The former American president, John F. Kennedy told a story about his grandfather, Fitzgerald. When Fitzgerald was a boy in Ireland, he would walk home with a whole group of boys. On their way were a lot of cobblestone fences with jagged edges at the top. Those fences were ten to twelve feet high and very dangerous to climb.
One day, Fitzgerald threw his cap over the wall. He knew very well that he had to retrieve that cap because he dared not show up at home without it. Fitzgerald scaled that fence and got his cap. He did what everyone else was afraid of doing.
It has been said by research that the average person uses less than 10% of his potential. We are always capable of much more accomplishment than we dare. We have potential for greater victories.
I encourage you today to take the bull by the horn. Do not limit yourself. To be totally
honest, the only limitation is that of the mind. Step out in faith.
Raise the bar higher; do not settle for less than what God had destined for you. What
you get out of life is what you put into it. If you put less, you can never get more.
What is that action that holds the potential for your breakthrough? You never know
what you can accomplish until you try. And the right angle to approach a difficult
problem is the “try angle.” It does not matter how many times you have tried and failed. The greatest failure is when you stop trying. Keep trying and keep daring.
“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” “What is impossible with man, is possible with God.” Just like Fitzgerald Kennedy, throw your cap over the wall. Set a goal
beyond yourself. Challenge your God-given abilities. Do not pick on the ground like a
chicken when you can soar with the eagles. God has deposited inside of you what you
need to succeed. Do not go about feeling sorry for yourself or envying others. “Trust in
God and lean not on your own understandings, in all your ways acknowledge Him and
He will direct your path.”
Dare to succeed. God will give you a breakthrough.
You will succeed!
Sam Adeyemi is one of Nigeria's most influential pastors. He tweets from @sam_adeyemi
Since childhood, my mind has been enthralled with the idea of achieving success at the peak of my adolescences. I would proudly one day wear the badge of being the youngest “something” to do “this, this & that.” I knew that I had talents of many trades that I would one day share with the world. I also knew that I had what it takes not only make in the world, but make it happen with constant smile on my face.
My measurements of confidence were so accurate, that essentially (and naively), I expected ALL of my milestones to be met with success if I followed my simple steps. The right pedigree, the correct verbiage, impeccable presentations and perfect timing the first time around would do the trick. So at the tender age of fourteen, I knew that with my faith in God and my eyes on the stars, high school and the life to come would be a breeze.
Yet, somewhere along the way I took a dosage of life’s antidote, and things got a little harder. I became more aware of my surroundings, faced challenges and lured myself into the darkness of my weaknesses. Furthermore, I invited the influence of the outside world to distract me. The open seas of sailing towards my success was now an obstructive view. I found it hard to trust myself, depend on others, and seek refuge in God.
My natural dialogue of positivity change its tone. I spoke defeat over my life; prematurely announcing failures and creating distress over my mind, body and soul. Finally, I found the cliff that I would run across to take my final plunge into the suicide of my dreams, goals and desires. I was experiencing my early to mid-twenties crisis.
Miraculously, God and reality caught grip of me. The words of my parents, mentors and loved ones that echoed through my darkness became louder and more profound (“Life is hard, but there’s nothing that God hasn’t already placed in your life that you cannot endure.”, “The Lord has already given you all of the instruments that you need to succeed. It’s time for you to put your faith into action.”, “People don’t plan to fail…they fail to plan.”).
It dawned on me that despite my talents, I’ve been unconsciously passive about putting in the appropriate effort towards being successful. This was a result of my unspoken internal fear of bearing the weight of my destiny. To distract myself, I made it more important to impress individuals who didn’t appreciate my efforts, while ignoring the Lord’s will. I didn’t take much care or concern for the fact that I do have support system that has always been truthful with me, and that meant being honest…even when it hurts the most. The hurt that I felt in my soul was called the truth.
As I quickly ran away from the cliff, I decided to take another route and evaluate my life over the past few years. I’ve learned to celebrate, appreciate and embrace where I am right now on this very day. I re-discovered how to smile again. Most importantly, I learned that my dreams belong to God’s vision for my life. It doesn’t matter when my seed ripens, because it will be on God’s time. Not my own.
Therefore, I realized that I have to re-condition my mind from the superficial milestones that I set for myself long ago. Instead, it was time to take a leap of faith, hold on tight to the Lord, and start my real journey towards becoming everything that I know God has envisioned for me. I felt that it would be good to remain silent while working on building myself up, but God told my spirit that I must continue to be vocal about what is to come so that I will be held accountable to towards my future and all who bear witness of my journey.
