What Makes Me A True Nigerian

Many years ago, as fate will have it, there came a Nation consisting of people of diverse backgrounds and discrepancies.

Since then, many things evolved. Our various cultures have been adulterated, our food types have been replaced with western foods and our music are now old fashioned.

However, something was passed on and for 100 years, it remain unaltered. I have something which am sure my forefathers had and that is my Language. Our numerous unaldulterated languages truly identify us as Nigerians.

In our various localties, We speak them as they were spoken by the people before us. And that is why in Nigeria today, ethnicity remains paramount, not for discrimination but for acknowledgement and ensuring continuity of originality.

This makes me a true Nigerian!

What about you?

Everything You Need To Know About World Bank Paid Internship For Graduates

The World Bank Group Internship offers highly motivated and successful individuals an opportunity to improve their skills while working in a diverse environment. Interns generally find the experience to be rewarding and interesting.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for the internship, candidates must possess an undergraduate degree and already be enrolled in a full-time graduate study program (pursuing a Master’s degree or PhD with plans to return to school in a full-time capacity). Generally, successful candidates have completed their first year of graduate studies or are already into their PhD programs.

Interns will gain exposure to the work of the World Bank Group in the hopes that some will be interested in returning to the Bank for a career after completing their studies. The Bank Group pays an hourly salary to all interns and, where applicable, provides an allowance towards travel expenses.

This internship typically seeks candidates in the following fields: economics, finance, human development (public health, education, nutrition, population), social science (anthropology, sociology), agriculture, environment, private sector development, as well as other related fields. Fluency in English is required. Prior relevant work experience, computing skills, as well as knowledge of languages such as French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese, and Chinese are advantageous.

Internship Benefits

The Bank Group pays an hourly salary to all interns and, where applicable, provides an allowance towards travel expenses. Interns are responsible for their own living accommodations. Most positions are located in Washington, D.C. (some positions are offered in country offices) and are a minimum of four weeks in duration.

The Bank Group’s Internship is offered during two seasons, and applications are accepted during the following periods:

Summer Internship (June–September)

The application period for the Summer Internship is December 1–January 31 each year.

Winter Internship (December–March)

The application period for the Winter Internship is October 1–31. All applications MUST be submitted online. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

 Application Details

The application checklist is meant to facilitate your application experience.

• Ensure that you use either Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, or Internet Explorer 10 or higher as your browser version.
• Please make sure that you are connected with a reasonable bandwidth of internet connection without any network/firewall restriction.
• You will be asked to register for an account and provide an email address.
• You must complete your application in a single session and will be able to submit it only if you have uploaded all the required documents and answered all the questions (all questions marked with an asterisk-*- are required).
• Please complete the application within 45 minutes to avoid the system timeout.
• Provide the most current contact information.Ensure that you have correctly spelled out your email address, since this will be our main channel of communication with you regarding your candidacy
• Ensure that you have correctly spelled out your email address, since this will be our main channel of communication with you regarding your candidacy.

Remember to enter your complete phone number (country code + city code + number).

Please do not enter any special characters (“-<>&#” etc.) in any of the application fields.  Try not to copy and paste any characters/text from Microsoft Words.

Please attach the following documents (mandatory) before submitting:

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Statement of Interest

Proof of Enrollment in a graduate degree

Note:

 Each file should not exceed 5 MB, and should be in one of the following formats: .doc, .docx, or .pdf

Please make sure that the filenames of the documents that you are attaching do not contain any special characters, such as “-<>&#” etc.  PDF files are the best files to upload.

Once you submit your application, you will not be able to make any further changes/updates

Consulting Or Consultancy

Where we are today

We currently live in a society where words and derivatives are manufactured and coined on a daily basis. The English Language is a very rich one and seems like it gets updated like a computer program. In fact, the most interesting part is its many variants by geographical locations and period.

Consulting and Consultancy is one of such cases where ‘ing” and “ancy” seek to explain one concept in two slightly different dimensions or realms. This is the first stage to solving the rampage-holding confusion which is understanding that there is just  a meaning defined by context the words are being used.

Breaking it down

To start with, consulting means the allocation of businesses objective advice and assistance relating to the management, structure, strategy and operations of an organization in pursuit of its long-term purposes and objectives. However, consultancy is the provision of professional services to give professional advice within particular field external organizations and other companies. 

With regards to IT consulting companies and IT consultancy companies, the term consultancy tends to be used more widely outside of the United States... consultancy tends to be used more widely outside of the United States

What next

There is a lot to correct and set straight as regards the brand of an organization. Most Nigerian companies are SMES. SMEs will not have any meaningful evident impact on the economy except there are well packaged to reflect their place in the society. If you offer professional advice and documentations to businesses then you are a consultancy firm, which means also that you provide consultancy to firms and individuals.

References

This dichotomy also happens in our institutions of higher learning where discipline name have a long range of different words referring to a single discipline. Some school say Accounting some say accountancy the same logic applies here and should not cause any interpretation issues.

Activities for the First 5 Years of Your Career

As usual, no long story, no superfluous foreign alignment, no theoretical validations, this is pure yarns for naija youths.

Well, if you never knew, be aware that the most fantastic and wonderful task ever completed or accomplished by you can only be done in the early part of your career. As you go higher, whether you like it or not, things that matter to you change and part of this is a rapid dwindling of the zeal to create an impression. There is a time limit to when you can put in crazy energy and sacrifices to the rudiments or Nitti gritty of your profession.

As you move higher, you will tend to have seen it all and you have more distraction from family. Not only that, your financial responsibility increases, your ego increases and that enthusiasm you used to have as a graduate trainee declines rapidly. There is nothing to worry about if you are still within this ‘enthusiasm rush’ age, just make sure you do the following:

Read anything readable

Look here, at this point there is nothing like reading within your field or discipline after all you are not yet experienced in any field yet. Don’t waste this energy rush, take up any task takeable, read up anything readable and consume anything consumable. You never know when all this will come handy. This was how random knowledge saved me some days ago at the office.

Don’t reject task

If you look at my CV, I wrote “I have been privileged to work and learn in ………”. This is

because you actually learn in some tasks you take part in. Most relevant and career-uplifting tasks that will be assigned to you during your career journey will be beyond your skillset and will usually require extra time at work, research and seeking help from a colleague (within and outside your workplace). Never say this was not stated in my contract or employee letter, take it up, jack up, and attempt to deliver.

Promote your brand

My guy, no time for waiting on the management to recognize you after this much work. Oga, you need to market yourself.  First of all you even need to brand yourself, declare and publicise what you stand for, craft a custom way of handling projects you are a part of. When this is done, you can then consistently be outspoken about your accomplishments. Craft an updated professional profile with tasks completed by you including your inventions and discoveries (Intellectual property) . Brand yourself like Debola Williams.

Learn the politics

Know exactly where to concentrate effort, align yourself properly, never believe only on competence or technical know-how. Identify the caucus and be aware of their interests in order to avoid a conflict. Know who to fight in the public and identify those that do not care about work but loyalty. You have been warned.

Thank you.

The Power of Random Knowledge

Random knowledge does not have a definition. Anything you know and you find it difficult to see a need for it immediately could be random knowledge.

Some years back, I had just finished my NYSC and was applying to places. I had no laptop but owned a smartphone. I thought of what I could do to fortify my knowledge domain and I decided to save a page of countries and capital on my phone. I learnt one (country and capital) each day for four months and learnt the remaining later randomly after I got my first job.

As I was doing this, I never knew this will happen:

I was in the office today and convened a project status meeting. This meeting actually involved mid-level managers and consultants from 3 companies – My firm, an audit firm and an IT firm. As we await my MD to come declare the meeting open as the sponsor of the project, there was a discussion on issues with American embassy and rejection of Visas.

Prior before this meeting,  please note that I had already been told at a sitting with HR that it’s like I am actually enclosed within the cubicle of my day-day job activities and not really interested in other areas of life such as social media, world affairs and sports ( I am actually not a football fan which they all know). I smiled and was like me? I am so good at the first two and was actually good on the last one as a staunch Arsenal fan until 2007 when I lost track of sporting events.  Well that was it, it was noted as failed in my employee record.

Back to the meeting, as the issue of visas rejection was discussed, they later got to a stage where a guy said actually there are other countries in the world that Nigerians can go to instead of USA to enjoy. Everyone was like where again apart, then the guy mentioned Lima, they were like where is that? I chipped in Peru. The guy said even Caracas, I added “in Venezuela”, the guy then said or Helsinki for scholarships, I looked up and found everyone waiting for me to state the country and I said Finland. The team lead of one of the firms instantly stood up and handed me his business card and as I was almost doing same my boss walked in and was like “this man you want poach my boy?”. He said no and explained all what happened, that he hardly see full time employees getting to know general stuffs. 

The meeting was declared open by my boss. 45mins later, meeting was over. Ten minutes later, I went for lunch, met the HR boss in the canteen and he told me to see him after lunch to review my file as there is a urgent need to take a decision before COB today.

As I entered his office, he engaged me in more world affairs, I surpassed his expectations. He handed me a letter of recommendations and a new prestigious responsibility (Not promotion o). He said the essence of the earlier review meeting was to assess me and confirm to every one of the management who raised doubts if I am fit to be in this position for the task assigned.

 This is one of a few life-saving moments for me as far as random knowledge is concerned. Pick up some weird stuffs and learn.

Your 2.2 or 3rd Class Will Take You Far

Just because you came out with 3rd class or 2.2 everyone will tell you to give up or settle for something lesser than you wish for. Some might even tell you to go back to school, never listen to them.

What you need to know is that currently, the system does not give any one a free chance, and rather you need to find a way around the system.

Once you are willing to start from somewhere and gain experience, 2.1, 2.2, 3rd class soon becomes rather irrelevant. It's all a matter of time. Never be intimidated.

Some of the things you need to do are:

  

      Gain Experience

There is no limitation to garnering experience. Never be too proud to work in a small or start-ups, as a matter of fact, you will get wider experience there. As you get up the ladder in a company, you learn skills specific to each level and before you know it you have acquired what is termed industry knowledge.

 Discover Your NBA

I tell people every day that aside the whole idea of schooling or academic, we all have some sort of huge skill within us which serves as foundation to whatever skill we acquire through the school system. This is referred to as Natural Born Abilities. Perhaps, you already know it’s time to package them and sell them to the world already waiting to consume. You will agree with me that, many of us are already wired naturally with skills and structure to be leaders, presenters, marketers, inventors, programmers, artists etc.

Go Online

In this era, the cyber space is filled with an ocean of knowledge and opportunities. Take advantage and do something worthwhile online. No matter what you may be doing offline, add an online credibility to it. Maintain a social media account, keep a blog and explore other online opportunities. Guard your social media reputation and let it reflect who you are and what you stand for.

     Self-Development and Personal Branding

Have a personal motto and live your life around that. Most successful people today who other young people take as mentors are mostly people who have branded themselves and are known for something. Debola Williams, Steve Harris and Omojuwa who already carved a niche for themselves by nurturing an impressive personal brand.

     Look Beyond

Looking beyond involves expanding your thinking and opportunity beyond where you are. Never be tied to your locality or community where you grew up or comfortable, rather you need to move out of your comfort zone, explore other geographical areas. This will not only make you more educated but also enlarge your opportunity coast. As part of looking beyond you may also want to consider switching career. 

Building The Foundation Of Success From Now As A Young Mind

There is no better time to make it in life than now! You are young and energetic.

According to Bill Gates – “Young people are better than old people at driving innovation, because they are not locked in by the limits of the past. I was 19 when I founded Microsoft. Steve Jobs was 21 when he started Apple. Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when he created Facebook”.

Your youth is a unique period marked by zeal, energy and many opportunities, but it is a passing phase. If you think otherwise, visit your grandparents or an elderly neighbor to find out how their lives are different now as compared to when they were still in their teens, 20s or 30s.

Here is a quick list of productive opportunities that you can utilize to set you on the right track towards having a more productive youth:

1   Boost Your Knowledge

The essence of Knowledge cannot be overemphasized.  Knowledge in this era is easily accessed via various media such as the internet inform of web pages, newsletters, blog posts and social media. People who will lead the next generation are people who know more. Before you talk about information there must be knowledge, so it all start from reading that single new line of texts.

With knowledge comes the responsibility of taking action. So strive to put into practice what you learn and spread the knowledge so that others can benefit. You can do this through writing and sharing your study notes, giving talks and lectures, teaching and mentoring others; and also through recordings – audio, video and PowerPoint presentations.

Be Confident

You need this more at this point. Believe yourself to an unreasonable extent, Yes!. After all what matters is what you think of yourself. Say good words to yourself and never adjust the goal to meet with your capacity. I always tell folks that you have the capacity to be what you wanna be and in cases where the capacity does not actually exist, then there is a potential. If you are aware of this, then you would continue to do great things at this time of your life so you can be proud of yourself in a decade from now.

Network

Meeting a girl every now and then is so important right now. However, the intent should be clear and strictly for enlarging your friendship coast and nothing more. At this point, you don’t need the playboy or throwing money around thin, rather what you need is converting strangers to friends with useful benefits. Get on a circle or gang or group, hang out, read a book together, attend events and accomplish pet projects together.

Don’t Compromise Your Health

This needs the least emphasis. Health is wealth they say. All that have been written up there would have no meaning with a poor health. Now, I will tell you categorically to stop doing drugs, reduce alcohol intake and never stop going for check-ups periodically. It is easy to get carried away with youth frenzy – party, clubbing, sexual fantasies etc but remember your health tomorrow is dependent on what you do with your body today.

     Be Disciplined

In actualizing your goals in life, discipline is what determines if you will actually give a success story or a sorry story at the end. Stick to what ever plans, schedules and regulations you have promulgated for yourself in order to achieve any task. Remember you will lose some friends, friends will complain, some will say “life is not that hard”, be prepared for all that. However, Never give up and then you start to hear stuffs like – “wow how did you do it?”, “Congratulations”, “Great”, at each milestone of this journey to fulfillment.

 I wish you all the best and hope this will re-energize you as well as cause you to start a new file.

Modern Work Place vs Old Work Place: Why New Firms Are Taking Over

Brainstorming on why some companies in Nigeria are ahead of the others will usually lead to a laborious research and even sometimes involve questionnaires and taking samples. It even gets more complex when you are studying firms globally. Don’t worry that has been done for you and the following have been identified as things to be replaced as well as current trends that drive productivity in modern workplace.

Old things have passed away they say, and surely new things are meant to replace them.

Old way: Employees are the biggest risk.

New Way: Employees are the biggest asset.

Nowadays, most companies still see employees as their biggest risk thereby handling their welfare with levity. The whole idea of a new revolution in the workplace is about getting things right on employer-employee relationship. Check out companies who are currently leading the market and you would discover that.

Old Way: Top down Communication

New Way: Open Communication

Top down communication which simply means information is passed from the top of the organogram down till it reaches bottom. This information is most times different at different stages of the hierarchy, that is, you only get the amount and kind of formation you can handle within your position in the firm. A lot of companies practice this model and keep employees away from the main business and daily operations of the firm. Companies who lead various industries especially IT practice open ended discussions, talks, and interactive communication. In such organisations, any employee has direct access to the CEO or head of division. This kind of all inclusive communication is what is referred to as Open Communication.

Old Way: Skill over Behaviour

New Way: Behavior over skill

You be like are you kidding me? No, I am not barney. This is so factual. The best way to hire and keep right people is to give primacy to behavior over skill. Things have changed and technology has made it seemingly easy to learn any thing whatsoever at the shortest time possible. The idea here is to look out for people with soft skills, such as emotional intelligence, presentation and  personal branding, appearance and gesture as well as endurance. Attributes like this keeps an employee and makes him or her gives the best. Skills can be taught easily, by leveraging on, in house competence but it is extremely difficult to get employees to be patient, self-motivated or even communicate clearly.

Old Way: Manage Time

New Way: Empower Results

No doubt, one key thing for any serious person is to be able to manage time effectively. However, after little or more time spent, what are important most times in the long run are results. What has been done? What is left? What is the quality of the job?. The quality assurance or software testers or even customer are really not interested in the process involved or amount of effort but rather in the results obtained. Companies we look up to know this and have devised ways of reducing jobs of a single time and make people focus on what they really are good out. They also give reasonably enough time for tasks.

Old Way: Rigid Working Schedule

New Way: Flexible Working Schedule

It is so unproductive when you force employees to work during a specified time to deliver a task, but most firms are oblivious to this.  Top companies allow employees to work within hours they are comfortable with as long as results are produced. Work is meant to be fun and not some punishment or constrain. Having employees work actively in the early hours of the day and take a nap or play some game then go back to work after lunch.

Old Way: At your desk

New Way: Mobile

In most advanced countries, this is very common due to good network latency and enough bandwidth. It fast tracks productivity and makes work easier and fun for employees or even independent consultants. Most companies, however, are still stuck with having employees resume and close on their desks.

Old Way: Work for the Weekend

New Way: Do something you love

Well, if you love your job, this might not be correct for you. People who are working on what they love are the most productive in any organization. However, only a few companies allow employees to do what they love during weekends and off days. Most firms will load you with work that will require you to work during your free periods. This may come in form of mandating you to resume during weekend or connecting to a client via remote services. This will no doubt adversely affect employees’ performance during actual business hours due to inadequate relaxation of mental tissues and rest.

Is that all? Yes that is all. Are you a start-up or thinking of creating the next big thing, you should have a rethink on your organizational structure. Inspire yourself

Thank you.

Tips to Enjoy your Teenage Life

As a teenager, you may be dealing with lots of emotional highs and lows. One minute you might feel great, the next you feel sad and tearful. This kind of shift in your moods is okay!

Your life is changing, just like your body. These mood swings are not just hormones – you may be feeling a lot more pressure these days, and you are still developing the skills you need to deal with that pressure. You may be facing added responsibilities at home, tougher grading policies in school, and your friends may be changing.

As you grow older you will develop the skills you need to manage stress, but for now, just remember you are in a tough spot and need all the support you can get. Reach out to adults and friends.

Make the best of it by taking the advice below so that you can remember good things from the past when you are an adult.

You will be an adult soon enough, but you will experience many different changes on the way!

Have a healthy social life. As simple as this may be, a healthy social life is the key to enjoying your life in spite of the stress of school. Do things with friends; enjoy buying clothes and accessories. Try to make at least two best friends, and try to make many friends from your gender and two or three the opposite gender for diversity. Go to teen clubs and places; this will be the best interaction with other teenagers or people around your age.

