Four Lessons I’ve learnt in 2020- So Far…

Stay with the News- Do not let your business suffer

Suddenly, we were almost swept off by the unexpected visitor, Covid-19 took the world by surprise. Not even soothsayers could predict this pandemic, the men of God did not see this coming, we all watched the world grind to a standstill. Some say it is a scam, some say it was caused by 5G, others said it is an ultimate plan and scheme by some top guns. Well in all of these, no one say it coming and no one predicted this and the outcome globally.

The impact of the pandemic mixed with the power battle for oil prices caused some countries to suffer. Russia-Saudi Arabia started the price way which saw a dip in standards of living for many in countries that are heavily dependent on oil. Oil prices fell to its lowest rate in history. It became free at some point. This impacted heavily on businesses as most of them could not survive the shock at the same time. Borders were closed, so most businesses suffered immensely.

The lesson here is, although most of the points stated here are beyond our control, we should at least stay up to date with happenings. Make right decisions on how and when to buy, store space to keep stock etc. Stay up to date, stay current, this would help you stay proactive to change and how to adapt.

Learn, Learn, Learn- Never Stop

The lockdown taught me that time can come and go if not used judiciously would be a total waste. One of the most common phrases that surfaced this year is “New Normal”. Everything has been disrupted, call it “a scam” or “political” the world has been reborn and only those who prepared for it would partake in the new world.

Most people did nothing new all through the lockdown, but they expect to win, no new skill, no new degree, nothing. So, at the end when we all self-appraise, I worry what the outcome would be. Well, its not too late to start as skills are learnt as quickly as you can start. Make the most of every minute you have and grow. Learn and never stop evolving.

Teamwork makes the team work

Fear on What next? Worry about long ending online meetings, losing touch with the past reality? Getting used to the new normal? Well these are what we should expect. Digital is replacing analog, the new has taken over the old and teams are almost losing touch of their bonding.

Leaders have experienced some of these working from home. Dropped deadlines, slow delivery, unavailability of colleagues and many more. Dealing with this is draining, but good news is that you can create activities that would help your team stay in constant touch. As a supervisor, never be too rigid to tell jokes or use trending phrases while in an informal setting. Allow the tension out of the window with checking into their personal life, care about their families, and everything including work.

When you are fully involved, and you are accessible to your team members across different platforms means you can offer extra assistance if they are facing any challenge in handling issues.

Build a passion project

Most people have skills and talents that can fetch them money if only they monetize it. A passion project is an activity or enterprise that you decide to take on—usually in your spare time–to gain some benefit for yourself. That is, it is a challenge that you willingly embrace because you hope to gain something from it. Create profit out of what you do for fun.

In conclusion

In summary, things are getting back to normal and the new normal is becoming the norm. some businesses would struggle to stay on, however persistent would only carry us through. Learn more, save money, save money …save money and be judicious. Customers would come and there is need to understand them all round and know what they need especially at this time.

Whatever you do, please win… win….and stay safe

 

WHAT DO YOU VALUE MORE?

What do people usually value more than your money? You! Think about it. What takes greater effort – writing a cheque or giving of your time and energy? Which shows a greater level of commitment? Take a moment and recall the people who’ve had the greatest impact on you: a teacher who helped you realize you could think, learn and achieve; a parent who loved you, sacrificed for you and gave you the gift of self-worth; a mentor who painted a picture of your future then equipped and challenged you to reach for it.

Next to your salvation, what could be greater? Ponder these words: ‘When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you brought to other people’s lives than from the times you outdid and defeated them.’ Too many of us see giving as more than just an act of love – we see it as a transaction – we only give to get! Sir Wilfred T. Grenfell said, ‘It is obvious that man is himself a traveler; that his purpose in this world is not “to have and to hold,” but “to give and to serve”.

There can be no other meaning.’ It’s so easy to live only for yourself. In fact, it’s one of our most basic instincts – one we have to overcome each day. But we can take another path – to be generous with our love and our time. When you give those gifts, you’re being as generous as you can be!

 

UCB

MARRIAGE IS LIKE A CONDOM

The world is now so fantasized about the wedding industry that a lot of people fail to realize that after the lights go off, the camera shutters closes, the fanfare ends and the guests go home, then life starts, all the Instagram posts and the pre wedding shoots now remains in the past and reality kicks in. most people borrow to impress others during their weddings, and others risk it all only for the glamour of it.

While others made the most out of the pre wedding, wedding plans they forget all about the post wedding life, they begin the journey into sadness and depression.

While some waited to get married before they had sex and have a successful marriage. Some did not wait, and still have a successful marriage.

Some kept their marriage private, and have a successful marriage. Some kept it open and annoyed us with their public displays of unwanted affection, and still have a successful marriage.

While some engaged (sorry handcuffed) a lady for over 18 months, and have a successful marriage, some dated for 3 months and have a successful marriage, some have been in the dating game for too long like 10+ years and still have a successful not-marriage-relationship going!

