Don’t Leave Your Dream—Live It

Paula: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Chatting with the Experts TV show with your host, me, Paula Okonneh. This is a show where I bring women from Africa and the Caribbean and in the diaspora to educate, empower, and encourage women globally. I love making exceptions to that though, and I’ve had men grace my show. And today I have an exceptional man called Dr. Michael Koku, but before he comes on, I’ve got to introduce him to you. He is a physician and a Maxwell Leadership Team Executive Director. He’s a speaker, coach, and trainer, all in Maxwell Leadership Team, and he’s well known for his ability to encapsulate complex ideas and present them in concise, compelling ways. We [00:01:00] are going to be talking about how to do life big. In other words, don’t leave your dream, live your dream. And now I will introduce to you, Dr. Michael Koku. Welcome to Chatting with the Experts TV show.
Michael: You’re welcome. Thank you so much, Coach Paula. And it’s so much with great joy and anticipation that I just like to serve. Your leadership community, and I’m glad to be here. Thank you.
Paula: Well, is there anything I left out about you? I mean, you are such a dynamic. I wouldn’t say young man, because most people on my show, a lot of people sometimes.
Michael: I’m a young man. No doubt about that. I’m old. I’m young. Yeah, I’m a young man. Yeah. Yes. Also, I’m an author. Yeah. So, An author of seven books right now. [00:02:00]
Paula: Seven books!
Michael: Yeah. Working on the eighth one at the moment.
Paula: That’s so inspiring.
Michael: Yeah.
Paula: And that’s what I love about this show. I meet amazing people and I’m able to share them with the world.
Michael: Yeah.
Paula: And that’s what you’re going to do today. So I love that title. Do life big. Live your dream. Don’t leave your dream. Let’s talk about that.
Michael: Wow. That’s awesome. Wow. You know, it’s really great to be here, Coach Paula. And there are two things that are very interesting in the life of a leader. What a leader has learned, and what the leader is learning.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Michael: So what the leader has learned is all about the leader’s experience. What the leader is learning is all about the leader’s passion. Yeah. So, and those things, those two are very important. And because we need to realize that respect comes from what [00:03:00] you are doing in the now. And honor comes from what you’ve done before. So if you capitalize only on what you’ve done before, you’ll be honorable, but one thing about honor is it fades with time. So honor requires respect to keep it honorable. So, and that’s why I like to work on new projects. So what I want to talk about is what I’m working on at the moment, what I’m learning more about and what I have lived is my, it’s my own life and do life big.
A lot of people are not doing life big and the subtitle is don’t leave your dream. That leave is L E A V E, live your dream. A lot of people are not living their dream.
Paula: So true.
Michael: The only time that you are living, L I V I N G, is when you are living your dream. Anytime you are not living your dream, you are not living. You are just existing.
Paula: [00:04:00] Hmm.
Michael: And that’s the thing about it. You know, and I want people to listen and realize that this is so important. You can’t do life big when you are not living your dream. So the question is, are you leaving your dream or living your dream? I’m using two things that rhymes now.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: It’s not what rhymes now. It’s not pun intended. It is the truth. Many are leaving their dream every day, they leave their bed and leave their dream. It is good to leave your bed L E A V E, but it is bad to leave your dream L E A V E. So it is okay to leave your bed because for you to live your dream L I V E, you need to leave your bed. So you leave your bed in the morning, you hit the ground running, you wake up in anticipation, there is no place for Oh, God is Monday. Thank God is [00:05:00] Friday. That is not for people that are living their dream. People that are living their dream, they are always excited on Monday. They are the thank God is Monday people.
Every day, it’s such an opportunity to live their dream. So I wanna make it so simple. I don’t like something complicated. I’m known for making things that are complicated, simple. So I wanna use an acronym. I wanna give people a handle. Now, have you ever hold something before and maybe you wanna take a lot of things together? You went to the… for some of us that are not used to country life, you went to the forest and you have a lot of sticks. And you have like a hundred pieces of sticks now, what is the best way to lift those things? You can either take it as a unit, each of them trying to pack it with your hands or get [00:06:00] something to tie it up together as a bundle so that you can easily lift it up as a bundle.
Paula: As a unit.
Michael: As a unit.
Paula: Yeah. I love that.
Michael: That is what acronym does. Acronym give us handles. You know, somebody said you can’t change the world without acronym. And it’s so true. The word USA is an acronym, United States of America.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: Every day we live in the world of acronym. So, and I’ve been rightly accused of being a chief acronym specialist and I’m guilty as charged. So today I want to give you a simple acronym to help you to live your dream. Because my goal today is to help you to do life big. Listen, you have only one life. You can’t afford to do life small. Everyone can do life big. Doing life big is not for… it’s not an exclusive reserve of some. It’s for everyone. It’s for all. [00:07:00] And what we help you to do life big is what I’m sharing with you. So the acronym I want to share with you to do live big is DREAM. D R E A M.
Paula: I’m writing that down. D R E A M.
Michael: I created this acronym, especially for you. Oh, for me? Yeah. This will be for your audience, for whoever will listen to this podcast. This will be the first time I’m sharing it because I just created it this morning.
Paula: Woah.
Michael: Yeah. In my study. Yeah. So I just created it this morning. So do live big. It’s very, it’s not an option. If you want to live a life of relevance, you need to do life big and to do life big, you need a dream. So this is the DREAM acronym. So the D is you need to have a dream. The D means dream. Start with a dream. Start with a dream. That’s the D. So the [00:08:00] R is the resilience factor. The resilience factor, and I’m going to give you an acronym to help you to be resilient. I’m going to give you an acronym for that because we have to be resilient on purpose. I’m going to give you an acronym for that. I’m still coming back to that.
Paula: All right.
Michael: Then the E is embrace teamwork. You can’t live your dream without a team. Embrace teamwork.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Michael: And the A is Accountability partnership.
Paula: Yeah.
Michael: Accountability, partnership. There’s a need for accountability partnership in order to live your dream. And the last one M is Mentorship.
Paula: Wow, it all!
Michael: So to do life big, you need to start with a dream. That’s the D. Then you need to remember there’s a resilience factor because there will be things that will happen to you along the way that will want to make you to quit. But you must [00:09:00] be able to bounce back, and I’ll show you how to do that.
Paula: Okay.
Michael: When life happens to you, you happen to life. Don’t let life happen to you. You happen to life. You know, I was trained as a physician. So one of my colleague and we went to medical school together, and he liked to send me a test message that how is life treating you? And I will send the message back to him that. I’m the one treating life, life is not treating me. I’m not a patient of life. So there are two kind of people in life, people that let life happens to them and people that happen to life. So, it’s good, people that happen to life are proactive, people that let life happen to them, they are reactive. So don’t be a patient of life. When you are a patient of life, you are a patient for life. You are a victim for life. So this is key. So the resilience factor is key. Then we talk about the embrace teamwork, accountability partnership, and mentorship. Now let’s start. [00:10:00] From the start a dream. So what is a dream?
Paula: There’s a question I was about to ask you because that’s a question I hear all the time. What is a dream? That’s good.
Michael: That’s good. And I’m ready to answer the question because the thing about that is like, when you don’t know what something means it’s like, you can really maximize the benefit. So the best definition that I have about the dream is one for my mentor, Dr. John Maxwell. And he defined a dream as an inspiring picture of the future that energizes your will, emotion, and mind, empowering you to do everything you can to achieve it.
Paula: Ooh. I love it.
Michael: Yeah.
Paula: I love that.
Michael: Yeah. I’ll say it again. A dream is an [00:11:00] inspiring picture of the future, that energizes your will, emotion and mindemnd powering you to do everything you can to achieve it.
Paula: Thank you for repeating that.
Michael: Yeah. So now your dream have to be inspiring. If your dream does not inspire you, it cannot inspire others. So we said the first thing is start with a dream, but that dream have to be an inspiring picture. There must be clarity. It will be so clear and inspiring picture of the future. Vision is all about seeing the world the way it could be and the ability to communicate it to others. So that picture have to be [00:12:00] clear. A dream is an inspiring picture of the future that energizes. So that picture have to be so clear. The clarity have to be so real that it brings energy into your soul. Your soul has three different compartments. Your will which is your chooser, your emotion, which is your feeler and your mind, which is your thinker. So it must energize your soul compartment. Man is a spirit. He has a soul and dwell in the body.
Paula: Can you go over that again? What your way?
Michael: So, I mean,
Paula: Your soul is?
Michael: Your soul has three compartments.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: Your will, emotion, and your mind. Your will is your chooser. Your emotion is your feeler. It’s what makes you feel things. Your will is what makes you choose [00:13:00] things. Center of decision.
Paula: Yep.
Michael: Your emotion is your feeler. It’s what makes you to feel something, to experience things. And your mind is your thinker.
Paula: Thinker, yes. I love that definition too. Did you put this up for me today as well or for the audience?
Michael: It’s alright.
Paula: Or not?
Michael: Don’t worry, there’s more to come.
Paula: All right.
Michael: I’m loaded. And I’m ready to discharge. Yeah.
Paula: Ok.
Michael: So that’s what a dream is. So it’s an inspiring picture of the future that energizes. So that energy, just like, think about charging your phone now. It brings energy to your will, to your choice making, to your emotion, the way you experience life. And to your mind, the way you think. Empowering you to do everything you can to achieve it. Because there are so many things that look like dreams. They’re not dreams. [00:14:00]
Paula: They’re mirages.
Michael: There’s no time to really go over those things that look like dreams that are not dreams. But the main thing I wanted to just get is start with a dream. Everyone needs a dream to do life big. Why? It’s a dreamer’s world. It’s We live in a dreamer’s world. There’s one mentor of mine that has really inspired me a long time. You know, I have an encounter with him in 1998 and that encounter, this is like 26 years ago, turned my life around. And one day I took a trip. I went to his base, his headquarters. I was just walking around. I was trying to find out what is this man’s secret?
Paula: Did you find out?
Michael: Yes, I did.
Paula: Ok.
Michael: And I was going around and I saw a write up that was put in the… he has a big church. In fact, in 1999, he has the largest church in the world, the single [00:15:00] congregation. So the single building at that time now his building, I’m talking about Bishop David Oyedepo. His building, the biggest church in the world now called the Legacy Project that’s going to house 200, 000 people with the extension 300, 000. So I saw that write up and the title is, it’s a dreamer’s world. We live in a dreamer’s world. Why? Dreamers are rulers. Visionaries are commanders. So it’s a dreamer’s world. When Walt Disney died, he died before they opened up the Disneyland, Wonderland. So when they were doing the commissioning and one of the persons was giving a statement and said, oh, he wish Walt Disney was alive to see all this. And the wife took the mic. She said, Walt actually saw it before you all saw it today.
Paula: I love that.
Michael: And that’s the same thing that happened to Martin Luther King [00:16:00] Jr. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I have a dream.
Paula: I have a dream.
Michael: He didn’t say, I have a plan, I have a dream.
Paula: Mm-Hmm.
Michael: And a day before he died. He said, I have seen the promised land. I might not get there with you, but my eyes have seen the glory. He’s a dreamer. He saw a world. He said, I have a dream that in this same nation that the slave owners and the children of the slave, will both sit together on the table of brotherhood. That was weird. That was unthinkable. Don’t forget. Your dream is going to bring energy into your will, emotion and thought. Change the way you think. If you are still thinking ordinary, you don’t have a dream. There’s no true dreamer that thinks ordinary. One of the books I’m reading now, it’s called Rules For [00:17:00] Revolutionaries
Paula: Rules?
Michael: For Revolutionaries.
Paula: Okay.
Michael: Yeah. Rules for Revolutionaries by Guy Kawasaki. That is the book.
Paula: All right. Guy Kawasaki. Yeah, he’s written some great books.
Michael: This is one of the men that was part of the Apple Macintosh and that revolutionized the computer industry. And he wrote that book. It’s one of the books I’m reading right now. So, and in that book, I don’t want to digress. Let me stay with this topic. Yes, because we all agree, right? Exactly. So, start with a dream. That’s it. Start with a dream. And don’t forget, Don’t forget. Your dream is not what somebody wants for you. It’s your own dream. Your dream have to be your dream.
