BUILDING CASTLE IN THE AIR.

Hello!

Its good to be alive, not just being alive but coming to share few thoughts with each other this new year. I strongly believe that this year is going to be our best year ever. if you believe that say AMEN (Lol) So shall it be! Welcome to the year our King! I just want to share a few thoughts with you today on building castle in the air.

While growing up (Still growing though) we used to dream big, some of us wanted to be Doctors, Presidents, own big houses, drive lovely cars, get married to a beautiful wife and a handsome and caring husband, have lovely children and all of that. We fantasized as they call it. What happened to those dreams of yours? We all thought those dreams were possible then, because we obviously would have seen people live in big houses, drive lovely cars, become President, renowned Engineers, Doctors and so on.

I ask, what happened to your dreams, did you ever fantasize? Dreamt of doing or becoming something many years ago or even recently? Were you told by your parents and friends that you were building castle in the air? What has been your response to those cynics who told you that your dreams were impossible, who discouraged you from dreaming big, who told you don’t have all it takes to be that which you have always dreamt of becoming?

It is quite interesting to know that cynics are everywhere; they are there to see that those dreams of yours do not see the light of the day. But more interesting is the fact that, life is basically what you make of it and the choices we make. If you choose to believe them, you obviously will become what you believe. You can as well share Henry David Thoreau’s thought with them. An American author, poet, and development critic, he said, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

If you have dreamt of achieving something very big this year of our King, all you need to do is put foundation under them. What are these foundations: Prayer, self development, good association-This can make or mar your dream depending on how you manage it. Another one is excellence-stand out in the little you are into now, be eager to learn. Babatunde Oladele, a good friend and a mentor of mine said in one of his notes on facebook titled: Keys to personal growth that our watchword should always be MORE. We should always strive to be MORE, know MORE, do MORE, give MORE, ask MORE and pray MORE… It’s all about wanting to BE MORE in this year of our king.

Who says you can’t achieve everything, I am a living testimony to the fact that ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

THOSE DREAMS OF YOURS AND MINE ARE ALL POSSIBLE. JUST DON’T GIVE UP. KEEP PRESSING ON, YOU ARE CLOSER THAN YOU WERE YESTERDAY.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

TAKE CHARGE!

How would you describe 2009?

Hi friends!

Good to be back after a long unavoidable break. When you work for someone, you don't have the life of your own, you are at his beck and call, you want to do everything you are assigned to do just to prove your ability and capability on the job. (We pray for independence ASAP)

I had an official mandate to travel to one the states in the northern part of Nigeria in November. It was an experience, and i intend to share some with you when we return from the holiday. Why not today? you might be wondering, anyway, i needed to file in my report and put together my financial reconciliation, being an all expense paid trip. So it took some time to cross my T's and dot my I's, be it as it may, come January, we will share so many things together.

Back to the crux of the matter, i asked a question: What has the passing year been like? What was the whole experience of being alive since the inception of the year like? were you able to accomplish all your dreams and aspirations? were you able to abide by those new year resolution you made when the supposedly old year was still fresh? are there things you really wish you could have done or achieved but they never came through? the list is endless, but never mind.

It is a normal thing to sit and think through what you have and have not done or achieved as the year comes to a close. Are you getting discouraged that you did not achieve as much as you planned? Don't worry, it could just be for some reasons like not applying the complete principles of success or imbibing success habits, mind you, nobody knows it all. Check through my previous topic on Success habits, it might just be of help! It could be for some other reasons.

If there is something you need to remember as you make entry into the glorious 2010, it is that we are all responsible for our lives and whatever happened or happens to us.

But more importantly, if His presence does not go with us, there is really no point at all. Make God the focal point this year and He will make you His focal point and you know what it means, when you become God's focal point.

In conclusion, don't wallow in despair, the coming year is filled with so many wonderful promises from God, all you need to do is be wise and cash in on them and you will be singing a new song as we draw another curtain on 2010.

Touch a life this season, bring about the change and make the needed difference!

I want to wish everyone one of you a wonderful Christmas and a Miracle filled 2010.

Take Charge!

Favour Erebosi.

LEAD D CHANGE (2)

I am still perusing one my mentor’s book- Winning with people -John Maxwell. As I read through I came across something that resonates with me. He said that if I want to win with people, make a difference, that I need to examine myself first-the first person I must change is my self.

“If I ever think I’ve finished growing, then I’m in trouble” Maxwell wrote. Anyways one remarkable story he shared in the book reads:

In the crypts of Westminster Abbey, the following words were written on the tomb of an Anglican bishop who lived in the eleventh century:

“When I was young and free my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country. But it, too, seemed immovable. As I grew in my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it. And now as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realized: If I had only changed my self first, then by example I would have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country and, who knows; I may have even changed my world.”

The bottom line here is that change begins with us. If you become a better you, you will then be able to encourage someone out there to become a better person as well, and it grows that way. We are naturally quick at judging people around without examining ourselves first. If you must make a difference in this world, you must take responsibility.

