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6 Simple Ways to Stay in Shape this Year

Seun Tayo-Balogun
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Tired of old boring gym routine? The 6 simple ways listed below can help you stay healthy and in shape through 2014.

  • Eat breakfast – Ensure you have a substantial breakfast which includes some protein and fat, and aim to eat it within an hour of getting up.

This will help your body to maintain balanced blood sugar levels and that’s key in order to reduce your cravings.

And do yourself a big favour, skip the fruit juice – it plays havoc with your blood sugar levels.

  • Get active – Find an activity that you enjoy and actually look forward to, such as cycling, dancing, running or yoga – and do it twice a week.

Current research suggests sitting for long periods can increase the risk of heart disease, weight gain and diabetes, so if you’re office based ensure you get up several times a day and take a walk. For example, instead of using the elevator, use the stairs; if you are chauffeur driven, get off the car some miles away before you get home and take a walk. Dancing is also fun, you could dance within the comfort of your home – the important thing is that we stay active and on the move.

  • Protein – Include some with all meals and snacks: think eggs, chicken, fish, pulses, nuts and seeds, approximately the size of your palm.

This will slow down the insulin response and help keep your weight stable.

  • Get into green tea – Replace some of your tea and coffee with green tea. It is rich in polyphenols, a powerful antioxidant that will not only help to keep you healthy but may also slow down the ageing process as may encourage faster metabolism.

Start with two cups a day and experiment by adding fresh mint and a slice of lemon.

  • Eat your way to slim by cutting back on carbohydrates such as potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, biscuits – and ensure you load your plate up with healthy seasonal vegetables instead.

Make them interesting by stir-frying, sautéing, baking in the oven, adding garlic and chilli – whatever works for you.

  • One final tip… Include mushrooms in your diet. They contain powerful compounds called beta glucans which have long been studied for their immune enhancing properties
  • You have to be realistic – Rome wasn’t built in a day. A healthy approach is to aim to improve on yesterday. By repeating this process you will start to feel like you have made great improvements over a course of weeks, months and years. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle was apt when he said:

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

The suggestions above are tested and proven. Amanda Ryder, Sandra Lackenby and Garry Kerr, Cambridge food and fitness experts couldn’t agree more. In addition, from our experience, taking green tea, cutting down on all the fave Nigerian staples (bread, rice, pasta, etc) and the popular artificial juice and eating lots of vegetables will help maintain a balanced weight and can aid weight loss.

Research also tells us that Food is 90% of the health and fitness battle. You can make great changes just through making small adjustments to your eating habits alone. By eating a regular mix of proteins, fats and carbohydrates you will reap the benefits of a slimmer and healthier you.

Each of us can work towards a healthier us. And there are many great benefits of being healthy – these include having more energy, easier breathing, better sleep, reduced risk of cancers, more stamina, lower risk of heart disease and of type two diabetes.

As always, we will like to read from you – tell us what works for you and what doesn’t so others can learn from your experience.

Cheers to a happier and healthier you in 2014.

xx

STB

When the sun comes up this New Year, you had better be running.

Seun Tayo-Balogun
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It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you had better be running.

Go on and shine this year.  Yes go on shine. You ask how?

With all the infinite power behind you, the endless possibilities before you, the boundless opportunities around you, you have all it takes to shine.

Come to think of it, you are equipped with something unique – you might not have the Arnold Schwarzenegger kind of strength, or the oratory gifting that Obama has, but you are different, you were born for a special purpose. Go put those strengths to work this year.

Even when you think you might want to give up. DON’T. But rather keep moving. Mistakes are allowed. But quitting, nay. There is no defeat except in no longer trying.

Because, a year from now you might wish you started today. Today is your day.

This year is your year. It is your year to shine.

Don’t settle for a life than the one you are capable of living – (Mandiba).

Yes, there will be obstacles. In fact there is more likely to be obstacles than a smooth sail. Your responsibility is to see beyond the obstacles, and rather put the end in mind and let the joy of happy-ending be your guide. As Leonardi Da-vinci puts it, 

“obstacles cannot crush me… he who is fixed to the star does not change his mind.”

This also requires that you stay motivated even when the numbers don’t make much sense. Zig Ziglar was apt when he wrote,

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.

Putting the end in mind is one surefire way to help you stay motivated.

Don’t stop over small successes, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t celebrate small victories, but you have to know that success is a continuing thing. It is never final.

So my friends, when the sun comes up in 2014, you had better be running. Go on and shine this year.

I wish you all the best year each of us has ever lived in good health.

God bless and be with you all.

Silence is Golden

Seun Tayo-Balogun
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I was blessed by this – and I can’t agree more.

When somenone is going through a storm, your silent presence is more powerful than a million empty words

– Thema Davies

This devotional is published in the Zondervan Women’s devotional bible.

There’s no how to manual describing what to say or do for someone who has suffered a great loss. A mother loses a child to disease, a wife loses a husband to divorce, a family loses their home to fire. What do you say?

Job was suffering. All of his children, servants, flocks were gone. His health and well being were decimated. Job’s wife bitterly responded, “Curse God and die!” As much as she, too, must have been suffering, Job’s wife talked too much too soon.

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, came to see him, the Bible tells us that Job had been disfigured by grief. Job’s friends wept aloud, tore their robes and threw dust into the air – the ancient mourning rituals for death or tragic loss. For seven days and night they did not utter a word. They simply sat beside him in silence.

Later on, Job’s friends tried to explain away his misfortune and wrongly blamed Job. But at the beginning, they got it right by recognizing that nothing they could day could assuage his grief. Here, they offered him not words but the comfort of their presence.

When we encounter friends who have suffered great loss, it is easy to drop off a casserole, send a sympathy card or say “call me if you need anything.” We often rely on pat answers. “God knows best; all things work together for good.” Sometimes we speak too much too soon. Maybe we’re fearful in the presence of others’ pain, so we babble about meaningless things. Sometimes we’re fearful of the roiling emotions lurking below the surface, so we don’t even make contact.

Perhaps Job’s friends stumbled onto one key to mourning with those who mourn: Have the wisdom to know when to talk and when to stay silent. Solomon said, “there is a time for everything…. A time to weep and time to laugh… a time to be silent and a time to speak” (Ecc 3;1,4,7). You can pray for the wisdom to realize when your presence will speak louder than words. Your presence says, I’m here for you. I love you. I am waling through this valley with you.”

The next time you find yourself eye-to-eye with someone in grief, don’t worry about what you will say. God will give you words to speak and the wisdom to know when to keep silent.

 Text to read: Job 2: 9-13

7 Qualities of Skillful Leadership by Jim Rohn

Seun Tayo-Balogun
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7 Qualities of Skillful Leadership by Jim Rohn

All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective

This one got me. I like the way Jim Rohn described each qualities by noting what quality leaders shouldn’t have to be or do.

He tells us that every quality leader need to develop the following 7 qualities.

  1. Be strong but not rude. Don’t mistake rudeness for strength. It’s not even a good substitute.
  2. Be kind but not weak. Don’t mistake kindness for weakness.
  3. Be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. A leader must be ready to take the first step.
  4. Be humble, but not timid. You can’t get to the high life by being timid. He described humility as a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we’re part of the stars. So humility is a virtue; but timidity is a disease. Timidity is an affliction. Leaders who want to be great can’t afford to be timid.
  5. Be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to win the day. It takes pride to build your ambition, but the key to becoming a good leader is being proud without being arrogant.  
  6. Develop humor without folly.  In leadership, it’s okay to be witty, but not silly. It’s okay to be fun, but not foolish.
  7. Lastly, deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony. Just accept life like it is. Life is unique. Some people call it tragic, but I’d like to think it’s unique. The whole drama of life is unique. It’s fascinating.

 

 

Some Iyanla Vanzant’s thoughts that inspired me this week….

Seun Tayo-Balogun
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The thoughts below inspired me.

We are responsible for creating in our lives the conditions we desire. As such, we are required to think and speak responsibly, to act responsibly, and ultimately to take responsibility for what we think, say, and do. Responsibility gives you a sense of vision, clarity, and purpose which will assist you in learning and mastering all of life’s lessons.

The universe brings to us other people who show us who and what we are. If we do not understand what is really going on or recognize the lessons we must learn, we mistake our own issues as the shortcomings of others.

We are powerful, even when we do not mean to be. Our thoughts create. Our words create. Our actions have a rippling effect on everything and everyone with whom we come into contact with. Whatever is going on in your life has its roots in what is going on in your mind.

When we find ourselves in the same situation repeatedly as a result of our conditioned responses, we must stop and do a new thing. The situation may look different. The route we take there may be altogether different. The lesson we must learn does not change. Get honest! Pay attention! Change what you do to create a change for yourself!

And this prayer:

Today is a God day. God will do everything you can’t do. God will help you do the things you can. God will listen when you talk, talk when you listen. God will resolve any conflict, handle all problems, resolve any conflict. Your only task today is to stay out of God’s way. P.S. Don’t forget to say thank you.

xx

STB

When hope is gone, Life is gone.. but God is in control over broken hopes

Seun Tayo-Balogun
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This article was culled from the book “God Built” by Steve Farrar.  I am blessed by the book. I hope you enjoy this piece and know that whatever situation you find yourself, you don’t give up. God is in control. He has a plan for you.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  Romans 5:5 (NIV) 

Hope is the pillar that holds up the world.” – Pliny the Elder

Howard Head was a lousy athlete who radically changed two sports: skiing and tennis. And it was all because of his broken hope to be a capable athlete. Howard had wanted to be a good skier since he was a kid. But because of his poor athletic ability, just about every time he tried to tackle a slope, he wound up breaking wood skis. Even so, he held on to the hope of one day becoming a skillful skier.

That hope may have looked pretty faint to Howard at times, but not faint enough to keep him from trying something that seemed crazy at the time. The more Howard thought about it, the more he convinced himself that his problem with skiing wasn’t his skills on the slope, it was the skis! So in 1941 Howard Head, who was a brilliant engineer, took $6,000 in poker winnings, and focused his entire life on building skis out of air-craft materials. His friends thought he was nuts. Everyone knew the best skis were made out of hickory. Undaunted, Howard invested several years developing a composite ski that was virtually unbreakable- and the skiing world was changed forever.

Head skis became dominant company in the industry. Eventually, Howard Head sold his company and became a multimillionaire. Along the way, he also realized his dreams of becoming a better skier. Now rich and retired, Howard built a tennis court in his backyard and spent $5,000 on tennis lessons. But once again, his lack of athletic ability seemed to stymie him. He bought a ball machine to help him practice on his own, but he became convinced that the prince ball machine could be improved. So he bought the company and spent months improving the machine. Within a very short time, his improved ball machine captured 50 percent of the market. But he was still a lousy tennis player. Then it dawned on him that his trouble might be with the racquet. He should make it bigger.

NMAH Archives Center Howard Head Papers 0589 Box 1 Folder 12 Howard Head peeking through a display of Head Skis

Once again, his friends thought he was nuts- it was against the rules to have a bigger racquet. Howard Head looked up the rules and discovered that there were no regulations on the size of the racquet. As far as the rules were concerned, you could play tennis with a waffle iron. So he began to work on an oversized racquet that was two inches wider and three inches longer. He personally played with it, amazing even himself at the improvement in his game. After much trial and error and extensive tests in the lab, Howard eventually had test results that proved the sweet spot of his racquet was 20 percent greater than a normal racquet.

The prince racquet became the gold standard in tennis, and in 1982 Howard Head sold prince Tennis for $62 million. Because he had virtually no hope of becoming a better tennis player unless he improved the equipment, Howard Head did just that. And everyone benefited.

When most people lose hope, however, it’s usually about things significantly more important- and nearer to the heart-than skiing or tennis. How important is hope? It’s a fact of life that a man can live without water for only several days, and without food for a matter of weeks. But nothing kills the heart of a man more than the absence of hope. When hope is gone, life is gone.

The Wisdom to Make a Difference

Seun Tayo-Balogun
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Inspiration from the book “THE INFLUENCER: THE POWER TO CHANGE ANYTHING” by Kerry Patterson et al

We’ve all almost certainly heard of the serenity prayer, and perhaps have said it at some point in our life. Just in case you don’t remember the prayer, here it is: ‘Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference”

THE SERENITY TRAP
We’ve come to believe that when we face enormous challenges that can be solved by only influencing intractable behaviors, we might attempt a couple of change strategies. When they fail miserably, we surrender. It’s time to quit and move on. We turn our attention to things that are in our control. We seek serenity.

This would be a good tactic were it not for the fact that the problems we’ve listed- along with everything from changing the culture of an organization to limiting divorce – can be and have been resolved by someone somewhere. That’s right. There are actual people out there who- instead of continually seeking the “wisdom to know the difference”- have sought the wisdom to make a difference. And they’ve found it. They’ve discovered that when it comes to changing the world, what most of us lack is not the courage to change things, but the skill to do so.

The key step to changing anything is to think differently and then act differently. All the profound pervasive, persistent problems we face in our lives, in our companies, and our world can be solved. They can be solved because these problems don’t require solutions that defy the laws of nature; they require people to act differently.

So instead of pleading for the wisdom to know when to give up, we should be seeking to expand the list of things we can change so that we don’t need to seek serenity so often. We should be demanding the names and addresses of influencers who have found solutions to the problems we face every day.

WE’ RE BETTER AT COPING THAN AT EXERTING INFLUENCE
People tend to be better copers than influencers. In fact, we’re wonderful at inventing ways to cope. For instance, at work we abandon our quality-control program and install full-time inspectors. Nobody will listen. Instead of fixing lousy schools, we complain to our friends and then backfill by tutoring our children. It’s the best we can do.

THE WISDOM TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Over the last year U.S. airlines lost over $10 billion and shed tens of thousands of jobs. At the same time, Southwest Airlines racked up its 14th straight year of profits and double-digit growth. What do Southwest’s leaders do that others haven’t figured out? They engage everyone in doing more with less. They turn planes faster at the gates. They treat customers better. And they get a higher percentage of bags and passengers to arrive at the same location. In other words, they’ve perfected an  influence strategy that produces the behaviors that drive stellar results across their entire company.

While this has been going on in the business world, another influence genius in Dhaka, Bangladesh, helped over 4 million of the Developing World’s poor to emerge from poverty.

Likewise, thousands of previously overweight Americans declared victory in the battle of their bulges by developing sustainable influence strategies over their own unhealthy behaviors.

And finally, in Thailand alone, over 5 million people avoided contracting HIV because of a remarkably effective influence strategy developed by a quiet but enormously effective influence genius who has a lot to teach us. Read more on this here under Prime Minister, Anand Panyarachun. You may also check out this UNDP’s report on Thailand’s progress.

So there is hope. In a world filled with those content with seeking serenity, there are people who know exactly what it takes to exert influence over human behavior- and change the world in a good way.

We can all make a difference by avoiding the serenity-trap and praying to God instead for the wisdom to make a difference.

INSPIRING STORY: THE BOY WITH THE BACKWARD LEG

Seun Tayo-Balogun
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INSPIRING STORY: THE BOY WITH THE BACKWARD LEG

INSPIRING STORY: THE BOY WITH THE BACKWARD LEG

A 10 year old boy, Dugan Smith, diagnosed with cancer had his leg amputated at 11. He went through an unusual surgical procedure that allowed him to keep the remainder of his leg, but reattached backward – that way the cancer is cut out, but the nerve that controls the foot is intact by turning it around backward. According to the report, Dugan’s calf now acts as his thigh, his ankle acts as his knee and his foot acts as his shin bone. He also uses a prosthetic ankle and foot.

For Dugan, now 13, despite a slight limp and some lingering troubles with running, he is not giving up, he says “Never give up, because 90 percent of it is in your mind. Read the full story here.

Al Pacino’s transformation into Phil Spector: Lessons for Nollywood

Seun Tayo-Balogun
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You almost wouldn’t know the difference between Al Pacino, left,  and Phil Spector (a one time movie producer serving a 19 years to life jail term for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson).

AlPacino - left, Spector - Right
Al Pacino (Left) & Phil Spector (Right), Aug 2011

Late last year, it was announced that Al Pacino will take on the role of Phil Sector in HBO biopic movie – read more here.

Al Pacino & Spector as seen on ABC, July 7th 2011

Although the movie air date is not set yet, Al Pacino is already doing a pretty good Phil Sector.  To this, Courtney Hazzlet, says – “If the quality of the film relies heavily on Pacino’s ability to transform into Spector,  it has a good chance of doing well. “

Bringing it Home: Nollywood producers, actors and actresses need to learn from this: to play a role well, you have to be able to bring the role to life in all spheres – character, appearance, behavior, in talking, in reacting, in thinking and so on.  This requires immersing yourself in the role wholly by becoming the character you are playing. Doing that involves a lot more from majority of Nigerian actors, actresses and movie producers than they are currently giving.

Really to act well, you can’t just be yourself, you need to become the character you are playing.

As usual, we welcome your stories and musings. if you’ve got something to share, jump in…

XOXO

STB

Gorgeous Print Dresses by Duro Olowu

Seun Tayo-Balogun
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We love these maxi dresses, jump suit, ready to wear to work from Duro Olowu’s 2011 Spring/Summer Collection. They are simply gorgeous and bold in African Prints.


All images are from www.duroolowu.com.

Read Duro Olowu’s tale on Inspiration here or check Essense.com designer Spotlight on Duro Olowu here.

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