THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT

 You can only see so much. You can't cover all the angles. You need extra pair of eyes and hands to guide you through when it's crunch time.

Maybe I should start playing chess again. It's really not about winning (yeah right). It's a good sport that will task and develop the thinking muscles.

Maybe I need to focus less on me and look out for people to cheer, care and counsel. We all could do with all the help we can get.

Maybe I should watch the Queens Gambit again. It was surely worth the while.

Written by Olumide Holloway (King Olulu)

RISE AND GRIND: A REVIEW

 amputation. This means, he came into this world with no arms and legs. Despite the odds stacked against him, he still made something great out of his life.

The minute by minute account of the daily activities of Daymond John further validates the saying, “success is in the routine.” Daymond also kept it real and interesting when he stated (in his own words) that: “my grind doesn’t always follow the clock, doesn’t always follow the sun, and doesn’t always follow a set schedule. That’s why I still make time to hit the (night) clubs — when I’m home in New York, or when I travel. Whatever it is I’m doing, whatever it is I’m selling, my time in the clubs gives me a leg up, because that’s where my market lives and breathes. If I want my finger on the pulse, that’s where I tend to find it.” In other words, go to where your market is.

My key takeaways from the book are:

· Don’t be afraid to chase your dreams, even if they’re a little crazy and out there, and everybody you know is telling you, you’re out of your mind.

· If you can’t get your ass to work, get your assets to work.

· Get your hands dirty. Meet your customers where they live. Step outside your comfort zone, break from your routines, and take the temperature of the market you hope to serve. Put yourself out there.

· Know and understand that strength leads to strength — meaning, if you attack your days with relentless passion, if you attack your goals with relentless precision, you’re bound to get a strong result.

· The opportunities come when you least expect them, and you have to be moving in order to benefit from that opportunity. Sometimes, you can rise and grind, and rise and grind, and rise and grind, and just grind, grind, grind and nothing happens. And then you have a breakthrough. But if you don’t grind, I can assure you, nothing’s going to go your way.

So my people: Rise and Grind, so you can Rise and Shine.

Written by Olumide Holloway (King Olulu)

WHEN MONEY BECOMES A LOCKED DOOR

THE FRIEND WHO HELD THE LIGHT

 

My final year arrived with a price tag

I could barely look at without fear.

My project stood before me, almost finished,

yet money had become the locked door

between effort and completion.

 

I had already poured hours into it,

dreams into it, pieces of myself into it.

The thought of stopping there

felt like watching a house collapse

after you had laid its final brick.

 

I wondered whether years of work

could end at the edge of an empty pocket.

The thought hurt differently,

because failure was not the only fear.

Waste was.

 

Then a friend reached out a hand

when mine had begun to fall.

No trumpet announced the kindness,

no crowd gathered to witness it,

but that gesture became a bridge.

 

Sometimes help does not arrive

as a miracle wrapped in light.

Sometimes it comes quietly,

through one person who says,

"Let me help you finish."

 

I learned that resilience is sometimes borrowed

until you can grow your own.

And when I finally stood again,

I carried more than gratitude.

I carried a promise to keep going.

 

About the poet:

Olatinwo Yushau is a compassionate, deeply intuitive poet, performer, and author whose creative practice centers on survival, resilience, and the human evolution through adversity.