Even as I write these words, I am still in a state of rehab. No matter how many times I fall, I will find the strength to stand up and leap towards the next milestone insight. I am pleased that I will have chance to share my journey with you.
By: Ivuoma “Ivy” Okoro
@MsIvyLove on Twitter
This article was first published online (the author's blog) on Saturday, June 16th, 2012.
“Madam, your website is ready,” he said during the call.
I was so excited because he delivered on time too. When I checked the website five minutes later however, my balloon of joy was deflated. Not only had he gotten the name of the website wrong, he also used the wrong content management system; A system I didn’t know a thing about. It involved knowing how to code and I didn’t know the smallest thing about coding a website. To add insult to injury, the grammatical errors on the site could send even Aunty Patience crying foul. All this after taking my time to explain what I wanted to him in detail. I was angry as I called him a minute later to let him know my frustration. I had paid for this website for God’s sake, was I to pay for his errors and lack of skill?
But the question is: Was I going to further waste time and money by starting over again?
I didn’t like this option, so I set out to learning codes and building a website. It wasn’t easy I must tell you and not much help was available. I took my search to YouTube. The only clear video I could find on the topic was the most boring. I slept off once while watching it. I gave up. Then some weeks later, I found the answer I was looking for. And it was on the internet all along! Just a few clicks and my website was up and running! What am I saying? In life and in everything, what is between moving from where you are to where you want to be is INFORMATION.
There is power in knowing. If you are not succeeding yet, there is something you need to know. Whatever it is, find it and learn it!
What may move you from where you are now to a greater place is just a simple tip, some inside information that you don’t have access to. You can imagine a man dying in mediocrity simply because he didn’t access the information to move him to relevance. I say again, “THERE IS POWER IN KNOWING.”
Knowing and learning can come in many forms: through books, the internet, people, and even inanimate objects. Unfortunately, not many people can boast that they opened a book after leaving school. No man whoever became relevant didn’t read or acquire knowledge.
This is one of the best times to be alive. The internet makes so much information available and it is for free! Many young men and women have maximized their potentials and accessed greatness through the internet. This is the information age and many have leveraged this as a stepping stone to relevance. Learning breaks your mind free from the chains that hold it bound. Learning expands your horizons and makes you break into territories previously unknown. The secret is that there is no secret. You just need to keep expanding your mind and keep increasing your capacity for greatness.
Knowing however can be detrimental. Sometimes to move forward in life, you may have to unlearn some things. You may need to let go of some thought patterns that aren’t moving you forward. Wisdom is needed during such times. So in your knowing, apply wisdom. It is also not enough to know, knowledge needs to be applied. As you accumulate knowledge, test the waters. See what works and discard what doesn’t.
What you know, and apply increases your capacity for greatness. So keep knowing, keep learning. Die empty.
So, here’s to greatness.
Cheers.
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Opemipo Adebanjo is a writer, columnist, social media lover and boundary mover. She tweets from @opesays
You could read all the tips in the world but if you are not ready to make a change then it would not make a difference. It is not always about what we read that makes that little change, it is the mindset. What do you want to achieve? Where do you want to be? These are the basics questions while trying to reach out to your dreams.
Achieving your goal is indeed what everybody desires but how do you achieve your goal when you have no idea what it is; this is a major problem affecting our youths, we all want to achieve something but most times we don't know what we want to achieve. In some cases we are like the wheel barrow that goes no further than it is pushed. Being specific is a much needed boost here; is it a new job? Is it a dream job? Always have a detailed answer for reference.
Sticking to time like the saying 'punctuality is the soul of business' cannot be left out; always knowing the time to move on, the time to let go, and the time to hold on. Move with your time!
Believe in your dream; never let doubts set in, never let the naysayers into your life, let go of the 'I can't' to 'I can' because with the right mind set you are heading towards your dream.
Let out your fears, spread your wings and soar on with the eagles. I need you to have this at the back of your mind - if you don't succeed at first, you will try again.
Your ability to work hard and remain focused is a factor I cannot over-emphasize; working hard is the key to your goal and having a positive mindset while getting ready for change.
Welcome to another Monday, another week, and another 168 hours. I have often emphasized that a new week is an opportunity to make more happen for ourselves with our own hands as. It is a blank cheque that has been handed over to us all, irrespective of our height, colour or deficiencies as human beings.
I heard more of Praiz’s (the Nigerian musician) song, ‘When I become rich and famous’ during the weekend, thanks to my friend who didn’t give my ears any form of rest. The song highlights the singer's desire to be rich and famous, while he details all the things that would have happened to his status as an entertainer when he is finally certified ‘rich and famous’. Think about it, what would you do when you become rich and famous? Would you paint the town red? Would you go from one club to the other just to prove a point to your adversaries and people around you that ‘you have truly arrived’?
