When is a Lion NOT a lion (1)

When first the Fox saw the Lion he was terribly frightened, and ran away and hid himself in the wood. Next time however he came near the King of Beasts he stopped at a safe distance and watched him pass by. The third time they came near one another the Fox went straight up to the Lion and passed the time of day with him, asking him how his family were, and when he should have the pleasure of seeing him again; then turning his tail, he parted from the Lion without much ceremony.

Familiarity breeds contempt!

Idle moon (1) Stars shine brightest on the darkest of nights

We have been taught from an early age to associate the great Achievers from times past and present as Super Stars... this convention has been propagated in common culture allowing it to become a paradigm!

I wish to challenge this notion in the same way that Eratosthenes provided empirical evidence disproving the prevalent 'flat earth' model of his time!

In and of ourselves there dwells nothing good, although the desire to do good is present, the deed is incoherent. I find myself constantly not doing the good I could and doing the bad things I'd prefer not too. (Rom 7:18-20)

I find this statement to be accurate in my life and the life of many others. If we take A LOT of the (so called) role models of this day and age ( T. Woods, C. Sheen, B Spears...) we would find that these characters aka superstars are far from Starlight and possess a much more uncanny resemblance to the moon.

Be the 1st

I would like to challenge our perception of being 1st.
Everything around us these days encourages us to be the first and I think that's fantastic however...
The world makes you believe that without Wealth, Fame and or Power you are anything BUT the 1st.
The media spotlights Individuals and defines their positions achievements and activities in such a way that ordinary people have no choice but to Believe and Imitate.
What's wrong with that picture... Isn't it good to aspire to be as your Idol?

 Valid Question... 

In retort I ask "Wouldn't you rather aspire to be what you were made to be?"

When I look around me I see people ever seeking, searching for Identity, they look for it in pubs social circles even on the sports field.
Most are disappointed by what they find because when you take away the drink, people or activity what's left behind is an empty shell.
Half the time people don't even take time to THINK about who it is they really are...

I would like to challenge you to be the first but not as the world sees it but as the world should see it

Be the 1st to Discover who YOU are and what YOU truly LOVE!

Be the 1st to Discipline yourself to exercise your God given TALENTS!

Be the 1st to Decide to GIVE of your talents and love, inspiring those around you to greatness!

these are the Three Dee's
I have used them to great effect in my life and I know that if you can implement them in yours you will soon be knocking on the door of greatness!

In a nutshell, if you truly want to be the greatest... You have to be a servant to all!

Tri-fecta

Love Work and Play form the base layer of the lives we live, Your destiny is inextricably linked to the balanced combination of all three.

Lets examine each one in respect of the others...

Love - When you love something you'll automatically find yourself spending a disproportionately large amount of time doing it. Now at first this would be considered as playing. However after a short while you realise that there are imperfections in your love, this figures in all sorts of formats, people objects music sport career, you name it. With this revelation you make the concerted effort to work hard and eliminate the flaws (Perfection)

Work - you start a job or activity in which you HAVE to work. You may not find the work particularly fun to begin with but you decide to excel. Before long you begin to obsess about what you're doing, the hours get longer and longer and you find yourself carrying this object job person wherever you go(thats if you dont get bored and quit), some might even call this love. Because attention breeds affection the more time you put in the less laborious the task appears, sooner rather than later you begin to play with the object.

Play - when you were a child the first and arguably only instinct you had was to play. Play with toys objects food sticks stones, whatever you could get your hands on basically. As you play with these objects however you learn about them, their characteristics and nature. Hard, soft big small hot cold etc. This tells me that deep within us our curiosity to learn is best fulfilled in a playful format. Once again playing with something elicits spending time, that time brings back the attention to affection equation leading to love and the story continues...

Now let us examine a real life example

Michael Jordan (naturally) is considered by most to be the greatest basketball player ever, let us examine some of the things he considered valuable

"Even when I'm old, grey and can not play I will still love the game"

"I've always believed that if you put in the work the results will come, I don't do things half-heatedly b'coz I know if I do, I can expect half-hearted results!"

"Just play, have fun and enjoy the game. Let your heart educate your mind"

D.N.A 2.0

Web 2.0 has taken the world by storm, amongst many features by far the most influential has been the provision of a universal creative platform. No longer do people HAVE to belong to a professional class in order to have their intellectual property produced on mass.

What does this have to do with D.N.A...?

Well I believe pretty much the same thing occurred to human beings when Jesus came and died on the cross, the significant moment being when the bible was translated and mass produced. No longer did people have to rely on what the pope, patriarchs and priests had to say, now they could create and believe that which the Holy Spirit enabled them to. 

What are the implications of this...?

Well... studies have been undertaken by Dr J Neilson, on the effects of web2.0 on people. He illustrated a phenomenon known as the 90-9-1 rule, I was first introduced to this rule by my mentor with reference to Daniel Pink (author: Johnny Bunko). In a nutshell this rule states that 90% of users are spectators/lurkers, 9% sporadic, while most of the input is done by only 1% of users. 