While some are ok with being baby mama’s, others prefer their camera looks to remain intact and postpone child bearing till later.

While other get married and still have a connect with their ex’s, others jump to JORO to tell the world how they hump and rump just another guy they meet. Others claim they are the slay queens or they want to be slay queens.

Truth is that marriage is like a condom, one size does not always fit all and even when it manages to fit, sometimes it does not work.

Take your own pick in life, get and follow your heart and soul mate, and please spare us the details of your sex life and nasty details of cheating.

 

 

–Notes from Ofilispeaks

2017- WHAT DO YOU HAVE FOR US?

Dear Tweeps,

Welcome to 2017, it has been a long journey here today and yes I am sorry for leaving this page unattended to for months, you can say the pressures and demand of work has got the better part of me, you are so correct.

I’d say this again, welcome to my blog again and sincere apologies for the absence, It would certainly be better this year as I am starting off on a good foot. 2016 was a horrific year as many would say and to the best of my knowledge a whole lot of people have lost their jobs and the cliché now “The dollar is high” has taken over the airwaves thus we have lost the sense of our daily life, the economy is in a steady nose dive and all indices are not looking good, daily we hear news of millions of dollars looted by some of our leaders and you wonder how this country is still around amidst the mass looting.

I feel bad when I go out daily and the news is same, the dollar has hit all time high and very like Nigeria anything that goes up never comes down. So at this rate we are stuck on it.

From my previous post, these are the years of the biblical – years of lean, where we failed to save now we are reaping the fruits of failure to decide. Our leaders have failed to save, failed to invest, failed to plan for the future, now we are in the mess that seems to suck us all in.

Away from the failures of the leaders, this is the time to plan and position for the coming years of plenty, we would soon hit the boom and only the wise and the strategic would be the only set to partake in the boom, what are you doing now to prepare for the future? Are you still complaining and nagging about the old politicians? Are you still dwelling in the past and how the promises made are not been met? Then your world is slowly ticking away. Tomorrow is a factor of today’s decisions and when you make right decisions your tomorrow would be guaranteed.

TOKE MAKINWA Hmmmmmm…

ZULU

Dear readers,

A lot has happened since I last sent in my last post, apparently I have been upgraded and I am now a father, yes you heard me right, 6 days after my last post, my wife delivered a baby boy, our prince comes to earth, 12 hours of labour and stress, tears and pain and he arrives. After a 3 years wait for a blessing, he comes into our lives like a flash.

His name is Joseph ChiZulum Osodi, we call him Zulu, (Not a south African name of any sort) it means My God is sufficient for me. Our prince, born February 21, 2015. He has brought so much joy to our lives and we have been so grateful to God for an amazing gift to our family, our families have been overwhelmed by the multitude of prayers and gifts to welcome home our baby.

Zulu has given me a different feel to life, I look forward to coming home and meeting him, at one month, I found his ticklish spot surprising his fist. I savour the connect of putting him on my chest to feel my heartbeat and he sleeps off, apparently he hears exactly what we discuss heart to heart before he sleeps off, the screams while grandma gives him a bath and the tears and pain while he takes his all important immunization most times send cold shivers down my spine and gives me goose bumps.  Although it is most stressful and almost inconveniencing to stay up all night while he plays and cries, but once you look at his face, you fall in love all over again.

The joy of fatherhood is simply amazing, and I can’t wait for him to grow up so we would scream the house down when Chelsea (my favourite football club) is playing. Of course he would have a customized jersey to match.

I am now a proud father of the cutest boy on earth. *WINKS*

DAYSTAR CHRISTAIN CENTRE KITS KIDS FOR SCHOOL

Saturday 20th September started very early for me and the usual routine of workout and light exercise but I knew I couldn’t do very much as I had a very busy schedule for the day, as a member of Daystar Christian Centre and a dedicated member of the Benevolence Unit of the Church, I knew the much awaited BACK TO SCHOOL UPGRADED event would be a good means to work out and even wear my body out. I rushed to tidy up and drove to the church premises.
Entering Ikosi road that leads to the Church I noticed a different sight, I noticed long lines of children being dragged in a way you would assume they are rushing to school, then it hit me straight up the event is here. In Daystar and in Benevolence where I serve every Sunday is a big deal for the less privileged as they turn out in good numbers to get food items and clothes from the Benevolence store house, for those where the unit has an event like LOVE AT EASTER, or LOVE AT CHRISTMAS or BACK TO SCHOOL, the church actually throws everything in especially the kitchen sink to ensure they help us to control the crowd. These events are always full to capacity as the attendees come from far and wide, Muslim’s or Christians or Pagans (for lack of word) and to surprise you that as the person that supports communications for the Unit, we limit our info to only church announcements and bullets slots, then also we do online displays, however the turn out far exceeds what we budget for at all times and I wonder can we ever budget enough?

12 YEARS A SLAVE- My review

We sat down settling into the Saturday weather, taking a walk down the shops in the Ikeja Shopping Mall, then we strolled to the Movie counter to see the movies on queue. Then Ono’s eyes spotted the much talked about movie of the month “12 years a slave” staring the highly celebrated Chiwetel Ejiofor who scooped awards in the last Oscar just to mention a few other awards.

I was eager to sit in the movie but was told it wouldn’t start till 45 minutes, now that was the longest 45 minutes of my life as I literarily watched the seconds count. Then finally the cinema was open and our pop corns almost already cold and dry joined us inside.

The movie started slow and then gradually opened into the most torturing movie of all times. I could barely stand the pain and anguish the lead actor and actress went through not to mention what happened to other dark skinned actors. I looked at Ono’s eyes and asked what looks like the dumbest question ever. “Why did they act this movie?” to stir hate or to cause more pain? I have never hated the white skinned human ever as I did in the 1 hour of the movie, the anger and the hatred was un describable, I can clearly recall the part where the dark coloured skin was tied to the tree and the longest horse
whips was used countless times to tear her tender back. That scene sent wild chills down my spine.

How a man was denied his freedom and sent to slavery, how he lost every bit of the growing up of his kids, he lost all he had and lived in poverty. It was so clear Chiwetel was more enlightened than the white kid who was supervising him, that his rebellion drove him to almost kill him, he was hung all day and all night and barely supported himself by the toe. He had a gift to play the violin and that saved his life. The wife to the baron hated the lady (played by Nupita Nyongo) because she perceived her husband was falling in love with her. He tried to send a letter to the other side of life and a white spy sold out. Raped and tortured, left out to dry and hung on a tree, starved and over worked.

After a long days job, there is usually a performance appraisal that sees the best go rewarded by words of mouth and the laggard tortured till satisfaction. When the white guys do poorly, they are just told to put in more effort, when the black does not badly at all, the sun would only witness the bath of stripes to the back while the rain drains the blood back to mother earth.

I would only but wonder why in 2014, a movie explaining all the hate of that happened way back was brought into our faces. The concept was nice, the execution was amazing, the cast couldn’t be better selected, costume was most appropriate and set was perfect. My challenge is the story line. The hurt, the pain, the agony, I only wonder if anybody felt the same pain like I did for almost 2 hours of the movie. The awards are well deserved for execution. The story line is my pain. So gratefully this slave era has ended.

I rest my pain.

IN BUILIDING A GOOD BUSINESS….

These are 7 things you MUST avoid to successfully build your business and personal life
1. Avoid Conflict – Conflict erodes peace. To be successful in business and in life, you need a healthy dose of peace constantly. Conflict drains energy and resources that can be better utilized profitably.
2. Avoid Burnout – You are only as effective as your health. Take care of it. Health is wealth is a golden phrase. To achieve success in your life and business, you need to avoid burnout. Learn the very important skill of delegation and also learn to say NO.
3. Avoid Rumors – Rumors are prolific time wasters. Whatever you cannot verify, don’t pass on and refrain from taking action based on rumored facts.
4. Avoid Busyness – Let productivity be your watchword. Be productive, don’t be busy.
5. Avoid Lies – It takes so much effort, resources and even being a genius to keep up with lies. Even after all that, lies are bound to be exposed. Be a person of integrity and build your business on integrity.
6. Avoid Scandals – This is applicable to both personal and business platforms. Be sensitive enough to protect your name and your business / brand image.
7. Avoid Family disruptions – Many businesses collapse because the families attached to the business are challenged. This can be business owner’s families, employee’s families, partner’s families etc. Be intentional about building a happy home, and you’ll see amazing results both in your personal life and business.

ENCOURAGE SOMEONE

The story is told of two very old gentlemen lying down on their bed. They occupied the same room in the old people’s home they were being taken care of.

One of them lied in the bed near the only window in their room. Every day he was allowed to spend some time sitting up in his bed to help him relax. The other man was forced to spend all his days flat on his back.

They talked a lot about their life, families, jobs, vacations. Every time, when the first man was sitting by the window, he described in detail all he sees outside the window. His roommate always looked for those moments, when his world was broadened and brightened up by the world outside.

Amazing views of a park with a beautiful lake could be seen from the window of their room. Children delightfully played among ducks and swans. Couples walked arm in arm among colourful flowers. Also the stunning city skyline could be seen.

When the man by the window had thoroughly described all that was happening outside the window, his roommate would close his eyes and imagine all the beautiful scenes of life that were told to him.

One morning the man, whose bed was near the window died peacefully in his sleep, his roommate was very sad. After some time, when the nurse came to visit him, he asked if he could be moved next to the window.

The nurse agreed and kindly made the switch. When she left, the man slowly and painfully propped himself up on one elbow and took the first look at the world outside. He was stunned. The window faced a blank wall.

When the nurse came to visit him the next time, he told her about beautiful things outside the window that his roommate described to him.

The nurse replied “He was a blind man, maybe he always tried to encourage you”

We all have situations we hope and pray to get better, but despite our own issues, we can still spare a moment to encourage someone.

Next week, please encourage at least one person every day.