My profession is Law. My occupation is education, while my passion is writing.” These were the words of author and mentor, Ima-Mariam Agunbiade, when she unveiled two new books in Lagos on Wednesday.
This came three years after she presented a set of books on language development in children and marketing-related issues.
The two new works – Career Guide to Success and; Survival and the Rule of Detachment – are conceived to serve mentoring purposes, especially for youths within and outside school situations.
As a result, Career Guide to Success is specifically directed at ss3 and A Level students, undergraduates, graduates, career seekers and employers.
Agunbiade’s earlier works include Reading and Public Speaking in Children, Dyslexia/Reading Difficulty Manual, Montessori Special Educational Needs for Teachers; Learning About Special Education Needs in Children; and Running a Profitable School.
A widely-read expert in Montessori education, Agunbiade has a first degree in Creative Writing from the University of Port Harcourt and a degree in Law from the University of Lagos.
The author, who also runs a Montessori teacher training school, notes that Career Guide to Success focuses on how one can plan to make a first class degree or its equivalent in a tertiary institution and develop an unshakable confidence through identifying one’s passion, developing it and being positively challenged to achieve one’s heart desire.
“The book takes you through planning for a career, identifying a good job, planning your entry and exit in a job, planning a successful business, balancing work and family, identifying your passion/desire for self actualization, becoming successful and wealthy and keeping a level head,” she says.
Some of the topics explored are Interest and Ability, Mentoring and Research, Taking Decisions, Gifted and Talented Persons, Positive Thinking Developing a Unique Selling Proposition, Planning to Take a new Job and What is Your Excuse for Failure?
On the importance of getting a mentor in the course of growth, Agunbiade advises the reader on the categories of people that may be of help.
“One of the ingredients of a successful career is to have a good mentor – someone who can serve as a role model for you, that you aspire to be like,” she writes. “This person can be a relation, your teacher, family friend or even someone in the society that you like, and wish to be like. The mentor can also be your parent.”
On the other hand, Survival and the Rule of Detachment centres on ‘How to be happy and get what you want at work, in love, relationships and life’. Coming in seven chapters, the 112-page book describes ‘detachment’ as developing one’s inner strength and knowing what one wants and going after it.
