Yesterday, during the lunch break of our Microsoft Excel training class, at the Cafeteria, the TV was set to SuperSport. And guess what I saw? A football club by the name Kaizen Chiefs. And that, to me, represented a new height in the Kaizen craze.

 Kaizen is the japanese term for incremental improvement. 
image: ksmartin.com

 So which is better -- an incremental improvement or a big leap?
image: karenwrightcoaching.com

I think Jack Canfield has the perfect answer in his book The Success Principles, how to get from where you are to where you want to be. He said you should seek out both. Form habits that guarantee incremental improvement and also position yourself for big leaps (or breakout successes, as he called them). That you are going to need both. And that you should always celebrate your big leaps and as they are often like a tide that lifts everything in your life to a new level.

 It is how most of us handle our employment. We try to get better at the job we have and learn on the job, while still trying to acquire skills higher than is required for that job. Positioning ourselves for some big leap. 

 Unfortunately, most don't handle their entire life that way. They make it a choice of one among the two. Some are all geared for a big leap. They let every part of their life run dismally in their pursuit of a big leap, a breakout success. This is an extreme that should be avoided. Others don't see themselves going beyond some set limits. They are all focused on getting better at where they are and what they do. No room for some big leap. They profess to live a focused life and deliberately shut out every opportunity for a radical change. Another extreme that should be avoided.

 It is not a question of incremental improvement or big leap, but a question of how to combine the two. You should seek out both. Form habits that ensure your life is improving daily. Become better at what you do. But don't stop there. Also put yourself in the path of some big leap. Go outside your comfort zone once a while and seek a breakout success. A success that will lift all the areas of your life.

There will be many dark days when you'll struggle to see the reward of your work. You will be convinced that your input far exceed the output you get. On those days, the only thing that can keep you motivated is a genuine passion for what you do.
image: training4abs.wordpress.com
image: gottalent.me

 And that is the huge benefit of having a genuine passion for what you do. It keeps you motivated even as you pass through the dark tunnel of your career choice.

 This week I had to pull out of a consulting job that got me steady monthly income for the last one year. I can't cope with the stress of working from morning to night everyday anymore, and I needed to let go of my most time demanding projects. On one hand it looked like a terrible decision -- I no longer have a monthly retainer gig. It's back to the beginning. But on another hand, I would rather spend more time doing the things I thoroughly enjoy rather than cutting down on them to give all my time to income generating projects.

 I jealously guard my passion and ensure that I do only the things I have passion for. It makes every phase of my life enjoyable regardless of the low output my huge inputs generate.
image: leggnet.com

 This is the 1000th post on my blog. And it has been a very exciting journey. I started blogging in May 2009. Here is my first blog post - In the Book of Greatness. I used to write a lot of poems and technical tips. I once sold some of my poems to a magazine and made some money and friends.

 Then in 2013, after writing about 120 posts over a span of 3+ years, I made the decision to start making one blog post a day. And glory to God, I haven't failed once. There hasn't been any day for the past 2 years that I haven't written a blog post for. For once in my life, I made a near impossible commitment and didn't stumble in fulfilling it.

Today is a special day for me. There are not so many things I have consistently done a thousand times. And fewer things I have done daily for over two years. And still fewer things I hope to do daily for the rest of my life. Blogging has changed my life in ways I never expected or imagined, not only has it brought me in contact with amazing people, it has also given me a voice and helped me overcome my timidity.

 Who would have thought that highly introvertive Michael will be okay with writing about his life and letting people read about it. Till now I still feel uncomfortable when people say they read my blog. My original idea was to write for an anonymous audience, people who don't know me and probably will never know me. I wanted to be like my childhood heroes -- all were writers. I wanted to be like George Bernard Shaw, and write so much that people will wonder how I did it. And if I am lucky, I will break his record of over 250,000 written works.

 I write daily because it is one of my few ways of ensuring my day will be a great one. It is like ticking a box on my life achievement list.

 I wish I could say all that's in my head about the wonderful things blogging has helped me achieve and how it has positively shaped my life. But I have a training to facilitate in 1h20mins and if I get there late again, another set of people will be angry with me.

