My Life Lessons @ 55…The Stones that the builder rejected… By Renowned Motivational Speaker, Dayo Olomu

Who could believe that a young man whose father died when he was eight years old,  who celebrated his 10th birthday at a bus garage in Lagos (Iyana Ipaja to be precise) selling iced water to support his mother, whose identity was stolen when he relocated to UK and who was ridiculed when he started out as a speaker  is now a multiple award winner with 160 awards, an iconic global brand, a renowned international motivational speaker, human capital development expert, business transformation strategist, leadership trainer, business mentor, executive coach, award winning event host, bestselling author, a key person of influence, board member, HR leader, community champion, philanthropist and most importantly a devoted Christian, husband of a beautiful wife and father  of awesome children.  The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in my eyes. I return all the glory to God.
I am grateful for the Lord’s grace upon my life because I am a product of grace. I am grateful for who I have become. I am happy the way my life has turned out.  Most people did not believe that I would turned out like this. I know my mother would be very proud of me that her toil in me did not end up in vain.
I feel great and fulfilled seeing the results in people and organisations that I have helped transform right in front of my eyes as they have choices and new strategies to help them live a more fulfilling and empowered life and become who they had always wanted to be.
I am happy that I have been able to restore belief and confidence to many who have lost it, vision to those who can no longer see and cure many people of possibility blindness. I am enjoying the products of my dream and vision. Every day I think of the many people that I meet through my writing, speaking engagement, workshops and social medium forums and their stories of how I have impacted their leaves positively. I am very thankful for the many opportunities that I have to make a difference in people’s lives. I am also thankful for the grace the Lord has given me to create awareness and raise funds for many charities since 2006 through running many marathons, skydiving, walking 100 km from London to Brighton and feeding the homeless through Dayo Olomu Foundation. The greatest lesson/s that life has taught me is that to be successful you must have trust God, have strong faith, have your own vision and define your goals. You must be hungry to achieve your dreams and a strong desire to succeed and back that desire with action. You must have absolute belief in yourself that you have what it takes to be successful and when setbacks or tragedies occur, do not give up; instead see them as opportunities for growth because success thrives on adversity. As the saying goes, “A calm sea does not make a skilled sailor.” Nothing worth gaining is gained without difficulty”. I must also add that you keep the right company and continue to build, expand and sustain a network of people who can support you to reach your goal. You must run your own race. It doesn’t matter what other people say about you. What is important is what you say to yourself. Be comfortable in your own skin. Be true to you. That’s a key source of happiness. I am not in completion with anyone but myself. My goal is to improve myself continuously.
You must think big, start small and act now.  The person determined to achieve maximum success learns the principle that progress is made one step at a time. A house is built a brick at a time. Every big accomplishment is a series of little accomplishments.  The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  However, completing a journey of a thousand miles requires only that you keep walking in the right direction!” My story isn’t unique – many others have realised their dreams just as I have. But it does go to show that you can achieve whatever you want to if you have a strong desire to succeed and backed that desire with action and self-belief.  My story is all about turning dreams into reality. A speaker once said, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
When I get to the end of my life, I want to know that my life counted for something, that long after I have left this world, somehow my impact lives on. I want to know that I have done all that I could to make this world a better place, by positively enhancing the lives of those around me and helping thousands, if not millions, to become who they desire to be and achieve what they thought was impossible. I want to know that I gave everything my best shot. I want it to be on record that I maximised my potential and stretched myself to the limit. Most importantly I want to know that I serve God and that I am a good husband and father who made a positive difference in the world.
Finally, I think it will be nice if we can all do our little bit to make a difference and to use the catchphrase of Steve Jobs, “put a dent in the universe”. “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” (Desmond Tutu). Hence I dedicated my 55th birthday by running the marathon in one week to raise funds and create awareness for Prostate Cancer. I want to thank for the supported me by donating generously. You can still support me by donating at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dayoolomuat55 I am thankful to God for making it possible for me to witness this day.  And the Lord who has started a great thing in me will see it to completion. He will never leave me nor forsake me as I move from success to significance.