5 life Lessons to learn from Toke Makinwa this year
[bctt tweet=”“It’s not about finding your voice. It’s about giving yourself permission to use your voice” – Kris Carr” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Toke Makinwa is a Nigerian media personality, television host, vlogger, and author. She might not be everyone’s favorite but she’s done pretty much for herself. Her book On Becoming tells of her journey in life – her struggles after her parents died, her marriage and her faith in God. Hate or like her, she’s not letting whatever life throws get the better part of her. She’s simply living her TM baby girl life. Here are five life lessons we can all learn from Toke Makinwa: Resilience It doesn’t matter how many times life knocks you down, what matters is your comeback. If there’s one thing I admire about Toke is her ability to bounce back. She knows how to keep her head up and remain true to her goals. Life has sure dealt her some cards but she’s still standing strong! After a bad divorce and shaming from the media, she went on to bag some endorsements and even wrote a book titled On Becoming. Life’s gonna throw some curve balls your way! Never let a bad situation keep you down. Rise above it! [bctt tweet=”Don’t let the many slip-ups and downtrodden moments get in your way” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Hard work “Hard work does not necessarily guarantee success, but no success is possible without hard work” – Dr. T.P Chia” Some will argue that being hard working doesn’t guarantee success. But you’ll agree that every success has a trace of hard work in it. Success doesn’t come easy; you’ll have to work your ass off (well, for some of us). She’s s symbol of a career driven lady. A real boss lady. Drive and Passion As Oprah Winfrey said, “Let passion drive your profession”. To truly enjoy your career, to feel fulfilled in whatever field you find yourself in, you have to have some amount of passion and drive in you. There’ll be days you want to quit; the day you’ll feel like giving in to naysayers. But, that drive and passion right there? That’s what will give you the nudge and push. As a media personality, Toke is passionate about impacting lives. It’s your duty to educate and touch as many lives as you can. And that’s what she’s all about. Let the naysayers talk Oh yes, they’ll talk! They’ll be the ones whispering “you can’t do it”, and then they’ll try so hard to pull you down. They’ll criticise your every work and misconstrue you. Trust me, there are always naysayers who say it can’t be done. But you know what darling, let them talk! They can’t stop your shine. If you stop to throw stones at every dog that barks, you won’t reach your destination. It’s never too late Who said it’s too late to turn a new leaf? Or pick yourself up from where life knocked you down? Who said you can’t get another job or live the life you so desire after many trials? Who said you can’t date again after a bad breakup? Listen up motherland moguls, it’s never too late to live the life you want or to become the lady you hope to become. You have so much passion and talent waiting to be unleashed. There’s so much you can do. Don’t let the many slip-ups and downtrodden moments get in your way. Just shake it off and pick yourself up. When life knocks you down (and at some point it will), don’t get a mat and camp there. No! Rise above it, pick yourself up, learn from your mistakes and do better. Become better. Know that it’s never too late, let the naysayers talk, follow your drive and passion, work hard and be resilient. To get featured on our Facebook page, click here to share your story with us.
The four biggest life and business lessons I learned in 2017
A new year gives us an opportunity to reflect on the past and take note of our learning points. As I carried out my reflections, here are the four most important life and business lessons I noted down: 1. Whatever you need to do, especially with regards to your life goal and purpose – START NOW. I realized that there will never be a perfect time to get things done, and as they say ‘time waits for no one’. See how fast 2017 ran, I still vividly remember how I shouted ‘happy new year’ in church on the 1st of January 2017. I learned that you don’t have to wait for everything to be ready or for you to have it all figured out before taking your step (this doesn’t take away the place of proper planning though). In 2017, I started an organization called Clever generation. I have always been passionate about wealth creation, SMEs, and the empowerment of young people but I didn’t think that the time was right for me to start up something because of the high pressured nature of my current job. So I told myself that I will start up the organization once I get a less demanding job. My spirit was not going to have any of my excuses and didn’t give me peace until I started the organization in August. As at now, the organization provides educative and engaging content via its social media accounts. We currently have an estimate of about 3,000 followers on all our social media accounts (this was achieved in just 4 months). So despite the demands of my job, I have been able to make out time to manage the organization. [bctt tweet=”When you start, things will start to fall into place” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] 2. The human capacity is limitless. One of the best lessons I learned in 2017 is that you can exert yourself to do what you have to do regardless of how you feel. My classic example: It’s past close of business, my boss just finished reviewing a document, and says to me ‘we need to get this to the client first thing tomorrow morning’. Leaving me with no choice but to update the document with his review notes overnight. Well, I worked till 2.30 a.m. the next day, and still had to resume at work at 8.00 a.m. Then I thought to myself – why do we make these sacrifices for our bosses and employers, and not do same for ourselves?. I have tons of articles written in my head that I haven’t been able to write them down because I keep telling myself that I don’t have the time. [bctt tweet=”Never forget, no one deserves your best other than yourself” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] 3. Mindset! Mindset!! Mindset!!! Life is a game of the mind, only the mentally, psychologically, and spiritually prepared wins. Your world is a reflection of what is on the inside; its garbage in – garbage out. Whatever you accept, believe, and tell yourself is what life produces for you. So if your mindset is one of the most important determinants of your success, it means that you need to invest in educating and training your mind. 4. Idea generation and idea execution require a different set of skills. The fact that a person can generate a brilliant idea doesn’t mean s/he can execute it. Learn to identify the skill set of your team members, and align their roles to their skill set as close as possible. Don’t be quick to assign tasks to people because of what they say or based on your perception of them. Some years back, I met someone who had a business proposition and was looking for a business partner who will invest financially in the business. I thought the business was good and agreed to become his partner. For more than 2 years, I was investing financially but the business never made significant progress. He kept emphasizing the capital-intensive nature of the business. So I got someone to invest in the business with the promise that we will pay back the capital and a percentage interest after a set period of time. I wasn’t very involved in the management of the business because of the demanding nature of my job, I relied on his report. When it was time to pay back our investor, the capital wasn’t available, let alone the interest. He told me that it was because our customers were not paying on time. I knew there was a problem when he couldn’t tell exactly how much the business was expecting from the customers owing. I got angry and insisted he produced a record of the revenue, expenses, and profit for the period. That’s when I realized how disorganized my business partner was, he had no management skill and just spent the money as the demand arose. He had to borrow some of the money that was used in paying back our investor as I refused to support financially. That’s when it dawned on me that my business partner is a visionary but not a business manager. I either had to manage the business myself or we hire a business manager. Also, I learned that it is not enough to have a good business idea, you also need to ensure that your team has the required skill set to execute the idea. [bctt tweet=”‘Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.’ – Thomas Edison” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Got any life or business lessons to share with us? Share your experience with us here.