Ever heard someone say to you “don’t worry, I’ll fix it”, but they never do? Ever seen someone start an enviable project, planning and dreaming about what the end would look like, but everything ends up on the drawing board? Ever fought for a worthy cause, where you have some people tell you, “go ahead brother, we’re right behind you and with you all the way,” but right in the heat of it, you turn around and find that you’re all alone in the struggle? How about when you’re so broke, you ask a friend for support, and they say “oh send me your bank account number”, and you do and wait endlessly for the alert on your phone, but that alert is yet to come months later? Oh, I can go on and on, but does any of the above sound familiar? Have you put your hope and trust in someone close to you and they let you down? Don’t worry about it. You’re not the one with the problem, you did not promise to do what you couldn’t do, they did. However, if you do have a plan and you daydream instead of taking action, then you also qualify to be described as having lips, but not the hips.
Lips, but not the hips. What’s that about? It’s basically doing the talk and not doing the walk! What’s the point talking about it when you’re not ever going to do it? Why would you lead someone on when you have no plan whatsoever to go with that person’s idea, vision, proposal? You have lips, but you do not have the hips! Do you see some sense here? Do you understand what I’m talking about? It’s important that you do, because you see, to move to a certain level in life you have to be accountable, reliable, focused, determined and relentless.
Accountability: It’s a trait that success stories have. I remember telling my mother the things I needed when I was in secondary school, and even though the money wasn’t available, she would tell me “Don’t worry, I will come to see you in school”. She would travel all the way from Lagos to Benin City, to come see me in boarding school, and she would go through the stress of taking care of all that needed to be sorted. Watching her go through that high level of pain just to keep her word to me, broke my heart. But she showed a rare quality… She has the lips, and the hips!
Reliability: Keeping to your word and plan is most uncomfortable most times. It takes unfathomable sacrifice, discipline and reliability. When we started THE STREET UNIVERSITY PROJECT, a programme that was basically non-profit, with the sole aim of turning under-privileged youths to instant entrepreneurs; there were a lot of lip support, but the people that did the hips support are the pillars of the project today. These men and women gave their word, they stayed true to the vision even in the absence of plenty, they continued to take a step of faith everyday at a time, never quitting! These are rare individuals, no wonder they are success stories today in their other various endeavours. They do the talk, the walk and the work! Lips… with strong moving hips.
Focus: When you have a vision, and put down a plan towards achieving it, you see the end result in your mind’s eye, and you are already so excited you can hardly keep still, and then you close your plan book, shove it under the bed and go to sleep; never doing a single thing about it. What? That is so irresponsible! What are you doing?! Have you sat down to think about the many lives your idea when turned into reality would touch and affect positively? Have you thought of the ripple impact of your idea if given the chance to have life? A friend of mine, named Nancy, had a vision to start an environment programme starting with an Environmental Summit. She needed to get renowned environmentalists within and outside the country. She needed to get support to be able to pay for all the logistics involved. When put together, the amount of money needed and the ability to put it all together seemed too huge for a young lady like her, whose only experience was editing a magazine. But even when all odds were against her, she remained focused, and even though it took her over a year to put it all together, she eventually did, and today she is recognized as a prominent figure in the area of environmental protection. All this would not have happened if she did not maintain her focus, as she did the lips…and the hips.
Determination: He became an editor of a top notch magazine before he was 30 years old. It was a promise he made to himself when he started as a very young journalist. He set clear targets and worked towards his goal with precise determination. Today, Azuh Arinze has moved from being an Editor to a Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of his own YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine! A fast growing entertainment and social magazine. He would not have been able to achieve this without his strong determination. Lips and working hips.
Relentlessness: Regarded as the Godfather of comedy in Nigeria, Ali Baba (as popularly known and called), had it all rough pursing a career that at a time was regarded as a joke and nothing more. Comedy. Yet he believed in a future for it. He put all he had to promote this kind of business, despite the fact that he had no secure accommodation when he came to Lagos. He did not mind where he laid his head. He promised himself that he would make comedy a money-making business in Nigeria, even when it looked bleak and not promising. He gave it his best shot. Used all available opportunity he had to promote his talent. TV programmes, radio programmes, events and all. One day it paid off, and people started paying him millions of Naira to host their events. Today, he has raised a large number of comedians supporting them to reach their peak. Today, comedy is a fast money making business. Ali Baba will always be mentioned in the history of the boom of comedy in Nigeria, why? Because he was relentless in ensuring his vision came to pass despite the odds. He talked with the lips… and walked with the hips!
So, what is the conclusion of this topic? As individuals, young and old, let us be dependable to ourselves and to others. When we say something, let us do all to do as we said. We should always do as we say. Let our mouths drop words that our hips can follow through. It gives us credibility, it gives us focus and most of all, it gives us success stories that are credible.