Positive Pressure | © Fola Daniel Adelesi

You have to recognize that in life, you will experience some pressures that either keep you going on the path of success or the path of destruction! The beautiful part is that you have a choice as to what pressure you subject yourself to and when you make your choices, your results can be foretold immediately!

When you buy cloths because some else has bought it and you do not want to be left out you need to know that it’s called social pressure and that’s a negative one! When a friend builds a house and you also aspire to start building yours, that also a social pressure but a positive one. We will always go through pressure in life but beyond just going through pressure, it is very important for us to not go through the pressure unconsciously but deliberately!

It is only when we go through life’s pressure deliberately that we can choose what we become at the end of the day! It is our responsibility to make the most of our lives and nature is willing to comply only when we are ready! When I was getting ready to share these thoughts with you I remember the bakery where the bread that you and I eat is being baked! As a secondary school student my school had a bakery so we were mandated at some point to go to the bakery and assist the manager. When you are assigned to work in the school bakery you would have to be there overnight because the chief baker would be there to bake overnight for the next morning! I must admit that the preparation of the ingredients fascinate me from how baker mixes the flour with the butter and the yeast but nothing gets my attention as much as the heat waiting for the bread before anyone can consume it!

When all the mixing is done we would normally leave the flour in a large box for a few hours and then go back to it when every other person has gone to bed. That’s when we set fire in the oven and begin to bring in the tiny little loaves which often come out bigger when they are done!

Not too many people will be able to eat the flour before it goes into the oven but everyone can do that as soon as it comes out of the oven! What’s the difference? The Flour has gone through the oven and it can now be demanded by everyone and even paid for! You need to remember or to know that the heat which turned the flour into bread is intense! Some of us who work with the baker overnight to get the loaves ready for the next morning cannot move so close to the oven and even the baker has a very long stick with flat mouth such that the loaves can sit on it in order to get the loaves in and out of the oven!

Just like the flour that becomes bread only after it has gone into the oven and has come out, we also would have to go into some intense heat in our lives and we always ought to remember that such heat will not destroy us but refine us!

What kind of pressure are you going through today and what kind of pressure are you choosing to go into at the moment? Is it the kind of pressure that will transform you or destroy you? Remember that you will always have to go through pressure but the choice is yours if it will be a destructive pressure or transformative pressure!

Fola Daniel Adelesi
www.foladaniel.com
www.ediblepen.org
+234 803 416 3006

Fola Daniel Adelesi
www.foladaniel.com
www.ediblepen.org
Info@foladaniel.com
+234 803 416 3006
+234 809 972 7293

Edible Pen … Inspiring Productivity!
Public Speaking | Management Training | Business Consulting | Blogging.

Reflections on Nigeria’s Leadership | © Fola Daniel Adelesi.

President Bill Clinton in his inaugural address after his election as President of the United States made a remarkable statement and that was ‘There’s nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what’s wright with America.’ When in deep thoughts I think we can agree that indeed, there’s nothing wrong with Nigeria that cannot be fixed by what’s wright with Nigeria! Capacity building and manpower development are things that happen so easily in other countries and they can also happen here in Nigeria! Infrastructural development is the pride of leaders in most countries of the world and when they recount their success, they brag about infrastructure! Nigeria should not be an exception to having leaders who can brag about the infrastructure that they have developed!

The major issue in fixing a nation or developing a nation goes beyond not having enough resources, having people of different tribes to deal with or even saboteurs within or outside the government! It boils down to having a true vision for the people and the strong will to see the birthing of the vision. It is unfortunate that most people think that national development is about just getting into leadership positions, setting up cabinet and appointing people to rule with them. When a leader does not have a heart for the people there is nothing the leader can do that will go down well with the people or truly develop the nation! We need to take our focus away from just creating or duplicating processes and spending unnecessary resources or hard working Nigerians to fund those processes!

If anything has worked in other nations, I strongly believe that it can work in this nation! What is the vision that our leaders have? I hear so many people shout about vision this or vision that and they tag some years to the so-called vision but when you read through you will find out that it’s just an empty intellectual piece that they have put together and called a vision. A true vision may not even enjoy the luxury of any intellectual explanation but when you hear it, it will connect to your heart!

I am of the opinion that we do not have a complex problem in this nation, we only have people in leadership positions who really have no idea what they ought to be doing and they do not have a true vision for the people they are leading. Some of the people who have found their ways into leadership are people who simply got their by chance and can be likened to an individual who asks people to get into a plane and then tries to find out how the plane should be flown or what plan should be used in flying the plane!