The journey from grass to grace, from poor to rich, from unknown to famous is an internal trip. The status of a man is not certified when he is able to but ten cars and build a mansion in Lekki. Yes, the general public sees that as the main thing but those with wisdom know that before anything happens in real life, it has to first happen in the mental realm.
In other words, your life will continue to smell of failure until you begin to see yourself as a success in your mind. Those who are successful today in the real world were first successful in their minds yesterday. Today is the perfect opportunity to dream of the tomorrow that has not yet happened; you have the capacity to shape tomorrow in your mind because that is the only place where you are not limited by space or time. Inside your mind you can imagine yourself sitting next to Oprah Winfrey having dinner or lunch, you can visualize yourself living your dreams and achieving purpose even though it hasn’t happened yet in real life. But until you get it right in the place of your mind you will not get it right in your place in life – it is called the Law of Attraction; what you see is what you get, and what you got was what you saw.
I am sure someone is reading this who has probably given up on life; you have considered suicide a number of times; you are not happy with the way your life is going; you see your age mates and you fall into moodiness and sadness; you want to be rich and famous. That is not a bad thing, neither is it an impossible dream. You are probably more intelligent than some of those who are called rich and famous today, the difference in your results can be found in their ability to see it in their minds, research what it takes to have it in real life, and doing all that they have discovered. I want you to know that it is not the end of the world for you, as you have the latent capacity to accomplish whatever you set your mind to achieve. If ANYONE has done it before, it is proof that you can also do it. There are principles that govern life and help achieve success when you align yourself with them. FIND it and DO it!
Gabriel Olatunji-Legend is an astute entrepreneur and a solution strategist. I am open to further discussions on my twitter handle @OLATUNJISPEAKS
Play the fool. Most of us do not like this one but there is rarely a human being this
won’t happen to. You need to play the fool to know who and what to trust next time.
If it doesn’t happen by default, make it happen.
Find your purpose. This is one of the most important things in life. Ask yourself, ”Why am I here? What am I supposed to do?” One of the hardest questions to answer, but once you do, life becomes easier.
Write your mission statement. Summarise in one sentence what you are all about. This would take some serious soul searching.
Fall in love. Though not compulsory, this is one of the most beautiful things that could happen to a person in life. Be it a person, your hobby or an activity; when you fall in love, life takes on a whole new meaning.
Play the fool. Most of us do not like this one but there is rarely a human being this won’t happen to. You need to play the fool to know who and what to trust next time. If it doesn’t happen by default, make it happen.
Do something so crazy, it leaves you breathless.
Do something new frequently. Take time to step away from the familiar. No matter how useless this new activity might seem, just do it.
Get close to God. You’ll need him, as most of your important life decisions will be made before 40. Who better to lead you than the one who knows the future?
Travel frequently, if you can afford it. The world is like a book and the man who doesn’t travel reads only one page. It may be only the neighbouring country or state you can afford, but do it anyway. Travelling broadens your horizons.
Eat what’s not yours. Buy ,cook and savour meals from other places…even the strangest ones. Even nature loves variety, who wants a one-way palate?
Create your own library. Accumulate great books. Books set a man free from the chains that hold his mind bound. Books are also good legacies to leave for your children.
Do something that scares you. The best way to overcome your fears is to face them. Hate swimming, scared of heights or you just don’t like making public speeches? Life begins at the end of your comfort zone, you’ve got to dare.
Fight for a cause. Pick something close to your heart and stand for it.
Rage. Get angry at someone or something once in a long while. You need this especially if you are a usually quiet person. Let your rage be like a thunderstorm, usually over in five minutes. You need this to let go of your rigidity and tension. (Disclaimer: Anger shouldn’t be a way of life).
Fail. The lessons learned from failure are invaluable.
Have a mentor. Choose someone who has been where you are and who is already doing what you want to do and study under them. A mentor brings the gift of experience to the table.
Do something for someone who can never pay you back. Do it to a stranger or do it anonymously to your friends. What does this do for you? It keeps your feel-good juices flowing and brings good karma your way.
Forgive. Many people will wrong you before the age of forty. You have to forgive them, not for them but for you. You don’t want the weight of unforgiveness to keep pulling you down.
Achieve one thing so big that you couldn’t do it alone. It would require the help of others. It is a test of how well you can sell your vision to others.
Change your circle of friends once in a while. If you’re in a circle and you’re not growing or your friends aren’t helping you in anyway. It is time to let go.
