Introduction: –
It is important to stress that whatever position you occupy in life; there are three ingredients that determine your competence in that position or job. These are Knowledge, Skills and Attitude.
It was John Maden who said “The only yardstick for success our society has [or recognizes] is being a champion…. No one remembers anything else.’’
‘‘Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, [and] a vision. They have to have late minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, [and] they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill’’ – MUHAMMAD ALI.
‘‘The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavour.’’ – VINCE LOMBARDI.
The thoughts expressed above convey in strong terms the need to be on top of whatever legitimate endeavour we choose to pursue in life. So, ‘‘it’s not about what you do but how well you do it.’’
Though we were created differently and at different points in time, ‘‘we are not a product of biological accident.’’ Though we were all born naked, but nobody was created to be irrelevant, neither was anyone created to be wasted!
The only thing that distinguishes one from the other are certain basic traits that define what we really are. In an economy driven by technology and competition and the business environment is constantly changing, ‘‘it is not the big that eat the small, it is the fast that eat the slow.’’ ‘‘You cannot control change, neither can you control how or why things happen, you can only control how fast you run in finding new ways to live with the times.’’ Again, what you see and what you do with what you see determines how far you can go. In other words, ‘‘your attitude will determine your altitude.’’
Accordingly, failure becomes an option. But it is not the option nor is it your promised land, ‘‘you will [only] fail when you do usual things in an unusual time.’’
You must build your capacity to control your own destiny, challenge assumptions, and reshape your environment, and to overcome the constraints that you face. You must stop believing that anything is given, or that’s how it was meant to be, and to refuse to accept the assumptions, the rules and the constraints that others had accepted. You must always have the conviction that you can do more things through Christ who strengthens you!
Who is a Champion?
Perhaps, the most potent conceptualisation of what defines a champion can be sought from these words on the marble:
 ‘‘A true champion is someone who wants to make a difference, who never gives up, and who gives everything h/she has no matter what the circumstances are. A true champion works hard and never loses sight of h/her dreams.’’ – Dot Richardson
 ‘‘A champion needs a motivation above and beyond winning.’’ – Pat Riley
 ‘‘A champion views resistance as a gift of energy.’’ – Michael J. Gelb
 ‘‘The ones who want to achieve and win championships motivate themselves.’’ – Mike Dikta
 ‘‘A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.’’ – Jack Demsey
 ‘‘A true champion can adapt to anything.’’ – Floyd Mayweather, Jr
 ‘‘To be champion requires more than simply being a strong player, one has to be a strong being as well.’’ – Anatoly Karpov
 ‘‘Obstacles don’t keep a champion down, they make them fight harder.’’ – Michael Kelly
 ‘‘Champions are willing to do what they hate in order to get what they love.’’ – Unknown.
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines a professional as a person who does a job that needs special training and a high level of education, or a person who has a lot of skill and experience. It defines career as the series of job that a person has in a particular area of work, usually involving more responsibility as time passes. Certain key variables expressed in the foregoing thoughts are encapsulated in the acronym below:
 Creative – Character – Competence – Commitment
 Hard work – Honesty – Heroism – Highflyer-
 Ambition – Attitude – Adaptive – Aptitude
 Motivation –Mission – Magnificent – Marvellous
 Passion – Professional -Prioritise – Peak performance
 Integrity – Innovative – Intelligence – Initiative
 Organised –Orderly – Outstanding – Optimism
 Noble – Natural – Nurturing – Networking
 Strength – Skills – Strategy – Synergy
These characteristics are further explained in the following Fifteen Secrets of Highly Successful People propounded by Ifeanyi Onyemere in his famous treatise, ‘‘The 7- Star Employee’’. They include:
 VISION – It is ‘‘a mental picture.’’ It is ‘‘what you are now by the reason of what you are seeing.’’ Vision is a picture in your mind; it is not a picture in the future. Champions are visionaries. ‘‘The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has a sight but no vision’’- Helen Keller.
 PASSION – It an ‘‘an extreme interest in or wish for doing something such as a hobby, activity.’’ Passion keeps a champion stable and sustains his productivity. It increases our energy overtime almost regardless of progress. William Hazlitt says: ‘‘A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means.’’ To become passionate about your career, you must learn to activate passion, be innovative, self-driven and motivated and sharpen the axe.
 CREATIVITY – ‘‘But unless we are creators we are not fully alive… no matter our vocation or how we earn our living. Creativity is not limited to the arts, or having some kind of important career.’’ –Magdeleine L’engle. Creativity refers to the human act or process of producing new idea or a new approach to solving either an existing or new problem. It is all about finding new ways of solving problems and approaching situations. The creative process involves Envisioning, Incubation, Discovery and Verification or Execution (Ifeanyi Onyemere).
 SELF MOTIVATION – This explains one’s ability to initiate, undertake or continue a task or activity without an external stimuli or influence. Stephen Richards opines: ‘‘Manifesting is a lot like making a cake. The things needed are supplied by you, the mixing is done by your mind and the baking is done in the oven of the universe.’’
