10 QUALITIES YOU MUST HAVE TO BE A GREAT LEADER

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"If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, then, you are an excellent leader." - Dolly Parton

Every leader wants to be successful at what he or she does. However, success at leadership is something that not everybody get to enjoy. While there have been many successful leaders; there have also been many unsuccessful ones. What then makes the successful ones thick, and what is responsible for the failures of others?

The answer to the question above is what I want to discuss in this post by taking a look at 10 qualities that you must have in order to become a great leader. These qualities are applicable to any leadership position you find yourself in; be it community, religious, organizational, political, ...just name it - and you can be sure that these qualities would work for it.

However, the things you need to be a great leader are not limited to these selected 10, but know that these selected ones would definitely put you in the category of great leaders.

THE PLIGHT OF PEOPLE WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITY IN NIGERIA

Hello dear readers

How has been your weekend? Trust its been awesome. I just want to share with you  my guest post on olufamous.com. It isn't a motivational stuff, but a call to the society on the need to address a particular important issue which the society has consistently overlooked, which is: the plight of people with physical disability in Nigeria. I sincerely hope it will help in changing the orientation of Nigerians and stir in their hearts the need to make life more comfortable for persons living with disability.

Enjoy it

As a physically-challenged person, I have over the years observed that much is not being done to make life comfortable for persons with physical disability. This is probably due to the fact that we are a minority, and are therefore not given due consideration when key decisions are being taken by those in positions of authority.

Although our plight is glaring, yet only few persons have taken steps aimed at making life more comfortable for us - the best others have done is to sympathize with us. Although their sympathy is appreciated, that is actually not what we need. What we would have preferred them to do is to translate those sympathy into actions which could help address some of the challenges we face in our daily living.

A THOUGHT ABOUT OPPORTUNITIES

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The day breaks, chasing away the night
A new day, different from any other
Men wake up, some with hopes and aspirations,
Others, to just live on
But one thing is certain, it is a new day with new Opportunities

Just as a yolk is carefully covered by a shell
Each day covers the Opportunities in it
The foolish only looks forward to the day
But the wise looks forward to the Opportunities in it
Tapping into them, and getting propelled to higher grounds

Higher grounds with newer Opportunities
Higher grounds that moves a man closer to achieving his goals
That is where men who see Opportunities get to.
Did I say men who see Opportunities?
Rather, men who make use of Opportunities

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GOAL SETTING

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"Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievements." - Brian Tracy (in the book: Eat that frog)

One common similarity among we humans is the desire to have a good life filled with success and achievements. We all want to record success stories in our education, careers, businesses, finances, relationships, and families. Such a desire is good, but as we all know, achieving that success is where the challenge really lies. A lot of things happening to us, or around us, could make us not to look deep inside and identify who we are and what we really want to achieve. Yes, we all usually think about becoming successful, but each person is unique, and so are the things that work for us. That is the reason why each person needs to identify what (s)he wants and outline how to go about it, and one sure way to go about that is by setting goals.

Goal setting is simply a process of thinking about what you want to achieve, and working towards making it a reality.

Goal setting is important because:

REAL-LIFE STORY: A Mathematics Graduate that sells Akara (Bean-Cakes) for a living

Hello readers,

Happy Easter celebration. May this season bring you joy and happiness, and open doors of opportunities for you.

Today, I bring you the first of the real-life, motivational stories that I shall be posting from time to time. I came across it two days ago and I felt it's worth sharing with you, my fabulous readers.

It is the story of Ayowale Fatoki, a Nigerian graduate who resigned from a micro-finance bank, and then started frying and selling Akara (Bean-Cakes). It's really worth reading. Enjoy it...

