#MondayInspiration: There is a fierce lion in the streets, so says thislazy man!

There was a country, full of zombies, each with his/her gifts, talents and ideas. Some were called CEOs, others employees, some job seekers, some students, some parents, some celebrities, some were mere citizens, others were in the class of the rich, some belonged to the poor community. Different communities existed in that colony: the rich, the poor, the famous, the mediocre, the fraudulent, the righteous and the ordinary folk’s community – each man with his own hands or by inheritance determined the community he/she would belong to. In that country every positive community had an opposite which was the negative; because there was a rich community, there was also a poor community, because there was the healthy community there was also the sick community. A lion separated the positive community from the negative community but even with the presence of a lion in the streets people moved from one negative community to the positive one from time to time – poor zombies switched from the poor communities to the rich zones.



In this country lived Zech, he was by inheritance born into the poor, sick and low life community but he kept hearing the tale of how someone moved from their community to the rich, healthy and high-class but he had actually never seen anyone who offered to go along with him to the streets; he had often conducted his poor, sick and low life trade within the confines of his community but deep down in his heart he knew his destiny belonged to the other community even though he was too scared of the lion in the street.



After consulting with the elders of the land about what it took to move to the other side he became discouraged; they told him how difficult it was to get to the other community, how big the lion was and how impossible it was for him to go through the street without encountering the lion. “Do you want to die? If you want to die, then go ahead into the street; be contented with what you have my son”, one of the elders said emphatically. He gave up the idea but every time he slept, his dreams of a better life came back to him; he woke up one morning excited and decided to go into the street even if it meant death. “If I stay here, I’ll surely die but if I go I might be lucky as some others before me”, he said to himself.



He packed all that belonged to him and traded them for cash to prepare for his journey as the custom of anyone leaving the community did; leaving everything behind was one of the reasons people stayed in the community, they could not afford to part with all that they had even though what they had was a tiny fraction of what they could have in their new community. Zech stepped out of the community gate walking carefully hoping that he would not wake up the lion but as he got to an end of the road he heard a ferocious sound like the roar of a lion, he ran back towards his old community but they wouldn’t open the gate for him at the time because they were also afraid of the sound. He summoned courage and every time he got to that junction he would hear noises that felt like the roar of a lion and he would run back to his community gate. Then it occurred to him that he wasn’t making progress, he had to either go or not go regardless of the sound; the next time he got to the junction he heard the sound again and he stayed at a spot trying to catch a glimpse of the lion. After some minutes two zombies approached him from nowhere and led him to the gate, it was the gate of the rich, healthy and high-class community. He thought they were going to feed him to the lion but as they moved he kept seeing affluence, good health, wealth around many more zombies.



He entered into the gate and met with the council of chiefs who were ready to interview him. He didn’t understand what was going on. They told him that every time someone dared to come from the poor, sick and low life community to their junction a sound will automatically be triggered off but it wasn’t the sound of a lion but a gong that sounded like a lion – the sound was to announce the arrival of the latest rich, healthy and high-class zombie and to summon the council of chiefs together for the interview and the induction ceremony. It was that same sound that kept many in the poor community up until when they spoke, said one of the elders.



Zech was amazed at the realization; he was angry at himself and everyone whoever told him that it was impossible to move to the other community.



‘There is a fierce lion in the streets’, so said the lazy man until he stepped out – the situation is not different from what we have here in our own country and community. Many people have what you want to have and that is proof that you can also have those things. Many people are what you want to be and that is proof that you can also be what they are – the sound of lion you hear is only a sound, if you keep moving, if you stay on that junction regardless of the sound you will enter into your place of greatness.



N.B: Bring out the lessons in today’s #MondayInspiration and list them in the comment segment below. We will look through them and the winner will win an airtime of their choice or get their business advertised on next week's #MondayInspiration. Game is only open to residents in Nigeria. Drop your email address and your twitter handle where the airtime will be sent in case you are the winner.



Keep on Keeping on.

Gabriel Olatunji ‘Legend’ is @OLATUNJISPEAKS on Twitter – your Inspirational blogger. You can send him a mail on olatunjispeaks@gmail.com – Let’s Talk.

Gabriel Olatunji 'Legend': There is no point flogging a dead horse – ifa horse is dead, it is dead

There is no point flogging a dead horse; even if you give the horse 1000 strokes of cane it will never bring the horse back – only a Easter miracle like the one we read in the bible can make that happen and since you are not as ‘holy’ as Jesus you had better let the dead horse be.

I can almost swear that you don’t understand my tantrum in the first paragraph of this piece. I just wanted to send your mind on a thinking spree about the ‘many many’ things which have made you sad, things which has been making you cry, relationships which you will love to resuscitate, businesses you will love to restart, people you will love to have back in your life and ideas you will still love to run with.