 MENTORSHIP – It is ‘‘a process in which a more skilled or more experienced person, serving as a role model, teaches, sponsors, encourages, counsels and befriends a less skilled or less experienced person for the purpose of promoting the latter’s professional and/or personal development.’’
 PRIORITIZATION – This is a process of evaluating a group of alternatives and ranking them in order of importance or urgency. It is in consonance with the law of forced efficiency which says: ‘‘There is never enough time to do everything but there is always enough time to do the most important things.’’ Prioritization means doing ‘‘first things first’’.
 ATTITUDE – ‘‘our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or for bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.’’- Tom Blandi.
Attitude is defined as ‘‘complex mental state involving beliefs, feelings, values and dispositions to act in certain ways.’’ You need a positive attitude to succeed. A positive attitude leads to:
 Resilience
 Creativity
 Ownership
 Sacrifice
 Optimism
 Confidence
 Emotional maturity and/or intelligence
 High self-belief
 Peak performance.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP – ‘‘the most valuable employee is the one who takes the risk to solve the most difficult problems of the organization, not only those in managerial positions.’’- Ifeanyi Onyemere. Champions, like entrepreneurs, are solution creators and ‘saviours’ to their companies in times of trouble. To become a champion, you require the characteristics and skills of a successful entrepreneur, which are:
 Visionary and willing to challenge the status quo
 Diplomacy and ability to lead cross-functional teams
 Ability to build a professional support network
 Ability to persevere, even in the face of uncertainty
 Knowledge of internal and external environment
LEADERSHIP – This is a ‘‘process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal’’ or a ‘‘process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to achieve a common goal.’’ A champion must develop individual leadership competency (ILC). Champions are leaders! Leadership starts with an individual’s ability to lead himself. It involves setting a personal goal, creating a compelling personal and/or corporate vision, self-regulation and personal mastery.
PERFORMANCE – It is ‘‘the accomplishment of a given task measured against pre-set known standards of accuracy, completeness, cost, and speed.’’ The preoccupation of every champion is to retain dominance, meet and exceed expectations, outperform itself and competition.
As Hagginson, Thomas and Wentworth succinctly put, ‘‘do not waste a minute, not a second in trying to demonstrate to others the merits of your performance. If your work does not vindicate itself, you cannot vindicate it.’’
Champions are performers, and must always seek new ways of improving performance. They can achieve this through:
 Understanding and loving your job
 Embarking on training and continuous improvement
 Setting a personal goal
 Having a sense of ownership
 Persistence.
NETWORK (SYNERGY) – This is where relationship skill is at work. A champion needs interpersonal skill to network, build and sustain relationships. This becomes necessary in order to increase potentials beyond what we could achieve working on our own. No one lives in the world of his/hers. ‘‘The truth in life is that when you travel alone, you make if faster, but when you travel with people, you make it farthest. Human beings are gregarious animals.’’- Ifeanyi Onyemere.
BALANCE – ‘‘A true balance between work and life comes with knowing that your life activities are integrated not separated.’’- Michael Thomas Sunnarborg. A champion must learn to achieve and maintain a healthy blend between work and life (work-life balance).
COMMITMENT – It is ‘‘a willingness to give your time and energy to something that you believe in, a promise or firm decision to do something.’’ Commitment sets the tone for a thorough success in life because we are inclined to take necessary actions towards anything we are committed to. A champion must show commitment to result, oneself, people and to the organisation in which h/she works. ‘‘Without commitment, you cannot have depth in anything, whether it’s a relationship, a business or a hobby.’’- Neil Strauss.
CHARACTER – Character is the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. A champion must have strength of character. Such character traits as compliance with ethical standards, mutual trust, transparent relationships and integrity are necessary ingredients to becoming a champion. It is your character that defines your personality or reputation. John Wooden said ‘‘be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.’’
SUPERNATURAL – Above all, we need the will of God for our lives, no matter whom or what we are. We need supernatural guidance and empowerment. ‘‘…Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.’’- Zechariah 4:6
Conclusion
Indeed, to be a champion requires that we become passionate about success and value everything that leads to success in life. You need personal vision and commitment to your dreams; you need passion, courage, integrity, knowledge, character and relationship skills. You must know your work and use it to create value for the society; you must love what you do and do what you love. You must learn how to create solutions and use them profitably by being committed to excellence. You need the characteristics of an eagle to pave your way towards becoming a champion.
The eagle has got strength, power, majesty, boldness, dependability, tenderness, faithfulness, pride, ferocity, daring and courage. You will succeed in your career if you combine these traits with commitment, discipline and motivation. Success and failure are Siamese twins. You can either succeed in your chosen career or you become a failure! Failure has been explained to mean,
 Fear;
 Acceptance of defeat;
 Ignorance;
 Laziness;
 Unpreparedness;
 Rejection of God, good counsel and correction;
 Evil companionship.

Want to be a champion? STAND UP and become a champion today!

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Becoming a Champion in your chosen Career – By Amb. Velshik Kirme Philip