Help African Genesis Institute send a group of inner city youth to Egypt this summer! This will be a life altering trip where they can see with their own eyes what they have been learning about for the past 2 years!
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Originally published 3.5.09
Written By Jesse Muhammad
This is not another article to scream at young men about pulling up their pants, to stop saggin’ and showing their underwear.
But rather it’s an encouragement for us all to pull up our P.A.N.T.S. which in turn may motivate us to dress for success by first dressing our minds with the right thoughts.
What’s a possible formula?
Well, to pull something up according to the dictionary is defined as performing successfully, drawing or hauling toward oneself or itself, in a particular direction, or into a particular position, propelling to higher levels,etc.
P.A.N.T.S. is an acronym for Personality-Attitude-Niche-Technique-Style. Let’s pull them up.
Personality: This is the organized pattern of behavioral characteristics of the individual. Who are you? Too many of us as young men do not have a proper self-image of ourselves so we live our entire lives trying to pretend to be something or someone we are not. We would rather talk, walk, spend money and drive the same car like the person on T.V. yet we’re void on the inside. We lack authenticity. Be comfortable with your personality and if you have some blemishes just apply the right “spot remover” and correct it. Don’t fake it till you make….make it so you won’t have to fake it.
Attitude: Are we really confident in how we’re created? Naw, for real? When we look into the mirror every morning what words do we utter to ourselves? Attitude is the orientation of thoughts. If attitude determines one’s altitude, then we need to yell “Mayday!” because some of us are heading daily for a crash landing into the river of low self-esteem and self-pity. Stop having the “why me?” attitude and start saying “why not me?”.
Niche: There are good traits and skills we all possess but some are too lazy to put in work to become a niche master. What’s a niche master? A niche is a distinct segment of a market. To break it down further, your niche is the thing you do that others may can do but they can’t do it quite the way you do it. What skill is that brother? I’m not talking about killing, drug dealing, smoking, or gossiping. I’m talking about those essentials skills that build communities. What do you have to offer? Why not corner the market on good deeds and raise your stock value? Find your niche.
Technique: How do you go about getting what you want in life? Is it illegal tactics or is it by using ideas that activate your 14 billion brain cells? Music mogul Kevin Liles is encouraging everyone to Be Presidential in the way they conduct their lives so that means the techniques we use in financial management, goal achievement, relationships, and more has to be on a higher level than it was once before. Be mathematical. Be strategic and stop just going with the flow.
Style: Ok, this part goes right into dress attire. A good friend of mine, Durce Muhammad, does a workshop about techniques in proper communication. He says that 70 percent of your communication is non-verbal! So what type of signals are you sending off when you’re constantly showing your underwear to the world? What are you attracting to yourself? What would happen if all of the young brothers in the ‘hood decided for one day to wear a shirt, slacks and a tie? Everyday can’t be hip-hop attire day, let’s up our game by going to a local store and dress up. Bypass those new Jordans and invest in some professional attire this month like button downs. We have to start conducting business as young men but we can’t come to the negotiation table out of style.
Remember if your life is saggin’….just stop and pull up your P.A.N.T.S.
Responsibility is a Lifestyle.