Hard way the only way
When godlike mastery is the only fair shot
It’s an unfair world
They say where you start determines where you end. If that were true, I wouldn’t be here. Some lives begin in still water. Mine began in a storm. And so I discovered that to be born into pressure like I was is to learn early that life makes no promises.
As the first son of a broken home, raised by one present parent and the ghost of another, hardship was the language I learned first. I had to grow up fast and hard. Those years shaped me with fire, not comfort. But they didn’t end me. They built the posture I carry now: upright, resolved, and moving in one direction only—forward. Or, as Lagosians would have it, ahead ahead.
What happened to me is happening everywhere. In nations still boxed into the outdated label of the “Third World,” chaos is common, structure is scarce, and childhoods are often heavily ladened with adult burdens. These regions continue to produce millions like me, young people growing up with few resources, limited protection, and even less permission to imagine a life beyond survival.
In places like these, fate is worshipped like religion. Circumstance takes the blame, politicians take the heat, and personal power quietly dies in the corner. But suppose three decades of struggle have taught me anything. In that case, it’s this: reality, in its harshest form, offers clarity. A few things I am very clear on include the following: comfort is the enemy of growth, and shortcuts rarely lead anywhere worth going. The path to becoming sovereign is never smooth; it burns. And to walk it is to choose pain over paralysis.
Ye are gods
The world may deny it, but the spark of divinity lives in those who dare to forge themselves anew. Let the world call meritocracy a lie. Let them blame the system, the structure, the past. Much of it is true. But here’s what’s truer: no matter the barriers of geography or the privilege birthright confers, god-level excellence still commands the world's attention. The world may not be just, but it remains impressively responsive to mastery. If you can master yourself, you don’t need permission—you become the exception.
It is not a gentle truth. Nor a democratic one. The world does not play fair, and freedom is rarely handed down; it is carved out through force of will. Not through collective reform, but through personal transcendence. To rise, you must train like a god until you become undeniable. Not a god of myth, but of mastery: quiet, exacting, forged in discipline, and refined in solitude.
This is not a sermon about good grades or hollow motivational cliches. It is a call to arms, a summons to reclaim authorship of your life through deliberate, relentless excellence. Brutal. Beautiful. Earned.
However, the call to mastery often falls on ears numbed by noise. In the age of dopamine diets and TikTok attention spans, “mastery” has been mutilated—mistaken for talent, charisma, or the curated theatre of productivity on LinkedIn. But real mastery is none of that. It is unglamorous. It is obsessive repetition. It is the daily grind of doing what matters, long after the mood to do it has disappeared.
Mastery means enduring boredom in service of brilliance. It means knowing more, refining faster, and executing better than almost anyone else until the world, reluctantly or reverently, makes space for your presence.
The bar is high. But so is the cost of mediocrity. Life does not hand out trophies for effort. The market rewards value, not virtue. Algorithms reward velocity, not motion. And society, despite its egalitarian pretensions, still bows to results. Not good intentions. Not participation. Only results.
Become sovereign
Mediocrity is no longer safe. Once, being reasonably capable could guarantee a job, a pension, or even a future. In today’s world, being average is cheap and almost automated. AI works faster. The global labour market no longer rewards the merely competent; it erases them. In a world of rising tides and shrinking margins, only the exceptional remain afloat.
Still, many cling to the comforting myths of safety: follow the rules, wait your turn, stay in line. But time does not honour good behaviour. It rewards value; rare, refined, and ruthlessly executed. The middle is vanishing. You either rise to the top or get swallowed by the tide.
To become, in John Obidi’s terms, a “sovereign entity,” one must abandon the gravitational pull of mass psychology. That means trading validation for vision, leisure for labour, and convenience for conviction. It means crafting a mind so sharp it cuts clean through inherited limitations and cultural scripts. This isn’t romantic heroism; it’s strategic self-actualisation.
Race, nationality, and class are not illusions. But neither are they absolute prisons. They become insurmountable only when internalised. Personal mastery may not dismantle every structural barrier, but it is the one force that consistently overrides them. Not always. Not perfectly. But often enough to make it the best odds you’ll ever get in a rigged game.
To rise beyond your postcode or passport, you must shift into a higher frequency of being; one built on discipline, clarity, and compounding skills. Here is where that journey begins:
Master self-discipline, not self-pity: Life will hand you excuses. Refuse them. Stop complaining, start producing value and hold yourself to standards higher than your circumstances. Life is hard, not fair. Don’t whine. Don’t wait. Train yourself to do what must be done, especially when you least feel like it.
Build, don’t brood: Devote your energy to crafting the highest version of yourself. Energy spent complaining is energy stolen from your growth. Use it to forge habits, skills, and systems that push you forward, even in silence.
Read obsessively, but not indiscriminately: Wisdom is not everywhere; it must be hunted. Read the rare, the rigorous, and the revelatory. Seek thinkers, builders, and visionaries whose ideas stretch your mind. Let your mind be shaped by the exceptional, not the algorithm. Let your inputs be as elite as your ambitions.
Learn to express yourself: Do it clearly, boldly and with intent. Master communication in speech and writing. Clarity of thought is power; the ability to articulate it is a force multiplier. If this wasn't part of your upbringing, make it part of your uprising.
Pursue elite proximity: Surround yourself with people whose excellence intimidates and inspires you. Not for ego, but exposure. Your environment is not neutral; it’s either lifting you or limiting you. You rise to the standard of your circle or sink to its comfort.
Focus is your unfair advantage: In an era of endless noise, single-minded attention is a superpower, and deep focus is rebellion. Fall in love with showing up, staying locked in, and doing the work, especially when no one is watching. Consistency compounds. So does mediocrity.
And remember: There is no one coming to save you. But if you master this craft of self-mastery and elevate your innate abilities, you will become the calvary that saves countless others.
The ascent
This creed is not for everyone. It demands more than most are willing to give. It rejects excuses, scorns comfort, and mocks the leisurely drift of the average. But for those with the will to endure it, it offers something rare: authorship, not of a résumé, but of a legacy.
To live as a sovereign entity is to become unmoved by the tides of culture, recession, politics, or prejudice. That kind of power is not inherited. It is earned. It is forged in the fires of obsession, sharpened by solitude, and delivered through relentless execution. You are not born into it. You become it.
There is no nobility in waiting for the world to become fair. It won’t. The path forward is not through protest or passivity but through the disciplined violence of personal reinvention. Refine yourself into such a rare force that your work transcends industry, geography, and identity. Become so precise, so excellent, that resistance becomes irrelevant.
In the end, the gods are not watching. But they may well be waiting for those bold enough to join their ranks. The only question is: will you join them?
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Thank you so much for this 🥹
Hmm! We are forged by ourselves, never to mediocre but to be the true gods in mastery. Thank you so much Sir Israel for this is insightful article