Believe in Yourself

Sir Winston Churchill, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Albert Einstien and majority of sucessful entrepreneurs that live had one thing in common.... They failed at one time or the other. But guess what!!!! They are people we talk about daily, Sucessful people.

These people had the drive, vision and most importantly self-belief to make a change. If you have such desire to make a difference, there is nothing stopping you. But for most of us, we give up easily at any challenge we face.


One basic thing we should understand is that there are several principles which one needs to abide by in order to achieve sucess in life, and one of the most basic principle is believing in yourself.

There may be days when you get up in the morning and things aren’t the way you had hoped they would be.That’s when you have to tell yourself that things will get better. There are times when people disappoint you and let you down.

But those are the times when you must remind yourself to trust your own judgments and opinions, to keep your life focused on believing in yourself.
 There will be challenges to face and changes to make in your life, and it is up to you to accept them.

 Constantly keep yourself headed in the right direction for you. It may not be easy at times, but in those times of struggle you will find a stronger sense of who you are.

So when the days come that are filled with frustration and unexpected responsibilities, remember to believe in yourself and all you want your life to be.

Because the challenges and changes will only help you to find the goals that you know are meant to come true for you.

Have a wonderful week... Cheers!!!!

One Day at A Time

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry - two days that should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is yesterday with its mistakes and cares, faults and blunders, aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone!

The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow. Tomorrow's sun will rise, whether in splendor or behind a mask of clouds. Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow. It is yet unborn.

This leaves only one day - Today. It is when we add the burdens of two eternities - yesterday and tomorrow that we break down.

It is not necessarily the experience of today that disturbs one's peace of mind. It is often the bitterness for something that happened yesterday and the dread of what tomorrow may bring.

Let us therefore live one day at a time.

Have a nice weekend y'all.

Giving up too soon

A man met a guru in the road. The man asked the guru - 'Which way should I go to achieve success?'

The robed, bearded sage said nothing, but he pointed to a place in the distance.

The man, thrilled by the prospect of quick and easy success, rushed in the appropriate direction. Suddenly, there came a loud 'Splat.'

Soon, the man limped back, tattered and stunned, assuming he must have misinterpreted the message. He repeated his question to the guru. 'Which way should I go to achieve success?' The guru again pointed silently in the same direction.

The man obediently walked off once more. This time the 'splat' was deafening. When the man crawled back, he was bloody, broken, tattered, and irate.

'I asked you which way I should go to achieve success,' he screamed at the guru.

'I followed the direction you gave me, and all I got was splatted! No more of this pointing! Talk!'

Only then did the guru speak. What he said was: 'Success is that way. Just a little past splat.

Most people look for quick and easy ways to succeed, but we fail to understand that the road to success is filled with obstacles. We simply give up when hit with one of these obstacles. There is a saying “if you try and you don't succeed, dust your self up and try again”. Its better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all.

Thomas Edison in his long quest to find the exact filament that would allow the creation of an electric light bulb, was asked by a reporter how it felt to have failed almost a thousand times. He replied that he had not failed, he had successfully eliminated a thousand ways that did not work and was thus closer to discovering the one that would work. Don't just give up easily when you are facing some challenges because your success could be a little past the splat.

Cheers!!!

How Are You Building Your Life?

Dear Friends,

I came across this Inspirational story “How are you building your life?” and I feel its something worth sharing.


An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. “This is your house,” he said, “my gift to you.”

What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort.

Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized, we would have done it differently. Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.

Have a Lovely weekend y'all.

WHY I WANT YOU TO BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR PART 3

“Money is plentiful for those who understand the simple laws for its acquisition”.George S. Clason, The Richest Man in Babylon.

One of the most interesting books on the subject of wealth creation I ever read was “The Richest Man in Babylon”. One thing I can’t deny however is that despite all the “Hollywood effects” and drama I find missing from its pages; there’s a lot of practical wisdom contained in it. One of such lessons I retained from reading the book is that “wealth grows wherever men exert energy”. As long as the people in a place are applying their time and effort, and even their money in a meaningful venture; there’s a good chance of exterminating poverty in that place. That reminds me of another great book on the same subject matter titled, “Can Every Nigerian be a Millionaire”? In literal terms, it sounds impractical but taking the term “Every Nigerian” metaphorically in that context, its possible people! Impossible is nothing.Every one of us have a common enemy who taunts and chides us, especially when there’s a task at hand to be done; His name is “MENTAL” and his surname is “LAZINESS”. Mental Laziness and nothing else is what makes you do just average when you know you can do much better than that. I was careful to mention his first name (i.e. Mental) because we usually only think about his brother, “PHYSICAL”. I’m such a person who’s physically lazy on some level compared to some other people (I’m not a slug though), but I never tire to exert my mind on a matter, to probe and to question, and to ponder on solutions. An American lady who was visiting Nigeria for a second time a short while ago and I had a small chat with, said she felt very sorry seeing some dismal living conditions in the country because in her words “Nigerians are a very hardworking people”. She went on to tell me that what she feels makes a difference in our society and the one she comes from is that; “In Nigeria, you work hard, In America, we work smart”. Profound and true words for me who’s been in a university where things were unnecessarily difficult and done attachment with an engineering firm where we were made to carry some stuff a crane would have lifted very easily. Some yahoo boys do work smart though, but in a negative way. If they only channeled their energies in the right direction, they’d discover how much wealth they could still create without the stigma of fraud.

That aside and back to the subject of Mental Laziness, why are we mentally lazy?Who wants to be poor? No seriously, who doesn’t want to be rich? We all do don’t we. Now the axiom, “……..if wishes were horses……………” does make a lot of sense. All right, next question, Who’s willing to do what he has to do to be rich? Uh……,I don’t see many hands again, what happened to all the “want to be rich people”? It always amazes me how people are overly excited about getting involved in a profitable venture and after meeting the first obstacle they simply give up. But that’s not the stuff Great Entrepreneurs are made of, that’s not the way small enterprise have grown into Great empires. You can ask Mr. Gates and Mrs. Sheila Johnson, you can learn from the lives of Michael Dell and Ray Anderson. The same principles hold true for every man in every land, the desire for wealth must be translated into definite action. In the ageless wisdom of the Bible, “Faith without works is dead”. Money is power, and you ought to be reasonably ambitious to have it. You ought to because you deserve it and there’s more good you can do in the world with it than without it.

Coming home to the scenario in our country,  ASUU strike was called off a couple of months ago. In my estimation, about half of the country’s active population were staying Idle at home. Now, if you’re a student affected by the strike, you deserve no blame for what’s happening; but you can’t allow an ‘irresponsible and insensitive government’ decide your destiny. For many the strikes is actually bliss, a time to flex and shayo, and have all that fun who’ve been missing. But its not all about that friends, the strike shouldn’t just be a reason why you’d hop from kuranmo to oniru beach every weekend, or make Silverbird cinema your personal TV, or make Ceddi plaza your new home; No. it’s a time to exert yourself, a time to probe and question yourself on what you can do and how you can develop some new skill. It’s a time to acquire knowledge of businesses you’ve been unaware of and opportunities you never knew existed. You might spend your time sulking on “why you no go school for yankee when your mates dey go” but that’s just negative energy been exerted and sapping you of your best ideas yet. If you’d only try to look at the bright side, you’d discover that this may just be a unique opportunity for you to take charge of your destiny.

In closing, I’d like to tell the story of a Nigerian whose life serves as an inspiration, Mrs. Florence Seriki, CEO of Omatek Company Plc. She’s someone whose achievements in business have proved that just because something seems impossible doesn’t mean it is. Omatek Computers has the first factory to basically assemble computer cases, speakers, keyboards, and mouse in Africa. In November 2005, Omatek beat 42 other countries to win the “Microsoft Best System builder Award” for West, East and Central Africa. Mrs. Seriki started her path to success with a simple skill – computer knowledge. While doing her National Youth Service in the mid-1980s, she discovered that the directors in the office couldn’t work on their computers because they didn’t know how to use them. She asked her boss one day if she could teach him, he obliged and from there she went on a row teaching the other directors in the company. That was how she started earning money training executives on the use of the computer, then staff of banks, oil companies, e.t.c. before she finished as a youth corps member, she opened an office in lagos where she employed people to train other people. She also recognized an opportunity in the fact that many companies didn’t have enough computers. So she started buying foreign brands of computers and selling to her customers. By the end of her service year, she was already counting millions when many of her contemporaries were crying for vacancies. The great story goes on to tell of how she went to source funding from Small and Medium Enterprise Equity Investment Schemes when banks were not willing to support her. Today, Omatek Company is quoted and listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and is a conglomerate of four companies. Her story is a humble one of how dogged determination and creativity transformed a National Youth Service Corps member to become one of Nigeria’s millionaires. These same qualities would work for you too and possibly with even greater results. In the words of David Schwartz, a success coach, “Believing something can be done paves the way for creativity and it opens up your mind. You can find the solution to business and other problems if you believe you can”. Eliminate the word ‘impossible’ from your mind, especially when setting financial goals. Personally, I’ve set a 6-month financial goal I’m working towards, it’s a high mark I set for myself no doubts, but entirely possible. Release your creative ability, take a decision today to take charge of your financial future; and as my friend Obie likes to say, “See you at the top bro”. May the words of prophecy come true for you that, “…..every wilderness would become a fruitful field and every fruitful field would be deemed a forest”. This, my friends, is another compelling reason why I want you to become an entrepreneur

Procrastination....How can we beat it?

