A Different Picture.....A Different Result

Occasionally do you have the reason to pause and ponder over life is all about? Personally I do. I am also persuaded that this is a legitimate question. It’s interesting to note that how you see life is the basis by which you will base your judgments, actions and decisions. This is what determines whether you are materialistic or not. What you have attachment to and to what extent.
For instance, what is your view on money? What can you do to acquire it? How are you willing to share or distribute it? To what purpose are you willing to put it to use. Do you want to spend it now or later? You need to appreciate how influential your perspective on life can be. It is not just limited to your relationship with money, but also with people, positions, opportunities etc. This is also referred to has your value system.

Values are what we stand for. They are grounds on which you cannot compromise. Values do not change no matter how you vary the quantity of money. People with values are the ones that will make a difference in the new Nigeria. A people who know what they stand for. A people who don’t have a price. A people who cannot be purchased. Values are the DNA, the fabrics of which the society is made. As a people we have great values like, integrity, uprightness, honesty, hard work, diligence. Our word is our bond. This is our honor.

It may shock you to know that perpetuators of wickedness and corruption are in the minority. They are few but noisy and loud. They have painted us red abroad but their time is up. How do I know? You represent the truth and you will stand up for it. At your place of work you will follow due process. You will not take bribes or shortcuts. No more examination malpractices. Yes that’s the new you and new Nigeria. Nigeria will change when you make your own little contributions. Nigeria will be different when you are different. By the year 2025 I see a brand new Nigeria. I see people of different nationalities queuing up at our different embassies trying to get visa to enter Nigeria. I see Europeans participating in a Nigerian visa lottery.

I am not crazy, neither am I daydreaming or having a nightmare. Things have started changing already. The only way you can perceive the change is by changing yourself. In case you are contemplating leaving the shores of our country for good. Please change your mind, don’t pack your bags yet. Don’t go to where opportunities have been. Stay in Nigeria where we are creating opportunities. Stay and help build this country to that level. Those who till the land will reap the harvest. The tide is changing and I can feel it

Most of us will do anything to become good except change our way of living.- anonymous

Starting strong; beginning with God

NAFECS FISRT SYMESTER INAUGURAL SEMINAR

November 23 2007 BY Oluyemi Adeosun

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. John 1 vs. 1-5

And God said let there be light and there was light. Genesis 1 vs. 1- 4

Characteristics of the beginning

• Things may be without form, and void
• Darkness may be prevalent
• The most important thing is light
• Then other activities can follow
• Light is information, knowledge, vision or revelation

Lessons

• The most important thing is the word
• Words comes from thoughts
• Thoughts comes from what we chose to listen to, read, watch, hear and believe
• What you say is either God or devil inspired
• The devil is word perverted
• What you say is what you believe, act on, and get
• You will not get what you say if you believe in what others say and not what you say
• Words are superior to situations, circumstances and environmental factors.
• Words determine your attitude, behavior and character
• A set of attitude is superior to a set of circumstances
• You are not what happens to you, you are what you chose to become
• Words determine your opinions and expectation
• Gods word is different from status quo (darkness, mediocrity)
• God’s word works and brings about a performance. Put your words to work.
• Gods word sets a new vision, dream, path, course, direction, focus, result
• If you don’t change your focus you cant change your result
• A set of attitude will produce a set of results consistent to it
• What do you want to become tomorrow. Knowing it will help you endure and pay the price now.
• Have a spiritual goal, academic goal, leadership goal, personal development goal
• Get a mentor
• Set a goal- 5 points
• Greater ambition than others
• Take more risk than others
• More demand, more Grace, more result
• You can achieve anything if you put your mind to it
• Don’t blow your first chance
• Build a skill set
• Says law of market
• If you don’t define your goals poor results will define you
• What people know and do and their staying power differentiates people

WHY YOU ARE IN SCHOOL

• Discover your gifts, talents and potentials
• TO acquire a discipline
• Sharpen your skills
• Develop life long relationship with God and with people- each individual you see represents a door to a sector or industry in the economy. Build deep and positive friendship

Ultimately you are here to develop capacity

Sin puts you in the dark and weakens your capacity. Righteousness exalts or develops a nation.

Action points

• Set an impossible goal
• Endure an impossible schedule
• Serve an unlimited God
• Achieve an outstanding result

"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." -- Muhammad Ali

QUESTIONS, CONTRIBUTIONS OR ENQUIRES CONTACT

Oluyemiadeosun@yahoo.com, www.yemiadeosun.blogspot.com, 08025320606

Seven Differences between Wealth and Riches

Wealth and riches are not the same. Now let’s consider the differences.

• Riches are a function of the amount of money you make; wealth is of that which you retain. Riches are what pass through your hands; wealth is what stays in your life. For example, earning a million naira per month makes you rich but not necessarily wealthy. Mike Tyson is said to have made over four hundred million dollars in his boxing career but is now bankrupt, owing over twenty million dollars. He is a classic example of someone who was rich but not wealthy. Spending money shouldn’t be your focus. It should be making and retaining it.
• You can become rich overnight but not wealthy overnight. Winning the lottery or star prize in a reality TV show may make you an instant millionaire but not a wealthy person. It takes years to build wealth because wealth is a function of your financial intelligence as expressed in the kinds of decision you make over time. Check out the guy who wins an instant million today in two years time. That’s when you will know if he his wealthy or not. To build wealth you have to be more long term oriented in your thinking and actions.
• A rich man depends on his talents to make money. A wealthy man recruits the talents the talent of others to build wealth. How many people have you engaged to help you make money? If your answer is none then it will be difficult for you to build wealth.
• A rich man has to keep working to make money; a wealthy man keeps making money even if he stops working. Take a landlord as an example collecting rent as long as people keep using his facility. But even the man earning a million per month will lose his job if he fails to show up for work! That is why it is difficult to become wealthy if you are not making money passively.
• Rich people usually depend on a single source of income, especially salary. Wealthy people usually have multiple streams of income. How many streams of income do you have? If it is only salary I think you need to sit up!
• Riches can be lost overnight but it is difficult to lose wealth overnight because wealthy people keep their wealth in more than one reservoir and it is difficult for a single turn of events to affect all the reservoirs at the same time. It is unlikely that the stock market, real estate and the businesses will all crash at the same time.
• If a wealthy man loses the business, investment or property he almost always bounces back. All he does his to repeat the process of building those assets all over again. He may even build an entirely different business. But if a rich man loses his high paying job he most likely remains permanently broke unless he finds another high paying job. This is the reason many salary earners go broke if they lose their jobs. They don’t know how to build an asset.

A rich man is not so different from a poor man! You have to migrate from poor to rich to wealthy.

Multiple source of income

1 Engage in farming- people must eat

2 Start trading shares

3 Engage in real estate- people must live in houses

4 Start a transport services- people must move

5 Provide power supply. Kerosene, diesel, petrol. People use it daily

6 Open a canteen- people must eat

7 Open a dry cleaning service

8 Start an extra mural lesson. If you are a teacher organize private lessons.

9 Make you’re your hobby commercial. What you are doing for free, some people are making money by doing it.

The man who has done his best has done everything. The man who has done less than his best has done nothing.

What if

How wealthy or rich are we in this state? If today the constitution of the nation is changed and the resources of each state is used within the state it is found. How rich are we going to be? Are we still going to meet our needs? Can our internally generated revenue (IGR) meet our internally generated needs (IGN)? Yes I do not pray that something like this happens…..but what if. To make progress in life, we need to ask some what if questions and provide the answers before they are actually necessary. This is what enables people, organization or nations to recover quickly from an unexpected negative occurrence and to be able to capitalize on an unexpected opportunity. What if I lose my job today? What if my children stop sending money to me? What if government introduces fees in public schools?

The reason for doing this is strictly for planning. I know that Africans do not like anticipating change or disaster. That’s probably why insurance is not doing well as it should. I don’t myself. However for those of us who have spent sometime on mother earth we know that unexpected things do happen. Should you fail to have a contingency plan or back up plan the consequences will be devastating. Even where your backup plan does not work you are more equipped to handle a turn of events than the individual that did not anticipate it at all. That is why you should have a will now. Planning for the unexpected is proactive and hard work.

