QUEST FOR PERFECTION by Nigerian chess prodigy FM Osunfuyi Abimbola
FM Osunfuyi Abimbola
Chess is a mirror of life, rich in metaphors for human experience. It is a pitched battle to finish between opposing armies, yet completely non –violent with no injuries ever reported from playing. It is a testing ground where we can experiment and act out personal dramas with no consequences other than wiping the board clean and starting over. A blend of primitive instinct and sophisticated calculation, it lets a player directly engage the mind of another human being- learning from experience, memorizing common patterns, methodically building a position, setting traps, analyzing variations and finally moving in for the kill. And it is a canvas whereupon great players create masterpieces, like famous paintings, that can be enjoyed by generations to come.
Vision is a mental perception of the kind of environment an individual aspires to create within a broad time horizon and the underlying conditions for the actualisation of the perception.
Vision is dreamt of more than it is articulated, sometimes, it is not even evident to the individual who usually thinks of the vision. By nature, it could be hazy and vague yet it is a powerful motivator to action. Often, it is from the actions that the vision could be derived.
A well conceived vision consists of core ideology and envisioned future. The core ideology defines the enduring character of an individual that remains unchangeable as it passes through the vicissitudes of life .it rests on the core values (essential and enduring tenets of an individual) and core purposes (individual reason for being) while the envisioned future consists of the long term audacious goals and vivid description of what it will be like to achieve that goal.
FM Osunfuyi
The name of FIDE master Abimbola osunfuyi does not require any special introduction, as it is well enough known in the Nigerian chess parlance. I was one of the most striking representatives of those "youngsters", which soon after the NBL chess championship 2013 confidently set about storming the most important chess tournaments in Nigeria along with my contemporaries FM Daniel Anwuli and CM Rotimi Lapite .These individuals are my friends who are always there to believe in my dreams, share my joys, show me a better way, the latest in chess theory. I guess they are my second family with regard to the fact that we operate on the same wavelength and three of us acting in tandem, Nigeria would produce its first chess grand master ever. In the quest for the refinement of abilities, one thing is of utmost importance, the company you keep. The friends you keep will either make you or they will mar you. When I pick my friends, I pick people of like passions as me, friends that respect me for whom i am and see through impossibilities with me. I guess it’s a simple analogy, if you want to develop a particular character, skill or quality. You have Stick to an individual that has got such ability that you desire and it is sure to rub off on you. To a certain generation, much is given and little is expected. To some other generations, less is given and much is expected. This generation of mine I believe has a rendezvous with destiny, much is given and much is expected, taking a pause and thinking of my journey so far
FM DANIEL AND FM ABIMBOLA @ AICC ZONE 4.4 ,TOGO LOME.MARCH 13TH-22ND 2015
FM ABIMBOLA AND CM ROTIMI @ CHESS HEIGHTS RAPID, UNILAG MAY 2014.
Anyone looking at my life today would definitely say I was lucky, I’m confident, happy; I have an amazing career, have so many chess tournaments laurels and a great friends and families. But it hasn’t always been this way. I’ve faced my own personal catastrophes and there have been times when I thought I had never achieved any of these things. At age 17 my mind was full of outdated concepts, un examined feelings, unconfronted fears and unrealistic idea of who I was. I was the plain boy who walks alone and didn’t have many friends with whom i discussed freely and played with. Conceivably I was not cool and my favourite hangout spot was staying indoors.
At age 18, I was introverted and had a low self esteem. Self esteem which is the disposition to experience oneself as being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and of being worthy of happiness, it is not euphoria or buoyancy or a love affair nor an illusion or hallucination. The level of my self esteem had profound consequences on every aspect of my existence- how I function in public, school; deal with people, how much I was likely to achieve as a chess player. One is free of self esteem problems only when one transcends the ego. Paradoxically, we need to develop a healthy ego before we transcends it.