 Thanks for being part of my amazing journey!
Not so long ago, I used to be very happy when I receive emails from people who got to know me through my blog. I would spend a large part of my free time on those days trying to craft an excellent reply. Now the time and motivation are no longer there. But those relationships I built then are still alive and helpful.
image: sfappeal.com

Last year, I had a lot of time as I wasn't getting jobs as much as I expected. I spent the bulk of that time making training videos, generating content for my Excel training classes and learning web development. Now I don't have enough time to even sleep. But those videos and content I made last year are generating income for me, and giving me an edge over other Excel trainers.

 At the start of this year, I began writing a book on Excel. It was not an easy task. I was writing at odd hours of the day and in between other important tasks. It was very exhausting and I kept feeling I should write about all I know. By the middle of the year, I was able to complete the book. I had a strong motivation then. If I had waited for when I had time, I would still be waiting and the money I have made from selling the book on Amazon.com and Okadabooks.com wouldn't have happened.

 Every stage of my life has always had one of the following four mixes of Time and Motivation:
  1. I have both the time and the motivation
  2. I have just time but no motivation
  3. I have motivation but no time
  4. I have no time and no motivation
And the truth is I suddenly wake up someday and find that the mix has changed. So I try my best to do what I can now before I get an unfavourable mix. Most of the things I am most proud of were the things I started when I had both time and motivation. My blog. Microsoft Excel. And some others I started when I had just the motivation. Especially my business.

It is very difficult to do things you know you should or would find valuable in the future if you lack both time and motivation. Heck, I even have jobs that I know will bring me money and I still can't get myself to do them because no time and no motivation. So you can imagine tasks that won't bring in money now. There will be no reason to force myself to do them.

You can get a lot done with motivation than you can get done by logical reasoning. So whenever you feel yourself motivated to do something and it is something of some commendable value, then do it. Don't try to overthink it or how it would pay off in the future. Just do it. Because when you finally find a compelling enough logical reason to do it, you probably won't have the time and motivation to do it anymore. And that is worse.

Do what you can now for time and motivation are not always around.

I was on TV yesterday. Channels TV. Talking big data. Data, in general. And how you can improve your business by mining the data your business generates.

 You can watch the entire interview below:

You can click here to watch it directly on YouTube.
Just this month I stopped envying businesses that have external funding from investors. And it is not because I now feel I can do as good as them. It is not because funding my business from my own pocket is now easy. And it is not because I want to feel big and immune to intimidation.

 It is because the success of a business does not depend on the source and volume of fund. The number one role of every businessman is resource allocation. If you are good at making a cool headed evaluation of your available resources, the resources you can borrow/lease, and the business goal you can hit; then success is purely a matter of strategy. 
image: westhartfordct.gov

 Every successful business is one that generates more financial resources from the limited resources it has. Not the one that can get the most money pumped into its business. And as the key to success is generating the cost of the resources you use plus a significant profit on top, you should be more concerned about your business strategies and marketing than looking for an investor. You should start from where you are with what you have and provide a service/product of value that will earn you the money to grow your business.

 Sometimes you might need to start with just a small part of your business idea. Start with the part your resources can fund. You will learn the invaluable skills of managing and growing a business. You will become good at resource allocation and when you finally grow the business to what your initial plan was, it will be with no regrets of having partnered with the wrong set of people.

 It is a lot easier to start small and grow big, than to start with a lot of external fund and try to stay big. My starting small has made even my most terrible mistakes not too costly. I have been learning as much as anyone running a business. I make what, by percentage of my entire financial and non-financial resources, are big bets. I make long-term business plans and I make plans to keep us alive to see that long-term. I keep turning down job offers because I have a business I am building and I have figured out how to be profitable/successful.

 As long as you meet a valid need, identify the market segment you want to capture, pick your product differentiation model, build a stellar strategy to reach that market segment and sell at a price well above all your expenses; you are already standing on the foundation of success.

image: theluxuryhub.com

 The most expensive gadget you have is not the one you paid the most money for. It's not the very expensive gift you got on your birthday. It is not the one you borrowed money to buy. And it is not the one you saved for many months to get.

 Your most expensive gadget is simply the one you don't use at all.

 Anything you buy, no matter the price, and you end up not using it at all. That thing is one of your most expensive stuff you own. 

 If you bought a tablet of N30,000 and it looked like a bargain. You felt happy in the beginning about it. It's got same functions as the one your friend bought for N80,000. Then 6 months later, your friend has been using his daily to better organize his life and even use it to take notes during meetings. But your own tablet is sitting in a corner of your wardrobe, looking new. I tell you, your tablet is more expensive than your friend's.