Arouse the average unemployed graduate from sleep and ask for his dream place of work. In a flash, he would tell you a bank, or the oil sector, or a federal institution or a telecommunication company. He would never tell you he prays to work in the unregulated and scorned informal sector. Who could blame him? All the years he sacrificed to get an education was to get a ‘befitting’ job. So when you find a graduate who obtained a bank job but voluntarily turns in his resignation to embrace a blue-collar job, you want to know what went wrong. When you find that the job he willingly embraced is frying and selling akara (bean-cakes), you want to know what really really went wrong!

The graduate 

His name is Ayowale Fatoki, a graduate of Mathematics from the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. He was once a Client Officer in a micro-finance bank with a take-home pay of N40,000 per month, besides the commission on every loan-portfolio he sold. One day, he just stopped ‘feeling’ his job and decided to go out on his own. He could have tried clothes-retail, like he did while in school, but he needed a lot of capital if he was going to operate at a decently competitive level. He kept thinking of what to do until a lady lawyer mentioned to him that she sold akara, chips and the like to tide herself over in school. That was his eureka moment. He went home and informed his parents about the idea of running a business of frying and selling akara and as expected, they were not excited about it. It wasn’t that they didn’t understand the value of self-employment but they just wished he had picked a classier job. What they didn’t know was that he was going to employ his creativity to dignify an otherwise undignified job.

Setting out

He didn’t draw up any business plan and all the market surveys he conducted were rather rudimentary and included a truckload of assumptions. He so believed in the idea that, as much as they liked akara, the working-class had no time to prepare it and that most were scared to buy from unhygienic roadside stands. He was going to get a location very accessible to them and make his akara in a shed as clean as an operating room. Straightaway, he took his small capital of N25,000 and bought a used gas cylinder, gas cooker, ingredients for preparing akara and a generator (for illumination in the evenings when he opens shop). He didn’t need any cuisine training, being a wonderful cook himself, and then he set out looking for the perfect location to sell his akara.

Ayowale frying akara

He was favoured to find the right spot in a busy intersection of an upscale neighbourhood. He set up shop under a small canopy and got ready to sell the akara without running any advertising campaign. His kid sister, who was on mid-term breaks, joined him for the first weekend. They peeled one congo of beans (10 cups), grinded it, added all the condiments, started frying their thing and waited for customers to come and buy. That was the 31st of October 2013 and mine, all it did that evening and the next two evenings was rain and rain! But the two siblings had put their hands to the plough and weren’t going to look back. Somehow, they sold every ball of akara they fried. Ayowale told me that although the rain beat them mercilessly, it was a blessing at the same time. This is because the mere sight of an overcast sky is enough to get people scampering home and as most wish to buy supper on their way, his hot akara was always waiting for them.

His business is called Akara Ayo and he credits it to Rev. and Mrs. Dahunsi who continue to provide him with much-needed mentorship.

Ayowale and an employee

Don’t reinvent the wheel

By the end of the first month, Ayowale was frying up to 4 congos of beans and had learnt that home-cooking is different from commercial-cooking, if you will. On the job, he learnt tricks like shelling his beans and pouring it inside water for the seed-coat to float instead of wasting time, soaking and peeling it off with his palms, as he was earlier doing. He even told me another trick he learnt the hard way, after losing customers to sour-tasting akara. His akara often became sour after two hours and he was told to put a piece of charcoal in the beans-paste to make it keep longer. However, the perfectionist in him argued that without a scientific backing he wouldn’t employ what he called a ‘crude’ age-old trick. He kept losing customers until he got a microbiologist who explained the anti-oxidation process of the charcoal. With the improved taste, customers returned; now he averages about 150 customers each day and is still growing.

You can’t be creative and not be re-inventive

Using a gas cooker is a rarity in Ayowale’s business, but he spends N2,700 every week on gas as against spending N4,000 to N5,000 if he had chosen the firewood option. Also, many people who care about what goes into their mouth don’t buy roadside akarabecause they get stained with the ink of newspapers they are wrapped in. To prevent this, Ayowale packages his akara in a stylishly-wrapped brown paper bag, places it in a polythene bag and hands it to every customer with a smile. Another work of genius is the mobile shed from which he makes and sells his akara. It was born out of the need to shelter from the rain and the strain of moving the cooking implements every day to and from his store (the neighbourhood doesn’t allow any permanent roadside structures). He approached a fabricator with his never-seen-before concept and was asked to return in a few days so the fabricator could consult! Although it cost him over N45,000 he can now easily move all his implements. The mobile shed is fitted with flexible shutters so that, come rain or shine, his frying pan keeps churning out hot akara.

Stirring the bean-paste

Aye-sayers and Nay-sayers

Ayowale’s manners and professionalism, his fresh approach and good command of English quickly betray his academic achievements. When you find out that he is a graduate, it is impossible not to have a reaction. For this reason, his entrepreneurial path has been littered with praise, pity and a few times, outright condemnation. Many people have approached him to say they salute his courage but that they can easily get him a befitting job if he wants one. He smiles and tells them, “No, thank you”. Others passing by have taken time to pray that God will lift him out of the pit of penury and place him where graduates like himself belong and he gladly replies, “Amen”. He told me that he is too busy frying his akara to explain that he is in a goldmine and not a penury pit. A number of friends and relatives have often walked briskly past his shed without greeting him, so as not to be identified with him.

He gets encouraged when ‘praisers’ tell him how they inspire their children or student with his story but he maintained that it can be a lonely path and that he cannot be overly encouraged by praise nor discouraged by sympathizers. He is grateful that today his parents have become some of his most ardent supporters.

This is for real

The mathematician in Ayowale bubbles up when you ask questions like this next one. I asked him, “How profitable is this business?” And then he begins. “A cup of white beans roughly costs N20 and you can make ­­­at least N80 worth of akara from it. Up to sixty per-cent of that can go to your cost of raw materials and another ten per-cent to the cost of labour. So, on a very slow business-day you make at least N24 profit on a cup of N20”. I was impressed.

Under five months he has increased his daily quota to 8 congos, giving him a minimum monthly profit that is twice his take-home pay when he was in the micro-finance bank. And that’s not all, he has two employees which he pays a total of N15,000 per month.

But, he is quick to tell you that it is not all a bed of roses; there are a few days he hardly breaks even. The major culprit is the rain. Before he made his shed, the rainwater and boiling oil was an exploding mixture that often forced him to shut down operations. There have also been a few days of leftovers which he couldn’t sell. But, by and large, his successes have enormously outweighed his losses and he is optimistic of further growth.

Tomorrow

Ayowale acknowledges that this business is just a stepping stone for him as he will not fry akara forever. Currently he fries and sells it only in the evenings and engages in other money-making ventures during the daytime. He is a repository of business ideas; from the food grinding business, to having more Akara Ayo outlets, to owning mobile restaurants; the list is endless. However, he hopes and prays to find investors to help fund the ideas.

He also has plans to continue with his education and obtain a Masters’ degree in Financial Mathematics. His advice to graduates, employed and otherwise is this: “Success in any chosen career is a journey and we must keep moving. Some of us will fly, others will run and still some will walk but if all you can do for now is crawl, don’t stop, just keep moving. You will get there”.

Source: Hitzontv.blogspot.com

FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS (Part 2)

"You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it come true." - Richard Bach

Hello my dear readers, how do you do? Today, I bring to you the part 2 of the FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS post. In case you have not read the Part 1, you can read it Here . Now, without taking your time, let's go straight to the remaining five steps to help you follow your dreams.

6. Make changes in your life
    Another important step which you might need to take in order to follow your dream is to make changes in your life. This might come in different forms; it all depends on how it affect you. For instance, your present location might be a barrier to your dreams coming true. The things you need to achieve your goal might be far from you; and in such a situation, a change of location would definitely not be a bad idea.

    Similarly, a change of career might be all that you need to see your dreams come true. Probably you are the type who loves to sing and you've always had the dream of been a renowned singer, but you found yourself working as a pharmacist, and you are not experiencing the fulfilment which should come with your job, then you really need to consider a change of career.

    Now, I know that making such changes is not always very easy, and if anyone tells you that changing location, career, or any other thing you might want to change would be an easy thing, then such a person is not being sincere with you. However, you must understand that it is a sacrifice you need to make in order to make your dreams a reality. It is a thing you must do to become successful and possibly leave your name on the sands of time. You must be ready to take on the challenges that come with such changes no matter how difficult they might be. You must always remember that where there is a will, there will always be a way.

7. Diligently pursue your dreams
    Perhaps, the one important advice that any good adviser, irrespective of his or her beliefs, would give to anyone seeking for advice on how to be successful in any venture whatsoever, is diligence. This is because it is a central factor without which no success can be achieved. Therefore, I too want you to know that without diligence, your dream would only remain a dream - it will never become a reality.

    Note this: if you are a student, diligence is what will make you excel in your academics. In a similar vein, if you are working as a professional in your field, diligence is what will take you to the top in your career. A trader who is not diligent would only incur losses and run into debts. Also, an actor or a singer cannot afford to be lazy with his or her rehearsals, just the same way a writer must not be lazy when it comes to his writing. So whatsoever dream you have must be diligently pursued in order for it to come true.

    If there is the need for you to travel to some places in order for you to get what you want, do not let the distance discourage you, go for it - it is all a part of pursuing your dreams diligently, and in the end when your dream becomes a reality, you would see that it was worth the stress.

8. Take steps one after the other
    Now, I'm sure you have seen someone climbing up a ladder before, or possibly, you've done that yourself on some occasions, haven't you? You know that climbing it involves taking steps one after the other, and you will agree with me that an attempt to rush your climb on a ladder could lead to a nasty fall, right?

    The same thing applies to anyone who is following up his or her dreams, especially, if you are the type who is very passionate about it. The desire to get things done very fast would engulf you at some points in time, and you would just want a situation in which you've achieved your goal in no time.

    However, you must know that on the ladder of success, one shouldn't be in a rush. You must learn to take your steps one after the other. An attempt to rush things would eventually amount to you achieving nothing.

    Let's look at a formal education setting: a child is expected to first have his primary education, he then proceeds to the secondary school, and thereafter proceeds to the college or university. The education of the child comes in stages, one after the other, before he eventually becomes a graduate. You too must take your steps one after the other, to achieve the best of results. An author for instance has a series of steps to take before his or her book could be a success. Those steps include: writing the book, editing and re-editing it, giving it to a professional who would proof read it, and thereafter the author would then give it to the publisher (which might not be easy to get) or he might decide to take the self-publishing or e-book option. Then comes the need to get a professionally designed cover for the book, and in the end when the book is ready, he still has to go through the task of promoting the book.

We see from the above illustration that it is a step by step thing and rushing it could really make the book a flop. The same thing applies to anything that you decide to do. Without taking your time to do the appropriate things one after the other, you cannot see your dreams becoming a reality.

9. Have a high self-esteem
    The ninth fact I want to talk about is self-esteem, and in order to see your dreams come true, you certainly need to have a high self-esteem. This is particularly important because it is what will give you the inner strength to take on the challenges which might come your way. A low self-esteem, if entertained, would lead to you not believing in yourself and your abilities, thereby making you to give up easily and not following up your dreams.

    One of the challenges you will face in the early stages of following up your dreams is the fact that not everyone would believe in you. Some might even tell you that you don't have what it takes to make a dream like yours a reality, and that it is better for you to consider some other alternatives. Such words are capable of demoralizing a young dreamer and bringing his or her self-esteem low. However, you must never allow such statements to deter you. You must remain focused on your goal!

    Just as I mentioned in the DREAM BIG post, such demoralizing words should motivate you into action so that you can prove those who said it wrong. Say to yourself: "I have what it takes to achieve success" and accept no one's definition of your abilities especially if it is a disheartening definition - that way, you get to develop a high self-esteem. Note however that it is not limited to this, depending on how low your self-esteem might be; some might need the help of other people, especially experts who might need to take them through some therapies in order to build up their self-esteem (I shall talk more about this in future posts). If you are the type who needs such people, do not fail to meet them.

