The UPstander's Guide to an Outstanding Life

By Omekongo Dibinga

In this book, Omekongo provides 7 key steps that all students must adopt in order to achieve greatness in their lives so that they can be the most effective while advancing their cause. Simply put, you are no good to your cause if you do not first take care of yourself. Follow these steps and you will live an outstanding life as an empowered UPstander and not a bystander in your own life!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Omekongo Dibinga
• Release date: Nov 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9780976005667

Omekongo Dibinga

Omékongo Dibinga is a Les Brown Platinum motivational speaker, trilingual poet, CNNcontributor, and positive rapper. His Urban Music Award winning work has best beendescribed by Nikki Giovanni as “outstanding, exciting, and new while being very old.”His book, From the Limbs of My Poetree was described by Essence Magazine as “aremarkable and insightful collection of exquisite poetry that touches sacred placeswithin your spirit.”Omékongo has shared the stage with Les Brown, Willie Jolley, Sonia Sanchez, AmiriBaraka, Dennis Brutus, Black Thought, The Last Poets, Awilo, Felix Wazekwa, OutKast,Wyclef Jean, Reverend Run, Free, and Jeff Johnson. Internationally, he has performedin South Africa, England, Congo-Kinshasa, Tanzania, France, Cuba, and Canada. Hiswork has appeared on TV and radio on CNN, BET, BBC, NPR, Music Choice, Voice ofAmerica and Telesud in millions of homes in over 150 countries.Omékongo has studied at Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Georgetown, Morehouse, and TheFletcher School, where he received his M.A. in Law & Diplomacy. He is currently a Ph.D.student in International Education Policy at The University of Maryland. He provideseducational empowerment as a motivational speaker for organizations, associationsand institutions and his work has been globally adapted for curricula in primary,secondary, and university institutions. He has featured/lectured nationwide inuniversities and poetry venues from Harvard to Russell Simmons’ Hip-Hop Summit. His tworap mixtapes CD, “Bootleg” & “Bootleg II” promote positive hip-hop with remixes ofsongs by Tupac, Notorious BIG, Hay-Z, Nas, Lauryn Hill, 50 Cent, and others.Omékongo currently co-stars as “Yenga” in the international television series “YaMa’Afrika,” a fictional drama series about the lives of four African women livingtogether in New York City. “Ya Ma’ Afrika” is the first TV series of its kind to show Africansliving in the western world confronting real issues such as relationships, immigration,racism and HIV. “Ya Ma’Afrika” tells stories of cultural experiences, contradictions andchallenges of Africans living in the West. The television series broadcasts on 3A TELESUDon 4 Continents: in Europe, Africa, the Middle-East and North America both on Cable,Satellite and IPTV.His publishing company, Free Your Mind Publishing has produced five fusion music andspoken word CDs, three books, and one independent DVD. A first generationCongolese-American, his parents were Congolese refugees who were exiled for theirrole in aiding in the liberation of the Congo. They came to America and later earnednine collegiate degrees between the two of them, including two PhDs from Harvard. Itis no surprise that his parent’s stressed education, and provided encyclopedias forbirthdays, as gifts instead of toys, bikes and leisurely reads such as comic books.Omékongo, one of nine children, was determined to see the world and express hisexperience through the spoken and written word. Omékongo states simply that “Thestage is my pulpit, the pen is my temple, the paper is my sanctuary, and these poemsare my confessionals, my heart and my faith.” -- www.theCHANGEiSEEK.com

Book preview

The UPstander's Guide to an Outstanding Life

Omekongo Dibinga

Copyright 2011 by Omékongo Dibinga

Published on Smashwords

Formatted by eBooksMade4You

Published by

Free Your Mind Publishing

PO Box 70

Boston, MA 02131

[phone]

[phone] (fax/orders)

[e-mail]

http://www.freeyourmindpublishing.com

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All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanic, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system not known to be invented, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011940265

ISBN: 978-0-9760056-5-0-5

SAN: 2 5 6 - 1 8 8 3

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Table of Contents

The UPstander’s Creed

Introduction

Chapter 1: You are your only competition!

Chapter 2: Follow what you feel

Chapter 3: Find your release

Chapter 4: Seek out mentors

Chapter 5: Seek to understand before you seek to be understood.

Chapter 6: Know that you will win…eventually

Chapter 7: G.R.O.W. towards your greatness!

Other products from Free Your Mind Publishing

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For my fellow UPstanders…

The UPstanders Creed:

I cannot help others if I do not first help myself

I cannot upstand for others until I stand up for myself

I will give to myself until my cup runeth over

I will give to the world with all that’s left over

I am a soldier for peace, a general for justice

Since giving is living, I know that I must give

By being a better me I can better society

So I will upstand for the world by being an upstander for me!

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Introduction

It has been said that the two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you realize why you were born. Congratulations! You just scored a 50% on life’s two-question exam. But we’re taught that 50% isn’t good enough right? Nothing short of 100% right? If you chose to open this book, you probably are experiencing some form of anxiety in your life like:

What class should I register for?

Did I choose the right school?

Did I pick the right major?

Where am I going to find a summer internship?

Does this professor believe in the 15-minute rule?

When will I hear about my financial aid package?

Will she accept me as a friend on Facebook?

I’m about to graduate and I haven’t found a job! WTF?

Will I even be able to get a job in this economy?

What’s this drink really composed of?

Um…it’s been 5 minutes. WHY hasn’t she accepted my Facebook friend request?!

OMG! If you’re anything like me, these serious questions are probably being asked in addition to the other pressing questions in your life like:

How do I stop genocide in Darfur?

How can I make my campus less homophobic?

What can I do to end sex slavery across the globe?

Why am I the only one who seems to care that there are homeless people in the richest country on earth?

How long can we continue depleting nature’s resources and act like it’s OK?

When will we learn that adolescent domestic abuse is real?

What’s happening with our wildlife population?

How many Congolese had to die so I can have a discount on my cell phone?

And if you’re really like me, you’ve thought about all of this before you made it to breakfast!

It’s no wonder that across this country and abroad, college students are stressed out. Every single moment you feel like you are faced with a decision that can alter your life or the lives of others. Furthermore, you have learned the age-old truth that your indecision is actually a decision so you