FATHER'S GIFT

Lt. Col. Vince Nwafor US Army (Ret.)

Description

Through one family’s fictional story, this self-improvement book offers an informational guide to help people find their way early in life.

Who doesn’t want a glimpse of the future and a chance to plan ahead and bypass any roadblocks? In Father’s Gift, author Lt. Col. Vince Nwafor presents an informative guide to help you find your way early in life.

A road map of sorts, it plants the seeds of hunger, helping you learn and grow with the seasons of life and to improve the seeds you reap. Through the fictional story of one family, Nwafor prompts you to think ahead in time and space and know which direction you’re moving. As the grandfather shares his wisdom and experiences with his grandson, Tiger, the narrative leads you to untwine your lifeline into the triad of self-empowerment, building wealth, and family relationships.

Filled with strategies to improve every aspect of life, Father’s Gift doesn’t offer a Band-Aid or a quick fix. It’s intended to imprint a positive, lasting influence on the elements of your life cycle, encouraging you to seize the opportunities that allow you to be what you could be and should be.

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Développement personnel
• développement personnel
• Jésus de Nazareth
• Self-help
• Jesus
• God
• Jesús de Nazaret
• Personal Growth
• guide

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 27 mars 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665741330
• Langue: English

Extrait

FATHER’S GIFT
THREE BIG PILLARS
LT. COL. VINCE NWAFOR, US ARMY (RET.)


Copyright © 2023 Lt. Col. Vince Nwafor, US Army (Ret.).
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4058-6 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4057-9 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4133-0 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023905399
 
 
 
Archway Publishing rev. date:  03/27/2023
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
Part I: Tiger
Chapter 1Tiger Arrived
Chapter 2Growing Up
Part II: Self-Empowerment
Chapter 3Personal Hygiene
Chapter 4Character Building
Chapter 5Education
Chapter 6Learning
Chapter 7Belief in God
Chapter 8Health
Chapter 9Leadership
Chapter 10Public Speaking
Chapter 11Politics
Part III: Building Wealth
Chapter 12The Right Job
Chapter 13House
Chapter 14Savings and Investments
Chapter 15Credit Scores
Chapter 16Insurance
Part IV: Family
Chapter 17Girlfriends
Chapter 18Marriage
Chapter 19Appreciate Your Parents
Chapter 20Family Members
Chapter 21End of Life
Part V: At Forty, Tiger Looks Back
Chapter 22Tiger at It
Chapter 23Pass It On
 
