Right above is an actual comment that I received for an article I recently wrote on bellanaija  (read article).The first time I read the comment my skin went cold…I had that sinking feeling that only writers that pour their heart & soul into their works can understand. But after analyzing the article again I began to get excited and here is why…

One thing a lot of people don’t know about me is that I am a full time engineer working a typical 9 to 5 job. But despite the craziness of corprate life, family life and running 2 entrepreneural ventures I have been able to complete 2 books within 24 months. And if you cull anything from the title of my next book How Laziness Saved My Life, it is that I am one of the laziest people in the world (I kid I kid). I really like finding the most optimal way to get things done and one of them was how to write a book despite a crazy and busy schedule. But after meeting many authors with unpublished manuscripts (I once met a girl that had 5 completed manuscripts but no book), I realized that the greatest obstacle to writing is not the writing itself but rather the mental approach to writing. So based on my 2-book writing experience I came up with a list of things that everyone who has ever dreamt about writing a book should do. It is called 7 Things You Must Do Before Writing A Book.
 

NOTE: You might still bot believe, but writing is one of the least important things in writing a book.

Surveys show that 80% of people want to write a book in their lives, but only very few people get to realize their dream of writing.

The first time someone left a comment on my blog I ran around with excitement, the first time someone bought my book I could barely control myself and the first time someone left a testimonial about said book on Amazon (without me having to stalk them) I literarily died! For each of those acts I was excited. They encouraged me to continue evolving as a writer and a blogger. So whenever I go to a book signing event I try to do the same by buying as many books as I can. When I go on a blog site I strive to leave a comment because I know what it means to the blogger…and even when I am accosted in the parking lot by a random stranger to buy their latest mix-tape compilation, I purchase it (if I have the money). I feel I owe it to them because when I was in their position someone else did the same for me. Funny enough it is this cycle of giving and receiving that has allowed me grow in my personal business.
 

The sad thing however, is that many people are only interested in the part of the cycle that benefits them financially. They focus on it like a hawk. But from my experience the more you

Crack was the smart alternative to cocaine a solid but smokable form of its predecessor, it was easy to produce and was highly portable. Its portability and versatility however led to a crack sales explosion across the globe. That explosion was especially prevalent in lower income communities where almost everyone (slight exaggeration) smoked crack. One exception however were the crack dealers. According to FREAKONOMICS by Levitt & Dubner, crack dealers were strongly advised against using the crack products themselves, advice that was enforced by beatings from higher ranking crack lords.
 

So why would the crack lords go out of their way to ensure that their dealers did not smoke crack themselves?

Weighed down by two large boxes, a laptop bag, passport documents and a another separate but bigger laptop bag I found myself stranded at Houston International Airport struggling to navigate through the large facility! If there was a picture of a man drowning in luggage and sweat this was it! In my maddening struggle to roll and balance my large baggage collection, I cut my finger on the metallic handle of one of the boxes. Soon my finger was gushing with red liquid. Bleeding, sweating and frustrated I dropped my bags in a dump and proceeded to suck on my thumb (not what you think) to mitigate the bleeding. It was at that moment…thumb in mouth…that the airport shuttle arrived…somehow I had managed to waddle to my destination. I proceeded to load my boxes onto the shuttle, one by one. But, no sooner had I begun rolling struggling with the first box…when I noticed from the corner of my eye the driver of the shuttle climbing down to grab my remaining boxes. Normally I would have resisted…but today was different

My first ever job was born out of necessity. I needed the money or I would starve! It was my first semester at the University of Houston and of all semesters to arrive, I choose to come in the spring semester where the temperatures were treacherously low. Sadly my first job was to referee soccer games outside in the blistering cold! The job was wretched, I hated it and felt sick almost everyday from the merciless weather. At that time I could not afford proper winter attire so I made do with whatever I could lay my hands  on.  I was able to routinely manufacture winter gloves by placing several latex gloves over each hand, but this did little to mitigate the cold sneaking through my fingers!

It was a relief when I finally got a  job that required me to work indoors. I was assigned to do inventory management at the University gym. It was 10 times better than freezing in the cold and I even got to watch TV during downtime! The only problem was the inventory, which included various sports uniforms and equipment. This was not really an issue until I realized that I had to wash them also. So people would dump their sweaty uniforms and I had to cart them off for laundry dispensation. If that was not bad enough I came to find out that  I also had to wash a certain item called jockstraps. The first time I heard about jockstraps I was confused I thought they were some type of shorts. In a way I was right but they were more than shorts…they were male underwear used to protect the male genitalia during sports and other vigorous activities. I stood  rooted in confusion when I realized that they were part of the repertoire of uniforms I had to wash! Somehow I had gotten  a job as an underwear washer!
 

As always I am dependent on you (supporters, fans, friends and all those making my dream come true) for feedback on the different projects I am engaged in. Recently, I began work a new project, a book cover design for my next book “How Laziness Saved My Life” as well as the redesign for my first “How Stupidity Saved My Life.”
 

There are 2 options for each book, can you tell me what you think about them and which of them you like the most and why (I would really love to hear the why).
 

NOTE: These are highly unedited so don’t stress on the little details, I just want a general feel as to whether this will SCREAM at you from the book shelf.
 

How Stupidity Saved My Life OPTION A

In 1967 Herb Kelleher a lawyer from New Jersey was sitting at a restaurant assisting his client Rollin King to finish up paperwork that would close Rollin’s failed airline company. In the middle of their discussion, Rollin took out a pen and began sketching out an idea on the back of a stray napkin that lay on the table. He drew 3 dots in a traingular formation and labelled them Dallas, Houston and San Antonio respectively. With 3 simple lines he connected the 3 cities creating an airline route that would give birth to the highly successful Southwest Airlines. That napkin revolutionized the airport history and defined Southwest Airlines strategy of simple and efficient flying.
 

A great story…right…except that it never happened!

One of my favorite quotes in the world has to be from Alice in Wonderland. It was the Rabbit’s response to Alice’s search for direction…

If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.

In life we are constantly searching for direction…we look to our Parents, Pastors, Leaders, Bosses and Experts to point us in the right direction. In most cases we know where we want to go, we want to be rich, successful and above all happy. But contrary to the Rabbit’s message above, knowing WHERE we want to go is not just enough. We have to have a little bit of knowledge on HOW to get there or else we would get misled and used.

For isntance everyone wants to go to heaven. Even atheists want to go to heaven. The thirst to go to heaven is so great that some people will throw away all logic in a bid to get there. But, you only have to scour the internet to find scores of articles on numerous people that have been used financially and physically by people posing as pastors or religious leaders. The main unifying theme in each case is an unwillingness of the victim to question and challenge what they are being told with common sense. That inability to challenge can lead to problems.

Recently I walked into the EXPRESS clothing store and as usual I had no plan to purchase anything. But my mind was too weak to resist the allure of resplendent colored polo’s garnished with discount tags hanging precariously from their sleeves. I was instantly hooked and found my self picking and testing numerous polo shirts. But this was my normal ritual to be honest…I always bought polos from EXPRESS but today something else caught my eye…it was a pair of sunglasses on a shelf.
 

I had been looking for replacement glasses for a while now and this fit the bill perfectly. They were reflectors and the price tag plus discount tag screamed deal! The $20 cost was a far cry from the $100+ shades I had seen in other stores. I instantly jumped at the glasses and chucked them into my shopping stash…but not before I noticed a little golden sticker on the front of the glasses. It was the same one I saw on packages I bought from the local market in Nigeria. The same sticker that made people turn their nose up in disdain. It was the golden MADE IN CHINA sticker