There is no free meal in Freetown nay; Lagos is a cliché that most Nigerian people have found useful when they want to tell you not to expect anything from them without giving them something in return. Hence, when they even would be of use to you, they would quickly make you realize the meaning in another cliché that goes thus: nothing goes for nothing.

The main thrust of the clichés is that it must cost you something to get that something you have been pining for. What are those things that you must do to get what you want in life and achieve success out of whatever you are into in life?

You might be saying in your mind that I have come to love clichés more than any other choice of expression, far from it. Considering the message in the topic that I’m teaching here, you will realize I am in tune with my beat.

I am not talking about foods here and the required condiments for making that particular dish tasty. Rather, I am talking about all that must be found in you if you are actually searching for that motivation that stays with you for the rest of your life and outlives you when you have become a motivating factor to other people who have come to see you as an icon and their hero.

Anyone who is anybody would readily tell you that nothing comes easy in life. I’m not talking about people that sell ecstasy and engage in other anti-social and illegal means of making money. What I meant by ‘anybody’ is those who have walked the tough road to enduring success in their endeavours in life and have positively imparted and impacted on the rest of us their wealth of experience.

Since we are talking about rebranding Nigeria, it is pertinent to say at this juncture that these ‘anybodies’ have contributed in their humble strength to the growth of Nigeria as a nation in an emerging millennium and therefore, must be celebrated in this era of celebrating the wrong people for the wrong reasons.

For a Nigerian to be motivated to the point of becoming that success he/she has always wished for, thought about and have even dreamed about and shared with their friends some of who told them that they are hallucinating or suffering from effects of untreated malaria parasite, there are important ingredients that must be found in you before you pray for wind and spread your wings to fly.

The ingredients for an enduring motivation in the life of a Nigerian in this season of institutionalized poverty in Nigeria – a land of plenty that allows her citizenry to wallow in poverty – all manner of poverty, that of mentality due to lack of education, and financial poverty due to financial emasculation as precipitated by corruption running rife in the corridors of the three-tier style of governance the Nigerian government has embraced, one must have the presence of mind to imbibe the principles of the 4D’s of Motivation.

Now that we have eventually hit the nail on the head, clarification is next in line in this knowledge I’m espousing in this article.

The four D’s are as follows: desire; discipline; devotion and dedication.

DESIRE is said to be the born-day of your dream. Your earnest desire to become your vision in life in a clime like Nigeria is no other thing than your dream. This is when you realize you have a calling to be of use to yourself and to humanity at large. You will then start by asking yourself certain pertinent questions about how to go about the realization of your burning desire to end up successful in life. Research comes in here as well as prayers for guidance and provision of the wherewithal to carry out your desire to end up the latest entrepreneur to walk the Nigerian scene. This desire is where the realization that you have a vision dawns on you. All that you need to build on that vision falls in here to make sure your vision does not fall by the wayside.

DISCIPLINE is the nest ingredient that must not be looked down on if you must succeed in your quest for freedom from frustrations and from failures. Persistence and tenacity comes in here, as well as the acumen of a well-heeled business person. You must be willing to deny yourself a lot until you have crossed the finish line of SUCCESS. Without fiscal discipline in you, you are just like a sitting duck – all movement and no motion. Discipline does not entertain hypocrisy as you must strive to let people critique your works before you dump them on unsuspecting Nigerian people who would definitely give you more than a bit of their harsh criticisms – something you tried avoiding as the smart person you think you are. You must ask professionals to criticize your contributions no matter the form in which they come, because it is only through critical analysis of your works that you get the best out of life and from people. Don’t hate or despise that have the tendencies to be critical of your works. By works here, I mean your contributions to the growth of the society.

At the end of the day, you would be surprised finding out they have been of immense help to your overall success. No one forgets that particular teacher in their secondary school who flogged common sense into them. Right? Mind you, it is the level of discipline you inculcated in yourself that determines the amount of success that you would end up becoming.

DEVOTION is an art by its own merit. Devotion is exactly saying you be devoted to your calling. Perhaps you are versatile; you are to exhibit and show the same amount of devotion to all and each of your calling(s). You do away with all manner of distractions. Looking at a scenario whereby you have committed your time and resources to your calling(s), you need devotion to keep the fire of your desire/dream burning. It happens only when devotion is there. Distractions will surely come in the form of your greed to be like the next guy, but you must do all within your human power to know when to say no to such subtle distractions that ruin already blossoming careers. God Almighty all differently endowed us and no matter the similarities in the talents we share; Mister A’s approach to his calling is different from Mister B’s approach to his calling. Focus is at risk when you start hinting that Mister A is better than you, therefore, you must try to be like him. Think about only becoming better than him by learning and acquiring sophistication that would distinguish you from him. Remember, you have vowed to be devoted to your calling and even when it is not fetching you money, do not be in hurry to jump ship. You might not hit the target without a sense of loyalty when you do so. The dream came to you earlier and you have done all your homework, so why would you even think it! That is creating confusion in your creative kingdom. I remember when Nigerian musicians were trying to model their talent delivery after some oyibo greats and ended up poor clones and caricatures. All of them fell by the wayside. The lone survivors have been those who chose a style that is natural to them. You will agree with me that Nigerian music talents are winning more laurels and award the world over because Nigerian talents have finally discovered their peculiar style. Be you at all times is the message herein.

DEDICATION here is not the same as devotion. This is so because I have earlier said in this write-up that perhaps you are versatile. And I enthused that each and every one of your calling(s) must be treated equally. Once you neglect any of them, you will realize you are lacking in contentment. The strength of your dedication lies in your ability to single-mindedly use your talents to pursue your success. Your determination is a mindset that you have in your ability that says every waking-up of your life that you must strive harder to end up the success that God has destined for you.

Once these four D’s are in place in your life, your success is only but a matter of time. Get cracking my dear – hard work is it!