Exercise is more important than mu career

I was thinking this morning..... about exercise and career. Where I sat at the Teslim Balogun Stadium yesterday participating in the closing ceremony of the 17th Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Games (NOGIG), I wondered how so many professionals could leave their job and career for a week to participate in sports that gives them nothing more than ceremonial medals. Moreso, the medals won will not count during the end year appraisal. 'Are the participants really serious about their careers?' I had soliloquized. 'Or are they a group with NFA (No Future Ambition)?'

 

As I placed exercise/sports and career on a mental scale, to see which weighs more, I recalled an article I read in Time Magazine titled 'Why exercise is more important than my career' by one Joshua Steimle, an entrepreneur. But how can exercise be more important than my career? 'OYO (on your own) for him,' I concluded with finality. Will exercise put food on my table? Will exercise pay my children school fees? Too many questions popping up to justify my parochial line of thought.

 

But then, just a little patient reflection exposed my folly. Think about it. It is prevalent attitude amongst professionals that career or business comes first and that it trumps everything else including family, friends and health. But is that really true? I think not. Also, could exercise be more important than my career? Maybe that's why Cyril Ramaphosa, the current president of South Africa, was seen taking his usual early morning walk/jog along Cape Town's Sea Point Promenade in spite of the state of the nation address and the looming budget speech he had to give on the day of his inauguration. If he was a Nigerian politician, he probably will be in meetings all night and day with party members and associates strategizing on how to share potential available positions.

 

Maybe exercise should be important than my career. Vladimir Putin, the Russian President became a master in martial arts and has been actively competing in sports such as hockey, badminton and horse riding since 1966, while Tony Abbot, the Prime Minister of Australia until 2015 competed in an Iron Man triathlon, he runs a marathon and regularly cycles up and down hills near Parliament House four to six times around dawn. Yet the only information available of a Nigeria past or present president committed to exercise or sports is OBJ and his love for 'Ayo' (the African game board.)

 

Should exercise be more important than my career? Dick Costolo, the CEO of Twitter from 2010 to 2015 bikes and does grueling CrossFit workouts and he tweets more about fitness than tech or business. Imagine, while the CEO of Twitter was focusing on exercise, many CEOs are focusing on Twitter.

 

Truth is, exercise is more important than your career and therefore must be come first. If exercise stops, then your health goes downhill. With loss of physical health, your productivity t work goes down. You become depressed and lose the motivation to do the things that make your business or career successful.

 

For me, I have decided to exercise. If I can't find time to go play badminton at the club, I will skip and jog-on-the-spot in my house. And if time will not allow me, I will box in the shower. Whatever it takes, I must exercise because 1st Tim 4:8 says 'For bodily exercise profits little.' We need that little to achieve great things.

 

Happy Sunday.

 

....Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey.

Love and Procrastination

Love and Procrastination

I was thinking this morning..... about Love and Procrastination. While in the office last Thursday, I overheard a colleague reminding another colleague to send the data she had requested for. She asked him, 'Do you know what today is?' trying to make him realize that the target date was past. Jokingly, he responded, 'Today is the day after Valentine's Day.' Yes, the day before was Valentine's Day, but how will that enhance the delivery of the target at work? As far as this guy was concerned, Valentine's Day was the most important event this period and therefore has to be the reference point.

As I smiled at his response, I wondered why I don't give so much thought to Valentine's Day as much as others do. Is it that I am 'old skool' or I just don't appreciate that day? Hmm!!! So much happened on February 14th, with so many waxing love poems for their spouse or partner. But the message that stood out for me, by a long shot, was that written by a friend of mine. He wrote, 'You are the egg in my egg roll. Without you I am puff puff.' Hmm!!! Truly puff puff takes a whole new life with egg at the middle and changes its name to egg roll. Very loving and very original but I know that egg roll is not a delicacy that you eat once a year. Why then do you wait till February 14th to tell your spouse he/she is the egg in your egg roll?

Why do we procrastinate our love demonstration till February 14th each year? My thinking is that we love procrastination. Psychologist Joseph Ferrari has said, 'Procrastination is not waiting and it is not delaying. It is a decision not to act.' Many have decided not to act on their relationship until February 14th each year, during which period the ships and the relation may have drifted too far apart. I believe that most of the gestures people demonstrate on Valentine's Day are things they should be doing every day.

As I probed a bit more as to why I don't pay attention to Valentine's Day, it wasn't clear at first, but then it dropped. Aha! I can see why now! It is because it is not 'Wey Mey's Day.' Why should I wait for St. Valentine to remind me to show love to my wife? While I have created many 'Wey Mey's Day through the year, when I do special things for my wife, thereby making February 14th like any other day, I still pray the words of 1st Thessalonians 3:12 that says 'May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other.'

Knowing that the 2019 Valentine's Day is 361 days away, please do not procrastinate to show love to your loved ones. Tell them that they are the eggs in your egg rolls, the sim card in your smart phones or the data in your modem. Whatever description works for you, just let them know you love them today and everyday.

Happy Sunday.

....Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey.

