Category Archives: Self Development

The Seven Practical Steps To Achieve Your Goals

Sometimes in the journey to chase our goals, we get confused on what steps to take. Below are seven practical steps that helps in giving that goal/dream the light of day.

STEP ONE: Decide exactly what you want. Most people never do this.

STEP TWO: Write it down in clear, specific, detailed language

STEP THREE: Set deadline. Set sub deadlines if the goal is large, long term or complicated.

STEP FOUR: Make a list of everything you can think of doing to achieve your goal.

STEP FIVE: Organize your list into a plan based on priorities and sequence, based on what comes first and then what must be done before something else can be done.

STEP SIX: Take action on your plan immediately. Don’t delay.

STEP SEVEN: Do something every day, no matter how small, that moves you toward your goal.

Like my mentor will say, if you fail it is your fault and if you succeed it is your fault. Just choose which fault you want to befall you.

Culled from Olugbenga Asaolu

Start with Yourself

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Madame C.J. Walker

Madame C. J. Walker was born as Sarah Breedlove to poor farmers Minerva and Owen Breedlove on December 23, 1867 on the shores of the Mississippi River, on a cotton plantation in Delta, Louisiana, USA. Exactly two years after the abolition of slave trade.

She was orphaned at age seven, married at fourteen and became a widow and mother at twenty. She experienced hardships and discrimination typical of the United States at the time. As a result of her parents’ death, she was forced to move from one household to another.

Continue reading Start with Yourself

I Love Diamonds

Image from http://i-love-shirt-shop.com/2011/09/30/das-i-love-diamonds-shirt-jetzt-im-i-love-shirt-shop-erhaltlich/

Harry Winston, a New York diamond dealer heard about a wealthy Dutch merchant who was looking for a certain kind of diamond to add to his collection.

Winston called the merchant, told him that he thought he had the perfect stone, and invited the collector to come to New York and examine it.

The collector flew to New York and Winston assigned a salesman to meet him and show the diamond. When the salesman presented the diamond to the merchant, he described the expensive stone by pointing out all of its fine technical features.

The merchant listened and praised the stone but turned away and said. “It’s a wonderful stone but not exactly what I want.”

Winston, who had been watching the presentation from a distance, stopped the merchant going out the door and asked, “Do you mind if I show you that diamond once more?” The merchant agreed and Winston presented the stone.

But instead of talking about the technical features of the stone, Winston spoke spontaneously about his own genuine admiration of the diamond and what a rare thing of beauty it was. Abruptly, the customer changed his mind and bought the diamond.

While he was waiting for the diamond to be packaged and brought to him, the merchant turned to Winston and asked, “Why did I buy it from you when I had no difficulty saying no to you salesman?”

Winston replied, “That salesman is one of the best men in the business and he knows more about diamond than I do. I pay him a good salary for what he knows. But I would gladly pay him twice as much if I could put into him something that I have and he lacks. You see, he knows diamonds, but I love them.”

Beloved, do you have passion for what you do? Like Harry Winston, do you love what you do? Can you effectively communicate what you do to others? Positive answers to these questions can take you to the next level.

Culled from Uju Onyechere’s facebook post in MODELS & MENTORS INT’L GROUP

You Are Who Your Friends Are

It is important to start the new year right and starting with developing your inner circle of friends can lead one to develop very positive habits. These habits in turn can make one successful. I came across this post written by Jack Canfield and enjoyed its content. I hope you learn from it too.

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It’s important to acknowledge the power of a positive attitude. This goes not only for yourself, but also for the people you surround yourself with. 

Attitudes are catchy. Whether they’re positive or negative, they’re rubbing off on you. If you’re around people who complain, judge, spread negative gossip, blame others, and play victim roles, chances are you do, too.

Continue reading You Are Who Your Friends Are

Preparing for the end

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

It has been busy for me in the past few months. I have grown by learning from my mistakes. Mistakes are important as they teach us things we would not have learnt by inaction. This brings me to mind to ask how we look forward to our ends.

If at the beginning of the year we had set goals to fire our year, how prepared are we to tick the checklist of things that we achieved and the ones we did not? Let me share with you one of the goals I set earlier this year. I started out the year with a goal to improve myself in the area of reading good books. I set a goal to read three books before the year end. Some may see this as a simple goal to achieve. I am not a good reader but I learnt from my mentor that readers are leaders. Something I want to really be – a Leader.

Unfortunately, I am not a good reader. But have I completed one book? No. Have I attempted to read? Yes. How many books? Four. Should I rate myself by how much progress I have made in reading such books, I would say I have improved my reading skills. I have completed the books in this order:

BOOK 1 (How to Win Friends and Influence peopleDale Carnegie) – 35% complete
BOOK 2 (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey) – 26% complete
BOOK 3 (Men are from Mars, Women are from VenusJohn Gray) – 47% complete and
BOOK 4 (Think and Grow RichNapoleon Hill) – 53% complete

Think of the number of pages in these books and you would get a picture of what my thought process has been like since this year. Have I become better? Yes, in some ways especially in my thought process.

I used to be a person who likes to read on the go. I would rather read a blog on my mobile phone than sit down to read a full book. Now I have found time to read a book and have even increased my “focus-ability”.

Back to the subject of this post. One of the good ways I found in preparing for the end of the year is to take inventory. This to me, is a very important step in self-improvement. It helps you know where you are and guides your measurement and decision on areas to improve upon.

Another way I find useful is to meditate. Switch off all distractions (this should include all phones, laptops, and media player devices). Taking time out to listen to ones self is important in preparing for the end.

Lastly, asking for feedback from friends and family or people who are close to you can be of good help to aid in preparing for the end.

 

 

As the year draws to a close, I become very busy. This is the peak period for me in my place of work. Just in case I have no time to post at Christmas, I wish to thank you for reading my posts this year and I wish you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year in advance.

Set a bigger goal for 2014. 🙂

Enriching Others

Budding Blossom
Budding Blossom (Photo credit: St Stev)

I have been out on a business trip and so far I have not been chanced to share some of my thoughts on a blog. I saw this great and inspiring little piece by a friend (Olugbenga Stephen Asaolu, a great motivational speaker) and thought to share it with you.

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Being generous is not a function of income…it’s a function of the heart.
It doesn’t come from the top of the purse, but from the bottom of the heart.

You don’t need to be a multi-billionaire to be generous.
Money is not the only thing you can give.

Ordinary people spend their most valuable time making money
But extraordinary people utilize their time in making people

An encouraging word from you can give hope of a better tomorrow to a promising youth
A smile from you can help someone on a suicide mission reverse it!

It’s all about serving others…

Looking for ways to add value to them…
That’s the way to achieving significance in life.
Your purpose in life is not only “to have and to hold” but also “to give and serve”.

A highly successful steel merchant and philanthropist once said; “No man becomes rich unless he enriches others”.

Go do something!

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As the ember months unfold, I wish you draw closer to achieving your set goals and become more.

Do have a great month of September.

Financial Future Self Assessment

 
Tech_Future

Its a new month of August and July went by faster than I expected. As seconds tick into minute and minutes clock into hour, hours becomes day and days become months…the year comes crawling (and for some hastily) to an end. One who has (not) set a goal at the beginning of the year should by now be measuring 58% (i.e 7/12) of his goals (not) achieved. Its pretty exciting when one’s eyes are set on a clearly set goal.

I ran across a post by my mentor (@DeoluAkinyemi) and it translates to me as one of (Dr. Stephen Covey) Seven Habits of Highly Effective People“Begin with the End in Mind”.

Its a test of one’s financial future. How prepared are you to face your financial future? I’d like to hear from you (drop your comments).

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Use this test to assess yourself. Once you score yourself, you’ll be able to get the interpretations of the answers below. I have also added information showing what you can do once you know your result.

Self Assessment.

1. At the rate at which you are going, using what you have as savings and real assets as a basis, in how many years would you be able to raise 600m?

