My Book, Super Eagles and PUSH

Great week ahead, I dare say! Congratulations to our own dear Super Eagles; re: last week’s post, I did say that the man who has something to prove finds a way to win.  What other way to prove that life principle than having a home based player score the winning goal?  Lesson:  Never underestimate the power of the ‘underdog’.

I have another piece of news and this is both personal to me and a great blessing (even if I say so myself) to everyone who will have the opportunity of laying their hands on this special resource!

My first book ever is now out of Press!  It is titled SISTA POWER and it is about collaborations.  If you ever want to discover how to join forces with others to bring about a collective fulfillment of destiny this book is a must read for you. To order a copy please call 08029056642 or email bidemi@effectualmag.com

Upon the release of Sista Power last week, at least three people did say to me that they were impressed with the discipline with which I take on a project and finish it, and wondered how they can do that too.

At the risk of trivialising their compliments and their concern about themselves, I have this to say; like every one of them, I cannot say I am that focused and disciplined.   Even the best of us can become afraid, discouraged, unsure and much more.  I am no different. 

So what is the solution?  Well, what I can attest to is that I commit and keep doing what it is that I need to get done.  Here are some tips that may help you move your dream along too.

1.       ENVISION THE FINISH LINE:  Just like most members of the Super Eagles may have dreamt of holding the AFCON Cup in their hands leading to the final game, you too must envision the euphoria, fulfillment and sense of accomplishment that finishing will give you.  Smell the environment, hear the compliments and feel the sensation of finishing.  Let that picture be part of your driving force.  I mean, know what finishing can make you feel like.

2.      THINK ON PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS:  Some times when, I am struggling with a current task, I think on the other times in the past when I had felt like I couldn’t do it or go on anymore, yet was able to finish the execution in the end.  Think on how when you eventually finished the task, remember how it felt like and think about the value your finishing added to you and others, and get up and keep going.  I was not in the room when Coach Keshi gave his pep talk to the players, but I am sure he told them that in 1994, it was done, and can be done again.

3.      THINK ABOUT WHAT COULD GO WRONG SHOULD YOU NOT FINISH: This seems like a fear factor, but I mean if the adrenaline that surges through your veins when you think of the worst case scenario of when you don’t finish energises you to go on; it becomes a good thing.  For my book, I kept thinking about how others may never really get to understand what power lies in collaborations and how they can take advantage of it.  I kept thinking about the fact that being a Christian, I will die one day and return to God; how will I face Him to say I didn’t complete the assignment He gave me?  I am sure the Super Eagles knew their reception back home will be warmer and more exciting with a win than with a loss. 

4.      REMEMBER PURPOSE:  As long as you understand that everything you do on earth if you are deliberate is tied to God’s PURPOSE for you.  Then even the task at hand becomes in your sight even more important than you may have thought.  For me writing the book, wasn’t just the next thing to do, I was sure it was part of God’s plan for my NOW, so I had to keep at it.  The Super Eagles could have given up in the initial round of the tournament especially since no one believed in them anyway, but they must have thought, that it was part of God’s plan for their lives for the now!

     Friends, life can be a drag, living on purpose can be hard and laborious, but never forget that it was for such a time as this that you were created.  So just get up and keep going; you will make it NeverTheLess… ask the Super Eagles, success is sweet.

Here is to your success!

Bidemi

SUPER EAGLES; HUNGER FOR SUCCESS VS EXPERIENCE

Blessings!  God bless and keep you in this month of February.  

I am not anywhere near what you will call a football fan, neither am I as educated in the game as a lot of people out there.  However, I do know a life principle when I see one.

At this time a few weeks back, in my home country, everyone had something to say about the Super Eagles; our National Football Team, the comments were largely consistent; most of it was negative.  The tournament started  and the mood   remained the same two draws  and a win  by the skin of our teeth   ushered  Nigeria  into  a Quarter final battle   against the  most prominent African time, Cote d’ Ivoire.  Almost everyone, was very sure that we were finished where football was concerned as a nation.  Then the worst happened.  The Coach, Stephen Keshi; for me one of the most purposeful ex national players for Nigeria, released the list of the members of the team that were going to be playing Ivory Coast and he had a number  of home based players!  It was like he poured petrol into an already raging fire, everyone wanted his head!  Surely, he had no idea what coaching was all about!

 

I didn’t watch any match prior to yesterday’s and I didn’t watch yesterday’s either, but you cannot be in Nigeria and not know what’s up if the national team is playing… so I heard all the commentaries from my brothers to my neighbours to people buildings away from us.  As you know Nigerians are pretty passionate people.  Even though I was in my bedroom trying to catch some much needed sleep, it was impossible to miss the fact that Nigeria had won the match.

By this morning, all of Facebook and Blackberry world had been overtaken by Nigerians who always ‘knew’ Nigeria had what it took… everyone suddenly is very proud of our national team and  are expressing  belief in Stephen Keshi’s strategy.  I am not going to try and pick holes in their sudden change of heart and belief but I do know that if you are pursuing a dream, then you can learn a thing or two from this experience.

 

1.       THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM AT THE TOP:- In discussing this subject with my husband this morning, (he is a football aficionado) he told me that Clemens Westerhof had pulled this same feat off in the past, (in AFCON  1990).  But he was pretty sure that a foreign club side does not make the player, what makes him is his talent and his commitment to success.  Just like everyone wrote the team off because it had more home based players than internationals, people may look at your small dream now and write you off. But if you have the same hunger for success like those young men had yesterday, even a savvy and favourite tournament team like the Elephants will not stop you.

2.      PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR FRESH EVEN WHEN THEY DON’T KNOW IT – As with most things in life, when we get used to stuff, venturing out  in any other direction can be very uncomfortable, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that when we get ‘fresh’ we are relieved.  The home based players were fresh, inexperienced at that level maybe; but fresh.  Even with your businesses and dream, the key is to be fresh.  Give them something extra in unexpected doses or fashion… even if you are pursuing a dream in a field others have excelled, what makes you stand out is not doing it exactly like they have, but in presenting your own to them fresh.

3.      FRESH HAS SOMETHING TO PROVE – When everyone kept castigating Coach Stephen Keshi’s choice of players, I wondered what their problem was… basically, if these internationals were that good and they are, why will they risk tarnishing their image and reputation on a team most say has been jinxed for nineteen years?  What will playing at AFCON bring them that they don’t already have?  Fame? Money? What?  The home based players on the other hand, were green and fresh, probably never been outside the shores of Nigeria… maybe dreaming to adorn themselves in the national kit was even a tall order.  But here is opportunity thrown on their laps… in my experience people like these have something to prove!  It is why I will prefer to do business with a young up and coming ‘start up’ any day over an established structured one, especially when I need someone to give me great service.  All of us small businesses and new dreamers on the block have something to prove.  What this means is we go the extra mile.  So the next time someone asks you why they should trust you to deliver, tell them because you have something to prove.

Well I did say I was no football buff per se, but I do hope you can draw these parallels between the Super Eagles and you; trying to chart a course for your dream and create a world class business.  In the final analysis, just like the Super Eagles went on to surprise even their most ardent supporters, you too can go on to surprise even yourself.

Remember no matter what they say, you will make it NeverTheLess!

Here is to your success!

Sistar B

The Baby Steps Compound

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Welcome! Where did January go?  It is the 28^th already! Wow!  And the days are never going to stop and wait for any of us to play catch up.  Recently, a task I had not tackled for a while suddenly fell on my plate and it was not funny at all.  While I knew that I had what it takes to deal with this assignment, the magnitude of the work that was required just made me not want to venture into starting.

I spent days agonizing on the volume of work that is required for me to get this done, I whined about the number of hours and days I will have to spend stooped over the computer dealing with it.  I spent over a day scouting the internet for software somewhere that will deal with the work while I had my hands free to do ‘other’ stuff.

The problem was while I was busy doing everything but the work, my deadline was quietly creeping in on me!  Eventually, it dawned on me that I had wasted four days doing nothing but going round in circles… the software I found can only be helpful if I took the initiative and started to do the work one page after the other.

Finally! I woke up from my slumber with the reminder of something I had always known; that all I needed to do was take it one step at a time, and even though it may take a while, I will get where I need to go.  Even though I was looking for a magic wand that I could wave to get the work done in the blink of an eye, it was never going to happen.  I had to do it precept upon precept, line by line.  Even with the software, I still had to take it one little step after the other!

Darren Hardy in his book The Compound Effect, says “No matter what you learn, what strategy or tactic you employ, success comes as the result of the Compound Effect”.  In simple terms, it doesn’t matter what you are trying to achieve with your dream in 2013, it doesn’t matter what lofty plans you have, there are no magic carpets or wands, you will have to do it one step after the other.

The very little steps of success that we take, will all come together to make the big bang that we are looking for.  I know you want the really big contract, where you will earn so much that all your problems and needs are met all at once, (Is that ever going to happen?), it will take the smaller contracts where you have excelled to prepare you for that big one.

I know you will rather have your business situated in a particular area of town and you will rather have certain kinds of clients, what will an office in a choice area of town do for you if you have no track record of successful baby steps with happy small clients.

As January ends, and we all are reflecting on how we have done, please be encouraged that it is not the big or giant steps that constitute the success that you desire, it is the little every day steps that you take towards your dream that will compound into the huge success that you are looking for.

So if you have been too busy chasing the giant leaps that you did nothing about the baby steps, February is another opportunity to begin small and keep doing the little things until pooled together they make a really great mass of success.

Slow and steady wins the race, it is about the steady disciplined steps… they may not seem like much now, but if you keep doing them, they will come together soon enough to release the bang that you seek.  

You may not be flying yet, at least you are crawling, it may not seem like much, it is still movement, and if you keep it up one day you will begin to run and maybe even fly.  No matter what, with every baby step remember, you will make it NeverTheLess, after all, little drops of water can make a mighty ocean.

Hugs 

Sistar B