It’s not what your mother wants. It’s not what your father wants. It’s your dream. It has to be your dream. Borrowed dream cannot bring energy. Don’t forget, a dream is an inspiring picture of the future that [00:18:00] energizes your will, emotion, and mind. When you borrow a dream, It will lack enough energy to bring to your soul compartment, which is your will, emotion, and mind. So that’s why borrowed dream has low energy.
Paula: Up to you. I love that. So in other words, make this personal.
Michael: Yeah, it has to be personal. It has to be your dream.
Paula: And it has to begin with you.
Michael: It has to begin with you. So your dream must be your dream. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has a dream, it was his dream to say, I have a dream that in this nation, my children, my four children will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. That was his own dream. It was not a borrowed dream. So don’t borrow anybody else’s dream. You must find your own dream. So let’s go to the second one now.
Paula: Resilience.
Michael: Resilience factor. Now, having discovered your [00:19:00] dream. That’s another content talking about how to discover your dream. That’s another content on its own.
Paula: We’ll have to do that on another episode.
Michael: Yes. I promise that I don’t mind. I will. I’ll be glad. Now I won’t find your dream. You would just like Martin Luther King Jr. Find his own dream. You need to find your own dream because don’t forget borrowed dream has low energy. It can take you far. It’s like you try you it’s like a plane is trying to fly from Philadelphia to California. There’s a particular amount of fuel that the airplane needs. So you must have enough energy to get to your destination. Don’t forget it’s all about the future. So if you borrow a dream, you’re going to crash. You won’t land. You won’t get to your destination. You won’t make it. So make sure your dream is your dream.
Paula: Your dream is your dream. And I love that analogy where you said with a plane, having enough fuel, because if [00:20:00] you don’t have enough fuel for your own dream. You’ll crash.
Michael: Exactly, because your dream comes with its energy. Like I said, it’s an inspiring picture of the future that energizes. So your dream comes with its own energy.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Michael: It’s like when you buy some some toys for kids, they will set batteries included. So with your dream comes the battery, the energy.
Paula: I love that.
Michael: But borrowed dream has no battery. There’s no battery. It’s flat. It’s flatlined. So you need to be your dream because dreams requires authenticity for productivity. So it has to be authentic. Yeah.
Paula: So the resilience factor, is that part of the, I mean.
Michael: Now, the second thing is like the acronym dream out to do live big. So the first one is start with a dream. The second one is the resilience factor now for you to be resilient. Resilience talks about is a vital, you know, part of life that is [00:21:00] required for you to do live big. So it’s the ability to bounce back from setbacks. Someone said setback is set up for a stronger comeback. So when thrown against the wall, you are either an egg or a tennis ball. So resilience makes a difference. So if you’re a tennis ball, you’re going to bounce back.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: If you’re an egg, you don’t.
Paula: That’s it.
Michael: So the question is, how can you be resilient? Now I’ve created an acronym for you on how you can be resilient on purpose.
Paula: Oh, it’s an acronym now.
Michael: Yeah. It’s another acronym. Resilience is not something that is automatic. It’s something that is intentional. So how can you be resilient on purpose? So the acronym is purpose for you to be [00:22:00] resilient. I’m giving you this purpose acronym for you to be resilient. So what’s the P? The P is Picture your possibilities, picture your possibilities. A lot of times people picture impossibilities, they picture obstacles.
Paula: Yeah.
Michael: You need to visualize success. You need to see it ahead of time, picture possibilities. Of course, I’m not denying there’s going to be obstacles in the way. You need to picture possibilities. The story of the 12 spies. Ten of the spies, they see themselves as grasshoppers, but two of them, they don’t see themselves as grasshoppers. Exactly. So picture your possibilities, visualizing success, and focusing on the potential outcomes can fuel resilience. So you have to picture your possibilities. If all you see, listen, in fulfilling your dream, there’s going to be so many obstacles, but don’t focus [00:23:00] on those obstacles. Picture the possibilities.
Paula: Okay, so then we have you. Because, I mean, this is so good and we have a time factor.
Michael: Yeah, it’s okay. So the you is this, use your failure or mistakes as a learning tool. Okay. In the quest of pursuing your dream, fulfilling your dream, you’re gonna make mistakes. You’re going to fail, but listen, fail is an acronym, fail means first attempt in learning.
Paula: I know that one. Yes.
Michael: The real failure is when you don’t learn from your experience. So use your failure as a mistake or mistakes as a learning tool. Failure is not the end, but rather a stepping stone to growth.
Paula: It is.
Michael: Remember Thomas Edison?
Paula: How many times did he do that attempt?
Michael: He famously remarked, I have not failed, I’ve just found 10, [00:24:00] 000 ways that won’t work.
Paula: Yes, I love, I believe in that.
Michael: Yeah, so embrace failure as a valuable lesson that propels you forward.
Paula: Okay, let me put the R now.
Michael: So the R is reach out. Reach out. Reach out for help. Reach out for help.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: Seeking support from others is crucial during tough times. And in living your dream, I was reading the biography of Michael Dell, the CEO of the Dell Technologies. There was a time he reached out for help to fulfill his dream because he was a college dropout. He has the passion. He has the dream. But one time he met a man and he reached out, he told the man that, please, I need you to come and work with me. The man first of all said no. And later on, the man reconsidered and came back to help him and took the company to another level before he left.
Paula: So in other words, do not look at, Oh my gosh, I need to ask [00:25:00] this person who may say no, still reach out.
Michael: Reach out for help.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: So you have to reach out, you know, John Maxwell said something. He said, when a vision becomes bigger, you have two choice, either to give up or to ask for help. Say, I’ve chosen to ask for help. This same thing happened to me last year. I know I need a team to do life big and I know I don’t have that team. I have to reach out and in reaching out, that’s why people like Dr. Ayo, that have been on your podcast and Dr. Olabisi Oshikanlu, they are now part of the team. Yeah, 22 of them that we are doing live big together. We just had a youth empowerment conference for 30 people registered all around the world. Very impactful last Saturday.
Paula: And we need that.
Michael: Reach out.
Paula: Yeah, for the young [00:26:00] people. Yes.
Michael: Exactly. So let’s go to the next one. Yes. The next one is P
Paula: Mm-Hmm.
Michael: Put things in Right Perspective.
Paula: Put things… if you see me looking down, I’m writing these things down.
Michael: I got you. So put things in right perspective.
Paula: Okay.
Michael: Maintaining a balanced perspective is key to resilience. You know, at times things does, things are not the way they are. When things happen to people, people just kind of blow up, you know, things got so hyped up.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Michael: You need to reframe challenges as opportunities for growth. You can navigate obstacles with greater clarity and resilience. So you have to put things in the right perspective. It’s like, you know, someone that have a half a cup, half full of water. And someone is looking at, Oh, this is half empty. So I said, no, it’s half full.
Paula: Yep. I love the half [00:27:00] full. I only look at that.
Michael: Exactly. So put things in right perspective.
Paula: Love it. Okay. What is O for?
Michael: Yeah. Perspective. So the next one is O. Operates with optimism.
Paula: Operate.
Michael: Yeah. Operate with optimism.
Paula: Optimism.
Michael: Okay. That means you need to approach every challenges with a positive mindset and that makes all the difference. And Winston Churchill said, the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. Say, but the optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. So you have to be optimist. You have to be an optimist.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: It takes optimism to gain magnetism.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Michael: To attract the right person to your dream. So it’s very important. And the last one. Okay, we still have two more.
Paula: We have two more.
Michael: Yes. The next one. I want to say the next one is serve [00:28:00] others. Find a way to serve.
Paula: Servant leadership.
Michael: Servant leadership. I just finished a book on servant leadership. It’s coming out this month. Find a way to serve. Service is very vital. If there’s one word I can use to summarize leadership is service.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Michael: Find a way to service. Serve to serve others, because contributing to something greater than yourself can provide a sense of purpose that make you to be resilient. When you are serving, your resilience is being reinforced because service helps you to focus on others instead of yourself.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: Mahatma Gandhi said…
Paula: I would like to add to that and I believe as Christians, we follow the greatest servant.
Michael: Yeah.
Paula: Jesus Christ.
Michael: Yeah. That’s why yeah. You write about, he’s the greatest servant leader, you know,
Paula: Greatest [00:29:00] Servant Leader.
Michael: Exactly. And that’s why I had a concept for servant leadership called the Area Code. The Area Code means accept responsibility before exercising authority.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Michael: You know, yeah, the book will be out this month. You know, it’s something I talk about. It’s the Unveiling the Essence of Servant Leadership. But the main thing I want to say is serving others make you resilient because you are no longer living for yourself.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: You’re living for others. Ellen Keller said, life is an exciting business and it’s most exciting when lived for others. So living for others, serving others, make you to be more resilient. Then the last one is, E. Embrace joy.
Paula: Ooh, I love that.
Michael: Yeah.
Paula: Embrace joy.
Michael: Embrace joy.
Paula: It’s a choice.
Michael: So, amidst every challenges, you need to find moments of joy and gratitude that help you to be more resilient. Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy.
Paula: We have to choose [00:30:00] joy.
Michael: And keep choosing it every day. Joy is a choice.
Paula: I agree.
Michael: And you, this is how you cultivate joy. You cultivate joy by focusing on the present moment and by practicing gratitude and engaging in activities that bring you happiness and fulfillment. That goes back to service. I mean, and that’s one of the things I build. I find joy when I serve others.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: Like someone defined joy. It said joy means Jesus first. Others second, you last.
Paula: Another acronym.
Michael: Yeah.
Paula: Love it. Okay. So because of time, we need to go back to dream. So we had the D. Yeah. Which gave us purpose. Let’s go to E, embrace teamwork.
Michael: So the E’s embrace teamwork.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: It takes teamwork to make dream work.
Paula: Yes, it does. [00:31:00]
Michael: Without teamwork, your dream cannot work. But not just any team, you need the right team. A great dream requires a great team. I did that last year. I have to seek for leaders, not just anyone. Great team required. Why? A great team with a bad team is nothing but a nightmare. So every great dream requires a great team, not just anyone, but people that share your values. So embrace teamwork is very important. Dr. John Maxwell said, if you want to go to a little hill, you don’t need a team. All you need is a pair of sneakers. You can just climb the hill.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: Why? Because as the challenges escalates, teamwork elevates.
Paula: Yes.
Michael: I [00:32:00] just did a series on LinkedIn on a five week series. On leadership lesson from the NBA final, the National Basketball on the power of teams. The team that won the NBA final 2024 this year, Boston Celtic they operate as a team. So embrace teamwork. You can’t do your life big as a one man army. You need a team. The word team is an acronym. It means Together Everyone Achieves More. So embrace teamwork. Embrace teamwork. It’s so important. I can’t overemphasize teamwork because if I talk about teamwork like by the grace of God, I have a team of 22 leaders that we work together for global project. Now we’re working towards a conference for women and leadership conference coming up September 7 for women and leadership. I can’t do it by loan. I’m not a CEO. CEO to me means Chief [00:33:00] Everything Officer. I am not a chief everything officer.
Paula: What are you?
Michael: I’m a CVO, Chief Visionary Officer.
Paula: Love that. Alright. But coming back to the women’s leadership, you give me more information later so we can put that in our show notes.
Michael: Yeah, we will. Yeah. The women in Leadership League and Global Women Conference comes up twice a year. And first Saturdays in March and September, we had one in March that the second one. So the third one is coming up September seven. So we’ll give you the information. Okay. Now let’s go to the next one which is number 4. Now about teamwork, I want to share something about the teamwork. This is very important because you know, a lot of people, they don’t like, they want to work as a solo. I want to be by myself.
Isolation will take you to the land of desolation. Collaboration is the new currency. This is what sister Joanne and sister Benedictine said. This is what she said. I just learned this, this morning. He said it is trust [00:34:00] in the limits of the self that make us open and it is trust in the gift of others that make us secure. We come to realize.
Paula: Say that again.
Michael: Yeah. So we come to realize that we don’t have to do everything.
Paula: Yes, we don’t.
Michael: We can’t do everything that’s what I can’t do is someone else’s gift and responsibility. It says my limitation makes space for the gift of other people. And this is very important to embrace it. We see a lot of people, they want to do everything by themselves by themselves, but we have to collaborate. So that’s everything. So the next one is to do life big. So A, accountability partnership. Accountability partnership is very important in everything that we do in [00:35:00] life, because when you don’t account, you can’t amount. You can’t amount to anything great when you lack accountability. Accountability is key to productivity.
I was reading a Life of a Leader called Joel Manby that wrote the book Love Works. And he talked about three friends that he met when he was in Harvard Business School, that these three friends, that they are still friends 30 years after that they call each other once a month to check on one another.
Paula: Lovely.
Michael: That one time, one of the friends, one of those friends, they are four, you know, she has three friends with him making four. One of them was having a problem with the wife. One time they all flew right there to settle the problem. That is the power of accountability partnership. And I call it peer. I give it an acronym called peer. And that peer [00:36:00] means Positive, Enriching and Encouraging Relationship. So that’s what accountability partnership is all about. It’s a positive, enriching, and encouraging relationship. For instance, I’m writing a book, and we have, and for that book writing to keep on, we have a forum called the Authors Forum, where we meet one hour in one month.
And also I’m reading eight books every day. I have an accountability partner called TRAIN, The Reader’s Addiction Inspired Nation, that we report the books being read on that. As I finish a book, I report, I just finished this book, this is my replacement book, this is what I’m currently reading. Because that’s the key! To productivity. So to do life big, you need accountability partners, people that you do in life together, you are heading [00:37:00] towards the right direction. Now the last one, because our time is off, is the mentorship factor. I can’t overemphasize this mentorship. Talking about role model, author and writer Ben Johnson said, if he that has himself for a mentor is a fool, that means if you have yourself as your own mentor, you are a fool. Mentors deliver us from tormentors.
Paula: I love all these.
Michael: Yeah,
Paula: I love that.
Michael: Mentorship is the ship that will take you to your destination because mentors have gone ahead of you. They are people that inspires us. They are role model. Without role model, you can play your role well. So all we have said today in to wrap up. To do life big. The acronym DREAM. You need to start with a dream. [00:38:00] R, the Resilience factor. E, Embrace teamwork, A, Accountability partnership, and M, you need Mentorship. Thank you.
Paula: Oh, my word. Hasn’t that just been great?
Michael: Yes, it is.
Paula: Doing life big.
Michael: Yeah.
Paula: So, don’t leave your dream. Live it.
Michael: Your dream, yes.
Paula: Live it. I love the fact that, you know, you’re able to give us that acronym because it’s easy to follow.
Michael: Yeah.
Paula: But I know we have a lot more. It’s just because of time. We are limited.
Michael: Yeah.
Paula: And you do have to come on again to talk more about some of the other things. I know you talked once to me about only changed people can change the world.
Michael: Yeah.
Paula: That’s another topic for another…
Michael: Exactly. Another time. Yeah.
Paula: Dr. Michael Koku.
Michael: Yeah.
Paula: Between today and the next episode, if someone wants to get in contact with you, how can they find you online?
Michael: Oh, that’s good. You can find [00:39:00] me by going to YouTube and type in Dr. Michael Koku. You, and that’s my YouTube channel. And then you can go to LinkedIn and type Dr. Michael Koku. And you’ll find me have a lot of content right there. Then you can go to lgcleadership. com. That’s my website. lgcleadership.com. Then you can also find me on Facebook as Michael Koku on Facebook and then Instagram too. You’ll find me right there. And so it’s such a pleasure to serve you. And I believe this has added so much value to you. Don’t leave your dream, live your dream so that you can do life big. Thank you.
Paula: Awesome. And for those of you who want to be a guest on the show, just like Dr. Michael Koku has been, please reach out to me on my website, which is chattingwiththeexperts. com. I’m also on Instagram. My handle this at [00:40:00] chat_expert_podcast. I’m on LinkedIn plus look for Paula Okonneh and I am on Facebook. You can contact me any of those places because having guests on my show, it’s not for me. It’s for others and it’s for women and it’s for whoever else we have men watching these shows too. That’s why I have, I brought on this awesome gentleman. So thank you again, Dr. Koku and we will have to do some additional episodes.
Michael: You’re welcome. I’ll be glad to.
Paula: Thank you.
Michael: You’re welcome. Thank you so much. Yeah.