Have hobbies at home. Sew, read, play computer games, or draw. Get a Facebook account, but try not to get addicted to it. Make videos with your friends and post them on YouTube. Check online to see the hottest new music and the coolest new artists and songs of your genre of choice. You don’t have to be a fan of pop music only; if you like to listen to your grandma’s ’50s doo wop albums or some nice relaxing smooth jazz or Bob Marley, go ahead Be a fan of your favourite sport team. Find whatever you enjoy doing and do it! Start a movie or book collection.

Be Creative — Show off your talents. Write music, write stories and poems, create cool drawings, learn how to create web pages and computer programmes, create your own clothes, cook, bake, work on anything.

Think of your own fashion. Be yourself and see what looks good on you (makeup and clothing attire). Whether it’s face makeup (lip gloss and mascara) or body lotion, you got to be decent out the door, right?

Watch what you eat. Eat healthy foods and use junk foods either in moderation or as a treat. Try to have a good amount of water in your system and eat at least one big meal a day; more if you have high metabolism or in sports.

Listen to your parents. Yes, it will make your life so much more easy and enjoyable if you just listen to your parents, so you don’t have to hear them keep yelling at you! Obeying them will actually be an easy way into getting what you want, remember it has to be a 50/50 cooperation, not 80/20. Your parents might not be as up to date as you, but they may give you good timeless advice. They are in the real world, not the “surreal teen world”. They had been Teenagers just like you don’t want to know what they did in secondary school, but they had learned from their mistakes which make them the stodgy parents you have today. Just wait, you’ll become the stodgy parent too when you have your own kids.

Get involved. School has many things for you to become involved in and have fun doing. Getting involved will help you in future years and you’ll meet a lot of people. Like chess? You can be in the chess club, if the school doesn’t have a club you wish you were in (say press club) you can create your own! This will help you to be motivated in school.

Study hard in school. Always turn in your homework on time and do well on tests. Education is the most important thing in your life; doing poorly, not trying, or dropping out of school can hurt your future in a significant way. If you are getting bad grades because you are struggling with something

Thanks to passnownow.com , Google books and wish sources.

Learning Personal Branding From Donald Trump

You may not agree with his opinions, but his personal branding techniques serve as a tried-and-true model for anyone seeking success. There are many lessons to be gleaned from the Donald Trump phenomenon. This may be one of the most important: perception becomes reality, so you need to tell a convincing narrative persistently, frequently, and well.

Donald Trump is running for president in part on on the claim that he’s been a really rich and wildly successful businessperson.

Here are what you can pick up and start doing as a youth who wants to build an impressive personal brand

1. Be consistent. Say what you will about Donald Trump – he has been called brash, bombastic and ridiculous by his fellow Republicans and the media, but he has been called all of these things consistently. From the sweeping, provocative statements to his willingness to alienate entire populations to his instantly recognizable (and mimic-able) speaking style, we get what we expect. Just like we get the same coffee at Starbucks regardless of where we buy it, Trump is a master of this important concept of branding – consistency. Strong brands deliver on their promise with everything they do.

2. Be confident. When Trump says he’s going to build a wall – an amazing wall, and Mexicans are going to pay for it – he says it with such conviction that it seems plausible. His followers don’t doubt that he’ll deliver. Confidence is one of the most attractive brand attributes there is. We gravitate to those who are self-assured and unwavering in their optimistic promises. Of course, this is only useful in building a brand if it’s rooted in reality (approval ratings can plummet for elected officials who were once wildly popular on the campaign trail). To build your brand – and your following – demonstrate conviction and exude confidence, backed by the true ability to follow through on your promises.

3. Take a stand. Many professionals try not to make waves and want everyone to like them, yet the strongest brands in the world often repel as many people as they attract. Strong brands express a point of view and stick with it fervently. Few people are on the fence about Donald Trump. His brand reflects true polarity: There’s a petition to ban him in the UK while at the same time Vladimir Putin said of him, “He is a bright and talented person without any doubt [and] an outstanding and talented personality,” CNN. Contrast that with Lindsey Graham’s statement “You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.” It may feel uncomfortable, but personal branding is not about pleasing all the people all the time. It’s about taking a stand – knowing that not everyone is going to agree with you.

4. Create demand through intrigue. The reason people are tuning in to the Republican debates in record numbers says less about interest in the political race and is more a reflection of wanting to hear what Donald Trump is going to say. It’s the reason he is invited on virtually every news and talk show on air. “I think apologizing’s a great thing, but you have to be wrong. I will absolutely apologize, sometime in the hopefully distant future, if I’m ever wrong,” Trump spouted on Jimmy Fallon. This audacity is intriguing, and it’s what makes viewers want to tune in. When building your brand, you want to spark a high level of interest (being audacious is just one way to accomplish that).

5. Be recognizable. Strong brands have a trademark. For some it is a catchphrase like Martha Stewart’s “it’s a good thing.” For others, it’s a piece of clothing – like Mark Zuckerberg’s gray t-shirt. For Donald Trump, it’s both his hair (whose authenticity he verified by having a supporter pull on it) and his consistent use of superlatives – the biggest, best, most. National Review culled Donald Trump’s Eight Best Lines Ever Read including “I will be the greatest jobs president God ever created.” What’s your trademark?

Thank you fortune magazine for various insights.

Being Successful on the Career to Career Journey

At the end of it, remember that switching to a new career might not really be that difficult if you have done your homework. Plan B or any other alternate career path that you might have depends on your personal, social and economic needs. But why do you need to have one? Simply put today’s economy is seeing a drastic shift with changes in technology. Jobs that were once very popular have given way to technological or automated systems. Having an alternative career plan is smart and would save you a lot of financial hassles and hurdles - no matter what state the economy are in.

The idea is to leverage your skills in the right way. If circumstances get you out of a job, then you would have to hunt for something really fast. And if you choose to make the switch, then you would need a little extra time to make sure that you have enough finances and resources to get you through the period. So be it poor pay, being sacked or feeling unhappy with the job - no matter what the reason is, an alternate career path is savior in harsh financial times.