What we need to do is really simple! Nigerians have made mistakes and may not realize that in time but the earlier we come to our senses the better! We have been electing people for the wrong reasons and that needs to stop! We need to elect people based on their visions and their proven ability to lead effective and efficiently or even authoritatively where necessary. We cannot afford to watch people destroy our nation using the resources they are gathering from us! This nation needs to work on building the communities and not just laying claims on empowering people without doing anything other than giving youths stipends that will be spent in a few hours!

To develop this nation we need to:
Offer free education to the citizens and truly educate our citizens
Create platforms for the people we are educating and ensure things get done by merit and not who knows who! We have to build infrastructure and make it easy for people to get things done.
Our leaders must create an encouraging atmosphere for entrepreneurs starting from registration process to accessing funds and as well getting partnerships for growth.
We need to produce our own food and not always eat what others produce which we will always pay for in a big way compared to when we produce what we eat.

I cannot take all that my heart carries at the moment but we just need to change the focus of leadership in our country and let people enjoy the abundant resources in this nation!

I guess I still have the courage to say, ‘Happy Democracy Day, Nigeria!’

Fola Daniel Adelesi
www.foladaniel.com
www.ediblepen.org
+234 803 416 3006

Fola Daniel Adelesi
www.foladaniel.com
www.ediblepen.org
Info@foladaniel.com
+234 803 416 3006
+234 809 972 7293

Edible Pen … Inspiring Productivity!
Public Speaking | Management Training | Business Consulting | Blogging.

What to remember about the days of little beginning | © Fola Daniel Adelesi.

Many of you have heard the famous Bible quotation that says we should not despise the days of little beginning and we have used it to encourage ourselves in so many ways! I have also used it to encourage myself with some of my adventures but recently I began to think about what exactly should not be despised in the days of little beginnings! Some people have made it look like it is just a quotation for people who are just starting out or people whose businesses or activities are still on a small scale!
I just saw in in a different light today and also think that when you have become very successful or even prosperous in everything that you started, you can still be told not to despise the days of little beginnings! That why I thought about the lessons one should remember from the days of little beginnings and how one can use those lessons to even make the current success a bigger one!
There are people who succeed and the moment they become successful, they get carried away by the success and begin to work with the results that they have! You always have to remember that that before the success came, you only had values and principles to work with so how can you dis-regard those values and principles after the success has arrived?
Whatever it took you to succeed will most likely be needed for the success to continue and that’s why you must remember the things that you engaged consciously or unconsciously from the days when you had nothing to show for all that you were doing.
Some of the core values or principles that most people engage in the days of little beginnings are:
Humility
Trust
Value for relationships
Focus on delivering values
Patience
Commitment
Discipline
Inspiration
Faith and
Integrity.
You cannot afford to throw away all these things because you have now grown so well in what you are doing!
As much as people tell you not to despise the days of little beginnings so that what you are doing can continue to grow in your hands, I should also tell you not to despise the days of little beginnings and to remember every good thing you practised when you were still trying to grow what you started! Don’t ever think that you have grown so much that you can now do away with those values and principles that got you the growth you are experiencing!

Fola Daniel Adelesi
www.foladaniel.com
www.ediblepen.org
+234 803 416 3006

Simple ways to find your purpose! | © Fola Daniel Adelesi.

I remember being a seven year old when I began my journey on the path of purpose but if anyone had mentioned the word purpose to me it would not have made any sense, I would have appeared very confused and I definitely would have forgotten the word so easily except if I had to forcefully keep it in my brain for a test or an exam!
There are several simple things happening around us or happening to us on daily basis that could just point in the direction God wants us to go in life but many of us do not know that it can be that simple to find a purpose or to discover what God wants from us! As a kid remember sitting in front of the television very often during the 1993 presidential elections. I could not grab so much from what they were saying because my brain was still too small to understand most of the complex issues of the Nigerian state that were being debated by the opponents. The only thing I noticed was that one of the opponents, Chief MKO Abiola, who supposedly won this election, was so charismatic and so many people in the family would just sit and listen to him whenever he wanted to talk.

As I watched my parents and their friends from the community discuss the life and aspirations of this man, something in me began to connect with him. I knew very little about him but having heard some of the things that my parents said, I began to listen to him on my own. It even got to a stage where my mother would call me whenever MKO Abiola was to appear on television and would say, ‘your friend is on television again.’ At that time, he became my friend not because I was old enough to understand him but because something in me connected with this man. At that time, I did not understand what it was but it became clearer as I grew older! I realized it was a picture of where I was going to be that this man was showing me and that’s why I had connected to easily with him. I later found out that the reason I connected very well was because I was going to be speaking and millions of people would be listening to me and also do most of the things I would teach them to do!

The elections came and were properly conducted. It was also adjudged the freest election in Nigeria but unfortunately it was annulled by the then Military head of state, General Ibrahim Bademosi Babangida.