I have witnessed the exact same equation in my day to day life, firstly in the church I attend of about 250-300 members (now pay attention to the figures).

Every Sunday there comes a time during the service where the congregation is given the opportunity to testify of God's goodness in their life. In total during my 3 1/2 years I have personally witnessed about 20-30 people coming up to share, only 2-5 of which have come to the front more than 10 times. One of two conclusions can be drawn from these results

1. God is only blessing a select few "special" members of the vast congregation
2. The 90-9-1 rule is in effect! 

Another incident occurs within the basketball team I'm currently coaching, we have a squad of about 20+ players. Approx 6 of these individuals have consistently turned up to every game, training session and meeting we've ever had. And only 2 of them consistently practice and actively engage in the process of self-improvement outside the scheduled training times. This again tells me that the 90-9-1 rule is very much in effect.

So how does this relate to me...? 

well that question is yours to answer, i personally have simply decided to be in the 1% grouping in absolutely everything i do. The greatest challenge has not been the decision itself but the implementation of it thereof. To summarize in three words 

creativity Creativity CREATIVITY 

D.N.A.

Being a scientist my thinking is supposedly linear logic(beg to differ), nevertheless I shall persist with my scientific knowledge. DNA is the fundamental building block of intelligent life, its main purpose and aim is to conserve important information which is to be passed on from generation to generation. 

The Bible spends a great deal of time and effort painting a picture of peoples ancestry from the get go, recently I discovered a fascinating link between some of the greatest Greek philosophers and Alexander the great conquering half the known world. 

This illustrated to me the importance of knowing your genetic heritage and acknowledging your DNA for what it is, both strengths and weakness's

This here is my DNA

Leadership Lessons from Obama

View more presentations from Ola Aiyegbayo. (tags: lessons obama)

No not OBAMA (although I wouldn't mind) but the dude who made the presentation just so happens to be my mentor. 

Olaojo Aiyegbayo 101

How much of your success can you attribute to your religion?  

 My belief in God plays a great role in my success. I believe that providence and divine intervention is responsible for the opportunities that define a person's destiny. My faith enables me to define my criteria for success and it helps keep me grounded when I am tempted to get chasing the wrong goals and aspirations.   

To what extent would you say your mental state is due to nature or nurture?  

  I ascribe most of my mental state to nurture. My parents are middle class educated folks and provided me the necessary environment and stimulation to become the person I am today. They sent me to good private schools which connected me with peers who further stimulated my thinking as well as quality teachers who inspired me. I have been fortunate that I picked up the love of reading from my parents, which is one of the best mental stimulants available. I am also thankful for the Internet which has made high quality information readily accessible.  

Which people despite your family, would you say had the greatest impact on you growing up?  

  There have been certain friends along the way who have helped refined my thinking, various academic teachers and pastors have shaped my world view and a number of key authors' writings have impacted me. 

What is the secret to your financial health? 

  Exercising discipline has helped me greatly but I admit it is easier said than done. 

What were your aspirations growing up, and if at all why have they changed or not? 

  My greatest aspiration is to make a positive impact in my generation and leave a legacy which my kids can emulate and surpass. This is a broad but consistent vision but it is the means to achieve it that has constantly evolved over the years. The older I become, the more I realise that I can't do everything but need to identify the things that capture my heart and have intrinsic meaning for me because over the long haul, passion is a key ingredient of success. Every day I get to know myself a bit better to make the right choices that will determine my legacy and contribution to my generation. 

Have you engaged in much physical activity in your life and what sport would you consider playing as a professional and why? 

  I am more of a spectator than participant. I did play some football in my younger days and was quite good at it. I would like to play tennis and golf in the future but I find snooker a great indoors game. 

What does the future hold??? 

  Well, I plan to launch Horeb International early 2009. This is a leadership development and consultancy company which aims to help people release the leadership potential within them. I plan to start conducting seminars and producing leadership resources very soon so watch this space. 

Bereshith

You may be sitting there, reading this and wondering "why on earth did he title this Bereshith???" good question

Bereshith is simply the Hebrew for what we commonly refer to as 

Genesis

Again, the reasoning behind this title may seem obvious to you on first impression but is it really?

You would be correct in making that assumption were we to judge the title by definition, genesis meaning new beginnings however life's never that straight forward is it? Genesis also happens to be the first book of the Bible, hence the reasoning that this is the beginning of something new which will progressively flowing from one dimension to the next. Just as the Bible doesn't end at the 50th chapter of Genesis nor in the 21st of Revelations for that matter!

Now I've got you thinking, either this guy has completely lost His mind (which is a distinct possibility) or maybe he knows a little something that I don't. If you think about it long and hard enough you'll soon realize that the final chapter of anything and everything shall only be written at the end of time!

Graph 

The graphical image above depicts the format of events and mentality which determine our emotional being on a daily bases, remember statistically speaking you always want to stay High and to the Right