Some reasons why you might need to switch could be the simple reason that you don’t have a knack or passion for that subject. It could also be due to the current downsizing and economic conditions forcing companies to shut down, which means that you might lose your job. At other times, it can happen that you have not succeeded at a particular venture not because of your own faults. It could be that your factory or business suffered an intensive damage during a storm.

The following are quick and succinct steps to consider taking in order to be successful in this journey: 

•       Plan and organize
•    Leverage your skills
•    Research
•    Get your references
•    Start making connections
•    Work on additional costs
•    Join Professional Job Listing
•    Look out for Internship/Part Time jobs
•    Work on the time span

Six Rules on How to Be Successful: Full Text of Speech Delivered by Arnold Schwarzenegge University of Southern California on May 15, 2009

Well, thank you very much. (Applause) Hello, everybody. What a great introduction, what a wonderful thing. What a great, great welcome I'm getting here, so thank you very much. I mean, I haven't heard applause like that since I announced that I was going to stop acting. (Applause)

But anyway, it is really terrific to see here so many graduate students and undergraduate students graduating here today. I heard that there are 4,500 graduating here today, undergraduate students, so this is fantastic. There are 2,200 men, 2,300 women and five have listed yourselves as undecided. (Applause)

So this is really a great, great bunch of people here, I love it. But seriously, President Sample, trustees, faculty, family, friends and graduates, it is a tremendous privilege to stand before you this morning. There's nothing that I enjoy more than celebrating great achievements. And I don't just mean your parents celebrating never having to pay another tuition bill, that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about just celebrating the great accomplishment. So let me congratulate the Trojan class of 2009 on your graduation from one of the finest universities in the world. Let's give our graduates a tremendous round of applause. What a special day, what a great accomplishment. (Applause)

Now, this an equally special day, of course, for the parents, for the grandparents, siblings and other family members whose support made all of this today possible. And let's not forget, of course, the professors, those dedicated individuals who taught you, who came up with exciting ways to share their vast wisdom, knowledge and experience with you.

And I must also say thank you to President Sample for honoring me with this fantastic degree. Thank you very much. Wow, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Doctor of Humane Letters. I love it. (Applause) But, of course, I noticed that it wasn't a doctorate in film or in cinema or in acting. I wonder why?

But anyway, that's OK. I take whatever I can get. But maybe now since I'm the doctor, I can go back up to Sacramento and maybe now the Legislature will finally listen to me. (Applause) But anyway, I stand before you today not just as Dr. Schwarzenegger or as Governor Schwarzenegger, or as The Terminator, or as Conan the Barbarian, but also as a proud new member of this Trojan family.

"Just remember, you can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets." 

Now, some of you may know that my daughter just completed her freshman year right here. One of the most exciting things for me has been to learn about the great traditions that make this university so wonderful and so special.

My daughter told me all about, for instance, the Victory Bell. She sat me down and she told me it weighs 295 pounds and how the winner of the annual football game between USC and UCLA takes this bell and gets to paint it in the school colors. And I stopped her in the middle of talking, I said, "Wait a minute, Katherine, back up a little bit. UCLA has a football team?" (Applause)

Now, of course, my daughter's journey here at USC is just beginning, and yours is ending. I know that you're a little bit stressed out right now as you start this exciting new chapter in your lives. Some people say it is scary to leave the comfort of the university and to go out into the cold, hard world.

But I have to tell you something; I think this is a bunch of nonsense because after all, this is America. This is the greatest country on earth, with the greatest opportunities. (Applause) It is one thing if you were born in Afghanistan or in Swat Valley in Pakistan where you'd be forced to join the Taliban or be killed. Now, then I would say yes, that is a little bit scary.

But this, this is going to be a piece of cake for you, trust me. You live in America and you're prepared for the future with this tremendous education you have gotten here at one of the greatest universities in the world. This is going to be exciting, it's a great adventure and this is a new phase in your life. This is going to be awesome.

(Applause)

Now, of course, this journey is not going to be without any setbacks, failures or disappointments. That's just the way life is. But you're ready and you are able, and you would not be here today with your degrees and with your honors if you wouldn't be ready.

So now, of course, to help you along the way, I thought that the best Schwarzenegger gift I could give you today is to give you a few of my own personal ideas on how to be successful. And parents, I just want you to know, maybe you should close your ears, you should plug your ears, because maybe there a few things that you maybe won't like in what I have to say.

But anyway, I can explain how I became successful and who I am today by going through what I call Dr. Schwarzenegger's Six Rules of Success. (Applause)

Now, of course, people ask me all the time, they say to me, "What is the secret to success?" And I give them always the short version. I say, "Number one, come to America. Number two, work your butt off. And number three, marry a Kennedy." 

(Applause)

But anyway, those are the short rules. Now today, I'm going to give you the six rules of success. But before I start, I just wanted to say these are my rules. I think that they can apply to anyone, but that is for you to decide, because not everyone is the same. There are some people that just like to kick back and coast through life and others want to be very intense and want to be number one and want to be successful. And that's like me.

I always wanted to be very intense, I always wanted to be number one. I took it very seriously, my career. So this was the same when I started with bodybuilding. I didn't want to just be a bodybuilding champion, I wanted to be the best bodybuilder of all time. The same was in the movies. I didn't want to just be a movie star; I wanted to be a great movie star that is the highest paid movie star and have above-the-title billing.

And so this intensity always paid off for me, this commitment always paid off for me. So here are some of the rules.

The first rule is: Trust yourself

And what I mean by that is, so many young people are getting so much advice from their parents and from their teachers and from everyone. But what is most important is that you have to dig deep down, dig deep down and ask yourselves, who do you want to be? Not what, but who.

And I'm talking about not what your parents and teachers want you to be, but you. I’m talking about figuring out for yourselves what makes you happy, no matter how crazy it may sound to other people.

I was lucky growing up because I did not have television or didn't have telephones, I didn't have the computers and the iPods. And, of course, Twitter was then something that birds did outside the window. I didn't have all these distractions and all this.

I spent a lot of time by myself, so I could figure out and listen to what is inside my heart and inside my head.

And I recognized very quickly that inside my head and heart were a burning desire to leave my small village in Austria -- not that there was something wrong with Austria, it's a beautiful country. But I wanted to leave that little place and I wanted to be part of something big, the United States of America, a powerful nation, the place where dreams can come true.

