40+FAB Blog

As a child, I remember watching an advert for a soap called Joy, which featured a woman walking through town and all the men who saw her were so fixed on her that they lost track of where they were going, some walked into lamp posts or rode into the hedges on their bicycles. I thought to myself, this soap must be very attractive, Lol!

Just as those men were side tracked and run off course or got stuck where they didn’t intend to be, we also can get stuck watching others, whether it is those we really admire, those we dislike and want to criticise or those we are jealous of. Be it in real life, or any form of media like TV, social media, websites, printed media etc, we can get stuck watching others.

We can’t avoid watching others, but we can avoid getting stuck. If you are watching those you admire, learn what you need to from them or appreciate what it is you see, then move on. If you are watching those you dislike, remember that you cannot fully judge another until you have walked in thier shoes, so learn to consider thier perspective and then move on. Finally if you are watching the one you are jealous of, remember that every single person is unique, and another’s shine, no matter how bright, is able to take away your light from the darkness you light up.

You have a life to fulfil, don’t spend the better part of it stuck on watching others.

40+FAB Blog

I walked for over an hour today in the English country side. It was cold, wet and muddy, and all I could see around and in the distance were empty fields and tree’s in the distance. Nothing spectacular to see compared to the sunny sights of West Africa from where I hail, yet I felt really privileged to be there as I reminisced on the books I had read and films I watched years ago which romanticised all things England.

Anytime I am in London and come across American tourists, they are in such awe to be in England, and when you talk to any of them they will tell you stories they have read about the history of the United Kingdom.

A lot that we know and desire to see about a place we have never been to is revealed to us through the writings of people who have experienced that place. Many great writers over the centuries have given us glimpses of thier country, and stories of people in it. The power of these stories have lived on and continue to pique the interest of readers to experience what they did.

What is your story? Have you told it? Have you written it down and shared it with your community and indeed the world? Have you written things that future generations can read about your history?

There is power in your stories that attract people to your unique experiences for centuries to come. Make sure you document your stories and share your view with the many people that will read it.

40+FAB Blog

Everything seems to work perfectly the way we design them in our minds or even in the workshop until it encounters other people. A computer tablet works absolutely as intended until it gets into the hands of someone who thinks it is a chopping board.

Sometimes in order to fix the problems we have, all we need to do is fix the people involved. Our great assumption that everyone knows what we know and should live life by the standards that have been set for us is probably the biggest cause of failure in relationships.

We assume everyone should be polite and say please or thank you. We assume everyone knows the code of doing to others as you want others to do to you and so on.

The best way to fix anyone, if indeed we can, is to understand them. See it from the others point of view, know thier background and life philosophies, and understand why they behave the way they do. When we are patient enough to do this, we will find that majority of the things that arise with that person that could be a potential problem are easily resolved.

Understanding people is a great skill that we must all acquire and hone on a daily basis so that it reduces the amount of problems that we rally have to deal with.

40+FAB Blog

More and more I am realising that we are not using our imagination as much as we should, or using it in a way that creates the results we truly desire. Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”

Knowledge is great, but sometimes we need a little bit of imagination to combine all the bits and pieces we know to create new and effective solutions we need. Thinking about what you will do before doing it is using imagination to see results before they happen.

We should make time everyday to plan and think about the next day. In a sense, planning uses bits of imagination to pre-play the next day. Practising and strengthening our imagination muscles will actually make us better at planning, decision making and creativity because with imagination we are able to consider several versions of the future with thier outcomes, so it causes us to question our choices, learn from mistakes we have not yet made or create things that do not yet exist.

The more we do this, the more competent we become on the issues that concern our lives. Spend time exploring your imagination and then bringing what you have practised into the real world.

40+FAB Blog

It is very interesting how we interpret the world through the ideologies of our circles. In a country of say 300 million people, you would hear someone say with regards to some sort of a voting process like on a TV shows, community or national election, “How could that candidate win? I don’t know anyone who voted for him.”

I guess the real question is, how many people do you really know? Let’s say you know a really large amount of people like a thousand of them, compared to the millions in your country, or the billions in the world, the amount of people you know is really insignificant.

So, what you know or what your group knows will always be a perspective which will differ from what other groups know. So the next time you are about to go into a frenzy about an outcome that did not go your way based on the fact that everyone you know thinks it should have, stop and think again.

40+FAB Blog

It is true that nothing comes easy, and there is a process to make good things happen which usually involves pressure and time.

Diamonds, which are precious and much sought after, are formed after years of pressure in the depths of the earth. It is the combination of pressure and time that brings the beauty of the diamond out of the coal.

When the pressure of family, career, business and anything worthwhile in life shows up, we must endure it. Unlike the diamond, we have a choice to accept the pressure and push through it, or we can decide to walk away from it taking the easy way out.

Let the pressure force out all the undesirable characteristics in you that you possibly were not aware of. As you identify them, work on strategies to get rid of them or manage them effectively. As your best qualities begin to show up, nurture them and give them your best attention and effort to let them take the front seat of your life.

The pressure will show up one way or another, so be ready to harness it and let it bring the best out of you.

40+FAB Blog

The seed, even though it is a small thing compared to what comes out of it, is quite a successful entity. Every seed has in itself the code for everything that it should become and what it should produce.

The apple seed doesn’t strive to be like the almond seed, neither does the oak seed struggle to crawl like a vine. The seed looks into itself to pull out what it is meant to be – it’s purpose, and it takes what exists in its environment to help it grow that way. A strawberry plant is successful even though it grows at less than a foot, so it will not feel intimidated next to the Cedar tree which has an average height of 70 feet. Thier nature and purposes are different and so they cannot be compared.

We should learn some lessons from the seed in 2021 and look within to identify our purpose and then pull all we can from our environment to learn and to grow into what we are meant to be. Stop trying to be someone else, stop trying to fit into what is not you, but spend your time and energy manifesting the successful person you were meant to be.

40+FAB Blog

On the first Monday of the New Year, what position have you taken in your outlook on life and on the year? Sometimes, the season or occasion allows us to to believe just a little bit more, like the New year which gives us a sense of expectation of something new.

Use those positive vibes to come out fighting with your expectation for the year. Get off the blocks with as much energy as you can muster and go for the win. The challenges will come as they usually do, but getting your momentum right early on will give you that extra bit of grit to scale those hurdles.

One good thing to do is to check out the stories of those who have done exceptionally well in the current season, or similar seasons in time past. Let thier stories inspire you. If they could do it, so can you. Armed with all that positive energy and information, come out fighting with all you’ve got to secure your victorious place.

40+FAB Blog

As we begin another New Year, I know there is something that you so desperately want to share with the world, or at least with those in your sphere of influence.

It could be an idea, a skill , a product, or a service. You could be promoting a thing, or a person – like yourself, but whatever it is, you need to get the word about it out there, otherwise how else would anyone know that it is available.

You must develop a clear plan on how you intend to promote these things consistently throughout the year. Know yourself, know your product, know you market and with that knowledge tailor the word you put out on the streets about it.

Some companies spend a significant amount of thier revenues on advertising and public relations so thier company and products remain in the minds of the public, but more importantly in the mind of thier customers and potential customers.

We should be no different and spend a significant amount of our resources and time to build on relationships, which are key for others to receive our person. We should also be investing in platforms where we can promote whatever we are offering to as may that fall into the category of person we are targeting.

Do your best to get the word out there and keep it going all year round, and watch what the effects of creating an awareness about you and your products can achieve.

40+FAB Blog

Someone said we overestimate what we can achieve in a day but underestimate what we can achieve in 30 days. Some say habits are formed in 21 days, but further research has shown that the number of days to form a habit is nearer to 90.

One day is not enough to completely change your life, you can make a decision in one day, you can have a change of heart in one day, but for the effects to be far reaching and evident, you need many days to work it out.

You can be where you want to be at the end of this year, you just have to do one thing daily that will take you closer to your goal. The power of compound interest doesn’t only work for money, it works for daily habits too. Spend 10 minutes exercising everyday, or reading, or learning something new, or planning your finances, or investing in a relationship. As you pick on the various areas of your life doing one small thing daily, you will discover that at the end of 365 days you are well into your desired zone.