2 Things

As occasion demands;

1. Learn to say “no”

2. Learn to say “I don’t know”

Saying “No” is a remarkable way of saving your time and ultimately your life and saying “I don’t know” though a tough statement for many, can bail one out in times of confusion as it does not necessarily indicate ignorance but a willingness to learn.

In whatever you do;

1. Promise little

2. Deliver much

Promising others little is important but does not in itself deliver much. It is in promising ourselves much and holding our words in high esteem that ensures that we can actually deliver much.

Are you in a new place?

1. Open your eyes

2. Close your mouth

New in the PC industry, Steve Jobs opened his mouth and explained how great the business was but Bill Gates opened his eyes and saw there was abundant space but for a major software company and he pushed Microsoft in there.

When you are angry;

1. Close your mouth

2. Open your mind

In opening your mind, you think opportunities and the worst you can do is revenge which hopefully will not see the light of day. In opening your mouth, you spit out irretrievable fire which will burn the countenance of another and yours as well.

Nothing goes for nothing

1. What you do not kill cannot die

2. What is not know cannot be forgotten

To achieve anything worthwhile, you have to put in reasonable effort. No beginning starts without an end. To start succeeding, you have to first end failure and to begin wealth, you have to first end poverty.

If at all you must lose;

1. Lose the bait to catch the fish

2. Lose ignorance to gain knowledge

Who says losing is bad? It all depends on what you lose. You have to lose carbon (iv) oxide to gain oxygen in other to survive as a human being. We have to lose the old archaic to gain the new and trendy.

Have you noticed?

1. Silence makes no mistakes

2. Money makes no enemies

Take notice and be wise “Silence Mystifies & Money Magnifies”. If only a fool can keep quiet, he will be thought wise and if only you had more money, you will have less visible enemies.

That which cannot be cured must be endured

1. God will provide – but you must provide till He does

2. Only fire can be concealed, its smoke cannot be held back

Even if we prevented Adam and Eve from eating the forbidden fruit, you probably would have been the one to eat it. So even if it means selling snow during winter or buckets of sand in the desert, be creative and persevere during times of hardship. Never reduce to giving excuses for your situation.

For your business to thrive

1. Make plans as complex as possible but give simple orders

2. Never trouble Trouble until Trouble troubles you

Its simple, “Think complex, talk simple; that in itself will save you a whole lot of trouble.”

In case you never knew;

1. The only way to keep a secret is to say nothing

2. The best armour is to keep out of range

Prevention is said to be better than cure and obedience better than sacrifice. Well, I believe that prevention is in itself the cure and obedience is in itself sacrifice.

On a final note;

1. He is a fool that cannot conceal his wisdom

2. Be civil to all, sociable to many, familiar with a few and friendly to a handful

Much more than loving what you do; Do what you love because most of the time, that’s all that counts.

One more thing

1. Preparation is the mother of good fortune

2. Daring is its father

Because you need to dare even to prepare

Much more than you achieve, inspire

Much more than you receive, give

Much more than you prepare, dare

Much more than you plan, pray

Much more than you say, do

Because in actual sense, that’s all I have to say

Speech by Segun Dada as CEO of SLM Services to SLM partners © April 2007

Time and Tide awaits no one

All that we truly own is time

He who lacks every other thing owns time

Naked we came, and naked we’ll return

One thing is sure, we’ll account for the time we burn

For this reason, watches are so named

That every moment lived and every decision made

It continually helps to remind

Watch what you do with time, in a manner that’s kind

Watch and pray the Bible warns

For we know not when the Saviour returns

Let us now seek first God’s kingdom

And every other thing shall be an addendum

We can never have time enough for anything

But time can be created like every other thing

If we need more time, it is our duty to create it this date

For tomorrow might be too late

Follow on Twitter  @segundada

Wealth is in Ideas

Bolt: Lessons in Competition

Bolt: with his eyes on the clock

Jamaican Usain Bolt blitzed to victory in a spectacular 100 metres sprint on Sunday the 5^th of August, at the London 2012 Olympics clocking the second fastest time ever amid deafening roars from the 80,000 people packed into London's Olympic stadium.

The towering 6'5" and 25-year-old athlete broke the tape in 9.63 seconds, an Olympic record and seconds only to his own world mark of 9.58 seconds.

"My coach said stop worrying about your start, the best of your race is at the end, that's where you rule," said Bolt, "so I stopped worrying about the start and I executed, so it worked," this he added after winning the race in Olympic record time despite a slow start.

Chants of "Usain" rang out around the capacity crowd as he pointed to the sky with his trademark "lightning bolt" gesture, and basked in adulation during a slow jog around the edge of the track, draped in the Jamaican flag.

But the thing that got to me was the fact that Usain kept his eyes on the clock through the race and not on the others competing with him and I guess that was why a seemingly slow start did not bother him. He was competing against himself.

As humans, our aim here on earth more than any other thing is to fulfill our purpose. Fulfilling purpose might sound trivial but by fulfilling your purpose you unconsciously permit others to fulfill theirs. Year after year, the world advances and life becomes more convenient and worth living because a few determined people decided to fulfill purpose. Imagine what progress we would have made if more and more people did same.

Our goal is not to compete against our fellow humans or try to outsmart others, our goal primarily should be to continually improve ourselves and beat our own records all towards the goal of fulfilling our purpose and helping others to fulfill theirs. Because when we transform our ideas into positive venture, we make the world a better place to live in and inspire others to do same. 

From time past, it has always been the most rewarding path to thread.

Follow on Twitter  @segundada

Once Upon a Time..

This reminds me of my younger years. The statement meant I was about to listen to a story. A story of success or that of failure, one with a happy ending or a sad one;  most times, the stories featured the tortise. Above all, I learnt one ultimate lesson. Time eventually sorts everyone out.

It is commonly said here in Africa that 20 children do not play together for 20 years. It is because time automatically creates levels and as some children move up to higher levels some move down of course to lower levels. Something worthy of note about time is that it does not tolerate stagnancy you are either improving or getting worse, amassing wealth or losing it. Time enormously rewards those who use it judiciously and punishes those that waste it.

I lost my grand mum a day into the New Year, 30th December 2008. It was quite a heavy loss to me. She was aged 89 and had seen a lot in those fruitful years even though she spent the last decade of her life in blindness. She helped me understand a vital lesson about life; 'Wasted time can never be regained and what we call “time enough” often proves “little enough”'- unknown.

She never saw her blindness as a disadvantage or an opportunity to just sit in some room and idle away. She made good use of every minute. Being a teacher in her earlier years she taught we her grand children to be the best in whatever we do and to make the best use of time and never to waste time wishing our condition were better but to make the best of everything and every time we had.

She fostered unity of purpose and instilled Godly virtues in her children, she  was also an inspiration to those without the family and a provider to not a few families.

Do you love life, do not waste time, for that is the stuff life is made of and in using time, never confuse being busy with productivity as many have wasted their productive years by “being busy” doing the wrong and unnecessary things that do not count.

How much more than necessary do you spend in sleep, forgetting that “The sleeping fox catches no poultry and the sleeping Jonah is unaware of the damage he causes everyone on the boat?” Failing to realize that there would be enough of sleep in the grave - unknown.

Wake up and maximize your time, once upon a time Bill Gates envisioned Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook, Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed Google. Today these discoveries are an essential part of our everyday lives.

All I can say now is that once upon a time, the world’s greatest grand mum walked the face of planet earth.

Today presents you with another “once upon a time” opportunity and its left for you to decide what people read and say about you tomorrow.