Acknowledgments

To my father , a gentle soul who saw every reason to laugh heartily. A man who left footprints to help others find their way. His earned salutation name, “Ome-mma,” he who does good, says it all.
PREFACE
By the time you have finished this book, your imagination will be stretched, and seeds will be planted. You will be in a position to envision your golden years with minimal fumbles on life’s big decisions. And your anxiety level will no longer surge when you mull over the thread of challenges tied to your anchor rope and your life journey.
Father’s Gift will untwine your lifeline into the triad of self-empowerment, building wealth, and family relationships. Its story line will offer you a lens to see through during your life voyage. You will feel like you knew what was coming up and had time to plan for it. You will be able to see things instead of endlessly looking for them. You get the big decisions right; you will put order into the chaos of life. Hopefully you will hold onto the great feelings of traveling to a place you never want to forget.
You will be reminded that life is full of choices. Your decisions only take minutes to make, but their impacts could last a lifetime. If you make better choices, you can expect a better future.
You need to stay nimble to stay afloat in life. Life is not static. It is dynamic. Things around you will change, and you will change too. You do not need any extra baggage. It has a cost; it will weigh you down. Societal idiosyncrasies will be there to spar with your survival instinct, and everything is connected.
Among other points that will come alive in this book is not letting fears of life’s uncertainties deter you from taking deserved risks. Former Congressman John Lewis often said, “Make good trouble.” The only way to know is to try, right? And if not now, when? When the desirable is not available, the available becomes the desirable.
Father’s Gift will encourage you to seize the opportunities that allow you to be what you could be and should be. You own the rights to be yourself in your own game, but you can only be one person at a time—unless you have a multiple personality disorder. As you make your bed, so shall you lie on it. Let the journey begin.
Once you have decided on your why and what, fill in the blanks with your when, where, and how. Learn what is effective, be effective, and then be efficient. Activity is not an accomplishment. Make progress. No sane person cerebrates failure.
Try to finish what you start. Halfway done is still undone. Persevere. It is darkest before the dawn. Stars only show in the dark. Right actions bring right results. Being successful feels good, and once you taste it, you will never want to fail.
Father’s Gift offers you a way to break the fever of having no manual for your life journey. The help is here. Like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, you now have the power to write your future and a beautiful ending—yes, with minimal regrets and do-overs.
INTRODUCTION
There are some things I wish I knew earlier. Some of those things were taken for granted. Why not make them available to everyone?
Many grown-ups wish they knew what they know about life years ago. A blueprint for meandering through all the stages of life would be wonderful.
There are road maps for land navigation. There are manuals to put things together and operate things, but there is no one-size-fits-all instruction book for managing life and becoming a better life player.
Who does not want a glimpse of the future and a chance to plan ahead and bypass any roadblocks? Problem identified! Rather than finding fault and fixing blame, in my own little way, I will do something. The idea for Father’s Gift was conceived.
Father’s Gift is intended to help you find your way early in life. It will plant the seeds of hunger, help you learn and grow with the seasons of life, and improve the seeds you reap. Father’s Gift will help you think ahead in time and space and know which direction you are moving in. It will help you look at your performance with a realistic viewpoint.
I believe in the humility of science. If you apply a known quantity in a given condition, the result will be the same. Science is validating what nature has already figured out.
An average young person does not come into the world with royal trappings, generational wealth, an inheritance, a charted life course, and high-society mentorship, but you do not have need to be jealous of anyone. If you truly make do with what you have, you will be OK.
Worry about what you want to be and what you can be. With discipline, commitment, doing your best, and taking one day at a time, your dreams will come true.
Your duty is to find your true you and discover the purpose of your life journey. Do your best every day, trust your abilities, and trust yourself.
Do not hope others will come to your rescue or rely on others; if you do, you will be disappointed when situations go sour. Even your own shadow will leave you in the dark. You must learn to be your own cheerleader.
If you fail to plan your future and work hard for it—and solely rely on God to provide—you will be disappointed when God’s agenda overrides yours. You need to be proactive with your actions.
It is important that you plan and act for yourself. It is important that you know where you are and where you want to go. It is important that you know what to look for during your life journey. Your life will be partitioned into sprints and marathons. You must know when to sprint to establish your mojo and when to take on the marathons to sustain your purpose and relevancy.
Fortunately, actionable information and ideas are always around for those who are tuned in. Keep your ears open and your eyes on the lookout for the golden fleece. The future is uncertain, but if you are not focusing on something, your future might rush by while you are in a deep slumber. Search actively for the things you want, but remember that the things you want may not come to you.
Your success will require a lot of steps, and skipping any of these steps could send you into a life of futility.
The sooner you start exploring and exploiting your passions, the better. Some of these passions will reveal themselves more naturally than others will. Practicing activities in your areas of interest will reaffirm your natural gifts and affinities. Your love for certain walks of life will be transparent to you. Your successes and mistakes will be life lessons.
Stay with what gives you joy and happiness. Happiness is mostly a U-shaped curve—up, down, up. Never let the quest for perfection stymie your passions. Keep the engine running.
I was afraid my experiences would die with me if they were not written down and passed on to others. Too many people have died and perished with their knowledge unrecorded.
In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar , Marc Antony rebuked the Romans after Caesar’s brutal murder: “The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.” While Marc Antony explicitly condemned the brutal murder, he implicitly hammered the loss of a good man, Caesar. Generations have come and passed, leaving us with little to no details about the lives they lived. If not for that, the archeologists might not have a job. We are constantly reinventing the wheel. Knowledge immortalized in print can help ensu