Some 22 Facts about Your Life Purpose

1. It is the key to your greatness
2. It is not determined by your past or present location
3. It has nothing to do with your family background or standing in the society
4. It may have nothing to do with your present career or the job you are doing now
5. It helps you to set your priorities in life and identify what is really important and what isn’t
6. It helps you to apportion and make use of time more productively
7. God will require an account of stewardship from you on what you do with it
8. It takes an accountability system to continually live and fulfil it maximally
9. It is what you will do with joy and look forward to doing everyday
10. It will bring you great contentment in life and give you a sense of fulfilment
11. It helps you to identify your destiny partners: e.g. who to marry, who to be friendly with, who to go into business with, who to hire as workers, who to submit to etc
12. In the field of your purpose, you are a king and a celebrity
13. It is in the Word of God
14. It takes God and His resources to fulfil it
15. You are not really successful if you are not fulfilling or living it
16. It guides you to make the right choices and decisions in life
17. It is not something you learn in school, seminars, workshops, or conferences
18. It has been in/with you all along, merely awaiting discovery
19. You might have been fulfilling it without knowing
20. You don’t have to leave your present job or career to start fulfilling it
21. You can make a career out of it
22. It can be commercialised to fetch you money and make you very rich

Writing for Professional Development

For those whose vocation is writing-intensive, such as journalists, academics, secretaries, etc the command of a superb language mechanics is a great determinant of their success at the workplace as well as the prestige ascribed to them by their publics. People like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark, Ayo Banjo, Reuben Abati, Dare Babarinsa, are few among the contemporary people who have attained international prominence through their writing skills.

Students in academic institutions, especially those in the humanities, also need a good command of language to enhance their grades. Therefore, it behoves anyone whose line has anything to do with writing to hone his writing skill by reading and writing regularly.

CONCLUSION

So far we have considered the various ways we can use the four communication skills to achieve personal development, which is the key to success, excellence and greatness. In the words of Riley, as documented by Tracy (2004):

By engaging in continuous self-improvement, you can put yourself behind the wheel of your own life. By dedicating yourself to enhancing your earning ability, you will automatically be engaging in the continuous process of personal development. By learning more, you prepare yourself to earn more. You position yourself for tomorrow by developing the knowledge and skills that you need to be a valuable and productive part of …(the) economy, no matter which direction it goes.

This is a final word to underscore the role of personal development in attaining your dreams in life. There is no shortcut to earning more, becoming more and achieving greatness except to follow the route of disciplined and sustained investment in the self. Any attempt to go it otherwise will only be like trying to beat the devil to his own game. And this reminds me of the story of the man who did just that.

Some time ago, the devil compiled a list of one thousand people who were due for death because of their nefarious activities on earth. The number one person on that list happened to be a notorious Nigerian fraudster (popularly known as 419), whose fraudulent records had no rival under heaven. After getting God’s approval to execute the sinners, the devil went to the house of his first victim and announced his mission there without much ado.

To his utmost surprise, this fraudster did not betray any sign of fear nor plead for mercy. Instead, he welcomed the devil most cheerfully and invited him to sit down so that he could entertain him, as the august visitor that he was, before he carries out his mission. Then the man served the devil several bottles of beer and large portions of barbecues (suya), which he gulped down so ravenously till he fell into a long sleep.

While he was fast asleep, this fraudster quickly erased his name from the number one position on the devil’s list and wrote it as the last name. Then he anxiously waited for his visitor to wake up and discover his mistake.

After several hours, the devil finally woke up and groggily looked around him in confusion.  Then his eyes centred on the man standing beside him, and he smiled with pleasure. He said:

“My friend, you surprised me a lot. I never knew human beings are capable of the hospitality and generosity you have shown me today”. He placed his hand on the man’s shoulder and gave him a friendly pat.

“Guess what? I’m going to do you a big favour in return. I’ll give you enough time to prepare yourself and put your house in order before I come for you.  So I wont kill you now, instead I will start my killing from the last name on my list” (Oladele, unpublished).

Writing for Social Integration

An effective writing skill can be a great source of prestige in the society for anyone who possesses it. As stated earlier, few people possess the writing skill to a commendable extent.  And those who do usually enjoy considerable credibility in the society because most people believe the written word (and a writer) more than they do the spoken words (and a public speaker).

Another way to use written communication to enhance your social integration is by cultivating the habit of writing letters or short notes to compliment or encourage people; your family members, friends, colleagues, or even people who do not know you but whom you admire and desire to be friendly with. In the words of Benson (undated:183), ‘we live by encouragement, and die without it –  slowly, sadly and angrily’. Therefore, the man who looks beyond himself to sincerely appreciate others in long or short writings will not just be adding a memorable value to them, but will also earn himself an impressive collection of allies. And the more people you have around you, the easier you are able to perform tasks and achieve your aims in life.     

Writing for Emotional Development

One way writing helps one emotionally is in the area of catharsis which the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1998:176) defines as “the process of releasing strong feelings, e.g. through drama or other artistic activities, as a way of providing relief from anger, suffering, etc.”

When in an emotional state that disturbs your equanimity, picking up a pen to write exactly how you feel is a sure way of tranquillising the storms in your mind. No matter the gibberish you may write or how incoherent your thought-flow may be, simply pouring out your heart on paper is able to sufficiently calm you down and prevent you from acting out of place.

Another way you can use writing to achieve an emotional end is by documenting your feelings of attraction or affection for another person, usually the opposite sex. Such writings are usually a better and more accurate representation of the depth of one’s feeling than words of mouth can express. The rhythmical quality of such lettered emotions are also poetic.  That is why Wordsworth describes poetry as ‘the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling recollected in tranquillity’.

Writing For Personal Development

The Cambridge International Dictionary of English (1996:1692) defines writing as “the activity of creating pieces of writing work, such as stories, poems or articles”.  In the words of Beck et al (2002:31), “writing is a method of passing information from one person to another, or to a group of people”. They however did not limit writing’s function to information alone, as they also cite persuasion and entertainment as veritable resources to which writing can be put to.

Of the four communication skills, writing is the least utilized for obvious reasons. It requires a great expenditure of time and mental efforts to write. It is a process of drafting, editing, and redrafting to usually arrive at an acceptable finished product. The more reason it has been a highly prized communication skill throughout history. Its mastery confers great powers and influence on whoever possesses it (Beck et al, 2002), Hence the popular saying that “the pen is mightier than the sword”.

The beauty of writing is not usually in its volumes, but in the style and the effectiveness of the content in achieving the set objective(s) of the writer. Effective writing essentially thrives on clarity, precision, and conciseness. In the words of Adesanoye (1995:115):

Effective writing…is a piece of written communication that conveys its message in the simplest, clearest, most concise and most readable way possible. It is also that piece of writing in which the manner of expression dovetails perfectly with the subject matter; one in which…there is a close fit between what and how.

Simplicity, clarity, readability and conciseness are thus the hallmarks of effective writing.

With this background on writing, we shall now proceed to highlight how it can be used for various forms of personal development.

Writing aids the development of the mental faculty because, more than any communication effort, it involves a lot of thinking. The writer often finds himself writing, cancelling and rewording his expressions in the effort to choose the words that will most suitably convey his heart to his reader(s). In the process of doing this, he regularly consult the dictionary and thesaurus, thereby increasing his bank of vocabulary while at the same time honing his intellect.

Reading for Professional Development

The impact of reading in professional and technical development cannot be overemphasized. Rohn, (2005a) quoting Charlie ‘Tremendous’ Jones, says: “You will be in five years the sum total of the books you read and the people you are around”. This underscores the great influence that reading plays in the ultimate manifestation of the self. And, since a larger percentage of our days are spent at the workplace, the books we read will sure have a great bearing on our performance at work.

Another way reading can accelerate one professionally is by aiding in the passing of different academic and professional exams. To qualify as professionals, students and workers need to read well in order to pass their exams in flying colours; teachers and lecturers need to read widely to teach their courses effectively as well as publish in their fields of specialization for promotion. There is no professional calling that one does not need to read to perform better, produce better products, and deliver better services.

To conclude our discourse on reading for personal development, let us consider Rohn’s (2005c) wise counsel:

Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event.  We do not fail overnight. Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices…

If we have not bothered to read a single book in the past ninety days, this lack of discipline does not seem to have any immediate impact on our lives. And since nothing drastic happened to us after the first ninety days, we repeat this error in judgment for another ninety days, and on and on it goes. Why? Because it doesn’t seem to matter. And herein lies the great danger. Far worse than not reading the books is not even realizing that it matters.

Writing For Personal Development

The Cambridge International Dictionary of English (1996:1692) defines writing as “the activity of creating pieces of writing work, such as stories, poems or articles”.  In the words of Beck et al (2002:31), “writing is a method of passing information from one person to another, or to a group of people”. They however did not limit writing’s function to information alone, as they also cite persuasion and entertainment as veritable resources to which writing can be put to.

Of the four communication skills, writing is the least utilized for obvious reasons. It requires a great expenditure of time and mental efforts to write. It is a process of drafting, editing, and redrafting to usually arrive at an acceptable finished product. The more reason it has been a highly prized communication skill throughout history. Its mastery confers great powers and influence on whoever possesses it (Beck et al, 2002), Hence the popular saying that “the pen is mightier than the sword”.

The beauty of writing is not usually in its volumes, but in the style and the effectiveness of the content in achieving the set objective(s) of the writer. Effective writing essentially thrives on clarity, precision, and conciseness. In the words of Adesanoye (1995:115):

Effective writing…is a piece of written communication that conveys its message in the simplest, clearest, most concise and most readable way possible. It is also that piece of writing in which the manner of expression dovetails perfectly with the subject matter; one in which…there is a close fit between what and how.

Simplicity, clarity, readability and conciseness are thus the hallmarks of effective writing.

With this background on writing, we shall now proceed to highlight how it can be used for various forms of personal development.

Writing aids the development of the mental faculty because, more than any communication effort, it involves a lot of thinking. The writer often finds himself writing, cancelling and rewording his expressions in the effort to choose the words that will most suitably convey his heart to his reader(s). In the process of doing this, he regularly consult the dictionary and thesaurus, thereby increasing his bank of vocabulary while at the same time honing his intellect.