Who Are Your Friends?

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You become like those you associate with. A sheep that walks with the dog will eventually eat dungs. Your life is a reflection of two things, your thoughts and your friends or associates. You are a median of the group of friends you keep. If you keep intelligent people as friends, you will be intelligent. If you keep riff-raffs as friends, you can’t be better than a riff-raff. Don’t be deceived, your friends make you. Even if you are from a noble background, you can lose your nobility by the type of associations you keep. “A king’s son is no nobler than his company.” –  Gaelic Proverb.

The choice of one’s friends is not something you take lightly. You must consciously build your association. If you want to be rich, associate yourself with the rich. I am not teaching you to disdain or despise people of low status. Your duty to them is to help them rise up, not to make them your advisers. The kind of advice, inspirations and dreams you have are oftentimes drawn from the associations you keep. So if you want to dream big, you have got to relate with big dreamers and people who have already done similar things. This is not pride, it is wisdom.

There is a need for you to begin a conscious review of your association with a view to sifting and repositioning yourself. Pigs enjoy staying in the mud, so if you keep a sheep with the pigs, they will drag her into the mud. Breed a dog with cubs of lion and you will be surprised that the dog will grow up as a lion dog. Changing your association is one way of changing your life. “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. It is better be alone than in bad company.” –  George Washington

Find a role model among those who have achieved what you are dreaming of and learn from him or her. Read about great people. Small minds talk about things or people, while great minds make things happen. Leave the company of those who talk about things or people and join the company of those who make things happen.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

Don’t Feed Your Fears

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Fear has torment and it tortures its victims before manifesting, if it ever manifests. 1 John 4:18. It cripples every sense of reasoning and weakens one’s faith. Fear is so terrible that it can kill the victim before the thing being feared even happens. Fear is a terrible monster and it has a spirit. There is a spirit called the Spirit of Fear. 2 Tim. 1:7.

Fear is defined as false evidence appearing real. It is the conceptualization of imagination such that it becomes more real than imaginary. It can lead to a state of paranoia, hallucination, despondency, suicidal tendencies and insanity. Fear is truly powerful and can keep you sleepless all night and restless all day.

However, as terrible as fear is, there is an effective antidote designed by God to neutralize fear. Please note that there is a difference between godly fear and ungodly fear. Godly fear is a reverence awe for the things of God which leads to repentance, salvation and abundance, while ungodly fear is the type that cripples and renders one useless. All fears, except godly fear is from the devil. The devil and his demons are the ones responsible for painting those pictures in your mind and making them so real that you begin to fear them as if they have happened. They are all lies. I have been there before and I can tell you that no matter how so real they appear to be, they are like mirage in the desert.

The only antidote to fear is Faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things hoped for. Hebrews 11:1. Faith is the accepting of promises as if they had happened. There is no vacuum in is. You either have faith or fear. You can feed your faith by constantly recounting what God has done in the past, hearing the word of God, meditating on the word of God,  acting on the word of God and praying in the Holy Ghost. You can also feed your fear by constantly feeding your mind with news of terrible things happening all over, avoiding the word of God, believing enchanters, diviners and sorcerers. When the devil throws a fiery dart of fear, counter him with the word of God. This is why it is important that you are loaded with the words of God and always be mindful of what He has done in the past.

The intention behind sending the spirit of fear is to make you believe God less and weaken your faith. The devil is a liar and full of lies. There is no truth in him, when he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own. John 8:44. So when next he comes with his lies, tell him he is a liar and there is no truth in the picture he is painting. Resist him firmly by telling him what God has promised, which is the thoughts of Peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. If you feed your faith, your expectations will come to pass and if you feed your fears they will manifest eventually. Job 3:25.

Stop feeding your fears by believing the devil. He is a pathological liar and cannot tell the truth. You cannot die before your time. You cannot fail as long as you are in Christ. You will not remain childless. You will not die single. Your future and destiny is certain as long as you walk with God towards the fulfillment. Put the devil where he belongs today by telling him he is a liar. Victory is certainly yours., because you are born of God. 1 John 5:4.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

Keep Your Words

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How reliable are your words? Can people take your word to bank? When you promise, can people take it as done or with a pinch of salt? You are as strong as your promises. A man who does it as he says it, is a man of integrity. Show me a strong man and I will show you a man whose word is a bond. Stephen Richard said ‘Promises are only as strong as the person who gives them.’ Be a promise keeper. Be a strong man.

One of the most important accounts you can draw from, especially in times of trouble is your integrity. Your integrity is derived from your past record of keeping your words or promises. Do you have any integrity? Your integrity creates a Trust Account. It can be in Surplus or Deficit. If you have integrity, you will have Trust Surplus. It is this Trust Surplus that gives you access to help, funds, and resources that others may not have access to, or for which they must pay great prices to access. So don’t joke with your promises. Not keeping your words can lead to Trust Deficit.

Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble, is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. (Proverbs 25:19). People don’t rely on promise breakers or covenant breakers. If people can’t rely on you, you would be denied a lot of opportunities in life. You are the one suffering most from your habit of breaking promises. Trust deficit does more harm to you than others. So if you think you are being smart by breaking promises, you are only killing yourself bit by bit.

Knowing that promises are meant to be kept, you may want to be careful before making them. ‘Don’t make promises you can’t keep’ says Elizabeth Hoyt. Don’t force promises out of people too, you are only setting them up for Trust Deficit. One of our problems today is that we vote our leaders to power based on the number of promises they can make, without considering their abilities to keep those promises. We have too many leaders running on Trust Deficit. That is why, even when they have good intentions, they are misunderstood and resisted.

Be careful of people who make too many promises. They will break your heart. ‘Liars make the best promises.’ – Pierce Brown. Only say what you can do and leave the people to make their judgement. If you can’t keep your promise, provide reasons why you can’t. Don’t leave people to guess. Be a promise keeper! Keep your words!

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

Build With Your Words

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Words are powerful. Every spoken word has within it the power to bring it to reality. Just as the Word became flesh in the beginning, so does every word we speak,  eventually they become reality. John 1:14. “Because even the smallest of words can be the ones to hurt you, or save you.”  –  Natsuki Takaya

Where you are today could be a product of your past utterances. If you keep spilling out negativities about your life, it will only create negative energy around you and drag you down. If you release positive words around you, that is what will manifest in your life. Don’t be deceived, and let no science or logic deceive you, our world is more spiritual than physical. The words you speak are spirits. Where you find people always saying, ‘Yes we can’, you will always find great accomplishments. And where you have people always confessing their inabilities, they won’t have much to show.

Particularly, in our nation today, if there is anything we need more than ever, it is positive confession about our dear country. Yes, in reality, we may have an unpleasant situation, but let us use the power of our words to strengthen the hands of our leaders and bring the nation out of the present situation. Individually, let us avoid negative words about ourselves or others or the nation or even the world. Let us saturate the atmosphere with positive energy with our words. Our words can shape our world, either positively or negatively. We are the architects of our life, and it starts with our words.

As you wake up every morning, release blessings upon your life, neighborhood and the nation. Send your words on errand. As you speak in the ears of the Almighty, so will He do. Numbers 14 :28. Yours words are spirits and they are alive. Don’t toy around with negative words again!

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

Increase Your Capacity

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“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself. ” –  C. JoyBell C.

If there is anything that should never end in your life, it is growth. Only the dead stops growing. The moment you stop growing you start decaying. Every aspect of your life should be experiencing growth. You should experience growth physically, emotionally, intellectually, materially, financially, and spiritually. There is no room for stagnancy in nature, if you are not growing, you are simply retrogressing. Regardless of your age, you can still be productive.

We are a creature of exceedingly great capacity. Our brain has about 86 billion neurons. (James Randerson, The Guardian, February 2012). “A single firing neuron might communicate to thousands of others in a single moment. No computer comes close to the complexity of these communicating bits of organic matter.” (livescience.com). This tells you the capacity you have within you to grow.

Regardless of where you are in business, career, personal or spiritual life, there is a lot of room for growth and improvement. You can still grow that business. You can study more. You can expand your horizon. You can improve on that relationship. You can make your marriage sweeter. You can be better than the best at work. There is practically no limitation to what man can do, once he sets his mind on it. So break the limit and raise the bar. Increase your capacity. Read more. Travel more. Build more. Love more. Invest more. Sell more. Trade more. Exercise more. Just make sure you are increasing your capacity.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

It Is Not Too Late

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In 2008, Joanne Guidoccio retired from teaching Mathematics after 31 years of teaching to pursue her dream of writing. Most of her colleagues, friends and everyone taught she was crazy. Today she has written a novel, published several articles in newspapers, magazines and online. She spent 31 years living another life and was able to switch to a new life after. Who says you can’t have a career switch?

