DON’T WASTE THE GOLDEN HOURS OF YOUTH.

It is not uncommon to see old folks who are still actively working to make ends meet; the thought alone rips my heart apart. But, it shouldn’t be so. Old age is meant for rest and harvest, but unfortunately that is the period majority come to their senses (They’ll wish they could turn back the hands of time to right the wrongs, but unfortunately time is irrecoverable.). It is my earnest prayer that none reading this write-up will have to toil in his/her old age for bread. I bet your “amen” was loud (laugh). Be that as it may, you have to support your “amen” with action if your prayer will be answered because life will not just relinquish rest and bountiful harvest to you in your latter days, you have to earn them. And how can you earn rest and bountiful harvest in your old age? You can only earn rest and bountiful harvest in your old age if you maximize your youth.

So what is youth? Who is a youth? What is the significance? Does it lapse? Those were the questions that came to mind when I thought of the subject. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, youth is “the time of life when a person is young”. Thus, a youth is a young person. As a youth, you have the wonderful opportunity to build the future of your dreams from the start; it’s synonymous to an artist being given a new canvass to paint on. The youthful age is characterized with newness, strength, and wisdom. And the youthful age is significant because it’s the best time to lay the foundation for success, to work, and to sow the seeds which can later be reaped in old age. And yes, it elapses; it comes but once in a lifetime.

Without being sarcastic, your future depends on how you make use of your youth. To further guide you in this adventure called life, I have painstakingly put up the “ABC” of success. They are:

A - Acknowledge your Maker.
B - Be bold. Be decisive. Be dynamic. Be efficient. Be informed. Be prepared. Be resolute.
C - Carry your cross, accept responsibility.
D - Don’t be lost in the crowd. Discover your potentials. Discover your purpose.
E - Expect more, your expectation determines what you get from life. Exceed your target.
F - Fail forward. When you fail, as you sometimes will, learn from it, re-strategize and try again!
G - Go for gold: dream big, think big, map out plans to achieve your goals and follow through.
H – Harness your resources.
I - Intensify your efforts.
J - Jink when need be, provided it’s in line with the master plan for your life.
K - Keep raising the bar.
L - Learn to say “No”.
M - Maximize your potentials. Make the best use of opportunities.
N – Never procrastinate. Never take “NO” for an answer. Never settle for less.
O - Open up to new ideas.
P – Practice, Patience and Persistence work wonders. With these three, you can achieve seemingly impossible feats.
Q - Quarantine bad friends, they can only decrease you.
R – Race against time, every second counts.
S - Spend wisely. Save and invest so that your “night” can be secured. Sow in season so that you can reap in harvest.
T – Turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones. Turn calamities into opportunities. Take risks.
U - Use help: To receive, ask. To obtain, seek. Stand on the shoulders of giants.
V - Venture into the impossible, redefine possibilities.
W – Work hard because life operates on the “no sweat, no sweet” principle.
X - X-ray people to identify great minds. Then, associate with great minds because they’ll inevitably add to you.
Y - Yield to corrections and instructions.
Z - Zero in on your strengths, therein lies your breakthrough.

If you walk and live by the statute above, success is guaranteed. I may not know your name, I may not know your location, I may not know your situation, but I know and I’m persuaded that you are important to your generation because you’ve been equipped at birth with talents with which you require to alleviate your situation and to make exploits. So, identify and make the best use of your endowments now when you have the strength because “night” cometh. Don’t also disappoint your generation; posterity will not forgive you if you die with all your potentials untapped.

Maximize your potentials. Secure your future. Fulfill your purpose. Die empty!