My 10 Biggest Mistakes as a Young Leader

Image Source: LifeHacker.com

My ability to learn from even the littlest things in my life has become one of my greatest assets. Here are some things I've learned from retrospect on my 4 years in the university where I served on several platforms as a student leader. Read, learn, practice and share these lessons:

How Our DSTV Dish Taught Me Vital Life Lessons

Since June 12, when the World Cup started, I’ve only watched 2 matches because our DSTV was not connected and we hadn’t subscribed. Several attempts to get the Satellite Technicians to come help us connect it proved futile. Each time we called, they’d give one excuse or the other. I even missed the Netherlands versus Spain (5pa1n) match because of this. Subsequently, I started becoming irritated with the situation. Partly because all we had to watch at the moment were religious channels (of which I’m not a big fan), and because my parents were seemingly not as determined as I was to watch the World Cup (a lie I succeeded in telling myself repeatedly). My irritation started guiding my behavior and my parents were obviously not happy with the situation. So, in order to quell the annoyance in the air, I decided to engage in a DIY. I spent several minutes outside my house, figuring a way to fix the dish and connect it. I finally had a Eureka moment.

A Tale of Two Sick Men #BeInspired

I saw this short story on Facebook and I thought I'd be nice to share it with you. Be inspired:

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.

His bed was next to the room's only window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end.

They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on
vacation.

MY STRUGGLES WITH FAITH (PART 1)

I came into the university hating God. I didn’t disbelieve His existence. I didn’t argue with His works but I just did not like Him. There was no relationship between us- at least none that I was willing to create. I knew that coming to a Christian university would change that in some way but I wasn’t ready to let it, not yet, I wasn’t. My father is a preacher. Almost every day prior to my resumption, I heard about God. Almost every day for the next four years, I would hear about God. I knew I was going to be bombarded but I wasn’t ready to be committed to any faith. The idea of being in faith was too restrictive. I’d rather I remained a ‘free’ man.

Like I said, my father was a preacher so I had mastered the act of pretending I cared about God and His things. Frankly, I didn’t mind pretending for the next four years, as long as no one was going to bother me to ‘give my life to Christ’. I wasn’t bothered that they’d call for people to come out for the sinner’s prayer, I would simply take my off ‘things’ at that moment. I had the ‘perfect’ plan to escape God. I wasn’t about to let anybody tie me down. But the thing I was most ignorant about was that God’s Love allows Him to be patient…to wait for the right moment to swoop in and sweep you off your feet.

It was late in the evening on October 8^th, 2010. I can’t remember what brought me to the university chapel. I think, I vaguely remember. I was hanging out with a female friend. I liked her. She asked us to go see someone. Her mentor, she called him. So I followed, blindly. By the end of the night, I met Pastor Iren Emmanuel, then he was still a student. We had a little chat and before I knew it that which I feared most had befallen me. I gave in and accepted Christ. I went back to the hostel mixed emotions, asking myself if I was ready for this. I wasn’t.

…To be continued.

How to Become a Person of Value

We’ve talked about the Law of Value Addition (Read about it here) and now it is important we learn how to become such persons. So here are simple ways through which you can become a person who’s constantly making life better for others (these are but a few, the list is inexhaustible):

When the Trumpet Sounds

Something funny happened recently. At about 6:30 pm on Thursday, 27^th of March, the weather suddenly changed. The clouds became thicker than I have ever seen in a long time. They were extremely dark and seemed like it was going to rain heavily. I was out that day, walking back to my hostel when I heard a sound and then it was followed by people screaming. A fellow was walking at my back and he made a joke. He said that the trumpet just sounded. At that time, I looked up coincidentally trying to decide if I should continue my journey or look for shelter before the rain started pelting. My friend who was with me on the walk started laughing at me. He claimed I was scared I had missed the rapture, I found this funny so I started laughing with him. But frankly, it wasn’t funny. I started thinking: “what if that was actually the rapture? What if it actually happened?” I looked around me at that moment and I saw a large number of people walking around. I thought to myself: “what if all these people, all of us, had actually missed the rapture? What would life be like?”

