Category: People

It’s a new year, and one with so many promises, hopes and expectations. Like every New Year, people hope for the best, but you shouldn’t just hope for the best, but give in your best.

These 11 quotes should never be forgotten this year.

1. “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” — Oprah Winfrey

2. “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.” — Neil Gaiman

4. “The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.” — G.K. Chesterton

5. “I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.” — Anaïs Nin

6. “One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this — To rise above the little things.” — John Burroughs

7. “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” — Michael Altshuler

8. “Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” — Hal Borland

9. “If you asked me for my New Year Resolution, it would be to find out who I am.” – Helen Keller

10. “Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.” – Cavett Robert

11. “I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the years’.” — Henry Moore

Remember, your 2017 will be like 2016 if you keep making the mistakes of 2016, irrespective of the resolutions you make.

2016 has come and gone, and while we are still basking in delight for being in 2017, it doesn’t mean 2016 has to come and go without looking back at certain things.

There are many valuable lessons to learn from 2016 that’ll make your 2016 better.

2016 has gone, but these are some things you must do.

1. Be grateful

You have to be grateful for everything that happened in 2016 — the good, the bad and everything you passed through. Be grateful you saw the year till the end, and be grateful you have something every living person has — hope.

2. Your mistakes

It’s not enough to end the year in merriment without really looking back at the mistakes and failures of the past year. Think of the things you didn’t do right, the areas you failed and the areas you could have done better, and try to learn from them.

3. Your challenges

Think about the obstacles you experienced along the line; those obstacles are actually what will make you more experienced and knowledgeable in life. Think of the challenges you overcame and the ones you didn’t.

4. The goals you set/achieved

You shouldn’t end the year without thinking of the bold steps you took, the good decisions you made and all what you achieved. Analyse all what you did right, and let it motivate you to strive for more.

5. Be grateful again

Yet again be grateful for the mistakes and success of 2016. Only a living person can make mistakes. Be grateful for all that you achieved and for the opportunity to reach greater heights.

It’s four days into the New Year, but you shouldn’t let 2016 go without having a proper analysis of the year.

It’s the New Year! 2016 is gone, and we’re in 2017 already, and I just want to wish you a very happy and fulfilling New Year, 2017. Now, the one thing about a brand new year is that for many, it’s the beginning of a new journey; a new era, and a whole different thing. For some though, it’s same old, and perhaps, an opportunity to finish or continue an already started process.

For those who see a New Year as a new beginning, they usually set out a number of things or something that they intend to achieve, do or see out in that calendar year. It could be a bad habit they want to stop, it could be a house they want to build or they simply want to build broken relationships. However, more often than not, you realise that it’s easier said than done for some. They map out or list things they want to do in the new year, but only a couple of weeks or days into that resolution, they start failing. The reason for that unfortunately isn’t because they can’t really achieve what they have set their minds to achieve, but simply because they lack the knowledge to do so. That is why I have put together a number of things I think you need to do in order to see out that your new year resolution successfully. Please, keep reading.

Make a list/write it down

If you were to carry out a research into why people fail to fulfill their New Year resolution, you’ll find that more than half the people who set out to achieve yearly goals only have those goals etched in their minds only— they don’t have it written down anywhere else, and that is not really advisable. As big and wonderful as our mind is as humans, sometimes, it can forget things, that is why it’s of great necessity to have things of high priority, like your new year resolution written down somewhere for reference. When you have it written down, you can easily go grab it, and glance through for a quick reminder. This is especially true for those who have more than one goal for the year. Having a list makes it easier for you to remember.

Avoid all forms of distractions

Now, this is the part that creates a lot of problems for people. Some people want to be happy, but don’t want to do the required sacrifice needed to achieve that happiness. Sometimes, achieving set goals requires avoiding people in your life that constitute or will constitute distraction. For instance, if your goal for 2017 is to avoid drinking or womanising, then you have to as much as possible, stay away from people, including friends that can cause you to falter or fail in that quest. As painful and difficult as this may appear, it is a sacrifice you need to make to be where you want to be. Like minds should roll together; if your friends are a problem to who you want to work towards becoming, ditch them, and find the right company. That way, you’ll get the right motivation, and encouragement to fulfil your quest.

