves the status quo intact.

Maybe “Tinubu is no magician” is the excuse that will replace “16 years of PDP” that sustained them since 2015 but is now shorn of any charisma. I know some people might want to argue that these leaders are being careful not to raise expectations, and that incremental gains count for something too. Well, understandable, but what we are looking at here are leaders prefacing their own administration with self-defeating rhetoric, setting the bar low—and lower—for themselves, and still failing.

When a Nigerian leader says, “I am not a magician,” it is a shorthand for saying they have neither a clue nor an overriding vision. The best they can do is build a highway here, inaugurate a secretariat there, pay salaries and pensions, show up to give worn and uninspiring speeches on special occasions, dutifully represent the country internationally, and just mark time until it is either time to either re-contest or go home. When a leader says they have no magic, they mean they are mediocre who did not know the scale of what they signed up for and are now intimidated by the reality of what their job entails.

Looking at Nigeria today—and perhaps the whole of Africa—you will realise that what they say they are not is exactly what we need: leaders who can perform magic. When a society is as low as we are on every ground of human development indices, we first need transformational leadership that can enforce radical changes before gradually settling for incremental gains to sustain growth and development. Things are so bad, so degraded in this country, that mere incremental gains will only scratch the surface of our problems. Government after government, we get treated to the same story of leaders admitting they lack transformational magic. The best they ever do is micromanage to add small gains to the little they found on the ground. While incremental gains are still gains, what plays out in Nigeria are mere additions not calculated to be generative and therefore roll back quickly when they encounter slight stressors.

We need leaders capable of transformation, not the ones who wring their hands while moaning about the dire situation they inherited. Finding one is no mean task. Such a leader must have intelligence and strength—physical and moral—to pull off the feat. We are talking about a leader who is convinced that our time has come to stop wandering in the wilderness and start to live as humans, not another talker who will tell us to “suffer now and enjoy later” as if we have not heard that to death. Bola Tinubu’s Independence Day speech was full of such enjoinment to endure as that is not the story of our Nigerian lives. He said, “We must endure this trying moment…reform may be painful, but it is what greatness and the future require…. There is no joy in seeing the people of this nation shoulder burdens that should have been shed years ago. I wish today’s difficulties did not exist. But we must endure if we are to reach the good side of our future.”

How often must we listen to this corny talk of suffer-now-enjoy-later? By now, we should all be tired of leaders who admit they have no transformational magic inside their bellies. They are not what we need. Our situation urgently requires leaders who can think deeply, dream of greatness, and act decisively. If one gets to Aso Rock and finds they are a misfit, they need not waste our time and theirs telling us what they lack. They should return home and we will send another representative who knows what they are doing.

 

Punch

You may have encountered some army official, who usually brags about their life, how punctual and disciplined they are, and how they maintain the equilibrium of their life. Discipline is one of the keys to success, but it’s harder to adapt. Discipline is the ability to control one’s behavior and actions in order to achieve any goal. People who live their lives with discipline have more chances to be successful than others. People with lazy and inconsistent in nature are always suffer when it comes to hard work. Discipline helps in fields school, work, office, and even in personal relationships. There are so many examples of daily life where one behaves in discipline like the student who watches Netflix a lot and also scores in academics.

The Role Of Goal Setting In Self-Discipline

There are two types of discipline: Self-discipline and external discipline. Self-discipline is the ability to control one’s own behavior and emotions. In addition, this skill can be developed through practice. The way to develop self-discipline is by setting clear and realistic goals and breaking the goal into steps or levels. In addition, other than this, External discipline exists. It is basically using external things to make anyone change their habits or behavior. External things can include rewards, praise, and punishment. One may fear punishment and try to behave or act in a disciplined way. Teachers and parents to develop skills in the personality of child mainly use it. This article will cover the psychology of discipline as in why an individual wants to become a disciplined person, how an individual can become a disciplined person and what are the tips for embracing discipline in one’s life.

When you see a well-maintained and disciplined person, you might think about how this person can be disciplined and what factors make them disciplined.

So, the psychology of disciplined persons works very differently, they have some positive qualities like:

1) Self-control:

Disciplined individuals have a good capacity for self-control. They resist themselves to skip work to get delayed, they work to control their temptations and urges they work on their long-term goals and achieve them level by level which makes it easier for them to gain self-confidence.

2) Goal Orientation:

Disciplined individuals are seen as very goal-oriented. They have clear, unidirectional, and well-focused goals and they also have enough attention power to work on those goals perfectly. This goal orientation helps them to stay focused and motivated.

3) Delayed gratification:

They show interest in long-term goals, but in a stepwise manner, which means they forgo short-term rewards in order to attain long-term benefits. They are often useful to work on the drawbacks at the initial level and hence improve the outcome.

4) Willpower:

Disciplined individuals often have willower as their strength. They have enough will to start afresh and gather all the mental strength to start any challenging task easily.

5) Self-awareness:

Disciplined people are often self-aware about their strengths and weaknesses and this allows them to work on themselves effectively. This self-awareness helps them to deal with their drawback and also helps them to make adjustments according to that.

