A Village in Afghanistan

You can hide someone here for years without him being discovered. Mennnnnnnnnnnnnn!

Making Success Last - The S Principle

Each S in the diagram represents the processing of a resource. If you observe closely, you will see that the base of the first S is flat. It shows the high difficulty index you will have to overcome when you start your initial resource’s processing. There’ll be mistakes to make, uncharted courses (at least to you) to chart, many expenses and the costs associated with breaking your product into the consciousness of people. The takeoff may be slow, as shown by the flat base, but if you diligently persevere and are innovative, it will not be long before you get to the second phase of the first S. you notice that there is a rapid rise in value and profitability. Many things come to you here. Fame, recognition, financial returns, social connections and so on. This is where many people miss it. This is the critical point where differentiation between the flash-in-the-pan successes and those whose success will be sustainable becomes evident through the behaviors they exhibit. To ensure that success is secured and sustained, rather than living it up, learn to channel the earlier mentioned resources into building up another resource or group of resources. The success of the first one will be a support to the new resource(s) and will provide the needed recognition and experience to make the takeoff of the new resources easier. Hence unlike in the first S where the base was flat, the second S’s base rises from the onset. This shows that profit and returns on investment come quicker and are usually greater for than for the initial resource. Risk is also minimized because it is spread amongst multiple resources. You then repeat the S-Principle until you now have a diverse processing set. That’s what nations like America and Japan have done that has made them the envy of the world today. That’s what businesses like Dangote Industries have done and they have become continental businesses. Music stars have done it continually. What they have all done is that they made successes of their initial resource, in the case America agriculture, in Dangote’s case imports and in the musicians’ case their music. They then continue to reinvest their success on newer, more up to date resources and end up making a dynasty of success. If they could do it, then you can do much more. It’s really up to you.

For My Baby on Her Bday

Aint she just an Angel!

Why do athletes lose their money so quickly???

Almost 80 percent of National Football League players are flirting with bankruptcy two years after they retire, according to Sports Illustrated. NBA players aren’t faring much better. 60 percent of former National Basketball Association players end up broke within five years of retirement. Athletes squander millions of dollars due to bad decisions, lavish spending and poor financial planning. Here is a list of athletes that have lost their fortunes through some of the biggest financial blunders of all time.


Scottie Pippen

Known more for his on court defense than his off court business sense, former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen lost $120 million in career earnings due to poor financial planning and bad business ideas. Air Jordan’s sidekick blew $27 million on bad investments and spent $4.3million on a Gulfstream II corporate jet.

Lenny Dykstra

Former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies star Lenny “Nails” Dykstra was a success on the baseball diamond, but in the business field Dykstra has struck out. Dykstra’s failed businesses include car washes, a magazine company, real estate investing and a stock trading website. According to Dykstra’s July 2009 bankruptcy filing, he owed more than $30 million to creditors, including his $18.5 million purchase of Wayne Gretzky’s home. The amazing part is that after two foreclosed homes and numerous failed businesses Dykstra is offering the investment advice that led him into bankruptcy for a mere $899 a year! In the investment world, it is often said that past history does not dictate future performance. Nevertheless, it’s pretty clear Dykstra isn’t the guy to go to for advice.

Latrell Sprewell

Look up the word “shortsighted” in the dictionary and you will see a picture of Latrell Sprewell. He famously turned down a $21 million contract because he said it wasn’t enough money to feed his family. Sprewell, who made over $96 million during his career, lost his $1.5 million dollar Italian yacht, named “Milwaukee’s Best”, in 2007. According to MSNBC, a U.S. marshal seized the yacht after Sprewell defaulted on his mortgage. His $5.4 million house went into foreclosure in May 2008. Don’t blame Sprewell for turning down the three-year, $21 million contract though. I mean really, who could live off a measly $7 million a year?