Put mind and effort into it all

This is the part that’s most important. Some people just say they want to achieve something, but then, don’t work hard towards achieving that set target. If you want to buy a car in 2017, then, it’s not enough to want it, you have to reach out for it. You have to save up more money than you’re used to saving, which means you’ll have to have less fun or spend less on other things. It’s a necessary sacrifice to get what you want. It’s not enough to want to buy that car; you have to do something different from what you did the previous year to actually get that car. Deny yourself some things and pleasures, and you’ll see how far you can go.

That is all I’ll say for now, and I wish you the very best in your quest to get and be the very best this 2017. Happy New Year once again from me and everyone.

Do you set goals? Do you believe in setting goals? Goal setting should be a very important part of your life, and in everything you do, you should learn to set goals.

These are some important things you should know about goal setting.

1. Goal setting creates a target towards which you point your life.

2. Goals help you see where you want to be, where you are going and the progress you’re making towards your set target.

3. Goal setting makes you focused and motivated, which brings extra zeal to accomplishing those set targets.

4. Goal setting inspires you to overcome procrastination.

5. Goal setting takes you out of your comfort zone, which will enable you to achieve growth.

6. Goal setting gives you a sense of control. In that you choose the direction your life is headed and assume full responsibility for your actions.

7. The excitement of goal setting could propel you to reach your dreams.

8. Goal setting helps you determine what’s important and what isn’t important to you.

9. Writing your goals creates an impression in your heart.

10. A set goal that’s worth pursuing to you will make you determined to see it happen, despite what people say or do.

In the words of Zig Ziglar: “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

There are some choices you make in life that always end up as mistakes, but at the time you might not know that you are on the wrong path.

These are some life’s choices that you’ll always regret at the end.

1. Not telling yourself the truth

People lie to themselves and fail to tell themselves the truth about certain things going on in their lives. Not being honest with yourself is a risky way to live your life, and it’s a choice that’ll always backfire.

2. Letting someone else dictate your life

You can’t let someone else control your life and live your life for you. It’s okay to have a mentor and someone you look up to, but when someone else is dictating your own life for you, then you won’t learn from life’s experiences.

3. Trying to improve others

You can’t live your life trying to impress others; you live a fake life when you do this. If you spend your life thinking of people’s perception about you and trying to live up to their expectations, you’ll lose your true identity in the process.

4. Being a lazy

Being lazy wouldn’t take you anywhere in life, neither will it take you close to your goals in life. When you are lazy, failure is closer to you than success, and you’ll never live up to your true potential.

5. Giving up easily

If you want to achieve anything in life, you must learn not to give up. Strive for anything you want, and never let challenges pull you down.

6. Being negative minded

Being positive is the best thing you can do for yourself. You deny yourself of so many opportunities when you are negative minded. Avoid thinking negatively and keeping negative company — the negative energy they bring can choke you.

7. Settling for less

Never settle for less than what you deserve in life. Sometimes, you might be knocked down and situations might make you feel less of a person, but never let it get into your head and deprive you from being who you are.

These life choices mentioned above are choices you will definitely regret. They might not seem like much in the beginning, but they’d always weigh you down at the end.

Being a good leader doesn’t only end with the ideas you have to offer; there are so many people who have so much to offer as a leader, but certain characters they possess stand in their way good leadership.

No matter how good your vision is as a leader, if these characters are found in you, you can never be a good leader.

1. EGO

Pride and ego will bring you down as a leader; it would make it difficult for you to learn from your mistakes and do the right things. When you have too much pride as a leader, it’ll stand in your way of being humble to notice certain things that are going wrong.

2. SELF-CENTREDNESS

A good leader puts the team before himself, but when you put your own interest ahead of the team, you kill team unity, and once that is dead, your team wouldn’t be as productive as it should be. A good leader ought to make his team united.

3. NOT WILLING TO LEARN

A good leader picks lessons from everywhere; there’s so much to learn every day. However, a leader who has stiffened his heart to not learn, will lead his team wrongly. Learning is an important part of leadership.