LIFE LESSONS III: THE BEST LOSER by Austin Queensly (@AustinQueensly)

“You took fourth! Fourth!! What happened to the first, second or even ‘manageable’ third position!!!”

I recoiled to the sitting room to avoid my mum’s screaming but especially dreaded my father’s arrival because though I was and still am ‘daddy’s pet’, one thing is not acceptable in my home. FAILURE. And believe me; my fourth position was considered one. This memory, even after 14 years, remains ingrained in my head and with it, a fear that is now a part of my subconscious and sometimes beclouds my decision making. The fear of failure!

From my growing up years, I had this concept driven into me that failure is bad. First position in class ensured that I got a mini celebration and fourth, a strong reprimand. Don’t get me wrong because I am not condemning this method of upbringing, in fact it has made me the person I am today, always striving for excellence. However, there are always two sides of a coin.

They're Leaving God Out of Everything! (The God Omission by Tobi Ogunfusika -@cutendpetite)

When I got home last year after school for the Christmas break, I was watching TV one random day. We were flipping through channels trying to look for something entertaining to watch. We stumbled on African Magic and then for a few minutes we were watching the movie. I noticed that some words were censored and I remembered that they started censoring swear words and curse words a while back and I shrugged my head and continued watching the movie. Something very interesting happened there and then, I noticed that the actress whose present words were being censored wasn’t cursing or saying anything wrong, she was not even angry or pissed with anybody in the movie. She was shocked and she said “Jesus” and after a while she said “oh My God”. It was so hard to read her lips considering the fact that it was a Nollywood movie and those words are the usual things we expect when a situation like that comes up in the course of watching a Nigerian movie.

Inviting You to the Startup Grind, Lagos

Startup Grind, the popular event series for entrepreneurs and investors announces the opening of its Lagos chapter and its inaugural event to be held March 9th, 2014 at the Iroko’s headquarters in Anthony Village. The featured guest will be a panel of founders of Irokotv, Africa’s largest internet streaming company supporting Nollywood. Tickets are on sale online now for $10/N1500, or at the door.

 More information is available on the event webpage. www.startupgrind.com/lagos

Jason Njoku, co-founder and CEO of iROKOtv has been credited with igniting Nigeria's internet and tech start-up scene, as well as revolutionizing Nollywood's global distribution system. In 2012 he was touted by Forbes Africa as one of Africa's Top Young Millionaires to watch and has also been named as one of London's Top Black Men of Power in Black Enterprise Magazine.

How to Identify Low Self-Esteem

It's easy to want to teach people how to develop their self-esteem when some folks don't even know where they stand. So, for the next few days or so, I'm going to point out to you how to know where you stand. After now, you'll be able to identify if your self-esteem is low, or high or unhealthy. Here's how to identify low self-esteem:

1. You're always looking to other people for approval. You an never feel adequate and good enough for anything. You live on complements and other's appraisals.
2. Criticisms kill your morale. No one is allowed to say something 'candid' about you. If they do, you'll be downcast till kingdom come.

Insanely Different: Life Lessons from Steve Jobs

Be different. Don’t try to be better. Be different. These were the words that caught my attention most from the movie: Jobs. The movie produced as a tribute to the departed Steven Paul Jobs who was the CEO and Co-Founder of Apple Computers Inc. As I watched the movie I learned a lot as I have always strived to do from every good movie I see. Here are some of the lessons I have learned from Steve Jobs:

1. Whatever your dream is, as long as you believe in it and as long as you have passion, you can achieve it regardless of the opposition you face.

Love Because You Have To

Love is not an action or a feeling as it were, love is a personality. Just as God is Love, we also have to be love.

A lot of people complain that love is overrated, love is a false feeling or that love is a waste of time. Well, in my opinion, I just believe that such people have no idea what love truly is and what it stands for. If you are able to understand that one should not give love because you he/she can get something in return, life would be so much better.

We have to learn how to love people simply because we have to, not because we can get something from them. God tells us that we should owe no man anything but to love. This means that the debt of love to others around us is the only debt that we are allowed to owe and that it is a debt that we can never fully pay.

So as today goes on, learn not just to show love because you can get something in return. Show love because you have to, because love is who you are. Remember that the best acts of love are shown to those who have no means to pay you back. Show love to someone today. Have a lovely day. 