Friends, it is not too late to pursue whatever dream you have. You may have truly lost time, but time is a continuum and there is still enough of it left to fulfill your heart desires. It is not too late to start a new career. It is not too late to start a new relationship. It is not too late to run for that political position. Every dream carries within it the required energy and drive for its fulfillment. Once the dream is conceived and the pursuit commenced, you will find things gradually falling into places. Don’t give up on yourself, it is not too late.

It is better and nobler to die trying rather than carrying the regret of not trying to your grave. The greatest risk in life is to risk nothing. If there is a risk everyone must take, it is the risk of True Living, which is to find and live out your dream. I would rather die in the pursuit of my dream than stay alive in the safety of someone else’s dream. You must not be limited by age, time or circumstances. You are neither too young nor too old to pursue your dream. Jesus started teaching at 12 and started his ministry at 30! Moses started leading Israel at 80!

You are inexcusable friend. Go find your place in life. Live your dream regardless of your age.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

It Will Surely Pass

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

Nothing lasts forever, especially on this side of the divide (earth). Every emotion, whether of pain, joy, grief, sorrow, happiness, will eventually fade away. Time has a way of changing things and the way we see them. No matter what challenge, trouble, difficulty, persecution or affliction you may be going through, be rest assured that it won’t last forever. It has an end. There is an appointed expiry date for every problem, so don’t kill yourself before the expiry date.

It is important we are mindful of our decisions during tough times. Don’t make decisions that will impact your entire life in a negative way because of a problem that has a limited time. Some people make decisions that affect even generations after them on the spur of the moment just because they allow their emotions to overwhelm them. Anytime you are making a decision or taking an action as a result of a problem, always ask yourself some of these questions:

1. Will this problem matter in a few years from now?
2. Is my decision life altering?
3. How will this affect me or others later?

Don’t be a slave to your emotion. God gave you a head and mind to rule over your emotions. Problems are part of life but they change from season to season, so why react as if the problem will be there forever? Why commit suicide because of today’s lack or betrayal? Have you been told you can’t make it tomorrow or you can’t find true love again? Why sacrifice the future of your children on the altar of money rituals? Why would you shut down that business because of a temporary loss? Who says you can’t recoup that loss within one financial year? Why throw away that marriage because of childlessness? Between Mary and Sarah (a virgin and an old woman), God has covered every conceivable situation of infertility. Yours can’t be outside that range!

Get a grip on your emotions and weigh your decisions with your mind before acting. No problem is designed to last forever. It will surely pass, because it has a life span.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

Real Estate Opportunities

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

Landed Property

Description
A property housing four 3 Bedroom units in the main building plus a 2 bedroom flat and self contained in the BQ with parking space for about 10 cars
Suitable for residential, shopping mall or school.

Title
C of O

Location
Iju Ishaga, Lagos

Asking
45million NGN

Land
1. Plots of land at Mowe-Ofada axis price between 900 & 1.5m per plot

2. Plots of land at Shimawa at 600k per plot.

3. Plots of land at Ibeju Lekki Local Govt.Area near Pan African University at 1.25m per plot. Instalmental payment option available.

4. Sponsorship Opportunity: Eight (7) plots of land at 1.5m at Igbogun village, after La Campagne Tropicana Resort, along Lagos Epe Expressway. This is a rare investment opportunities. It is envisaged that housing demand by Dangote Refinery workers, Free Trade Zone workers, and proposed Airport staff will multiply the value of land in that environment. Best for investors.

5. Plots of land at Baruwa Ipaja at 2.5m NGN per plot.

6. 1456 sqm of land at Riverview Estate, beside Channels Television, OPIC. Asking 40million NGN. (Hot Area)

Best time to invest is during recession. Don’t wait for things to get better, you may not get any of these at the quoted prices by then.

Inbox or call or chat me on 08028395824 if interested.

Thank you.

Happy Democracy Holiday.

Value Enhancers

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

The price of any commodity is  determined by the cost, value and availability of substitutes. Usually the price is the addition of cost and margin. The margin is expected to take care of the value placed on the commodity and other factors. The higher the value of a product, the higher the price. In other words, there is a direct relationship between value and price.

