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We all have a future and its our duty to shape it especially as young people. Here is a beautiful and an inspiring article Theophilus Tanko Chigudu. He has written lots of articles on newspapers. He is from  Ushafa, Bwari Area Council Abuja. The article, Shaping your future is a paper presented at an event organized Adayilo’s Foundation tagged: Today’s Girl-Child, Tomorrow’s Mother and Nation Builder on 11th March, 2017 at Government Girls’ Secondary School, Dutse, Abuja.
The paper reads…..

Observing all protocol!
The
desire to speak on this topic was motivated the fact that a lot of people
most especially the young easily quit on life. They feel they cannot achieve
their dreams; they conclude that their future is bleak either because of their
family and educational background, environment, finance etc. Ladies and
gentlemen, I believe our dreams are achievable, I believe that you can be
anything in this world, I believe we can shape our future into whatever we
desire of it.
It
is my aspiration that this piece will transform your mind-sets and give you
hope of doing something remarkable or impel you to achieve greatness as you
journey to your future. A lot of people have defined future in various ways as
such I am not going to give us series of definitions, I will share one here
aimed at serving the purpose of this paper. Oxford dictionaries defined Future  as
a period of time following the
moment of speaking or writing; time regarded as still to come or Events that
will or are likely to happen in time to come.
It
is true that no one chooses the family through which one is born into human
race. But a major illusion about accomplishment is the opinion that those who
achieve greatness have exceptional opportunities which gave them their
breakthrough. Hence, those from ordinary background allow this societal
fabrication to serve as a setback for them. This to me is the foundation of an
unfulfilled life. And surprisingly, some of the world’s greatest achievers have
emerged from the ordinary class or underprivileged circle. These people had
they allowed their background influence them negatively they would have
remained ordinary.
Greatness
is a matter of choice not chance. The choice to be great is all yours. Great
achievers of today discerned that greatness is a matter of choice and they
chased it until they got it. They recognized that greatness is to be worked for
not to be waited for. They worked their fingers to the bone to achieve
greatness.
HOW TO SHAPE YOUR FUTURE
Shaping
your future is not something magical or unachievable. It is possible and
achievable, you only need to set your mind at it and go for it. Below are some
of the few ways that if adhered to would help shape our future. There are
several examples of men and woman that understood the importance of making
concerted efforts in shaping their futures for the better. For the purpose of
this gatbering I will only highlight women achievers and they are, Maya
Angelou, Dr Esther Audu, Oprah Winfrey, Ngozi Okojo-Iweala, Ladi Kwali etc.
Till date these women remains an indispensable part of our world history. Dare
to make a mark my people.
COURAGE
Men
can teach you all things but they cannot teach your courage. No one can teach
you that. You must make conscious efforts to be Courage’s in whatever it is you
are doing.
Shaping
your future demands courage. And being courageous also means being yourself.
The world will seek to style you into what it wants you to be if you give in.
This enticement is one out of many obstacles which stand on the way of
significant feats that can stop even the most gifted people from achieving
greatness. But, you must be bold to say no.
FOCUS
To
achieve greatness as a lady you must define and stay focused on tour goals; map
out plans to achieve your goals; refuse to let obstacles distract you from
sailing into greatness. Equally important is staying optimistic.  Focus on the goal not the obstacles. Focus is
an indispensable condiments to greatness however, it requires discipline and
persistence.
FAITH
One
thing that kills dreams, ambitions and goals is doubt. Nothing tangible has
ever been achieved with doubt in our hearts. Without faith nothing will be
achieved. Faith is risk and it requires confidence in yourself and in God.
Confidence is the platform for true and lasting success. Those who confidently
take risk or have faith accomplish their purpose.
TIME
Successful
people have something unique about them and that is how much time they set
aside to deliberately study, practice and master their craft. Greatness doesn’t
just come over night and it is not magical. It doesn’t fall like manner from
above nor is it given on a platter, it is earned. To have a great future you
must master the art of creating or setting aside time to study or practice your
craft. The numbers of time to do different activities must be well planned and
adhered to strictly. Don’t just float. Plan your activities within time frame.
READING
It
is often said “readers are leaders”, I bold this saying to be true.
When you read, you are exposed to new things and you learn new things too.
Every lady that reads is always ahead in her game. Reading equips the reader
with great weapons. You never remain the same. So, to be successful you must
read at least one or two hours everyday. Read, just read. When you develop the
habit of reading always you’d realize how exposed and equipped you’d become.
REFLECTION
Another
important aspect in shaping your future is reflection. Some call it meditation.
After reading don’t just drop the book, create time to reflect and meditate on
what you have read. This reflection is more or less an alone time. Reflecting
and thinking through build you up and help position you for the challenges
ahead.
EXPERIMENT
Set
aside time for experimentation and master-minding with like minded individuals,
colleagues or students. Experimentation helps you track your strength and
weakness. Experimentation requires humility and patience.
Shaping
your future is very important. As an individual you must make efforts to shape
your future. Aspire to be great, aspire to contribute to humanity, aspire to be
grow yourself into a successful person in future.
Let
me conclude being particular to the women; every woman is important, every
woman is a leader, every woman is a mother. Don’t let anyone tell you
otherwise. But, to be successful or great at the above mentioned attributes of
a woman, you must make concerted efforts to be successful. It is achievable but
you must work hard. Laziness destroys dreams. Laziness cripples ideas. Laziness
renders one useless. Don’t fall to it. Laziness is a faceless devil. Embrace
hard work.
Finally,
you have all it takes to have that future you’ve dreamt of. I want you to know
that you can be anything in this world. There’s enough room for all but you
must work.

 Theophilus Tanko Chigudu
connect with him on facebook : Theotanko Chigudu

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