At 19, I transcended my ego which in effect activated my sense of purpose, I was able to decide exactly what I wanted and I evaluated the price I had to pay to get what I want and then resolve to pay the price by establishing my priorities and getting to work. The greatest after effect was that I exhibited prowess in chess and in the abstract thinking, intense concentration, problem solving, and mental strategy and proved to myself and my world that I’m a capable individual who can be successful in an experience which requires me to use my mind. There is certain intellectual aura about chess. The game of chess is generally considered to be cerebral in tone, and is viewed as a game for scholars and geniuses. Most people think of chess as being extremely difficult to learn, to grasp and to play. Grasping a sophisticated game such as chess which initially appears to be extremely difficult if not impossible to learn creates a positive attitude, increased confidence and a heightened sense of control. After an individual has shown capable of understanding the nuances, the strategies and the vocabulary of chess his/her ego transcends. Ones mission in life is encoded in the soul. Each human being is born with the DNA of one’s mission already present, providing the soul its fundamental frequency. This is why the mission is fundamentally constant. The words used to describe ones mission may evolve, because words are at best rough approximations of ideas, but the energy of the mission remains constant.
Then there is the ego, which seeks to shape the world around me so that it mirrors the soul. It is like a projector, my soul being the light source and my ego the lens. If my ego is out of focus or misaligned, the image projected into the world about who i am becomes blurry or false. One’s mission is a construct of the ego, and by extension, so are dreams, goals, objectives and projects, because they all seek to modify the external world to make it align with ones mission. The ego does not necessarily seek results, it is fed by experiences, and results are simply means to create those experiences. Passion and motivation comes from the ego. The better the alignment between my mission and vision, between my soul and my ego, the more of my essential energy gets projected out into the world and the brighter I shine .the task of self improvement then becomes to clean up and align the lens, to adjust how I project my vision onto the external word through my vision.
A cornerstone of all successful people is their ability to set meaningful worthwhile goals and develop plans for accomplishment. My core ideology rested on the construct of my ego, and by extension my vision, mission, values, goals and purpose.
VISION
Vision is an image of the future we seek to create. A peep, what you see as possible for your life, where you want to be, a future identity. It is a vivid idealized description of a desired outcome that inspires, energises and helps you create a mental picture of your target. Your vision should be well understood so that you can easily transfer it into your mission, and then into individual goals. An effective vision must be realistic aspirations, time bound and must align with our values and above all memorable and engaging expression. I had this vision of becoming a chess grand-master not just a grand master but the first of its kind in Nigeria and West Africa as a whole. I guess my vision is still on course although I’m now a FIDE master, just two steps away from my goal but I still need the commitment to act on the vision.
MISSION
The commitment to act on a vision is called a mission. It is an inner calling to pursue an activity or perform a service. What I will do or achieve specifically, to make my vision a reality. My mission statement provides commitment to the action I plan to take to ensure that my vision materializes. It serves as an ongoing guide without a time frame; a mission can remain the same for decades if crafted well. One of the most powerful methods to cultivate a life of purpose and vision is to create and live by a personal mission statement. I’m unique and my mission statement reflects my uniqueness, both in content and form. As a youngster with prospects and potentials I keep pondering on how I want to be remembered, what would I really like to be and do in my life. I guess am now a force to reckon with in the Nigeria chess parlance. Creating and defining my mission is an ongoing process because life is an ongoing process. A mission provides a path to realise the vision in line with our values.
VALUES
Values are what you esteem, what you give worth to. Values determine where we spend our time, energy and money. Our values whether we realise it or not, influences our daily choices and what is most important to us. They are deeply embedded in our mission statement.
Without a clear system of values for us, it is impossible to believe in something with a passion. Once we have established our individual value system we are then able to determine how we can achieve success based on our priority of values .without a value system we can never move forward. For, we may be trading without increasing our potential for success. As chess players, you need to set powerful goals that will result in your feeling really fulfilled, you need to establish where your value lie, and then design goals that express those values. Only then, when you achieve those goals, will there be a sense of completeness and worthwhile fulfilment from all your efforts.
PURPOSE
My ultimate purpose in life is determined by the passions I pursue, the missions I accomplish and the sense of meaning that guides me. By identifying these key areas of life, my life took a new meaning. Those who approach life with passions to pursue, worthy missions to complete and a sense of purpose are elevated above the mundane matters of modern life. I considered my ultimate purpose by looking at my passions in life. Despite being an ardent chess player, I’m also eager to learn and play the guitar, be a writer or perhaps be among the few certified actuary in Nigeria. I probably want all of these but I have been able to scrutinize my true desires and found out that there are few things I want more than others and in my scrutiny, I realised there is only one desire that has been with me, my whole lifetime. The path of excellence which is the path I need to follow.
