Self-Motivation, Personal Growth and Entrepreneurship Development on DeoluAkinyemi.com

Some of you were not reading this site back when I wrote “I wept”, and some of you were. If you are curious enough you can go over and read it. It makes an interesting read everytime I go back memory lane. Today’s article is however not a mere recap of why I wept back then. Today’s article is about why I wept today!

Just incase you don’t know, let me remind you once again, that I percieve my tears as precious. So precious that you are likely to find gold before you see tears in my eyes. I have discovered however, that while it might be difficult to share tears out of pain, I find myself getting moved and touched by care, concern and certain fundamental life issues.  Today I held back the tears without success, with a handkerchief in my pocket and ladies from different nations around me, I tried to play the man with a heart of steel, to watch and nod rather than allow my lacrimal glands take the day, but it happened again. Like Shakepsear said – “To weep is to make less the dept of grief”, I felt better after.

It wasn’t out of sorrow, thankfully, it was out of concern and compassion for people like you and I.  People like you and I who have the capacity to do a lot more than we are doing. People like you and I who have accepted the stereotyping of society. People like you and I who are bound for the grave with virtually all our talents and resources untouched and still loaded. People like you and I who are so quick and sharp with excuses, that we have become incapable of venturing into anything. While I listened, my heart melted, my siliva dried, my ears openned and I heard Gods’ voice in my ears, and my eyes gave way to warm tears. What happened? Follow me. Continue Reading »

Tonight I feel like going straight to bed, it’s 4am, and I must be up by 7am for a marathon session as I baptize myself into knowledge for creating a New Industry in Nigeria. 8yrs from now, I desire to be the most influential person on the continent of Africa. I want to have created the greatest number of empowered souls who go ahead to do the same for others. I want to have given houses, private jets, education and hope to cities and nations! I want to be a blessing to millions of people and a source of pride for Nigeria and the black race. Before I go to bed however, I want to let you know, that just like me you are Unstoppable!

Who told you that you cannot achieve your dreams? Who told you that your past is consulted to determine your future? Who told you that you cannot become all you desire to become? Who told you that your dreams are too big and too unrealistic? Tell them you are unstoppable! 

One of the things I learnt pretty fast in my life is that when you have an appetite for something, it’s indicative that the meal exists in your future. God gives us no appetite for meals he doesn’t intend for us to eat. Everything that man was going to need was made before him. God waited to make man last so that he doesn’t crave for what doesn’t exist, and the moment man craved for a companion, God put man to sleep gave him a dream and made it real. Whatever it is that lurks in our mind as an intention, a desire or a dream – nurture it, you are unstoppable! What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Go ahead and do it, you are unstoppable! Continue Reading »

As you read this article I am writing, I’ll like you to think about your life, and ask yourself questions that will move you from where you are to where you are capable of being.

I remember vividly an event that occurred about 11yrs ago back in OAU -Ile Ife. We had invited this preacher to school to come address students, his name if I remember correctly was -Taiwo Adelakun. We had a great session, I guess, like all sermons, we forget! There was however one statement he made that day that I have never forgotten and interestingly a number of my friends back then have also not forgotten. While he was preaching he started talking about how some of his friends were on fire, they were extraordinary, they were gifted, they had big dreams, but most of them had settled down to the complacency of life and of staying average or good. They had settled down to having jobs, having families and following routines. Their fire had gone down, their talents were not in use, their dreams discarded, they now worked with this and that, and live here and there. He shouted a prayer from the podium, and all of us found it difficult to respond with a resounding – Amen!  His prayer was strange and shocking. The prayer was, “You will Never Settle Down!”

Today I marvel at how long and how far, I wonder if most of the ears that heard those words haven’t settled down. Even you, my friend and reader, have you settled down? Can you be classified as on fire and on the cutting edge of your talent? Have you bought into the worlds philosophy of can’t, impossibile and “make do with what you have”? Did life offer you something to fill your stomach with rather than a sumptous meal? Have you settled down to what is good at the expense of what is great? While my mind easily picks out the people we would have said were exceptional, my mind painfully sorrows over those who were not even able to discover their uniqueness back in school and had seemed to settle down since after secondary school. I’ve heard great stories that have a backdrop of a fantastic childhood and the current features of  dull artwork. This morning, I’ll like you help you address and attack a few major good ideologies that prevent us from being great! You must not settle down! Continue Reading »

The process of living is the process of dying – literally. I usually tell people on their birthday’s that one year more is one year less. As we advance in years our life reserves get reduced and we embark on the process of dying. Just like the pages of a book, as the left piles up, the right dimishes until we hit the back cover and turn the book over. Living is dying.

It is however more interesting that in order then to live life fully, one must embrace the possibility of death. Full life is impeded by the fear of dying. The pages drag slowly, the moments lack zest, when we refuse to plunge or dive because we are afraid! We have only one shot at life, yes, but it’s going to end with death anyway, so why not live it fully with no regrets? Why not enjoy the journey since the destination is sure? Why not live it the way it was designed to be lived – with passion, excitement and fulfillment?

“People living deeply have no fear of death” – Anais Nin

I shudder at the statistics of people who really live deeply? Only a few percentage of people ever live beyond ordinary lives. Many of us unconciously live with the template of Solomon Grundi, our lives follow a predictable sequence. We wake up early every morning and engage in a race to work and back. Our key motivation is not more life, but the fear of not losing the one that we have. We race to work not because of passion, love or excitement, but because to put food on the table we think we must! We hope that maybe one day we will live our dreams, one day we will suddenly have a rush of courage and give up who we are for what we are capable of becoming. One day comes one day late, and then you are late and it’s late. Yank off your life from the slow road guarded by fear, move into the lane where life is rich and adventurous. It’s not a road void of challenges, nay, but it’s exciting and full of stories. It’s also empowering and capable of actually making you a guiding light for thousands or millions of prisoners of fear.

Here are 5 things you can do to live life more fully. Continue Reading »

“Sorry for the password on yesterday’s article, I will remove the password as soon as I get clearance”

Last week monday a collaboration effort started between Visible Impacts – Project RAISE , the New Nigeria Club, The Future Movmement and Generis Solutions. The objective of this project is to inspire 1,000,000 secondary school leavers to excel in the forthcoming S.S.C.E exams and J.A.M.B and to sustain this number and more for the coming years. The current facts on ground are alarming – Out of the 1,188,142 that took S.S.C.E only 188,136 passed S.S.C.E with Credit in English and Maths and 3 other subjects. Out of the 1,145,961 present for J.A.M.B exam 548,543 candidates scored above 200. This means that over 1 million people certainly have sat at home and would do both exams again in the next 1yr, and guess what they’ll have a good number of fresh takers joining them.

Like all great initiatives, it rises and falls, not on the excellence of the idea but on the commitment of the people and the ability of the system to reward it’s key drivers. I have led a number of informal organizations in my life, and what I have learnt and vowed to do my best not to repeat is that great ideas collapse if the real needs of those that are driving it are not met. I remember feeling remorse after my tenure as the president of my university department, I chronicled my thoughts into my hand over notes – “directing people that you have no power to reward or punish requires truly inspirational leadership, or it will be frustrating”. It is however more frustrating if you as a leader are powerless to meet their urgent needs. This thinking has formed in my mind into a philosophy, a philosophy that if you observe me closely you will realize, I will never engage in any activity that will not create a way for the people that I consider principal to the achievement of the goals, to be duly rewarded!

It is with this philosophy in mind that I am glad to announce to you that we have just set up a system where we can create inspirational role models, teachers and trainers for over 1,000,000 nigerian students in the next 1yr, helping them to succeed. Continue Reading »

Many times I have organized programs in Lagos and have gotten quite a number of comments from Abuja with the question, when will you come to Abuja? When will you bring these things to Abuja? I’m usually stopped in my tracks as I really cannot answer when I would come to Abuja long enough to achieve anything significant. Tomorrow however, I will be coming over to Abuja and staying in Abuja for 4 uninterrupted days!

The central activity bringing me to Abuja is an opportunity to minister at the Good Tidings Bible Church at 5:30pm on Wednessday the 13th of May, 2009.  My topic is Entrepreneurship, and my objective is to inspire the young people to see  a desirable future,  take action and better their lives and their communities.  The venue of this presentation is:  Good Tidings Bible Church International,Kingdom Centre Plot 125 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Way, After Julius Berger Headquarters, Utako, Abuja. Continue Reading »

Now I know why I have not been writing so frequently! There is regularly a clash of thoughts in my mind for having to write about something and speak about something else, and when the writing and the speaking need to happen on the same day, it’s tough. Today for example, I had made up my mind that I will write about “Freedom”, but in a few hours from now as well, I will be with the GTBank training school to talk about “Personal Effectiveness and Life Mastery”, then tomorrow morning I’m sharing a platform with Great Leaders (Rev Sam Adeyemi, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, Pastor Ben Akabueze and Mazi Sam Ohunabunwa) to talk about “Character in Career and Business” (9th May, 10am – Daystar, 71 Oregun Road, Kudirat Abiola Way). As soon as I’m done from there, I head for another seminar where I speak about Financial Freedom and share a business opportunity (9th May, 2pm&4pm -Generis Solutions, 3rd Floor Oluwatobi House, 71 Allen Avenue, Ikeja), as soon as that is done, I begin to put finishing touches to my presentation for Good Tidings Bible Church, Abuja on Wednesday on “Entrepreneurship” (13th May, 5:30pm - Good Tidings Bible Church International, Kingdom Centre Plot 125 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Way, After Julius Berger Headquarters, Utako, Abuja). Then I have a number of other seminars in Abuja, come back to lagos for another one on the weekend and start finalizing my preparations to head for Malaysia.

Thinking about all that needs to go on today, and then tomorrow is sufficient to create a writers block. Mixed with that also is my desire to really make a comment about the Ekiti Re-Run fiasco! If I however write too many thoughts in one post, I can get accused of being desultory. This worries me, but I guess like today’s topic, I simply need to set myself free of the encumberances created by expectations and standards, and speak from my heart, exactly the way the words flow . I’ll try to stick to the topic of freedom, while I use the key things I must express myself on as examples. Let’s together see what is capable of building up. Continue Reading »

“Please who came first in comments last month, kilanko, ikotun or omozele?”

I’m bound to get a few people off their comfort zones with this post. It’s because of the love in my heart for you that I am propelled to write, please accept my refusal to make any apologies for what I am about to write. I will share the truth as is impressed on my heart, I will share it with as much passion as is required to help you consider your life, and make the most and best of it.

When I made a deliberate detour from Electronics and Electrical Engineering to pursue my passion for people development in Human Resources Management, I had it in mind that I wanted to help people succeed. I had hardly started this job that I had to tour major Universities in and outside Nigeria in search of new hires for my company. It was an exciting journey going out to fish out my classmates into the labour market, but what shocked me and appeared quite glaring was that a great number of graduating students were not prepared for the employment market. My passion drove me to write a book then, “How to get your dream Job”. I went on to further do seminars in many higher institutions, trying my best to educate people and get them prepared. In the height of doing these however, I realized a few things. That there are not enough Jobs for everybody, that a Job is never designed so you’ll be free and that in time, getting a job might not be such a great choice after all. Continue Reading »