Is Your Dream Alive? A Motivational Piece

IS YOUR DREAM ALIVE?

The road seems too rough, the journey seems so tedious, the vision appears to be unattainable. There seems to be so much beauty in that dream, but it all seems to be in imagination not in reality.

This question goes specially to you.
Is your dream alive?

How many plans did you set last year, on academics, skills acquisition, finances among others? How many were you able to accomplish?

Is your dream alive?

Many people are alive but their dreams are not alive. Show me a tree which grows without any fruit; and I will show you a man who lives without his dream alive.

A day is coming, that young man will become an old man waiting in his bed to pass on to his ancestor, and his dream will walk in slowly in pity, and ask him, "why did you not realize me?","why did you not bring me to live?".

And this man will respond with excuses saying, " there was no time, I came from a poor background, my country is not good"....and the he dies with his dream.

The man forgets that....

Fashola was not born into a rich background, yet he became the governor of Lagos State.

Blessing Okagbare is setting records in the world of athletics, yet she has 24Hours in a day just like him.
Seun Osewa of Nairaland is a millionaire before the age of 30, yet he lives in the same Nigeria as you.

The list is countless.
If these people and anyone else have made it Nigeria despite all these challenges, then what stops you?

Is your dream alive?

You and only you can bring your dream to live, start up a plan, stick strictly to it, and start working in the direction of your dream everyday.
There is no excuse for failure, successful people don't make excuses; they make changes.

I challenge you! Stand up on your feet and go into the world, and make your dream come to live. Don't give up on your dreams, you are the next change the world is waiting for.

If you believe your dream is alive, let me hear you say "MY DREAM IS ALIVE".

Thanks for reading.

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25 Life & Business Lessons Every Guy Should Have Learned By 25

25 is a funny age. Optimistically, if I am to live to be 100 years old, I have already lived one quarter of my life. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a sobering realization. One that has really allowed me to see what I want out of life and pushed me to reflect on my journey so far.

Life sure is interesting. For a 25-year-old, I’ve had more than my fair share of successes and failures. I have definitely come a long way over the last couple of years. By no means have I “made it” yet, but I sure have learned a lot of lessons. Lessons that taught me how to become a better entrepreneur and a better person in general.

Although I’ve learned hundreds and possibly thousands of lessons over the last quarter century, I’ve narrowed it down to the 25 most important ones here: 

1) Be Happy

I went through the majority of my early twenties feeling unhappy because I wasn’t exactly where I wanted to be in life. I thought I needed certain things to be happy. I eventually learned that we are the catalyst of our own happiness and it’s much easier to be happier than bitter.

2) Follow Your Passion

If you want to be successful at what you do, you must be passionate about it. I tried to do many things that I wasn’t passionate about and failed miserably. When you’re working on something you’re truly passionate about, you’re not working — you’re doing what you love.

3) Protect Your Dreams

Your dreams are some of your greatest possessions. They’re yours and only yours. Don’t let anyone tell you your dream isn’t possible. People who are too scared to chase their own dreams will try to crush yours. Dream big because life is too short to be mediocre. Protect your dreams and continue to fight for them until they come into fruition.

4) You Can’t Please Everyone

When I came to the realization that it’s impossible to please everyone, my life became much easier. I was taught in business school that if you aim for every target, you’ll probably miss them all. Don’t worry about the people you can’t make happy, just focus on the important people in your life that you can.

5) Your Health Is Your Most Valuable Asset

Out of all the assets that I possess, my health is by far the most valuable. I am reminded of this every time I, or anyone close to me, gets seriously sick or injured. You can have all the riches in the world, but if you’re not healthy enough to enjoy them, they are useless.

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8 Things You Must Know To Have A Successful Year 2016.

8 THINGS YOU MUST KNOW TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL YEAR 2016.
Before you call a year a successful one,that means you have fulfilled the goals you set for that year,below are tips to help you have a successful 2016;

(1).FORGET YOUR PAST
Each day is a fresh new page of your life,never let the failure of year 2015 affect the success ahead of you this new year, so you just have to let go of all the bad memories of last year as you clear your mind and stay positive to achieve and do much better this year.