I knew when I came over here I could realize my dreams. And I decided that the best way for me to come to America was to become a bodybuilding champion, because I knew that was ticket the instant that I saw a magazine cover of my idol, Reg Park. He was Mr. Universe, he was starring in Hercules movies, he looked strong and powerful, he was so confident.

So when I found out how he got that way I became obsessed, and I went home and I said to my family, "I want to be a bodybuilding champion."

Now, you can imagine how that went over in my home in Austria. My parents, they couldn't believe it. They would have been just happy if I would have become a police officer like my father, or married someone like Heidi, had a bunch of kids and ran around like the von Trapp family in Sound of Music.

That's what my family had in mind for me, but something else burned inside me. Something burned inside me. I wanted to be different; I was determined to be unique. I was driven to think big and to dream big. Everyone else thought that I was crazy. My friends said, "If you want to be a champion in a sport, why don't you go and become a bicycle champion or a skiing champion or a soccer champion? Those are the Austrian sports."

But I didn't care. I wanted to be a bodybuilding champion and use that to come to America, and use that to go into the movies and make millions of dollars. So, of course, for extra motivation I read books on strongmen and on bodybuilding and looked at magazines. And one of the things I did was, I decorated my bedroom wall.

Right next to my bed there was this big wall that I decorated all with pictures. I hung up pictures of strongmen and bodybuilders and wrestlers and boxers and so on. And I was so excited about this great decoration that I took my mother to the bedroom and I showed her. And she shook her head. She was absolutely in shock and tears started running down her eyes.

And she called the doctor, she called our house doctor and she brought him in and she explained to him, "There's something wrong here." She looked at the wall with the doctor and she said, "Where did I go wrong? I mean, all of Arnold's friends have pictures on the wall of girls, and Arnold has all these men.

But it's not just men, they're half naked and they're oiled up with baby oil. What is going on here? Where did I go wrong?" So you can imagine, the doctor shook his head and he said, "There's nothing wrong. At this age you have idols and you go and have those -- this is just quite normal."

So this is rule number one. I wanted to become a champion; I was on a mission. So rule number one is, of course, trust yourself, no matter how and what anyone else thinks.

Rule number two is: Break the rules

. We have so many rules in life about everything. I say break the rules. Not the law, but break the rules. My wife has a t-shirt that says, "Well-behaved women rarely make history." Well, you know, I don't want to burst her bubble, but the same is true with men.

It is impossible to be a maverick or a true original if you're too well behaved and don't want to break the rules. You have to think outside the box. That's what I believe. After all, what is the point of being on this earth if all you want to do is be liked by everyone and avoid trouble?

The only way that I ever got anyplace was by breaking some of the rules. After all, I remember that after I was finished with my bodybuilding career I wanted to get into acting and I wanted to be a star in films. You can imagine what the agents said when I went to meet all those agents. Everyone had the same line, that it can't be done, the rules are different here. They said, "Look at your body. You have this huge monstrous body, overly developed. That doesn't fit into the movies. You don't understand.

This was 20 years ago, the Hercules movies. Now the little guys are in, Dustin Hoffman, Woody Allen, Jack Nicholson." Before he gained weight, of course, that is. But anyway, those are the guys that were in. And the agents also complained about my accent. They said, "No one ever became a star with an accent like that, especially not with a German accent.

And yes, I can imagine with your name, Arnold Schwartzenschnitzel, or whatever the name, is, on a billboard. Yeah, that's going to draw a lot of tickets and sell a lot of tickets. Yeah, right." So this is the kind of negative attitude they had.

But I didn't listen to those rules, even though they were very nice and they said, "Look, we can get you some bit parts. We can get you to be playing a wrestler or a bouncer. Oh, maybe with your German accent we can get you to be a Nazi officer in Hogan's Heroes or something like that."

But I didn't listen to all this. Those were their rules, not my rules. I was convinced I could do it if I worked as hard as I did in bodybuilding, five hours a day. And I started getting to work, I started taking acting classes. I took English classes, took speech classes, dialogue classes. Accent removal classes I even took.

I remember running around saying, "A fine wine grows on the vine." You see, because Germans have difficulties with the F and the W and V, so, "A fine wine grows on the vine." I know what some of you are now saying, is I hope that Arnold got his money back.

But let me tell you something, I had a good time doing those things and it really helped me. And finally I broke through. I broke through and I started getting the first parts in TV; Streets of San Francisco, Lucille Ball hired me, I made Pumping Iron, Stay Hungry. And then I got the big break in Conan the Barbarian. (Applause)

And there the director said, "If we wouldn't have Schwarzenegger, we would have to build one." Now, think about that. And then, when I did Terminator, "I'll be back," became one of the most famous lines in movie history, all because of my crazy accent.

Now, think about it. The things that the agents said would be totally a detriment and would make it impossible for me to get a job, all of a sudden became an asset for me, all of those things, my accent, my body and everything.

So it just shows to you, never listen to that you can't do something. And, "You have to work your way up, of course, run for something else first." I mean, it was the same when I ran for governor, the same lines, that you have to work your way up, it can't be done. And then, of course, I ran for governor and the rest, of course, is history.

They said you have to start with a small job as mayor and then as assemblyman and then as lieutenant governor and then as governor. And they said that's the way it works in a political career. I said, "I'm not interested in a political career. I want to be a public servant. I want to fix California's problems and bring people together and bring the parties together.

So, like I said, I decided to run, I didn't pay attention to the rules. And I made it and the rest is history. Which, of course, brings me to

Rule number three: Don't be afraid to fail.

Anything I've ever attempted, I was always willing to fail. In the movie business, I remember, that you pick scripts. Many times you think this is a wining script, but then, of course, you find out later on, when you do the movie, that it didn't work and the movie goes in the toilet.

Now, we have seen my movies; I mean, Red Sonja, Hercules in New York, Last Action Hero. Those movies went in the toilet. But that's OK, because at the same time I made movies like Terminator and Conan and True Lies and Predator and Twins that went through the roof.

So you can't always win, but don't afraid of making decisions.

You can't be paralyzed by fear of failure or you will never push yourself. You keep pushing because you believe in yourself and in your vision and you know that it is the right thing to do, and success will come. So don't be afraid to fail.

Rule number four: Don’t listen to the naysayers.

How many times have you heard that you can't do this and you can't do that and it's never been done before? Just imagine if Bill Gates had quit when people said it can't be done.

I hear this all the time. As a matter of fact, I love it when someone says that no one has ever done this before, because then when I do it that means that I'm the first one that has done it. So pay no attention to the people that say it can't be done.

I remember my mother-in-law, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, when she started Special Olympics in 1968 people said that it would not work. The experts, the doctors that specialized in mental disabilities and mental retardation said, "It can't be done. You can't bring people out of their institutions. You can't make them participate in sports, in jumping and swimming and in running. They will hurt themselves, they will hurt each other, they will drown in the pool."

Well, let me tell you something. Now, 40 years later, Special Olympics is one of the greatest organizations, in 164 countries, dedicated to people with mental disabilities and that are intellectually challenged. (Applause)

And she did not take no for an answer. And the same is when you look at Barack Obama. I mean, imagine, if he would have listened. (Applause) If he would have listened to the naysayers he would have never run for president. People said it couldn't be done, that he couldn't get elected, that he couldn’t beat Hillary Clinton, that he would never win the general election.

But he followed his own heart, he didn’t listen to the "You can't," and he changed the course of American history.

So over and over you see that. If I would have listened to the naysayers I would still be in the Austrian Alps yodeling. (Laughter) I would never have come to America. I would have never met my wonderful wife Maria Shriver, I would have never had the wonderful four kids, I would have never done Terminator, and I wouldn't be standing here in front of you today as governor of the greatest state of the greatest country in the world.

So I never listen that, "You can't." (Applause) I always listen to myself and say, "Yes, you can."

And that brings me to rule number five, which is the most important rule of all: Work your butt off. You never want to fail because you didn't work hard enough. I never wanted to lose a competition or lose an election because I didn't work hard enough. I always believed leaving no stone unturned.

Mohammed Ali, one of my great heroes, had a great line in the '70s when he was asked, "How many sit-ups do you do?" He said, "I don't count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. When I feel pain, that's when I start counting, because that's when it really counts."

That's what makes you a champion. Arnold Scvhwarzenegger in Kindergarten CopAnd that's the way it is with everything. No pain, no gain. So many of those lessons that I apply in life I have learned from sports, let me tell you, and especially that one. And let me tell you, it is important to have fun in life, of course.

But when you're out there partying, horsing around, someone out there at the same time is working hard.

Someone is getting smarter and someone is winning. Just remember that. Now, if you want to coast through life, don't pay attention to any of those rules.

But if you want to win, there is absolutely no way around hard, hard work.

None of my rules, by the way, of success, will work unless you do. I've always figured out that there 24 hours a day. You sleep six hours and have 18 hours left. Now, I know there are some of you out there that say well, wait a minute, I sleep eight hours or nine hours. Well, then, just sleep faster, I would recommend. (Laughter)

Because you only need to sleep six hours and then you have 18 hours left, and there are a lot of things you can accomplish. As a matter of fact, Ed Turner used to say always, "Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise."

And, of course, all of you know already those things, because otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here today. Just remember, you can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.

And that takes me to rule number six, which is a very important rule: it's about giving back. Whatever path that you take in your lives, you must always find time to give something back, something back to your community, give something back to your state or to your country.

My father-in-law, Sargent Shriver -- who is a great American, a truly great American who started the Peace Corps, the Job Corps, Legal Aid to the Poor -- he said at Yale University to the students at a commencement speech, "Tear down that mirror. Tear down that mirror that makes you always look at yourself, and you will be able to look beyond that mirror and you will see the millions of people that need your help."

And let me tell you something, reaching out and helping people will bring you more satisfaction than anything else you have ever done. As a matter of fact today, after having worked for Special Olympics and having started After School Programs, I've promoted fitness, and now with my job as governor, I can tell you, playing a game of chess with an eight-year-old kid in an inner city school is far more exciting for me than walking down another red carpet or a movie premiere.

So let me tell you, as you prepare to go off into the world, remember those six rules:

Trust yourself, Break some rules, Don't be afraid to fail, Ignore the naysayers, Work like hell, and Give something back.

And now let me leave you with one final thought, and I will be brief, I promise. This university was conceived in 1880, back when Los Angeles was just a small frontier town. One hundred and twenty-five classes of Trojans have gone before you. They have sat there, exactly where you sit today, in good times and in bad, in times of war and in times of peace, in times of great promise and in times of great uncertainty.

Through it all, this great country, this great state, this great university, have stood tall and persevered. We are in tough times now and there's a lot of uncertainty in the world. But there is one thing certain; we'll be back. (Applause)

And we will back stronger and more prosperous than ever before, because that is what California and America have always done. The ancient Trojans were known for their fighting spirit, their refusal to give up, their ability to overcome great odds.

So as you graduate today, never lose that optimism and that fighting spirit. Never lose the spirit of Troy. Because remember, this is America and you are USC Trojans, proud, strong and ready to soar. Congratulations and God bless all of you. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause)

Bringing Up A Better Generation of Youths: Journey from Teen to Youth

All teenagers have inherent potential based on their creative and analytic mind. There are some who are scared over maths while there are some for whom language is a problem. But teens are still not ready to choose which subject they want to major in during their early years. Usually in the past, it was parents who made the decision for their teenagers. That was a time when the intrinsic and inherent potential of child or a teen was simply disregarded. However, the situation is not much different now because there is always the parental pressure - wanting their teens to become businessmen or doctors or engineers. But today, teens are more aware of their inherent potential. So as a result, there is a chance that they pursue a degree or course, which they are interested in, rather than just succumbing to peer pressure. If they are not fond of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), there are alternative study methods available to evoke interest. But on the whole, there has been a drastic shift to focus on understanding the potential of a child and their inherent creative and analytical minds.

What matters here is that the parent should try and make an honest attempt of helping their teens understand this potential and then motivate them in the direction. Remember as a teen, their focus is more towards trend, what others are doing and simply getting influenced with ease. So as a parent you should-

Help them get more cognizant of who they are as people and students

Become more conscious of their natural bents, talents and interests

Translate and transfer this knowledge into making good decisions about courses, activities, jobs and careers.

One problem that most students face in the later years are that they have  “the right technical know-how for the job” especially for engineering and business degrees, but they are unable to implement and apply this knowledge the right way. So the creative and analytical bent of mind is often overlooked, which results in a setback here. So here is a little guide to what parents and teachers can do to help teens pick up these so-called soft skills, which are their intrinsic potential -

Focus on Writing

To start off, students should be allowed to write more so that they are able to know the basics of grammar, punctuation, sentence and paragraph construction. However, writing is also one of the best means to be creative, analytical and gain an appreciation for the thrill of writing. There are some schools that don’t really focus on enhancing writing skills, but it is through this that students are able to explicit more on the subjects of their choice. For instance, a student can put together something personal, meaningful, creative, and/or fun to do with a science project via writing. This depicts their potential or interest in the subject along with giving them a path to implement these skills the right way.

Speaking and Communication Skills

For teens, it is essential that parents and teachers allow them to talk about their interest in particular fields - no matter how absurd it may sound to you. In particular, such discussions during meal times, family get-togethers and in class rooms help in clarifying many doubts that these teens have related to their inherent potential. A student passionate about art, but with no one to talk to about the same would eventually lose interest in this field. Criticism and disapproval are definitely not the norm here. By letting them speak, not only are the teens able to identify and associate their creative and analytical bent of mind, but parents can help them in the process.

Thinking Oriented Classes

Allow your child to have a free thinking process. You should encourage them to talk to you or even teachers or peers about current affairs, problems in the world and other related talks and see if they are able to come up with some creative solutions here. Remember that all teens do have unusual ideas at the back of their minds, they just lack the right approach and method to speak about it. So make time out for such discussions. If you feel that your teen has an inherent bent of mind towards certain subjects you can enroll them for thinking courses”. There are also special courses and colleges where students are able to develop oral and written communication expertise, learn critical and analytical reasoning skills. You just have to workout the environment where they can thrive.

Innovative Thinking

One of the most crucial aspects of developing their intrinsic potential would have to be innovative thought process and thinking. This means that they are taking a different approach to particular educational or even general problems. Here you should not just program your child to think like a robot. You should help them or let them speak about innovative ideas and approaches to everyday problems. It could be something as simple as working on a math problem with a novel approach. Don’t you remember teaching them counting using apples and mangoes from the kitchen shelf? Associating their everyday problems with something they enjoy helps them explore and identify with their creative minds. Let them apply them as we seek new solutions to new problems.

Conceptualization

Concepts are defined as various kinds of objects, activities, or living things. It extends to color, texture, etc. too. For example, a blue tablecloth that is made from satin is smooth and shiny. Similarly there are abstract concepts too that the mind associates itself with. These are a little more difficult to understand for the teen as they are mostly related to emotions and feelings. It is here that there is a dysfunction between their creative and analytical minds. And this could disrupt their inherent potential.

Problem Solving

There are problems everywhere. Be it our everyday life or educational issues or something related to class. But the point is how your teen is approaching the method of everyday problem solving. So you will notice that he/ she was so busy playing and having a gala time over the weekend that they forgot to finish their homework. Instead of yanking and shouting, leave it up to them to decide how they want to approach the problem of finishing their homework. A teen might just put together their analytical mindset and rationally plan on getting up early the next morning and finishing their task. Similarly, it is here that they put in the best of their creativity too. So if it is a science project related to being eco-friendly - here the teen could pick up some old sheets and turn them into origami art or use loose papers to make a notepad. So voila! There your homework is done and you get to see a creative side of your teen too. Remember that being able to solve the problem in school is extremely important. You can help them in understanding and defining the problem. Then they can draw a mental circle around it on was to fix the same - and finally implement the solution needed.

Idea Generation

You will often hear students in class being encouraged by teachers to speak or opine their ideas on particular issues. It is like a little bulb lighting up in the head. But often, some students are not able to really generate ideas about subjects that they don’t like. For instance, math homework can be put off for a longer period because a particular student lacks interest in the same. In this reference, it is the parent who can help them in generating ideas. Some teachers encourage students to work out new measures for implementing the same math calculation using a new idea. This brings out their creative imagination. Others encourage a brainstorming sessions to see how the same problem is approached by different groups. Regardless of the feasibility of the idea, these sessions encourage teens to come up with newer ideas.

Creativity

Creativity of the mind is something that is based and measured on fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. It is something fluid but when combined with analytical thinking, teens are able to manipulate their thinking to improve upon that which they are creating. According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, this fluidity is referred to as the state of mind. It is all about originality and not copying from others.

Successful Intelligence

Another professor of psychology and education at Yale University, Robert Sternberg said that successful teens focused on the blend of analytical, creative, and practical processes. It is all bout using these 3 in combination to create critical and analytical thinking. Analytical teens may often gets high grades and high test scores in traditional school based on judging, evaluating, comparing, contrasting, critiquing, explaining why, and examining. And blending this with a bit of creativity creates the finale or exclusive touch for the teens.

To promote their inherent potential of creative and analytical mind, here is what parents can do as an activity. Think of this. A dining room discussion where your teen asks "Why do I have to eat my vegetables?”. The most spontaneous and instant answer from a parent would be ”Don’t ask me any more questions.” “Because I said so”. Now think of it by giving them a rational explanation. Often, parents simply reply or reinstate the same question by saying "Because you have to eat your vegetables“ or ignoring the question. Instead a creative approach here would be - ”Why are all the people in Holland so tall?” it could be the diet that constitutes of all those healthy vegetables. Not only will this evoke curiosity in the teen, it also incorporates a healthy habit here. By encouraging and asking questions that help them to improve and evoke their creative minds and analytical thinking, parents can help them learn and improve their inherent potential.

Counselors in school too take the initiative to help them in boosting methods that help them thrive in a particular environment and understand their intrinsic potential. It could be via modes of controlled tests or via one to one sessions with the teachers or their counselors. Grades are not really a measure for understanding your teen’s creative bent of mind. It could be that a teen is intelligent enough to get straight A’s in math, but do they really have a knack for art and painting. So don’t go just by numbers and implement the above methods to see what your child really has in his/ her creative and analytical mind.

Thank you worldeducation for insights in this area.