Lets take one what if scenario. What if your pension or gratuity is not paid to you promptly or on time? To handle this proactively here are a few tips.

• 20% of your income henceforth should go to investments e.g. stocks; real estates etc. get financial education.
• Increase your source of income or ensure you ensure you have multiple sources of income
• Plan your family. Ensure that by the time you retire, all your children are through with their tertiary education and self supporting
• Empower your spouse- make sure your spouse is gainfully employed or doing one business or the other
• Avoid wasteful spending- think about this. Why should you spend your entire savings on a wedding or burial ceremony? You don’t have to impress anybody.
• Own your own house. Start building your own house now. Don’t wait till you have a large amount of money before you commence. Buy a parcel of land and start construction work gradually. It’s not funny when a retiree uses his gratuity to build his house.

Let’s get back to the first what if question. Can this state survive with only her internally generated revenue? I really believe that we should start working towards this now we at least have external funding support. What do we have at our disposal? Tourism potentials, agriculture or arable land, solid minerals, educational institutions and human resources are some of the things that readily come to mind. We should identify our major strength and build on it. We must invest heavily to make our resources marketable and competitive. Efforts to build human capacity must also be sustained because people are the most important resources of any nation.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the
ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds
in your sails. Explore. Dream." -- Mark Twain. American humorist, writer and lecturer, 1835-1910

oluyemi Adeosun

Thinkers rule the world

If you look around you, you will realize that there is nothing as common as hardworking but poor people. We are hard working in this part of the world. This is an undisputable fact. However success does not respond only to hard work. Not only should you be hard working, you must also be smart working. When you work hard, you work with your muscles. However when you work smart, you work with your mind. One factor that is critical to growth and development is a sound mind.
The ability to think is crucial for success in this dispensation. Thinkers find a way of making things easier. Look at the equipments that make work easier, these are product of the thinking mind. Thinkers gradually but surely take over the economy. Thinkers have the ability to process raw information and materials to refined stuff that will command a premium price in the market. This is because the outcome of thinkers thought makes life easier for other people. A crude mind cannot process crude oil. You mind must be sharpened. Hard workers will always be the subordinate of smart workers.
Former American president Bill Clinton said ‘what is in your head is far more important than what is under your feet’ we need to develop our individual minds. No matter how expensive raw materials are, the makers of finished goods will always make a higher profit. Thinkers determine the price of the raw materials. Thinkers make use of raw materials. A thinker cannot be stranded. Once you can think, you can always find a way around your inadequacies and insufficiencies.
Do you wonder why some people don’t like to think? It is because thinking is hard work. You use a lot of energy when you put your mind to work. When a thinker is told to cut a tree, he will use 1 hour to plan and strategize how to go about the project. He will now use 7 hours to execute the project. A non thinker however will use 9 hours to cut the tree without success and use the remaining 1 hour to wonder why he did not succeed
We need to step up our capacity to think. One country in the world markets the peace in their country. People from all over come and deposit their money in their banks. Imagine thinkers know that peace and political stability is an asset. A peaceful country will find it easier to attract foreign direct investment. Similarly a peaceful individual will find it easier to attract opportunities into their lives. The sole purpose of education is to increase our capacity to think, analyze, process and ultimately get more results. People will look for you when your thought process makes things easier for them
Books and reading have an incredible capacity to develop and broaden peoples mind. When last did you read a book? An individual who does not read has no advantage over an individual who cannot read. If only the average guy on the street can use the same time he spends watching all the premiership matches to also read books. Premiership is so exciting to watch today because some thinkers are administering it. Yes it is good to relax and watch football. However it is also important that you become outstanding in life so that others to will one day watch you perform or celebrated for excellence. Imagine a poor man watching a rich man playing (at work).
I challenge parents to enforce a reading schedule on their children. Ask the children questions on books you assign them to read. Let them write reports on them and share their own thoughts. They should spend less time watching films and reading books that will expand their minds. You will only motivate the children when they see you reading too. Do you have a library at home? When last did you buy any book?
The best place to empty your money into is in your brain. The hurdle in your mind someone else has crossed it. The answer is probably a book away. The returns are overwhelming. Do you want to be in high demand? Please start thinking.
Bill Clinton said ‘what is in your head is far more important than what is under your feet’
OLUYEMI ADEOSUN

Role of planning and various planning techniques

The most important thing is to know what you want to do (vision). Why are you here now? Today I am going to talk about the second most important thing, which is planning. For the curious audience the third most important thing is massive implementation and the fourth thing is positioning. Planning is the art of mentally going through the motion or series of events to get the project done. It is also important that plans are written down and documented.