Your personal price is also a function of your value. The price people will pay for your time or skill is a function of the value expected from you. The higher the value perception, the higher the price. This is why, ceteris paribus, a PhD holder will likely attract more value than a Master degree holder. It is the same reason an experienced person will also earn more than a starter, all other things being equal. So if you want to be paid more either as an employee or self employed person, you need to enhance your value.

Here are some value enhancers:

Acquire more skills or knowledge: We are in a world that is increasingly demanding for multi-disciplinary competencies because of the dynamic nature of the business environment. It is good to be a specialist but it is better to be a well rounded specialist with some knowledge of other fields. Be grounded in your field but learn about other fields too. Most businesses want to save cost and will rather hire or consult someone who is multi-skilled rather than a mono-skilled individual. Read more. Study more. Attend seminars that will increase your knowledge.

Create a Personal Niche: Successful businesses carve their niches and ride on the strength of their niches. They stay ahead of the pack in their chosen market. The niche could be from cost advantage, location advantage, technological advantage, and so on. Similarly, you must be known for something that your colleagues or competitors can’t beat you to. It could be your understanding of legal matters, or your numerical analytical prowess, or your managerial competence. You just must have a personal niche.

Improve your Interpersonal and Communication skills: Your ability to relate well with others will go a long way in lowering your cost in terms of time and even resources eventually. You will achieve more in less time if you are able to carry others along pretty well. Your ability to influence others 360 degreewise will determine how quickly you get your job done and will inevitably increase your value.

Build your network or contacts: The truth is, it is a world of figures. How much are you able to contribute to the bottom line is a major decider of your value. This is a function of your network. Your network impacts on your networth, and this determines your value. Pay painstaking attention to build a rich and diverse network. Join professional groups and participate in meetings and programs. Be active within your group. This is a veritable value enhancer.

Work on your Personal Outlook: How you will be addressed is determined by the way you are dressed. Your choice of wardrobe and personal etiquette reveal a lot about your personality. Don’t be sloppy. Dress smart and business like. We are first judged by our look before being judged by our contents. Even when you seem to have the content, a negative image may erode the value place on your content. Pay attention to your apparel and even your vehicle (if you drive one). Avoid being flamboyant

Conclusively, you can enhance your value and earn as much as you want. It all depends on your willingness to pay the price.

God bless us all.

Good morning Nigeria!

Good morning Africa!

Be Prepared

/ Adewumi Oni / 1 Comment

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin. Preparation is halfway to success. God took five days to prepare the earth before creating man. He recognized the need to prepare. Preparation is very key to success. What we call luck or lucky break is the meeting of preparation with opportunity. Oprah Winfrey said ‘I believe luck is preparation meeting opportunity. If you hadn’t been prepared when the opportunity came along, you wouldn’t have been lucky.’

We often complain that life is not fair to us, not knowing that God is only waiting for us to be prepared before bringing the opportunity we seek across our ways. If you have not successful master how to manage yourself, why are you looking for additional person to manage in form of husband or wife? Are you truly prepared for marriage? You are trying to raise capital to start your business, yet you can’t manage your personal finance well yet! Why add to the number of failed marriages or businesses?

The truth is a lot of us are either ill-prepared or completely unprepared for the success we seek. We need to spend more time learning what it takes to handle whatever we want. Read more about it. Ask people who are already successful in it. Develop your character to fit that position. Cultivate the discipline and commitment required. Don’t just sit there and mope about life not being fair, you are the one who is not fair! Be prepared!

When you are prepared it will happen, that is how life works. The Author of life doesn’t waste His resources. He gives much to him who is mostly prepared. Abraham Lincoln said ‘I will prepare and some day my chance will come.’ He kept preparing himself for the White House despite several failures. He kept working at it until his opportunity came. His speech at Gettysburg remains one of the best speeches ever made. He remains one of the most influential Presidents of the United States till date.

There is no worse disaster as ill prepared leaders. There is no bad luck worse than an unprepared person managing people or resources. So get your nose into sniffing out information relevant for your aspiration. Nothing kills more than ignorance. Get yourself informed. Read. Study. Exercise your mind and body. Drop those bad habits. Sharpen your skills. It is all in your hands, so be prepared.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!