High-Impact Family Centre

THINK EFFICIENCY!

For some days, I have been contemplating the power of doing more with less and how we can increase our efficiency if only we can lower costs and find better alternatives.

Then I remembered an illustration of Jesus about the cost of discipleship:

"Have you ever heard of a commander who goes out to war without first sitting down with strategic planning to determine the strength of his army to win the war against a stronger opponent? If he knows he doesn't stand a chance of winning the war, the wise commander will send out delegates to ask for the terms of peace. (Luke 14:31-32, TPT).

There are three principles I could pick from meditating on this text:

1. Clarity. Commanders are clear on the goal they want to achieve - to defend their borders and protect their people and properties. You can only achieve efficiency if you know what the exact goal is. Otherwise, you may be majoring in the minor and minoring in the major.

2. Cost. Achieving your goal will cost you something: time, energy, effort, money, sweat, and blood. Spelling out the costs would help you know what you are up to and if expending so much of your mental and physical resources would be worth the pursuit.

3. Consideration. When you are clear on the costs, it is also critical to consider your options. The commander must be sure that he stands a chance with his army of 10,000 against 20,000 soldiers. How many of his soldiers would be lost in battle? How can he decimate his enemies without depleting his army? How long will the war last? Do they have the resources to sustain them for that long? If we are not going headlong, what are the peace terms? Is it a good bargain? Should we call for reinforcement from neighboring countries? What are the payoffs?

These three principles of clarity, costs, and considerations apply to all aspects of life, from education to work, relationships, business, and family life. We must always remember that everything comes with some costs. Wisdom then behooves that the cost is worth the returns. The lower the cost of achieving your result, the more prudent and efficient you are. The mere fact that you can afford it does not mean you have to spend it; it may be channeled to more productive endeavors.

Don't waste your youthful days. Don't waste your productive hours. Don't be reckless with your hard-earned money - let it work even harder for you. Don't be careless with organizational resources and properties - you may start your own business someday.

Like a commander does not have to get his men killed to prove a point, you don't have to kill your resources, too.

Ponder on this.

© Dele Ayo Bankole || 27.03.2024

What you need in a time of adversity is the right teachers. Their wisdom will guide you from making unnecessary turns and wasting your energy and resources.

Do you know your teachers? Can you recognize them? Do you have enough humility and presence of mind to learn from them?

Ponder on that 🤔

Faith delayed is weakened.

Just do it.

When God is trying to distil heavenly info into your spirit, don't be too quick to share with humans. They may eventually diffuse, dilute, discourage, or dismiss the concept.

Develop the discipline to brood over an idea long enough till it becomes substantial.

Once you have the mental prototype, it is then easy to build its physical equivalent which you can then share with people.

Ponder on that!

The soil says, "Bring me your seeds, not your needs." 🤔🤔🤔

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

Maya Angelou

As I wound down 2023, I had this strong nudge to revisit my first love - technology. Though I have kept the flames awake by ensuring I was constantly upskilling, this feeling was different. It was a push to find the connection between helping people find clarity and meaning in life and actively deploying technology to make it happen.

At this crossroads, I saw House Of Heroz's Tech Unlock Nigeria's advert, which is partnering with the World Bank to empower a new generation of tech enthusiasts for Africa. At first, I thought that age would be a barrier. But I was surprised when I got an email congratulating me on a successful application and inviting me to the press conference the following Monday.

Now, that was a close call. How do I take four weeks (two days a week, actually) off work at the beginning of the year? Incidentally, I was already in talks with my HR Business Partner on the skills to acquire in the year, and I told him about AI. At first, he was shocked because there seemed to be no "direct" connection between my role and technology. But when I told him I got a scholarship after some days, we then figured out that it may be possible for me to take some leave days off. And boom, that was it.

I am so grateful to the team at House of Heroz for conceiving the vision. And for the fantastic guys I met at the training. Thank you, David Ogebe (the CEO), Godswill Umoh (the facilitator), Chidiogor Eneh, Oluwasan T**i, Yejide Macaulay, Moses Emenyii, Ukeneye Catherine, Victor Uduma Jnr, and others.

I am looking forward to the magic we can create together.

Watch out on this space for more updates on my tech journey.

You can become and achieve more.

I believe in you!

DAB

Welcome to 2024.

Let's BLOSSOM together like never before.

I believe in you!

PONDER ON THIS...

Words are windows to the heart. Your most commonly used keywords and phrases reveal your mental state, personality, and life direction.

In your preparations for 2024, try to do a "Words Audit."

👉 What have you been saying about you, your family, career, business, economy, future, etc.?
👉 Do you like your present outcome or the direction your life is heading?
👉 What outputs and outcomes do you desire to see in the coming days?

Change your vocabulary, change your life.

Proverbs 18:20-21; Matthew 12:34-37; Ephesians 4:29

"Things are reshaped in a fire. At times, the fire will look like crisis and challenge. These lesser flames are meant to ignite the only burning that truly matters: the fire of love for Jesus."

Glenn Packiam

Going through the UCL table, I just observed that Man U scored the most goals (12) in Group A but is at the bottom of the group.

Why? They also conceded the most.

In Group F, Dortmund scored only 6 goals and are through to the next stage of the competition.

LESSON:
Life is not measured by the quantity of goals you achieve but by the quality.

As you pray and plan for 2024, may God open your eyes to that one important goal that will make the achievement of other goals easier for you.

Amen.

Hello Family 👨‍👨‍👦‍👦👨‍👩‍👦‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Here's wishing you a .

Go and smash your goals.






👫 Yemisi Oliyide Bankole
📷 Kelechi Benjamine Okpala

Join the conversation tomorrow.