(2).ESTIMATE YOURSELF
You need to sit down and evaluate your life for the year 2015,what you achieved and what you didn't,if you are far behind the goals,include them for this year and if you meet up with the goals,I say "Kudos" to you,The sky is your starting point.

(3).SET GOALS FOR THIS YEAR
Whether you meet up or not with last year goals,you still need goals for year 2016,Behold,i said "GOALS",that's a plural word,Set Financial goals,Academic goals,Marital/Family goals,Spiritual goals and more.You can't just afford to dabble into this year without the activeness of your mind towards some set goals.

(4).AVOID PROCRASTINATION
"Procrastination is the thief of time",a proverb says,and "Time waits for no man",so why the postponement of what you should do at a particular moment,if at all you have an important reason to procrastinate a task,make sure you go back to the postponed task as soon as possible.

(5).BE FOCUSED AND HARDWORKING
The reason you need to forget your past is to condition yourself for a much more successful year,so put away unnecessary things that won't do you good this 2016 year and stay glued to your goals.This year be determined and focused.

(6).BE AWARE OF OPPORTUNITIES
Out of the 365 days in year 2016,a lot of opportunities are going to present themselves to you,the problem is being aware of them and how do you stay aware? "See opportunities in every difficulty and not difficulties in every opportunity" and to be goal-focused that you spot any opportunities that look your way.

(7).PASTE THE GOALS
This is very important as it can determine whether you will achieve the goals or not,a lot of people begin each year with goals but very few achieve those goals,Why?,simply because "Out of sight is out of mind",so i urge you to write the goals boldly and place them where you will see them every single day,could be beside your mirror.

( .LASTLY, NEVER FORGET GOD
Pray to God always,you need him in all yours ways,he kept you till this moment,he is only one that can make you to also see next year and know that He loves you more than you think or imagine.

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Things You Should Stop Doing While You Are Still Single

1. Most singles especially women see spinsterhood as a shame, looking at the mirror like "MY AGE MATES ARE MARRIED AND HAVE GIVEN BIRTH TO CHILDREN. My sister don't be in a haste, trust God to bring pass his will concerning you at his own time. IT IS BETTER TO BE SINGLE THAN MARRIED TO THE WRONG PERSON.

2. The best of God cannot be rushed! Dear, don't rush and marry anyone that comes along, having waited for a long time, it may lead to an error that you will live to regret. BE PATIENT AND BUILD YOUR CHARACTER. Read Psalm 64:6.

3. Don't involve yourself in pre-marital sex, thinking it is the best to compel a man to marry you, IT IS TOTALLY WRONG! Discipline your body, Don't buy into that lie of the devil that says "SEX IS LOVE". Sex alone will never make a man stay committed to you. TELL HIM TO WAIT TILL THE NIGHT OF YOUR WEDDING.

4. DONT WORRY, BE HAPPY! don't feel sorry for yourself, don't allow sorrow to break your heart because you are single. Worrying will make you look 55 when you are just 25. Don't say to yourself "ALL MY FRIENDS ARE MARRIED WITH CHILDREN"..Please don't worry. Always dress beautiful, glow with sense of pride, be fulfilled, and stay HAPPY.

5. DONT BE JEALOUS OF OTHERS, dont feel bad because your friends are getting married, "Oh we finished school together, now look at her married and am single" STOP IT. Rejoice with them so that your miracle can become REAL ON TIME.

6. DONT compare yourself to anybody because GOD IS ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING BIGGER IN YOUR LIFE. Don't give up on God because God will never give up on YOU.

7. You must not allow the desire to get married rob you off your existence. If I may ask you, WHAT ARE YOU PRIORITIES? WHAT ARE YOU LIVING FOR?? dear set a goal for yourself and work towards it, marriage is important BUT IT IS NOT EVERYTHING.