I was tempted to throw a used recharge card on the road few days back, but on a second thought, I felt I would be contravening what I have always preached against, I thought that if I throw this on the road or by the road, and some other person does that and another person does the same thing, everywhere will be obviously littered with dirt. I would have contributed to the nuisance we all are trying to curb. So I decided to keep the used card and trashed it on getting home.

Don’t think that, that seemingly little good you are doing to keep our environment clean by not littering the environment with dirt is insignificant, if everybody will do the little within our powers we will achieve much and by so doing we would have made a significant impact in the lives of people and our country as well.

Don't stop doing good because some persons are not. You can choose to be different!

CHANGE BEGINS WITH YOU!

Take Charge!

Favour Erebosi

Write The Vision

"This sister is not taking the prayer session seriously" I assume my pastor and some church members who had their eyes opened while prayers were going on in church few weeks back, would say about me. Because while prayer was on, i was writing down ideas as they come. This is not to overlook the place of orderliness in His presence, so don't get me wrong. Anyway i have learnt to always have a jotter or writing material with me, everywhere i go.

Ideas abound everywhere, it could come while in church, during sermon, prayer, worship, it could come while in the Convenience, Bathroom, while taking a walk; am sure you will be wondering if i go to the bathroom with writing material... Never mind. The point is, learn to write those ideas down, don't procrastinate about it, the possibility is that you might forget if don't write it immediately.

Most businesses today have a mission statement that talks about the purpose of the company. In life, every person should also have their own mission statement. What’s your purpose? What are you dreaming about? What are your goals? How are you going to use your talents and abilities? Many people have an idea about where they are headed in life, but something supernatural happens when you write down your vision and make a plan. There’s a resolve that takes place on the inside of you. No longer is that thing just a dream, but now it’s something you can look at every day. The people around you can see it, too. You never know how God is going to use someone in your life to help you get to where you need to be. If they can see your vision, then they can run with it!

I want to encourage you, don’t just vaguely live day to day. Make the decision to write down the dreams and visions you have in your heart. Submit your plans to God and watch what He will do to bring them to pass.

Take Charge!

LEAD, IT'S IN YOU!

Success Habits

Good to be here again after a long while, hope you are great? Just felt like sharing a few thoughts with you today and more later. Endeavor to follow through cos it promises to be inspiring.

Today, we will be looking at success habits.

Success is simply the achievement of set goals while habit is what you do continuously over a long period of time and therefore becomes a part of you. We are all creatures of habit.

It might interest you to know that habit determines our character and our character determines our destiny. We can therefore conclude that good and Godly habits bring about success.

Some of these habits include:

Meditation: This is simply getting involved in deep thinking, its one of the ways to contact the supernatural. It helps you roll over ideas, which gives room for more inspiration.

Prayer:Prayer is not a monologue as most people think. It is supposed to be a dialogue with your creator. Don’t be too busy not to pray, spend time with your father daily. It should be one of your daily responsibilities.

Responsibilities: How often do you blame people and circumstances for your failure? Guess what? Well, would love to let you know at this point that you must take 100% responsibility for your life if you want to be successful in life. Responsibility is the key to true freedom. Wise people don’t let things happen to them, they happen to things.

Self Improvement: What are the new skills you are learning? What books are you reading to improve your thinking and reasoning? Teach yourself something new, work on yourself intellectually and otherwise, teach yourself etiquette. Learn more, read more, ask more, do more and be more.

Positive Self –Talk: “I am blessed beyond a curse” “I can never be poor again” ‘I am more than this’ Speak these words in season and out of season. Avoid negative and foul languages. Replace negative words with positive ones. You can use your confession to redirect your life. It is therefore important to mind the words you speak about yourself and those seemingly difficult situations you are facing. You have the choice to tell the challenge-“I am coming out of this”

Persistence: Develop the attitude of not giving up until you get your desired result. Do you remember Thomas Edison’s story on the invention of the incandescent light bulb? He persevered amidst challenges but scaled through after 10,000 attempts and today he is being credit for his outstanding invention. Every business has its challenges, just stay put, you will get there.

Planning: This is a strong key to success. When you plan, you break down your job. You can’t define wisdom outside of thinking. The more you plan the more you rise. You need to sit down and set a medium or long term goal for your life then plan on how to achieve each step by step. Planning is simply thinking ahead. Most people roam through life but successful people make plans and make most of the opportunities around them. You can employ a To-do-list for each day. When you plan your days, you will have an organized week, months, and year and so on.

Be action orientated: After you are done with your planning, take action. Newton’s law of motion states that ‘all object remains at a state of rest until a force is applied’ When are you going to take action on those Biz proposal you have written, those ideas you have written down, when are you going to do something about them? Do something about them today! Erase procrastination from your dictionary.

Association: Successful people are very deliberate about the kind people they associate with, because they’ve discovered the impact it has on their destiny. The people you associate with will influence you. Don’t be sentimental about people; be sensitive about your destiny. Learn to relate with people that are higher than you in life, because they will challenge your thinking pattern.

Time Management: Time is more than money; it is life, value time over money and activities. Invest your time productively. Be sensitive to your seasons and times in life, it determines your level of success.

Integrity: To be perfectly honest with God and yourself as a person. This must be your lifestyle. Learn to do things right.

EMPATHY IN LEADERSHIP

Servant- Leadership begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants...Robert Greenleaf


Why do people still complain about bad leadership and governance? How come they don’t see anything good in what the leadership is doing, is it that the leaders’ strategies are not working or could it possibly be that the people are insatiable? Don’t wonder too far, guess I have a clue. It does not always work when you try to put a square peg in a round hole.

For a better understanding of empathy in leadership lets take a look at how the dictionary defined empathy and leadership and what relationship exist between the two words. A formal definition of Empathy is the ability to identify and understand another’s situation, feelings and motives. It’s our capacity to recognize the concerns other people have. Empathy means: “putting yourself in the other person’s shoes” or “seeing things through someone else’s eyes”.

Leadership is about ascertaining a method for people to contribute so that it can result in a significant achievement. It is a process that enables a person to influence others to achieve a goal and directs an organization to become rational and consistent. Leaders carry out these processes by leveraging their leadership traits such as values, ethics and knowledge. Good leaders are not born. They are made. If a person has the willpower and the ability to learn, he can become a successful leader. A good leader engages in a continuous process of education, experience and training. He studies to improve his leadership skills and does not rest on past glory.

If empathy and leadership are symbiotic siblings how come they are not seen together in some aspects of leadership? A leader cannot be empathic if he has not experienced or learnt what the led go through. If empathy is feeling what the led feel and putting yourself in the other person’s shoes then we need to know how far this has gone in our democratic dispensation where people have the say about who should lead them.
Until we have leaders with empathy in places of authority, those who have felt the kind of pain people feel, who have been through the rugged road people are presently treading, who feels or have felt what people feel, attending to the follower’s needs and aspirations will be difficult.

Little wonder the system of government where a sojourner who has traveled for over decades to study abroad returns and suddenly shows interest in politics, and because he has a fine face and fantastic diction we all fall for him and elect him into a leadership position. How can he understand what is obtainable in the system, will such leader not find it unnecessary to visit the poor and resigned in our remotest villages.

The leaders who are making impact presently are those who have put ears to the ground and felt the pain and cry of the downtrodden. Why do you think the president of the United States of America, Barrack Obama got a land mark victory that took him to the white house? He was empathic, if you have read his best seller book, (Audacity of Hope) you would discover how much time and energy he spent traveling to rural, suburban and urban areas all in the bid to listen and know the yearnings of the people. Strategically it worked because he was able to address the core issues of the people of America that both great and small were looking for.

As a country, we seem to be suffering from empathy deficit because where we put our time, energy and money is the test of what we value. Barrack Obama said: “Unless political leaders are open to new ideas and not just packaging, we won’t change enough hearts and minds to initiate a serious energy policy or tame the deficit”.
We need to go back to the roots and learn about the people we lead. After all, listening is one of the skills a good leader must possess and communication has not taken place without feedback as it is a vital part of communication process.

Is it possible to have a program or platform which seeks to scrutinize prospective leaders on several grounds? Is it necessary to take time to find out background information about leaders before they are elected? Can their backgrounds and experience in life have a great influence on their system of leadership? I think that if we take time to consider the above before we elect a leader, we might be able to discover the suitability of a leader. It is necessary to tidy up these areas because if a man has not been successful in his private life and business, it’s not far from the truth to say that the possibility of his success in the public office is very slim.

Great servant-leaders nurtured empathy: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa certainly exemplify empathy in leadership.

Favour.

Published in Financial Standard, 13/08/09, page 11.

KEEP ON KEEPING ON

Hello Friends,

The road to success, they say, is dotted with many tempting parking places. This simply means that as you strive to attain your goal in life, you will surely encounter obstacles and distractions that might hinder you from achieving your goal. These tempting parking spaces could be those seemingly insurmountable challenges, weariness –which could come as a result of having put so much time and energy into the project or whatever it is and nothing seems to be happening still, and what comes to mind is to park and let it go.

My dear, you’ve got to keep on keeping on. Even when you fail, it’s not over. Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American essayist, philosopher and poet, said: “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail". You’ve got to rise up. The glory only shows up when you rise and not when you fail.

It is worthy of note here that challenges are what make us stronger, they test our character, and ability to persevere. Challenges are inevitable encounters on the way to success. The obstacles you may encounter are not stop signs but guidelines and you can make stepping stones out of those stumbling blocks.

One more thing, make your goal your focal point and not the obstacles and you will find strength to KEEP ON KEEPING ON despite all odds..

Keep on keeping on!

All the best.

Favour.