Discovering Myself...

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” ~Henry David Thoreau

A few months back, I decided to write a blog post every week. My commitment was public and because I pride myself as one who keeps her word, I have since then kept that commitment in my face. At first, it was a struggle to even remember to put writing the blog post in my weekly schedule. And when I did remember, it was yet another struggle to write it. I chose to keep my commitment.

My blog was to share my journey as I build my life by learning from books. I am not sure there is any time in my life that I am not reading a book. I always have a pile of books beside  my bed. I do not leave my home without a book in my handbag so that if I find myself waiting somewhere I have something to read. I will rather read a book than watch TV. So I felt blogging about my journey with books will be a breeze. Alas!!! That has not been the case.

In these few months, I have discovered a few things about myself. One discovery that has surprised me is this: Though I have read portions of very many books, I have completed only very few. And so I know bits about many subjects because I have skimmed many books, but I am not sure I can have a rich conversation about these books and their content.

Do I hear you say, "What does it matter?" I ask myself the same question.

Prior to blogging, I would have responded that it does not matter. However, the goal of my blog is to encourage others to develop a reading habit and enjoy books. To do that I have to read books to and not just skim through them.

Last week, I made another public commitment. I decided to start a 15 Minute A Day Reading Challenge from today August 1. I will choose a book, read it for 15 minutes each day, and stick with the same book until I complete it. All through this week, I have struggled with the choice of which of my many books, I should read. I have concluded that it doesn't matter which book I choose. What matters is that I stick to the plan. Arriving at that conclusion made it easy for me to write today's post.

And so starting from today, I will read from from 6pm to 6.15pm every day. My first book is Things I Wish I'd Known Before We Got Married by Gary Chapman.  If I read for just 15 minutes a day - every day, for one year - I can complete 20 books! I am excited, just thinking about it.

Hmmmmmmnnn! I set out to write one blog post a week. I am steadily approaching the achievement of that goal. But look! See what I am becoming by achieving my goal.

What goals have you set for yourself? What are you becoming by achieving that goal?

I'm at the Starting Block...

There is no elevator to success…you have to take the stairs. - Zig Ziglar

With an elevator, you can close your eyes and be taken up to a higher level. With taking the staircase, you have to focus on where you are going, you have to exert yourself to get to the higher level .

Last week, I renewed my commitment to read for 15 minutes everyday. Start date for implementation is August 1.  In preparation for taking action on this commitment, I have all of this week been looking at my activities plan with a view to choosing the specific 15 minutes of the day in which I will read.

Its amazing how very cluttered my life is that to find just 15 minutes to spare is tough. However, because my decision is public and because I like to be accountable, I have not given up on finding the time to read for 15 minutes daily. I realise now, that it is good that there is some time lag between when I made the commitment and when I am to start its implementation. The last one week and the remaining days of the month of July are affording me the privilege of thinking through my commitment and how best to implement it. If I were to have implemented the decision last week when I made it, I probably would have given up by now. I hear you asking me "Why?"

I'd have given up, because, I had not yet answered some important questions that are critical to helping me achieve the goal. Some of these are:

1. Which time of the day was I considering?

2. How would my current daily activity plan be affected by using this time differently?

3. What adjustments do I need to make to accommodate the expected changes?

4. Which book do I want to start with?

Not having answers to these questions meant that I was already falling down right from the starting block. I have learnt an important lesson. When I set a goal, that is just the first step. My current activity plan will require some adjustment to accommodate the steps that I will take in order to achieve the goal.  I need to ask and answer the questions:

• What are the small steps that will help me to achieve the goal? 
• How would my current daily activity plan be affected by implementing these steps? 
• What adjustments do I need to make to my present activity plan?

I have chosen two 15 minutes segment in my day for reading my book daily one in the morning and one in the evening. I chose two so that regardless of the pressures on my time, at the worst, I'll have 15 minutes daily, at best, I'll have 30 minutes daily.

If I read just 15 minutes a day - every day, for one year - I can complete 20 books! I am excited just thinking about it. 

Will it be easy? I'm not kidding myself that it will. But  I will give it my best effort. 

Will you join me in the 15 Minutes a Day Reading Challenge? Click here to find out more about it. Let me know in the comment box if you're accepting my invitation.

I'm Taking My Own Advice...

Advice is very easy to give to others but quite tough to implement in one's own life.

As a bookstore owner and a lover of books, I very often dish out advice to others with a view to encouraging them to give time to read good books. In 2013, I read a blog post on Lifelong Learning by Jen Harris and learnt that:

• If you read just one book per month for 12 straight months, you will be in the top 25 percentile of all intellectuals in the world!
• If you read five books on one subject, you are one of the world’s foremost leading authorities on that subject!
• If you read just 15 minutes a day — every day, for one year — you can complete 20 books!

Based on this discovery, on Hidden Treasures Bookstore's Facebook page, we invited our fans to  join our 15 Minutes A Day Reading Challenge. Here's how the challenge worked. Participants were to:

1. Choose a book to start with and get the book;

2. Choose a specific time in the day when they'll read the book EVERY day for 15 minutes, e.g.     6.00 - 6.15pm;

3. Start reading the book every day at the scheduled time;

4. When they finished reading the first book, take a second book and repeat the cycle;

5. Share their experiences (if they like) with us on our Facebook page as they go on this journey;

6. Invite their friends to do the same.

Since I resumed blogging about my experience reading books, I have done some self assessment and found that I have not taken my own advice. I haven't put in my daily schedule time for reading as advised in the 15 Minutes A Day Reading Challenge. Invariably, my desire to read regularly is not realised as other activities overwhelm any efforts I make to fulfil that desire.

The time has come for me to take my own advice. I really do want to share my experience about reading books. To do that I have to read books on a regular basis. So I have come to the place of a new commitment. I commit from August 1, 2014 to take the 15 Minutes A Day Reading Challenge.

I invite you to join me in this challenge.  Let me know in the comment box, if you're accepting my invitation.

Encouragement from Books

Books are great tools for encouraging yourself.

As I dwelt on the matter of book piracy and its devastating effect on the Nigerian Book Trade in general and Hidden Treasures Bookstore in particular, for the first time in the history of my bookstore, I considered shutting down and moving on to some other business.

While in this mode, I  had a trip to make to the village. I would be there for about ten days. When I go on such a trip, it is my practice to go with a book. The atmosphere in the village is serene. In addition, life in the village is a break from my regular routine. I find that I am able to speed read a book while there.

For this trip, I chose Supernatural Destiny by Don Nori. Don Nori is the founder of Destiny Image Publishers, an American Christian Publishing company. Supernatural Destiny is the story of how he started Destiny Image. In his book, Nori shared the challenges he faced while nurturing his publishing company in the early days.

In  a chapter titled, "God Sends People to Encourage", Nori shared how God providentially sent people his way at different times in the early days of his business to encourage him. As I read about his experiences, I began to recall similar experiences in the years past of how God providentially brought people my way. I recalled how in my interactions with these people, I had received encouragement and assurance that I was not in the wrong business.

By the time I'd read through the book, "Supernatural Destiny", I was greatly revived. I remembered the dreams and vision that led to the start of my bookstore. I remembered the significant milestones, I had passed in the life of the  bookstore. I recalled the undeniable encounters which could only have happened because God showed up. I was revived and reminded that challenges and obstacles are part and parcel of life.

And so the thoughts of closing down my bookstore which arose in my mind as I reviewed the impact of book piracy on our operations receded. I love reading books. I want to share that love of books with others. I want to promote the love for books in the coming generations. The activities of book pirates will not discourage or deter me from working at fulfilling my dream.

If my experience encourages you, even in a small way to hold on to your dream, I will be delighted to hear from you.

Piracy of Books

I was discouraged this week and I'd like to tell you about it.

Piracy of books has been perhaps the biggest challenge that booksellers in Nigeria have faced in the last couple of years. Best selling books and bibles which form the core inventory of many bookstores have been taken by pirates who have flooded the market with illegally produced copies. In  the past, it was quite easy to recognise pirated works. The quality of the work and the paper used was very poor. With the advancement in technology, the quality of the pirated works is quite close to the original editions.

On the one hand, members of the public, largely ignorant, happily buy the pirated works, supposing that they are getting fantastic price bargains. They even accuse bookstore owners and booksellers who sell original works of being selfish people who are out to make excessive profit. On the other hand, bookstore owners have unsold inventory because their customers are now buying pirated books They have a hard time having enough funds to pay their suppliers and have to lay off staff. Furthermore, because they cash strapped, they are unable to bring new titles to the customers who are faithful and consistent in their patronage. Some bookstores have had to close down.

Many bookstore owners, yours truly included, have chosen not to deal in pirated works. It has been tough but we have stayed true to our choice.

"My Vision: Challenges in the Race for Excellence" by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai was introduced to the local book market in January 2014. As with other bookstores, we at Hidden Treasures Bookstore, received enquiries about this inspiring book. In a bid to satisfy our customers, we ordered the book. To our chagrin, the pirated version of the book has flooded the market. And it is selling at one-tenth the price of the original work.

How does a honest bookstore owner deal with this? Customers' accusations, unsold inventory resulting in cash flow issues...

the truth is that the only way a customer can identify pirated works is to believe in the integrity of the bookstore from which he buys books regularly. if a bookstore's customer believes that the bookstore operates with integrity, he will be suspicious once he is offered books at ridiculously low prices. In recent times, customers who have patronised us for years at Hidden Treasures Bookstore have accused us of charging exorbitant prices. We have been horrified. Seeing that book prices have remained stable for quite some time, their accusations infer that we have not acted with integrity. Coming from long-standing customers, that was dreadful. That is what has discouraged me in the last couple of days.