    Therefore, build up your self-esteem. Have it in mind that you have all it takes to achieve your goal. Go all the way till you get what you want.

10. Make up your mind not to give up on your dreams
    Having discussed nine facts already, this tenth fact is a thing you can hold on to when you begin to face challenges and you are about to give up on your dreams, and it is simply embedded in the word "Determination".

    If I tell you that there won't be challenges that will confront you in your bid to see your dreams fulfilled, then, I'm not being sincere with you. There will certainly be serious challenges. You are likely going to get to a stage where you would get so frustrated your pursuit. Some that you reach out to for help might not be giving a positive response, but you just have to hold on. You just need to have a rugged determination that will keep you from giving up. Even if it seems that you are not making any progress at all, just hold on and never quit. Remember that quitters are never winners.

    Your determination to succeed should be very strong that even people around should know that you cannot take a "NO" for an answer. When you have such a grim determination, your focus would be on achieving your goal. You must always have it at the back of your mind that you can surmount the challenges on your way to success no matter how difficult they seem, and believe me, with your determination and persistence, you will surmount your challenges and you will be able to follow up your dreams untill they come true.

    So make up your mind never to give up on your dreams; sooner or later, they will become a reality.


So far so good, we have discussed ten proven facts to help you follow your dreams, but here is another fact - the understanding of which could make your journey to success much favourable, and help you remain successful all your life:

Do not neglect God in your pursuit
A secret recipe for success which a lot of successful people have taken full advantage of is the GOD-FACTOR. The importance of having a Divine force backing you up in your quest to achieving success cannot be over-emphasized.

By virtue of being human, there is a limit to our abilities. By the time we get to this limit, there is nothing we can do again, and that could be the beginning of frustration and depression. However, having an unlimited God by your side would stand you out in such situations and open doors of new opportunities for you. Also, the God-factor is very important if you want to remain relevant for a very long time because with this factor, you are sure to be led by an all-knowing, immortal God who knows the end from the beginning, and who knows the paths to an enduring success.

The Holy book says: "commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass." Believe me, that is what you need in your quest to see your dreams becoming a reality.


The above fact brings us to the end of the discussion on following your dreams. So what are you waiting for? Start dreaming big and following it up with necessary actions without ever giving up!

"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly." - Lanston Hughes

FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." - Henry David Thoreau

In the last post, I talked about the importance of having big dreams and I ended it by encouraging the readers to continue to dream big irrespective of how illogical such dreams might be to them or to those they share them with.

Today, I want to go a step further. We have seen the need to have big dreams, but it would be useless to just dream big without following up such dreams, therefore "following your dreams" is an important topic that has to be discussed. But first of all, what do we mean by "following your dreams"?

To follow your dream simply means to go all out to make your dream a reality. They are the ways through which you back up those ideas which you have conceived in your mind with relevant actions. They are the actions you take which are capable of turning your ordinary idea(s) to a success story that everyone would love to associate with.

Now that we have explained what it means to follow your dream, someone might ask: "how do I start following up my dreams? Where exactly do I start from?" Well, in order to answer such questions, I am presenting to you some proven facts that will really be of help to you. They are ten (10) steps to help you follow your dreams:

1. Take responsibility for your life
    The first thing you need to know, and which should always come to your mind is that you are fully in charge of your life, therefore, you should be the one to take the final decision as far as issues of your life are concerned (this applies to adults and not minors who may still need people to take decisions for them).

     Having said that, one can then ask, what decisions are you taking in your day to day life? Are they decisions which are focused on moving you forward and helping you to climb the ladder of success? Or are they decisions which are geared towards making you stagnant, or ultimately demoting you? You are in the best position to answer these questions. However, one good decision which you must make is the decision to follow your dreams. Why? Because it is the one decision which would ultimately bring fulfilment for you in life. Once you are convinced about your dream(s) and you sincerely know that you have a passion for it, then, you should go all out to make it a reality.

    You must take up the responsibility of passionately pursuing your dreams without listening to the distractions which might come in the form of advice from those who do not believe in your dreams. Your family, friends, and colleagues might not offer you the needed support, but you just must resolutely follow your dreams; believe me, they would be proud of you when you eventually make a success of your dreams.

2. Have a clear vision
    Having a clear vision is non-negotiable as far as the following and fulfilment of dreams is concerned. This is because the whole process of going all out to make a dream a reality is based on the vision that an aspiring individual has. Without a very clear vision, dreams would only remain in the mind without been made a reality.

    Take for instance a high school student who wants to be a medical doctor, and also wants to be an engineer, and who at the same time is also fascinated by the idea of being a banker and an artist; do you think such a student has a clear vision?

    To me, the answer is NO. Such a student could waste a good part of his life changing from one career to another without making a headway. The same thing applies to anyone without a very clear vision of what he or she wants to achieve in life - such a person is likely to become a jack of all trades, and that would definitely not lead to the fulfilment of dreams. Therefore, you need a very clear vision if you really wants to follow your dreams.

3. Be in touch with your dreams
    In order for the passion you have for your dream to remain a "burning fire" inside of you, you need to engage yourself in things that would constantly motivate you to go in the direction of your dream. Whatever you do should be things that would make your dream remain fresh, and your vision much clearer in your mind.

    It could be a simple act of posting a picture that relates to your dream in your room. In that way, you wake up each morning and the picture reminds you of your dream and the need to follow it up. Another simple way of doing this is to talk about your dream at all times. By simply talking about it all the time, the passion to go for it would remain alive and you would be motivated to go in its direction.

    Therefore, post pictures, watch programmes related to it, talk about it, or just do whatever is needed to make your dream a burning fire inside of you.

4. Increase the knowledge you have about your dream
    The role that adequate knowledge plays in making a dream a reality cannot be over emphasized. The more knowledge an individual possesses, the more likely it is for him to achieve his goals. Let's take for instance two individuals who want to go into acting. Let's assume that they are both equally talented, and have been acting since childhood. However, one decides to further sharpen his acting skills by enrolling in a film Institute while the other made no such attempt at developing his skills. Which of them would be a better actor in the long run? Certainly, the one who had gone further in developing himself would be the better of the two. That is so because he decided to add value to himself by going an extra mile to receive professional training in his chosen career.

    The same thing goes for anyone who wants to make his or her dream a reality. You just have to acquire the necessary knowledge that will help you to bring out the best in you. You need to read books, go for training, browse through related sites on the internet, and do any other thing that will impart you with the required knowledge, and it is a thing that should go on from time to time. You must try, as much as possible, to keep yourself abreast of the new developments in the area of your dream. You must always seek for knowledge even after your dream has come true, because that is what will make you relevant for a very long time.

5. Connect with like-minded people
    Associating with like-minded people is a step you cannot ignore if you really want your dreams to become a reality. This is because it provides you with the opportunity to interact with people who have the same passion as you do. This way, you get to discuss with people who understand your dreams and your visions, and could go a long way to help you make them a reality.

    When you connect yourself with like-minded people, you get to rub minds together and through that, you get to know some things which could be of immense benefit to you on your way to being successful in life. For example, such people provide you with the the needed advice, and they could guide you step by step all the way. Also, you get to learn from their experiences, and thereby avoid some mistakes which they, possibly had made in the past, and which you too, are likely to make. Furthermore, when you associate with like-minded people, you are sure to get information about all the latest developments as regards your goal, and thereby, you keep yourself abreast of what is happening in "your world".

    Now, should you find yourself in a situation where you don't have any like-minded person around you and it's proving difficult to reach such people, then, I would advise you to hit the internet. Go to sites that will let you become friends with people who care about your dreams - that way, you get to enjoy the benefits of connecting with like-minded people.


I'm sure you've learnt a thing or two from this post, watch out for the concluding part of it in my next post. Till then, remember, you must go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

DREAM BIG

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." - Harriet Tubman

The starting point for any successful venture in life is the period of dreaming. Yes! That time in which you sit down and start to have those "impossible" thoughts, is the period that I'm talking about. It was during such times that the great inventions which we have in our world today were birthed. An example of such was the "impossible" and "crazy" idea of having a flying machine, which eventually brought about an Aeroplane. Of course, there are many other examples of such daring dreams, which eventually became a reality, and have made the world a better place to live in. One fact to be noted in all or these is that they all began with a DREAM.

As individuals, we all, also have dreams which we really wish could come true. Beginning from childhood, we begin to have dreams - to become a doctor, engineer, lawyer, athlete, pilot, accountant, and so on, in the future. We also become adults, and start to dream of becoming very successful and being a force to reckon with in our chosen career or line of business. Some of these dreams are common and easily achievable, as far as the human mind is concerned, but some are uncommon and almost unheard-of. Those uncommon dreams are the ones that usually seem impossible and crazy, and interestingly, if an individual should eventually make them a reality, they are the ones that leave his or her name on the sands of time.

Now, if I should ask you to choose between having a common, regular, comprehensible dream, and the uncommon, crazy, unheard-of type which would leave your name on the lips of people, even when you are no more, which one would you go for?

Of course, you would go for the uncommon dream. You would want to have your name written in gold on the hearts of people, and you would want generations unborn to hear about you. Hmm... That is a good choice, but you need to know that before that could happen, you have to DREAM BIG! It is only by having big dreams that you can have big success stories.

Yes, some persons might want to disagree with me on the last statement. They might say that having big dreams is not enough in achieving success. They might say that hard work has to be involved before one could have the big success story. I quite agree with them; just having the dream is not enough. However, it is the dream that will motivate you to give all you've got in order to achieve success. A small dream would probably require a little effort to make it come true, but a big dream would require a great effort to make it a reality; and an individual who is very passionate about his or her dream would be ready to diligently pursue the dream no matter how difficult it is in making it a reality.

It is important to state at this point that dreaming big also has its own challenges. Never be surprised when you see that your colleagues, friends, and even family members, whom you share your dreams with are not fully in support of it. Some of them are likely going to discourage you. They might tell you that your dream amounts to building castles in the air. They might tell you to wake up from your dream and face reality. You should expect such discouraging statements and more, from those who are close to you, but you must never be deterred by that. Such statements must not wear you down; rather they should motivate you into action so that you can prove people wrong.

Interestingly, the discouragement to your dream might not only come from those you share it with, it might also come from within you. In fact, you might want to erase the thoughts of it from your mind as soon as you start dreaming about it. The whole idea might just seem illogical to you, but that is why it is a BIG DREAM. It is something that might seems to be beyond your ability, and yes, going for it will certainly take you out of your comfort zone. It will bring to test your perseverance, patience, and passion, but in the end you would see that it was worth it, as it would definitely bring out the best in you.

Therefore, nothing should stop you from having BIG DREAMS. Whether your dream is to invent a new machine, to start a new line of business, to be a world acclaimed researcher, a multiple-award winning singer, a renowned actor, the best athlete, a successful writer, to graduate with a good grade, to win an election, or any other dream that you might have, nothing should erase the dream from your heart; rather you should dream more and more.

I know of a Pastor, Pastor J.O. Ayankojo, who would always tell the youths in the church: "aiming high is not a sin, always aim high." This is nothing but the truth, and I would like to paraphrase that quote by saying: dreaming big is not a sin, always dream big. Believe me, dreams do come true. Therefore, never be discouraged from dreaming big.

Let me end this write up with this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt:

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."