8. Give God his rightful place in your life, Fear the Lord. YOU WILL MAKE IT.

9. You can kindly add yours too

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Mistakes We Make @20-30yrs that prevent us from succeeding in life

It is a general belief that experience is the best teacher. As true as this may sound, learning via experience has a lot of disadvantages. It is expensive to learn from experience. I learn as much as possible from experience when life forced it on me, but I rather prefer to learn via evaluated experience by studying those who have gone ahead of me and learn from their successes and failures.

After taking a deep observation of the life of an average Nigerian, I discovered that majority of people are likely going to make the mistakes highlighted in this article and most of them have no choice but to live with the consequences when they reach age 30. These mistakes include:

1. Thinking you are too young to achieve great things:Most Nigerian who are in their 20s are still pursuing their tertiary education, some will not even graduate until they reach their late 20s. In your 20s there is this tendency to think you are too young to pursue your dream. You will often feel you don’t have experience and that people won’t take your seriously. This mindset will make you defer some of the things that would have speed up your success in life to a time you feel you will be competent to live your dream. The truth is that thinking you are too young to live your dream in your 20s is nothing but a limiting belief. Once you reach age 18, you are not too young to pursue any dream except where a higher age is required. People who made it big in their 30s started in their 20s. And if you are just waking up at 30, then you will be disappointed in yourself. You will regret wasting those precious years of your 20s by the time you reach age 30.

2. Focusing your life only on academics: In Nigeria formal education is overrated. The reason for this is because we have not been able to differentiate between education and academics. The object of education is to help you understand your environment, and learn how to adapt to it without constituting nuisance to others. Education also empowers you for success in every area of your life. Academics on the other hand focuses on certificates or degrees. A person may have a degree but yet not educated. However academics can help to enhance one’s education.

The average Nigerian believe so much in the power of certificate and all his hope is bent on securing a good job after graduation through this certificate. In order to achieve this end, he tend to put in all the possible efforts needed to get good grades. It is important to note that this formular of getting good grades to ensure a good job is no more valid in today’s world as we have graduates with first class who are not employed. In a situation where all your efforts was put into getting good grades without having a plan B for a situation where your certificate does not give you your dream job will only land you in regret, depression and frustration, which is the lot of so many Nigerian graduates today. TRUE EDUCATION PREPARES YOU TO SURVIVE WITHOUT YOUR CERTIFICATE.

To avoid this mistake, as you pursue your academic degrees, also find time to acquire some or at least one vocational skill. There are many of them out there that can fetch you real money the moment you become an expert. If you have graduated from the tertiary institution and you don’t have any vocational skill yet, it is not too late to acquire one.

3. Not working to earn an income: There is this tendency for you to rely solely on your parents for every dime you spend. All you are exposed to is how to spend money. This will put you in a position where you don’t know how difficult it is to make money. All you will have in mind is, as soon as you graduate, you will hit your dream job and you will be able to do what your parents or guardians are doing. This kind of thinking is not always true. By the time you graduate and your dream job doesn’t show up and have no option but to take care of yourself, then you will wish you understood earlier how difficult it is to make money. This period will be the first time in your life when you will have a genuine appreciation for all the money your parents spent on you. If you are currently relying on your parents for your up-keep and still in your 20s, then I say to you that you have not started living. LIFE BEGINS THE MOMENT YOU ASSUME TOTAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND FOR EVERY DIME YOU SPEND. You can’t afford to just be sitting at home eating, watching television, and hanging out with friends. Start doing something that can fetch you money. It may be a paid employment or personal business. This will expose you to how difficult it is to accumulate money. The moment you know this by experience, you will begin to appreciate money and become wiser in the way you use it.

4. Thinking there is still time: Thinking you still have all the time in the world is one of the illusions of the 20s. You tend to live your life carelessly and spend your time on frivolities. However by the time you hit 29, and moving towards your 30th birthday, you will begin to realize that you are no more a baby. You will realize you have been sleeping all this years if your achievement does not measure up with your age. It would be done on you for the first time that you no longer have time on your side. At this period you will wish you have done so many things in your 20s which you felt you were too young to accomplish.

