Episodes of Living

According to Elway Research, a research group, we are bombarded with thirty-five thousand messages a day. In other words, everyday various things including the media scramble for our attention. We are faced with television and radio programs, newspaper news and articles, and the internet websites. How do you sieve these floods of knowledge in your values system and apply the best ones to your life? I believe that who you are determines what programs or websites you patronise. Perhaps more important is the fact that you could take advantage of all these and advance your personal and career lives.

The scripture above in Proverbs 18:15 say that the prudent or wise man seeks knowledge in all their ways in life. That means wisdom is not a destination but a journey that requires continuous knowledge pursuit. In this article, I discuss four critical media and four relevant areas you could take advantage of with regards to knowledge to move your life on.

Watching TELEVISION. If you know how influential TV is in your major decisions in life, you will think twice about its usage. It informs you on relationship, educational, and social issues. There are good and bad programs. There are programs on TV that can help transform your career. The following can be considered.

TV3: Change Managers on Sundays has great interviews to give you nuggets of wisdom from successful people.

ETV: The Springboard Zone on Sundays by Legacy and Legacy gives you access to great motivational conference presentations.

TV3: Today’s Woman has interviews with achievers of our time.

Metro TV: Thank God Is Friday (TGIF) with KSM does great interviews amidst hilarious moments.

Listening To RADIO. One of the knowledge avenues that have been underutilized is the magic of the radio. Do cursory checks of what Ghanaians love to listen to most on radio and it’s definitely politics and sports. The more you listen to politics, the more you feel there’s no hope for your future. For sports, I think that it has still not dawned on many sports (football) fanatics that it is just for entertainment and fun. The more football you listen to and argue about, the more you loose focus on most important things in life. I find the following programs useful on radio.

Joy Fm: Springboard with Albert Ocran on Sundays provides tools and tips to “shoot up your personal value” as the host will always say it.

The Super Morning Show on Joy Fm and The Citi Fm Breakfast Show are two useful morning shows that depart from the usual morning politics of blame game on air.

Sunny Fm: Maximum Impact Radio Seminar with Kofi Addison is tailor-made for professional development.

Citi Fm: The bestselling Books Review on Mondays looks into informative life transforming books.

Reading NEWSPAPER. People value newspapers depending on who they are. Let’s look at some of them: Unemployed graduates are found with it because they are looking out for job openings. Most Ghanaians (about 70%) scramble to catch a glimpse of newspapers because of sensational news about politicians or a disaster. Politicians patronise them because there may is negative news about their opponent. But how useful could it be. The following portions of the newspapers are useful.

The Mirror: Money Matters with Bernard Otabil helps in financial independence.

The Mirror: Keys To Success by Albert and Comfort Ocran gives tips on personal and professional successes.

The Mirror: Uncle Ebo Wyte’s write-ups in the center spread helps in personal growth.

Business & Financial Times (B&FT) Lifestyle: Personal Development Series with Terry Mante has insightful articles on personal development.

Browsing INTERNET. I find the internet a wider platform for research works. Wikipedia and Google, to me, are two of the most powerful sites to visit. Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, alone has over 19 million articles that address any topic in the world. Other relevant sites are:

Success magazine has most of the international experts on personal and professional developments publish articles here.

Entrepreneur magazine helps start-ups with relevant information for transformation.

I visit blogs such as: ericotchere.blogspot.com, johnmaxwellonleadership.com, darrenhardy.com, albertocran.com, terrymante.blogspot.com, danieldecker.net, etc.

I visit myjoyonline.com for timely and relevant local and international news.

You do not need so much in terms of money before you could use the above media for realising your aims and aspirations. You can choose to turn your life around by taking control of the information you patronize on TV, radio, newspapers, and the internet. The choice is entirely yours to make. Remember: Who you are determines how opportunistic you become in using all these media for you gain. Take control!

© 2011 Eric Otchere
Email: eric.otchere@ymail.com
(The author is passionate about practical
Knowledge For Effective Living which will see many
people Know, Do, and Give of their best in life.)