Wisdom Shouts: How Good Ideas Are Effortlessly Created With Remarkable Predictability

Have you ever wondered how public speakers regularly come up with good ideas that are so deep, profound and thought-provoking?

Growing up, I remember coming across good ideas encapsulated in sayings such as:

“Your attitude determines your altitude.” ,

“If you do not know where you are going, people will lead you to where they are going”, and,

“Your location determines your allocation.”

While many of these thoughts forced me into reflection, they also created a desire to know how to come up with good and shareable ideas of my own.

Then one day, I received light in one of my blindspots concerning the origin of good ideas.

Someone had shared the story of how God spoke to the heart of a pastor stuck in traffic in one of Nigeria’s busier cities. Traffic lights were non-functional, and there were no traffic police around. As a result, chaos broke out. Horns blared and drivers hurled obscenities at each other. On that road, survival was the name of the game and only the toughest drivers escaped unscathed. Ultimately, in a manner of minutes, there was a total standstill as there were bottlenecks everywhere – caused by impatient drivers driven by selfishness and disregard for anyone but themselves. It was within this chaos that this pastor found the clarity in his heart to hear the following words:

Where there is no order, stagnation is bound to be the order of the day!

If you consider that statement, you’d realize that so much truth and practical value were packed into those few words. For instance, if you fail to put your finances in order – clearly separating out your income, expenses, liabilities and assets – it would only be a matter of time before you find yourself in a state of financial stagnation.

There is no doubt that God planted the seeds of this wonderful idea into this pastor’s heart. However, the same way seeds do not grow in the absence of other factors such as good soil, nutrients and water, good ideas would not thrive in the wrong environment. There were certain things that worked in the pastor’s favor, such that he was able to pick out the good idea in the midst of the stress and chaos that reigned supreme around him. While there are so many ways to skin a cat, I would be sharing three practical tips that you can use to consistently source good ideas.

Good Ideas Come From Seeing Everything Connected

If someone gave you a gift of $100 and somewhere along the line you lost it, research has shown that you would not feel as hurt as you would if you lost $100 from your hard-earned money. In spite of the fact that we mentally acknowledge that a $100 bill has the same value, regardless of if it was given to us as a gift or as a part of our salary, we subconsciously appropriate different values to the different $100 bills depending on the circumstances that surround how we got the money in the first place. The process of compartmentalizing money into different categories based on how we feel about the money is referred to as mental accounting.

Unfortunately, our tendency to compartmentalize is not limited to money. We do the same thing in our relationship with God. We create “God time” in the morning and evenings where we pray and read the Bible in 30 minutes, while we live the remaining 23 hours and 30 minutes on our own terms without giving so much as a thought about God. We compartmentalize our lives and it is no surprise that we lead spiritually empty lives because we have learned to live so long away from the influence of the Source.

Interestingly, our tendency to compartmentalize is also one of the reasons why we find it difficult to get good ideas. Many of us fail to see the overlap between different bodies of knowledge and as a result, the probabilities of finding good ideas become slimmer than ever.

Here’s an example of a good idea I bent into a quote:

Everything reverts into a state of chaos. Order is enforced by power
– Promise Tewogbola

To get the first part of my quote, I borrowed from my limited understanding of the second law of thermodynamics as explained in physics and chemistry. In addition, I observed that any time I vacuumed my room and put it in order, it was only a matter of time before I found the need to clean the room again. This is because of the tendency for everything to fall into disrepair if left to be by itself. The second part of the quote was gotten from my realization that it took effort on my part to put my room back into order.

The more I thought about my quote, the more I realized that it was a pretty good idea that had practical value in the real world. For instance, if you are in a romantic relationship and you refuse to talk about issues in the relationship with your better half, it would only be a matter of time before chaos becomes the order of the day in that relationship. However, the moment you take the effort to engage in uncomfortable conversations with your partner, you would dramatically improve the quality of your relationship. The same thing happens when you are trying to keep fit. The fact that you worked had in the gym 5 months ago does not mean that you would be in shape 5 months from now. If you expend the time and effort to get in shape, only to rest your oars, you would find your shape reverting back into that initial state of ‘shapelessness’ and chaos. So, to keep in shape, you have to embrace personal power with yourself and expend the effort in beating yourself back into the image you desire.

Everything is connected in one form or the other. If you want to consistently find good ideas, stop compartmentalizing your life. Rather, approach life with the paradigm of connectedness. Make it your responsibility to find associations and applications that link seemingly diametrically opposed bodies of knowledge. You will be positively surprised by the sheer quantity and quality of the good ideas you churn in the long run.

Good Ideas Come to the Expectant Mind

After being equipped with the paradigm of seeing everything connected, the next ingredient for sourcing good ideas is to have an expectation for them. The role that our expectations play in our lives cannot be overemphasized. While there are people who are conscious of the inter-relatedness of things, they are so many people who subconsciously believe that they are not smart enough to come up with good ideas. This pattern of thinking is not only toxic to good ideas, it is also capable of forcing people into mediocre existences because their expectations have been trained to work against them.

The truth is that your expectations determine your experiences.

If you know that everything is connected and you expect that one way or the other, you would find those associations, it is only a matter of time before you start seeing those associations.

There are different ways people activate their expectations towards good ideas. Some people have a thinking cap they wear whenever they want to come up with good ideas. Some other people have a thinking spot in their houses or somewhere in their towns where they regularly go to for good ideas. Personally, I take a two-legged approach. First, I try to stir curiosity in my mind. The person who felt that curiosity killed the cat made the wrong diagnosis. I am genuinely interested in learning new things because I know that a good idea can be birthed by virtue of my exposure to new information. Secondly, I try to move around with a small notebook that fits my pocket. That way, I have a physical way to show my expectation to come in contact with good ideas. And when the ideas do come, I am already equipped with the tools to capture them.

For all the flak that the law of attraction has received over the years, this is actually one area of your life where there are undeniable proofs that it works. If you consistently expect a good idea to come whenever you wear a stupid cap, it’s only a matter of time before that becomes your experience. If you continue to expect good ideas to come at you when you sit on a silly chair in your house, or you are in a particular corner in your city’s park, your expectations will not be cut short and in time, you will start experiencing the awe that accompanies good ideas. If you embrace a curious heart for novel ideas, you will experience them, and if you walk around with a notebook to capture good ideas, it’s only a matter of time before you start attracting them like ants to sugar.

Good Ideas Come When You Consistently Celebrate the Mundane

Many people associate good ideas with lightning and fireworks. Nothing can be further from the truth.

The good idea behind the quote – ‘Where there is no order, stagnation is bound to be the order of the day!‘ – came in the middle of terrible traffic. A part of the idea behind my quote – ‘Everything reverts into a state of chaos. Order is enforced by power’ – came from me observing how my room gradually became disorganized over time. If you live in a big city, you are likely going to find yourself in terrible traffic at some point and if you have a place where you live, it is likely that you have had to rearrange your room times without number. Yet, not many people would have been able to take advantage of the mundane routine in their lives to come up with good ideas.

The reason is simple. Many people are not present to the moment. And the number one reason why a lot of people are not present to the moment is because of fear. People are afraid of the past, the present, as well as the future. They have a constant fear of the unknown constantly humming in the back of their minds. They are worried sick about things that are either out of their control, or won’t matter once the facts are changed.

The moment you deliberately choose to be present to the moment and actively engage with the mundane events of day-to-day living, you separate yourself from the myriads of individuals walking with their minds miles and years away from their physical bodies. By so doing, you place yourself in an advantageous position where you are likely going to find a good idea that escaped the consciousness of every other person.

Harnessing the Untold, Dynamic Power of Your Imagination

When we were younger, we all had quite vivid imaginations that we freely allowed to find full expression. As we got older, however, we were wrongly taught that it was irresponsible to have actively imaginative minds. Instead, we were taught on the need to be realistic in everything. In fact, the common parlance today is, ‘C’mon, let’s be realistic…’

The truth is that we do not need more realists to tell us about the harsh realities in the seen realm. What we need are more men and women willing to pursue mastery in the art of observation.

One way to do that is to have an active imagination.

The Imagination Paradox

To be able to have an active imagination, we need to adopt the right paradigm about our imagination. The truth is that your imagination is a tool that is neither good nor bad. It can be used appropriately or inappropriately, depending on the person doing the imagining.

Let’s briefly prove that.

Can you count the number of rooms you have in your house?

Was that easy to do?

When I asked you to count the number of rooms in your house, did you drop this article and then start entering each room one after the other?

Of course not!

You simply imagined those rooms and counted them, right?

Another quick question: Did the fact that you imagined those rooms make them any less real?

No!

Rather, it is because the rooms were real, that’s why you were able to imagine them!

Now, pay close attention to this truth, because, it has the capability to change your life forever: Your imagination is a door to the unseen!

2 Corinthians 4:18 says,

‘While we look not at the things which are seen, but at things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal’

How do you think great inventions, innovations, works of art, and products of ingenuity are created?

That’s right, through the power of the imagination.

The creations already existed in certain forms in the unseen realm and that’s why they could be imagined!

To gain mastery in the art of observation, it is imperative for you to learn how to make use of your imaginative tool to deliberately imagine things constructively.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, every individual was created with the ability to see, yet not everyone would attain mastery in the art of observation. In the same way, as I’ve already proved, everyone has the ability to imagine, but not everyone has mastered the skills required to deliberately imagine things creatively or constructively.

As with all principles, the principles of imagination do not have a soft spot for ignorance. If you abide by its principles, you’d get the benefits; and if you don’t, you’d get burnt!

The Mechanical Stage Of Imagination

For the scope of this article, there are two stages you’d have to pass through if you’re ever going to attain observation mastery.

The first is what I’d refer to as Mechanical Imagination. In this kind, your imaginative process is fuelled by already existing concepts, ideas and things around you.

During the course of this imagination, you are not thinking of anything new; you are not developing new ways of doing things; you are not producing anything new. Rather, you are merely ruminating on existing concepts so as to facilitate your understanding of them.

While this kind of imagination does not hold any fruits, it does train you and place you in the right frame of mind to engage in the kind of imagination that would open the door to the unseen realm. That is why we need to be careful with the kinds of inputs we feed our minds during the process of mechanical imagination.

If all you feed your mind with are inappropriate books, videos, songs, pictures and news, you cannot expect to make much progress in honing your imaginative skills. If all you engage your mind with is inappropriate input, your imagination tool would still be fully functional – only that it would be working against you.

The truth is that if your imagination is working against you, you cannot expect to perceive the right things in the unseen realm.

That’s why I recommend that you should be highly selective with the kind of movies, books, songs, and news you interact with. If they are of the wrong sort, you’d end up fracturing your imagination, and it would start working against you.

The Creative Stage Of Imagination

The second stage of imagination that would open the door to the unseen realm is what I’d refer to as the Creative Imagination. In this kind, the frequency at which your thoughts are operating on far transcends anything that can be obtainable while being engaged in mechanical imagination. It is through this kind of imagination that new concepts, ideas, innovations and better ways of doing things are birthed. In this kind of imagination, logic is pocketed for a moment and the vast wealth of possibilities is unveiled.

King Camp Gillette was the founder of one of the most successful companies that produce safety razors and shaving products. Back then, the popular shaving tool used by men had a blade permanently attached to an elaborately designed handle. Any time the blade became dulled by continual use, they were taken to be sharpened. However, through the art of observation, Gillette perceived that it would be a welcome development if these elaborately designed handles had detachable razors, instead of a single fixed blade. He tried out the idea and made untold fortunes by executing the idea. When recalling how the idea of a detachable razor blade came to him, Gillette said, ‘All this came more in pictures than in conscious thought…as though the razor were already a finished thing held before my eyes’

This is a testimony to the fact that when you are engaged in creative imagination, you are actually staring into the unseen realm of perfect forms.

Use Your Imagination or Be Used By It

Your imagination is a tool that could give you a decisive advantage when used appropriately. Let’s briefly focus on those who think that creative imagination is not for them.

Hebrews 5:14 says, ‘…even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised…’

Every individual is born with the ability to imagine things. However, if you want to attain proficiency in the constructive use of your imagination, you have to start deliberately and consciously imagining things.

Granted, your initial attempts would be mechanical in nature, and it would most likely be a bit difficult for you to do it for a sustained period of time. But the truth is that you would not be able to get to the level of creative imagination if you’ve not passed the stage of mechanical imagination.

So, what do you do?

Select your input consciously. Get books, videos, pictures, songs and anything that would serve as a trigger for your mechanical imagination. As you continue to do this deliberately, you’d discover that you are more aware of your thoughts.

The good thing about being aware of your thoughts is that it gives you the liberty to easily sieve your mind of any mental clutter that could make your imagination run on a negative kind of autopilot. As a result, you are able to catch yourself easily, if you find yourself permitting your imagination to churn out pictures you don’t want to see. Also, as you are deliberately feeding your mechanical imagination with the appropriate input you desire, you’d find it easier to imagine things.

Another thing to pay attention to is that while mechanical imagination would basically train you in the habit of imagining things deliberately, that’s where its usefulness ends. Creative imagination is where the fruits of imagination can be truly appreciated because, at this stage, your imagination is operating at a frequency that you cannot deliberately attain by your efforts. This is why itis usually counter-productive to force yourself to have a creative imagination. It simply does not work that way! You can, and you should force the issue with mechanical imagination whenever you choose to. But when it comes to creative imagination needed to solve problems, your best bet is to rest. Don’t fret, don’t worry, and don’t be over-analytical about creativity. Just rest, trusting that the answer would come – often in a way you least expect it to.

As a general rule, however, the more you engage in constructive imagination, the better you’d be at it. Why? We are creatures of habit – we become better in whatever activity we continually engage in; for better, or for worse.

The more you engage in mechanical imagination, the more you position yourself for the higher frequencies of creative imagination. And the more you position yourself for creative imagination, the better you’d be at mastering the art of observation.

Remember, Ephesians 3:20?

Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us

The sad thing is that most us are doing much of asking, and very little of thinking and imagining! Failure to harness your imagination to make it work for you could lead to disastrous consequences

Culled from my upcoming book “You Too Can Be Free To Master the Art of Observation: Timeless Principles for Effortlessly Crystallizing Every Single Potential Trapped Within and Around You”.

The Matthew Principle and Why The Rich Keep Getting Richer

Some days ago, I noticed that there was a lot of commotion on the Twitterverse. Apparently, a Nigerian-American novelist, Tomi Adeyemi had accused the prolific, serial best-selling author, Nora Roberts, of plagiarizing the title of her debut novel. They had both written a novel that had the words “Blood and Bones” in the title.

The social media storm on Twitter obviously increased the number of people interested in Tomi and her book. For instance, I know who Nora Roberts is, but I had no idea of who Tomi Adeyemi was before the controversy. As Robert Greene’s wrote in his book, The 48 Laws of Power, “Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses”

However, the more I looked, the less likely it seemed that Tomi Adeyemi was merely trying to garner cheap attention. As fans of the two authors went back and forth on Twitter, I could not help but take a closer look at the 25-year-old Tomi Adeleye and her book.

I was mindblown by what I saw.

On Amazon, Tomi’s book had over 1500 mostly positive reviews, while on Goodreads, it had well over 10,000 mostly positive reviews. That’s absurd when you consider the fact that not everyone that buys a book leaves a review. It’s simply impossible to have so many positive reviews if the book itself is crappy.

Also, months before the controversy, a reputable company had paid Tomi Adeyemi seven figures to publish her novel, while another reputable company acquired the movie rights for the same book, reportedly paying her another seven figures!

She had also appeared many highly viewed shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, BBC What’s New, ABC 7 Chicago, amongst many others.

The more I researched her story, the more I realized that Tomi Adeyemi is a superstar in her niche and her remarkable journey to superstardom can be attributed to a principle called the Matthew Principle. In this post, I would be shedding more light on the Matthew Principle, as well as how you can make it work for you, rather than against you.

Understanding the Matthew Principle

After telling the story of how the servant with the least talent lost his single talent to the servant with ten talents, Jesus made a remarkable statement that is both scary and profound in equal proportions.

Matthew 25:29 says,

“For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.”

In other words, those who already have enough would be given even more, while those who do not have enough would end up losing the little that they have. This is the essence of the Matthew Principle!

Take a look at the way the world we live in works and you’d see the Matthew Principle all around you.

The richest 85 people in the world have as much money as the poorest three and a half billion people in the world! Yet even more and more money continues to pour into the coffers of these privileged few.

In the United States alone, nearly a million and a half books are sold. Only 500 of these books will sell more than a hundred thousand copies. Furthermore, a good number of these books are written by people who have other books under their belts.

Let’s take the Matthew Principle even further:

The well-to-do typically have preferential access to the best kinds of food. They live in the best kinds of houses located in the best parts of the city. They have more people at their beck and call, looking for ways to earn their favors. They are more likely to meet and network with other successful people who would increase their chances for more success. As a result, they are calm and are capable of delaying present gratification because they have a confident expectation of abundance in the future. The odds are in their favor, and it will continue to be in their favor until something really dramatic happens.

On the other hand, those with low statuses endure poor living conditions. They are often hungry, and in the few instances where they have access to food, the food is usually of poor quality. Due to the fact that they eat unhealthy foods, they are in dire physical and mental conditions which makes them liable to age quickly and die early. Even though they need as much help as they can get, they are not likely to meet successful people. In fact, they are more likely to meet and network with other people with similar experiences as them. As a result, they are impulsive and jump at any opportunity for pleasure without any consideration for how disgraceful, illegal, or sub-par it might be. Again, the odds are stacked against them, and it will continue to be against them unless something dramatic happens.

Apparently, over time, both success and failure compound upon themselves.

The more successful you are, the more likely you are going to embrace opportunities that would make you even more successful. Conversely too, the more unsuccessful you are, the more likely you are to find a way to jeopardize your chances for success.

Does this mean that the Matthew Principle has permanently condemned you to whatever rung in the social ladder that you find yourself? No, of course not. As it stands, from my research and observations, there are two ways you might be able to make the Matthew Principle work in your favor.

Reciprocal Determinism and the Matthew Principle

Some time ago, I was finding it incredibly difficult to make the time to go down to the gym and work out as frequently as I wanted to. So, I bought myself a treadmill, positioned it in my room in such a way that it was the first thing I saw when I woke up in the morning. As a result, it became much easier to simply get up from my bed, take a few steps to my treadmill and work out.

This is a classic case of reciprocal determinism where my immediate environment can influence my behavior, while I can also manipulate my immediate environment to help me change my behavior.

To take this concept closer to improving your life, the easiest way you can manipulate your immediate environment is by investing in more books. Someone once said that a mind that has been stretched can never return to its original dimensions. As exercise and food are to the physical body, so is continuous self-improvement to the mind. You need to broaden your outlook on life by exposing your mind to other perspectives other than yours. This is why it is expedient for you to invest in books. Read wide on a broad variety of topics. Read deep on the topics that intrigue you. Read biographies. Read classics. Read business books. Read. Read. Read.

With time, you would find yourself developing an ever-expanding knowledge base that would be crucial in helping you identify associations and patterns that are oblivious to the remaining 90% of the population that do not read. Eventually, the Matthew Principle starts working in your favor, and you will start seeing the effects of your compounding knowledge in the quality of your thoughts, choices, decisions, relationships, and life in general. Who knows, you might even be the catalyst for change in your immediate social networks and physical environment if you keep going along this path.

However, if you grab the bull by the horns, there’s a more powerful way to take advantage of the Matthew Principle.

Your Location, Your Allocation and the Matthew Principle

Going back to Tomi Adeyemi’s story, I discovered that there are times you need to do more than manipulate your immediate environment. Sometimes you need to physically change your environment by moving entirely different location.

And this is one thing that I noticed from Tomi Adeyemi’s story.

By making the decision to migrate from Nigeria to the US in the early 1990s, Tomi’s parents had dramatically improved the odds of Tomi becoming successful. In case you are unaware, the difference between living in a developed country and living in an underdeveloped country is like playing with two different slot machines. One of the slot machines is filled to the brim with $100 notes, while the other is filled with 25 cents. While it is possible to hit the jackpot and win all the coins in the 25 cents machine, the total winnings cannot be comparable to the winnings from a $100 machine. If you’re presented with the chance, it is a no-brainer to move from the 25 cents machine to the machine filled with $100 notes. And that’s exactly what happened with Tomi Adeyemi’s family.

Of course, the fact that Tomi Adeyemi was born in the United States does not mean that she just folded her arms and waited for the US system to bring all the good things to her. She had to develop herself and work hard. Eventually, the hard work paid off and she was admitted to Harvard University – one of the top five schools in the world. The last time I checked, the acceptance rate for Harvard was 6%. You can look at it this way: If 100 people applied for admission into Harvard, only 6 people would be accepted into the school! By implication, this means that only the best of the best can get into Harvard. So, when Tomi Adeyemi got into Harvard, her colleagues were the best students from high schools all over the US. In addition, because she was in Harvard, she got the best training from some of the best professors in the world. Imagine how Tomi Adeyemi’s physical and social environment influenced her thoughts and mentality for the 4 – 5 years she spent at Harvard. Imagine the opportunities she was exposed to, as well as the caliber of people she forged relationships with. It was only a matter of time before all the benefits of the Matthew Principle in her life led up to her writing a best-selling novel and getting a movie deal for the same book – all by the age of 25!

The truth is that your location will play a crucial role in determining your allocation from life. While you might not be able to migrate to a developed country like Tomi’s parents or get admitted into an Ivy League school like Tomi, you might be able to relocate to a bigger town or city. There are numerous benefits that living in a big city has over living in a smaller city. Seminars and other networking events are more likely to occur in a large city than in a remote village in the middle of nowhere. If you join the right groups and organizations, you are more likely to come in contact with life-changing information or industry secrets that would have never gotten to you if you embraced routine in your small town of 1000 people. Even if you are not able to change your physical environment, you can still change your social environment. In this day and age of social media, there are thousands and thousands of forums and groups on the internet that you can join to keep yourself in the loop where it counts.

Whichever method you decide to adopt, just ensure that you position yourself to get the best from the Matthew Principle.

The Aggregation of Marginal Gains and a 23-Year-Old Me

A lot of people are very familiar with the story of how I used to work for ₦30,000 (less than $100) in a month.

However, not many people are familiar with the circumstances that led to me leaving the job.

The truth is that while I was overworked and underpaid at my job at the time, I was also possessed with a business idea that I thought would churn out millions for me within weeks.

I had thought about this idea and recycled it within my mind.

I examined it from every angle and I could not find a way it could go wrong.

The more I thought about it, the more I could not wait to start executing it.

With this confidence, I resigned my job and jumped headfirst into the business that I had in mind.

Needless to say, I went through untold hardships and unnecessary difficulties.

I had been complaining that I was earning ₦30,000 (less than $100) in a month. Well, that changed, as I had to find a way to survive on ₦500 (less than $2) in a week!

Looking back, I am grateful to God for the lessons that I was able to glean from the experience. However, if I could turn back the hands of time, there are so many things I would have done differently.

The Principle of the Aggregation of Marginal Gains

Many people think that success is a singular earth-shattering event that will become the talk of the town overnight. In my post 4 Powerful Ways To Create Your Own “Luck”, I talked about the Principle of Large Numbers. You might want to check out that post to see what that is about. In any case, the Principle of the Aggregation of Marginal Gains is very similar to the Law of Large Numbers.

You see, a secret of success is understanding that success is a process that is NOT going to happen overnight. Rather, success occurs as a result of showing up every day – regardless of whether you feel like it or not. Success occurs as a result of improving on a particular set of skills gradually and consistently. If you decide to improve on a particular skill by as little as 1% every single day, you would be better than at least 90% of other people who have that skill. Even mathematically, if you improve on a particular skill by 1% every single day of the year, you would be nearly 37 times better than your peers by the end of the year!

One of the reasons why I failed in my first business venture was that I violated the Principle of the Aggregation of Marginal Gains. There are so many skills that go into running a business successfully. You need to understand sales, marketing, product creation, branding, pitching, writing sales copies, among many other things. My failure to marginally improve on any of these segments of business meant that I was not ready to launch into business at the time when I did. And as a result, I got burnt!

The Mandela Effect and the Aggregation of Marginal Gains

This is a fun one because I got to know about the Mandela Effect at church.

So, it is common knowledge that the great Nelson Mandela died on the 5th day of December 2013 at the ripe old age of 95. However, a lot of people remember the events very differently.

For instance, numerous people (in their thousands) thought that Nelson Mandela died in prison in the 1980s. In fact, many people could actually clearly remember seeing the news clips of his funeral, the mourning in South Africa, some rioting in cities, as well as the heartfelt speech by his widow.

But it was not true.

Mandela did not die in the 1980s.

He did not die in prison, in fact, he was once the president of South Africa – a feat he could not have achieved from the walls of a prison cell.

Yet, so many people have a vivid false memory of a real-world event!

Similarly, when a lot of successful people are sharing their success stories, they are quick to explain how they wrote a single post on social media that suddenly went viral. What they would not tell you is the hundreds and hundreds of articles that they shared online but no one read or liked.

I remember an acquaintance who was in a tight place financially and was in a desperate need of a job. When he eventually got the job he desired and people asked him how he got it, he said God gave him the job. Yes, I give God all the glory for the great things He has done in this brother’s life. However, I am also aware of the fact that this brother visited a particular office countless time before he got this miraculous job in the same office. He believed in God’s ability to work miracles. However, this brother did not fold his arms and sit in his house, expecting a phone call for a miraculous job. He had a deep understanding of the principle of the aggregation of marginal gains. This brother consistently put himself in the position of having uncomfortable conversations concerning a job. Yet, when it was time to recount the success story, the Mandela Effect set in and a number of people would definitely have been misled by his success story.

This reminds me of 1 Corinthians 15:10,

“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

Paul recognizes the fact that God’s grace is superfluous and abundant in his life. However, he does not also trivialize the fact that he put in more work than the other apostles. He had an understanding of the principle of the aggregation of marginal gains. Grace is available to everybody, but since Paul put in more work, the grace manifested in his life was multiplied!

The next time you are seeing an advertisement on how you can quickly obtain a result without putting any effort in, look beyond the Mandela Effect and you would see the amount of effort you need to apply before you can get any result.

Looking back, I was probably shocked when I started facing difficulties in my business venture. All the self-help and entrepreneurship books had not explicitly stated that I would face difficulties. All they shared were the success stories of the bank accounts overflowing with dollar bills.

Just Keep Showing Up For Marginal Gains

Ecclesiastes 11:6 says, “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.“

In a previous post, The Commonly Overlooked Secret To Success That No One Is Talking About, I shared how the secret of success can be narrowed down to one thing: FOCUS. To expand on that concept, I would go on to say that success can be attained by focusing on improvement on one narrow field.

If I could turn back the hands of time, I would not have resigned from my ₦30,000 job. Since my business idea had not been validated at the time, it would have been unrealistic to expect my potential market to throw bucketloads of money at me. Rather, what I should have done was to focus on improving one aspect of the skills I needed to build a successful business. If I had kept on improving my copywriting or marketing skills, while also working at my job, I would have had both a steady source of predictable monthly income, while also becoming better at executing my business.

I know, on one hand, you can feel the calling of God burning a hole in your chest. You have that business idea that would not leave you alone. On the other hand, I know you are overworked and grossly underpaid at the place you are currently working. You cannot wait to quit your current job and unleash the potential you have within you.

Today, I offer you a third option: Keep working at your job AND keep improving on the skillsets you need to execute your God-given idea. Trust me, this option is not only the responsible thing to do as an adult, but it would also save you a lot of unnecessary heartaches. You will also have the Principle of the Aggregation of Marginal Gains working in your favor, instead of against you

E = MC Squared (‘C’ is For ‘Consciousness’)

I learned a powerful lesson in consciousness when I went to my favorite supermarket some months ago.

I needed a black dye, but I did not know whether or not it was available in the store because I had never needed it.

So, I asked one of the workers there and sure enough, the guy directed me to the aisle where the dye was.

Equipped with the knowledge, I walked towards an aisle that I had passed nearly a thousand times before and picked up my desired item.

While I now knew where to get a black dye anytime I need it in the future, there are still thousands and thousands of products on other aisles in the supermarket that I was totally oblivious to their existence.

Did my ignorance make them less real?

No. The products were still there, but since I did not have the knowledge and need for these products, I was unable to see or experience them – in spite of the fact that they were located in the same supermarket!

You see, everything you’d ever need to live a successful and fulfilled life has already been created. It already exists. Just like my dye was already on its aisle in my favorite supermarket. However, just like I was unable to access my dye till I got help, a lot of people will never be able to access everything that has been provided for them because they do not have a consciousness of where to get it!

Your consciousness is one of the most potent forces that govern the quality of your experiences on this side of eternity. However, by understanding how to harness the power of your consciousness, you would be able to unleash every single drop of potential that God has wrapped within the fibers of your essence.

Have a Consciousness of The Invisible

This is the deal: People have not yet gotten it into their craniums that there are two aspects to life. These are: The physical realm, which constitutes of all that we can interact with our 5 senses and logically explain. And the spiritual realm, which is the invisible causal realm of completed perfect forms which can only be sensed by our spirits.

You see, every individual is essentially made up of 3 parts: spirit, soul and body. However, ever since the Fall, every child given birth to had a dead spirit that was separated from the Life-Giving Essence of God. So, such a child could only interact with his environment with his five senses (body) and his will, emotions, intellect, and conscience (soul). However, when such a person accepts Christ as his Lord and Savior, the very Life-Giving Essence of God quickens the spirit of such man – making it alive and responsive to God!

Unfortunately, spending years on a worldview which is solely conscious of the physical world can take its toll on your consciousness and the quality of your life. It’s only when you have renewed your mind on the Word of God (Romans 12:2) that such mental shackles are shattered.

For instance, Ephesians 2:6 tells us that as believers in the finished work of Christ, God has “made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Note that the verb in that verse didn’t say ‘we will be made to sit’ or ‘He is making us sit’

Nope. The verse says God ‘has made us sit together in heavenly places.’

That’s past tense. A done deal!

But how can we be seated in ‘heavenly places’ if we are still very much alive in the physical realm?

Well, that’s because we live twice! In the spiritual realm, as well as, in the physical realm.

Yet, so many people don’t have the right consciousness and they live as though all there is to life is in the ‘here’ and ‘now’. A few more believe that their forays into the spiritual realm would only kickoff when they physically die.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Jesus said, “…he that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 3:16, 6:47).

Do you think Jesus was merely referring to life in heaven after one’s death?

No, it includes the perks too. He was referring to the manifestation of the realities of heaven, here on earth. That’s everlasting life!

No sickness, no pain, no lack, no want. That’s everlasting life!

A life of purpose, abundance, fulfillment. That’s also part of the package called everlasting life.

As it is in heaven, that’s how it is on earth!

That’s the kind of life that Jesus Himself lived here on earth and He wants you to lead the same.

Have a Consciousness of The Finished Work

Genesis 1:1 is a verse that everybody should be really familiar with. It says,

“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.”

The first time I really meditated on this verse, the verb ‘created’ literally jumped out to me.

Note how the verse did not say,

“In the beginning, God began to create the heaven and the earth.”

Rather, in that verse, we have the past tense form of the verb ‘create’

This implies that in the beginning, God had already completed the creation of everything that needed to be created in heaven and on earth. He had already met every need that would ever be needed on the earth. God had already provided answers for every question that would ever be asked on earth. God had already dished out more than enough wealth and provision for everybody in each generation that would ever tread upon the face of the earth.

In the beginning, it was already finished.

In the beginning, the deal was already completed.

Right there, in the beginning, all prayers had been answered and all needs met.

In that very first verse, everything that would be necessary for a successful life had been created for every single individual that would be born.

Yes, in the beginning, everything was already completed in the spiritual realm of abundant perfect forms!

That’s why God did not bother creating anything on the physical earth for the remainder of the creation story.

All He did was to speak into physical manifestation everything that He knew was already present in the spiritual realm.

Little wonder that 2 Peter 1:3 says,

‘According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue’

Note how the verb is in the past participle form. God created you for glory and virtue and that is why in His Divine Power, He has given us every single thing that we would need to enjoy a full and godly life.

There’s more than enough for everybody.

There is more than enough resources.

There’s more than enough power.

There is more than enough for every single individual that has tread, that is treading, and that will ever tread the surface of this earth.

You were not created to manage through life. No! You were created to enjoy abundance here on earth. But you’d never walk in this abundance if you do not have the consciousness of this abundance. You would never access this wealth available to you if you do not have the consciousness of the fact that there is more than enough to go around.

However, this wealth is a spiritual reality and if you lack the consciousness of the fact that everything is created twice, you would be cheating yourself out of the abundance that God has made available for you.

My Consciousness Story

I remember a time when I was in a desperate need for a job. I was reaching my breaking point because I was starting to get really overwhelmed by my current situation. You know, it’s funny how all the Bible knowledge you’ve accumulated over time seems to desert you in the time of your need.

Anyways, God being faithful started reminding me of this very fact that I am sharing with you – you need to be conscious that there is a spiritual realm, as well as the physical realm. I started gaining my consciousness of the fact that I had everlasting life within me.

This was when it occurred to me that I would be doing myself a great disservice if I lived without a consciousness of the invisible abundance available to me at any given time.

It was like someone switched on my brain! My worries dissolved like a pillar of salt in water.

Since I made that shift in consciousness, I started becoming very thankful for getting a job. If you had seen me during that period, you would have thought that I won the lottery. Such was my happiness and excitement because of my consciousness of the abundance present in the spiritual realm of perfect forms.

Within two months, I got a job.

As I mentioned earlier, your consciousness is one of the most potent forces that govern the quality of your experiences on this side of eternity. The moment you start becoming conscious of the fact that there is a spiritual realm of perfect forms, it’s only a matter of you walking up to the aisle you want and picking up the items you need – be it peace, health or wealth.

If you want to learn more about consciousness, here are some other posts that I have written on the topic

How To Change Your Life By Observing The Unseen

Inward Observation, La Pausa, and How Questions Create Answers

The Power of The Christian Subconscious Mind

The First Thing You Need To Know About Habits

Like every other human out there, I have habits. While I am proud of some of these habits, I am not particularly proud of many others.

In fact, I had this very embarrassing habit that took me a while to shake off (And no, it is not the one that I wrote a book about). Let’s just say that I had a really strange case of pica. It so happened that whenever I drank water, be it from a plastic bottle or from a plastic sachet, I always ended chewing up either the cover or the plastic sachet itself. In fact, there was this day I was walking back from school and I had a sachet of water in my hands. Of course, by the time I was done drinking the water, I found myself chewing on the plastic material. Unknown to me, someone had been watching me go through the whole routine. Eventually, I saw her, but it was too late. I already had three-fourths of the sachet in my mouth!

Of course, since I’m a big boy now, I do not have that habit anymore!

So what changed? How did I make the transition from mindlessly chewing on plastics to being in a default state of not being tempted at all?

Keep reading and you’d be surprised at how much my simple discovery will transform every aspect of your life.

The Power of Planning for Pain on Habits

Researchers once conducted an experiment to see how people were able to develop new habits. These scientists recruited 100 elderly men who had just gone through hip or knee replacement surgeries. Recovering from this specific surgical procedure can be a very painful process and the patients need to start moving their joints almost immediately after they wake up from the surgery. If they failed to do so, they might develop internal blood clots which may be life-threatening. However, since the surgery causes an extremely intense pain, the recovering patients are not particularly excited about staying mobile.

So, here’s what the researchers did: They gave each man a booklet where they would write down the specific ways that they were going to follow the doctors’ orders to stay mobile. For instance, they could write something like, ‘I am going to walk down Claire Street by 5:30 pm on Monday evening.’

At the end of 14 weeks, the researcher compared the recoveries of the men that wrote an action plan with those that did not write an action plan.

As you would imagine, the guys that wrote a plan were nearly three times more mobile than those who did not write down any goals. These men were walking faster, doing laundry, tying their shoelaces and even making their meals at the end of three months!

To the researchers’ credit, they did not stop at merely at claiming that writing down your goals will help you effortlessly start a new habit. I mean, come on! We all have goals we’ve written at some points in our lives which we failed to take any action on.

So, there was obviously something else that was common to all the men that had written a plan.

As the researchers delved into the booklet of each patient that had written a goal, they discovered an amazing trend.

You see, all the men that had written down their goals had also anticipated the hindrances that would have prevented them from being mobile. And not only that, but they also had an action plan of what to do when they eventually faced that hindrance. For instance, some men anticipated that they would feel an excruciating pain in the days after the surgery anytime they wanted to stand up. So, they planned, long before they actually felt the pain, that whenever they stood up, they would immediately take that first step, rather than sitting back down to ease the pain.

The men who succeeded could do so because of two things. First, they anticipated pain before the pain came, and then, most importantly, they made a plan of what to do when the pain eventually came. As a result, they were able to endure the pain and reap the benefits of staying mobile over the cause of 14 weeks.

Daniel’s Plan For Pain

For a while, I have been looking for teachings from the Bible on specific instructions for creating good habits. I really had a difficult time finding Bible characters who had poor habits, made tweaks, and then developed healthy habits.

Then I was studying my Bible the other day and came across the story of Daniel in Daniel 1:8, 12,

‘But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank…Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.‘

Like in the experiment for the surgery dudes, long before he was faced with the temptation of defiling himself with the pagan king’s delicacies, Daniel had already purposed in his heart.

Long before he was confused by the smell of grilled meat sacrificed to idols, Daniel had already developed an action plan of eating pulses and water.

As a result, when he was eventually in a situation where he could not escape being around the king’s meals, it was easy for Daniel to resist the temptation and simply focus on the alternatives he had created for himself.

And herein lies the secret first step to creating very powerful habits: You need to make a plan of action long before you are faced with the temptation to fall into bad habits.

In my embarrassing habit of chewing on plastic sachets and covers, I needed to create a plan of what to do with the cover/sachet long before I even had it in my hand. Since I knew I had the habit of wanting to chew something after drinking water, I got myself an alternative in the form of chewing gum. So, as soon as I was done drinking water, I threw the plastic cover/sachet into a nearby trashcan and simply chewed gum instead!

This is so simple, yet it has the potent capacity to turn your life around dramatically.

Do you find it difficult to create the time to meditate? How about creating a plan for using the chunk of time it takes you to drive from your house to your office.

Are you finding it difficult to get out of bed early? How about using the same tune for both your calls and your alarm.

Regardless of whatever situation you may find yourself, there is always a way of escape. You only have to plan for it before you have a need for it.

4 Lessons I learnt From Taking 1352 Cold Showers

Growing up, I remember my mom getting up very early to boil water for my younger brother and I to take our baths. At some point in high school, I stopped doing warm baths. Looking back, it was probably because I was lazy since I would have needed to get up earlier to boil the water myself.

For all my bravado regarding using cold water, it’s funny how I was never tempted to use it during the cold harmattan season. Motivating myself ~~to take my bath~~…to use warm water was a big challenge back then. Numerous times, I considered just snuggling on my bed and not bathing altogether.

Okay. At times, maybe I actually didn’t bath.

So, you can imagine my surprise when, in my sophomore year, a colleague recommended taking cold showers to shake off the morning harmattan cold.

Boy, did it work!

Since then, (with a few exceptions, like the week when I moved into my new apartment and used scalding hot water to shower because I didn’t know better!), I have been taking my bath with cold water and it has been working wonders. In fact, I have been able to pick out a couple of lessons that I gleaned from my cold shower sessions.

Let’s dive in.

Cold Showers Cause Good Discomfort

If you are serious about learning and growing to be a better person, you have to be willing to put yourself in uncomfortable situations. A lot of people hear this and the next thing they think about is quitting their jobs or taking one big risk!

It doesn’t work that way.

You have to get accustomed to accumulating smaller victories before going all out to catch the big fishes.

And do you know one way you can start doing that?

That’s right, by taking cold showers.

You see, by taking your bath with cold water, you are conditioning yourself to have patience and endurance. You are learning how to get out of your comfort zone, albeit in a small way.

Let me be clear here: Cold showers are not part of the formula needed to fulfill the purpose and destiny that God has assigned to you. Rather, you will need to stretch outside your comfort zone. And to do this effectively, you will need to patiently endure the discomfort that comes with stretching.

Taking cold showers in the morning is one of the best and safest ways you can be accustomed to the discomfort that accompanies stretching to new terrains.

What’s The Worst Thing That Can Happen When You take Cold Showers?

I can assure you that in a typical day, there’s nothing that would be worse than taking a cold shower every morning…especially when the weather is cold!

So, why would I recommend it?

Simple. Because it is the worst thing that would happen to you that day!

When you take a cold shower in the morning, your body doesn’t like it. In fact, every cell in your body would cringe in revolt like water on a hot pan of oil. In the first few seconds, your skin will be like that of gooseflesh with bumps covering every square inch. You would probably yell like a soprano singing off-key.

Your body cells do not like the feeling of a cold shower and at that moment you are bathing, your brain sets this experience as the baseline for the worst feeling you would ever experience that day. This is why if you are faced with a tough assignment on the day you take a cold shower, your brain would ask, ‘Is this as bad as taking a cold shower?’. Nine times out of ten, the answer will be ‘No!’ and you will be able to summon up the willpower and motivation needed to go far with the task at hand.

Cold Showers Can Rewire You For Crushing Limitations

Since I take cold showers, I brag about it a lot. I know it’s not a virtuous behavior, but which hunter kills an elephant and carries it home through the back door?

Anyways, when the topic comes up, a number of my acquaintances tell me that they CAN’T take cold showers. Not WON’T (i.e., not willing to) but CAN’T (not able to)! When I hear this, I start wondering: Do these people have a medical condition preventing them from touching cold water?

The excuse that is often given for not taking cold showers is the idea that they will make you fall ill. Actually, cold showers will make you less likely to fall ill. The only things that can make you fall ill are disease-causing organisms called pathogens. Cold showers reduce uric acid levels while boosting glutathione levels in your blood. The overall effect? Less stress and a general feeling of well-being.

Elementary science stuff.

Here’s the thing: When you take cold showers, you begin the process of conditioning yourself to have a limitation-challenging mindset. As I’ve said before, the body hates cold showers and if you try to rationalize with it, you will get myriads of reasons why you shouldn’t take cold showers. However, you need to realize that you are not under the control of your body. Rather, your body is under your control! You are its boss and you need to stand your ground and tell it what to do.

Developing this habit is crucial because once you are able to rise above the limitations that your own body is suggesting to you, every other kind of limitation is reduced to dust.

Cold Showers Can Aid Proper Breathing

Despite the fact that I am already a pro at cold showers, this is a part that I still struggle with a bit.

The truth is that a lot of us have forgotten how to breathe properly. Take a look at the way a baby breathes when it’s asleep. Notice how they breathe deeply and contentedly.

Sadly, as we grow older, we grow accustomed to taking short and shallow breaths.

When you take short and shallow breaths, your body starts anticipating stress and as a result, there is a spike in your cortisol levels. On the other hand, when you breathe like a baby, your body tells itself that everything will be alright and you are able to relax.

When I take cold showers, I normally gasp at the first impact of cold water on my skin. However, with each passing moment, I spend under the cold water, I am able to convert the gasping into deliberate deep breathing. As a result, when I am done showering I feel relaxed and cheerful.

The benefit of this? By practicing how to deep breathe during cold showers, you will be able to teach yourself to calm down deliberately, especially during stressful moments that you may encounter during the course of your day.

How To Change Your Life By Observing The Unseen

The other day, I was taking a stroll near a busy street. During my walk, I noticed that a particular popular motor park was built on a reclaimed refuse dump.

For a moment, I tried picturing with my mind’s eye what the proprietor of the park must have seen, while that piece of land was nothing more than a stinking pile of refuse. I’m very sure that after taking consideration of its strategic location, the proprietor must have seen his park standing on the piece of land that was still a refuse dump as at the time he was observing. It would also be my guess that while this man was taking his time to see his park on the refuse dump, many bystanders must have shook their heads in disdain – wondering why a grown-up man would be wasting his precious time staring at a refuse dump.

Now, it’s very apparent for all to see!

While the onlookers needed to see a physical structure to understand why the proprietor was staring at a refuse dump the other day, the structure of the motor park was already an unseen reality the whole time the proprietor was staring at the refuse dump. Perhaps, he had Oscar Levant’s famous quip running through his mind as his park began to unfold, “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.”

The Unseen Births The Seen

To gain mastery in the observation of the unseen, you need to grasp a key point: The unseen realm is the causal realm that births the seen realm.

There are numerous allusions to this fact in the Bible, but I would be sharing 3 of my favorite with you here.

First off is Hebrews 11:3 which says, ‘…things which are seen were not made of things which do appear’. By implication, this means that everything we see in our world today are made from things that cannot be seen.

Furthermore, Romans 4:17 says, ‘…and calleth those things which be not as though they were’. The fact that things are not physically perceptible through our 5 senses and logic does not mean that they are not present. These things can only be called because they are present! The truth is that there is an unseen realm with unseen realities that can be tapped into by our decision to observe them.

Finally, 2 Corinthians 4: 18 says, ‘While we look not at the things which are seen, but at things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal’

How is it even possible to look at things which are not seen, if they were not even there, or real? The unseen realm is a real realm, and that’s why we can actually look at it. In addition, the unseen realm is the perfect parent realm that gives rise to the seen realm. That’s why the aforementioned verse says, ‘…for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.’

The things that are seen are temporal, that is, they are temporary or time-bound, while the things of the unseen realm are eternal.

Many people seem to think that the term ‘eternal’ or ‘eternity’ implies something that lasts for a very, very, very, very long time. But that definition is flawed because a very long time is still time-bound and would eventually come to an end. Eternal, as used in that verse, means ‘outside the realm of time.’

So, what does this mean to us?

The unseen realm exists beyond the scope of time and if you want to gain proficient mastery in the art of observing the unseen, you’ve got to walk in the consciousness of this fact – otherwise, you’d be cheating yourself out of a whole world of possibilities.

Proficiency in the observation of the unseen realm will give you an advantage that can potentially change your life and that of your generation permanently.

Wave-Particle Duality Of Matter and the Art of Observing The Unseen

Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space. However, at sizes that are infinitesimally small – subatomic – that definition does not hold true.

You see, according to the theory of wave-particle duality of matter, at subatomic levels, matter would either exist as a particle or as an energy wave, but not as both at any given time. This means that at extremely small sizes that are invisible to the naked eyes, matter would either exist as an exact particle that has mass and occupies space, or as a probabilistic energy wave. This wave simply shows the probability or potential location of where the particle is most likely to be found.

You would not believe this, but the phenomenon that determines whether the subatomic substance would remain as a wave of potential probabilities, or as a definite particle is observation! As long as the subatomic substance is not being observed, it is simply a wave of potential probabilities of where it would most likely attain definiteness. But the very moment an observer looks at this probabilistic wave, it suddenly crystallizes at the exact position that the observer looked at.

If this explanation is too complex, let me try to break it down into something we can all relate with.

Imagine for a moment that you are in your room, holding up a ball in your hand.

The truth is that as long as the ball is in your hand, it could potentially be anywhere in the room where you are. Every inch of space in that room has a chance of being the exact spot where you could place the ball. However, some areas of the room would have a higher chance of being picked than other places. For instance, the space directly in front of your face has a chance of being the exact place where you will place your ball – as long as you can suspend the forces of gravity.

My point is this: As long as the ball is in your hands, it is in every inch of space in your room, yet nowhere until you decide to actually choose a spot and place the ball there!

This is the same thing that happens with matter at subatomic levels. When it is not observed, it simply exists as an energy wave of potential possibilities. However, as soon as observation occurs, the substance would crystallize at the exact spot where the observer fixes his attention.

All these things I’ve been sharing with you are not from the sci-fi movies and novels, but from quantum physics labs where they have been repeated again and again with the same results.

David Oyedepo and the Art of Observing The Unseen

Bishop David Oyedepo (BDO) – the founder of Living Faith Church – shares the story of how he was astonished with what he saw at Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma, USA, while he was taken on a tour around the school. When he was done with the tour, BDO made an interesting remark:

‘If this [Oral Roberts University] is possible here [in the US], it is possible anywhere in the world.’

I believe this was where he conceived the idea of Covenant University – one of the best privately-owned universities in West Africa. It’s my belief that BDO had already mastered the arts of inward and outward observation and that was how he was able to make such a remarkable statement of building a university of Oral Roberts University standard anywhere in the world.

While he was making this statement, BDO was actually seeing glimpses of how Covenant University would be like.

Can I shock you some more? While BDO was busy observing glimpses of the unseen Covenant University, that school was potentially everywhere – India, Cameroon, South Africa, UK, Canada, Brazil, Peru, Australia, Japan, Nigeria, and even right there in the United States! – yet, it was nowhere until the moment he decided to observe and pinpoint the potential possibility of Covenant University being located in Ota, Nigeria. And so it was!

The same occurs when an individual, after indulging in both inward and outward observations, has been able to develop an idea, a product, or a service.

You see, the probability of success of that product anywhere is always on the high side. However, until that individual decides to take deliberate effort to observe the unseen, the success of such brainchild would continue to remain in the form of probabilistic possibilities. On the other hand, the exact point where such individual decides on observing the unseen, that’s the same location where the success of the idea, product or service would crystallize!

Isn’t that awesome?

Andrew Carnegie and the Art of Observing The Unseen

Andrew Carnegie – an extremely wealthy US steel magnate in the early 20^th century – was quizzed about what would happen if all his wealth, steel factories, machines and all his other resources were taken away from him. He simply responded that in 3 years, he would be able to raise back all he had lost!

That’s simply outrageous to the ordinary person, but to one who has attained mastery in the art of observing the unseen, there’s no big deal in that statement. In fact, the average Joe who has attained observation mastery should be able to do that in less time!

When you’re familiar with the art of observing the unseen, you’d realize that there are an abundance of ideas, books, inventions, works of art, solutions, wisdom, power, wealth, riches, creativity and potential that exist in the unseen realm. If every individual from Adam to when the world would end could observe and crystallize their physical analogues, we all wouldn’t have made a dent in the wealth of abundance that is available to each and every individual that would tread the surface of the earth.

Little wonder 2 Peter 1:3 says,

‘According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who has called us to glory and virtue’

Every individual has been given all that he or she needs to succeed in life. However, the majority of people today fail to understand that all that has been given to us exist in the unseen realm. It takes knowledge and mastering the art of observing this unseen realm to crystallize the physical, tangible analogues of our abundant, unseen resources. Until you start learning how to leverage on the unseen, you’d live a mediocre life.

The good news is that, right now, as you are reading this, there are myriads of potential possibilities begging you to crystallize them. Unfortunately, for the one who is still addicted to porn, masturbation, or any other destructive habits, the myriads of potential will be difficult to attain, especially with the fact that addictions change the structure of the brain, such that it is impossible to observe the unseen.

Do you want a way out of destructive habits? Start here

The Association Between Broken Windows And Tetris

Let’s imagine for a moment that you were walking through a neighborhood you are not familiar with.

How would you feel if all the houses in that area had shattered windows and doors looking like Coke cans squeezed until the last drop?

If you are in any way like me, you’d feel unsafe and would probably want to leave that neighborhood faster than a sneeze.

Actually, some months back, I found myself in such situation.

I was walking through an unfamiliar community and I noticed that almost all the buildings were in some state of disrepair. You know, stairs, doors or windows looking like broken promises!

There were some houses that even had entire walls dilapidated. Talk about wall-less houses!

All the while I walked through that neighborhood, I didn’t feel at ease. It was practically impossible!

Most especially not when my mind was busy painting pictures of how the broken windows came to be…

Sociopaths? Sledgehammers? Stray bullets…?

I know you might think that I am paranoid, but researchers discovered that neighborhoods which had buildings with broken windows were likely going to also have higher petty crime rates.

This led to a very interesting question: Were petty crime rates in the community causing more windows to be broken, or the broken windows in the community are attracting more criminals?

The answer to that question is pretty much like the ‘Chicken-Egg Paradox’: Does the Chicken come before the Egg or vice-versa?

Irrespective of the cause, broken windows are always associated with lawlessness and crime. As a result, broken windows in the community attract more petty criminals who would break more windows which would attract even more criminals who would break even more windows…and this can go on and on like the decimals in the value of pii!

In spite of the best efforts spent on improving the intervention and number of law enforcement agents, the antics of petty criminals in the community continued to be on the rise as though they were yeast-infested dough.

For some odd reasons, however, the researchers noticed that as soon as the broken windows were fixed in a community, criminals stopped associating the area with lawlessness – and as a result, crime rates dropped drastically! The fixed windows exuded the presence of law and order, and as a result, the criminals stopped perceiving the community as a crime hotspot.

These findings make up the backbone of what’s now called the Broken Windows Theory.

How The Broken Windows Theory Is Affecting Your Life!

The other day, I was watching an interview on YouTube.

A popular football club had just signed a player and a female journalist interviewed this new player alongside one of his new teammates.

The interview went pretty well because the two players had great personalities. I remember smiling at ~~the computer screen~~ myself numerous times during the course of the interview.

As soon as I was done, I headed towards the comments section of the video (I do that a lot!).

I instantly regretted that action. It was like sucking unripe lemons – it left a bad taste on my mouth!

Over and over again, different contributors opined on how the interview looked similar to the opening scene in a porn movie!

Here were three intelligent and well-dressed individuals having an interesting conversation about football and the only thing that some people could see was an intro porn scene.

At first, I felt like a woman in the first few months of her first pregnancy. I was nauseated!

Then I became sad.

Apparently, these commenters had watched porn to the extent that their brains had learned to associate normal, non-sexual, everyday occurrences with pornography!

The keyword here is association.

Criminals were attracted to certain communities because they had learned to associate broken windows in a community with crime.

Viewers had watched porn so much that they were associating a normal discussion among three adults as pornography!

The whole point that the Broken Windows Theory tries to showcase is this: There is power in association!!!

The Tetris Effect

If you’re old enough, I am sure you should be familiar with Tetris. You know, that game where you had to arrange falling blocks into empty pockets of space at the lower part of your game screen. If you were not able to do this fast enough and the blocks piled up so high that they were able to stop more blocks from falling, and it was game over!

Well, some scientists decided to have some more fun with this game.

So, they got a bunch of Tetris lovers and made them play the game for extended periods of time – up to hours a day for weeks!

Here’s the interesting thing that happened next.

The gamers started seeing everything around them like, wait for it…falling blocks!!!

Yes, blocks of every shape and size imaginable. It was terrible. I can almost imagine one of the participants just sitting there chilling and busy figuring out the kind of block that would fit into the space between two cars following each other!

However, you shouldn’t be surprised with the findings. It is the most normal thing that could happen.

This is why Proverbs 4:23 says, ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.’

Here’s the truth: Your mind will eventually learn to associate with what you continually focus on; and ultimately, whatever you focus on continually would manifest in your life!

But it even gets deeper than that.

Your location and associations are two things would determine what you would get out of life.

However, if you change your location without changing your associations, your allocation in life would still remain the same. An eagle that spends time with the turkeys would never soar. There is no true change that can occur in a man’s life without him changing his association!

In fact, it is safe to say your associations would go a long way in determining the quality of your experience in life. It’s not rocket science….

It’s neuroscience!

If you decide to continue associating yourself with porn and masturbation, you’d end up being useless to yourself and your society.

If you decide to associate with the Bible, personal development materials and tools of positive change, it’s only a matter of time you’d start seeing the fruits in your life.

If you choose to associate with 5 millionaires, with time, you’d be the sixth.

It also follows that if you associate with 5 idiots, soon, you’d be the sixth.

If you don’t like where you’re standing now, check yourself out, you might just be using the Tetris Effect to work against the Broken Windows Theory!

4 Powerful Ways To Create Your Own “Luck”

The year was 2014 and I was in Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

In my place of work at the time, I was part of about 20 people selected to undergo a training that would equip me with the skills needed to be part of a medical outreach team for 5 days. I was going to be paid for partaking in the training and also for being a part of the outreach.

Well, the script did not actually pan out that way.

First, due to a blackout in my neighborhood, I was unable to charge my phone. This meant that I was clueless about the venue of the training. Of course, this led to me missing the training – as well as the payment that came with it. And because I didn’t take part in the training, I was unqualified to be a part of the outreach.

Then, to add salt to the injury, the coordinator of the medical outreach was totally inflexible. His stone heart did everything in his power to ensure that I would not be a part of the outreach. Boy, did he succeed!

As I headed back home that day, with my arms drooping like the dried fronds of a palm tree, different thoughts raced through the contours in my brain:

What kind of head do I have?

Why was I the only one that didn’t get the venue for the training?

Why did my phone decide to die at such a crucial period?

Why do I always have ‘bad luck’?

It’s funny how the mind has the uncanny ability to turn the minutest of things into a hot-air ballon. My isolated incidence of ‘bad luck’, was already starting to be perceived as a reoccurring incidence by that soft, white lump of tissue between my ears. Little did I know that being rejected from that medical outreach team was probably the best thing that could happen to me at the time. Within the space of about 2 days, I got a part-time offer with a far better remuneration that lasted nearly two years.

And here’s the funniest thing: I would have missed this opportunity if I had been allowed to be a part of the medical outreach!

Do you think I still felt I had bad luck?

It’s funny how the narrative changes when the facts are changed!

There may be a couple of you thinking the whole world is set up to work against you. You might be asking yourself questions such as:

Why me?

Why always me?

Which kind of ‘bad luck’ do I have?

Well, I’ve got good news for you: You CAN create your own ‘luck’. In the next few paragraphs, I will be sharing FOUR ways you can do just that.

Acknowledging The Truth About You Can Help You Create Your Own Luck

I know I probably sound like a broken gramophone record now, but it bears repeating: You need to see yourself the way God sees you!

If you are totally blind to what you have within you, it will be impossible to walk in the fullness of your powers. This, in turn, will make you feel as though the odds are stacked against you, and ultimately, you’d lead a mediocre life. All you need for a successful life is not outside you. It’s within you. The sooner you recognize this, the faster you will create your own ‘luck’.

Let me share a little insight with you from Genesis 2:7,

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Some years ago, I did a study on the original Hebrew words that were used to express the phrase I boldened above. The original Hebrew word that is translated as “breathed” literally means “to inflate”. In other words, Jehovah God Himself inflated you like a balloon with His breath.

And it even gets better.

The term translated as “breath of life” literally means “raw, strong, and fresh Divine Inspiration”. By implication, this means that within you, you’ve got the raw, strong and fresh Divine Inspiration from God Himself. The only reason you’re a living soul is that God has put in you a part of the very Essence that makes Him God!

You are carrying God within you and you have no need to fear.

You are carrying God within you and you should be afraid of nothing.

You are carrying God within you and you are not permitted to be a victim of circumstance.

You are carrying God within you and you should be able to step into any situation and dictate how things should proceed.

The more conscious you are of the Truth about you, the more easily you should be able to write and create your own luck!

Doing What You Hate Can Help You Create Your Own Luck

In motivational circles, the talk eventually winds up to the point where the speaker challenges his captive audience to do what they love and follow their passions. While I am all for that, in my humble opinion, I believe the better advice would be to tell people to do what they hate!

I will explain.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote the following statement on my Facebook wall:

“The quality of your life will to an extent be determined by the number of uncomfortable discussions you are willing to have”.

I wrote this because the most common things that people easily shy away from are uncomfortable conversations

Take a look at the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 and you’d find a person that was willing to have uncomfortable conversations.

The Prodigal Son was able to ask his father for the portion of his inheritance in the first place because of his attitude concerning uncomfortable conversations. (Disclaimer: Now, I’m not advocating for riotous living or rebellion against constituted authorities! Rather, I’m pointing you to the kind of attitude that the Prodigal Son had). It didn’t end there. After he had spent all his money and was already languishing in drought and poverty, he was again willing to have that uncomfortable discussion with his Father.

Contrast the Prodigal Son’s attitude with that of the Older Brother in verses 29 and 30.

“And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.”

Clearly, the Older Brother had a problem of entitlement. There was nothing stopping him from walking up to his Father and asking for a goat that he could cook and share with his friends. His Father said that much in verse 31. “And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.” In essence, all I have left had always been yours!

The Older Brother strikes me as someone who might have had these lines of thought concerning his younger brother:

Lucky bastard, he always gets what he wants! [When the Prodigal Son asked for his share of the inheritance]

Lucky bastard, Daddy has accepted him back again, after everything he has done! [When the Prodigal Son came back home]

Anytime you do what you hate, especially through the uncomfortable conversations you are willing to have, you increase options for yourself. And the more options you have, the more luck you create!

The guy who is overworked and underpaid may do two things. He may decide to have that uncomfortable conversation with his boss or potential employers, or he may stay put in the same place and hope – like the Older Brother – that his patience would pay off. If he does the first and his salary is reviewed or he’s employed elsewhere, the rave reviews will start flowing in about how lucky he is. And if he chooses to play safe and goes with the second option, he will continue to lament about the hard hands that life has dealt him.

The more uncomfortable conversations you have, the more options you have; the more options you have, the more luck you create!

The Law Of Large Numbers Can Enable You Create Your Own Luck

“For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” (Proverbs 24:16)

If you want to create your luck, you must be ready to fail numerous times.

The Bible says a just man will fall seven times and then he will rise up again. Numerous people are unwilling to fall once, let alone seven times. Yet, they want to have the results of the just man. It is impossible to have the same results if you disobey the principle behind the result!

Some months ago, I took a course in Statistics and one of the Laws that struck me right across the face was The Law Of Large Numbers.

In simple terms, the law states that the number of successes increases as the number of experiments increases.

Here’s an example that explains how it works:

Suppose you were told to flip a coin. For the purpose of this analogy, let’s assume that ‘Head’ means ‘Win’ and ‘Tail‘ means ‘Lose’.

To make it even more interesting, let’s assume that the first time you flipped the coin, you got ‘Tail’.

Does this mean you are a failure?

Does this mean you are unlucky?

You are probably going to feel apathetic because deep down within you, you know that every coin flip has two outcomes – ‘Head’ or ‘Tail’.

Let’s go a step further with this.

What if I told you that flipping ‘Head’ will fetch you one million…dollars?! And you have TEN chances to flip ‘Head’ in order to win the one million dollars.

Would you keep on flipping the coin? Or would you just toss the coin once, get ‘Tail’ and then blame yourself for having bad luck?

The truth is that the more you flip the coin, the better your chances of getting a ‘Head’!

We actually did the calculations in class and we found that if you flip a coin just once, you have a 50% chance of getting a ‘Head’; but if you flip the coin 10 times, the probability of getting a ‘Head’ increases to a whopping 99.4%!!!

Here’s the thing: Failing doesn’t mean that you are a failure or that you have bad luck. It only means you have figured out an aspect of your action plan that is not working.

Get back up on your feet, dust yourself and keep on flipping!

In Summary….

God did not create you to be a dud. He did not design you for bad luck. In fact, He has already given you ALL you need to pen down and create your own luck.

Today, start acknowledging the truth about what God has loaded you with.

Today, take a step of faith and endeavor to have that uncomfortable conversation that would make your palms all sweaty.

Today, keep on flipping the coin and let the law of Large Numbers work in your favor.

Today, quit watching porn and masturbating and watch your social interactions create your luck for you.

God bless you!