5. Not equipping yourself with skills to survive in the real world: If you are not the discipline type, you will likely spend your 20s engaging in frivolous activities, which will prevent you from having a grasp of basic skills needed to survive in the real world. Some of them include, ability to save money for a project, empathy, understanding, ability to delay gratification, and so on.

Also Young Nigerians who are academics oriented may end up spending their 20s pursuing only degree without any practical vocational skill that can guaranteed them job after graduation. When the dream job doesn’t show up, these youths tend to end up being underemployed, doing job they hate out of no choice.

TRUE EDUCATION PREPARES YOU TO SURVIVE WITHOUT YOUR CERTIFICATE.

To avoid this mistake, as you pursue your academic degrees, also find time to acquire some or at least one vocational skill. There are many of them out there that can fetch you real money the moment you become an expert. If you have graduated from the tertiary institution and you don’t have any vocational skill yet, it is not too late to acquire one. If you look around you, you will notice that most of the people who are making real money are not necessary those who are working with their certificates, but those who have answers to the problems of people around them. Beside your certificate what problem can you solve for people and get paid for? If you don’t have an answer, it is high time you identify major problems of the people around you, and proceed to acquire vocational skill that can empower you to provide answer to such problem. The more problem you can solve, the more your capacity to make money. In zig ziglar’s word ‘’you will have all that you want if only you can help enough other people to get what they want.’’ ONLY PEOPLE WHO DON’T HAVE SOLUTION TO OTHER PEOPLE’S PROBLEMS DIE IN POVERTY.

6. Not reading enough books: It has been said that if you want to hide something from an African, hide it inside a book. This tells about how poor our reading culture as Africans is. One of the major problems the average Nigerian will make in his 20s is not reading enough books. We are all born into this world without a manual, all that we know and that we will know are all products of learning. The 20s is a time of preparation for the future ahead and reading good books will definitely assist you in your preparation. Reading good books will expose you to the life time investigation of those who have gone ahead of you. Learning from their experience is the best way to learn. Reading good books will enable you to begin from where previous generation left off. 

It is important to note that every form of success has its own governing principles. Books will expose you to the principles that govern the kind of success you desire. As an African most of the things you were indoctrinated to believe while growing are myths, only reading and critical thinking can help you flush those erroneous beliefs out of your mind. If you don’t read enough books in your 20s, then you are an accident waiting to happen. Every youths in his 20s is expected to have a full grasps of the principles that govern money , relationship and success generally. This can only be achieved by reading books that teach the principles governing them. There are millions of them out there. 

I want to suggest here that as a Nigerian in your 20s that if you have not read the books I am going to list below or the ones related to them, then you are probably not ready for life. The books include the following: Think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill, 7 strategies for wealth and Happiness by Jim Rohn, The richest man in Babylon by, Rich dad, Poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki, Why you act the way yo do by Tim Lahaye, 7 habit of highly successful people by Stephen covey, The science of getting rich by Wallace wattle, From poverty to power by James Allen, As a man thinketh by James Allen, Acres of diamond by Russell Conwell and many more. These suggested books contains timeless truth of how things work in this life and reading and acting on the content will help save you from so many mistakes you would have made in life if you have not read them.

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Potential: Your Raw Material For Greatness

Potential: Your Raw Material For Greatness 

"God’s gift to you is your potential, what you do with it is your gift to God. He’s concerned not only about what you’re but about what you can become.’’-John Maxwell

According to the Collins English dictionary, the word potential means the following:

· Possible but not yet actual

· Capable of being or becoming

· Latent but unrealized ability or capacity

One of the greatest lessons I have learned from nature is that the future, beauty, and the greatness of anything resides within it, and that everything has naturally been endowed with the capacity to fulfill the purpose for which it was created. For example, the future of a maize plant lies in its seed, the future of a human being lies in the union of the egg and spermatozoa, the future of gold and diamond lies in their ores and so on. These initial phases are called potentials.

Anytime I think of the capacity that God has put into the being of an average man, I always get amazed. Human being is the most power creature on earth. Man is wired with the capacity to do what is practically impossible to a logical mind. The word of Ralph Waldo Emerson is true for all human being, he said, ‘’Nobody and not even you can tell exactly what you can do until you do it.’’