1)  0-5yrs 2)  20yrs 3)  Over 30yrs  4) None of these represents my answer.

Guide: Don’t deceive yourself. If you have saved N1,000,000 and have worked for 5yr, it will take you another 500years plus to get to 600m. It can be faster, but it’s safe to be modest. We can all get it quickly by a special stroke of favour or luck, don’t count on that.

2. How many Streams of income do you earn?
1) Over 5 Streams 2) 2  Streams 3) 1 Stream. 4) No Income Stream.

Guide: The number of streams of income you earn mean the different sources of income you have. Do you have a job?, do you run a business by the side?, do you have Real Estate? e.t.c.

3. Which of these resources do you leverage to make more money?

1) People force of over 500 2) People force of over 10 people 3) I exchange my time for money. 4) None of the above.

Guide: Some people earn by converting their time to money in a Job or as Entrepreneurs, some earn more money from putting a lot of money to work, usually over $300,000 and some have an organisation that has up to 500 committed staff working to achieve their set objectives.

4. Which of these terms describe best how you earn income?

1) Passive Income, no activity. 2) Mostly Active Income, but some passive income from rentals, shares, businesses etc. (Don’t count if less than $200 a month). 3) Active income  4) I’m dependent on someone else.

Guide: Passive income is income you earn residually without any present sweat or time. Active income is income that is a direct result of your use of your energy or your time.

Add your answers together and get your total scores. Then check your answers below. Try to be honest with yourself, if you are honest, then recovery is possible, if you are not, your current future can’t be helped.

Scores and their meanings.

Scores less than 5 – This means you are doing well and need no help, at this stage, you should be involved in helping others.

Scores between 6-8 – This means you need a coach, fast, you have potentials of making it. Before you choose a coach, ensure they model your future in more than one way. Ensure their finances and one or two areas of their lives align with your future. There is no point getting help for cancer only to end up getting AIDS.

Scores from 9 and above? This signals DANGER! You need urgent attention and must be willing to shut up listen and take action. Don’t got to your mentor with terms and conditions, whatever you are asked to do, so far it’s ethical and legitimate, do it. Learn for follow a system.

Solutions I am proffering

Scores less than 5 – I will like you to join me in a mentorship and coaching system, that allows us to help 1,000,000 families end up differently. If you have achieved success and progress by duplicable means, please reach out to me, we can do this together. If you however achieved success by a stroke of luck or unexplainable favour, no problem, it means you can’t tell us anything to follow as you didn’t follow anything yourself.

Scores between 6-8 – You need support, you need a system you can follow. Be rest assured that I can lead anybody to a place I have been before, and all that is required from anyone wanting to follow is not to re-invent my mistakes, but simply to follow in good faith, that by following they will get to the same destination. I’m putting together a system of mentorship that ensures that those I have taught can teach those who are just coming behind. The motivating phrase for our objective is love, and it doesn’t matter if your coach is younger or older than you, what matters is they are committed to your development and growth, and since it’s a system that allows me to watch a few people’s back, while they pay it forward to watch other people’s backs, we’ll all still be together.

Scores above 9 – You need to be rescued. No DEBATE. If you continue at this pace, you will find time ticking and your life advancing in the wrong direction. You need to STOP, humble yourself and submit yourself. Many of us like to get to the kings palace without getting through the servants quarters. What you need to do is schedule an appointment with me urgently, I can give you some small books to read, and the appointments can be set based on when you finish reading. Based on my ability and your readiness, we will meet and I’ll assign you a sponsor – someone who will be held accountable for your progress. If you are interested in enrolling for this process, you need to send me your email so I can send you a mail and get you the materials to read.

Whichever number you fall into however, you need to take a snapshot of your current financial position, I have a workbook that helps with that process. Knowing where you are, helps you know where next you need to be. Have no doubt as well, that we can all get from where we currently are, to anywhere in this world we’ll like to be.

Here is my little attempt to help in an area I know I can, and in my little way. I hope this makes all the difference in the world to someone’s financial future.

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A. M. D. G