Now, the question arises, how can an individual become a disciplined person? Following are some tips for including discipline as one of the skills in your personality or life.

1) Set clear goals:

If you have a zeal to achieve success then you should have clear and realistic goals. Get to know yourself what you want to do with your goal. Why do you want to achieve it? It is psychologically proven that if an individual has a clue what they want to do with their life or what their goal is, they are more likely to stay focused and motivated.

2) Break down your goal into smaller steps:

Breaking down goals into smaller steps would make it easier for you to understand and manage the work. And with achieving each
small step you will get self-motivation to achieve another step. And these little motivations will help you to stay on track.

3) Create a plan:

Create a plan in which you have prepared what task you have to do in what period of time. Give yourself a deadline and work according to the plan. Your consistency is the key.

4) Reward yourself:

Rewarding yourself gives motivation, reward yourself whenever you achieve any bit, maintain consistency, etc.
Discipline is not a fixed trait and no one is naturally born with this. This is initially guided by parents and teachers, but by learning the psychology behind this one can also develop and strengthen the skill of discipline easily.

 

Psychologs

Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the last elections, says questions on the identity of President Bola Tinubu have further worsened Nigeria’s battered reputation in the international community.

Recently, Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last elections, subpoenaed the Chicago State University (CSU) to release Tinubu’s academic records for use in the Nigerian Supreme Court.

Abubakar is challenging the victory of Tinubu in the February 25 election and the affirmation of Tinubu by the petition tribunal as the winner of the poll.

He had argued that there were discrepancies in the certificate Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which should have rendered him ineligible to contest the election.

Abubakar addressed a press conference last week to say he would not stop asking questions about Tinubu’s academic records until the supreme court rules against him.

Addressing a press briefing of his own on Wednesday, Obi, who polled third in the presidential contest and who is also challenging the outcome of the vote at the apex court, said the controversy over Tinubu’s academic records has made foreigners to start profiling Nigerians as “fraudsters, certificate forgers or identity thieves”.

Obi said Tinubu owes the nation the simple obligation of reintroducing himself to the world. 

“The entire Chicago University matter as well as Chief Bola Tinubu’s many other lingering identity question marks has further worsened Nigeria’s less-than-glorious image internationally,” he said. 

“Uninformed outsiders now see every Nigerian as a fraudster, certificate forger or identity thief. The controversy is unnecessary.

“The implicit global embarrassment could have been avoided. In my opinion, Bola Tinubu should have saved the nation and himself from this protracted embarrassment and undue anxiety. 

“He should let the world know his name, his nationality, his place of birth, his parentage, the primary and secondary schools he attended with dates as well as the actual universities he attended and certificates obtained.

“He should indicate clearly where and when he did his national youth service.

“In addition, if at any time he had had a change of name, he should state so clearly. That in itself is no crime.

“It does not require an affidavit, prolonged court process, spokespersons, agents or surrogates. The task is only one which Bola Tinubu himself through a direct personal statement can perform.

“With his present capacity as a leader of a nation of over 200 million Nigerians, his true identity is a matter of grave national and international interest.

“The people deserve to know with certainty the true identity of their leader and this overrides whatever right he may have to personal privacy.”

 

The Cable

On 9/11, I was 12 years old and in middle school three blocks away from the World Trade Center, separated only by a highway and a few sidewalks.

I remember when the bomb squad burst through the doors of the classroom, along with droves of hysterical parents crying and screaming.

Outside the school building, the acrid smell instantly stung our eyes and our nostrils, and the buildings vomited paper and people. The jam-packed crowds were almost impossible to move through, but we had one objective: Get home to the East side, to our neighborhood, which was also just three blocks away from the World Trade Center, on the other side of town.

Soon, we were running from a giant cloud of smoke and debris that we weretold not to look at.

“Just cover your faces, don’t look back, and run!” The scene for the next hour, as we tried every possible way to get into our own neighborhood, was the stuff that nightmares are made of. People covered in blood and debris, piercing, blood-curdling screams, loud cries, and low moans. I was covered in debris myself and kept forgetting to pull my shirt over my face to protect it. We spent an hour navigating the horror, trying to get home, normally a 10-minute walk from school, but police blocked every possible route

Once we finally made it back to our apartment, we found that our neighborhood had become a war zone.

The next years of my life were spent coming of age with undiagnosedthen misdiagnosed and incorrectly medicated dozens of timessymptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder that turned my teenage years into a living nightmare.

At 18, when I felt ready to take my own life, I reached out for help one last time, from one last therapist. That email saved my life, and I went on to spend years recovering through various forms of therapy, programs, and support.

Fast forward ten years, and I’ve come to be able to share what I’ve learned and what I know to be truenot just for me, but for many people.

When you go through something traumatic, it tends to color everything else you experience through a filter of darkness, fear. You start to unconsciously see the danger and “badness” in the world. Part of my recovery was learning to see the good with the bad because the truth is the world is pretty horrific at times, but it can also be very beautiful and kind.

