I was at Warri, Delta State a couple of weeks ago at a Mega Business summit organised by Avenues to Wealth Nigeria. In attendance and speaking as well were Solomon James, Deolu Akinyemi and Prof. Pat Utomi. It was quite a big meeting covering areas like Asaba, Sapele and Ughelli. The hall, Mimi Suites Multipurpose hall was agog with singing, dancing and excitement.

Prof. Pat Utomi gave quite an interesting speech that inspired this post. He said “Many of the things we take for granted now as regular occurencies used to be considered impossible some time ago”. He gave a few examples stating that a man was once considered mad for suggesting that “humans will one day fly in the air” and a few years later his sons where the first to fly in an airplane.

I picked up a few lessons that day:

1. Nudity was all that was possible

When God created man and his wife, he created them naked. Apparently, they didn’t need to create nudity. They had it for free. I can imagine Adam saying to Eve, “Can you ever dream that one day people will wear what will completely cover their bodies? It’s IMPOSSIBLE.”

Every other thing that is now had to be made POSSIBLE. Whatever you meet already in existence is what is possible to you. If all you leave in this world is all you met and the way you met it, you are of no significant consequence. The world could have done without you.

2. Fertilizer or Dung

Most things that exist do so in a form that closes our minds from thinking about them in order forms, states or uses. Crude oil isn’t very useful in its raw state but commands a lot of revenue from its refining. Most of the impossibilities we see today can become POSSIBLE once we change the paradigm with which we look at them. When we think energy, fuel, power; we think crude oil. Perhaps there’s something IMPOSSIBLE you aren’t thinking about that is linked to what already exists.

3. Eat it! Don’t mind the taste!

Whether it’s a frog, crocodile, cockroach, lizard, snake or bed bug; just eat it. I mean after you’ve dreamed up the impossible, then go about making it possible. You may try 10,000 times like Thomas Edison or even die trying like Marthin Luther King but once it becomes possible, you will live forever.

I had an exciting weekend. I undertook a road trip to Ilorin (South West, Nigeria) to meet with over 500 youths at a camp. I travelled with my mentor and along the way he suddenly discovered he had the lovely movie “Sound of Music” starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer on his new iPod. He showed it to me and we both smiled knowingly almost as if one was daring the other to watch it. Instintively, he clicked on it and pronto – the movie started.

We sang along and I watched the whole movie (2+ hours) while in the car on the road. I was moved with emotions at different times as I saw some scenes again and I couldn’t help but understand why it is and will continue to be one of the greatest movies ever shot.

I noted a few things quite pointedly and some of them are from the lyrics of some of the songs.

1.  CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN

Don’t be afraid to venture out. Don’t quit because you tried once and failed. Don’t run away from your fears. Maria went to the Capt Von Trapp’s house as a governess and she fell in love with him. She ran away from the fear. She went to the abbey to hide and then the reverend mother sang this song for her.

Climb every mountain,
Search high and low,
Follow every highway,
Every path you know.

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
‘Till you find your dream.

A dream that will need
All the love you can give,
Every day of your life
For as long as you live.

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
Till you find your dream

A dream that will need
All the love you can give,
Every day of your life,
For as long as you live.

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
Till you find your dream.

For as long as you have breath, explore all the possibilities and opportunities that come your way.

2. WHEN YOU ARE DOWN….

Many of us have as excuses the current situation of things we are facing. We believe that things are bad and so we are sad. We place attention on the negative things that surround or happen to us. We concentrate on what is wrong. But listen to what Maria tells us to do when we are down, and things are bad.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles. Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings, these are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in a white dresses with a blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver white winters that melt into springs, these are a few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel so bad.

It’s because we are sad that things are bad. What are those things you love? Can you just remember your favourite things or moments? Or your loving pets or children? If we look around enough, we’ll see enough reasons not to feel so down or so bad for no situation is really that bad. We can choose internally to affect our external conditions and situations positively and we will. The other lessons will come up in the sequel…Don’t miss it!

In a moment of decision,
the best thing you can do is the right thing to do.
The worst thing you can do is nothing.
Theodore Roosevelt

Funny isn’t it? My last post was on hating school. Now I’m hating again and the object of hating is my feeling. Everytime i think of writing a post this year, I end up not feeling like it. Almost everytime I think of doing something that is important and not urgent which is the quadrant highly effective people operate in, I eventually don’t feel I’m in the right frame of mind to do it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not naturally a hater but I’ve tried to motivate myself as much as possible but the motivation ends when the adrenaline is used up.

