ONLYYOU CANBE THE

EXCEPTIONWritten by David Lanre Messan

The word means: An action that is part of an ordinary operation; when

you surpass the routine or standards; not conforming to the general rule.

Exception

Why You Must be Different?

Your Life HABITS can steer you forward

if they are positive enough.

I became an exception through the following adoptable:

1. KNOWING GOD – He was my first consult and I had

to talk to Him to direct my life affairs because I

know He knows everything and only him can help

me succeed as well as comfort me in the times of

trouble – I mean challenges.

2. I LIVED PRODUCTIVELY – ensuring that no day

passes without me learning something new and I

did this mostly by reading, researching and creating

ideas to every problem I sense around me. Ability

is what you're capable of doing. Motivation

determines what you do. Attitude determines how

well you do it.

3. I MAINTAINED A STRONG FOCUS AND ENERGY: I

was so clear on the kind of life I want to live – A

positive one –so, I designed it by creating a mission

statement and as I grew, it gradually changed to fit

my true personality, dreams and ambitions. The key

was a high octane spirit filled with focus and energy.

4. ATTENTION TO SELF – I paid very close attention to

myself in order to find out my strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats. By doing

this, I made maximum use of what I know about

myself to grow, live and control my habits towards

life.

5. RESPECT AND HUMILITY – I ensured every man – my

elders, my parents, my friends etc earns good dose of

respect from me and I approached life with a great

deal of humility and this brought to me countless

opportunities.

6. I ADOPTED THE FREE STRATEGY – By adding value to

fellow men for free; my talents, my skills, my time, my

ideas, my knowledge, every single good virtue of

mine, I gave out for free and most of the time I get

unrequested returns for it.

7. TIME USE – I apportion time appropriately to my

goals and I prioritize my tasks and this helps me to

record measurable success in my activities.

8. GOAL SETTING – I never stopped setting goals

every day, every week, every month and every year.

I tell myself my future by first writing it down in

goals and afterwards act on them. I always attain

my goals through strive and God's favour.

9. I KEEP TRYING – Even when I fail, I keep my head

real high up. That is to say even as determined,

talented, skilled I am, I still record a few failures and

it has helped me learn more – especially realizing

more reasons why I should not make such mistakes

again.

10. LIFE WAS MY MOTTO – I used the LIFE strategy as

my destiny rudder. It is my wheel of hope, my

steering of action, my beam of service to humanity.

LIFE; Love; Innovation; Fun; Enterprise. This is the

only reason why I live and would be fulfilled.

11. THE MENTORSHIP STRATEGY – I started by having an

email mentor, John C. Maxwell who taught me

leadership and life direction and afterwards I got other

mentors whom I have learnt so much from.

12. Be ON YOUR OWN (Be OYO) - A little privacy to think

back and forth can help you put your life in order,

especially when you have to think of your actions in the

past towards the present in order to further make your

future better. After all, it is your life and if your destiny

is truly in your hands, you have to stop and ponder at

some point…this can only put your future right in your

face.

13. VISION IS A NECESSITY: A living picture of your

future is just ok to keep you going. If you don't

have one, better do now (It is what you see

yourself become) and if you got one, put it on

paper and hang it on the wall near your face. This

is because; you will need to always see it to get

the right kind of motivation to activate it.

14. PLANNING IS KEY TOO – Always make this a major

part of your routine before the action.

15. WALK THE TALK – Always act on whatever you say you

are going to do. Keep your word! Act on the plan! Say

what you mean and mean what you say! Integrity has

no family…You can't make it up…so always walk the

talk.

16. HAVE PASSION – It is the kerosene of every burning

fire; the gas of every cooker. If you don't have it, you

can't love it and you can't claim it – I mean if you don't

have passion, you can't have a real ambition, a real

dream, real fulfillment. A little dose of passion will

keep growing until it sizes your dream and destiny.

17. INNOVATION RULES! – It is the antidote to making

the world a better place. Learn to improve on

yesterday, make today better and create tomorrow

even better, value and change driven. It is a simple

way to “bring ideas to life” and it begins by

creating the ideas from everything around us.

18. BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING – Desperation does not

pay and it always put one in a compromising state.

Rather than be anxious, just keep keeping on. God

is the rewarder of all things including hardwork.

19. HAVE FUN – Hardwork all through stresses the mind and

weakens the body. So take time to have fun, relax and

play with some real friends. It usually puts one back on

track and the end result is always productive.

20. BE NICE – How about if you decide to help the needy –

you just don't know how much that can save someone's

life. You are better off simply because God wants you to

better somebody's life. By smiling, you put a smile on

someone's face too. Mahatma Ghandi said, “Be the

change you want to see in the world”. So, just do it!

21. LEARN, RELEARN AND UNLEARN – Finally, never stop

learning, it is the fountain of knowledge. No one is too

big or small to learn. By a gentle walk, we see more of

the tiny dots and stones hidden in the sands of the

ground; by humility, we learn to reach the top by a

continuous growth process; By a constant quest to

know more, we create knowledge for the other

generation that stare at us in anticipation of what we

got to offer. And we create the future through the tiny

dots of knowledge and all these put together make us

better people, making the world a better place.

To conclude this piece, I believe this would make

some sense to you and serve as a lesson for you to

move a bit forward. Remember, a little here, a little

there, we get closer to our mega dreams. Only you

can be the exception if you choose to be different in

your thoughts, actions and attitudes. Only you can

choose to either build your life or destroy it – and

your habits either positive or negative will be

responsible for it. So, I advise, you adopt only the

habits that will take you a little bit further until you

attain your dream and find fulfillment. With you by

my side, we will together change the world. I am

DLM – the Innovation Strat-Artist. Innovation Rules!

David Lanre Messan is a pioneering Innovation Strat-Artist in Africa, leading corporate, organizational and societal change through his many innovative concepts and strategies.A multiple award winner which include The Laspotech Masscomm Academy Award; The 100 Best Author Award in the 2006 World Bank International Essay Competition; LEAP Africa Youth Leadership Award; Brand Nigeria Top 100 Youth Award and a onetime 101 Young African Leader adoptee by the Business in Africa magazine and LEAP Africa, he has created and spearheaded massive revitalization and empowerment programmes cutting across many industries some of which include governments, telecommunications, banking, consulting, entertainment, sports and the youth market amongst a host of others.

As a trainer, he has conducted seminars and workshops in a number of African nations, Nigeria inclusive and has worked as a communications consultant to the Lagos State Public Service Staff Development Center.DLM has created several ideas among which is the award winning idea, Green Yaggy, a youth empowerment concept for young Nigerians abroad.He is a graduate of Mass Communication from the Lagos State Polytechnic, a presenter course graduate of the JCI University and the LEAP Africa facilitators training respectively and currently studying his master's degree in Innovation and Change Leadership offered by York St. John University in partnership with Robert Kennedy College based in Zurich.

I am DLM