Let us a take a look at some of the unbelievable achievements of the creative genius of man since the dawn of civilization:

Man has advanced from a fruit gatherer and hunter to the 21st century farmer that don’t only grows his own crops, but make use of sophisticated tools and implements such as plough, bulldozer, combine harvester in carrying out his farming activity. Unlike the primitive farmers, he can now take advantage of scientific discoveries and innovations in improving his crops, control pest, and create new varieties of crop or crop species using genetic principles. He can also control weeds and the activities of pest, parasites and rodents using herbicides and pesticides.

In the area of technology, man has done so many things a logical mind would probably think are impossible. Man has invented motor vehicles, airplanes, rockets, atomic bomb, ship, the internet, and computers and so on.


In the area of art and culture, man has analyzed life and death, good and evil, and developed human psychology. Man has invented government, politics, communication, commerce, religion and so on. The works of great thinkers like Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Williams Shakespeare, and Napoleon hill are evidence of this fact.

In the field of medicine, man has studied the entire human anatomy and physiology, and those of other living organisms, he has discovered how various human ailments are caused and has invented cure for many diseases that have been dreadful and inimical to the life of man here on earth.

Man invented science as a tool for analyzing and solving his major problems. Man has made a lot of breakthroughs in science which has contributed immensely, or constitutes the basis of the current level of technology worldwide. Such breakthroughs include, the discovery of the theory of gravity and calculus by Isaac Newton, theory of relativity and quantum mechanics by Einstein to mention but a few.

Nobody would have been able to predict that the human race would come this far in advancement considering the physical condition and lifestyle of the early man. The truth is that man’s potential to attain his current level of advancement was already with the early man, but remain latent until it was gradually utilized throughout the past centuries, to place man where he is today, and this is but the beginning of the advancement .The most powerful tool, and as well as the greatest weakness of man is his imagination. Anything that is conceivable can be translated into reality .That is what history has taught us. On the other hand if we unconsciously incapacitate our creative ability by believing that certain things are impossible, they will remain impossible. Jesus once said, ‘’to him that believes all things are possible.’’ This is not far from the truth.

Every human being is loaded with unlimited potential, but it’s so unfortunate that only very few people have integrated this belief into their paradigm. Greatness is locked up on the inside of every man, and it will never manifest until it is released. Nobody was born empty, we are all designed to do the unbelievable and attain incredible heights in life.

A lot of people are struggling, unhappy and have no sense of fulfillment in their chosen career today because they are into what they are not naturally design for. It is not every seed that can grow into a mango tree, so also is the seed of greatness in you. By your potentials, you are designed to excel in certain industry, such that if you can discover it and go into it, the sky will not be your limit. Just try to think about this. How easy will it be trying to fix a square peg into a round hole? Obviously doing so would be a very difficult task. As it is difficult to fix a square peg into a round hole, so also it would be difficult to excel in a career which one does not have the latent capacity that can cope with its demands.

You are created to perform a role in life that no one can live out except you, I personally believe that this role is God’s gift to lift and make you great in life. Charles Gordon, the author of when the going gets tough, the tough get creative once said, ‘’I reckon that if He took the trouble to give each of us unique fingerprints and individualized DNA, surely he has a unique plan and purpose for each of our lives, a plan that no one can live out.’’ The worst thing that can ever happen to a man in life is to live and die without fulfilling the purpose for which he was created. The reality is that more than 80% of people who have passed through this planet earth are victims. They died with the bag of treasure in them; no wonder they say that the grave is the richest place on earth.

Having known that you are here on earth for a purpose, and that your potentials are the raw materials or tools that you need to fulfill that purpose and become a successful individual, then it is left for you to decide to discover your own potential, and maximize it to become one of the icons of change in your generation or ignore it, and keep struggling in the rat race for the rest of your life, the choice is in your hand.

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Time: Your Greatest Asset

Time is a universal asset. Everything created on the surface of the earth operates with time. It is an evenly distributed commodity. Nature makes time available for everybody and everything without partiality. Everywhere in the world, 60 seconds make a minute, 60 minutes make an hour, 24 hours make one day, 7 days make a week, 4 weeks make a month, and 365 and 366days make a year and a leap year respectively.