John Daly

Two-time PGA major champ John Daly gambled away between $50 and $60 million in career earnings, according to his 2006 autobiography. Daly once lost $1.65 million in five hours playing the slot machines at a casino. If you think that’s impressive, there’s more. Daly blew $1.2 million in a mere two hours and 30 minutes at a casino in Las Vegas. He just had his $1.6 million house foreclosed on. Did Daly quit gambling after blowing so much cash at the casino tables? Not by a long shot. Instead, he decided to downgrade from the $5,000 slot machines to the $100 and $500 machines. It looks in John Daly’s world, that is considered sound financial planning.

Jack Clark

Former professional baseball slugger Jack Clark was driven into bankruptcy in 1992 by his appetite for luxury cars. According to his bankruptcy filing, he owned 18 luxury automobiles, including a $700,000 Ferrari and a Rolls Royce. Clark was trying to pay 17 car notes simultaneously, and whenever he got bored with a car he would get rid of it and just buy another one. He ended up losing million-dollar homes and his drag-racing business because of his extravagant spending habits, but despite one of the most publicized bankruptcies in baseball, Clark reportedly got back on his feet in the late ’90s.

Evander Holyfield

Four-time boxing champ Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield reportedly made over $250 million in cash during his boxing career, but despite this he reportedly is flat broke. Holyfield lost all his money by making “smart” business decisions look really foolish. You thought buying a house was a smart move? It normally is, but not when you buy a house the size of Rhode Island. Holyfield bought a $20 million house with over 54,000 square feet and 109 rooms. The house has 11 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, a movie theater, a bowling alley and an Olympic-size swimming pool. Imagine how much it must cost to cut the grass on all 235 acres! You could buy a Range Rover with the electric bill payment alone.


Mike Tyson

The king of them all is boxer Mike Tyson, who squandered a $350 million to $400 million dollar fortune. So what did “Iron” Mike spend his fortune on? Everything. He dropped half a million dollars on a 420-horsepower Bentley Continental SC with lamb’s wool rugs, a phone and a removable glass roof. It is one of only 73 Bentley Continental SCs ever built. The sad part is that’s not even the only Bentley that Tyson owned! He spent over $4.5 million dollars on cars alone. Throw in a $2 million dollar bathtub and $140,000 for two Bengal tigers and you can see why Tyson’s fortune is down for the count. He filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

Flower Principle: PROCESS

The flower’s value does not lie in its present but in its future. It can become a tree. But how does the flower move from being a mere small flower into a big tree.

The journey starts with pollen from the anthers of the flowers being carried by the pollinators to other flowers so that fertilization of the eggs in the stigma can occur. A period of incubation when fertilized eggs send little roots into the belly of the flower follows. Time then elapses when the flower transforms, with the outer parts forming the fruit and the inner parts forming the seed. The flower has come a long way in its journey to becoming a tree but it is not there yet. The seed must then be planted and nurtured. Over time, it then grows up into a tree. It may take a few days or a hundred years, depending on the species of the plant.

Well, what do you think? Seems like such a long way for the flower to go in order to fulfill its purpose. That is what we call process. The flower has to go through a series of events that transform it into a tree. Even if it goes through 95% of the process, it will only become almost a tree, never a tree. Going 100% all the way is called staying power.

A wise man once said that the wealthiest place on earth is the graveyard. The greatest of potential is found buried with the occupants of the graves. It is process that transforms the minutest of potential into the most opulent of fulfilled purpose. No matter how great potential is, it will be useless if it is not processed. The poorest of nations in the world are amongst those that have the greatest potential to be rich. They are poor because they do not process their potential into wealth. Your greatest value will only be realized when your potential today is processed into your purpose tomorrow. People respect potential but they respect maximized potential more.

You must discover what needs to be done with what you have for that which you have to become that which you should have.

Even Jesus, our divine argument was made through process – even the son learnt …by the things he suffered. Samson did not really go through process, having strength entrusted upon him from birth. He truncated his life’s journey prematurely. Process breaks, moulds, remolds and brings about the required you.