There will always be naysayers.

November 8, 2023 In Musings 11 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

‘There will be haters, there will be doubters, there will be non-believers, and then there will be you proving them wrong.’

Naysayers are part of life; they say nay to whatever you are trying to do. Don’t get too bothered about naysayers because that is their nature; there is nothing you can do about them, doubters doubt. How you respond is the one thing you can control about people doubting your dreams and aspirations. Success is the best revenge; shock them with your success and never stay satisfied; stay hungry, and you will be fine. Ignore the naysayers, focus on your goals, find your yaysayers, and become a better version of yourself. When you realize that people doubt you not because of you but it is more about them. Naysayers project their fear and insecurities to feel better about themself and their low-level thinking.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Make Daily Progress.

November 7, 2023 In Musings 6 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Microsoft founder Bill Gates once said, “We often underestimate what we can achieve in a year and overestimate what we can achieve in five years.” To run a marathon successfully, you need to increase your run mileage by running consistently. To finish a 700+ page book, you can read 20 pages per day, and you would be done in 30 days. Most of our biggest goals seem overwhelming and out of reach, but if you take one step towards achieving your goals daily, the incremental progress will increase your confidence, and ultimately, you will achieve your goal. As author and motivational speaker Les Brown often said “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

$100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No by Alex Hormozi

November 6, 2023 In Book Summaries 9 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

In $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No, entrepreneur Alex Hormozi shares strategies for crafting an irresistible profitable offer and how to turn advertising dollars into (enormous) profits using a combination of pricing, value, guarantees, and naming strategies. The Grand Slam Offer as Alex calls it, would make people feel stupid saying no.

It’s not the weather, it’s your clothing.

November 6, 2023 In Musings 8 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.

The Scandinavians have a saying “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing”. There is nothing we can do about the weather, but we can surely control what we wear in the weather. Complaining about the weather or the challenges that we deal with in life would not change the situation, the only way to change anything is to take action; nothing moves until you move. As author, Jim Rohn often said “Don’t wish it was easier wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge wish for more wisdom”. Life is going to happen to us all at some point, whatever will go wrong will eventually go wrong. In the words, of the British writer Vivien Greene “Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.”

Solomon’s Paradox.

November 5, 2023 In Musings 6 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

Solomon’s Paradox is named after the ancient Israelite king, Solomon’s paradox describes our inability to reason wisely about our own lives, even if we demonstrate good judgement when faced with other people’s problems. ¹ Most of us have the tendency to easily activate advice-giving mode instead of genuinely listening, staying curious and asking questions to understand the real issues.

In his book, The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes ¹, author David Robson describes why intelligent people act stupidly – and why in some cases they are even more prone to error than the average person. One of the examples that Robson cites to explain the intelligence trap is Solomon’s paradox, which is our tendency to demonstrate good judgment with other people’s problems but find it hard to reason wisely on our problems.

Temptation Bundling

November 4, 2023 In Musings 6 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

Temptation bundling ¹ is a term coined by University of Pennsylvania’s behavior researcher Katherine Milkman and her colleagues in a 2014 study. Here’s how it works: Basically, you “bundle” a source of instant gratification (like checking Instagram or watching an addictive show) with a beneficial but less fun “should” activity (like running on the treadmill or working on a spreadsheet). In Milkman’s study, the researchers gave participants iPods with four audio novels they wanted to listen to — but they could only access the iPod while working out. By and large, the participants’ gym attendance increased when an indulgence was tied to it.

Temptation bundling—a method for simultaneously tackling two types of self-control problems by harnessing consumption complementarities.

In their research, Dr. Milkman and her colleagues measured the impact of bundling instantly gratifying but guilt-inducing “want” experiences (enjoying page-turner audiobooks) with valuable “should” behaviors providing delayed rewards (exercising). Initially, full and intermediate treatment participants visited the gym 51% and 29% more frequently, respectively, than control participants, but treatment effects declined over time (particularly following Thanksgiving). After the study, 61% of participants opted to pay to have gym-only access to iPods containing tempting audiobooks, suggesting demand for this commitment device.

The Joy of Hooping

November 3, 2023 In Musings 6 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

I have always loved watching basketball as I love the game. I started watching NBA basketball around 1994/1995 as a kid who was intrigued by my fellow countryman Hakeem Olajuwon leading the Houston Rockets to back-to-back NBA championships. I followed Michael Jordan’s second run of winning his last three rings with the Chicago Bulls and I had some late nights watching the Bulls play Malone-led Utah Jazz team in the 1997/1998 season. Watching the Netflix miniseries, the last dance during the COVID-19 pandemic brought back some childhood memories as I was following some of the events in the series as a kid.

Atomic Improvements: The Science of Invincible Progress.

November 2, 2023 In Musings 9 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

Small, seemingly insignificant steps completed consistently over time will create a radical difference.

One of the most exciting things that I do on a daily basis is to exercise and improve in the process. I cross-train, the action or practice of engaging in two or more sports or types of exercise in order to improve fitness or performance in one’s main sport. I practice the following sports activities: Basketball, running, weightlifting, swimming, pickleball, badminton, cycling, tennis, volleyball and badminton. Apart from the fitness and movement goal, I try to stay consistent with practicing each sport as it is a medium for improving daily. For example, I start my daily exercise routine with shooting basketball drills and the more I shoot, the more I know I can get better.

401: The Man who Ran 401 Marathons in 401 Days and Changed his Life Forever by Ben Smith.

November 1, 2023 In Biographies 8 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

401: The Man Who Ran 401 Marathons in 401 Days and Changed His Life Forever is the story of Ben Smith, a marathon runner who completed 401 marathons in 401 days in England between 2015 and 2016. Ben was bullied as a child and he attempted to commit suicide as a result of that experience. As an adult, he was dissatisfied with the way he was living until he discovered his passion for running. He decided to run 401 marathons in 401 days, raise money for charity, and find himself in the process.

By the end of the run, Ben raised £330,000 for two anti-bullying charities Kidscape and Stonewall, and ran over 10,000 miles which is the equivalent of running from Syndey, Australia to London, England. During his run, Ben met and ran with 13,000+ people across England. He also Helen Rollason Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in 2016, In the book, Ben shares his struggle with bullying, mental health, divorce, and navigating the vicissitudes of life.

Running is just putting one foot in front of the other – that’s the simple bit – the hard part is choosing to go running in the first place. But once you make that choice, you can start putting distance between your old life and closing in on a new one.

The Mask we wear.

November 1, 2023 In Musings 8 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.” ― E.E. Cummings

Halloween is a worldwide celebration on the last night of October, on the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ or All Saints’ days. The word hallowe[‘]en is derived from the Scottish form of All Hallows’ Eve – “the evening before All-Hallows Day” ¹ Some popular Halloween activities include trick or treat, guiding, souling and most especially putting a mask in disguise. Just like the mask used during the Halloween celebration, most of us have a mask throughout our lives and days. We put on a mask to perform our different roles at work, at home, with family, friends and acquaintances. Depending on the circumstances, we constantly disguise changing the mask to fit the situation we are in leading to inconsistency in our behaviour and action.