After the elections, I saw more of MKO Abiola speaking and contending for the seat he had won but never got. As I grew older, I found out about President Bill Clinton in the United States who is another powerful orator. He easily endeared many people to himself by just talking to them. You could see the love of the people on his face so connected with him as well. After a while I heard about Martin Luther king and so many other famous orators and authors. I need to tell you that just by seeing MKO Abiola and President Bill Clinton on television, I saw my future. I had always been referred to as a talkative but no one who called me a talkative deemed it fit to look at famous speakers or leaders at the time and tell me, ‘you can become one of those people!’ Today when I reflect on how I discovered my purpose, I realized it was by looking at some of those people and being able to draw the connection between the gifts inside me and the gifts that they were already expressing!

It was already a publicised gift in those people but in me, it was still a seed that I carried about and now I can tell you that one simple way to find your purpose is:Look around for people who have become great by doing something they love.Study their lives very well over a period of timeSee if you can draw a connection between their present lives and your own future!

The real question is, the men that you are looking at today as famous people, do you really see yourself in the shoes of anyone of them? If you do then I suggest you begin to develop and maximise the potentials that those men have maximised if it is in you! As you try to maximise your potentials, you will find out that you are not exactly like those men! Don’t be discouraged because you will need your personal differences to be relevant in life!

Fola Daniel Adelesi
www.foladaniel.com
www.ediblepen.org
+234 803 416 3006

Vision thrives on seeds! | © Fola Daniel Adelesi.

When working with a vision, if you pay attention to details, you will realize that there are some very simple but hidden truths about getting things done apart from just knowing what to do and when to do it or how and where it should be done! I have seen a lot of people do things excellently well but still don’t understand the seemingly simple but spiritually pivotal role of seeds in bringing their visions into reality!

For you to achieve the vision you carry around, you have to reckon with the fact that only seeds will unlock the next phase of your vision! You will never the entire vision from the beginning but you will be seeing the vision in phases and that will be a lot easier so that you don’t collapse when you see the entire vision at once! Sometimes when a vision comes to you, the simple, easy to understand goal of the vision and the first few steps into the vision is what you receive or are inspired to start! You may never see the strategies needed to push through and that’s also because you may never see some of the challenges that will come your way. It is when you get into the vision that you will see the challenges and the strategies needed to overcome the challenges or opposition will begin to unfold to you!

There are cases where it may seem as if nothing is happening but you need to understand that for you to access the next phase of the vision that you carry, you will need to unlock it with a seed! A seed can unlock your entire destiny! It can birth your greatness faster than you imagine and it can accelerate everything in your life! When you first sow the seeds it may not appear as if anything has happened and that is the way it is in so many cases! There could be a few shallow rooted seeds that will germinate in a few days and you will get your results but if you are talking about seeds that have to do with your destiny, I’m sure you do not want to sow shallow rooted seeds! You will need to sow seeds that you will reap from in years to come and your children will also come to reap from it!

If you remember the story of Saul and his servant in the Bible then you will remember that at some point they could not understand why what they were looking for was yet to be found so they decided to go to the prophet. As soon as the decision was reached to go to the prophet, the next thing they did was to talk about the seed to sow into the prophets’ life! Another example of seeds unlocking the next phase of vision or destiny for someone is the case of Solomon at the dedication of the temple in the Bible. It was true that David left a lot of seeds for him to build the temple but he could have squandered it! He also added to the resources on ground and built a temple for God. When that happened and the temple was being dedicated, God’s presence filled the entire place where Solomon and his people were worshipping and declarations by made concerning Solomon and his destiny!

When you get to a level in the pursuit of your vision and you seem confused, you can unlock the solution with a seed into fertile grounds – this can be a successful person in your related field, the less privileged, a spiritual authority, your parents or a mentor. Never underestimate the powerful secret of unlocking the next phase of your destiny with a seed! I should also remember to tell you that only quality seeds will open up the doors of quality future! You cannot sow a seed with the mindset that you are helping the person who’s receiving your seed and get the best out of it! It is the person who is receiving the seed that is helping you because the virtues that the person carries will unlock opportunities for you and things will turn around!

Stop struggling with every new phase in your vision and try sowing a seed to unlock the next phase! The seed may be ‘painful’ but you will be ‘praiseful’ by the time strategies open up to you when others are going abroad to attend a business school for solutions. My Bible tells me that all good and perfect gift come from ‘above’ not from ‘abroad’ so you need to release that seed in your hands to allow the release of your needed resources to move on in life!

Fola Daniel Adelesi
www.foladaniel.com
www.ediblepen.org
+234 803 416 3006

Time, Brain and Money! | © Fola Daniel Adelesi.

