 I was born in Nigeria in the year 1986 and you see, Nigeria is far more enjoyable and beautiful than most of you think. The only problem we have, three challenges actually are first, we don't have a Hollywood. Second, our skin is dark and third, about 0.5% of us steal, cheat and defraud. Okay, the above story doesn't have anything to do with what I want to share with you today, it's a pure advertorial to sell my great country and to make a few people angry. Now back to the business of the day. When I was a child I had no idea what my future would look like and I had no hope too because almost everything was against me. I grew up in an impoverished village, I didn't have a good elementary education since I spent my first decade in the remote village. My parents were poor and I had no one to look up to. To add to all this I was a sickly boy who suffered rheumatism for the first 17 years of his life. You don't want to imagine the kind of life I lived back then. However age 17 marked the beginning of another era for me because that was when my life started changing and the only thing that changed was the advice I received. From age 17 I gradually changed who I listened to and by age 21 I've entirely changed my models from whom I saw every day to whom I wanted to be. In today's video I'm going to be sharing with you some of the best advice that's ever been given to me and I hope this advice changes your life the way that it changed mine. One, you're responsible for your life. When I was 17 or 18 I borrowed a book from a friend. That book is Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy and one thing I'll never forget from the book is Tracy repeating again and again that I'm responsible for my life. If you were in my shoes you'd argue at first with this concept. I mean I was an innocent boy who was born by an illiterate father into grade one poverty without solid elementary education with terrible sickness which I was not in any way responsible for. My country was a victim of imperialism and colonialism and this has led us to lose our real identities self-esteem and wealth. The government of the day never helped matters filled with liars and thieves who steal all the money and leave people like me in poverty. There was reading a book about how I'm responsible for what I knew I wasn't to be held accountable for. It's a lie but you have to believe the lie or nothing will change in your life. I know you're not responsible for your life. I know the political leaders the economy or your employer have some blame. Your DNA health and circumstances of your birth all have some role in who you are but guess what you have to believe the lie because if you don't you'll wait forever for someone else to come and fix your life and you already know what will happen they won't show up. To be rich and successful you have to take full responsibility for your life. You have to stop expecting the government your employer or the political leaders to fix your life because they won't. Two you'll see whatever you look for. I have a careless, unserious and naughty friend who's not going anywhere serious in life but I like him because he has done me a favor in the past. The favor was that he borrowed me a book by Tony Robbins. In the year 2008 I was reading awaken the giant within. The book is a big one but one thing stays with me till today in that book and that's the concept of the reticular activating system. Reticular activating system if I understand it correctly is that part of your brain that gets activated immediately you are interested in something and starts looking for such. A good example is if you suddenly fall in love with a particular Lexus car. What happens next is that everywhere you go you start seeing that specific car more often not because the gods of the vehicle suddenly increased those cars on the road but because your reticular activating system has been activated to look for such cars. Another example is if you'd like someone so much you'll naturally not see anything wrong in them but if by tomorrow morning you hate them you can suddenly make a list of a hundred things you hate about them that doesn't mean that the devil enters them no the devil has always lived inside them but you only see angel Gabriel because that's whom you were looking for at that moment. How does this make any sense with the subject of this video? You see the highest harm anyone can do to you is to convince you that there are no longer opportunities for ordinary people like you to become productive or successful after you believe that you could go buy a casket and die. Today I see so many people in the world almost everyone is pessimistic almost everyone believes that the few rich people have taken all the opportunities almost everyone looks for what is wrong about their countries almost everyone looks for the devil and they always see him because you'll always see what you're looking out for. When I learned this secret I conditioned my reticular activating system beyond the look out for good. I don't complain about the government or be pessimistic about my future. I looked diligently for opportunities and I believe people are good except the 0.5% of us because I set my mind to look for opportunities I found many not so quickly but eventually because I believe that human beings are generally good I'm attracted to sound and kind people who are willing to help me and make some sacrifices for me. Your reticular activating system will always help you find whatever you're looking for so if you think your country is poor and doomed you'll find enough shreds of evidence to support that if you feel that there are so many opportunities in your country your reticular activating system will help you see so many possibilities not quickly but eventually. Three for every corn you earn a certain percentage must be planted. I love to use analogies about farming because I'm a child of a farmer who spent the first decade of his life on the farm. It was the year 2006 I was one of the altar servers in the Catholic Church so I needed to go to church a few times in the week. This very day I was rushing to a church service when I saw a man reading. Since I was too poor to have money for books I always approach anyone I saw with a book so that they could borrow me some books so I walked towards this man who seemed like my age mate. The book I got from him was Rich Dad Poor Dad and the book marked the beginning of a new era in my life. Rich Dad Poor Dad didn't only confirm my suspicion about the school it taught me a simple yet important lesson about money the affluent buy asset first then the assets buy them luxuries the poor buy luxuries first and that's why they struggle for money all their life. This formula is easy simple and effective anyone can follow it but most people won't because human beings love to eat their cake and still have it. We want to go to heaven but we don't want to die we want our corn to multiply but we can't wait 90 days till it grows. What a hopeless being we are. Sacrifice sacrifice and more sacrifice that's what it takes to achieve anything. I know someone who earns less than 10% of what I make yet he had the luxury I don't have. How do you explain that? I know people who earn 10 to 20% of what I make yet they are living in a more expensive home than myself how do you explain that? I've hired people in the past and see them using the phones I can't use how can that happen? The difference is I plant most of my corn so I usually have a little left to eat. These people eat all their corn and plant nothing. When you eat every of your corn you always work hard to have enough corn to eat but if you plant a part of your corn a time will come when you'll have too many corns to sustain you for the rest of your life. George S. Claesson has preached that since 1926 but nobody listens. To be financially successful you must take full responsibility about your life and stop expecting someone else to fix your life for you. Most people in my country Nigeria expect someone to come and fix their lives and that's why they remain poor. You must be optimistic and positive because you'll always get whatever you look for. If you want to have too much corn plant a certain percent of your corn all the time.