Articles I read

• I don't have an article to share this week, even though I have been reading a lot for my job over the last two weeks. I am currently working through a 21-Day training program called Connectology. It's normally a paid course, but I got free access to it due to my selection into the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) Class of 2024. I highly recommend taking the course (it's worth the money), and I will be sharing one of my learnings from the course later in this email.

Media I consumed

• I found out this week that the world renowned, best quality leather known as "Italian leather" is actually made in Nigeria! Details in the video below.

Spiritual Lessons

In a video series, I spoke about goal setting using "be goals" rather than "do goals". This means that instead of creating a to-do list of things you want to do, you define who you want to become. Please watch my videos for a detailed break down of this concept. In the Connectology course I am taking right now, our instructor, Kamil Olufowobi, spoke about this concept in a way that struck a chord with me: using a Bible verse from Genesis, the beginning and foundation of life.

Genesis 1:28 (KJV) "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion..."

Kamil pointed out how most people get the order of priority wrong. Most people have a "Have Do Be" order. "I want to have money, so that I can do so and so thing, and then I will be a so and so type of person". But God said "Be fruitful, then do what fruitful people do (multiply), and then have dominion". You see, the correct order is "Be Do Have"! You don't become a wife because you have a husband. You become a wife first, then you do the things that a wife does, and then you will attract (have) a husband! That's why the Bible words it so Proverbs 18:22 (KJV) "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a goodthing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD." She was a wife before he found her! This mindset is very powerful and can transform a person's life. It is a mindset I already had (seeing as I did a whole video series on it) but seeing it highlighted in the scripture this way just brought it back home for me with even more gravitas.

Finally, observant people may have noticed that I didn't send out any newsletter email last week. That's because I was ill on Tuesday, the day I normally send these emails. I was ill because the previous Monday, something had made me extremely sad and the sadness was deep enough to shut down my body physically, so that I became dizzy while working on Tuesday and had to vomit twice. I spent the rest of the day recovering in bed. The ailment came from within, not from outside of me. It reminded me of why I have to protect my emotional and mental health. If that is gone, the physical health will go too. It always starts from within.