What Success Is Not: A Review of Sail Your Boat By Salamatu Sule
Book Title: Sail Your
Boat: Success is a Lifestyle and a Journey
Name of Author: Musbahu El
Yakubu
Genre: Nonfiction
(Inspirational)
Publishers: Amazon
No. of Pages:177 (to
include about the Author)
Year of Publication: 2018
ISBN:978-978-964-788-0
Reviewer: Salamatu Sule
Reading
inspirational books are a rare creative endeavor for me due to the simple fact
that it gives short cuts to making money and not realistically for the sake of
its entertainment and educational purpose. They also do not fall into the
category of what we know as bibliotheraphies. When I first laid my hands on
this very insightful and thought provoking book, I was skeptical, judging by
the title, whether if the book will deliver on its thematic concern. I was not
disappointed even though; curiosity bade me to go on this exciting journey.
Success
is a subjective term as it has a different meaning to different people. Success
as depicted by the sub tittle of the book is a lifestyle and a journey. As a
lifestyle, it refers to how the assumed success was achieved or acquired. And
as a journey, it refers to the method adopted in pursuing the assumed success.
It is therefore the combined process and method of achieving success and its
wider impact on the society that will determine what success really is.
In
" Sail Your Boat", El Yakub adopted the use of the laws and theories
of the physical Sciences to analyse, define and describe success. Like the
Scientist that he is, he applied a method that he is conversant with as against
the theories of the Social Sciences that are fluid. But to describe, define and
analyse success, you have to realise and understand what it is and should be.
According to him:
“Without
a proper understanding of what true success is, generation upon generations of
different nationalities all over the world risk using the wrong metrics for the
assessment of personal and collective achievements. (Pg. 9) Therefore, the
author is admonishing that, without understanding what success is, there is the
likelihood that one spent wasteful years not knowing what exactly what he is
looking for while also achieving nothing.
According
to him, to understand success and to aspire for it, it is necessary to find
answers to questions like:
1
What is success?
2
How do we measure it and;
3
How do we attain it?
He
also categorised success into Three as to define and answer the above questions
by giving examples of what constitute success.
He
started by citing the examples of a Student who cheated during exams, the
Internet Fraudster and the Corrupt Public Official who compromised his office
for personal gains at the expense of his country. This people can be said to
have achieved success but with serious consequences for the entire society.
The
second category of successful people are those that overcame both physical and
Social challenges to create value for the society.
This
people are not only successful, but they also are inspiration to generations to
come. They do not allow their physical and Social challenges to become
impediments to their successful development. And all their achievements are
within the limits of legislation.
He
gave the examples of such people as:
Nick
Vujicic who was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1982, with a rare disease
known as Tetra Amelia, resulting in having none of his limbs developed. He
overcome his challenges and founded a Not for Profit Organisation called "Life Without Limbs" in the
United States of which he is the President. He also founded the "Attitude is Altitude" which
is devoted to Motivational Speaking. He is the author of several books, the
most popular being "Life without
Limbs, Limitless and Unstoppable",
a New York Times best seller.pg 9-10.
Stephen
Hawking was also another example of an individual who overcame his physical
challenges to succeed in life. He was born in 1942 in Oxford, England. He later
on read Physics and Chemistry. He was later on diagnosed with Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis(ALS), also known as Motor Neuron disease. He became
paralysed.
But
despite this challenge, he was mentally alert, brilliant and humorous. He
contributed to the field of Mathematics, Physics, Cosmology and Astronomy. He
was later on awarded the "Presidential Medal of Freedom", which is
the highest Civilian Honour.
Others
like Kuma Ung Yingping from South Korea, who from being a Scientist at NASA in
the USA moved to Civil Engineering in South Korea because he has a passion for
it. Another example of those who defy
the Social challenges to become an Activist was Tawakal Karman of Yemen. She
formed the Women Journalists Without Chains and was later to become the
youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Laureate. Others are John Harold Johnson,
an African-American who established the "Negro Digest". Likewise,
Dashrath Manjhi, an outcast and landless peasant in India who championed the
construction of a road in his area so as to make it easy for his people to
access health and education.
There
are also others like Mandela, Bill Gates and Claudius, the Roman Emperor. This
are examples of people who devoted their entire life to the course of their
society. The success of such people have a positive effect on their society.
This type of success can be classified as the most positive success. The
interdependence of individuals in the society created an impact and the ripple
effect of success on the Community is inevitable. Yakub likens this
interdependence to the galaxy. According to him:
“From the great vastness of the known universe, we can still infer a direct connection to our tiny selves on our tiny planet. All the billions of galaxies exert certain physical influences on every other galaxy, no matter how infinitesimally small. Within each galaxy, all solar systems exert influences on other systems in the same way as others exert influence on them as well. (Pg. 36)
From
the above, we can therefore see the interconnectivity of success by an
individual and its implications for the society.
But
to achieve success, there are qualities that the individual is expected to
possess. These are:
Belief
in oneself: You are expected to believe or have confidence in your ability to
achieve your set objective (s).
Perseverance
is another key factor as success does not come easily. You will encounter a lot
of disappointments and trials, but persevere you must to get to achieving your
goals.
Focus:
Be focused. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted.
Be
decisive. There are times that you need to take a firm decision. Don’t hesitate
to do so.
Knowledge.
You need to be knowledgeable about what you want to achieve. Therefore,
struggle to be intellectually competent and perform in a manner that is
impactful.
Take
risks. In any venture, risks are inevitable as there’s no full proof plans. You
learn from past mistakes.
Passion:
Make sure you have passion for what you are doing. Pleasurable passion helps
you drive home your point.
But
achieving of the above objectives is also dependent on what your personal
qualities are; the timing or era at which you are trying to unveil your success
plan and possibly; your location.
It
is against this background that Yakub summarises success as,
"Living a life in which we continuously apply ourselves to the best of our abilities in legitimate activities for the greatest benefit of the greatest benefit of the greatest number of people". Pg. 156.
To
be successful, Yakub cautioned that,
“From the start of your journey to its end, whatever you do will affect you and others. How best you are able to create a beneficial effect for everyone is your life of success. And it is your responsibility to understand, define and live it". Pg. 164
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