12:05 WAT

WORK, WORSHIP, WORTH

Hello dear,

Ponder on this extract from the Bible for a moment:

ʷʰᵃᵗᵉᵛᵉʳ ʸᵒᵘ ᵈᵒ [ʷʰᵃᵗᵉᵛᵉʳ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵗᵃˢᵏ ᵐᵃʸ ᵇᵉ], ʷᵒʳᵏ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵒᵘˡ [ᵗʰᵃᵗ ⁱˢ, ᵖᵘᵗ ⁱⁿ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵛᵉʳʸ ᵇᵉˢᵗ ᵉᶠᶠᵒʳᵗ], ᵃˢ [ˢᵒᵐᵉᵗʰⁱⁿᵍ ᵈᵒⁿᵉ] ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰᵉ ˡᵒʳᵈ ᵃⁿᵈ ⁿᵒᵗ ᶠᵒʳ ᵐᵉⁿ,(Colossians 3:23 AMP)

The simple deduction I can make out of this is: ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ɪs ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴡᴏʀsʜɪᴘ ᴛᴏ ɢᴏᴅ.

Think about it: Whenever people truly want to worship God, they separate themselves from other activities, raise their hands in adoration, bow down in surrender, cry out in desperation, and open up in expectation.

One of the channels we can also express our worship to God is through our work.

To do your best work:

1. sᴇᴘᴀʀᴀᴛᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀsᴇʟғ
There is a term I coined some years back, _Selective Focus_. This is the art of picking your task one at a time, and giving it all the attention it deserves till you are done. Then you can move to the next one. You cannot do your best when your mind is clogged with too many tasks.

2. sᴜʀʀᴇɴᴅᴇʀ ʏᴏᴜʀsᴇʟғ.
I read a book a while back, _Accidental Genius_. In the book, the author explained how writing can lead people to discover things they've never even thought of. As you work, keep your mind flexible and surrender to the flow of creativity. When new thoughts come, don't discard them because they don't align with your initial objectives.

3. sᴀᴠᴏᴜʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴍᴇɴᴛ.
The moment is the only thing you have. When the future you have always dreamt of comes, it becomes the moment. If you cannot make the most of your work (which is what you do in the moment), you will also lack the capacity to create the future.

Remember, your work is your worship. And what you worship determines your worth.

Do have a refreshing weekend.

I believe in you!

DAB

In my early teenage years, I could remember vividly one day my friends and I chased a goat around the street until we got to a close and there was no space for the goat to run to. Of course, it turned around and faced us.

Whether the goat was going to fight us, or it was going to struggle to find its way through us, none of us waited to solve that riddle. 😂😂😂

As I ponder on this experience today, I believe that's the same way life treats so many of us...

We keep running around because there is space for us to wriggle our way through, till there is "no way" out.

In size, we were all bigger than the goat and even outnumbered it. But in strength and essence, we did not have what it takes to hold it down.

Dear , can I challenge you today like the goat to pause for a moment and reconsider what you've been running away from.

That situation may appear big and numerous, but I can assure you that in strength and essence, you can defeat it if only you will turnaround and confront it.

You're a winner.

I believe in you!

DAB

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...

How was at your end?

Insecurity is one of the ills ravaging our world today, especially that is almost crippling economic activities in .

And what is this really?

Creating chaos and sorrow for other children and families to put smiles on the faces of our own children and family.

If someone can just pause and think for a second, they will realize one thing...

ACTUALLY, WE ARE ALL RELATED.

☕🥪

Trends go as fast the events that create them.

But one thing never fails: "GOD SAYS..."

What promise of/from God are you holding onto this moment? Never let go because His promises will most certainly happen, howbeit in due season.

Sometimes, we feel like the world around us is in a chaotic mess, and it's all gloom and doom. And other times, this feeling can be deep within.

One mistake people make is to fight the darkness, wish it was never there, or begin to complain about it. However, this only deepens, prolongs, and spreads the darkness to others.

To come into a state of bliss, of BE-ing, we must align with the spirit. This means you come into a state of non-resistance, and allow yourself to experience all that the darkness has come to teach you. This way, your spirit is trained to master and to live above and beyond the darkness.

Then you can see the darkness for what it truly is, a taskmaster designed by Providence to guide you into The Light.

Able God.

Where are you going?

As the new week opens up and the first quarter wraps up, it is important to ask oneself this all-important question,

"Where am I going?"

It is difficult to recognize the resources around you, and the answers to your many other life questions till you can resolve this bit of where exactly you are headed.

Someone said, speed is of no relevance when headed in the wrong direction.

Don't be like Thomas who couldn't decipher the Messiah despite working with Him for about 3 years.

Now answer that question:

Where are you going?

Ponder on that.

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Don't rob Peter to pay Paul.

++++++++++

Many people are zealous in ensuring that their children do not go through moments of pain and lack. This is a laudable quest.

But where many get it wrong is in making other children to experience pain, lack, suffering, etc, to prevent their own from same.

Fact: What goes around comes around.

Let's end this cycle of hatred, killings, deprivations, desperation, revenge, etc.

+++±++++++++++

How? You'll ask

Let's train our children to create and offer value by showing them through our own way of life.

Forcefully taking away the means of livelihood of others, or reducing their options for survival is not a good strategy.

Let's make a better world.

I believe in you.

++++++++++++++

We are always in the process of becoming. Our mental state is the refinery that determines how we process the "raw materials" life throws at us, what products we can make out of them, and the level of purity and/or usefulness.

Every problem comes with it an equal or greater equivalent of opportunity.

We can focus on the problem and get overwhelmed and incapacitated. And we can shift to the opportunities, develop wings, and move on higher.

What do you choose?

Don't over-analyze.

That sense of wonder when you see God intervene in difficult situations.

Just because it's still and I have a who the

We keep

Love you babe. 🥰🥰🥰