WHAT I LEARNT FROM A CRICKET by Austin Queensly (@AustinQueensly)

Swoosh! Swish! The water came in from all directions to drown this annoying little pest but it was apparently to no avail. This little thing held on to dear life like it had a family somewhere in its little cricket world. Or it had a job that it made a lot of money from and/or derived fulfillment.

What my fascination with this cricket was, I could not really place. However, reflecting on it a few hours later, I realized that it bordered on ‘pride’; pride that I could not get rid of an insignificant insect/pest easily. I definitely took the scripture from Philippians 3:12b out of context in my determination to get rid of this cricket from what I considered my personal space at least for the moment.

“Finally! Victory!!”… I shouted excitedly when with a final gush, I flushed the cricket down the laundry drain.

Perseverance is a word that has many synonyms and has been used severally by humans when describing themselves and is especially recurrent in resumes and cover letters. But in the real sense of the word, it is a rarity to find humans who possess that attribute regardless of gender, age, or race.

THERE’S NO HAPPINESS IN THE WORLD’S APPLAUSE

I got this idea from Britt Nicole’s song ‘You’ and I think it’s time I penned it down because it has been hovering on my mind for quite some time. The song talks about seeking true love and finding happiness. The truth is that there’s never happiness when you live for the commendations of others and their applause. There is no happiness there. The only true happiness you will ever find is the happiness that comes with knowing that God loves you and would go to any length for you. This true happiness also comes from the satisfaction you get from fulfilling the purpose for which you were created. God created you not to be just another person but because there's a problem out there that He knows you can solve.

Thank You All For Inspiring Me

All my life I have wanted to inspire people and change the world. This drive has been my catalyst for blogging and writing and ever since I started this blog one year ago on January 26, 2013, I have not regretted. Writing to inspire you all has been a constant source of inspiration to me. Each day I don't post here makes me feel empty. I am grateful for all your support and I hope we keep this blogger-reader relationship for a long time. God bless you all.

Diamond Bank Centenary Challenge

You may or may not know about this. It's a good opportunity for you to push forth the Nigerian in you:

Will you like to win an iPad Mini and cash prizes? You’d love that, right?

Enter for the Diamond Bank Centenary challenge and stand the chance to win mouth-watering prizes.

How:

WRITING COMPETITION PROCEDURE:

• Write short article in not more than 100 words on what makes you a true Nigerian
• Send your entries with your name and phone number to diamondgames@diamondbank.com
• Closing date for entries; 7 February 2014 at 11:59 pm
• All entries will be reviewed by our esteemed panel of judges and the five (5) best articles will be selected for the final round.

MY ANNIVERSARY IS AROUND THE CORNER

Yeah, the one year anniversary of my blog is around the corner and I wanna celebrate with you guys so I'm thinking of creative ways to do so. I want you all to leave your suggestions and comments so we can all have a good time together. 

Also, leave comments or send me an email telling me how this blog has helped you and tell me which is your best article. You may be in line to win something. You just never know. I am grateful to God for you all. You are my motivation; the reasons I do what I do. God bless you.

Linda Ikeji Just Keeps Inspiring Me...

Saw some days back I read on her blog that Linda Ikeji wanted to share 1 million naira to her blog readers. well, i don't have 1 million naira to share because I ain't that rich yet but I thought I'd bring your attention to it so that those of us who need the money can have a shot at it. Here's how you can win: Just click here. have a blessed day. http://davidadeleke.blogspot.com/2013/12/linda-ikeji-just-keeps-inspiring-me.html

http://davidadeleke.blogspot.com/2013/12/linda-ikeji-just-keeps-inspiring-me_13.html

Linda Ikeji Just Keeps Inspiring Me...

Saw some days back I read on her blog that Linda Ikeji wanted to share 1 million naira to her blog readers. well, i don't have 1 million naira to share because I ain't that rich yet but I thought I'd bring your attention to it so that those of us who need the money can have a shot at it. Here's how you can win: Just click here. have a blessed day.

http://davidadeleke.blogspot.com/2013/12/linda-ikeji-just-keeps-inspiring-me.html