It’s pretty easy to see what’s wrong with a situation, but it takes effort to see what’s right. These tools have been invaluable to me in that effort. This powerful story will convince you to stop saying, “Let me know if you need anything” to someone who has just gone through a tragedy.

Knowing that for almost all bad news you see, there is good news that you don’t see.

When the news features a raging flood wreaking havoc on the city, what they don’t feature is the people who rally together as volunteers to help rescue people’s pets and raise money to feed and board them. Communities band together and volunteers fly into action because people really do care about and try to take care of each other.

Remembering that there are always people who are way worse off than you.

This one can be trickyyou don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of feeling even more hopeless, sad, or upset. Just know you are lucky to have basic things like a roof over your head, a friend to talk to, access to clean water. There is so much we take for granted that we can focus on being grateful for. Better yet, let this motivate you to do something to help those people, in any small way possible.

Realizing that you can actually control a lot of what you let into your world.

You don’t have to know everything and be aware of every current event. Bottled water isn’t poisonous. All men are not cheaters. We still have not been hit with nuclear missiles. It’s OK to occasionally turn off the negative news and skip the articles your friend is always sending. When you need to, block out the mental noise: Don’t let your mind be an open door for chaotic thoughts that other people try to shove in there.

Knowing that when someone is hurtful, nasty, or rude, they are probably suffering.

People who are generally happy don’t usually say or do mean things. When you get a nasty email from a coworker or someone bumps into you and curses at you in the supermarket, know that they are currently struggling with something (or many things). They may be getting pressure from someone else and dealing with a personal issue. Practice compassion, and if you’re feeling really generous, wish for them to have everything they want in life that you would want for yourself. Here are the questions young people ask Helaina the most about surviving 9/11.

Staying in the present moment. Everything is usually OK there.

If you don’t feel “OK,” chances are you’re thinking about some past event and stewing in it, or you’re fearful of some possible future event that might happen. Chances are, right now, you are at the baseline definition of OK.

Believing in something that is bigger than you, but that doesn’t control negative events.

You don’t have to be religious to have faith in something. It can be the ocean. A crystal. Morning sun on your porch. Whatever this concept of something greater is, however, it does not allow bad things to happen or cause bad things to happen. Instead, imagine it as something nurturing that is always there giving you personal strength to endure life’s challenges.

Recognizing that bad things in the world don’t have to affect the good things you bring into it.

Focus on bringing as much good as you can into your own universe, your everyday life, and the people who enter or pass through it. You can’t control millions of voters or bodies of government or sick criminals, but you can control whether you wait an extra beat to hold a door open, bring your dog over to visit an elderly neighbor you’ve caught admiring them, or writing a sweet message to a friend just because.

Knowing that most of your fears are staring right back at you.

On a personal level, a lot of what we worry others will think or do starts within. Do we write stories about people or comment on what they look like, say, who they date, what they wear? Spoiler alert: We don’t all think the same way, but once you start controlling, and stopping, any negative thought chains in your own mind, it’s amazing how quickly those worries about what people think of you start to dissolve over time as well.

Learning who you can actually trust when the world feels untrustworthy.

When the world feels out of control or you’ve been betrayed by someone, which we all have at one point or another, you need points of reference and awareness to stay strong. Don’t over share with the first person you meet; build a friendship slowly over time and test out small secrets you wouldn’t mind getting out. See how a person talks about other peoplethat’ll give you a good idea of where you’ll land.

Always having hope.

When it feels like the world is going to the dogs and you have no hope, surprise, you actually do. I saw the hilarious and insightful comedian Louise C.K. put it bluntly when he performed at Madison Square Garden. And while he takes this subject a little lightly, he’s right: We have a choice whether to live this day. “Every day that we wake up and choose to live this day again is incredibly brave. It’s always in your control.” If you are living, you have hope. It may feel like just a glimmer of a sparkly nugget buried under a pile of mud and poop, and maybe you can’t see it at all, but it’s there.

Accepting that nothing can ever stay up or down.

If you’re down right now, that means at some pointmaybe not on your timeline, maybe not exactly the way you want itthings will get better.

Learning that there is power in powerlessness.

There are so many things that are out of our control, yet we feel we have to make things happen, move things along to feel OK. Oftentimes, when we push, it makes things worse. Pick your battles, and know that sometimes shrugging and having patience or accepting something that isn’t very likely to change is actually a huge relief, and a lot less stressful than the other option, which will likely get you more frustrated.

Feelings of impending disaster can be a positive.

I had to learn to turn fear into positive energy. We don’t know always if a loved one will make it home. We don’t know if we’ll make it home. We don’t know when the chance will come to finally say what we need to say to someone, whether it’s “I love you” or “I’m sorry” or “I think I’m the one for the job.” Instead of dwelling in the terror of what the end could and might look like for you and everyone you care about, use it as motivation to live your life to the fullest.

I hope this list helps you navigate the larger world and your own world just a bit more smoothly and peacefully than you did before.

** Helaina Hovitz is the author of After 9/11.

 

Readers Digest