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David Adepoju Blog Posts

You are blaming the “village people” again

At the beginning of this year, your energy to hunt opportunities was out of this world. You were ready to take the world, but all that energy died before January ended. In February, you never opened any links people shared with you because they were too many, and your 2 gigabytes of data will finish on time. You, however, were in the comment of a celebrity trolling her with the same internet data. In March, your brother shared a link to a scholarship with you. He even prepared some of the documents for you; all you needed to do was…

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The mentors are busy, what will you do?

In 2015, I started messaging this person that I believed had gone ahead in the path I wanted to take. I chased him hard for resources and guidance but unfortunately, he was too busy, so I let go. In 2016, I started a conversation with another person I regarded as someone who could help me and guide me. He also only replied to my emails once, and that was it. After these two situations, I decided to stop looking for guidance from the outside, and I began to develop myself. I would read long hours in the areas I needed…

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Can your experience expire?

Despite all of your understanding of strategy and your ability to see a long distance, you will not always make the proper choice. There will be a few instances in which your vision will go fuzzy, causing you to fall down. There will be a few instances in which your experience will let you down, and you will come dangerously close to questioning everything that you had learned and perfected along the way. There will be times in your life when the lessons you’ve learned will appear to have been forgotten, causing you to question your level of knowledge. You…

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When “one” teaches, “two” learn.

Teaching has been one of the most important factors in my personal development over the past four years. Aside from the fact that I have had the opportunity to teach at a university where the emphasis is placed on the student’s learning, the caliber of the questions that students ask will challenge a teacher to be more. Teaching has helped me realize that all of my previous experiences, even the ones that appeared pointless and unimportant, are actually treasure troves of information and direction for the students I teach. In my classes, I found myself analyzing and making connections between…

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Reputational Dividends

Recently, something really interesting has been happening to me. When I meet someone new and we begin relating, I soon notice that they know someone I already know. The scary aspect is that the new person I had just met would have had a chat with the person we both knew before I realized they knew each other, and they would have had chats about my character before I find out. Even while I had not received any unfavorable comment from these mutual friends, it made me question my own character. What if I had previously maltreated these individuals?.  Surprisingly,…

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Ten lessons I have learned over the last three years

1. Personal development is non-negotiable for leaders. The information, skills, and resources that leaders require to continue leading and making effective judgments are anchored in their continual pursuit of growth and development. You can’t give what you don’t have. 2. Nothing awful will happen to those who did not assist you. We don’t need to keep making enemies of those who didn’t help us. Nothing unpleasant will happen to them, and they will continue to enjoy greater wealth and a better quality of life. Your assistance was not with them, but that does not make them evil people. 3. Success…

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The Price of Desperation

The price we pay for being desperate could be costlier in the long run. I was once told a story of a man in Ibadan who wanted to buy a car at all costs, even when he knew he could not afford a car that would not give him issues. He then began this long search for a cheap car. He was looking for anything that drives, even if it’s rickety and problematic. He was introduced to someone who wanted to dispose of a bad car, and he went to see the car. The seller told him all that was…

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Don’t be too hard on yourself

Dear son, I heard you complaining to your mum yesterday that you feel like a failure because, at 22, you have not achieved so much in your life. While I do not want to discredit your age, I would like to tell you to calm down. It is okay if you have not figured many things out at 22. You are doing just fine as long as you are not lazy and keep your dream and drive alive. Last week when I spoke with your friend Tayo, he also complained of not making any impact in life yet at 21,…

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We grow and outgrow

Facebook reminded me of a post I made in 2009, and the sight of what I wrote sent chills down my spine. I could never write that in my wildest imagination. Not even how shallow the post sounded but the unprofessional shorthand-like writing I used. The funniest thing is that when I wrote that post in 2009, I had written the best thing ever in my evaluation, but 13 years later, my piece of writing looked shallow to me. In the next ten years, I am sure I will look back at some of the things I am doing today,…

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Say NO and don’t feel bad about it

I reflected on some of the major decisions I made last year. After a few minutes of deep reflection, it dawned on me that the most significant decision I made last year was to learn how to say NO. That sounds funny, right?. In 2019, I said yes to many things that eventually ended badly. Many people wanted me to be part of what they were doing, speak, write, present, etc. I said YES to several things to the point where I was getting lost and barely had any time for myself and my family. I said yes to speaking…

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