I haven’t written more than 2 posts in almost 200 days. If that isn’t bad, I’d like to know what’s worse. This feeling that I’m feeling or that I feel regularly is really pissing me off. I’ve come to discover that no one ever makes it in life because of their feelings. I’m sure people everywhere also have the same experience I’ve described above with regards different things. I know you are saying, why don’t you then do it when the adrenaline is pumping? why don’t you eat that frog? As if you don’t know there are 1001 reasons why. The frog is bitter….The frog isn’t well cooked yet…I don’t have a fork…The frog is too small….The frog this, the frog that. Simply put, it wont ofcourse be out of place to say that I’m suffering from a chronic case of procastination.

I hear there’s good procastination and there’s bad. That is it may not be bad if I have acute “procastinitis”. Please forgive my word but I just couldn’t help it. Good procrastination some say is avoiding errands to do real work. I’m sure my own brand is in no way good. I’m tired of responding to my feelings especially when those feelings make me put off important decisions or make me do wrong things. I hate the feelings that I’m feeling.

No wonder success is boring and unemotional. Those who achieved it did it regardless of how they felt. If there was something to be done, it must be done. I don’t want to stop feeling, I want “feeling like”, I just want to do. Nike, I need your inspiration right about now. I hate the feeling, I’m sure of the doing. Can’t wait to start doing in earnest what I’m sure of rather than what or how I feel.

“Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the “someday I’ll” philosophy.”

I hate school, but I love learning
Albert Einstein once said “All through life, I never allow my education to interfere with my learning”
I’ve learnt the hard way that school shouldn’t be looked at like an institution but as a tool. It completely shifts my paradigm anyway when I try to unlearn what I’ve learnt all through school.
Someone said the 21st century illiterate isn’t one who doesn’t have an education but one who can not learn, unlearn and re-learn.
I can almost not quantify the amount of learning I’ve done in the past 1 year doing Holildays and Cash. I’ve not read as many mails, articles or books based on any one subject as I’ve done on network marketing in the time I’ve been involved with this opportunity.
I’ve learnt from the best, the average and the worst. I’ve learnt how to succeed and how to not fail. I’ve learnt how to sell and how to market and the difference between both. More than anything, I’ve learnt how to dream and how to keep the picture of those dreams in front of me till they become either reality or fantasy(if I don’t achieve them).
Most significant is the fact that I never learnt any of these in the regular academic or school curriculum. It’s what makes me hate school but also makes me fall in love with learning. Most of what you will learn about life and success will be learnt outside school.

Hi Everyone, I wish you all a very prosperous new year. I saw a news flash this morning that stated that Americans were not optimistic at all about a good 2010 but I assure you that if you trust in God and do His word, He’ll single you out for outstanding revelations on what to do in a failing world economy that’ll guarantee your immense success this year without a shadow of doubt. I watched a movie in the last few days of 2009 and want to share my thoughts about that movie.

The title of the movie is “Flawless” and I’m sure you may have watched it. The actual plot of the movie had to do with a very senior executive played by Demi Moore who kept getting passed on by the management for promotion in a Diamond producing company and a janitor played by Michael Caine who assumedly wanted to retire rich. Both of them colluded to rob the company of a few pieces of diamonds, at least that was what Lara Quinn (Demi Moore) thought until she found out with shock that every single piece of the diamonds had been stolen – about 2 tonnes of diamonds. The details of the plot I won’t go into now because that isn’t where the major lesson I learnt was.

After the theft had been successfully carried out by the old janitor (Michael Caine), Lara really got jittery and remorseful begging him to please return the diamonds because they were going to be caught by the insurance investigator who seemed to be gaining ground in his investigation especially with his interest in her as a prime suspect becoming more intense. She regularly required to meet with the janitor at different nondescript places to express her fears and to implore him to give up the diamonds but he wouldn’t budge.

Eventually, she determined to find the diamonds where they were stowed and started her own parallel investigation. She finally stumbled upon a clue that led her to the diamonds but before she could alert the company, she was held hostage by the janitor for a few hours until the insurance company paid the sum of $100million to an account the janitor had anonymously demanded they should pay into. While he held her hostage, he asked if she had been thinking about what she was going to do with her own part of the ransom ($10million). ARE YOU GOING TO BE A TAKER OR A GIVER?

The janitor apparently had a grudge to settle with regards to his dead wife and simply wanted to take it out on the insurers who had refused his wife health insurance when she was ill may years ago. The CEO of the insurance company eventually committed suicide which seemed to satisfy the janitor as revenge for what that CEO had done to his wife several years ago. The janitor disappeared before the stash of diamonds were found and was never seen again by anybody.

Lara Quinn didn’t go to prison for helping find the loot and confessing to the conspiracy and the company got back all its diamonds. She retired later to find out shockingly that an account had been opened in her name in an offshore account with a balance of $100million. She then decided to dedicate the next 40 years of her life to ensuring that every single penny of that money was used to help other people around the world either regain their health or find a new reason for living. She paid for organ transplants of different kinds for different poor people all over the world through a foundation she opened; she paid for education for several indigent students and built schools. She kept empowering poor and rather  unfortunate people till she had spent every last penny.

40 years later, she felt at peace. “At least and at last”, she told herself, “I have turned a previously criminal and very bad situation into a very beautiful solution”

The Moral:

In 2010, God is going to give you a lot of opportunities and resources; those we plan for and those that happen along our way without our pre-knowledge; those we think are negative and those we are sure are positive; those we imagined and those we didn’t dare imagine; those that are just sufficient, not sufficient and more than sufficient. Let me ask you the same question?

ARE YOU GOING TO BE A GIVER OR A TAKER?

…Ponder on these things. The year will tell.

Hi friends, I hit a writer’s block a while ago. I’ve had so many things to write that I’ve not written anything. There’s a passion burning deep within me for the development and emancipation of my country, Nigeria.

I’ve been studying the Bible for a while now and I’ve been looking at Nehemiah and his exploits written in the book of Nehemiah. Let me give you some back ground info. The news of the desolation and ruin of Jerusalem came to Nehemiah while he was serving under  Artaxarxes, the then emperor.

The news of desolation of Jerusalem brought a great burden upon Nehemiah’s heart that led him to fast and pray many days and cry to God for God to listen to him and grant him favour before the king, for he was the king’s cupbearer.

Even though Nehemiah was in a strange land (diaspora), His heart was yearning for his Nation. He never for once forgot his roots. He constantly desired the prosperity and advancement of his Nation. 

And though he had risen quite high on the social ladder where he was, he counted it his failure, if Jerusalem failed.

Nigeria is my own Jerusalem. There’s no where else but Nigeria that I can call home. Nigeria is my home. The desolation of this country is and remains a burden on my heart all the time.

Nehemiah in praying to God took the breaking down of the walls of Jerusalem as his own fault. He asked God for mercy collectively for the sins the Israelites had committed and asked for forgiveness because they were collectively repenting and turning back to God even though it was just him who was doing so.

He stood in the gap for his country. He believed that what happens to one happens to all and all will need one who’ll take responsibility to deliver the rest from desolation.

Nehemiah in his prayers to God did not ask God to rebuild or facilitate miraculously the rebuilding of the wall in Jerusalem. He took responsibility for it in his prayers and asked God to cause the king to have compassion on him when he presented his case - ”The re-building of Jerusalem’s wall”

Neh 2:1  In the month of Nisan, in Artaxerxes’ twentieth year as king, after some wine was brought for the king, I picked up the cup of wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence before. 

Neh 2:2  The king asked me, “Why do you look so sad? You aren’t sick, are you? You must be troubled about something.” (I was really afraid.) 

Neh 2:3  ”May the king live forever!” I said to the king. “Why shouldn’t I look sad when the city, the place where my ancestors are buried, is in ruins and its gates are burned down?” 

Neh 2:4  ”What do you want?” the king asked me. So I prayed to the God of heaven, 

Neh 2:5  and I asked the king, “If it pleases Your Majesty, and you are willing to grant my request, let me go to Judah, to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I can rebuild it.”

Once a burden (National) has been put on your heart. It becomes almost completely impossible to go around in the same manner as before. Nehemiah’s countenance was so sad that the King noticed it when he went to give him wine. The burden of Jerusalem’s ruin wouldn’t allow him return to his normal emotions. 

He became so consumed by the liberation of his country that his visage changed completely. The king even noticed it and commented about it. You cannot be consumed with a passion and it would not show. Those around you must be able to see and feel your passion. If it doesn’t permeate the air and environment around you, then you are not passionate enough about it.

Nehemiah took the risk of the king’s displeasure at his countenance just because of this burden he carried. What am I willing to risk to deliver the future. Who’s displeasure is too valuable for me ?

Nehemiah prayed to God while asking the King what was really consuming Him. And God gave him favour. I need to be in motion to get swift and effective answers from God to my prayers. It is allowed to “pray as you go” and not wait all the time for physical manifestation of answers before I move. His word says “These signs shall follow them who believe”…

Motion is a prerequisite for signs and wonders.

Neh 2:6  The king, with the queen sitting alongside him, said, “How long will your work take and when would you expect to return?” I gave him a time, and the king gave his approval to send me. 

The King gave Nehemiah approval and even furnished him with man and material to build the wall. He also sent him protection and gave him good will.

When I have a burden, the responsibility of the solution usually lies with me. If I take that responsibility, I would experience access at unbelievable levels.

Neh 2:7  Then I said, “If it please the king, provide me with letters to the governors across the Euphrates that authorize my travel through to Judah; 

Neh 2:8  and also an order to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, to supply me with timber for the beams of The Temple fortress, the wall of the city, and the house where I’ll be living.” The generous hand of my God was with me in this and the king gave them to. 

The secret of success is to ask. No one can on his own solve the problem of a Nation. He needs help and will get it only if he asks it.

A few days ago, I attended a business meeting with my boss at Sheraton hotel. There was not much to the meeting except for welcoming the CEO of an Austrailian company who was coming for a week to hold seminars across the country on the product his company was marketing. Soon after we had held the welcome ceremony, we set out for the office. I got in my boss’s car to drive while he sat on the passenger’s side. We also had a few of our friends and colleagues who had come for the welcome ceremony sitted behind in the car. As soon as I started the engine,  an annoying sound started from the controls inside the car.

The indication light read “Parking brakes disengaged” or something like that. I tried to touch all the buttons I could to no avail. The inside of the car was like an airplane’s cockpit so there were many controls to fiddle with. My boss who owns the car tried as well to set things right but he couldn’t. We decided to keep on going anyway, since we weren’t far from the office. We hoped that one way or another, it would stop or when we got to the office, some techie would come and fix it.

As we travelled towards the office, my boss called the driver who had driven us to the hotel. He had dropped the keys and left because he was feeling ill. My boss asked him what he had done to the car and why it was screaming at us continually. The driver then told him on the phone that he didn’t touch anything. Apparently, the brake lining of the car had issues prior to then and it had been taken out pending when a replacement for it would be purchased. In taking out the brake lining, the sensor for the parking brakes had been removed; the brain box of the vehicle not seeing the sensor where it should be was now giving alarming signals indicating that the parking brakes were faulty.

So my boss was actually trying to find out if he had fiddled with something in that arena. Anyway, when it didn’t seem as if he had touched anything relating to the brakes, my boss asked him what we should do now. “Switch off the engine and switch it on again, and when you switch it on, don’t touch the park brake release lever”. he advised. My boss passed on the message to me. I trafficated and stopped the car and switched it off and on again. I avoided the brakes despite the fact that the noise came up again and after a few seconds it stopped and the indicator light went dead as well.

I laughed at myself and said out loud. When ever you have a problem that you don’t have an understanding of, just stop, go back to the beginning and try and trace the source. That is why I titled this post “Press Enter”. While typing on the keyboard, to return to the beginning of the line, you can press the “Enter” key otherwise called the “Return” key. Many times in life, if only we returned to the beginning when we get hooked on the journey to fulfillment or destiny, we would be able to instantly solve the problems we are facing.

Questions like “why am I alive?”, “why was I created?”, “why did I marry her?” “why did I pick up this job?”, “how did I get here?” and others relating to the afore mentioned questions point you in the direction of the beginning or the source. There’s a yoruba proverb that translates literally as “If you don’t know where you are going, ensure you know where you are coming from”. Wherever you are stuck right now regardless of the situation, please “Press Enter” and go back to the beginning. You may just discover where things went wrong.