As I sit to typing this, the only song ringing nonstop in my head is Fireboy DML’s Champion. "Fireboy" what a corny name to call yourself.. like imagine a hypeman announcing my stage name to get the audience going and then he goes ladies and gentlemen, give it up for SSNNOOWW KKKIIIDDD. That would be a hilarious. I guess that’s the deal with Nigerian artiste and their stage names these days, get some cheesy ass stage name and get it to become a staple name in the mouths of everyone until they forget how corny it really sounds. No disrespect to Fireboy anyways I absolutely love his music, the young man's a genius and his sound is absolutely. Hmm maybe I'll do an album review post one of these days. Oh I got tones of material to talk about for sure but let’s reserve that until the time is right.
Greetings all ye book lovers and Rugrats... Today I’m once againg going to be diving straight right into the hive book club and I will be continuing my book review series of the three books I am currently reading. Like I mentioned in my last book review post, I’m currently reviewing these books chapter by chapter each week cause that's the only way I can finish all three of them in quick time and before the year runs out. Once more I would like to appreciate 
The Total man by Dan Benson: The Solid Foundation (Chapter 3)
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These days almost everyone and everything sounds right if you market it to the right people it’s like you go into the internet and you see all manner of advice as good and all motivation as empowering, all of them targeted to those who agree with them and to the ones who don't agree with them there's contrary quotes to back up their arguments. It all just seems like truth is mixed up and thrown out the window and anything goes as long it makes you happy. In the end however results eventually seperate truth from the lies. One of such common misconceptions that has been misplaced as truth is the belief that money and riches are the key to success and once anyone acquires them then the person gains peace and happiness automatically. This is not absolutely, there is some truth in there but it is not absolute. The truth is that financial success does not equate to complete happiness, peace and fulfillment . They only come from having the right foundation, the right foundation being the wellness of your mind, your body, your social life (your relationship with people) and your spiritual life (your relationship with God).
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You know now that I look back reflecting on this chapter, I can say that the solid foundation basically talks about the four relationships that will guarantee happiness and they are your relationship with your environment (your body), your relationship with yourself (your mind), your relationship with others (your society) and your relationship with your maker (your spirit). The mastery of these four relationships will give anyone true success. As Dan Benson calls it these are the four fulfillment needs we must all meet and they are what make one successful. Like Jesus we must excel in wisdom, stature, favor with God and favor with Men. The solid foundation to success in life is simply a balanced personal life because it is from a balanced personal life that we live the best versions of ourselves, do our best work and find happiness.For me this chapter strikes a chord in me because honestly I always believed that my fulfillment and my success comes from my work and the reward I get from it but this chapter made me understand how fulfillment really comes from the mastery of these four areas. In the next chapter talks about time management but I'll discuss that at length in my next post. So on to the next book
David; A man of passion and destiny by Charles R. Swindoll: A Nobody, Nobody noticed
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This rather short chapter focuses on the early life of David including the first time he is mentioned in the Bible. Like I said last week this particular book is a Christian book which draws lessons from the life of David. Chapter 2 covers the events of 1 Samuel chapter 15 verses 16-34 which detail King Saul’s disobedience and his eventual rejection by God and the events of 1 Samuel chapter 16 which covers the anointing of David as king in Saul’s place. This chapter point out the contextual narratives of these two stories and it helps us understand the true circumstances surrounding these events and the numerous lessons to be learnt from them. From the need to dispel pride from our hearts, to the futility of worrying about situations when God already knows what to do about them. God is never caught by surprise it is we who are caught by surprises, we are the ones who don’t know what to do when unforeseen circumstances come our way he’s going to do and we must learn to trust him.
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Thirdly we can only see things from one dimension while God sees things from multiple dimensions and his choice is the best and finally his choice is what’s best for us. We see this example in 1 Samuel 16;6 where we see the story of Samuel anointing a king to replace Saul. He sees David’s eldest brother and assumes right away that he is the one who is meant to be king but then gets stopped by God where he is informed of a great lesson. Man sees things externally while God sees things internally. The lesson here is that it is truly the ones whom we don’t expect that hold the greatest potential and we can only see things from one angle we usually don’t see the whole picture especially when it comes to how we view people. The people with the highest looking potentials are the ones we believe in but in the end time is what finally reveals to us the true nature of people. There are several more lessons to be learnt from this story and I do urge you to take out time to read the story and learn from it.
How to talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere by Larry King: Breaking the Ice
‘The people you are talking to will enjoy the conversation more if they see you are presenting yourself as someone who’s enjoying the conversation too regardless of whether or not you consider yourself as their equal’.
This chapter opens up by discussing about useful tips to help start conversations and keep them going. Everyone is a talker it would seem but only when they see need to talk and only when you steer up the right topic to discuss. As a good conversationalist you need to find out what people like to talk about and steer conversations in that direction while doing it in such a manner where both of you can find something interesting and find common ground. This is how you ‘break the ice’ when you speak with strangers for the first time, by luring them to into discussing what they want. Then there are pointers for a good conversation from the 'openers' you use to start a conversation, to how you should frame yes and no questions if you find yourself unable to avoid them. Speaking about the openers, the chapter encourages us to start conversations on general things that affect everyone. It could either be the weather or a popular event as long as it is something light that you can use to get a response. I personally enjoy talking about football not necessarily because I’m good at it but more so because I really enjoy the game.
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The next pert of this chapter focuses on the need to listen, not just hear but listening attentively. People are far more interested in talking themselves than they are taking about other things and the only way to get them to listen to you is by listening to them talk. If you listen to people while they talk you would learn more about them and in the process you would have more to talk about all the while making your conversation much more interesting. I love how he summarizes this subtitle ‘A person’s toothache means more to that person than a famine in China which kills more than a million people and boil on one’s neck is of more interest to a person that forty earthquakes in Africa’. The final three parts of this chapter which are body language, eye contact and taboos talk about the other aspects that make conversations work. Things such as eye contact and body language should be natural and not forced because if we force them then they would be as obvious as speaking in an accent you are trying to imitate but no nothing about and that’s just weird. Finally there is the need to be relevant in the things you speak to people about so as to keep conversations fresh and engaging. We live in the information age and data is transmitted all over the world in split seconds and so as a good conversationalist you must be up to date in the things you discuss with people.
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Alright guys this is the best I can do for this week. I hope to see you next week and I hope you too pick up a book to read just like I have learnt to do. See y'all next time.