Every man whether fat or thin, handsome or ugly, wise or foolish, tall or short, weak or strong, a servant or an executive is given 24 hours every day to use as he wishes. He’s free to use the time to build his life or ruin it. He has the right to do whatever he likes with it, but has no choice of the consequence. However he can determine the consequence by the way he uses the time. The 24 hours given is very essential, but more essential is what is done with it.

Check this out:

Statistics show that if you take 100 people and start them at the same place at the age of 19, by the time they are 65 year old, only one will be wealthy, 4 will be financially secure, 19 will still be working to simply survive, 22 will be diseased, and 54 will be flat broke, and dependent on their families or government for their survival.

If one is to make an inquiry of why majority of people fail to realize their full potential in life, obviously there will be several factors to explain why they fail, however one great factor that put people into where they belong in life is time. You’ll probably say time is partial if that is the case, and question why it will choose to set some people at the top of the pyramid and put some, usually the majority at the bottom. Do you know that in reality time does not have its own power to determine where you’ll belong? You are actually responsible to dictate to time where it should fix you, and these we all do either consciously or unconsciously through the way we use our time on daily basis. If you are not satisfied with the result you’ve gotten from life so far, simply ask yourself this question, and be sincere to yourself by the answer you give to it, ‘’how have I been spending my time?’’ 

The use of time is what differentiates a first class student from students with poor grades. It’s what makes a man serve as a gate man to his age mate. Time is what makes some people stand out of the crowd, while the majorities perish in the mainstream of life.

One of my greatest discoveries is that life outcomes are directly proportional to the use of time. If you want to be a person of significance, then try to make the best use of your time, and your desired outcome will be glaring to your world in the fullness of time. A personal development expert once said that ‘’how far a person will go in life is determined by the way he spend the first 25 years of his life.’’ One of the greatest offenses a person can commit is wasting the valuable life's offer called time. It is an offense against humanity. The reason is because the current civilization and technological innovation that the world is enjoying today were invented by great minds that properly deployed their time within their scope of existence, and if they had done otherwise, humanity would have still been operating at the technological level of Stone Age. 

The world will always remember the likes of Thomas Edison, Michael Faraday, Benjamin Franklin, Galileo, and a host of others who have through creative use of time etch their names on the sand of time.

Benjamin Mays is one of legends who understood the nature of time. He said, “I have only just a minute, only sixty seconds in it. Forced upon me, can’t refuse it. Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it, but it is up to me to use it. It must suffer if I lose it, give account if I abuse it.’’

Friends, be frank with yourself, and meditate about this question, in the next ten-twenty years, where will what you are doing with my time now position you?

I see a lot of youths wasting their time and energy on things that have no bearing on the kind of future they wish for. Time is a non-renewable asset, it is perishable, and once it is lost it can never be regained. Due to this non-renewable nature of time, time ought to be invested into something worthwhile that can yield good fruits in the future and not to be squandered. 

A time management expert suggested that his clients should learn to ask themselves this basic question, "what is the best use of my time now?" Any seconds of our existence that is wasted is life wasted. Benjamin Franklin, a notable scientist, and one of the great presidents the United States of America ever had said, "he who loves life should not waste time, for that is the stuff that life is made of."

Any moment you waste a second of the time allotted to your existence here on earth, then you have ceased to live, in other words you have become a dead man, only a dead person have nothing to do with time, but the moment you begin to creatively and consciously deploy your time, then you are back to existence. Show me a time waster, then I will show you a living dead. 

Many history makers are dead, but their work speaks centuries after their departure. It will surprise you to know that many people are still alive, but they are dead already, because they are not doing anything significant with their time. Are you a living dead or true living being? Your time usage determines your placement into either of the groups. If you fail in life, you have no one but yourself to blame, because God gives everyone equal time to maximize his/her potentials. It is the way you use this precious gift called time that will ultimately determine what you will become at the end.

Always remember that time wasted can never be regained.

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