Wondering why we are talking about procrastination today?....well here’s a little exercise for you.  Have you ever been in a situation where you put off important tasks over and over just to do something more comfortable? Well you are not alone. Procrastination is common with basically everyone. Most people procrastinate to some degree but some are chronically affected by it.
First of all, what do we really mean by procrastination?  Procrastination can best be described as putting off important tasks (delaying things you should be doing right now, usually in favour of something enjoyable or more comfortable doing), for things less tasking.  According to Professor Clarry Lay “a renowned psychologist” procrastination is occurring when there’s a significant time period between when people intend to do a job, and when they actually do it. The main question is why do we procrastinate???
People actually procrastinate for different reasons:
Some people hate their jobs or find a particular task unpleasant, so they feel the best way to handle it is to completely avoid it and do other things pleasant, rather than getting it done as fast as possible and focus on the enjoyable aspects of the job of task.

Some people are disorganized. They find it difficult to manage their time and prioritize their task.  So they tend to place less important tasks ahead of more important ones.

People, even organized people often find their jobs or task overwhelming.  They may doubt they have the skills or resources to complete their job or task so they seek comfort in doing tasks they feel they are capable of doing. Unfortunately, the big tasks aren’t just going to go away like that, they rarely do.

Some other people lack decision making skills. They find it hard to make decisions. If u find it hard to decide what to do at any point in time, you are likely to put off taking action in place of doing the wrong thing.

Funny enough, perfectionists often procrastinate. They feel sometimes that they lack the skills and resources to complete some tasks, so they don’t do it at all.

There are some other people who naturally prefer being busy, doing nothing. They have plans, tasks or even jobs to handle but they feel there is lots of time in the world until there is no time at all. At this point they are overwhelmed with tight deadlines to meet up with.

There are so many other reasons as to why we procrastinate, but one very important question is “how do we beat procrastination?”

There are several ways with which we can beat or control procrastination. The first and foremost thing is to recognize the fact that we procrastinate. There’s a popular saying that “once a problem is noted, a possible solution lies nearby.”

Make a to-do list of important task to complete. This will give you a form of responsibility in that you’ll have in mind that you tasks to complete with time.

Prioritize your task from most important to least important. At this point you’ll know what tasks are most important and which are less important.

Give yourself deadlines to complete each task. This in turn gives you a sense of urgency. You can also put some pressure on yourself and not wait for someone to do it for you. Learning to work with time will also go a long way to help.

Reward yourself for each task completed.

Motivate yourself into action. To perform at your best, you have to be your own personal cheerleader. You should be able to develop a habit of encouraging yourself to be at the top of your game.

Practice creative procrastination. Creative procrastination is the act of thoughtfully and deliberately deciding upon the exact things you are not going to do right now, if ever.  It is a very effective tool in beating procrastination. After prioritizing your tasks you can choose to put off less important tasks for more important ones.

For those of us who find our jobs or tasks overwhelming, one you should know is that nothing good comes easy.  You can breakdown your tasks into smaller more manageable ones. This makes your tasks or job easier to complete.

Procrastination is a habit, a deeply ingrained pattern of behavior. That means that you won’t just break it overnight. Habits only stop being habits when you have persistently stopped practicing them, so use as many approaches as possible to maximize your chances of beating procrastination. Fully 95% of your success in life and work will be determined by the kind of habits that you develop over time. So like the NIKE slogan, “I just do it” no matter how unpleasant I feel the task or job is because most times the unpleasantness of some tasks are overestimated.
You can read more about procrastination from Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog.

Have a wonderful weekend

See you at the top.

A very happy New Year to you all

Today marks the last day of the year 2012. A couple of months ago, we were celebrating the last day of the year 2011 and in less than an hour, we’ll be in the year 2013. Wow!! How time flies.

As we gradually approach midnight, let us take out some time to reflect on the activities of this year. Not everyone that started this year lived to see the end and so we thank God Almighty for the gift of life. Some of us got our dream jobs this year, some got engaged, some got married, some had their kids, some of us got promotions, some of us started our businesses and grew them successfully, some graduated, gained admissions, some got healed and a lot more. The case wasn’t the same for some other people, but in all, we thank God Almighty.

2013… A new year, a new beginning, packed with lots of expectations. Before the end of today, most of us will write down a list of things they either want to change in their lives or achieve in the coming year. We call them “New Year Resolutions”. The big question is how many of us actually write down these lists and keeps to them? Most of us wrote down resolutions (goals) at the beginning of this year. Some of us achieved most of our resolutions, some tried failed and gave up, and some did not even try at all.

For those of us that achieved our set out resolutions/goals this year, kudos to you. For those who tried and failed, this is another opportunity to think of better strategies to achieve our resolutions/ goals. For those of us that didn’t try at all, you need to understand that action orientation is a major requirement for success in anything you do. Just like the one of Newton’s laws of motion states “all objects remain in a state of rest until a force is applied”, you need to take action.

I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year and I pray that this new year will be a year of new beginnings, that God Almighty will Guide and protect us through and that we shall achieve everything we hope to achieve. Have a wonderful new year………