yhelo,
day by day, i read different books and am quite xcited by the quotes in them. i have developd the habit of collecting them and reading them over again. today, i just feel like sharing some of them on my blog. feel free to post your comments too.
1. bring ideas in, entertain them royally, for one of them may be king- Martin Van Doren
2. your past is important but it is not enough to control your future - Zig Ziglar
3. doing beats talking everytime
4. its your attitude not your aptitude that determines your altitude.
5. life consist of what man is thinking about all day - Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. the action of men are the best interpreters of their thots - John Locke
7. beware when d great God let loose a great thinker on the planet- Emerson
will still post some more.
take careeeeeee
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
THINK WEEK
THINK WEEK
note: this article is adapted from john maxwell's magazine.
With Palm Pilots and Blackberries, Bluetooth and Wifi, RSS and SMS, technology gives us access to absurd amounts of information, anytime, anywhere, at amazing speeds. Information bombards us from every angle, and we struggle to escape the virtual office.
With the workplace available at our fingertips, retreat from the demands of the office has become trickier but perhaps more important than ever. Constant connectivity takes its toll on our well-being, and threatens to wear us down. To restore our creativity and fight fatigue, a break from the pressing burdens of work is a must.
In an article for Workforce, Dr. Timothy Butler draws attention to the famed “think weeks” of Microsoft’s Bill Gates. As Butler notes, even Gates, whose genius gave impetus to the onset of the information age, makes time to disengage from the clutter of information around him. Twice a year, Gates disappears for a week to focus his thinking and refine his ideas.
Initially, thinking days strike us as inherently unproductive. We fear a day away from work will put us behind in the game. Yet, as Butler writes, “In the race to deal with the minute-to-minute, the longer term can suffer.” For a fresh perspective, we would be wise to follow Bill Gates’ lead.
As one of the most influential men in the world, Gates wields enormous responsibility, yet, he recognizes the imperative of removing himself from the daily grind. He not only unwinds from ongoing pressures during his “think weeks,” but he’s also able to wade through the opportunities and ideas around him by taking a clear look at the big picture.
Butler outlines a simple, three-step approach by which leaders can escape the vortex of immediacy to renew their outlook.
Stop
Prohibit yourself from checking emails or making work-related calls for a few days. Hone in on the biggest opportunity ahead of you, and free yourself from the details of your job. Dig deeply in a big idea, and avoid letting your thoughts get sucked into the muddle of urgent, yet relatively unimportant work.
Look
See your world anew by withdrawing to a place of solitude. A beachfront hotel or mountain cabin can be an ideal vantage point to look at life from a fresh perspective.
Listen
Attune your ears to new voices. Separate yourself from the usual drone of the workday by consulting with a friend in another industry or a prominent leader outside of your sphere of work.
Information overload can handicap the best of leaders. Getting away from time to time can be refreshingly restorative. Perhaps it’s time to explore a retreat from the chains of the mundane to strengthen your ability to think and act clearly.
To view the full text of “Taking Time to Think: The Irony of Bill Gates’ Legacy,” by Dr. Timothy Butler, visit:
http://www.workforce.com/section/01/article/24/52/11.html
Thursday, May 8, 2008
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
This morning on my way to office, I had made it a point of duty to efficiently make use of my time. In the bus, I am either reading a book or thinking constructively. Some thoughts came back to me this morning from a message on marriage by my pastor, Sam Adeyemi. He was discussing about a man and he said to the woman,” Inside every man is a king and a fool, it is the one that you talk to that will respond.” I think most happy men today are always so because their wives have the right address to the king in them. No wonder the wives too are happy because when you address your husband as a king, then she is automatically a queen. Some women only know their husbands as fools and most times get to see their husbands as a school teacher who beats the students whenever they misbehave.
I actually want to use that quote not to discuss the relationship between a man and his wife but to discuss our dear nation, Nigeria. Let me rephrase the quote as this,” inside Nigeria is great opportunities and great problems; it is the one that we see and work towards that we get. Some of us live our lives daily in Nigeria and all we ever see is a country where things are never working. Even we sometimes take a step further to confess that things can never work in Nigeria. We fail to learn that when you see a place where everything is working, it is the people that are working it; nothing works on its own. Such people complain and lament always when things are not turning up for them and the nearest way out is to find somebody to take the blame and guess who they attack – the Government.
In this same country, I have read about some people who when given a cup filled with water to the middle will always see the cup as half filled and not as half empty. They know that Nigeria is a land filled with great opportunities and they have committed themselves to exploit it. Have you ever given a thought to why people from other countries (Americans, Asian etc) are leaving the comfort of their country to come and enjoy the hot scorching sun in Nigeria? No, they know that great business opportunities are in this country and they also know that Nigerians are not seeing them. Most of us are satisfied that a white man should come and start his company here and employ us to work for him. I am looking forward to times when we will be the ones employing the Whites to come and work for us.