 In buying any gadget you should have the same mindset you have towards schooling. You don't suddenly enroll in a school programme - masters, PhD or B.Sc - because the programme is at a bargain price. You don't write professional exam in a field you see yourself not going into just because there is a 50% price slash on the course and exam fee. The same way you shouldn't buy any gadget you don't have a sure need for.

 Another good illustration are the clothes and shoes you buy. Nothing make people more unhappy about their wardrobe than to see clothes and shoes they only wore once and don't see themselves wearing again, either because it is now out of fashion or they would rather wear something else. Often they are the result of an Aso-ebi purchase for a friend's wedding or some family event. And regardless of the money they spent in getting them, they don't feel happy about them. But you still see the same people have gadgets they don't use and some still keep acquiring more gadgets they are not sure they'll use, and they don't have the same feeling about them. They would buy any gadget that is on promo sales.

 Except you are a gadget collector, then those gadgets you bought and didn't use are your most expensive gadgets.

This might sound very strange but it is the truth. I get my motivation from dissatisfaction.

image: gazettereview.com

I remember in my final year at university, there was a federal government scholarship just for final year students only. I had an excellent result, I was number two in the department, and one of my friends asked if I had put in my application for the scholarship. I told her I wasn't going to and she was surprised. And more surprised when I told her the reason. I said I didn't want anything from the government and that it has been a tumultuous ride attending a federal government university. I was dissatisfied with the way the government run/ruin everything they handle. After university, I never put in a single application to any government job. Even when my parents were trying to get me one I told them they would be wasting their time. And during my NYSC year when everyone I knew was doing the NNPC job application and I was helping some of my friends fill and submit their applications, I didn't apply. The only government scheme I applied for was the NNPC masters scholarship, I had nothing doing at Bayelsa then and the buzz about it among my friends was loud, so I joined in. Even now I avoid government deals. I focus on private companies. That is how extreme I take my dissatisfaction about anything.

Whenever I ask myself the question: "Is this how I want to continue my life?" Something major changes forever in my life. And I just asked myself that question yesterday. Tomorrow something major is going to change in my life.

It was the same question I asked myself in 2013, it led to my registering my company that year and my plotting my escape from the 9 to 5 world.

Whenever I am dissatisfied about anything in my life and I feel I can change it, I get this mountain size motivation. I go to unreasonable lengths in effecting that change. And most times it becomes a permanent change.

I don't bother about too many things but the few things I take interest in I do with extreme dedication. When I give up on a thing it is permanently and usually after I have given it my best over a long time. And the ones I am yet to give up on, I pursue with feverish fervor.

My favorite quote in the animation movie, Cars, is "I am a precision instrument of speed and aerodynamics". I believe one must be extremely good at whatever he has chosen to be. And to live a life that builds on the huge progress we have made as human race since the stone age. I should live a life of deep value. And any dissatisfaction linked to that gives me a huge motivation.

It is amazing how we view the future
As a separate part of our lives
We make one plan for today
And a different one for the future

It is amazing how we view the future
As a distant part of our lives
We live like there's no tomorrow
And plan like we have forever

It is amazing how we view the future
As a hidden part of our lives
We talk of no one knowing it
And hand it over to chance

It is amazing how we view the future
As the last page of our lives
We reserve it for conclusions
And give it very little space

It is amazing how we view the future
As the pure part of our lives
We see it as where all will be right
And do nothing to ensure it is so

The future is nothing like that
It is not separate, distant, hidden and pure
It is all of our actions and decisions
The result of how we spend our lives

Ever needed to send someone a picture or image that is embedded in a PowerPoint, PDF or Word document? Or you want to save the charts in your Excel report as a picture. Well, today is your lucky day. You will be amazed by how very easy it is.

 PowerPoint
Rightclick on the image/picture you want to extract and click on "Save as Picture"


Word
Same as in PowerPoint, rightclick on the image/picture you want to extract and click on "Save as Picture".


PDF
Draw a selection box around the image you want to extract, right click and click on "Take a Snapshot"


Excel
Excel is a little tricky. You will have to copy the image/picture to Word or PowerPoint and do the "Save as Picture" from there.

And it gets a little more complicated if it is a chart you want to extract as an image. You will have to paste the chart as Picture in Word or PowerPoint. Below is an example.





And that is how to extract image/picture from PowerPoint, Word, PDF or Excel documents.