TGIF! (2)

Thank God it’s Friday! (2)

Recently, the air was full of love. Valentine’s Day just passed by and the reports reaching me indicate that people actually painted town red; especially youths. The baffling part of it all is that Monday was pre-valentine’s day; yet the day looked just like Friday and Valentine’s Day looked just like Saturday! If you remember that day you will understand what I am talking about.

If every Monday looked just like this pre-valentine’s day then I guess that life would be much more fun for the average person in the workplace. But do you know that every Monday can be like this? The truth is that today is what we have made of it. How can we achieve that? Simple. We celebrate Valentine’s Day every week…this is free advice, take it or leave it!

Workers in organizations across the world are suffering from what I call “STRANGNORANONYMOUS”. Can you pronounce that word five times without blabbing?  People who don’t know their selves are trying to do what they don’t know for people they don’t know in ways they know little about. The truth is that working without knowing what work really is wasting time at work. Remember that when the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable. Work whose essence is unknown stands to be abused any day any time.

I will proceed to show you the 7 things that work is not.

First, Work is not a curse. Work is not a spell placed on you, or generally on the human race. Before the curse, work already existed. It was distraction from work that brought the curse. Work is not a curse of nature, neither is it a curse placed on man by God.

Second, Work is not a burden. It is not a problem that you have; it is not a bitter poison in the mouth neither is it a heavy weight on the shoulders. Many are slaving like donkeys because they perceive work as a burden. That is so untrue.

Third, Work is not for making money. Work does not include selling your time, energy, experience and education for peanuts just to earn a living or worse still, survive. If you work simply to make money as many people are doing across the world, you are no better than a slave. You can never master money; that is you can never become a master to money.

Fourth, Work is not a competition between you and your colleagues for the highest seat or the boss’ praise. Work is not a struggle for the highest rank or the best pay. People who subscribe to this paradigm are the ones who mostly play office politics or church politics as the case may be. They begin to play king of the hill; doing all they can to topple anyone who is standing on the top of the hill and tramples on anybody that dares to usurp them.

Fifth, Work is not a place we go to Monday to Friday. Work is more mental than physical. It is a thought that is intangible but is expressed in tangible forms. We don’t go to work, we work at the office. We go to work environments because we have apportioned them for work. Where you do your work is not the matter; it is what you do in that place that defines it. If you work more in your bedroom than in your work station where you are employed, then your bedroom is your office. Don’t get it twisted.

Sixth, Work is not busyness. Work is not synonymous with being busy. Many people are simply busy doing nothing. Some are busy doing anything while others are busy doing everything. That is not work. Work has a tone of objectivity in it. It is evidenced by productivity not by activity. That’s why there is a difference between busyness and business. One is activity-oriented while the latter is productivity-oriented. Real work always ends up in productivity. Whatever you do that doesn’t engender productivity is not work. Busy but unproductive is simply being actively busy or engaged.

Seventh, Work is not a struggle. Work has nothing to do with struggling to get things done. If you are into unprofitable labour, or you record incommensurate productivity per effort, or you have frustration with problem-solving then you are not working. You are just nursing a problem. Finding a problem is different from problem-solving. Many are literarily good at spotting problems but are highly untalented at solving those problems.

What work is not gives a clear weather that allows for the proper perspective of what work is to be discovered. In life, there are things to learn but very importantly there are things to unlearn. We have seen what work is not, next week, we will find out what work is. That is our goal and we are half way through to it.

I will like you to take time to reread the 7 things that work is not and ask yourself honest questions on each one. Are you unconsciously into anyone of the seven? If you are, then you have slipped into a state of ineffectiveness; you need to wake up. At the end of our discourse, I will show you what you need to do to overcome ineffectiveness.

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Order for Dare to Succeed (AUDIO BOOK) by Adeleke David. Costs N700 only. To order, call (+234) 808 844 1154 or send an email to iconcoach@gmail.com

Audio Premium Discovery Episodes by Adeleke David! Groundbreaking titles include Developing Superb Work Habits, Making Everyday Friday, Building Super-Productive Businesses (MP3), Midas Mind, Not just another CEO among others.

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DARE TO SUCCEED!

