There are two definitions of ORDER that I like:
1. "The arrangement or disposition of people or things in relation to each other according to a particular sequence, pattern or method."
2. "Putting things into their correct place following some rule."
Imagine the various wars that have been fought on this planet and in fact are still being fought and what comes to your mind? Imagine car drivers driving on the wrong side of the road at terrifying and impaling speeds; what comes to your mind? Imagine the mayhem of customers all thronging against each other at the door of a supermarket heatedly aspiring to get inside because it has all the goods in its store on sale; what comes to your mind? Imagine the various coaches of a speed train coming off the rails as the train speeds on with thousands of people inside; what comes to your mind? Imagine you wake up in the morning with loads of things to do yet not knowing where to begin; what comes to your mind?
I could go on and on but am pretty certain you already get the drift of what am getting at.
Without order, things will never be very right in our lives. It is the one most important thing that enables us to sail somewhat accurately and assuredly towards a particular goal, target or destination. When I was in college, I do recall been taught in Mathematics that, "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line." Any other route one takes towards one's destination that isn't straight will mean one will get there pretty late, or possibly may not even get there at all. Order is that straight line that takes us from where we are to where we hope or expect to get to. It is a very key element, if not the most important one, in every person's life that we cannot afford to throw away.
Now we have stepped into a new year with all our usual expectations and high hopes and glamorous plans of success and victories, just like we did last year, and the year before last year, and the year preceding that too! Expectations, expectations, expectations; everyone of us eager for a better season this term around than the last one. But, in truth, seldom are quite a number of us actually ready for them. We often step into a new year with exactly the same mindset as the last and yet have the hope that things will be different somehow. How, my dear friend; how? Without order in our lives, we all have the potential to spill out of control. When things are not put in their proper places and perspectives, nothing moves or gets done well...and we all have to resolve to do what is necessary in order for us not to have the same unprofitable results like we had the last time.
Proper order in our lives is the key. If we are expecting better results this year than last year, then we must assiduously and consciously put order into our lives because no one else is meant to do it for us and because it's the only way we can be assured of meeting our goals. We must, therefore, order our minds, our time, our lifestyles, our businesses, our jobs, our finances, our health, our families, our education, our driving habits, our relationships, our ideas, our speech and even our legacies. In fact, the list goes on and on...but I don't have space to spill all. Yet this simple, practical step will save us loads of stress in the future.
Recently, I realized that my room has been in a serious mess; I just seem to have everything thrown anywhere I like in it. Even when I make a mental note to tidy up a particular area of the room later, I somehow never get round to doing so. Other important matters find some way of stopping me from doing so. But see, it is my room!!!! Where I sleep and rest after a whole day of work and running around. It is the place where I lay my head and get recuperated for the next day; and if it's untidy, that's how I will meet it when next I want to sleep. This will affect my whole body system because I will end up not having a good night's rest. But once my room is all tidied up, I can sleep in peace and comfort and the tranquility of my mind is guaranteed.
ORDER YOUR MIND
Our minds are the engine rooms for every decision we make and every action we take. If anything will change in our results this new year, how our minds work will be key to that. We must, therefore, put our minds in proper order. Certain unprofitable ways of thinking must go. Everything that has not worked in the past we must drop and instead strive to re-arrange things for better results. This would mean reading more, studying more and doing all we can to educate and improve our minds because no one individual knows everything. If we can put our minds in order, we would put our lives in order because everything that goes on in our minds affect our lives.
ORDER YOUR TIME
The way we use our time this year has to be better than we have in the past. This is so because time is a very serious and essential matter and tool that, if utilized properly, will help us to attain growth and success. We must stop wasting time on non-profitable adventures and instead invest it in worthwhile ventures. We must take the time we have here on earth seriously because nobody lives for ever. We need to take our wake-up and sleeping times more seriously. We need to value our being on time to work and important meetings instead of this so-called African Time that is anti-order. We need to practice how to finish or accomplish certain tasks that we are saddled with at the expected time and not behave as though we own time. Because in truth, the fact that we have time (by being alive) does not mean that we own it. I will never forget how I wasted precious time and years doing the wrong things after I left college instead of utilizing time by engaging myself in preparing for university. I had to write the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) exams five times before I could eventually enter the university. And of the five times, it was only at the fifth time of asking that I really was serious and didn't play with my study time.
Next week, we will continue in this line of thought as I'll reel out other areas that are important that we put order into.
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