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

On Sunday morning, I had the privilege of spending some time with the Harvesters Church in Ibadan, and ministering in 2 of their services. It was an unexpected opportunity, but it felt very right in my spirit and mind, it was a great way to have spent my Sunday morning as I shared Gods revelation to me about relationships. I felt really blessed by the thoughts myself, and I’m positive that many people received wisdom and instruction to better position themselves.

Relationships are important, they are like Relation- Ships, they are ships that aid you towards a desired destination. Ships like most modes of transportation are useless without clear direction. Those who don’t know where they are going need no road maps, a relationship is a ship that via the opportunity to relate with another mortal, steers you towards your dreams. Friendship for friendships sake is a waste of time. If you don’t know where you are going, every company you keep is a wrong company. The first step in navigating into the right relationship is investing in the clarity of one’s vision. The first question that precedes great relationships is clarity of purpose! Before you begin to join yourself to any chariot, where you are going must first be sure! Continue Reading »

Today, I simply feel like freestyling, too many topics fighting in my mind for attention, I don’t want to be bound by one topic. As I reminisce over the last 11 months of this amazing year, my heart swells with gratitude to God, and is slightly punctuated by unexpressed tears gathering momentum in my tear sac. My mind is well trained, not to ask the questions for which the answers are clear. Today is (I can’t seem to use past tense) my mum’s birthday, and oh, how I miss calling her and and hearing her reassuring voice.  So today, I just want to well it out from my heart, demonstrate gratitude by counting the blessings that can be counted in public, sharing the bitter sweet lessons, and giving everybody a reason to have hope, to trust and to obey.

Mummy’s Day

It’s my mum’s day today, and though I know the righteous do not die, they sleep, I miss her.  If you read the two articles I wrote at the time of her departure in the second half of this year, you’ll see what an enigma she was. Sweet mother and Lessons from the life of my mum. Interestingly however, even though fast asleep from this current existence, she’s more alive than many who still have breath, or how do you reconcile these things. On my Fathers birthday for example, my mum’s phone suddenly comes back to live and starts beeping and alarm, on the face of the phone was a cake and lights and a message – Jo’s (meaning sweetheart) birthday! My father was happily shocked and told me about it, in my mind the phrase that rang – “Still relevant!”. A few weeks ago, my dad asked me to tell any of my friends coming to Lagos to him, that my mum’s farm of Yams have just been harvested and he wants to send the yam to all the children (we) and siblings.  We are still eating the yam from my mum’s farm, it’s a lot of yam as it was a huge farm, in my mind? Still relevant! You are alive and well, are you relevant? Who are you relevant to? Is your life relevant to now, and are you living to be relevant in eternity? Continue Reading »

“Announcements : “Please join me in congratulating Omozele for winning the position of top commenter in June. Kindly send me an email so you can redeem your gifts.” Also the details of our 26th of July  political meeting is coming up soon, we o have some big timers who were coming in, please stay tuned.”

Heaven gained my mum on the first day of the second half of the year 2009.  From a week before that day and today, I have been on the road between Ilorin and Lagos, I have also been in deep thought about life, about death, about love, about relationships and about family. I’ve asked myself very real questions about what I am doing with my life, what regrets I may have if I continue with my status quo. I have also tried to be strong for my dad, for my sibblings, for the family, the community, the church and very importantly for myself as well. On friday the 17th of July, 2009, my mum’s body was lowered into the grave.  Forgive me if I sound different from how you expect me to sound, this last 3 weeks of my life have transformed my life. I have burrowed deep into the soil beneath my existence and planted my roots far down, I have no doubts that my capacity for growth in the years ahead  have been enhanced.

I am missing my mum already, and I’m certain it’s only the beginning, but I am confident and convinced also that God has stepped in the fill the gap and the vacuum that this transistion would have created in our lives. I tell my friends proudly that I have never had any reason to go to the hospital in my life till date order than to remove or fill my teeth – Never!  Till a few weeks ago, all I ever do, is pick up my phone and dial my mum. She was my health google, she had all the answers, and they always worked. I thought this was my own little secret, I discovered to my amazement when the pastor of her church preached her closing sermon, that there are many people including the pastors family whose healths were just my mum’s phone number away. When I sit down to ruminate about the things that my mother got involved in, my efforts look like childsplay. Allowing her life to inspire mine, I am certain that I ought to do more. I can do much more than I am doing, you can do much more than you are doing! All you and I need to do, is to shift our thinking, and decide to do more! Don’t merely count your days, let your days count. Continue Reading »

1. Access to Kings

I woke up very early yesterday morning, earlier than I usually would, to leave my house for 5am and head for the Airport. I was going to meet Fela Durotoye and Bunmi Ajagbe a member of his team, on our way to see the Minister of Education in Abuja.  

It ended up being a fulfilling meeting. Our objectives met with favour, and it was a good learning experience for all of us and me in particular.  I didn’t clamour to go see the minister, I was invited to come, that felt good and like the fulfillment of desires. The day went well. Continue Reading »

The first question ought to be, what is luck, does it exist? If it doesn’t, then what are we talking about? If it does, then how can we be lucky? Is there really a secret fomular for luck?

All these, reminds me of an occurence that happened lately, I had an opportunity to relay it with a team of people in the UK last week, and it dawned on me that it really was an interesting occurrence. We had BIT (Billionaires in Training) in Lagos Nigeria and after the event, we had our normal recap. For those who do not know, the major highlight of the BIT is an opportunity for people to network, play a fun game of Cashflow 101, do an extensive recap of the learnings from the game and share real life opportunities we can all partake of to make it out of the rat race. It’s usually an exciting time, and an opportunity to meet new people.

In this particular BIT, we were doing the recap and someone noted that he observed that in the game as in life, there was a lot of luck involved. He mentioned that he noticed that a particular couple were very lucky. They seemed to get the right opportunities, throw the right scores, they definitely had luck.

When it was the lucky couples turn to respond, the answer was shocking and interesting Continue Reading »

Fourteen years ago, I was a little younger than I am now. I recall a particular day, I was sitting in my shop, yes, my shop. Just after secondary school, a friend and I had decided to start up a business venture ahead of getting into university. The breaks in universities were usually long and unending in those days, so anything to while away the time was worth it. “Adonai Ventures”, it’s been 14yrs yet I cannot forget the office, the place and the partitioning. We were running a drycleaning agency, a barbing saloon, a card making company and a whatever else we could lay our hands on. Staying in the office was also developmental for me, as I got the opportunity to listen to tapes and read, and believe me, I read in those days!

There was a story I listened to back in those days, that made a strong impression on me. I can still see the tape, it was white. We played tapes back then in a black double cassette player, I can still remember that tape player, it was a blessing back in those days. We rocked it, and it still rocks my soul! This story is the one I want to share with you today. My hope, is that the same way it made an impression on me then, it will make an impression on you. Continue Reading »

I decided to dust up one of my audios yesterday, and I’ve been listening to it since then. It’s an audio by Harvey Mackay, and it’s about building powerful networking relationships. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s an area where I believe I have serious room for improvement. Peter Drucker once said – “More business decisions occur over lunch and dinner than at any other time, yet no MBA courses are given on the subject”. Since there is no course or formal training on networking, it’s knowledge we must all invest in getting, and a life course we must all sit… and before this sounds like mere education, please know sincerely that I am building my network, and I’ll like to get to know YOU better.

If you are thinking, I’m an employee, what do I need to network and build powerful relationships for? Well, be sure that you will not be an employee for life, even if you want to be. The age of collecting 35yrs service award golden wristwatch is far gone, and even if you have that temperament, you’ll have to retire someday – Either to read newspapers and earn passive income, or to engage in one hobby or the other, either way, you’ll still need people, so why not start building those relationships now. Continue Reading »

Lunch Date

There is so much personal development material on the street of daily activity, that it takes not wanting to consciously learn not to grow. In the last few days, I’ve come to see two interesting sides of a coin. That associations can bring good, and they can bring bad. That common meetings with other mortals, or access to the mind of great men via their books, are some of the most life changing events on this planet.

I learnt, that once upon a time, there was a young lawyer who sought help from an older lawyer. The young lawyer was finding it hard to practice litigation, he had no clients, and it wasn’t looking like there was light at the end of his tunnel. The old lawyer had gone through this time as well, but now was a big time popular lawyer who made lots of money from big cases. He begged the big lawyer to give him his small briefs, so at least he also could have some crumbs that fall off the big table. The old lawyer informed him, that there was no small brief – lawyers only know the beginning of a brief, no one knows how big the brief would be. The young lawyer was disappointed that the old lawyer was not helpful, and turned to leave. The old lawyer however stopped him and told him that even though he could give him nothing, he was willing to have lunch date with him at a future date, but would like them to stroll together from his office down about 2km to where they would eat lunch. The young lawyer felt a bit insulted that all he was going to get was lunch, but reluctantly agreed. The set day came and they had the long walk to lunch. 2-3months after this lunch he started getting calls, briefs, and business. His fortune changed and he was so excited, he had a party, and invited the big lawyer to come and see how well he’s doing, even without his help. Continue Reading »

I once read someone’s article on a friend a long time ago, I have searched all day for this article online but haven’t found it, so I’m going to write mine, and hope that it would give someone the feeling I had back then, when I read the same thing.

In the story I read, a man talks about his childhood friend, how they had drifted apart somewhere along the line. To schools they went, different schools, and to Jobs they went, different Jobs. Wifes happened, and so did kids, and the tide of life threw them along different paths. Sometimes at work the young man would think, “oh, my friend, he would have said this and that”. Sometimes he’ll recall, and push till later when to give him a call. By and by the story went, each day with the pressure to call and see mounting stronger, until one day the young man receives a post mail. He sees the mail is stamped from the same place where his friend and he grew up. Continue Reading »