10 Great Lessons Of 2015

1. Everything matters! What you do or do not do now will affect something or someone sometime

2. Friendship is a 2 way street - you're both giver and receiver anything else is parasitic


3. Trust should only be earned. You can hope that they will do better but until they do keep your 2cents

4. There's someone willing to give you a soft landing if you leap, find them b4 u leap

5. Follow people objectively otherwise their flaws will hurt you too

6. Your mentors are human and they will be found wanting in an area. Don't freak out

7. The waiting period never ends it only gets easier with time because your goal will keep moving

8. Do unto others what you'll have them do to you and vice versa

9. Don't trust the silence deal with it, its like a pregnant woman whose outcome is unknown

10. Be conscious of the God factor. Life is so much easier with God in it "Learning is a skill only the wise possess"

~ ihotuAMUTA
‪#‎MyWeekendLessons‬ every other Monday on twitter, follow @aihot to get them

151215

As the clock reads 12.03am my heart skips a bit

It’s yet another year, another journey, another experience

For the first time in years I feel a little different

Maybe it’s the geles I’ve been tying in the previous year

Or the business I started that has gained such traction

Or the relationships I lost or gained

I feel more aware of time’s passing

My heart feels fuller and emptier at the same time

My mind racing unsuccessfully to meet times expectations

All I can see is what I hadn’t gotten from my ’15 bucket list

My lips form prayers of gratitude my heart can’t disguise

Then Kari Jobe’s “Forever” floats to me from my phone

And instantly I realize what I have always known

He is alive and so I am!

I have overcome the grave and live free ‘cos He did

I’m more complete and secure today than yesterday because of Hallelujah

As the tear slips out so does the smile of gratitude

Then the overwhelming assurance of love and hope despite my list

Its time again to sing “Good Good Father” by Kally Heiligenthal

And go crazy in celebration to “Joy” by Planetshakers

And get on my stilettos to dance ’16 to an awesome finish

***12 faces of 2015

I DID IT…excelling in a male dominated environment

10 years ago I decided that I wanted to be famous. I didn't know how I will become that person I saw in the mirror every morning but I was determined. Seven years later, I just wanted to be the best at what I did and I worked very hard and tried to always go the extra mile. Three years afterwards and all I think about is the impact my work is making on individuals, organisations and the nation.

I started with curiosity!

I wanted to know more about everything and I was competitive. I desperately needed to be the best but I found out as I grew older that it was impossible to always top every interest I had and so I decided to choose a few things I knew how to do very well and excel in them. I didn’t want to try what I wasn’t good at so I don’t flunk it or come out at average and this made my options limited. I was good with English, Literature and History and I focused on this subjects in secondary school more than I did for other subjects and I topped the class all the time.

Don’t be a jack of all trades,

your name will get lost in the long list of experts.

You will be seen as a side dish and not the main meal

Be the only option for that one thing that is needed.

During my teens, I discovered I could dance and act but singing wasn't my forte so I danced and acted and only sang in groups. I also noticed I had a flare for writing and I poured myself into that.

Overtime, I noticed my curiosity had pushed me into learning business principles and development and I read every book and article I could find on the subject. I attended meetings and tried to get opportunities to share my ideas and with time I became known to have opinions.

Let your voice be heard for what you know about

 and you will become the go-to person on that issue.

Don’t just think it, say it;

you won’t be paid for your private thoughts.

Fast forward 10 years and I have worked my mind into a constant state of curiosity which is needed for strategy, creative thinking and business development which are the 3 main areas of my current expertise.

A few weeks ago I heard Hon. Abike Dabiri Erewa say, “It’s not a man’s world, it’s our world” and I agree with her.

It is how you choose to play the game of chess that determines how you win

Do you want to win? Learn the tricks of your business

Men natural tend to be go-getters and hustlers. Women are more nurturers and receivers. But with our natural disposition as nurturers and inert intuition it is easy to build keen expertise in an area of interest. That’s all I did! I pushed my energies into my natural abilities, turned them into skills and was not afraid to be assertive.

It is important that what you say should count for something and your presence should be added value to everyone around you. This implies diligence and consistency in acquiring and retaining knowledge for whatever industry you find yourself and life in general.

Yes I failed a few times but I learnt my lessons and tried again. You may fail but know there is always a way to success, and the fastest route there is adding value and being a solution provider to a recognisable need.

Go the extra mile.

Do more than you think you can.

Push yourself to be the best in your own unique way.

It is quite common now to find intimidation a constant in business but those who try to intimidate are those who are threatened by your knowledge.

If you can learn right and act right then you can do right and you will be alright

from: "Young Voices" featured on Olatunji.com.

151213

And so the New Year begins

Every year I wait to feel differently on my birthday and I don’t

I stay up till the clock says 12:30am just to sense something new and I don’t

Am I meant to feel older, happier, sober…I don’t know

Am I meant to cry, laugh…I don’t know

One thing I never fail to do is pray and pray some more

I’m grateful for a good life, wait a minute it is more

I have had a great life and some more

And so I give thanks and pledge to live my life for Him and man

It’s not as smooth as it sounds but this is how grace is made

I wait and see and the Lord is good one more year and always

I may feel nothing, but I know one thing as always

Goodness and mercy are my peeps all the days of my life

Because He says so and holds my life

So I am ecstatic at the prospects of the New Year

And now I am expectant

Because it holds more beauties than the last year.

It is 151214!

THE OTHER SIDE

Something in every human being likes to make a big deal out of little things. Somehow we manage to get infuriated at seemingly ignoble things. That’s the only reason for the statement; “patience is a virtue” if it wasn't so hard to get it wouldn't have its own cliche. It would have been a regular human characteristic like “anger”. Everyone gets angry for some reason or the other. While some of us, a small percentage, I must say, seek the virtue patience, a larger majority pride themselves in their ability to get angry and to sustain their anger for weeks on end.

I've heard people say things like; “don’t let me show you my true color” or “if I turn my other side” or “you wouldn't like to see the real me oh” or “let me not turn my red eye”. Seriously, we have psychos walking along the streets! This is a cause for alarm! Why would anyone proudly claim to be schizophrenic? All the aforementioned statements point to the fact that there may exist another man in the speaker. Or, that we most of the time deal with only one half of a person and the second half is waiting to be aroused to action by an offensive act.

#Choices

I am facing one of those decisions that are life defining and would definitely have a resonating effect on everything and everyone around me. It’s one of the "do or die" times I must encounter in my life time. And in making a choice I realized my musings were, emotional, rational and factual, basically. It was about what I could feel, reason out and see...my senses were (are still since I'm still in a limbo) on full alert.

The Difference He Made ~ Anonymous

I don't know who wrote this piece but it touched my heart and I hope it touches something in you.



"THE DIFFERENCE HE MADE"...'Amidst the morning mist of the swift returning tide, I set out on my daily run, my walkman on my side.Lost within my private world apart from cares and woes, I ran along the moistened shore, the sand between my toes. In the distance I saw a boy, as busy as can be.He was running,stooping,picking up, and tossing in the sea. Just what he threw, I couldn't tell, I looked as I drew near.It seemed to be a rock or shell~as I approached him I could hear. 'Back you go,where u belong,your safe now hurry home.Your family's waiting for you little starfish,hurry on!It seemed the evening tide had washed the starfish on the shore, And the swift receding water left a thousand there or more. And this self-appointed savior,was trying one-by-one to toss them back into the sea, against the racing sun.I saw his plight was hopeless, that most of them would die.I called out from my private world,'Hey kid, why even try?'. 'Must be at least a thousand here, strewn along the beach, And even if you had the time, most you'll never reach.You really think it makes a difference, to waste your time this way?'And then I paused and waited,just to hear what he would say. He stooped and took another, and looked me in the eye.'It makes a difference to this one sir, this starfish will not die!' With that,he tossed the little life,back where there was hope.He stooped to take another.I could tell this was no joke. The words that he spoke to me cut like a surgeon's knife.Where I saw only numbers,he saw only life. He didn't see the multitude of starfish on the sand.He only saw the little life he held there in his hand. He didn't stop to argue,to prove that he was right.He just kept tossing starfish in the sea with all his might. So I too stooped and picked up, and I tossed into the sea, And I thought just what a difference, that this boy has made in me."