GOALS
Goal is where you are going; it is a sense of meaning and purpose in life. A goal is a state of affairs or state of a concrete activity domain which a person or a system is going or tends to achieve or obtain, it is an end we wish to accomplish within a specified time frame. What are your goals in life? Is it money, fleet of cars, mansions, recognition, fame, power, authority? Most people probably want all of these but like I said you have to scrutinize your true desires. If you pursue excellence, success will follow and money, fame and power are all subsets of success.
Everyone has strengths and talents that enable him or her do certain things and make a contribution in different fields of life. You have to consider your strengths and talents; they can be technical skills, behavioural skills or both. Perhaps they may be skills that others recognise in you or strengths and skill that others do not see. All of these will definitely play prominent role in your vision, mission and purpose in life.
We all have a purpose in life, and we know in our heart what’s important to us. In fact our mission and values are expressed in the way we live our life every day.
A good step out of life is having a vision and mission; they are the foundation of our goal setting exercise.
The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but while their companions slept, where toiling upward in the night.
My envisioned future consists of the long term audacious goals and vivid description of what it will be like to achieve my goals and here is where GOAL SETTING EXERCISE comes in.
GOAL SETTING
Goal setting is a formal process for personal planning. By setting goals on a routine basis you decide what you want to achieve, and then move step by step towards the achievement of these goals. It is a careful and deliberate planning. There are only two ingredients necessary for success. The first is that you have to decide exactly what is it that you want and this is where so many people stumble. They never decide what it that they really want. They may think that they want something from time to time, usually something generic and vague. But it’s a fleeting thought; they never truly commit. Once you’ve decided what it is that you want, the second ingredient is to determine the price you have to pay to get what you want, and then resolve to pay the price by establishing your priorities and getting to work. By simply deciding exactly what you want, you will begin to move unerringly towards you. At exactly the right time and in the right place, you and the goal will meet. Goals provide motivation, persistence and desire though most significant achievement are riddled with obstacles, struggles and failures but it is very rare for something important to be accomplished successfully on the very first try. High achievers keep picking themselves up after each fall and continue working steadily towards their targets until they finally reach their goal. Struggle and failure are often part of the price you have to pay for high achievement. Any major achievement therefore requires motivation and persistence. And where does this motivation and persistence comes from? It comes from our core ideology; the desire, purpose and reasons why we want to accomplish it.
It is important that we maintain a balance in life, as every area of our life will affect every other area of our lives. In setting our major goals, we need to aim towards having approximately two major goals in each area of our life. It makes little sense to have total focus on building my chess career if my education suffers. It is foolish to focus on having an excellent career if my relationship with people around me suffers. We need to strike a balance in all areas of our lives.
BALANCING CAREER AND EDUCATION GOALS
Most people, even very successful ones, have some periods in their career path when they seem unsure about their career choice and goals. It is totally human to feel that way. Often, such periods just come and go. Many people know I study actuarial science but only few know what actuarial science is all about.
Actuarial science is a profession for determined people, it is a profession for those who are strong and can endure pressure. What comes first to the mind of a lay man, is that actuarial science is probably tantamount with marine science especially fishery, that’s a fallacy. Actuarial science entails computation (math and statistics) that is why anybody venturing into it must be somebody who loves figures and is ready for challenges involving them. I’ll like to pinpoint some loophole. ACS is a profession which uses the governed knowledge of mathematics and statistics with a profound knowledge on how to analyze past events, assess the present risks involved and model what could happen in the future. It also involves the calculation of insurance risk and premium. Mathematical methods, chaos theory and mutual methods have been amongst the methods recently employed by actuaries. An articulation of actuarial methodology provides a starting point for understanding the methods used by actuaries and of ensuring methodological consistency where such methods are used in combination.
One of the toughest issues in making a good career choice and career goal-setting is identifying what it is that you want. Even when it seems that you know what you want, you may still have doubts. Reaching clarity in those issues may be the most important thing you can do in your career planning and goal setting.
After my exceptional performance at the Lagos international chess classic and being the youngest rated on fide ratings for Nigeria, I was the best candidate to represent Nigeria at the u-20 Africa chess juniors in Tunisia, which was stated to happen from December 5th to 23rd 2014. All logistics and plans have been made for this trip thanks to NCF president, Mr Lekan Adeyemi. The unexpected happened. My school exam which was scheduled to end on November 28 was rescheduled to end on December 5th. I was downtrodden because I had prepared so hard for this tournament and had this convictions I was going to win and become the 2014 African junior champion and of course my convictions was backed up with my relatively top form and most importantly this was my last chance to ever contest in the u-20 category .although the University of Lagos sport director in conjunction with the approval of the vice chancellor had grant me a permission to render my patriotic and national assignment and come back to write my exams ,of course I wanted to partake in both but it wasn’t possible , but after much deliberation I had to choose my top priority then , which was my exam. I guess Education is the best legacy. That was how I missed the chance to ever become a junior champion, one of those fleeting moment in my chess career.
Often we choose or are placed in a career because it just seems like the right step to take or that is what your studies have focused on. The only problem is that sometimes that passion that we once had as young adults are now gone, or the reality of the profession has taken the interest and joy out of it. Choosing the right career soul to sink into requires a great deal of soul searching.
FM Osunfuyi and Boyo Paul .K
BALANCING AN EXCELLENT CAREER AND RELATING WITH PEOPLE
In other for a relationship to be satisfying .those involved in it must set clear goals for it. Most people are so into relationships with a vague idea of what they want out of it. When pressed, they often are unable to specify their goals for the relationship in the long term. Goals can be verbally stated or written, but they should be agreed upon by the partners at the beginning of the relationship.
Relationship goals sometimes are directed by behaviour. However, for a relationship to work, the goals stated should be only those on which both partners can agree. Setting relationship is not different from setting any other type of goal. The major difference is that you generally have to get your goals with the other person involved. Setting relationship goal work for all types of relationships; be they friendships, family relationships, college or partners.
Relations with people with whom you compete depend on how each individual perceives that sphere of activity in which we are engaged. For me personally, it is very much separated - chess and life itself. I have many friends in the chess world. But it is very difficult to be really friendly with those for whom the two are combined and for whom competition at the chess board is impossible without competition in life for me this is possible. And I separate these notions very clearly. And particular interests apart from chess. I am the sort of person who wants more than he can manage. And this is why I will always be short of time. , it’s been 3 years I don’t know how to tell you this; in my chess career so far, no girl has ever made me have an inferior position and looking for the best move. I never thought I'll fall in love with this unique girl who is not chess oriented really cared about, let’s say she is tigran crush. The world works in mysterious ways; the more you attend events that interest you or involve in your profession, the higher your chances of meeting that special someone will be. It’s amazing how you can love someone before even knowing them and a stranger still. I can only speak highly of her because she is a true lady in every sense of the word and even though I didn’t make a move to ask her out although it’s a playable position; it’s full of complications with limited time on my clock.
In order to have a personal mission statement, we must begin at the very centre of our Circle of Influence, that centre comprised of our most basic paradigms, the lens through which we see the world. It is here that we deal with our vision and our values. It is here that we use our endowment of self-awareness to examine our maps and, if we value correct principles, to make certain that our maps accurately describe the territory, that our paradigms are based on principles and reality. It is here that we use our endowment of conscience as a compass to help us detect our own unique talents and areas of contribution. It is here that we use our endowment of imagination to mentally create the end we desire, giving direction and purpose to our beginnings and providing the substance of a written personal constitution. It is also here that our focused efforts achieve the greatest results. As we work within the very centre of our Circle of Influence, we expand it. Whatever is at the centre of our life will be the source of our security, guidance, wisdom, and power. Security represents your sense of worth, your identity, your emotional anchorage, your self-esteem, your basic personal strength or lack of it. Guidance means your source of direction in life. Encompassed by your map, your internal frame of reference that interprets for you what is happening out there, are standards or principles or implicit criteria that govern moment-by-moment decision-making and doing.
In conclusion I’ve discovered that it’s true that you can do something that’s never been done before, whether it’s trivial or gigantic accomplishment. It happens just by doing it. Not much analysis is involved. I’ve discovered things about myself, and the more I discover the more fascinated I become as to what else must still be there. I’m losing all inhibitions I’ve ever had that have kept me from doing things. Life just gets more and more thrilling, the more you drop those inhibitions and stop worrying about what other people are going to think.
My past is not as important as my future. By looking at myself in the soul framework, I’ve developed the specialised talent, and abilities made to achieve my goals.
ABIMBOLA OSUNFUYI A.K.A TIGRAN SPINOZA.....................