There is no point flogging a dead horse – if a horse is dead, it is dead. You are not Jesus Christ; stop trying to bring a dead horse back to life. Look at your life at the moment and ask yourself the most sincere question you can ever ask: what are the things that are not working in my life? Be very sincere with yourself; you are not submitting your answer to anybody but yourself which is why you need to be very sincere. There are relationships you have no business going back into, businesses you shouldn’t be thinking about anymore, people you should forgive and move on, ideas you should let go of and activities you need to cut away – dead horses serves as distractions in our lives; they hinder us from moving forward.

It is because you think the dead horse is the most beautiful thing; that’s why you are still trying to resuscitate it – if something once happened to you, it can happen to you again but not when you are still trying to hold on to a dead one. It is time for you to move on! You must get over the fact that the relationship is over, get over the fact that the business is not working, get over the fact that the babe will never change, get over that fact that you may not be what you planned to be – there is a living horse ready to move and waiting to be flogged nearby but you simply have to get over this dead one and assume it never was.

Look carefully at yourself and list out the things that seem dead; don’t waste time in getting over them.



Keep on Keeping on.

Gabriel Olatunji ‘Legend’ is @OLATUNJISPEAKS on Twitter – your Inspirational blogger. You can send him a mail on olatunjispeaks@gmail.com – Let’s Talk.

I'm begging you with everything I've got, keep on keeping on - GabrielOlatunji 'Legend'

What would you be doing if feeding; clothing and all your other financial needs are provided for? This was the question poised to me when I began to ponder on how confused my life seem; how I am involved in too many things and doing far too many things at the same time. I try to justify all of what I’m doing by saying, I’m ‘multi-talented’ and ‘multi-skilled’; but deep down I know I’m no longer happy and it doesn’t seem like I’m doing them for the right reasons.



Mike Murdock, a great speaker said, If you want to kill a man with a dream, give him another dream. This sum up what I have been going through for a while and what many youths of my generation go through. You must understand that you may have the abilities to do multiple things but there is one of them you would rather always do if money wasn’t a problem – that is the one you should give seventy percent of your time to.

It may look slow and financially unprofitable but if you believe in it enough and it makes you happy, don’t stop. I’m begging you with everything I’ve got, keep on keeping on – that is the way to achieve your own greatness. If you have read or heard the story of Linda Ikeji, the famous Nigerian blogger; you will see the similarities in my illustration. She was blogging for four years just for the love and fulfillment it gave without making a dime. By the fifth year, she had become a millionaire.

Money is good, but don’t ever let money alone be the motivation for doing what makes you feel fulfilled. I’m aware that money is the first motivation for some people and that’s how they feel fulfilled – it is not wrong but if money isn’t your own motivation, find that one thing that if your financial needs are taken care of, you will be doing. Face it, and do it big time! Don’t forget, it may not pay off in one month, one year or even four years, but if you are sure about it, do not stop!

Keep on keeping on



Follow the writer on Twitter @OLATUNJISPEAKS or email olatunjispeaks@gmail.com

How to look beyond your fears and do what you want to do - Tosin Kayode

Fear is such a great enemy. I am sure a lot of us have had countable number of experiences that Fear has messed up for us. Fear is so close to us every time, and all we have to do is just permit it.

Fear has no benefit to offer, it only condemns us before we get a chance to prove that we can go through what lies ahead of us. Fear brings about confusion, jittery, and at its peak is failure. Fear can make you lose concentration. It tears down your wall of confidence and accommodates anxiety.

Fear can come up when we are at the brink of doing great exploits and showing to the world that we can make things happen.  Fear is often times associated with failure because it would have made our preparation futile by the loss of concentration and we end up doing things the wrong way.

So many people have given up on Life out of Fear, they have resigned to fate when they actually have the power to go for much more than they have. In whatever way or manner that it comes to us, it is an Enemy. Fear wraps round our opportunities and makes them appear impossible to achieve.

I recall some of my chances that got messed up because I had fear; the outcomes were woeful. The only kind of fear I found worth having is the fear of God because it restrains you from going the wrong way.  The fear of the future should not deprive us of the joy of the present, there are lots of things that we can change if we try going after what we desire.  Some have passion and opportunities for going into good businesses but they have remained daunted by the fear of losing or failing.

Fear is part of life, but we need to learn how to handle it. For some, it may be necessary to push them forward; for some others it is a very bad mix. The good thing is that we can overcome our fears. That’s why we need to recognize them and then summon the courage to fight them. Fear can bring denial; we need to break the cords of fear over our endeavours.  What then can you do to overcome fear? What happens when your fears play out in reality?

Maintain an attitude of confidence always, Be determined to Win, never be anxious, keep your eye on the goal.  Embrace Hope and focus on success,  activate your strong points and understand that no one else can run the race ahead for you, imagine the worst case scenario and be motivated to avoid it. Understand that what confronts you is only a scene from life's drama and surely has an end.

When your Fear plays out in reality, be determined not to allow it overwhelm and drain you, get the good in it and forge ahead, make it a battle to be won!

Look beyond your Fears and do what you want to do!