It is indeed true that the human fingers are not equal as the Elders in Africa will always say but while we look at the things that are not equal and primarily focus on them, we tend to forget the things that are equal and can give us better platforms in life. When they say that the human fingers are not equal, they are not necessarily focusing on the finger itself but trying to let you see that since the fingers are not equal then you should not expect the economic condition of everyone to be the same!

I am not going to argue that the economic condition of everyone should be the same because I agree that it cannot be the same! Meanwhile, there are more important issues to look at beyond not having the same amount of money or the same resources with every other person on life! To begin on a good logical sequence, I would ask if you agree that we all have equal time in life regardless of where you were born, how you were born, when you were born or who even gave birth to you?

Beyond all human beings sharing equal amount of time, it is also interesting to note that all animals have the same amount of time. Have you not heard that ‘the rich and the poor, God created them both?’ the real issue here is not really about one person being born into a wealthy home or the other being born into a very poor home! In fact, I have heard people say that they were so poor that when you want to spell the word ‘poor’ and you are referring to them, you should not add the last two letter because they could not afford it!

We all share the same amount of time in life and what becomes of us at the end of our lives will be dependent on what we do with our time! Men who become great in life always invest in their time and make the most of it but men who will come to nothing will always spend their time and at the end of the day have nothing to show for the time!

The other thing we all have is the brain! God has been kind enough to give every human being the same time and the same brain but the case may be that people are developing the capacity of their brains at different levels and that also explains why they are having different results! I will not pretend I don’t know that some people have issues with their brain from birth which may explain why they may comprehend slowly or may not even be able to comprehend at all! Having said that, you will not have any excuse if your brain does not have any issue from birth and it only means you are going to become whatever you become in life by the way you choose to use your brain in the time given to you! You cannot control the time you have been given by God but you have been given a brain to help you make the most of the time! You have the sole responsibility of making sure that your brain is properly developed, equipped to function at its maximum capacity and yielding profitable results for you!

I started out by relating the Africa proverb that says all fingers are not equal which primarily wants you to understand that we all do not have the same means or resources! Whatever will end up in our pockets will ultimately be determined by what we do with our brains in the time given to us! We can even make an equation out of this and say Time + Brain = Money. I am not a Mathematician and I don’t like maths but I know time is constant because God gives it equally and brain may be referred to as variable because we all use it at different levels and unfortunately, some don’t use it at all!

Wherever you are going in life, you will need to remember that the use of your time with the brain given to you will determine the money that you get! Use your time effectively by developing your brain and use your brain effectively by maximising your time!

Fola Daniel Adelesi
www.foladaniel.com
www.ediblepen.org
+234 803 416 3006

Communicating the vision! | © Fola Daniel Adelesi.

There are loads of visions out there that may never see the light of the day and there are so many others that are already dying not because they are not good visions but because the carriers of the vision simply do not understand how to communicate their vision! The death of a vision begins with the inability of the carrier to communicate the visions whether the vision has been born or not! By implication, it is possible for a vision to die even before it is released or given birth to!

 

The strength or the importance of communication cannot be over emphasized in any sphere of life and that more importantly applies to the visions that we carry. I know about some young people who have business ideas and the only reason they will never get anyone to sponsor them is because their business ideas are too complex to understand and they simply don’t communicate anything! Communication can be very simple and can also be very complex. It can be as simple as asking a primary school pupil to recite the alphabets of the English language and it can also be as complex as asking an American to read a Chinese book written with the Chinese lettering and symbols!

 

If you truly want to give your vision a life, then you must understand the importance of communicating the vision in the most simple way you can imagine! At the basic levels of communication your vision, you may not need any suspense or any other thing that does not allow your message to come through quickly!

 

I have a rare privilege of helping people with their business propositions, some I have to review and others I have to develop from A – Z, and one common challenge is usually about presenting the ideas such that the person reading will have very little left to understand! In order to communicate effectively, you have to assume that the other person who is reading what you are writing or who is listening to you has some basic questions on his or her mind and you must prepare your vision in such a way that it answers all the assumed questions on that person’s mind!

 

Some of the assumed questions include what my Mass Communication lecturers refer to as the 5 questions the lead of your story should answer and my English teachers would simply refer to them as ‘WH’ questions. They are:

1. What – What are you doing?
2. Where – Where are you doing it?
3. When – When will you do it?
4. How – How do you intend to do it?
5. Why – Why are you doing it?

 

When your vision does not answer all these questions then you have not communicated but you must carefully look at each question and make sure you answer all in presenting an idea to people! Some people only answer the first question which is ‘What are you doing?’ and they cannot or have not answered the others! Communication is only complete when no needed information is withheld! Start communicating your vision properly from today!

Fola Daniel Adelesi

www.foladaniel.com

www.ediblepen.org

+234 803 416 3006