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

I have learnt a lot in the last almost 4yrs as an entrepreneur, I thought I was knowledgeable, and maybe I was, but the words, “see thou a man that is wise in his own eyes, there is more hope for a fool than him” – make more sense to me by the day. When you begin to know, you realize that the more you know, the more there is to know.  Real knowledge is a by product of the experience of others. The gap between hypothesis and theory is bridged by experience – repeated experiments. He who would be knowledgeable must be willing to either learn from a lab mice, or be one. I daresay, better is the grace of  humility to learn from the lab rat, than the grace of courage to be one yourself.  The complete life however, must balance these means.

About 3yrs ago, I was quite broke – broke as N40,000 could be what 9 of us shared in a month. I was doing everything I knew to do to keep afloat.  I had a team of guys working with me then as well as volunteers, and it was getting difficult to manage things and keep everybody together. We had sent out lots of proposals, were engaged in different small projects, but not so many results. Somewhere along the line, I stumbled on this book, Continue Reading »

Today is the last day of this month, by tomorrow, the last month of the year will start, and before we all know it, the year would end. This year has been the best year of my life so far, and somehow I’m persuaded beyond any doubt that the last days of the year are going to be crowned with goodness. I know that in the last month of this year, many expecations are still going to be met, many people’s prayers will still be answered, many unfinished goals will be achieved and dreams will still come through and true! I’m about to embark on a 30 days journey of success, and I want you to come with me.

When I say this year has been good, it’s on all counts. Just this morning for example, I had the privilege of giving out a gift of an all expense paid vacation to two people, and not the first time this year. This year, I have gotten to meet and built great relationships with fantastic people, people I had never met have become my friends and partners. This year  I have also enjoyed financial progress, enjoyed freedom, enjoyed a number of vacations, watched my kids, family and friends make progress. This year I have heard a lot of thank yous, a lot of God bless yous and so much gratitude has filtered into my life.  This year, my mum stepped up to glory, and even though not here, I feel peace when I draw inspiration from her life. Very importantly too, this year, I have experienced God’s grace, guidance, protection, leading and wisdom in ways too amazing and numerous to describe.  As this year wraps up however, I have a mandate to help a few more people achieve their goals and dreams, meet their future partners, attract wealth, be a blessing to someone else, whatever it is that’s going to crown your year with goodness. All you need to do is simple and brief. Continue Reading »

I came across a quote from a friend today, and it spurred me on to write.  For all those out there who are looking for an “elevator” to success, I believe that this quote and write-up is a must read for you. We are in a sharp sharp generation, a microwave, two minutes noodles generation. We want what we want, and we want it yesterday.

Our young people don’t want to invest for the long term, they want short term, and high returns. Nobody is willing to test the powers of compound interest, nobody is willing to wait for 10yrs and see what a million can become after so long. They all want it in 1 month, in 3 months or worst case scenario in 6 months. We are too in a hurry, too hasty, too much in a rush! When we approach the building of life that has success on it’s topmost floor, we go to the elevator and punch the up button, we enter and hit the 10th floor. All we need to do is stand still, and wait for the elevator to deliver us to sure success. Isn’t this the way we want it? Smooth easy effortless ride to our dreams? Wake up, and smell the coffee. Continue Reading »

“Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it, proceed the issues that govern life” – Proverbs 4:23

“In the end, we will remember, not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends” – Marthin Luther King Jr.

It might shock you to know, but research has revealed that in any area of professional development, focusing on the skill itself accounts for less than 30% of what will make you grow or develop. In fact, a school of thought I have come to find interesting and fascinating says that the combination of learned skill, knowledge and other intellectual factors account for just 15% of the actual skill’s development, the other 85% are accounted for by things you and I an unconscious of. Let’s call them unconscious factors.

To take a more practical approach, let’s look at a skill like presentation skills, or writing skills. If you wanted to develop these skills today, you would focus on reading about these skills, that would be called gaining knowledge, you would talk about learning by doing, practicing, forming habits, that would be called learned skill. You would also look at some other intellectual factors like learning by teaching others, going for a course, passing an exam e.t.c. Right? All that will account for only 15% of what you need to do to develop that skill. If that is all you have ever done today, you can only imagine the potentials you have to further develop yourself. 85% of what is responsible for your development are things within your subconscious mind. The factors mostly responsible for your success, are internal. You’ll need to align them properly to succeed. Continue Reading »

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure – Colin Powell US general (1937 – )

Are there secrets to success? Are there hidden things that if they were open to one could make one a millionaire, progress faster at work, win, lead e.t.c? Are there things that are known to the successful that are unknown to all else? There are currently about 2000 books on Amazon.com promising the secrets of success. Searching for these secrets have become the preoccupation of many… but do these secrets truly exist?

First let me establish a definition of success that goes down well with me. I believe that success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. Key words here are, progressive, realization, worthy and ideal. I believe that the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful is not essentially knowledge, neither is it talent, it’s action. Someone once said that successful people are people who make an habit of doing what failures hate to do. The essential difference is in doing.

Lately, a mother asked me a question that has gotten me thinking. I answered her on the spur of the moment back then, but I have taken time out to really think about it, and answer practicable ways. This will be the first article in a series on “Secrets to Success”. She asked me,  how have you been able to  get to what you are now,  what did you do? How  were you like growing up?  I saw in her eyes a strong desire for the best for her children.
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“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat” -Theodore Roosevelt

It’s 12 midnight already, am about to pack up my laptop and go to sleep, but not just quite yet, I have some thoughts from the events of today that have been inspirational for me, and I think it’s good I share. I have quit trying to please all, trying to please all is one of the sure ways to fail. He who will please all will lose his donkey.

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody”  Bill Cosby

There is a world of difference between saying I have failed three times and saying I am a failure. Failing is the birthing place of success.  Some of the things I have done lately has won a lot of applause, and a number of boos.  The worst that can happen is that I fail, but then, I would never be listed amongst the cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat from not haven tried. I’ll rather be an exemplary failure, than some of the timid souls whose specialization is running commentaries about the lives of others. It’s extremely easy to turn the vegetables in the pot with ones tongues…”he could have done like this…” Continue Reading »

Should we answer a fool according to his folly?

Proverbs 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him

Proverbs 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Growing up, these two verses used to excite me, when I was taught paradox in English, this sounded like the typical example. It was open for debate, two contrasting verses placed side by side in a book that was meant to provide guidance. Do we obey the first command, or the last command? Or was this an error? Or as my studious friends will suggest, let’s check the greek root word for both fools, maybe they are different, maybe one is kesil and the other kelis…lol. But seriously, these are two opposite statements placed side by side in the greatest book of all times (my opinion – not far fetched though, it still holds the guiness book of records most printed, most sold, most retranslated and most in demand book in the world)

I believe strongly that the meeting point of any such paradoxes is wisdom. Wisdom is the right application of total available knowledge in the solution of problems. There are times to answer a fool according to his folly, and there are times to refrain from answering a fool according to his folly. The ability to know the difference in these times, is wisdom! Continue Reading »

“Jesus wept” – John 11:35

Is it manly to shed tears? Should a man be seen crying, or worse weeping? I believe crying is when tears flow freely from your face, and weeping when you make some noise with it, or you shake visibly in trying to muzzle the noise. I grew up believing that crying was not manly. I believed that it wasn’t masculine to show emotions. If you love, it ought to be concealed, if you are angry, you should manage it. If you are hurt, you should never cry. As far back as primary school, we measured ourselves as mature and strong, by our abilities to maintain a calm look in the midst of 6 strokes of cane, back in those days, I got beaten (I meant flogged) daily in school by my class teacher – the formula is stand still and take your medicine like a man. Real men don’t cry, so I thought. Until one day. Continue Reading »

Call it Billionaires in Training, call it Cashflow 101 retreat, Monday and Tuesday the 28th and 29th of May is going down in history as one of my best days so far this year. Not only for me, I’m sure, but also for the 19 other people that were together with me as we played Cashflow 101 at the HS Blue Ribbon Hotel on Allen Lane Ikeja. We settled in from about 5pm, started off with dinner and 7, and the game started at 8pm at night. We did not know how we suddenly looked at the time, and it was 5am! We ended the game around this time, had a little recap, and went to sleep deciding to reconvene at 10:30am.

I’m currently still expecting the pictures from the friend that took them, as soon as I get the pictures, you’ll see them here. But before you get a preview of the pictures, I’ll try and do a good job with words in describing how the event went, the learning opportunities and reasons why you shouldn’t miss the next one. Summarily, I think we have discovered the best way to hang out together in these times. Continue Reading »

Yesterday we had a session of our monthly mentorship session. Gbenga Sesan, myself and this time around a guest speaker – Emmanuel Utomi. It was an exciting session for me, because during the session I learnt some vital things as well. I learnt a few questions that make one’s picture of success clearer to one. Three vital questions that if you answer, will help you focus your strengths at being the real person on the inside of you that is craving for expression. I’ll use my own personal template, and I’ll hope that this will be instructive enough to help you formulate yours. There is nothing like climbing the ladder of success to the top of the sky scraper of achievement only to discover it was leaning against the wrong wall. Continue Reading »