Be alone for at least a month. Shut the crowd out. Great things are birthed in solitude and you need to start listening to your own inner voice. Move away from your usual friends, family and environment for a month.Try out your dream job. You know that thing you’ve always wanted to become? It may be too late, but do something close to it as you can get. It may not be a full-time gig, the most important thing is trying it out
Produce something from scratch and sell it. It may be a product or a service; just to see how good a businessman you are. In life, we sell all the time anyway. So this might be a good training ground for you.
Splurge. Pick a good time to spoil yourself silly and do it. Do whatever catches your fancy, just make sure you feel like a king/ queen at the end.
Write a letter to the future you. Write your hopes, dreams, what you feel and what you’re thinking. You’ll be surprised when you read that letter again in 10 years.
Listen to music …a lot! Music is food for the soul. Have a sophisticated and diverse musical library .Try out genres that you aren’t familiar with, you’ll be surprised.
Do something that makes you feel like a child again. Make it silly, playful, innocent or weird. Play in the rain, have a water fight with loved ones, or sing loudly in a car though people are watching you.
Read The Secret. It’s a book I personally recommend everyone should read before they turn 40. More amazing, the stuff inside that book works!
Challenge your routine once in a while. Routine makes life boring. Routine is one of the major causes of stress and tension in our lives. Get out of bed one day and do something that’s unplanned throughout that day. It makes life more exciting.
Document your life. Don’t only keep photo albums of those special moments, create videos too. In this age of social media, a blog would do. You’ll be able to look back at those moments with a smile when you’re older.
Start saving actively for retirement. If you have plans to be a Bill Gates, the time to execute is now.
Know something about everything. Information is king. Learn everything even when you don’t need to. You never know when you might need it. It also makes you a sophisticated person who can get along with all kinds of people from different countries.
Break your own record. Compete with yourself
Make a new friend from a different race or a different religion than you. The hallmark of intelligent people is that they are more tolerating of different views than theirs
Plant and grow something. Any plant or flower that catches your fancy would do. It takes patience to tend to something that long. It is also a metaphor for your goals and dreams. Plant and tend them every day.
Read a Holy Book from start to finish.
Have a baby. This might be obvious to some, but not all of us want to have children. A child just does something to you, even if it’s not yours. One look into their wide innocent eyes, a tug of their chubby little hands and you’re hooked. And of course, you have to be a role model to them. What better way to live your life shey?
Climb a mountain or hill, and when you’re at the top, scream “Woohoo! I’m on top of the world!” That’s my favourite scene in Titanic. LOL .Seriously, it’s good exercise and it increases your ability to stick to something till you achieve it. Be warned, you’ll arrive at the top breathless.
Learn to play an instrument. Not only has it been proven to improve your IQ, it’s an exciting challenge to take up. It’s usually harder after the age of twenty. Been on my guitar lessons for years but I still love it.
Do something calming or relaxing like meditation. You’ll need this in the tough times.
Write a song. You may not be the model song writer and the song may be whack but it helps your creativity. In life, you need a lot of creativity.
That ends my list of 40 things you should do before you turn 40.I hope you enjoyed it.
Opemipo Adebanjo is a writer, columnist, social media lover and boundary mover. She tweets from @opesays
This article was first published on YNaija.com where OLATUNJISPEAKS.com picked it from.
The constant desperation that has been institutionalized in the mind of the average youth whether by society or peer pressure is a worm that is fast eating into our values; the need to always get ahead of others has now become the newest norm for the average young person.
You must understand that no two persons are the same, not even twins. Why do you like ‘Spaghetti’ and your sibling detest it? You both came from the same loins and have the same blood running through your veins yet you don’t like the same things. It is imperative that you do not in any way compare yourself with any other human being, not even your own blood. You have been wired differently and the only way you can find fulfillment in life is by running your own race and allowing others to run their own race too.
When you operate with this understanding you no longer get jealous when a member of your family or your friend seems to be making things happen for himself or herself than you are doing; you will walk under the conscious notion that every man has a race and no two people have the same race; they will run their race and you will run your race.
What is your race? Is it 100 meters, 200 meters or is it a relay? The best way to remain happy with yourself regardless of other people’s success is tied to whether you have identified your ‘own’ race in life and on if you are on track. When you know your race and you are running on the correct track regardless of the pace, you will continually experience fulfillment. This is because you will have an understanding that it is only a matter of time you will reach the end of the line where a prize is waiting for you.
You must also be conscious of the fact that the race of life is different from ‘sporting activities’ where only one person ends up a prize winner. That is not the case in life, every human living on the planet can end up a winner as long as they are running their own race. Only those who run the race of others end up as losers in life.
Do not be a writer because someone else is a writer, do not become a comedian because comedians are making millions per performance, do not try to be a speaker when you can sing better; you must as a matter of urgency identify your ‘own’ race and stay on track. When you look to the left or to the right you will probably notice some people going at a faster pace, don’t fret, don’t get depressed because you are both not going to the same place; keep going at the fastest pace that you can and you will eventually end up a prize winner.
True success which culminates into fulfillment is not experienced by running other people’s race but by running ‘your own’ race.
Gabriel Olatunji (@OlatunjiSpeaks on Twitter) speaks at conferences and seminars; you can reach him via email olatunjispeaks@gmail.com
While most people attain multi-million dollar and billion dollar fortunes in their 40s and 50s, a few savvy entrepreneurs hit the big time while in their 20s and 30s.
There are a handful of young African entrepreneurs who’ve legitimately built multi-million dollar companies while in their 20s and 30s. A few of them have taken the helm of small companies and spun them into companies with valuations of $1 billion or more.
Here are ten such people. All aged 39 and under, they are worth watching closely.
Mohammed Dewji, Tanzania
Source: Manufacturing
Dewji, 38, a Tanzanian businessman and politician, is the CEO and leading shareholder of Mohammed Enterprise Limited (METL), one of the largest industrial conglomerates in East Africa. His father, Gulam Dewji, founded the conglomerate decades ago as a trading company but ‘Mo’ as he is popularly called, now calls the shots. He was solely responsible for engineering the group’s transformation from a trading house to a manufacturing powerhouse. METL, which records an annual turnover of close to $2 billion, owns 21st Century Textiles, one of the largest textile mills in sub-Saharan Africa by volume. The group also manufactures soap, beverages, edible oils and other food products as well as bicycles and motorcycles. Other assets include an insurance firm, a petroleum marketing outfit and a container depot in Tanzania’s capital city of Dar Es Salaam. The group employs over 24,000 full-time employees. Mo Dewji is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a Member of Parliament for Tanzania’s Singida Urban constituency. (I met with Dewji in Tanzania recently and will be writing a detailed piece on Dewji’s business holdings).
Igho Sanomi, Nigeria
Source: Oil Trading
In 2004, Igho Sanomi founded the Taleveras Group, a Nigerian energy trading company. Taleveras trades over 100 million barrels of crude oil as well as several million tons of gasoline, LPG and jet fuel. In April 2012, Taleveras acquired production sharing contracts (PSCs) for three offshore oil blocks in Ivory Coast. In June 2013, Taleveras sold a 65% stake in one of its Ivorian offshore upstream projects to Lukoil of Russia for an undisclosed price. Taleveras also owns a stake in a power distribution firm in Nigeria. Sanomi is 38 years old.
Quinton van der Burgh, South Africa
Source: Mining
The 36 year-old South African coal magnate is the founder and chairman of Quinton van der Burgh Investments, a diversified holding company that is the controlling shareholder in Eyethu Coal, a company that mines coal in South Africa’s Mpumalanga region. Eyethu owns two operational mines and is a major supplier of coal to Eskom, South Africa’s dominant power provider. Van der Burgh’s portfolio also includes Iyanga Coal- a company that owns a mine with proven reserves of 18 million tons of coal and Burgh Plant Hire- a company that leases earth-moving equipment to clients like BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Anglo-American. Van der Burgh is also a TV personality. He stars in Clifton Shores, an American/South African reality show filmed in Cape Town.
Gerald Wamalwa, Kenya
Source: Engineering & Construction
In 2003, at age 28, Gerald Wamalwa quit his job as a field civil engineer and went on to start Mellech, an engineering outfit. Today, Mellech Engineering & Construction is now one of East Africa’s leading construction and infrastructure engineering company. The company offers services in the construction of building projects, roads, and water & sewer projects and related civil engineering infrastructure projects in Kenya, Southern Sudan and Uganda and grosses over $11 million a year revenues. Wamalwa also owns ACP Telecoms, a company that provides turnkey telecommunication network infrastructure solutions.
Sibongile Sambo, South Africa
Source: Private Aviation
Khanyi Dhlomo, South Africa
Source: Publishing
The Harvard MBA grad and South African media mogul began her career as a news presenter at SABC, the television station owned by the South African government, at age 20 while she was still a journalism student at the University of Witwatersrand. She went on to become the editor of True Love, a popular South African women’s magazine at age 22. In 2007, she founded Ndalo Media, a 50-50 joint venture with Media 24, the publishing arm of Naspers, Africa’s largest media company. Ndalo Media publishes Destiny and Destiny Man, two of South Africa’s most popular lifestyle magazines. Ndalo also publishes Sawubona, the in-flight publication for South African Airways, which is distributed on all local and international SAA flights. She also owns Luminance, a startup high-end fashion and lifestyle store in South Africa.
