Today's piece will be straight, punchy, and very blunt; to make our lives count, we need to get a grasp of the reality of nurturing others. I have always wondered, what makes people think that if they help someone especially those below them it makes them helpless? Or rather, can lightening up someone's candle make yours dim? I strongly believe for me and you to make this our time-bound life count, we must be comfortable with nurturing other people and celebrating their success.  Over the years, in my little sphere and corner of influence, I have seen quite a handful of people looking up to me in so many aspects of life for nurturing. This has set me on my toes to live as I should and ensure that I don't fail them when it's all been said and done. We all have something in us that is instrumental in the lifting of others; it could be a word of encouragement, a little push, our widow's mite, our time, our wisdom, teachings, our listening ears, or even our way of life....

  Invest it, you said? Yes, invest it. And no, I don't mean money, but something much more important and sensitive than money. If you can understand it, utilize it and make good use of it, you will not only make money out of it but derive value out of it as well. If you invest it, your life would have been a Magnum opus and your life would have counted.  The issue I will share today is that which we are familiar with in words but strangers to when it comes to action, we talk about it so much that we do so little of it in our day-to-day lives. It will point out to us where we are wanting but not to guilt-trip or witch hunt anyone but to bring about a transforming change in our lives. So let's talk about time.  Time is one of the greatest and indestructible gifts and treasures God has given to man. There is no specific scholarly record about who invented time, we can only talk of the Egyptian use of horology technology to measure time as far back as 1500BC. Yes, we can talk...

  This piece is a mashup of my previous writings on commitment. For the sake of this series "LIFE - MAKE IT COUNT", I will dust up some of the issues and share them with you. What comes to your mind when you hear the word "commitment"? Does the sound of the word excite you or scare you? The hallmark of a life that will count is marked by commitment. Commitment is the state or quality of being dedicated, loyal, devoted to a cause or a marked-out endeavor. Cambridge Dictionary defined commitment as "a promise or firm decision to do something. The willingness to give your time and energy to a job, activity or something that you believe in".  Inferring from the above definition, it is obvious that for everything we do and/or do not do, commitment plays a vital role. The fact that you are reading this piece right now, you must have committed your time and resources to do so. So whether it is school, business, decision to change some bad habits, making major cho...

  It's been a long series, but a retrospective one for me. This is because most of the issues I have been sharing are what I have to learn to live out every day. (I hope you have learned one or two things so far from this series). Today I will share something that we are too familiar with but living it out often eludes us. To make your life count, you have to be consistent.  Just like trust, consistency once established, you don't just lose it. Building consistency is like earning trust, it takes time but can or may be lost in a blink of an eye.  In life, we exert our efforts, direct our attention and channel our determination to achieve or get some things through persistence, only to let them slip past our fingers because we lack the keeping power of consistency. What I mean is, persistence gets it, consistency keeps it; so by all means, in your persistence in life, be consistent.  What would be your definition of consistency? In describing what consistency is not, ...

This piece is from my archives but for the sake of this series, I had to dust it up. It is a bit long, but it is for you - yes you. So take a few minutes and go through this with an open mind, who knows, it just might change your life. One year ago I was having a conversation with this lady with whom we have been discussing life, she said to me: “Sir, I have something that is eating me deep inside and I will need help with it; people have been making fun of me because of my body structure, I have been working hard to add some flesh but it is not working, I hate being called a smally”.  I strongly believe that to make life count you honestly have to love yourself, love who you are now and are becoming, and constantly remind yourself that you are a masterpiece, God's work of art, one of a kind, custom-made limited edition person. What I am saying in essence is, to make life count, you have to be comfortable in your skin. In Your Own Skin To be comfortable in your skin is to be you an...

  In every situation [no matter what the circumstances] be thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. [1 Thessalonians 5:18 AMP ] I will share with you a very short, concise, and yet relevant issue today. It is a simple issue yet putting it into practice is not that simple. I pray it gives you a fresh perspective in making your life count.  The last three years have been the toughest, roughest, and hardest of my life, yet they have been the most defining years of my adulthood as well. It was in those moments I experienced the reality of adulthood and learned the rope of life, choices, and their consequences.  In all of the prospects and challenges I had encountered, in my good days and bad days, there is one thing that has been instrumental in keeping me going - gratitude.  One of the biggest souvenirs I got in the year 2019 was learning the act and art of gratitude. Not as if I had everything figured out back th...

  I started a mentoring session a few weeks back with one of my mentors who is studying with his family in the United States. In sharing his story with me, he said he graduated from secondary school in the northern part of Nigeria without knowing how to speak and express himself in English effectively and that was a great impediment to what he wanted to do with his life back then.  On getting to Jos, he knew he had to catch up and build capacity in that regard if he is to further his studies. He started buying books, he cultivated the habit of reading not just for reading's sake but because he knew he needed to grow, be better and equip himself for what lies ahead of him and the kind of life he envisioned for himself. You can tell that his effort is paying off today. What comes to your mind when you hear the word capacity building? A lady once told me she was about to start a movement that will advocate for women but had no idea how to go about it. I told her just two things: ...