My challenge today for you is that what your perspective on Nigeria is. Do you see a country filled with milk and honey or a country where things can and will never work. Remember,” inside Nigeria is great opportunities and great problems; it is the one that we see and work towards that we get.
This morning on my way to office, I had made it a point of duty to efficiently make use of my time. In the bus, I am either reading a book or thinking constructively. Some thoughts came back to me this morning from a message on marriage by my pastor, Sam Adeyemi. He was discussing about a man and he said to the woman,” Inside every man is a king and a fool, it is the one that you talk to that will respond.” I think most happy men today are always so because their wives have the right address to the king in them. No wonder the wives too are happy because when you address your husband as a king, then she is automatically a queen. Some women only know their husbands as fools and most times get to see their husbands as a school teacher who beats the students whenever they misbehave.
I actually want to use that quote not to discuss the relationship between a man and his wife but to discuss our dear nation, Nigeria. Let me rephrase the quote as this,” inside Nigeria is great opportunities and great problems; it is the one that we see and work towards that we get. Some of us live our lives daily in Nigeria and all we ever see is a country where things are never working. Even we sometimes take a step further to confess that things can never work in Nigeria. We fail to learn that when you see a place where everything is working, it is the people that are working it; nothing works on its own. Such people complain and lament always when things are not turning up for them and the nearest way out is to find somebody to take the blame and guess who they attack – the Government.
In this same country, I have read about some people who when given a cup filled with water to the middle will always see the cup as half filled and not as half empty. They know that Nigeria is a land filled with great opportunities and they have committed themselves to exploit it. Have you ever given a thought to why people from other countries (Americans, Asian etc) are leaving the comfort of their country to come and enjoy the hot scorching sun in Nigeria? No, they know that great business opportunities are in this country and they also know that Nigerians are not seeing them. Most of us are satisfied that a white man should come and start his company here and employ us to work for him. I am looking forward to times when we will be the ones employing the Whites to come and work for us.
My challenge today for you is that what your perspective on Nigeria is. Do you see a country filled with milk and honey or a country where things can and will never work. Remember,” inside Nigeria is great opportunities and great problems; it is the one that we see and work towards that we get.
Abilities or Mentalities
I promised to paste an excerpt from a book by Myles Munroe. Sometimes you read a book and you get to a place that you just have to pause because what you have just read carries so much weight. This excerpt is just like that. I keep reading it over and over again and it really changed my life. I have had the opportunity to show it to most of my friends so that we all can see ourselves in the true light and determine to change.
Myles Munroe in his book – Rediscovering the kingdom, narrated an experience he had. He said, he will never forget one meeting in Malaysia where he spoke to a group of Sony Company. During a meal, he was chatting with some of them- these were all high-powered individuals, each one of them a multimillionaire- when one of them told him the story of how he made his fortune. This individual was a Chinese gentleman who was in Malaysia as a consultant with Sony. After sharing his story with Myles, he asked,” Can you tell me why it is that people of your particular pigmentation, no matter what country they reside in, generally do not quite break through to true financial success? We Chinese usually make money wherever we go.” Myles noticed that the man was not at all vain o arrogant with his question, but was simply inquiring about an observation he had made in his travels. Myles replies that he really do not know and asked the man if he could tell him.
The man answered by saying, “During a trip to America, I noticed in every city I visited that when an Asian comes to town, even if he has nothing when he starts, he owns a business in just a few months. People of your pigmentation, on the other hand, even though most of them are very hard working, have been there for decades; yet most often do not own anything. After studying this for a while and talking to many of your people, I finally figured out that THE DIFFERENCE LIES NOT IN OUR ABILITIES, BUT IN OUR MENTALITIES. More often than not, when your people go into a city, they go looking for a job. It is different with Asians. We Chinese never look for jobs. When we go into a city, we are looking for a business. We may need to hold a job for a while, but that is only until we can buy or start a business of our own.”
Myles Munroe in his book – Rediscovering the kingdom, narrated an experience he had. He said, he will never forget one meeting in Malaysia where he spoke to a group of Sony Company. During a meal, he was chatting with some of them- these were all high-powered individuals, each one of them a multimillionaire- when one of them told him the story of how he made his fortune. This individual was a Chinese gentleman who was in Malaysia as a consultant with Sony. After sharing his story with Myles, he asked,” Can you tell me why it is that people of your particular pigmentation, no matter what country they reside in, generally do not quite break through to true financial success? We Chinese usually make money wherever we go.” Myles noticed that the man was not at all vain o arrogant with his question, but was simply inquiring about an observation he had made in his travels. Myles replies that he really do not know and asked the man if he could tell him.
The man answered by saying, “During a trip to America, I noticed in every city I visited that when an Asian comes to town, even if he has nothing when he starts, he owns a business in just a few months. People of your pigmentation, on the other hand, even though most of them are very hard working, have been there for decades; yet most often do not own anything. After studying this for a while and talking to many of your people, I finally figured out that THE DIFFERENCE LIES NOT IN OUR ABILITIES, BUT IN OUR MENTALITIES. More often than not, when your people go into a city, they go looking for a job. It is different with Asians. We Chinese never look for jobs. When we go into a city, we are looking for a business. We may need to hold a job for a while, but that is only until we can buy or start a business of our own.”
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
My trip to Cotonou
MY TRIP TO COTONOU
I was at Cotonou, Benin Republic on Friday, 2nd May. I was amazed at the car market they have there and was thinking in terms of the country's economy. The first point of reflection was when I had to change the naira on me to their currency; the exchange rate was 1000cfa to N288. The way they talk about millions there might deceive you if you think they are talking about a huge sum of money. Also it looks great when I noticed that they still spend coins there. The highest coin they have is 1000cfas. I thought how it would be if our N1000 naira is just a coin. I really wonder why coins don’t seem to work here. Even little children would reject the coins when you give it to them. I am writing about this trip not actually because of their monetary system or our own but I noticed some issues that did not really go down with me. It kept me thinking how we “blacks” have allowed “whites” to dominate us. We might say we already have our independence from them but are we the ones really on control.
Let me describe the normal scene at the Cotonou car market.
The market is dominated by the Lebanese. They have built in wooden houses with just the roof covering it used as their offices. They are mostly the young guys and some few old ones. They keep puffing cigars as if they run a locomotive train. They enjoy the cool of the air though the normal temperature is killing. It’s as if we blacks are the ones the sun is made for. For every car dealers, they have blacks working for them who are continuously in the sun looking for prospective buyers. When they eventually get a buyer, they allow the buyer to see his car of choice and when they reach an agreement, they lead the buyer to the office to meet the white guy. There they negotiate the cost of the car and they get the cash. When the buyer gets down, you now see other people around asking for settlement. I wonder why blacks settled for the little money you would give them as settlement.
I really wonder when blacks will be
· the owner of the major markets in our country
· initiate great investment ideas that even whites will be interested in
· refuse to get the crumbs that falls from the table of white guys and go for the larger share of the food
· become the people developing our nation and not really waiting for some assistance from anywhere.
I really keep wondering. All these can really be if we all can start to take our stand NOW. Lets start putting our mind and brain to work. We all pray for God’s blessing but the thought that comes to me this morning when thinking about the word of God is that God is going to bless the work of our hands if we obey Him. I wonder how many people God would have blessed if they have something doing.
Let’s get productive and thinking. I would tomorrow put an excerpt from a book by Myles Munroe on his encounter with some Asians and their findings about the black man. It’s a call to stand and take what is rightly ours.
Thanks for your time.
I was at Cotonou, Benin Republic on Friday, 2nd May. I was amazed at the car market they have there and was thinking in terms of the country's economy. The first point of reflection was when I had to change the naira on me to their currency; the exchange rate was 1000cfa to N288. The way they talk about millions there might deceive you if you think they are talking about a huge sum of money. Also it looks great when I noticed that they still spend coins there. The highest coin they have is 1000cfas. I thought how it would be if our N1000 naira is just a coin. I really wonder why coins don’t seem to work here. Even little children would reject the coins when you give it to them. I am writing about this trip not actually because of their monetary system or our own but I noticed some issues that did not really go down with me. It kept me thinking how we “blacks” have allowed “whites” to dominate us. We might say we already have our independence from them but are we the ones really on control.
Let me describe the normal scene at the Cotonou car market.
The market is dominated by the Lebanese. They have built in wooden houses with just the roof covering it used as their offices. They are mostly the young guys and some few old ones. They keep puffing cigars as if they run a locomotive train. They enjoy the cool of the air though the normal temperature is killing. It’s as if we blacks are the ones the sun is made for. For every car dealers, they have blacks working for them who are continuously in the sun looking for prospective buyers. When they eventually get a buyer, they allow the buyer to see his car of choice and when they reach an agreement, they lead the buyer to the office to meet the white guy. There they negotiate the cost of the car and they get the cash. When the buyer gets down, you now see other people around asking for settlement. I wonder why blacks settled for the little money you would give them as settlement.
I really wonder when blacks will be
· the owner of the major markets in our country
· initiate great investment ideas that even whites will be interested in
· refuse to get the crumbs that falls from the table of white guys and go for the larger share of the food
· become the people developing our nation and not really waiting for some assistance from anywhere.
I really keep wondering. All these can really be if we all can start to take our stand NOW. Lets start putting our mind and brain to work. We all pray for God’s blessing but the thought that comes to me this morning when thinking about the word of God is that God is going to bless the work of our hands if we obey Him. I wonder how many people God would have blessed if they have something doing.
Let’s get productive and thinking. I would tomorrow put an excerpt from a book by Myles Munroe on his encounter with some Asians and their findings about the black man. It’s a call to stand and take what is rightly ours.
Thanks for your time.
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