All posts by Busola

I am a young woman who is passionate about making a difference in the world. Sometimes it seems like a huge project but I am not daunted considering how large the world itself is. I start with my immediate environment and try and touch one life at a time positively, a word of encouragement, advise, an exchange of idea or information, a helping hand. One person at a time, one day at a time - little drops of water make a mighty ocean and I, refuse to be extinct before my time.
achievement, attitude, choice, control, Decision Making, Personal Development, Purpose

Sneak Peak

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Picture from celebritieswhogive.com

A beautiful and true quote I came across while working on my new book says “Once you believe you can do something, there is not a single person in the universe who can convince you otherwise.” – Germany Kent.

Now, for those who don’t know. Germany Kent is an LA-based former award-winning college administrator and corporate executive, author, entrepreneur, turned successful Hollywood commercial actress, and media personality, She has interviewed Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe, and Grammy-winning performers, this in addition to the other power-players, and news-makers. she has interviewed from across the globe. Germany has been featured in numerous print media. She has had a string of good luck with the Film/TV world, especially noting that she was hand-selected by J.J. Abrams to be featured in a STAR WARS movie. More importantly, she is an award winning global ambassador for hope.

Words like Germany’s quote above cause deep reflections for me. For someone like Germany Kent to say something like that, you can tell it stems from a place of experience. This is evidenced in the vast diversity of roles, from academics, to media to business and more she had played in her life. For all the achievers you come across in life, it is because they believed in themselves. Some people believe in the universe to converge the forces of nature to make things happen for them and because of their belief, their expectations get fulfilled.

Some call it the law of attraction; others call it faith. Some call it affirmations; others call it confession or declarations. All in all it is working for everyone according to their belief system.

What I find striking with the above quote is the fact that it is amazingly true. It begs on the question of identity. If you know who you are, you will know what you are capable of doing, and as such your belief system automatically convinces you what you can and cannot do. If you have the resources to do it or not, it does not matter. Once you believe you can, no human being born or invented in the universe can convince you otherwise.

What is standing in the way of your belief? What do you think is stopping you from achieving your desired style of living. Please feel free to drop your thoughts in the comment below.

If you believe you can; you are right. If you believe you cannot; you are also right. I know #YHTK. So let’s hear your thoughts.

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Purpose

The graph and WIP

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The graph and the stage

As an empowerment enthusiast, every opportunity to learn something that will propel me to a new level is always appreciated from my heart. On my most recent training course with Darren Winters, trend lines, rising and falling graphs, was one of the key tools for the training. It just kept showing up as seasons of life in my understanding.

Start up projects are usually hard to pick up and climbing through the obstacles of new business can be quite exhausting. On your map or business plan, you already would have arrived on paper before it becomes visible to the world. You are always steps ahead before it is actually seen. This is the time to be careful who you talk to .

People who are not on your journey and who lack the power of vision can never understand you as Work In Progress. They will prefer to tag you as a dreamer, a joker, a liar or whatever makes them comfortable in their small mind. People are mostly visual and if they can’t see it, it is not real. But, even when it becomes visible, don’t expect it to sit well with everyone.

Recently in a business community support forum, someone randomly shared her experience from an abusive relationship where the partner called her very nasty names as well as accused her of fraudulently presenting herself as somebody when she is a nobody. To people who know the steps she has taken so far on her journey, she is well applauded for swiftly moving on and carrying through.

Why I am saying this is to remind and encourage you to understand that there is a stage called start, early, middle, late and finish. We must all pass through these stages in all that we do. While you are work in progress, do not let the thoughts or words of small minded people hold you back, discourage you or doubt yourself. Remember, whatever stage you are in, we all are work in progress until the final whistle.

It is another week full of goals to achieve. Dress up, show up and bring home your goals with a winner’s attitude. After all, #YHTK.

achievement, attitude, Bankruptcy, choice, Decision Making, finances, Personal Development, Purpose, retirement

What is yours?

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Mine was finances and fulfilling purpose

The creatives in the house can attest to the fact that we are unstoppable when it comes to ideas generation. The entrepreneurs will agree that when you think profit and possibility, the music changes to “let’s go there”. Being a creative serial entrepreneur, you find you are constantly on projects without end.

Couple of years ago, I did some soul searching and concluded that I must die empty. Share all my acquired skills and knowledge with as many people as I can, and make sure the grave does not get anything except for my carcass. To this end, I also became a donor carrying card and made sure my family are aware of what to do with my body in the event of my passing.

What brought this about was my finding out the number of unfulfilled talents and gifts that people end up taking to the grave because of fear of venturing out, fear of what people would say, what if it does not work, and many other inconsequential reasons that have no roots or foundation.

I discovered my fear was not being able to fulfill my purpose in life and not having finances to carry out my actions in fulfilling purpose. I did an overall self check and concluded that if others can, so can I. My action plan I will be sharing in detail at some stage. But first, I selected my desired date for an early retirement, embarked on a couple of self development courses, invested myself in multiple streams of income and committed myself to service to help others see the possibility of what is achievable if you believe.

As a serial entrepreneur, I have enjoyed both sides of the fence. When it was very good and when it was very bad. Including having to file for bankruptcy at some stage and coming out of it on the brighter side, starting afresh and stronger. How did I get myself there? How did I get myself out? and How did I start all over to being on the winning side? (Stories for another day).

What do you think is holding you back from becoming your dream self? What do you think is the stop between you and your self in achieving your desired level success? You think you are too old to go after your dreams? Or you think you are too young to start? Age? Finances? You think the resources are not available to get you started? You will be amazed at what you have and can do, when you think deep enough.

Where do you need help getting fulfilled? Is it in finding your purpose or fulfilling it? Or having the support network or family to get you there? There are different reasons for different people. I have shared mine with you. Mine was finances and fulfilling purpose. What is yours? Drop your thoughts on your fears and stumbling blocks in the comment below. A problem shared is a problem half solved.

Above all, remember always that #YHTK

achievement, attitude, millenials, Personal Development, Purpose, retirement, urban dictionary

My Narrative

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What do you see?

People close to me know very well that I am a strong advocate of early retirement. Each time I mention early retirement among people my age, the reaction is always the same. It comes in the form of brows going up, a bit of a frown and a singular thought saying “Really?”.

We were raised to go to school, study hard and achieve but were not told that the world of work consumes your life till you die, if you don’t learn to break from it and learn to live. Understanding the very essence of living successfully has propelled me in recent years to make certain choices to change my narrative.

Like you, I grew up with a desire to be successful. Like some others or you, I got an education in a field that was contrary to my passion. Like you or some others, I find myself trying to live my passion and working myself to the bone. But, when I realized that my definition of being successful as a young one was warped and discovered that being successful by me was only defined by MY standards and not society, then my reality began to change.

I embarked on a journey of self discovery. I found success was on a parallel scale of balance in my chosen areas of life. I found purpose and the desire to be the change I wanted to see. I found value in people and not in things. I found the ability to create my chosen path of life lies within me and above all, I discovered the ability to manifest my chosen path. The rest became stories.

My narrative changed from being a grafter to fulfilling purpose. My narrative changed from what people say about me while I am alive but also to what will be said when I am gone. My narrative changed from striving to contentment. I am an advocate of early retirement and ways to work towards its achievement because of my journey this far, and because of the vast majority of people still chasing bubbles on the high way on a daily basis, wondering “How do I get out of this?”

There are loads of narratives out there in the world today such as:

  • A grafter – A grafter is a hard worker. Works 2 or more jobs, Does nothing but graft no social life. (Ref: Urban dictionary)
  • A die hard – Someone who is willing to do anything for a cause or a goal. (Ref: Urban dictionary)
  • Basic – Calling someone Basic is essentially calling them predictable or unoriginal. You’re saying they blindly follow trends and have no individuality or style of their own. (Ref: Dictionary.com)
  • Extra – You know what it means when you call someone too much right? You mean to say they’re “excessively good or bad,” or that they’re prodigious or overwhelming. Well, there’s too much, and then there’s extra. (Ref: Dictionary.com)

While there are many more descriptive words that tells what we spend our lives doing, it is up to us to make our days count and our lives meaningful. I have shared my narrative with you. What is your current narrative and what do you hope to change yours to? Drop your thoughts in the comment below. Let’s get the dreams moving together. After all #YHTK and it’s never too late or too soon to start!

achievement, attitude, choice, Decision Making, Personal Development, Purpose

Expectations & Roles

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Could this be you or another AI style?

It is 100% crazy how society places demands on us based on gender, culture, background, appearances and whatever it wakes up to and we like puppets conform to those roles and struggle to live up to those expectations, sometimes without questioning the basis of such demands because it has been accepted as norm.

What is normality at the end of the day?

Years not too long ago, men were supposed to be the bread winner while the woman is the home maker and then comes demand on the boy child to be a “MAN” and the girl child to be submissive and answerable to the “MAN” who is the breadwinner. The poor boy then begins the race of chasing money making ventures that will pay the bills, put food on the table, clothe the family and God help his blessed life if the wife is a demanding one that checks out the life with the “Joneses”

The girl on the other hand must make sure food is available for the man when he comes home from hard work, his clothes clean and ironed, the house clean and spotless and the kids fed and decent.

What happened to individuality?

Because of the expectation from society, we become like robots conformed to roles that were shaped for us and some forget what it was like to have a dream, to run with your dream. Some never experience the joy of seeing visions become reality. Some gaze into the night sky daily watching their dreams die a daily death, some stopped dreaming while others daily chant “if only”.

Know this for a fact, you can never be completely happy if you continue to live according to other people’s expectations of you. Sometimes what is expected of you is what you want and the role you are playing is what has been designed for you. Other times, you are just fulfilling obligations like a pre-programmed robot with no thought for itself but what was punched or drummed in.

Start checking yourself against your current role and expectation. Don’t end up as another asset in the grave yard. Live your life fulfilled and impact others with the good in you. Make a difference and be the difference you want to make. Life is too short to live AI style when you are a total package and breathing human blessing.

After all #YHTK

attitude, Decision Making, Personal Development

It’s not December

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What value do you place on it?

No, it’s not December but it is time to take stock and determine what needs keeping and what goes in the bin. Not all relationships are beneficial and not all relationships are toxic. There are some people in your life who are taking up space when they should not be in your life in the first place. There are places in other people’s life where you are taking up space and you really should be at the door marked EXIT.

What value do you bring to the table in your relationships? I remember a very dear friend of my sister who added the term “Salt” to her name. She made a point of being a seasoning spot to people that cross her path. She is a blessing and encouraging others to be a blessing even through a single meeting or message.

In the same manner, I worked with a girl who willfully makes up defamable stories behind people’s back about everyone to cover her own inadequacies while claiming love and sisterhood to the outside world. A pure judas style relationship. Clearly relationships mean nothing but word of mouth to such a person and the value of her relationship with her work colleague is determined by her choice of knife when she stabs them in the back to save her face.

It’s not December I repeat, relationship stock take should be done periodically and not only at the end of the year. How are you adding value to the people in your own life? Where are you being taken for granted? Where have you left your dignity on the floor to be trampled on? Who have you constituted yourself as a nuisance in their lives? Do you need to exit, review or amend?

The essence of stock taking is to ascertain worth. What value do you place on yourself and the relationships you have. Time to think and evaluate. After all, #YHTK.

achievement, attitude, Parenting, Personal Development, Purpose

Beyond your nose

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It’s within your reach if you look well enough.

I had a conversation with my son recently about his plans for the future and clearly his answer as a young adult is exactly what I hear a lot of people say about starting out. Planning for success is simply daunting. The conversation for me as a parent trying to encourage my “baby” to move beyond fear, was more enlightening than I imagined.

Often times when we look at starting a project, business, relationship etc, the resources we need are foremost the imaginary stumbling blocks. This is more so especially when it is a capital intensive project and credit rating is not in your favour. The big needs often stand in front of our dreams blocking out the resources we currently hold that can work out the big needs.

Some of the resources we ignore and can leverage are human capital, contact list, support network, skills leverage – getting someone to do what you need in exchange of services they need and you are capable of doing for them or even linking them with someone you know who can.

What is most important in executing our long term plan is what we know already but need to be reminded of every time. Start from the exact spot you are. Start from your comfort zone and let your dreams carry you, manifesting into a workable business plan. Leverage your people, your network, your skills and all resources at your disposal. Make sure you do something daily and mindfully towards your success.

It’s not always about money. Look beyond your nose. Think outside the box and go achieve your dreams. For foodies like me, I say turn that loaf of bread into a sliced pan and work at having a toast a day. After all, #YHTK