Patrick Ngowi, Tanzania
Source: Alternative Energy
Ngowi, a 28 year-old Tanzanian, is the founder of Helvetic Solar, East Africa’s leading renewable energy company. Companies in the group are involved in the handling, supply, installation and maintenance of hydro turbines, solar power and thermal systems in East Africa. According to Ngowi, Helvetic’s revenues are expected to hit $7 million before the end of this year and the company is extremely profitable. The company’s major clients include the United Nations, World Vision and the Tanzanian Army. An emerging philanthropist, he offers basic lighting facilities to Tanzania’s rural poor through his Light For Life foundation.
Ken Njoroge, Kenya
Source: Mobile technology
Njoroge, 37, is the founder of Cellulant, a leading Pan-African mobile commerce company that manages, delivers and bills for content and commerce services over mobile networks. Cellulant provides mobile banking, mobile payments, music, information services and other mobile related services. Njoroge founded the company in 2004 along with a Nigerian partner, Goke Akinboro. It now has a presence in 8 African countries and boasts a clientele of African blue-chips like Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered, MTN and other companies. Cellulant’s revenues for 2012 exceeded $120 million.
Colin Thornton, South Africa
Source: Computer Services
In 1998, when he was 20, South African computer whiz Colin Thornton dropped out of the University of Witwatersrand where he was pursuing a BSc in Computer science. He raised $1,000 (R5, 000) from friends and family to print out flyers and other marketing material promoting his startup company which would fix computers. Today, that company is Dial-A-Nerd, a company that provides computer support services dedicated to homes and businesses. Dial a Nerd’s team of mobile technicians are able to repair, build, upgrade or even replace PCs at your premises. The company has annual revenues of close to $10 million, 14 branches and 150 staff.
Alan Knott-Craig Jr., South Africa
Source: Technology, Investments
The 36 year-old South African entrepreneur is the founder of World Of Avatar (WOA), the private investment holding company that acquired MXit from Namibian founder Herman Heunis and Naspers for $50 million in August 2011. Mxit is a mobile instant messaging services which offers social networking, mobile voice clips, music & entertainment, banking access and other community-based applications. It currently has over 20 million users. Alan also has stakes in popular South African online publication Daily Maverick; advertising network Shinka, which sells ad space on MXit; and market research company Pondering Panda. Alan is a 2009 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
I didn't realize the power of commitment until recently. I had always wanted to do this business since I was a kid, for the love and now for the profit. All I've done all these years is talk about it and at my best, found out what I could about it. That has taken me nowhere. I decided at the beginning of the year that I would finally execute it. But I didn't give it my all, until now. Once I committed my time, my energy, all my thoughts and all my savings, something almost miraculous happened. People rendered all sorts of assistance (and I didn't even tell them about it), and it seemed that everything around me supported it. But this didn't happen until I was committed to it and gave it my all (100 percent). The definition of the word "commit" is to devote oneself unreservedly. This means holding absolutely nothing back, giving a hundred percent. This quote sums up my long story:
"Until one is committed, there is always hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would come his way." -W.H. Murray
The good book says, ‘O ye who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy; vie in such perseverance; strengthen each other; and fear Allah; that ye may prosper.’
Our fears can be tamed when we take our minds off the pictures of negativity.
I love the man that can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘It is the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. - Thomas Paine
Worries brings fear and it sometimes kills the faith in us. Our ability to remain calm, concentrate more on what we have and entrust our affairs with God, makes things worthwhile.
What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it.
We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it. - Jiddu Krishnamurti
No challenge or trial is difficult to overcome, we only need to move in the direction of peace, look in the face whatever obstacle that is preventing you from moving ahead and stand up to strive and achieve what you truly deserve.
No one is born a loser, no one is born to live an average life, and no one is born to accept failure as their reality. We are all born to reign, to win, to become superstars, to become champions, to fix things and make them work.
There is no time to waste, no time to complain, no time to put the blame on others.
The only time available is to nourish our minds with positive things, keep our faiths booming and reclaim the lost glory.
Things can only get better, patience and perseverance together with positive attitude is what we need to turn things around.
Yay! It's another Friday. I hope your week was a good as mine. And if it wasn't, remember that life is a series of ups and downs, happiness and sadness, good and bad. That said, destiny is a word that has always puzzled me. Are some destined to be rich, while some meant to be poor? Are some destined to die young, while some meant to live long? First, let's define the word destiny according to the dictionary:
"Destiny- an event or cause of events, that will inevitably happen in future
Your overall circumstances or conditions in life, including everything that happens to you"
Let's assume a high power (say God) is the one who predetermines things. Does this mean that a person's destiny can't be changed? Is man doomed to a particular set of circumstances during his sojourn on earth? Of course not. If destiny was meant to be permanent, I'm of the opinion that God won't have given us the gift of choice. A man can choose to change his life and set of circumstances. He has a choice, even if God has ordained him to do some things.
