Lanre Dahunsi – Page 2 – Don't Settle: Live with Passion

My Journey running Marathons since 2013

Post author By ldahunsi
Post date February 29, 2020
1 Comment on My Journey running Marathons since 2013

I completed my first marathon in September 2013 in Accra,Ghana. I stumbled on running marathons after losing my closest cousin who was outside of the country. It was one of the toughest period of my life as he died on his Birthday July 16th 2013 in questionable circumstances. It was extremely tough for me as I did not really have family members around me but I grieved through it and still tear up thinking about him. Rest In Peace Bro.

During my grieving period, I was looking for something to numb my pain distract me, I tried reading lots of John Grisham Novels which I read in the Accra Public Library, It helped a bit as John Grisham took me on a journey with his story telling with books like the firm et al but it was not enough.

That was how I stumbled in into running Marathons, I ran my first Marathon in Accra,Ghana. I did not have much time to prepare for the Marathon but I finished it in 6 hours plus and it was extremely grueling but like have come to appreciate with marathons. A marathon is like Life itself, ups and down,

Tags Ottawa 2019 Scotiabank Marathon, Toronto 2019 Scotiabank Marathon

Life

Learn to number your Days.

I recently lost my Mum on the 31st of March 2019, it was one of the toughest days of my life. My mum was sick for a while but never thought she was going to be gone so soon. She battled cancer for 9+ Months and it was a roller coaster year but she did not survive it.

The following days, weeks and months have been extremely tough -the overwhelm, the despair, the withdrawals, the tears, the silence from so-called friends and family members, the longing to have just one more conversation with her, the memories.

We all grief differently and life can be cruel with its twist and turns, losing her also brought one more thing into my Life: Learning to number my days, having a sense of urgency and finally understanding the real meaning of Life is Short.

” You are either coming from a Storm, Living a Storm or you entering a Storm”

As long as our life seem to be, it is also extremely short. I finally understood that assertion about the brevity of life with the passing of my dear mum. I was recently watching a Warren Buffet video on youtube in which the interviewer requested to interview Warren and he replied him saying: He had less than 4,000 days (10+ year plus to live) that got to me and I finally got it.

We all have the same amount of time, how we spend it while we are still here is what really counts when all is said and done.

” Fear not that your life would come to an end, Fear that is shall never have a beginning”

My Mum died at 54+ years, she was going to be 55 on May 23rd 2019. Calculating 54 years times 365 equals 19710, technically she was here for just 20,000 days. The life expectancy in USA is 79 that means the average American would be around for 28,835 Days approximately 29,000 Days while the life expectancy in Nigeria is 55 years which means the average Nigerian would be around for 20,000+ Days. When you begin to look at your days in terms of days,weeks and months, we might get a new perspective about time and how we spend it.

55 years :

365 x 55 = 20,075 Days
52 x 55 = 2860 Weeks
24 x 20,075 = 481, 800 Hours
60 x 481,800 hrs = 2,890,8000 Minutes
60 x 2,890,8000 Mins = 173,448, 000 Seconds

We all don’t know when we are going to leave this earth, the more reason to discover your purpose, find your mission, follow your bliss and leave a trail for others to follow. How we spend our time, who and what we spend it on determines the depth and breadth of our existence.

“Dream like you would live forever, Live like you would DIE today – James Dean

In Lieu of this Paradigm shift have committed to spend my time with only things that are aligned with my vision and I do commit to not spend any second with anything that is not taking me towards my purpose.

In all you do learn to “Number your Days” Don’t Settle: Live with Passion.

Tags Learn to number your Days.

Book Challenge Books

How to Read 100 Books in a Year

Post author By ldahunsi
Post date February 25, 2020
1 Comment on How to Read 100 Books in a Year

I first explored the idea of reading 100 book in a year in 2016. It was part of my new year resolution and have tried to do it yearly ever since:

2016

Goal: Read 100 Hardcover Books
Outcome: Read 50+ Books by December 31st 2016

2017:

Goal: Read 100 Books from my Amazon Kindle.
Outcome: Read 80+ Books by December 31st 2017

2018:

Goal: Read 100 Books from my Amazon Kindle
Outcome: Read 10+ but stopped to make & execute some life decisions (Relocation et al)

2019:

Did not set the goal to read 100 Books but read some books : was not counting but I guess I read 20+ books all year round.

I am presently committed to reading 100 books in 2020 through my 100 Books reading Challenge, You might be wondering how do I intend to read 100 books in 365 days? Here are the strategies that would enable Me (you) achieve it:

Start with Why

He that has a strong WHY can deal with any How.

Why am I reading lots of books?
Ans: Because am ignorant in lots of subject matters and I want to widen my vision of the future and raise my Standards, change my worldview, have more empathy for people. The list is endless for the reason why I am seeking knowledge and understanding.

“It is not what we know that get us into trouble, it is what we think we know that ain’t so” – Mark Twain

Remembering Why you started would propel you to push ahead. We change for two reasons as Anthony Robbins would always say: because of our desire to avoid pain or the desire to gain pleasure.

2. Determine the areas you want to read about/Improve on – Choose themes for the year.

Craft a list of the areas of your life you want to get better at for the year. For example, I am working on getting better with my Finances, Emotional Intelligence, Listening, Communication, Leadership,Writing Skill, Personal Re-Invention and better understanding the world. These are the themes that majority of the books I would be reading for the year would fall under.

3. Start: Just Do It.

” You don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great”

The hardest part of starting a journey like this is starting and maintaining the commitment long after you’ve made the commitment. Buy the books, Borrow from friends, Borrow from the Library like have been doing and would continue to do.

4. Have a Time Block for reading

I read on my way to work in the morning (an hour) and also on my way back from work in the evening. On every given day, I read for at least 2 hours that is an average of 10 hours per week, 40 Hours per Month and 480 hours per year which equates to 4.8 hours per Book and that is not even factoring in weekends.

If you dedicate 5 hours per book on a 250 pages book, you would finish it depending on your reading speed.

5. Don’t give room for Excuses

When you set out on a goal like this there would be lots of things that would be distracting you such as naysayers and your mind tricking you that you can not do it. Here are the common excuses I hear from people on why they can’t that much:

I don’t have time but this same people use 2 hours a day to commute to work but they would rather play games or rather watch the latest episode of How to get away with murder or Suits -I also love this Series am a fan of them both but I do time block on Sundays for them lolz.

6. Stay Motivated: Seek out Models

I stay motivated by seeking out models that I admire that love reading such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet. Seek out successful people for their insight about reading, William Gladstone former U.K Prime Minister was said to have read over 20,000 books in his life time.

7. Reduce Distractions : Re-order your priorities

Desperate times cause for Desperate Measures, until you begin to see the areas of your life you are trying to work on as a pain point you would not change and execute your goals.

What you tolerate you can not change

I have deactivated/Deleted majority of my social media accounts (Facebook,Twitter and Instagram) and I only install Whatsapp for one hour per week.

Some of this measures might see extreme but it does not seem that way for me cos I am learning to number my days. The gained back time is what I use to read more books as I don’t prioritize checking messages over figuring out my life and purpose here.

All the best on your quest to get better and reinvent yourself.. Don’t Settle: Live with Passion.

Books

100 Books Reading Challenge 2020

Post author By ldahunsi
Post date February 16, 2020
3 Comments on 100 Books Reading Challenge 2020

I would be reading 100 hardcover books in 2020 and this post is for public pressure and documentation. I tried reading 100 books for the first time in 2016 and also tried it in 2017, also started in 2018 but had to stop in February 2018 because I was making some life changing decisions.

Here is the scorecard for the previous Book Challenges: