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

It was 1 am in the morning and the TV in my room was on, I had seen the advert for the movie and had been a little curious. I had a flight for 9am the next morning, and staying awake to watch the film meant that I might not sleep until 3am, would wake up by 5-6am and pack my bags to get to the airport for 8am so I can catch the flight to Warri. It’s going to be working a tight rope, but I gave in to the temptation to watch, and guess what, it was worth it.

The key story in the movie was of a guy – a player, who did not believe in love or the institution of marriage, and had become a serial boyfriend… getting into relationships strictly for the short term value. He always ensured he didn’t get his heart or feelings involved, he had learnt from his uncle the master player, to be exceptional in the art of seduction. He had become lethal, he was great in his game, and he didn’t care much for settling down. His life seemed to go well, until one critical night. That night he was in town to attend the wedding ceremony of his only brother, there were lots of bride maids to kill time with, the wedding planner was an ex-almost-girl friend. The stage was set for one of his normal nights, but not this night. He goes into the gent, and there meets a ghost, the ghost of his player uncle, who came to show him, that this type of life he’s living does not have a good end. Continue Reading »

I’ve been a bit out of circulation for the past 4 days. It’s been a hectic one for me, I’ve been co-facilitating and co-learning a great deal at the Holidays and Cash Leadership Academy 100 level. It’s a really mixed class with an age range of 24-60yrs of age. We are all from different walks of life with different experiences and backgrounds. The class content, energy and opportunities to learn are rich. It’s been a great 4 days and we have 6 more intensive days to go. The training has forced me to go beyond knowing to doing, to utilize what I had kept as knowledge, and in so doing I’m becoming better. It’s funny, but I don’t think I have put myself under the kind of pressure I’m putting myself through now, in a while, it’s so demanding yet so refreshing.

My mind casts back to those days gone, years past when I was under constant pressure. Pressure to teach another the content of a course, pressure to stand in front of a fellowship and share the Word. The pressure of accountability to live right because many other lives depended on yours. The pressure of praying from 12 midnight till 3am regularly without fail, the pressure of studying the scriptures and not just reading it. The pressure of always having a fresh word. I once in a while get asked, how do you stay so sharp and current, how do you stay so knowledgeable? The answer, is quite simple. Continue Reading »

The thought of our mortality is one of our greatest reservoirs of wisdom. When we ponder on the transient nature of life, we ask ourselves deep questions and our philosophies are formed. When the question of death is asked, our highest priorities surface. I like the thoughts of Stephen R. Covey, when he says begin with the end in mind. One can hardly understand his or her life’s priorities without extending the equation of life over the point where life ends. Those who regularly connect with their mortality live the most meaningful lives, while in contrast, those who think they would leave forever make a mess of life.

Who will cry when you die? Ask yourself this question and it might reveal to you the quality of life you are currently living. Ask why will they cry, and you’ll see the things you are living for. The days are inching close to when it would be 1yr that heaven gained my mother, the days seem fast to the observers, but the value of that time, and the many times her value was missed is priceless. My eyes have not offered it’s tears for public display, but my heart has bled over and over with tears of blood, thank God for his comfort. When life has meaning, it always leaves a clear vacuum in the lives of other people. This vacuum makes people cry, makes people hurt and makes many wish it was possible to reverse death. When you die, who will cry and why? Continue Reading »

It’s been a while I have written as consistently as I normally would. I have been on the move, adding value to what might seem a minority, but what is surely becoming a mighty army of people. Ever so often, I meet someone however, who reminds me of what a blessing my site has been to him or her, and I’m reminded never to ever underestimate the power of this blog and who may be reading. With due respect to that reality, I have yet again decided not to completely close this channel, but to strive to every motivate and inspire my online friends and audience.

The journey of personal development is not an easy journey, but if the needed prices are paid, it can be pleasurable. Trust me, travelling around the world on vacations with different teams of people can be so much fun. Learning their cultures, reading their history,  meeting the locals, sight seeing and all sounds like play, but if you where the cap of a student and a teacher, there is so much that is revealed. I long to share the lessons from the Maldives, to share insights from The Gambia and touch a bit on my breath-taking tour of Cotonou, Ivory Coast and Senegal – remind me I said breath taking . But today, I’ll want to share something that almost brought tears to my eyes, and the reason, why I will for the next few decades passionately recommend that you become a part of this global opportunity. Continue Reading »

Many times you will hear people say that their big breaks happened when they responded to an inner voice. They felt the urge to do something that was not natural or had no empirical data to back. They moved, and somehow their move in retrospect seemed perfect. Take it or leave it, God does speak to man, most times he may not be in the fire or in the wind, he may be in a still small voice. A voice so still, if you are not watchful you may not catch it, a voice so small, it’s easy to hear and ignore. God does speak, and let me tell you very firmly – your success and prosperity is connected to the instruction that he gives. His instructions are the inspirations behind innovations, his revelations are worth searching for and finding out. All that his seen will pass away, but that which takes root from his instruction and word will last them all!

What about people who don’t know God, who don’t like God or claim no allegiance to God, do they still need to hear His instruction to succeed? Does God speak to them? God speaks to all men, even in his creations his words are loud and clear, the basic reality of God is made manifest in a long and thoughtful look at creation. Sometimes when those He calls his own miss the signals long enough, any mere man – popularly referred to as stones will rise to the occasion. God does speak, but most times man cannot hear him. Not because he cannot hear him actually, but because he cannot understand his words. I’m going to show you one way, just one way today on how you can get yourself into God’s channel! Continue Reading »

One day, the man I am, will be measured against the man that I could have been! All my actions, and inactions will be placed on a balance, and my possibilities on the other side of the balance. On that day, the Judge of all, will have an expression on His face, will it be a smile or a frown? Will the words I’ll hear be ” well done, good and faithful servant”, or will I be cast into utter darkness with the words “get rid of this play-it-safe who won’t go out on a limb”? I don’t know if you are living today aware that that day exists. A day we will all be scored for how we have fared in the examination called life. A day when our intentions and motives will become plain and the reality of our actions and particularly our inactions will be crystal clear. Are you living with that consciousness? Or is your life mantra “Que será, será”.

The thought of this day, is the reason why I have decided to live my life fully with a good conscience towards the things of God and the issues of men. The thought of this day, is why I am a student of the Bible, and run my life based on it’s principles. The thought of this day is why I judge myself daily, that I might be fairly judged. Interestingly there is a chapter of the book of Matthew that renders 3 Judgement day scenarios, this is the 25th Chapter. These are scenarios that anybody desirous of a great end, should read and meditate on from time to time. Ahead of my sharing the lessons from these 3 scenarios for you, I’ll like you to ponder about the questions asked, and the ones I’m about to ask? Are you living your life fully? Are you preparing for an unseen future? If you have to stop doing what you are doing today, do you have a fall back position? Are you playing it safe or taking the risks? The way you are living now, is it based on faith or fear? Are your skills and talents fully invested? Do you have skills that will shock the world if you manifested? Is your life touching any other persons life? Are you a blessing to anyone else, does your life make meaning to any other mortal? Are you meeting people’s needs? Continue Reading »

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career, I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over in my life. And that’s why I succeed!” – Michael Jordan

One of the sharpest contrasts of paradigms between the super successful and the near do wells or outright failures is their perspective about failing. The contrast is so alarming, yet many don’t know. In my little sojourn and study, I have discovered quite amazingly that the rich and the poor, the great and the average, the skilled and he amateur,  have different philosophies about failing. If your philosophy can change, then you have indeed begun your journey into the school of success. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. You are not more than your way of thinking. Read these words, and let them transform your thinking, changing the way you see failing and rejection has the capacity to transform your life in 3 months.

Failing is one of the best things that can happen to a human being! Rejection is be most powerful motivation tool on earth! Getting a “No!” from your prospects or friends is the best self development training in the world! Failing is golden! The act of falling short, or missing expectations, of not meeting up with the desired results or getting woeful results is precious. You need to motivate yourself to fail, get yourself the opportunity of being rejected, go into places you’ll hear no’s more often, for success is elusive to those who have no history of failing! Failure must never be a place that defines you, but you must be conversant with failing. Like Thomas Watson one time MD of IBM said, “I have discovered, that in order to double my success rate, I simply double my failure rate!”.  You are not ready to succeed, until you are prepared to fail Continue Reading »

One of the strongest revelations I walk with is understanding that the fear of extremes makes us mediocre. People regularly live less than their potentials, because of a dread of the worst. What if I fail? What if I die? What if my good name is dragged in the mud? What if I make a fool of myself? Unwilling to think deeply about the worst, men and women condemn themselves to an average low impact existence.  No books are written about them, no quotes to their name, their fear of failure got them eventually the same fate with all, death, but meaningless lives.

I have learnt to always confront my worst possibilities? I resigned from paid employment 4yrs ago with clarity about the question, what if I fail? My answer was that should I fail, I would send my family to my parents or theirs, I will stay around in Lagos for a little longer and work my butts off, if all still fails, I will go back to the village and get involved in farming!  I grew up learning to farm, and I know that on the farm you are not likely to die of hunger, and once there is life, there is hope . I have a colleague that told me his own worst case scenario was that he’ll become a driver – since he loves to drive. What I have learnt is that except you are willing to ask yourself mind boggling questions, you will not make mind boggling progress.  Those who go very high in life, are those who have dealt with the fear of falling. What if you fail? Continue Reading »

It’s 3am in the city of Dubai, my flight leaves here today, and I need to be awake early as 6am to be able to wish the South Africans and the English a hearty good bye. I gave them the hugs already, but who says one hug is enough when you may not see until last week in March in SA or April in the UK . There is no use reserving the best time of your life for the time when you can’t do most things. Now is life, the older you grow the fewer your options.  Enjoy your youth and prepare for your future.

I have a lot on my mind tonight, and a short time to say it. So I’m going to say it all in pictures, since pictures are a thousand words. I’ll capture a few of the events of the past few weeks, and basically summarize my lessons. Being in Dubai has been fun and exciting. It’s been a lot of great news, great progress and meeting of wonderful people. Remember, people matter a lot, time with them are your greatest investments. Continue Reading »