Talking about it to you, my friends makes me feel better. May I ask that you be my partner in fighting piracy? Bookstore owners need you to tell others about what piracy really is and its impact. We may have apparently cheap books today, courtesy of the pirates. Those books are cheap because the authors are being denied the royalty that is due to the on the pirated copies. Pirating means that you are lowering the chance of the authors getting any royalties in the first place, and increasing the time it will take for them to earn those royalties> But will the pirates bring us all the different books that we want to see in our bookstores on a consistent basis? It is doubtful that they will. Let's join hands to work for a future in which we will have a steady inflow of good books to our community.

Facebook Friends...

Many people will not touch Facebook for all the gold in South Africa. Many more who use Facebook are very, very wary of connecting with people they do not know or have not had physical contact with offline. Given the scams and other such schemes that abound, I am not surprised that they are that cautious.

While I also exercise a great deal of care, I like Facebook and the ability it gives me to reach out and touch other people. I have met quite a number of people on this medium who are in the process of becoming good friends. Some I have had face-to-face meetings with. Others I am yet to meet. I am amazed at the impactful positive use that these friends are making of Facebook.

One friend has used the medium to connect friends who have resources with widows who were despairing and had no one to run to. Another has used it to raise funds for medical treatment for a little girl who desperately needed it but didn't have anyone to who she could turn. Another is using it to connect young wives in different corners of Nigeria who want to have balance in their lives, husbands, children, work and everything else. Another is using it to help people understand how to make their marriages work. Yet another is using it get his friends to examine their beliefs in the light of the Scriptures and not just hold on to long held myths. I could go on....

I have been thinking about these as well as all the very negative uses that Facebook has been put too by many other people. I realise that friendship on Facebook, indeed any social media is no different from face-to-face or physical contact friendships. We make good and bad friedship choices.

Dr. John Townsend in his book, "How to Be a Best Friend Forever", (that's the book I'm reading now, remember?) said, "Most best friendships begin as we simply pass through life and meet someone we like".  According to him, people meet their friends in the one or more of the following sources:

• Your kids are friends with their kids
• Childhood and school days
• College
• Workplace
• Neighbourhood
• Church
• Introduction from a mutual friend
• Chance encounter

I like to think that social media falls into the chance encounter category.

In life, we should choose friends based on principles. Dr. Townsend posits that a friendship should have three elements.

1. Knowing. Having objective information  and personal experience with the person which provides the foundation of whether or not this relationship will be a friendship, and how deep it can go
2. Liking. You are drawn to each other's presence.
3. Presence. Friends spend time together, that's how knowing and liking happens.

I like the sound of that. It gives me a basis for evaluating my relationships even on social media. Although, deceitful people provide false information in their profiles, I find that by applying principle 1. above, I shut out a significant percentage of them. I think that my friends who I mentioned above have achieved the success they have with social media because they have chosen their friends based on principles.

Should you want the book, "How to Be A Best Friend Forever" by Dr. John Townsend, let me know in the comment box below.

And now it's your turn. Would you like to share with me something from the book you are reading?

I Choose To Be Accountable...

An accountability partner is someone who you trust to hold you to the standards that you set for yourself. As stated in the quote by Bob Proctor in the graphic below, "Accountability is the glue that ties commitment to results."

Keeping a commitment to friends is difficult. You really want to be seen as a person of your words. And yet when the going gets tough, you have a reason that you think is good enough to explain why you have not kept the commitment you made to them. What can your friends do? They accept your explanation. Those who hold you accountable listen to your explanations, but, remind you not indulge yourself in excuses.

Last week, I didn't write a post for my blog. A number of my friends checked in with me to find out why. They reminded me that I had requested them to keep me accountable in writing posts for my blog. I am grateful to them that they did. It set me thinking about the commitment I made to you my readers that I will write one post every week. I realised that ultimately keeping a commiment to others begins with keeping a promise to yourself.

And so, this week I choose to keep the promise to myself and then to you.

As I searched within myself to find out why I was not writing my blog posts., I admitted to myself, that in some way, I expect the post to write itself. I hear you asking, "How do you mean?" One I'd written a post and published it, I went merrily on my way and I didn't give the blog another thought until it was time to publish another one. Of course, it's not so easy to think up a subject, develop it and then write a post in the twinkling of an eye. So, I'd struggle with it and when I make no headway, I'll then say to myself, perhaps I'll just leave it off till the next week. I see now what may have led to my blog going comatose in my earlier attempts.

I am learning that I need to think ahead. I need to choose the subjects I'll write about well ahead. I need to include in my schedule, time to develop my thoughts and time to write my posts.

You my friends are doing a good job of holding me accountable. Now I need to show by the provision I make in my weekly plan that I intend to keep my commitment, first to myself and then to you all. That I will do.

Now is there some way I can reciprocate the favour you have done to me of keeping me accountable? Let me know......