"Apply yourself both now and in the next life. Without effort, you cannot be prosperous. Though the land be good, You cannot have an abundant crop without cultivation." - Plato

To be diligent means to be hardworking, focus, concentrated, determined and persevering in whatsoever your hands find doing.

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It is quite unfortunate that so many people aspire for success in all their various endeavours in life; but only few are are willing to pay the price it requires to acquire what they desire in life.
Without hardwork we will only be dwelling in hallucination instead of reality.

"Action is the foundational key to all success." - Pablo Picasso

Diligency is the major determinant of success in life and the fulfilment of destiny.
Any man that desires not be idle in life must be ready to work with his hands and brain. The tragedy of life happens to those who are idle. Like the common saying goes that " a idle hand is devil's workshop".

"There is one weakness in people for which there is no remedy. It is the universal weakness of lack of ambition." - Napoleon Hill

A man apiring for success in life must not only dream,but also act because Vision without action is just a mere hallucination.
Prophecies of greatness will fail without diligence.
Dreams and ambitions will be truncated without diligence. Diligence is the most essential factor in life and the greatest determinant of success.

"Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men".
Proverbs 22:29

Permit me to quickly share with us the story of a young man who was destined to be the next king in his community but failed as a result of lack of diligence.

THE FUTURE KING " OBALOLA"

Once upon a time in the community on Ekpe two young men who were desperate to know about what the future holds for them decided to embark on a long journey to another village to see a seer that is capable of seeing and predicting the future.
As soon as they got to the seer he gave them a warm welcome and asked them the reason for their coming to his place.
They both answered him and said: we want to know about what the future holds for us.
The old seer smiled and asked the first guy to stretch forth his hands so that he can read his palms. Five minutes later the seer looked at him and said" you are going to become a very great king in the future; but....?? Before the old seer finished his next statement the young man had already left his presence with the excitement that he is going to become a king in the future.
Now when the second guy saw that the prediction of the future of his friend was a good one, with joy in his heart he knelt down before the seer and asked him about what the future holds for him too?
The seer looked at his palm and said you're going to become a very wretched man in the future; but......? Before the seer made the next statement which would have been a condition for the avertion of his ill fate, the young man had already left the presence of the seer with a very sad countenance. This young man who was not willing to live in poverty,while his friend rule as a king in the same community where he lives went back to Ekpe to pack all his properties and departed into a forest of about 100km away from Ekpe community to start a new life.

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He cultivated a very large acres of land and planted different crops e.g yam,cassava,Cereals, legumes, fruits etc. That would sustain him for the remaining days of his life and also avert the prophecy of the seer about his destiny.
Meanwhile the other guy that was told that he would become a king went ahead enjoying himself with extravagant lifestyle and also telling the people in the community that he would become the next king once the current king passes out. He refused to engage himself in any work that would serve as a source of income to him, but rather was roaming about the whole community and professing himself as "obalola" ( A future King).

Fast forward to 2years later, there was a terrible famine in the whole land of Ekpe and in the struggle to get the famine eradicated the reigning king died. The famine became very severe such that both young and old people were dying uncontrollably. Then the elders of the land came together and issued a decree that whosoever will be able to bring them out of the siege of famine would be crowned as their next king.
Obalola tried all he could to improvise for a means in alleviating the famine, but instead of reducing it, the whole thing got worst because he wasn't having any thing to help the community.
Other young men who were eager to be crowned as king did all they could too; but failed woefully.
Then the elders came together again and made arrangement to go to other villages to seek for help. It was on their way to a particular village that they stumbled into a thick forest where a large portion of land was cultivated with different foods that are capable of eradicating famine totally from the community of Ekpe for the next 10years. And while they were gazing at the large portion of land and wondering who the possible owner would be. Obalola's friend who was just returning from a hunt met some people in his farm land when he moved much closer he discovered that they the elders in his community Ekpe. Before that time Obalola's friend had no idea about the trauma of famine that his community are experiencing lately. After listening to their story he was moved with compassion and decided to supply the food that would be enough to eradicate the famine and also sustained them for the next ten years.

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The elders became very excited, because they eventually found a solution to their problem.
Two days later this young man was brought Back to Ekpe community to be crowned as their next king while his farmland became the main source of food for the entire community.

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Recall that at the beginning of this story the seer wasn't allowed to finish his words before the two guys left his presence one with excitement while the other with sadness. Below are the "buts" he wanted to say:

To Obalola (future king) "you will become a king if only you work very hard with your hands"

While to Obalola's friend "You will not become poor in life if only you can work very hard with your hands".

Moral lesson

Your future and destiny lies in your hands; not in what people say or think about you.
In other words you are the main determinant of your destiny.
It is you who can get you where you are meant to be in life and no one else will do it for you.

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. " - Abraham Lincoln

Diligency is an essential factor to be thoroughly considered when aspiring for success in life.

Thanks for your time.