Have you seen people chicken out in the face of situations they ought to have ordinarily confronted? Or have you found yourself in such a situation before? Are you in the heat of a career transition or you just got a new job? Are you having difficulties with the competition in your workplace or industry? Are you fresh in the job market and are not even sure what to do anymore now that you have done all you were asked to do?

Whatever the situation you are in, you most likely need a heavy dose of courage!

In my new audio book, DARE TO SUCCEED, i share principles that will inspire courage within you. Chief among them are (1) Courage is a mental state, (2) Courage cannot be taught but can only be inspired, (3) Pseudo-courage is a state of false courage that can cause a humpty-dumpty fall.

Find out more in my audio book. Remember that the principles i shared are the most effective principles of courage ever discovered and the people who come across the most as courageous in various fields use these principles daily.

I want you to succeed as significantly and as swiftly as possible.

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TGIF!

Thank God it’s Friday!

Friday is the best day of the week I have ever known in my life. It’s usually full of bustling activities and sparked with an atmosphere of fun and excitement. Friday is the day when the clubs bubble the most; the parties rock their best and the chics and guys dance all night long. The Me suya makes his hit sale on Friday and the bars sell into the very early hours of Saturday. There’s no work on Saturday so everyone can afford to paint the town red and black. Those who don’t go to club go to church for night vigils, and those who avoid both watch films late into the night. Friday just always comes with its own spirit; bubbling far beyond any other day of the week.

Since I was a kid, Friday has always been the beginning of my regular mini-holiday. I always look forward to Friday with great anticipation. When Friday morning came, it was always as though I had come to the day of enjoyment. I enjoyed that day in school all the time; I always did. On one part, school work was always on a low key. Sometimes not all the teachers came in for their periods. Even in my days in the university, Friday was as good as a lecture free day because if we ever had any lectures it was just one lecture and it was usually short. I bet you had similar experiences on Fridays too. My most memorable days were weekends. Yeah! I remember that Friday was sports and games day in primary school. How memorable it was filing out and having P.E for practically the whole day. We would run around the field, play football till we were bathed in dust and dirt, then we waited patiently for the driver to pick us up. Friday was a great day for me. I bet it was for you too.

The Friday philosophy that was entrenched into us from childhood is what many of us carried on into our adulthood. We have unconsciously slipped into a culture that celebrates Friday and bemoans Monday. Sunday morning is usually quite interesting but the moment we return from church, a sudden gloom settles on us like a dark cloud. We become so unhappy and worried because we are wondering why we have to go to work the next day. I have overhead someone ask himself, “Do I have to go to work tomorrow? Can’t I just stay at home and rest for once?” It is a worse experience for those who are lost in or tied to a job they have no flair and passion for. These people are the ones who tied themselves to the job in the first place and have stumbled into a state of helplessness. My friend Jimi Tewe calls it “Corporate Slavery.” Monday has become a source of worry and maybe hypertension for a lot of people. We are so bothered, annoyed or depressed by the idea of going to the office the next day.

That brings me to the multi-million dollar question on this matter: What does work really mean? You may not have thought about that before now, but it is a very important question to ponder on. It amazes me that millions are in the workplace without an idea of what work means or is. Many people are working without knowing why they are at work. It’s like trying to play a game without knowing what the rules are. All you find yourself doing is rolling the dice, counting spaces and feigning excitement over rules that you have serendipitously invented in your advent of playing the game. The worst part of it all is that you can never finish the game because you don’t even know how the game is played let alone how it is finished. When work on a daily basis becomes something you don’t do based on understanding you merely work away your time at work. Time at work without objectivity is time wrongly invested. If you consistently whine about Monday, you are probably in the wrong job or you lack sound understanding of what work really means.

Over the next few weeks, I will attempt to help clear the fog that makes your understanding of work hazy. I will begin first by showing you what work is not. After that we will find out exactly what work is. This is going to be a really great time of learning because you are going to get a new lease of insight into the timeless purpose of work. Join me next week for the first part of what work is not; till then celebrate Friday but please don’t whine on Sunday about Monday.

You are an Icon!

Order for Audio Premium Discovery Episodes by Adeleke David! Groundbreaking titles include Dare to Succeed, Developing Superb Work Habits, Midas Mind and Not just another CEO. Look out for Adeleke’s latest book: MIDAS MIND: 12 Inescapable Secrets for Attracting and creating your Heart Desires.