Botapreneur

To some, the year is still fresh as per the fact that we’re still in the first quarter of the year. We’ve not even spend up to 100 days yet. While to some, the year is already far spent. Well, if you ask someone like me “I’d like to balance it by saying that the year is still fresh but running as fast as it could”. I won’t be surprised if we’re already in December in a moment 😊. For some, they’ve achieved so much within the space of 68 days that the year started while for some, they’ve not even started achieving anything. Some don’t even know where to start or what to do. For me, I can’t say I’ve achieved so much but I’m definitely taking one step at a time to achieving all I’ve set to. Now, to those that have achieved immeasurably, I’ll love to commend you but to those that have not started anything at all or about starting, don’t feel bad yet. You still have plenty time to achieve your goals. However, I will love to advice you by saying you need to start now as time waits for no man. As we’re all working towards achieving so many things, I’ll like to intimate you with 7 ways by which you and I can INVEST in ourselves this 2020. Note: Investing goes beyond committing money or capital in the hope of financial gain alone. Investing also means spending money, time, or energy on something or someone, especially for some benefits. In short, investing in oneself refer to those actions one take to improve and get better. Now that you know what investing means, let’s delve into 7 ways you can awesomely invest in yourself in 2020. There are more but I’ll love to talk about 7 in this article. 1) Take online courses: One of the ways you can invest and add value to yourself is to go extra miles in gaining knowledge by taking courses on things you’re interested in. It might not even be related to what you studied in school. For instance, I studied Botany (plant science) but I love anything related to nutrition as well but I don’t want to go back to school to study nutrition again. So, what can I do? Very simple as ABC. I’m going  apply for an online course on NUTRITION. Life has been made easier with online courses. The good news is that most of the online courses are free while the ones that are not free require just small amount of money. Some will only require you to pay for certificates fee. Cousera, udemy, Alison are some of the sites that offer online courses. Unicaf is also an online school. It even offers partial scholarship. Sweet and interesting, right? Give it a try today, apply for an online course. Do you know more sites to apply for online courses? Let’s hear from you in the comment session. 2) Attend seminars, workshops and conferences: Attending seminars, workshops and conferences help in expanding one’s knowledge and skills. It also give the opportunity to meet and interact with people of like minds. It can be a way of connecting with people that will help you spiritually, in career or business, academically or in personal development. 3) Learn a skill or start a business: This can’t be overlooked nor overemphasized. Acquiring a skill or venturing into business is a sure way of building capacity. 4) Read: There is an old saying that says “Readers are Leaders“. Another one says that “You are what you read“. These two adages are nothing but the truth. If you don’t read, you won’t know. And knowledge is powerful. Books are wonderful tools for growth but we must at the same time, be analytical in what we read. Never feed on wrong books. Remember that poor feeding causes disease. Measure whatever you read with the Word of God. 5) Eat healthily and exercise regularly: Let’s invest in ourselves by spending our time, money and energy in eating well and exercising regularly. It’s one of the surest way to stay HEALTHY and HAPPY. Take fruits. Eat vegetables. Take enough water. Eat plenty fibre and proteins. You don’t need to even get to a gym before you exercise. There are simple apps that can guide you in the kind of exercises you can engage in right in your room.   6) Save: Money is very essential in being healthy. You need to invest in yourself by saving for the present and future. This will prevent you from running into debts and a living good life. 7) Edit your friendship: As much as it is good to be friendly to all, it also necessary to chisel out those that are probably causing your setback or devalue you. Take time to prayerfully select those that will be in your inner circle. Take time to think about those that will aid your journey in life. However, as much as you can’t be close to everyone, be friendly to all. What have you learnt? Do you have any addition? I’ll be glad to hear from you in the comment session. Related post

Follow my blog with Bloglovin I  was once a student and I’ll still be a student again one day. In fact, I do tell people that I am still a student even though I am not in school at the moment. Yes, I love school a lot 😍. When I was a student, I can say I succeeded but at the same time I failed several times. And I’ve come to realize there were 7 major reasons why I failed back then and these reasons are still what make a lot of students fail nowadays. One day, I’ll share with you how I succeeded even after failing but I’ll love to start by sharing reasons why I failed at some points and why students still fail. After analyzing all these, I’m sure you will even have solutions to why you’re failing already. 1) Laziness and procrastination: I’ll boldly say that these two are the lead reasons why most students fail? Laziness and procrastination are twin. They work hand in hand. Wherever you see laziness, you’ll see procrastination by the side and vice versa. Laziness and procrastination will make some students not read at the right time. Laziness and procrastination will make some students never to write in class. Laziness and procrastination will make some students never to do assignments at the right time. Laziness and procrastination won’t allow students to read early enough till exam is at the corner. I really did this one a lot. I don’t really take reading seriously until exams are around the corner. And I won’t even start serious reading until I see the time table. And when I see the time table, I will start reading the last course on the time table first. So bad! All my actions were backed with the fact that even if I read earlier before exams I will forget, so why don’t I just wait till exam is near before I start reading. While it might had worked for me a little, it won’t work for a whole lot of people especially for those that needs to read severally before they can grasp what they’re reading. Later on, I also came to realise that even if I forget what I read at the beginning of a semester, I should have just keep reading. When it is exam period, I’ll find it easier to assimilate faster. 2) Lack of time management: Most times, it seems there are no enough time for a student. Imagine a student that has 7am to 6pm lectures, goes to church from there and gets back by 9pm. Such a student will still want to do assignment, find something to eat, rest and revise his/her book, right? At the end, the student will conclude there is no time for him/her at all. The scenario above is true but I’ll say not applicable at all times. When students complain like these, the next thing I ask them is to give me a break down of their academic time table. At the end of it all, one will discover that even though there are days that are jam packed with lectures like that but at the same time, there are days that are not. So as a student, what are you doing with those days that are free? What about the in between time? For instance, you have 7am to 1pm lectures, then break period between 1pm to 3pm before the evening lectures between 3pm to 6pm. Tell me, what are using the period between 1pm to 3pm to do? To gist with fellow course mates/class mates? Well, I’m not saying one shouldn’t relate with fellow students as well. But do you know that that period of 2hours is so golden and shouldn’t be wasted? You can go back to the hostel to take a nap, wash your clothes, prepare a meal or even go get some things you need before you go back for evening lectures. If your hostel is far from home, you can use that time to go and read, meditate or even pray. At least, that time won’t be wasted and you’d have done 1 or 2 things out of things you need to do. The truth is that even if there is no enough time, one still needs to manage the little time he/she has. 3) Comparison: Many students fail because they compare themselves with others. They just want to do things like their colleagues which doesn’t work for them at the end. There is something I do tell people whenever I have the privilege to talk to them that they should know themselves and what works better for them. As a student, just because you see your roommate going to the reading room early in the morning doesn’t mean you should do same. However, personally study yourself and know when and how you can assimilate best. Taking myself as a case study, I’d rather love to read during the midnight than reading during the day. It works best for me. I love doing things during the midnight even to replying of chats and writing. So, what do I do? I make sure I sleep a little while (even if it’s just 30 minutes) during the day so I can stay awake for like 3 hours during the night. That doesn’t mean I don’t read during the day as well. In fact, I read during the day more but at the time I know I will assimilate fast. I can’t just be wasting my time reading when I can’t assimilate or retain anything, I’d rather use that time to watch Korea movies 😂 This also applies to knowing what strategy works best for you. Do you love to skim through your notes first, jot down some points and begin intense reading? Or you will love to read extensively, solve questions, then read again? My own trick is this: I love it when someone has read a particular topic, then summarise it

Boredom is a common issue everyone experiences at one point or the other in life.  Although while some get bored easily, some rarely do. Being bored can be likened to the feeling associated with joblessness. You just feel you have nothing to do. You feel a kind of emptiness springing from within which you can’t really lay hold on. And if care is not taken, boredom can leads to frustration. Boredom also stimulates a form of anxiety & stress. Some have even allowed boredom to lead them into doing things that are very bad and uncalled for. Do you get bored easily? Do you even feel like your life is boring? Let’s quickly look at 20 things can do to overcome boredom. 1) Listen to soul lifting songs: This is one of the surest thing I do when I’m bored. Just plug in your headphone or earpiece, reduce the volume of the music to the minimum and get yourself charged and lifted. 2) Read: Oh my! I am a fan of novels. There are lots of foreign and Nigerian Christian novels on my laptop. I love to read Francine Rivers, Karen Kingsbury, Opeyemi Akinrinade Ojerinde, Lizzy Oyekunle Yakubu’s stories a lot etc. I don’t run out of novels to read. So, when I’m bored, I pick one to read. Some people are not fans of novels like me. Such people can read other books apart from novels. There are lots of spiritual, motivational, inspirational and even academic books you can read. 3) Go on a long walk: Going on a prayer work or meditation walk helps in combating boredom. Just taking a walk to admire nature or know what’s going on in the environment is another thing to do. 4) Watch a movie: When you’re bored, I’ll recommend you watch movies that will lift up your souls. They might even be short movie clips. You can subscribe to Christian channel on YouTube as well. 5) Call/chat up your best friends: Best friends are always there to cheer, entertain and encourage no matter how far you are from them. Engaging them in time of boredom is a great way to get over boredom. You can even engage in one or two activities together. 6) Meditate: Meditate on God’s words and promises. Think about things you’ve achieved and those you have to do. 7) Cook a meal: When bored is a perfect time for you to practice that special meal you’ve been anticipating. You can learn new recipes online. 8) Go shopping: If you have money and a list of what to buy, then go shopping. Even when you don’t have money, go and feed your eyes 🤓. Take plenty pictures and laugh. 9) Rest and sleep: Sometimes when you’re bored, all you need is taking a nap or sleep for a while and you’re back on track again. 10) Do a work out: Instead of sitting and getting overwhelmed by boredom, you can get engaged by doing some little work out right in your room. 11) Listen to the news: Tune in your radio and listen to what is going on in the world. 12) Listen to messages: Another way to kill boredom is by listening to spiritual messages. 13) Learn a new thing: You can use boredom period to learn a new thing. You can learn a new language, a new skill, a new recipe, etc either on google or with some apps. 14) Clean the house: Do your laundry, sweep and rearrange the room and clean the surroundings. 15) Play games: There are lot of games that are educational. Lay your hands on some of them and get engaged. You can also try puzzles, crosswords and even video games. 16) Review your goals: Take your journal and begin to review your goals. Go through your diary. Have a heart of gratitude towards what had happened and rays of hope concerning those you’ve not. 17) Get busy with whatever you know how to do very well: Draw. Write. Paint. Sing. Sow. Design. Play instruments. Just get busy with something. 18) Attend seminars or enrol for online classes: You can check some site like cousera, udemy and edx and you’ll find a perfect course to enrol for. 19) Visit blogs: There are a lot of bloggers around. I have lists of many of the blogs I visit occasionally. Visit blogs or websites where you can surely have one thing or the other to gain. 20) Pray and read the Bible: Truth is, praying and reading the Bible when you’re bored doesn’t really occur to you initially. But trust me, it’s one of the best things that can help you overcome boredom. Some of the methods above will even lead you into having a very sweet moment of prayer. Listening to soul lifting songs and messages, meditating, reviewing your goals or taking a walk can set your heart on fire to seek the face of God. Do you find this post useful? Kindly share with others. You can share using any of the media icons below. Do you have any idea on what one can do when bored? I’ll be waiting to hear from you in the comment session.

Focus can simply defined as concentration of attention. It means all what you give your attention to. Keeping your attention focused on important things in your life is one of the essential ingredients needed to move forward quickly. From the word FOCUS, there are 5 major things everyone needs to focus on. You need to keep your attention on your: 1) F- FUTURE : Yes, that’s where your fortune lies in and not in the past. Grab the future and make the best out of it. The future is brighter than you could ever imagine. Forget those things which are behind, and reach out unto those things which are before. Concentrate on what the future has in stock for you this year. O- OPPORTUNITIES: As God is bringing those opportunities across your path this year, focus on and make use of them effectively. You’ve got no reason to be lethargic anymore. Someone might tell you that since you’ve lost some opportunities before, you can’t ever regain them back. That’s a blatant lie. Look up for those fresh opportunities coming your way and focus on them. C- CREATOR: You must never stop focusing on God because if you take away your gaze from him, you might miss a step. A step you miss might cause you a great fall and lead to disasters. Focus, Refocus and Focus on God than ever before. U – UNIQUENESS: Everyone is created uniquely. There’s a distinct YOU in every person. All you need to do is to look inwardly and focus on these unique things embedded in your life. Don’t dwell too much on your weaknesses but rather Focus and work on your strength and uniqueness. S- SUCCESS: Another thing you need to focus on is your SUCCESS even though the journey to success might not be easy. On the way to success land, you will definitely encounter tonnes of failure. Nevertheless, you don’t have to dwell too long on the failures you encounter. Only bring out lessons from them to acquire that success you envisage.

Just imagine God telling you to let go of someone you hold so dear to your heart. Imagine Him telling you to let go of that fine duplex of yours for a face to face apartment. Imagine Him asking you to let go of the last money on you while you even have tonnes of debt to pay. Imagine Him telling you to LET GO of something of much importance to you. Think about it. Just imagine it. In all sincerity, LETTING GO is hard but it is always the best especially when God is the one telling you to let go. I’ve come to understand that LETTING GO to LET GOD have His way is one of the most rewarding things I can ever do. I imagine the kind of faith and grace father Abraham had when God told HIM to let go of Isaac, despite having him at a very old age. A whole Isaac, the child of promise. It is certain that Abraham must have loved Isaac dearly but Abraham was willing to let GO of his Isaac. And what was the end of it all? God had His way and glorified Himself. The question is ARE YOU WILLING TO LET GO of your Isaac so as to LET GOD have His way? So far in 2020, God has been dealing with me on letting go of so many things. Things I’d look at or think about and tears will gather in my eyes within seconds. However, I didn’t cry because I do not want to LET GO but because LETTING GO was hard and I just needed God to give me faith that is far beyond that of Father Abraham. I just needed to trust God and follow His lead. He knows better than I do. Is God telling you to let GO of something but seems hard? Let me tell you few things to do that has been helping me: 1) Have a settled mind that God has a better reason for asking you to LET GO. Your human reasoning will want to debate that but you just have to LET GO. 2) Cry to God and tell him it’s hard. Tell Him to embrace you with His warm hug. Tell him to let you see beyond the present and see the reasons why you need to LET GO. 3) Get busy. I mean instead of sitting and brooding over the thoughts of those things you need to let go, channel yourself into doing something worthwhile. Listen to messages that will build your faith at that moment. Read books. Find a company of spiritual and positive people that can keep you alive at that moment you want to feel down. Trust me, at the end of it, you’ll be glad to LET GO. Letting Go is Hard but it’s always worth it.

Dear reader, follower and subscriber, I welcome you once again to Year 2020: our year of BREAKING FORTH INTO MORE BLESSEDNESS. Permit me to say it’s Year Twenty Plenty simply because we’re going to experience a lot of abundance in every area of our lives this year. Let me just quickly remind us of this: Today is the 15th day in the first month in the year 2020. Just like that, we’re barely into the half of the first month of the year. What does that means? The much anticipated 2020 is going gradually, right? Before, I do imagine why everyone has been clamoring about 2020 so much.But I got my answer later on. It’s simply because it is the beginning of another decade. Well, to some the beginning of a new decade starts in 2021. Whether 2020 or 2021 is a new decade, the fact still remains that 2020 is the beginning of the twenty twenties. And one can’t just start a new decade recklessly. In fact, most countries, organizations and even individual person have been waiting for year 2020? Let’s look at one of the visions of Nigeria for 2020 is 👇 By 2020 Nigeria will be one of the 20 largest economies in the world, able to consolidate its leadership role in Africa and establish itself as a significant player in the global economic and political arena. Now, let’s come back to US How far with our own visions for 2020? Spiritually, Financially, Maritally, what visions do you have? Let me quickly ask you these following questions? Did you prepare at all for 2020? Are you still planning to prepare for the year? Have you started out well with your plans but seems things are getting somehow already? Or do you have plans but feel like you should chill a little before you start to implement them? Do you have plans and you feel like your plans are too outrageous? First and foremost, let us know that God Himself has plans for us in this 2020? Jeremiah 29:11 affirms that 👇 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (NIV) So, if God has plans for us to prosper this year, there’s no excuse for us not to map out our own plans on how God’s plan for us will be achieved. Do we get that? Now, I’ll love to say that it’s not too late to have visions OR map out plans for 2020 If you’ve done that before, that’s fine. But the question is, are you running with those visions? If you’ve not, then get set to start tonight What are the things you need to do as regards those VISIONS OF YOURS for year 2020? Number one thing is to PRAYERFULLY WRITE DOWN THOSE VISION(S) See what the Bible has to say about this 👇 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it – Habakkuk 2:2 What’s the essence of writing and writing? Writing has a way of helping you have a check on yourself. If you just keep those visions in your mind, something else will cloud them one day and you forgets about those visions. That’s why you need to WRITE themGet a new jotter, a diary, highlighters or different colours of pen and WRITE your visions in a colourful way that you’ll always love to look at. If drawing is better for you, then, draw your VISION BOARD – A board displaying images that represent one’s dreams and ambitions, used as a form of self-help. Segment your life into areas you have visions for and prayerfully write what your visions for those areas are For me, I came up with 7 segments and 6 strategies. The sections are: 1) Spiritual 2) Health 3) Career/Passion/Skill/Academics/Works 4) Family and Friends 5) Social 6) Finance 7) Personal/mind Let’s quickly look at these 7 segments critically 1) Spiritual What are your visions and goals for your spiritual life this year? Do you have a time table to follow in finishing the Bible this year? How many messages do you wish to listen to? How many spiritual books do you want to read? How many days do you want to fast? How many souls do you want to win for Christ? How many people do you want to inspire daily? How many personal vigils do you wish to hold? How many Bible verses do you want to memorize? How many times do you want to have personal retreat? How many people do you want to intercede for? How many hours do you want to use for your quiet time daily? And you have to be specific 😊 For instance, I wrote that I must have read 60 books by the end of 2020 and listen to at least one message per week 😊 2) Health How healthy do you want to be at the and of 2020? How many minutes do you want to exercise daily? How often do you want to take fruits?😊 How many hours sleep do you want to have daily? What about a balanced diet roaster? And lots more 3) Career/Academics/Passion/Skill/Work/Talent: As a student, what grade do you want to have at the end of the session? How fast do you want your business to grow? How many volunteering work do you wish to engage in? How do you wish to make use of your Talents? How do you wish to balance your work with other aspect? Etc 4) Family and Friends: How often do you want to check on your family and friends? How often do you want to give gifts to people? 5) Social How do you intend to build your network this year? 6) Finance How much do you want to have in your savings at the end of 2020? Which investment