At this point, I can hear the Christians saying , "God has predestined some things for us". yes the Bible states this, but we have a choice... to live out this destiny or not. Life is not a simple straight line ordained by the creator for you, you have several choices and lanes you can divert to. And this thing called destiny, is sometimes a set of circumstances people attract to themselves through their thought patterns.
That said, I do not believe in destiny, but I believe in purpose. How do you know purpose? It's a dream that never dies, no matter how much you try to stifle or bury it. It never leaves you, no matter how much you try. That's your purpose. And you always have a CHOICE. Choose to live the way you want today.
There is a popular saying that experience is the best teacher. Which is true to some extent. But I like the remarks once made by a wise man that though experience is the best teacher it is better if it is not your own experience. This is the message he was trying to pass across. There are certain mistakes you make in life that may put you in shape where it is impossible to pick any lessons from them. Can you for instance deliberately get yourself involved in an accident to learn what it takes to be involved in one! A visit to the Orthopedic Hospital might just give you all the life lessons you need. Instead of learning from your own crashed business or marriage, won’t it be preferable to learn those experiences from those who have been affected by broken homes and business bankruptcy?
It is in this light that I am asking you to drop what you are doing now, lock yourself up where there would be no distractions and spend about 40 minutes to read this special report. Do it as if your life depends on it because, it actually does!
I have made countless mistakes in my ministry, in my marriage, in my consulting business, in my relationships, in my health and in my life generally. There were some it seemed I could not get over. But thank God I did. What I am about to share in this report could change the course of your life permanently if you would take every nugget I drop with the seriousness it deserves. This is the first time I am sharing some of them with this level of openness and frankness and I am doing it for a reason. I don’t ever wish that you make any of those mistakes. I want to shorten your journey to the top.
I encourage you to read this report slowly and with concentration to be able to squeeze the juice out of it for your benefits. I will be sharing with you seven lessons life has taught me. I want to share with you some of the mistakes that I have made and the lessons that I learnt from them. Some people want to succeed but they do not want to fail, they run away from failure. However, your library on success will not be complete without something on failure because really, success grows best out of the ashes of failure.
If you have the willingness to learn, learn the lessons from your failure. Forget the details and try again the next time more intelligently. Your potential for success increases each time you fail. Therefore if you will truly succeed, you must not be afraid to fail. I will share with you some of the lessons that life has taught me.
This is an excerpt from Sam Adeyemi's free e-book; WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY. Subscribe to his coaching programme Download the full book here – http://bit.ly/13pd5Rl
Sam Adeyemi is unarguably Nigeria’s No 1 success coach and one of the country’s leading experts on personal development and self mastery. Thousands of lives have been transformed through his inside-out coaching program. He is the presiding pastor of Daystar Christian Centre located in Ikeja, Lagos State Nigeria. He is also the President of Success Power International. He is married to Nike and they are blessed with three lovely children. Follow him on Twitter; @Sam_Adeyemi
N.B: This is an initiative of OLATUNJISPEAKS.com; we help inspirational authors review or promote their books and tapes. Feel free to contact us if you have inspirational materials you will like to share and promote. As long as your materials meets a need and solves a practical problem for our readers we will work with you (Terms and conditions apply). Send a mail to olatunjispeaks@gmail.com | Follow @OLATUNJISPEAKS on Twitter
I once attended a leadership training and one of the things that happened to me at that training was that “Everyday and in every way I was getting better and better”; that quote also happens to be the first creed the instructors asked us to recite everyday at the commencement of every class.
Why am I telling you this? Because most of the time we do the same things we have always been doing yet we expect a different result; it does not work that way. You wake up in the morning, say some prayer if time permits, dress up and go to work (the job you don’t like), return home in the evening, bath, eat and sleep. Only to wake up the next morning doing the same things – you might never find fulfillment living such a predictable life.
You don’t have to quit your job and start a company if that’s not what you want to do, to be fulfilled. Whether you are rich or poor, fair or dark, famous or not, successful or a failure, all of us have the same amount of time everyday – which means we can choose to do whatsoever with our 24hours but the difference between the people I mentioned earlier is not that they have more time than the others but in what they did differently with their own time. A successful man gets better every day in atleast one way; the un-successful stays at the same point yet expect to be successful. Activity is not equal accomplishment; if it is then the hardworking bricklayers and community laborers would achieve more in life compared to many lawyers and bankers who sit in AC fitted offices.
I have written this short #MondayInspiration piece to motivate you to do something differently today and this week. Dress this week like you have never dressed before, come up with ideas that has never been heard before in your companhy, read a powerful book during work that you have never read before, set a goal for this week like you have never done before. If you can attend a training this week that you have never attended before, write something this week that you have never written before, apply for a new job that you have never applied for before, sell something that you have never sold before, visit a mentor that can help you become better, pray and hear God like you have never done before, and also share www.olatunjispeaks.com (Africa’s first inspirational blog) with all your colleagues like you have never done before. Just do something else other than the usual.
It is only a great fool that refuses to add flavor to the activities of his life yet expect to be great in life. It is my joy that you succeed and prosper but I cannot help you do the things that you need to do; I can only inspire you to do them and I won’t stop.
If you don’t want to have such a commonly predictable future like everybody else alter the course of your life by altering the events in your life; Determine Your Own Destiny.
Gabriel Olatunji (@OLATUNJISPEAKS on Twitter) is an Entrepreneur, Solution Strategist and a speaker of the word. You can reach him on olatunjispeaks@gmail.com
While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having money, the insatiable craving for wealth, fame and ‘long life’ by many folks around the world is an ignorance-infected illusion that needs to be properly cautioned. I recently saw a movie titled ‘The Children of Shuang’ where the hero in the movie died almost immediately he achieved his aim of leading the children to a safe place that will guarantee them a peaceful future. After my experience watching this insightful movie, I couldn’t help switching into long session of meditation which revealed some unusual lessons in contrast with our way of life.
In our environment, not having money is synonymous to failure in life, isn’t it? When certain people seem to be more popular than you are, it is believed that they are more successful, isn’t it? Do not make the mistake of dying at any age below Seventy years regardless of the fact that you have lived a fulfilling life, there will be a lot of sadness and wailing only because it is ‘bad omen’ to die young.
Unfortunately, these are all lies from the pit of hell! These lies has been sold to us over and over again that the man who lives in a duplex or three bedrooms flat is naturally believed to be more successful than the one who lives in a one-room apartment. We have been made to believe that the one who reeks in thousands and millions is more successful than the one with a modest income. Where in this world did we get the idea that until you live for seventy years you have not succeeded?
Give this a thought: There is a lot of distress in some far away country and a man by the name Mr. George, who lives a comfortable life back in the United Kingdom, decides to heed this call in a strange country at war. His profession is medicine and as a result, he travels down to this strange land to attend to civilian war victims, rehabilitate them and resuscitate them into safety. He is definitely not paid to do these things, but he is doing them because there is a burning desire in his heart for these people. The television stations do not interview him or report his heroic acts maybe because they are not even aware. This gesture is not even making him famous. In less than two years, George has saved between one hundred to one thousand lives with helps from other volunteers and then suddenly at the age of 43, he suffered a medical condition and died because he couldn’t get enough attention both medically and emotionally in that land. He most likely would have gotten proper medical attention had he stayed in his own comfort zone, watching Television, sipping champagne and analyzing the situation with his friends; but his life went with the decision he made to go to that land. Let me ask you; did George have a successful life before or after he made the decision to go to that Land?
Success is not money, fame, or long-life like our musicians try to sell to us through their lyrics. If only we will psycho-analyze them and put forth our measuring tape in determining how much of a positive influence they have on lives; we’ll discover that most of them are even failures in the real sense of life.
Martin Luther King Jr. died at the age of thirty nine (39); he didn’t even live up to forty years. Jesus Christ lived only thirty three years and the world is yet to recover from his impact. Jesus was great because He served others, even to the extent of dying to save his fellow men. If the ground could cry it would weep because some have lived for one hundred years and have never made a positive difference in the life of anyone. The quality of a life is not in its duration but QUALITY donation.
I am sorry to mention names but do not try to be a D’banj, 2face Idibia, Chris Brown, Tiwa Savage if you don’t intend to change the world with the resources God will make available to you. We will only remember you for your great lyrics and dance step but you will not have truly touched hearts.
Success is not money, fame, or old age – it is simply in the achievement of a worthy cause in which you are willing to give your life for; success is sacrifice! If you want to become the greatest, die for something worthy!
N.B: If you would love to have suggestions as to initiatives to embark on that can cement your name as a great icon or celebrity in life feel free to buzz me for ideas.
Gabriel Olatunji (@OLATUNJISPEAKS on Twitter) is an Entrepreneur, Solution Strategist and a speaker of the word. You can reach him on olatunjispeaks@gmail.com or for intelligent conversation add him on Blackberry Messenger:
