We'll Decide Later

Once I was chatting to my friend in the foyer of our church in London when she brought up her summer plans and her desire to attend the Afro Nation festival (I know, I know). I had never been to Afro Nation but I was familiar enough with the concept of it to hold a conversation. That was until she stopped me saying,  Um, babe, it's actually 'Afro Nation' For you see, I had been referring to it as AFRONTATION.  Like I said, I had never been interested in the festival and had only heard people speak of it in passing. So I thought it was called "Afrontation" and that the auditory effect was just Britons speaking the way Brits speak. Boy, was I wrong! I am a brown-skinned person but on that spot, I blushed deep shades of scarlet, crimson and beet. My embarrassment was to the maximum! Which is weird considering that it was an honest mistake and my friend was utterly unfazed as she smoothly corrected me and moved on. But I kept on getting flashbacks to that moment of co...

"You cannot confine change to only one area of your life" One of the reasons we tire so soon of the dedication we make to improvement is that we overwhelm ourselves by taking on too much too soon; we try to make drastic changes- utter 180 degree turns without concession. Because we haven't built up the muscle or discipline to maintain such changes, we inevitably fail. Such woeful failures quickly build up until we're disillusioned and less inclined to try. 1. Your 1+1 Really Equals 2 A much better way would be to improve in small increments, exchanging our worst vices for less severe vices until all our bad habits are slowly phased out.  2. Spring Clean your House for Change Another tip is to slowly make your life a more conducive environment to improvement. One way to do this is to commit to making better choices all around. Remember that the aim is to make slow progress as quickly as possible. You need to recognise that progress is rarely isolated. You cannot confin...

When it comes to self-improvement and the help you’re likely to encounter from society along the way, the truth is that we often meet those opportunities with a grain of salt because there is an element of untruth to the kind of human saviour who only announces themselves perfect and refined, after the work of improvement has been done. As a mentor or motivational speaker, your entry argument, the stage upon which you stood when you coaxed your audience's attention and respect, was the similarity of your story to theirs. Don’t you think your work would be more effective if you allowed your mentees to see you in your actual struggles therefore? As long as your commitment to improvement is not superficial, you can rightfully make that accommodation, which doubles as an opportunity for voluntary self-exercise (or discipline). You'll be just as astute in the presence of speculation as without, wouldn’t you? So what does it matter if they watch? Especially since their observance of...