Many people know where they are going. Many people have an idea of what they need to do to get where they are going. Few people take the pains to plan for the journey. Planning is the interface between vision and implementation. Many people however just move from vision to implementation. This is the reason for the failure of many undertakings and projects. Planning ensures you are realistic and not just optimistic or pessimistic about the project. In planning you take into consideration the following factors.

Objectives and goals of the undertaken/project.
Identify the stakeholders. Who are the people your project will impact i.e. government, employees, management, community, customers etc.
Sketch what the work is going to look like. State the activities that need to be carried out.
Arrange the activities in order of sequence making room for alternative paths.
Assign reasonable time to each activities making room for delays.
Take risk into consideration. Don’t have the mentality that nothing will go wrong. In real life anything can go wrong and it will not be the work of the devil. Identify the risk, qualify the risk, quantify the risk and plan to respond to the risk. Have a back plan or contingency for every activity, personnel, source of funds and even your self.
Cost estimating and budgeting. How much will the resources and materials cost? How much will each stage and phase of the projects require?
Human resource needs. It takes a team to fulfill a dream. You need to identify the people who are going to implement the different phases in the project. What qualifications or skills should they have? What training needs are to be met to bridge any skill gap?
Plan for purchases and acquisitions. You will need materials and resources to achieve the dream. How, when and where are you going to get them. Are they readily available? Who are the supplies or vendors? Have back up arrangements for them. Any body or organization can disappoint. Stop looking at men like angels.
Quality planning. How good is the output of the undertaken going to be? What parameters are you going to appraise them? You need to set this ahead of time. You can’t afford to use sentiments and discretion if you want top quality. Quality assessment and control really matters. The days of doing things anyhow are over.
You will also need to plan communication. This may be the most important role of whoever is overseeing the project. This may be your most important role.
Social responsibility. How is your undertaken going to benefit the society?
Note that all the above points must be written down and signed by the appropriate persons.

Economics on the Street

I was reading an economic text and I came across what the author termed as the first law of development ‘for with everyone that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance, but from every one that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath’ Mathew 25:29. It is important that you know and identify that you are endowed and blessed. If you do not appreciate what you have, the honest and bitter truth is that you will lose it. Consider that scripture again ‘from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he has’. How can something be taken away from someone who has nothing!

This is an indication that we all have endowments and capacity to develop and add value. God did not make a nobody. In my interactions with a cross section of adults, they all confirmed that they all have had great opportunities at one point or the other to forge ahead in life. It is their ability to recognize and capitalize on these opportunities of the past that has brought them this far in life. Some of them however did not recognize those situations and circumstances at that time as opportunities.

Life will not give you what you deserve but what you demand. Don’t take a beggarly attitude to the market place. Take a value mindset. What do you have to offer? How can you solve problems for others? How can you resolve their issues? What ever you are going through right now is preparing you to be able to proffer solutions to the need of others. What is the size of problems you can solve? The needs may be so mundane and appear to damage your image in the short run but it is good for your growth and development. The needs you meet determine your reward. The people you solve their problems will remunerate you. It does not matter if is for individuals, organizations or societies. How can you harness other people’s energies and effort to solve problems? Owners of businesses and companies actually do this.

You too can be wealthy. You can help reduce the unemployment situation in the country, all you need to do is to increase or build capacity. Be effective and efficient at your present undertaken. Manage your present assignments well. If you can manage a shop well over time, the next thing to do is to open another shop in another location. You employ and train capable hands to oversee the shops and then you put up an effective monitoring system. You subsequently move ahead and open more shops till you have in all the towns in Osun state and state capitals all over the nation

You need to think big. Look at Mobil petrol station. You find it at almost every major town. You should know that the owners of such an organization will be wealthy. It is only natural that if you meet needs everywhere you will make money everywhere. You have to expand your business horizon. Even religious organizations are opening more branches every day. You need to desire and work hard to take your business to such a level.

How do you develop capacity?
1 Desire increase
2 Study and read books on successful organizations
3 Interact with people who have chain of businesses
4 Develop a healthy relationship with your bankers. You may need them for financial advice and loans.
5 Belong to relevant professional bodies or chamber of commerce
6 Keep an open mind
7 Look out for opportunities and seize it
8 Listen to customers complains and suggestions and act on them
9 Go to a business school

If Osun state and Nigeria must grow then your business must grow. If as a nation we are moving forward, then you must move forward. Identify what you have, and start working on it. Now that you are developing capacity, be assured that you cannot add value to other people’s life and not gain value yourself.
‘A business not expanding will soon fold up or at best be acquired’ Oluyemi Adeosun

VISION

Nigeria has vision 2020. The United Nations has the millennium development goals to achieve by year 2015. What is your own vision? Where are you heading. What do you want? Our life expresses our most dominant thoughts. What are we suppose to think or ponder about? Your present circumstances, challenges, past or future are all worth some of your thought time. I believe the most important thing that should power our thought process is our vision. For your vision to come to pass, you need to set goals and objectives. The goals must be both short run and long term.

Your vision should drive the type and quality of education you pursue. Your vision should qualify the type of people that have access into your inner circle. Yes your vision determines your friends. Do you want to be a scientist, and then you have no business walking with footballers except your invention will be centered on soccer. Do you want to be the best in your field, by now you should keep company with the best 10% in that field? Your vision to may determine your location. When you want to gather expertise and experience you may need to migrate to where the experts are at the moment.

Are you running away from something or running towards something? Your vision is what you are running towards. “If you want to get somewhere you have to know where you want to go and how to get there. Then never, never, never give up.” Norman Vincent Peale. For those of us who are religious, “If it is written, then believe that something great is written concerning you. Then it is up to you to ensure you get a glimpse of what is written about you so that you can make conscious efforts to prepare adequately. Nothing is more disastrous than for an individual to be presented with an opportunity he his not prepared for. This is the reason behind many peoples dismal failure in life. To those of us that believe you are the architect of your own future, then design something great. Then go ahead and develop yourself to the extent that you can deliver un rivaled value.

Scripture says where there is no vision the people perish. Without a vision people go rioting. Without vision people run wild. Without vision people are without restrain. It is your vision that determined the type of discipline and rigors you go through. It determines your boundary. Vision says thus far and no further. If you have a vision of leading the nation tomorrow, today you need to be upright and transparent. Any lack of discretion on your path now may deny you of such positions tomorrow. Vision makes you focused. A focused individual has more energy and is able to achieve far more result. Focus makes you sharp. Scripture says if the axe head is dull then more strength is exerted. Wise people have visions. It’s only with fools that anything goes.

Your vision determines how you spend and allocate your money and resources. What types of places you visit is also a function of your vision. It is very important you know where you are going in life. If you don’t then anywhere is a destination and any road leads there. If you are yet to get a divine vision, set a good vision for yourself. When you are pursuing a goal its easier for you to be redirected if you are previously on the wrong path. People who drive know that you can only turn the steering of a moving vehicle and not a stationary vehicle. Your gifts and talents is a pointer to what your vision may be. Your passion and interest may be a pointer to what you vision may be. The dominant problems around you may also be a pointer to your vision.

From time to time it is necessary to re-evaluate your vision especially your mode of trying to achieve them. Vision is not static but dynamic. While you are trying to identify your vision, ensure you are helping others to fulfill their vision. Ultimately your vision will help other people discover and fulfill their vision. Vision keeps people alive because you always have something to look forward to. Write your vision down. Paste it on the wall. Make it your computer screen saver. Pursue it daily and relentlessly.

Will you achieve your vision? Will your vision endure? Will the outcome of your vision outlive you?