4. RUDENESS

You can never be a good leader when you treat people wrongly. The way you talk to people, especially your subordinates really matters. Being rude will create a toxic atmosphere in your organisation, and once that toxicity is present, so many things will go wrong. Besides, you’ll never have the respect of your subordinates when you are rude.

5. POOR RELATIONSHIP

A good leader maintains a good working relationship with his staffs; he knows how to relate with them, and creates a sort of personal relationship with them. However, a leader who’s nonchalant about his followers/subordinates will never bring the best out of them.

6. YOU TRY TO COMMAND FEAR

A good leader tries to win the respect of his followers and subordinates, while a bad leader tries to command fear. It’s easier to command fear than to win the respect of your subordinates, but a bad leader will try to instill fear. Anything done in fear can never be done right.

7. LACK OF EMPATHY

A good leader empathises with his employees and subordinates; he tries to understand their situation and what they are going through, rather than bark instructions at them.

A bad leader doesn’t practice empathy; he doesn’t even care about his followers. Any leader who can’t put himself in the shoes of his followers isn’t good enough.

8. BEING TOO BOSSY

One thing is for sure; a bossy leader will never win the trust, love and respect of his followers. Many believe that by being bossy, they win the respect of their subordinates, but that isn’t true. A bossy leader will never have loyal followers.

If these attributes are found in you, you can never be a good leader, even though you have the idea and vision to turn things around.

Starting a new business, venture or project, or trying to turn an idea into reality can be such a difficult task, with loads of challenges.

Getting the right inspiration is very important for that new venture you’re going into. With the right inspiration, you can reach the desired goal.

These inspirational quotes will give you the right motivation.

1. “I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.” – Margaret Thatcher

2. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.” – Henry Ford

3. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” – Richard Branson

4. “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.” – Steve Jobs

5. “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth… not going all the way, and not starting.” – Buddha

6. “Start wherever you are and start small.” – Rita Baily

7. “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – Saint Francis of Assisi

8. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt

9. “Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.” –Alan Cohen

10. “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” – Maria Robinson

11. “The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.” – Ben Stein

12. “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” – Henry Ford

I think that in every organisation, there’s at least, one person at management level who likes to sound angry and yells about everything. People like this can be very difficult to deal with because they’re the boss, and anything you say or do to them can easily be misconstrued. I’ve had my own share of angry bosses in my lifetime, so trust me, I know just how difficult it can be to work with one. If you currently have one or more in your life, and you’re not sure how to continue working with them smoothly, I have a few things I think might be helpful.

Never get mad too,no matter what

It’s easier said than done, I know, but trust me, I am saying this for your own good, and that of the organisation. No matter what your boss says to you, or how they blame you for even things you know nothing about, don’t let it get to you; all you should ever do is stay silent and possibly apologise for it. They’re your boss, remember. Getting mad will cause you to talk back at them, which may ultimately result in a disciplinary action being taken against you. Yes, the moment you start yelling back, nobody will even try to exonerate you from the blame, they’ll only be concerned with the fact that you talked back at your boss.

Never blame yourself

Unless you’re really at blame, you have nothing to worry or feel sad about. The thing about angry bosses is they will always find a reason to blame someone for something— doesn’t even matter if they’re the ones at fault. So do not think, ‘oh my God, I messed up’, no! And even if you’re wrong, simply learn from your mistakes and move on. The more you think about how wrong you are and blame yourself for it, the more you’re distracted from your work, and you and your team may suffer for it.

Approach them when they are calm

People tend to say all sorts when they’re in a bad mood, your boss is no different. It could be that he has something bothering him, and that’s why he’s attacking people at work. It could also simply be a bad habit. So, it won’t do anyone any harm to go to him, and try to know if he’s okay. Talk to him, ask him if all is well, but that must only be after he is calm again. If you have any explanations to make, that is the best time too. Never approach him while he’s still angry, that will only worsen things. You’re a human being too, and if your boss has any sense of respect, he’ll hear you out.

Care and caution are the keywords when it comes to dealing with angry bosses. Always remember those.

By 25, you should have grown into being a woman, who has experienced a lot of things in life that has shaped her into being a wiser and better woman.

25 is a milestone in a woman’s life, and these are some of the things every woman at 25 should know.

1. Know what you want from a man

It’s normal for a woman to start thinking of marriage at the age of 25 and some women even get married at this age. At the age of 25, you ought to have had enough knowledge of who you are, and this knowledge will help you understand the kind of man that would be right for you.

2. Who should/shouldn’t be in your life

At 25, every woman should have an idea of who should be in her life and who shouldn’t. You should have known your true friends by now and people who are true and loyal to you.

3. How to be a good wife/partner

Womanhood starts at this age; you are more mature and less exuberant at the age of 25. You don’t learn how to be a good wife when you get married — that’s the mistake a lot of women make. At 25, you should have read a lot of books that would give you valuable knowledge and studied a lot of couples and analysed certain situations, as well as prepare yourself to being a good partner.

4. Be prepared for the future

At 25, you have your future ahead of you — a bulk of your life is still unspent, but time waits for no one. At 25, you should be very interested in what your future holds and should have laid down the path that would lead to a brighter future.

5. Know what you want in life

At 25, you should know what you want in life. You should have known the path you are heading to, what you are good at and know what you want in other important aspects of your life.

6. You might not have figured some things out as you would have expected

At 25, your life might not be anything close to perfect and you might still be far from achieving what you want in life, but it’s okay. You might not be where you want to be at 25, but as long as you know where you are headed, then that’s all that matters.

7. You are not too old to have fun

You are a 25-year-old woman, a young woman at that, never forget this. It’s still okay to have fun at this age and have good moments. Unfortunately, a lot of 25-year-old women act like they are 50, and before they know it they turn 50.

8. Let go of your past

At 25, you should know that your past will only take you backwards, and you should be able to let go of certain things in the past that you can’t change or control.

9. Learn good habits/values

As a woman who’s 25, there are so many good habits you can pick up and values you can make a part of your life that will help you become a better wife and mother in future — and a better woman generally. You don’t learn these at old age.

10. Keep a conversation

A 25-year-old woman should be able to keep a conversation with different kinds of people. At 25, you should know that you are a brand and you should be able to talk comfortably to people of the opposite sex, as well as older people and people in different walks of life.

11. Be confident

A 25-year-old should be more mature than her young, shy and timid teenage self. At 25, you should be more confident in yourself and have more belief in yourself. If you don’t see yourself as a confident woman, people will take you for granted.

At 25, every woman should strive to be a better woman than she was when she was 20, and these are just some of the things she should know.

Social media has two sides — the good and the bad side. Just as social media can be dangerous to your life, career and relationship, it can also be a very useful tool in your career as well — it all depends on how you use it.

These are some awesome ways social media can help your career.

1. Networking

Social media can help you create a very big contact with business partners, associates and promote interaction with other people — and you can never underestimate the importance of a good network in your career.

2. Sell your brand

We are what we put on social media — it might not be true in many cases, but what we put on social media is the message we pass to people of who we are.

You are a brand, and social media is a huge platform to showcase your brand. Also, social media is also a very good platform to showcase your business, talent and so many marketable aspect of your life.

3. You learn more

Social media can also give you an insight to learn more about a contact and what interests that person. It can also make you learn more about a company and give you further insights.

4. Relationships

Relationships between co-workers and staffs of a company can be further strengthened on social media, and this will be an advantage for the company. It can also promote the relationship between an employer and his employees.

5. Information

Information on social media is vast; there are lots of valuable information on social media that can help you get a job and boost certain aspects of your career. The information content on social media is highly valuable and easily accessible. Also, you can subscribe to feeds of companies you hope to create contact with and gain knowledgeable information about them.

6. Convey instant availability and pass valuable information

Social media helps bridge a gap in the case of distance and unavailability. With social media, you can convey instant availability for a project, pass valuable information/message to others and gather people together on short notice. A forum on social media can help you pass messages across without even having to break a sweat; it’s convenient and inexpensive.

Whoever said social media was the devil?

Social media can help your life/career in many ways; it’s all up to how you use it.