Oh God, Please Make Me Humble

Stay Humble

I was thinking this morning.....about humility. Last Sunday 4th February was the 14th birthday of Facebook and the founder Mark Zuckerberg put out a message to all Facebook users. It was a simple message that acknowledged the many mistakes he had made over the period and how he is honored to be on the journey with every user. As I read the message, I couldn't understand his simplicity. How can a man that is the founder of a network with 2.2 billion monthly active users as at Q4 2017 be that simple? When I consider that there are many people, especially Nigerians with only 100,000 followers on a platform they did not create, but yet see themselves as demi-gods with celebrity status, I could not help but say 'oh God, please make me humble.'

As I prayed, I recalled that while signing off from work penultimate Friday, I was attracted to the news on CNN that Facebook had announced a revenue of about $13 billion for Q4 2017. I was humbled by the news not because they made $13b, but because they did so in 3 months. If you imagine that one of the most successful Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria made a profit of about $1.5 billion in the whole of 2017, then you will understand my humility. And if you consider that with an annual national budget of about $20 billion, we go about killing ourselves in Nigeria in the fight to get a chunk of the national cake, while a young man that makes about $40 billion in a year can still be simple and stay calm, then you will join me to say 'oh God, please make me humble.'

 

But how can anyone be so blessed and remain humble? Even if he had made a commitment to be humble, the sheer number of people he controls should make his head grow. The number of full time employees at Facebook increased from 600 in 2006 to 25,000 as at end December 2017, yet you can hardly differentiate Mark Zuckerberg from his staff because of his simplicity. If you consider that some people have just two or three domestic staff working for them and they have assumed the status of lord, demanding that the staff kneel down to serve them, you will join me to say, 'oh God, please make me humble.'

 

If Mark Zuckerberg was over 60 years like the other billionaires in America, I would understand saying that the many huddles of life had probably humbled him, but he will be 34 years in May, meaning he is a Millennial (also known as Generation Y or Echo boomers). If you look around us and see how Nigerians of his age that had made their first N100 million (about $300,000) drive about town in flashy cars with the 'I have arrived' attitude, then you will join me to say, 'oh God, please make me humble.'

 

How can a young man who is worth $76.6 billion (5th richest man in the world) not be proud and egoistic? It is ironic. If you consider that the highest paid executive in Nigeria, Mrs Sola David-Borha, MD/CEO of StambicIBTC Holdings (though a humble woman as well) is paid about N485,000 daily and Mark Zuckerberg who could easily have requested for a six or more figure salary but opted for one dollar a year salary, then you will join me to shout, 'oh God, please make me humble.'

 

It is common to hear people being referred to as 'Bigger boy, the Boss, the Don, Master or even Oga at the top' by virtue of their blessings, making them think they are achievers. For me, I always remind myself that we are only receivers and not achievers, to keep me humble. James 4:10 says 'Humble yourselves before the Lord and h will lift you up.'

Happy Sunday.

....Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey.

Love is not an Emergency

I was thinking this morning... abut the timeliness of love demonstration. While observing my week days unwinding routine, watching Tinsel on TV, Serena, the run away wife of Chief was expressing her concern to Brenda Mensah, about her partner, Ike moving too fast and wanting to take her for a family function. While Brenda advised her to take it slowly, she concluded thus, 'I may not be an expert in relationships, but one thing I have learnt is that love is not an emergency.' That 'love is not an emergency,' struck a cord in me.

 

If love is truly not an emergency, then why does the heart skip a beat when one is in love? I remember in 2001 when I first saw this young damsel who later became my wife, I made every move possible to engage and marry her as soon as possible, because as far as I am concerned, it was a 'Marital Emergency.' How can they say love is not an emergency?

 

As I protested, something in me tells me to calm down and reason. As I did grudgingly, I discovered that it is like two sides of a coin. If you are on the verge of losing your loved one, love will definitely be an emergency, but if your loved one 'falls your hand,' you are in no hurry to strike. Love, at this point will not be an emergency. But how can love not be an emergency? I kept wondering. I recalled the several News stories of people committing suicide  because they were dumped by those they loved and yet someone is telling me that love is not an emergency. Surely, love in this instance is a 'Medical Emergency.'

 

As my mind continued inditing this view that love is an emergency, I imagined the behavior of a typical Nigerian politician and Civil servants placed before the State coffers. They are like dogs on heat, with an urgent need to loot. The budget for four years is stolen in a  few months. Their love for money is definitely a 'Financial Emergency.'

 

When I considered this in the complex Nigeria setting, my thinking got a bit fuzzy. Think about it. Just before the last election, the then opposition, APC, needed the love of Nigerians. They were urgent in making Nigerians see why the change was imperative. To most people, the love was an emergency. They did not only preach love, they promised marriage and a life of bliss thereafter. There was a sense of urgency in their love demonstration. Shortly after we gave them our hearts, they went to sleep. It took months to appoint Ministers and get the economy to work. While we kept reminding them that love is an emergency, they gave us a convincing response, when in spite of the mass killings by marauding herdsmen, there was a near absence or at best a lack luster response to the killings. At this point I was convinced that love is not a 'Political Emergency.'

 

On the surface, that love is not an emergency seems like the flip side of 'Love is patient,' but in reality, it is like the plant, Impatiens capensis (Spotted touch-me-not). The fruit of this plant is a thin pod about 1 inch long that pops open at the slightest touch, throwing seeds in all directions. Love could or could not be an emergency depending on the seed it throws at you when you touch the subject. What matters is, in every aspect of your life, according to 1st Cor 16:14, 'Do everything in love.'

Happy Sunday.

....Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey