Dare to be Different!

You laugh at me because I'm different. I laugh at you because you're all the same. Jonathan Davis (Audio-book Narrator).

You are the only you that there is. There cannot be another you. You will never be someone else. You may act like them, talk like them, dress like them, but will never be them. Why not give up trying to be someone else and simply be you?

The basic problem with people is conformity. Everybody seems to want to be like another person. Rather than be originals we want to be copies.

I understand that we all learn by copying. Indeed, the primary means of learning is copying – so in essence a child walks like its parents, talks like them, smiles and laughs like them. When the child grows he or she discovers that there is a difference between it and its parents. Gradually it breaks away from total connection from its parents.

The problem is that although we may disconnect from conforming to our parents we submit to conforming to people around us. We conform to our peers, work colleagues, and even foes. We bend and act the way people make us act. When we are faced with some situation, rather than react creatively, we act with some degree of spontaneity because the scripts of our actions have already been written.

Real ingenuity does not come with conformity. At best you will become as successful as the person you are copying, never better. Jesus Christ noted that, “A student is no better than his teacher. But anyone who is well-trained will be like his teacher.”  You will stop to grow. Since they have limits you know your limits.

When you religiously conform to other folks you lose your freedom and become bound with the shackles of their own boundaries. Nothing more brings depression and sorrow than the thought that a person’s life is externally controlled.

Worse still is the fact that you lose the ability to think creatively. What is there to think any more since you have a blueprint already?

Stop! Slap yourself awake! You are a person also! Your life has dignity! Live your own life to the fullest. Rather than conform, create! Create your world. Encourage you friends and loved one to create theirs also. No joy of success can be compared to the joy of having lived your own life. 

Prepare and Win or Prepare to Lose

And when it was being built, the house was built of stone made ready beforehand. (1Kings 6:7).

It is easy, very easy indeed, to applaud excellent work in any given field. Sometimes we are tempted to think that the excellent work is an act of extraordinary genius that cannot be replicated but all too often that is far from the truth. Excellence is often a result of hours, days, months, sometimes, years of preparation. While the preparation is going on it is scarcely celebrated, if at all noticed, by people but the brief moment of success is resounded by many. King Solomon once advised, “Prepare your work outside, and make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterwards build your house” (Proverbs 24:27). 

Preparation is not easy but makes your work easy. It cuts-out all the excesses, makes your work less cumbersome, and certainly, it is cheaper on the long run than when you are not prepared.

Many think they have no opportunities but they do have daily opportunities, which come disguised in the cloaks of:

-          - Talents and gifts.

-          - People.

-          - Problems and difficult circumstances.

The average folk has loads of the above daily. This means opportunities come but how prepared are we to meet them?

Let’s say, for example, that you are a gardener who loves everything about grapes – its taste, its look, its feel – and would want to have some fresh home-made wine. You would only be able to achieve this today if you planted your grapes two years earlier. Without that preparation I’d suggest you buy a bottle of wine in the nearest kiosk. Nonetheless if you would make yours in two years then you should rise and plant today!

Preparation is difficult – indeed painful sometimes – but it is inevitable if you would have predictable success in the days ahead.

Learning to Focus

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. - Alexander Graham Bell

The Sun: The Sun is the most prominent feature in our solar system and nature’s energy warehouse. It contains approximately 98% of the total solar system mass. Its disk can conveniently accommodate one hundred and nine Earths. Its interior can hold over 1.3 million Earths. The Sun's outer visible layer is called the photosphere and has a temperature of 6,000°C. This layer has a mottled appearance due to the turbulent eruptions of energy at the surface.

It is oddly funny that with all these known about the sun, humans, infinitesimal creatures in comparison to it, enjoy bare-chested tanning under the sun’s intensity daily.

The Laser: The laser is used for surgeries, joining of objects and in some intensity can cut through steel. At best, the laser emits energy so small, it would not stand anywhere close to the sun.

One thing makes the laser able to cut through steel while the sun is used for tanning - FOCUS. The principle behind the laser is simple. All its rays are focused on one spot while the sun disperses its rays to a zillion different directions.

Focus is a major virtue of all high-achievers. Simply put, it is the ability to stay on one thing at a time until it is completed.

Focused living is the crux of successful living. We need to be focused in every aspect of our lives. Anyone that does everything at the same time actually does nothing. Want to be focused?

Know your areas of interest: There are many things you could do but I am pretty sure there are only a few you will be interested in at any given time. Discover your areas of interest and focus on them.

Prioritize: On a piece of paper, write down all the things you need to accomplish. Attach numbers to them in accordance to their relevance. Pick the most relevant and work on it immediately. Work your way down the list.

Don’t leave anything unfinished: Each item selected on your list should be completed before you move on. Never leave a work unfinished. Unfinished work is no better than untouched work. If a task can be finished once, make sure you don’t do it twice. 

IGNORANCE - The Success Killer!

     If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. - Derek Bok (Former President of Harvard University)

     To know or not to know. It is amazing the number of ignorant people in our society. Large segment of the population do not know and funny do not know that they do not know. It almost seems like they feel ignorance is bliss and if that is the case they certainly are hanging on error. Have you heard it said that what you do not know cannot hurt you? Well there isn't a bigger lie than that! Indeed, what you do not know can kill you!
     My work colleague died some time back because she used medication that killed a baby in her. You see, she was pregnant but neither she nor her husband knew about it so she used strong malaria medication to counter to the morning sickness she felt. Ignorance is a killer, a certain killer.
     But for me I do not think ignorance is the biggest problem. The bigger problem is the lack of desire to learn. An ignorant man with the desire to learn is a patient with a properly diagnosed sickness. All he needs is right medication to be well. A majority of young folks have a lackadaisical attitude toward learning. Look around you and you will realize that it is certainly true.
     If you would succeed in life you must be able and willing to learn.
     Interestingly, it is easy to learn. Never in human history has information, which leads to knowledge, been more readily available than today. Researchers and authors willingly share loads of information on every area of development. Plunge into this sea of information and improve yourself. Read books. Take positive advantage of the internet. The information you receive will bring knowledge to you and the knowledge will transform you into another being.
     When you begin your learning journey you will realize that some of the things you thought you knew were an illusion and that you did not know as much as you thought you did. Hence, you will unlearn and begin to properly relearn. Martin Luther King (Jnr) once said, "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." Decide today not to be sincerely ignorant nor conscientiously stupid.

How to Handle Temporary Set-Backs

Pain is Temporary, Quitting lasts forever. - Lance Armstrong

     So you have a vision, your eyes are set like an arrow shot in the direction of your goals, your big breakthrough seems to be coming your way and you are set, set to celebrate, set to shout for victory, set to breathe a sigh of relieve. 

     Then it happens. 
     That which you did not expect nor saw coming. A loved one dies. Your business is gutted with fire. Your daughter gets pregnant and runs out of home. 

     Your life has now officially crash landed, crumbling right in front of you. What do you do? Would you get distracted, submit to exhaustion, lose your willpower and cave in to pressure?

     In this piece, I will not proffer a solution for whatever you may be in - there isn't, in the first place, a "one tablet cures all" to such unforeseen happenings. Nonetheless I will highlight some important things that should help you go through it.

1. Develop an attitude of looking upwards. God is able to help you and is never far from you. Be strong enough to realize how weak and limited you are and cry out to him that can help you through every situation.

2. Open your heart out to people around. None of us is made to live in isolation from other people. No matter how much you love privacy and isolation you need people that will console and love you. Do not die alone!

3. Do not make a permanent decision for a temporary situation. Most set-backs are temporary occurrences. People make them permanent by the actions they take as a result. If you realize this you will ensure that every decision you need to make when a set-back comes will be carefully thought through. 

4. Generate a response plan. Generate a plan on how you will respond to what has just happened to you. As a rule, do not take the first reaction that naturally comes to you. Thoughtfully search deep within you for the appropriate response.

Was it Meant to Happen?

Some things are meant to happen - it just

takes us a couple of tries to get there. - J. R. Ward (Author)

“Seeing we have not gone far, let’s call-in the motor park for a replacement,” I suggested to other passengers after our taxi slated for a three-hour journey broke down after nine minutes.

“There is no need we do that,” they unanimously responded. “It is just a minor fault, and who knows, it was probably meant to happen”. I could have disputed their theory but I felt there was no need so I stayed silent.

One hour down we started out again.

Two hours into our journey, in the very middle of ‘no-man’s-land’, the car made a sharp sound and stopped. This time it obviously was a more serious problem for the car made no sign at all of starting. “I told you all!” my heart kept screaming with my mouth shut. I wondered if the passengers would have said it was a minor fault that was “meant to happen” if we were aboard a plane and not a car. I did not blame them much though - they live by fate.

It is a futile thing to rely on fate. Many people make clumsy decisions, take the actions accompanying those decisions and when the result of their poor decision-making and actions come out, they attest it to fate. How can a driver who decided not to put on a seat belt while driving say after an accident, “I was meant to hit my chest on the steering wheel and develop a complication”? It is absurd! However, many who rely on fate are doing just that.

People run to fate because it gives them a loophole to be irresponsible. They cannot be held responsible for whatever happened or is happening because the buck doesn't stop with them. “It was destined” or a better one is “God made it happen”. Have you heard such clichés before?

Take the driver's seat of your life - we are called to live by faith and not by fate! None who depends on fate has faith. Nothing just happens because “it was meant to happen”. God set nature to respond in a way that a prior happening causes everything that happens - a cause and then an effect. As long as we ignore faith and hang instead on fate, life will give to us whatever it chooses. If we instead take up the responsibility of the things that happen in our lives, we can then begin to change for the better whatever we do not like in our lives.

Drop YOUR Burdens and Start Running

Do you see what this means - all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down and start running - and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. - Paul (the apostle)

Usain Bolt is reckoned the fastest man in the world. He set a world record of 9.58 seconds in the 100m race. Impressive indeed. But then I sometimes wonder how well I would perform in the same track with Bolt. Not that I have a clue as to how to take on champions, I simply imagine what comfortable win I will have if he had a 50-kg sack of sand tied to his back. Not a fair race but a win is a win especially against Bolt. 

As it is with Bolt carrying a sack so it is with us when we carry burdens that weigh us down in life. How far can you get along your life journey if you have so many loads on your back? You would be much slower than you normally would and get exhausted much earlier than you normally would. 

Some burdens are guilt over the past, various “genres” of fear, anxiety, and procrastination, to mention a few.

In all speed related sports, dressing as lightly as possible cannot be overemphasized. All such athletes get fitted with as little as possible, both to ensure they carry no excess load and to glide easily through air resistance. In your success journey you must adopt a similar approach. 

Learn to recognize your capacity. We all have capacities in the different areas of our lives - emotional, financial, spiritual, and physical. If you do not identify and recognize how much you can handle in various areas of your life, you will lift burdens beyond what you should and will fall short of your finish line.

          Develop self-responsibility. You must know that you are the only person responsible for your life. Do not transfer the responsibility of your life to any one – not your parents, friends, work, religious leader – not anyone. You and you alone are responsible. By every means seek counsel from some trustworthy people but know that the final decision is definitely yours. The buck ends with you.

          

Do not fall to pieces!

When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us… - Paul (The apostle)

Our society is ranked with people that we have judged too early in their success journeys. For a lot of people we take a glance at their present states and conclude that they have utterly failed probably because they are not yet in our perceived state of success. Because of this societal perception for success, there is often a tendency, especially for the young, to cringe away from anything that has the similitude of hardship. Rather, the young want to “make it” NOW!

                 This will not help any generation. People of substance are made with the processing of time and experience and not at an instant. To be made a person of substance you, like gold, will have to endure the heat of the furnace of life. When you step out of that furnace you will glow for all to see. People love the gold-like person but hate the furnace that purifies to this state.

                Your endurance of tough times shows your discipline because it takes discipline to stay in the heat of the furnace of life and not jump out to some comfort zone of yours. Only the disciplined get to see the vision in their hearts. If you lack discipline you risk aborting the dream your heart has so far incubated.

                 Enduring hard times shows the stuff you are made of. When you squeeze a fruit, its juice oozes out because that is what it was made of. Pressure exposes us. “If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn't much to you in the first place”, (Proverbs 24:10).

But should in case you intend going all the way, I have ONE recipe. Keep your eyes on the ultimate end. King Solomon reasoned, “Endings are better than beginnings. Sticking to it is better than standing out.” You will not be able to endure to the end unless you see the end. If you see in your mind’s eye the grandeur that comes with completing the journey, you will remain in the furnace.

Do NOT Live Tomorrow Today

Here you leave today and enter the world of 

yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy. - Walt Disney Company

“Life has no destination”, says a quote I saw on a neighbor’s door. It hit me like lightening and left me thinking for a long time. I argued inside me if it was true. Every life has a destination and whether we like it or not, admit it or not, understand it or not, we are all in a journey and all journeys’ end up somewhere sometime.

The fact is there is a day called tomorrow and it gives us the reason to live. We sense that there is something greater than our present ahead of us. Every person has a longing to take a peek into the days ahead – we were made that way - “…he has given us a desire to know the future” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). This desire should not lead us into desperation and anxiety as it often does.

Thinking is not the same thing as worrying. You should by all means think of and plan for your future, but you should not allow the desire to see good in your future make you worry.

Learn to see with your inner eyes. We worry much about our future because we are using the wrong pair of eyes to see into the days ahead. We are looking at the future with the eyes that sees only the present. Your outer eyes see the things on the outside- physical things. The inner eyes see the non-physical. With your inner eyes, you can see beyond all limitations and that is what we should do. When we look at our futures with our physical eyes, all we see are the things around us and the circumstances that surround us.

Wrong comparisons: Many folks measure their progress with the tape rule of others irrespective of age difference, environment, opportunities available to both parties, or, and most importantly, paths in life. I often remind myself that, “No two people are going to the same place in life”. The destinies of two people may be similar in all outward features but never the same.

Making plans with God: Today is the age of positive thinking, positive proclamations and positive actions but as we take these actions. All these good things will merely puff us up until we learn to rely on God for the fulfillment of our plans.

How to Overcome the Fear Factor

Then he asked them, Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith? - Jesus (The Christ)

     I often ask people what their ambitions are. "What do you want to become?" I ask. Nine out of ten times I get answers like, "Economist," or "Banker," or "Lawyer," or the popular one – "Doctor". In all of these cases I push and ask, "What would you like to become if you knew you would absolutely succeed?" In other words I ask what ambition the person would have if he cannot fail? Seven out of ten times I get answers like, "Fashion designer," or "Singer," or "musician," or the surprising of all – "Dancer," from the same folks that chose the earlier "respectable" ones. 

    What this reveals to me is that the real reason the person mentioned the initial ambition was not necessarily because he desired to achieve it but because he was instructed by fear! It was fear – the fear of not making enough money to make ends meet – that led to the first choice.

Daily, folks are moved by fear into decisions. Fear of failure, of heights, of lack, of …death, push us into making decisions that sometimes define the whole of our lives and that of loved ones. What fears are pushing you?

     Fear cripples. I once chased a dear lizard to a wall and though walls are no limitations to lizards, this one repeatedly tried and failed to climb over. It could not climb because it was crippled by fear. What fears are crippling you?

   Fear lies. It never tells you what you can be. Rather, it sings to you stories of what you are not. Soon you begin to tell yourself those stories. Choose who you listen to.

   Some things we are afraid of do not exist! They feel like they do, look like they do, even smell like they do but the moment you approach them they fizzle away. I came across these timeless words: "Fear knocked on my door, faith answered and there was no one there."

   You will not succeed as you should if you remain as afraid as you are. You must dare! You must take the offensive! You must be bold – bold as a lion!

  Courage has never been the absence of fear. It is taking action irrespective of internal fears. Develop courage. All courageous people are fearful people that are taking actions nonetheless.

Give Your Past a Decent Burial

Give me a possession of a burying place with you, 

so that I may bury my dead out of my sight. - Abraham

Yesterday is gone! - That is a truth so hard for people to grasp. Somehow, we feel that we can in one way or the other change the things that have happened to us. You see, nothing can be done about the last breath you took- in-out- and it is gone. You cannot decide to unbreathe it but you can choose not to take the next breath. The past does not belong to us. “…Everything belongs to you whether it is… the world, life or death, present or future things, everything belongs to you” (Paul, the apostle). Did you notice that the past isn't part of the “everything”?

   Carrying the burdens of the past does not only mean carrying the negative things of the past. Many positives of our past are real burdens. Past successes can hold you back. I often slap myself to awareness by asking, “What have you done today worth a smile?”

   Happenings such as births, deaths, sicknesses, accidents, and so on could define our today in ways we would love to prevent. When such things happen, we feel helpless to them. What then do we do with the past? How do we put them behind us and move on?

   We move on by doing exactly what Abraham did, he buried his dead!

Are there physical links between you and the burdens of your past? Are there pictures or letters you have kept? These physical links to your past are the bridges that have kept you connected to your past. Burn the bridges, bury your dead, and disconnect yourself from all things in your past that have restricted you.

     Set your focus on your present and future and not on your past. God wired your brain to think about only one thing at a time so instead of hovering around the past happenings of your life, make a habit of thinking about the present and the great prospects of your future. “Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago. Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already- you can see it now! I will make a road through the wilderness and give you streams of water there” (Isaiah).        Yesterday can hold us back, today is ours to enjoy, and tomorrow gives us hope to live on.

Can You Hear Your Life Ticking?

                       …but time and chance happens to them all. – Proverbs

Twenty-four hours make one day – no more no less. We all have an equal share of the most important intangible resource in life, time. It is popularly said the time is money. Loosely speaking that is very true in the sense that there can be no transactions without time. Time creates the environment for all human plans and endeavors.

With time some build homes and relationships whilst others destroy them. With time some grow great business whilst others while it away with unproductive company. With it some pursue dreams, visions and vocations whilst others have no clue what next step to take in their lives.

Nonetheless, one thing remains constant – we all have an equal share of it – 24 hours!

So how do we become productive at all times?

Decide exactly what you are out to achieve, many folks cannot answer this; What do you want to be remembered for? Determine this and set out developing it.

Commit to focus. Focused-living is at the very crux of productivity and success. you will rarely be successful without focusing on the most important aspects of your vision. to focus means to put your attention and energy toward achieving one thing at a time.
Take advantage of every moment. Redeem the time, it is said. every second of your day is a whole part of your day. Do not waste it. Make sure your working, playing, working, resting, working, partying, all work to push you toward your vision.

The Skillful Achiever

                                For many are called, but few are chosen. – Jesus

     Have you wondered what really separates people? Why is one person better than the other? Why does the least likely to succeed folk stand out of the crowd sometimes? Why are the few chosen while the others are not?

     It is second nature for folks to excuse themselves away from failure with reasons like, “I am not talented enough”. Sooner or later they learn that talent alone is incapable of taking them far in the first place. Some others fall on, “favour from God,” but unfortunately realize that though sufficient for them, they fail! There are yet some that believe in fate – whatever happens to me should happen – and live a life far below their potential.

     What really creates a perfect divide between folks in the same venture is more often than not their level of skill. One folk is skillful the other is not. It cuts across essentially every field. The skillful tailor will always produce better clothes than the merely talented one. The skillful writer will communicate his heart better than the unskilled one.

      Interestingly skill can be developed. It is not a gift. Nobody is born with skill in any field. You may be talented but not certainly not skillful. Whatever skill we possess we learned! You can learn any skill by following these simple steps.

      Step I: Open your heart. An open heart is one that says, “I do not know it all so I am willing to learn”. An open heart is one that is inclined to the new and not just the new but the different. There are seven billion people in our world and so expect billions of ways to do the thing you are involved in.

     Step II: Learn, unlearn, relearn. Not many folks know what to learn and how to learn it. Unfortunately for such, to become a skillful achiever you must be willing to learn, unlearn, and relearn. Advancements are made in every field every month. Are you at par with the progress made in your field or are you stuck with outdated information?

     Step III: Practice, practice, practice. The simplest, but ironically most important, advice you can give to anyone in a field is: “PRACTICE.” Never get tired of doing it one more time. Just the way you never noticed your physical growth whilst it occurred, you may not notice your progress while practicing but no single proper practice session leaves you the same way it met you.

Tears for Wisdom

                       Wisdom cries out, she utters her voice on the streets… - Proverbs

    Some of us are familiar with the story of young Solomon, the king, who had a blank check to ask for whatever he desired from God and he chose to ask for wisdom to rule. He asked for this against the backdrop of all the other pleasant things he could have asked for the many other kings could have unselfishly asked for. This was the beginning of his being referred to as the wisest man to have walked the face of the earth.

      I would consider three spheres to developing wisdom.

     To be wise you would need to know yourself. It is interesting to note but a lot of people do not actually know themselves. They do not what they can do and what they can’t, do not know their likes and dislikes, do not know their talents and where they lack. This poor knowledge will certainly deter development of accompanying wisdom.

     Socrates, the great Greek philosopher once said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” When you start thinking that way you will begin to see reasons why you need more and more knowledge. Knowledge brings wisdom. Not all knowledgeable folks are wise but there is no empty-head wise person. Fran Lebowitz (American author) said, “Think before you speak. Read before you think.”

       Finally with experience comes responsibility for more wisdom. The things that have happened to you in the past, the people you have met, the relationships you have had, all these should not be taken for granted but rather should be referred to as a wellspring of experience never look down on. Draw in from your experiences for the wisdom you need at any moment.

The Strong Achiever

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invisible summer. – Albert Camus (French Author)   

     It is said that a chain is as strong as its weakest link. This is not just true with chains but with our lives. We are all as strong as the points that we are weakest in. The importance of developing strength in every area of our lives cannot be overstated. Our strengths determine to large extents who we become, what we achieve, and even the type of legacy we leave behind.

     The extent of strength you develop in any area of your life gives you competitive advantage in that area. A popular advice says, “If you do not have competitive advantage, don’t compete”. This means if you do not have strength in an area stay away from competing in that area. So, if you really want to take the spoils in any area, develop some strength in that area.

     The test for how much strength you have is in what happens to you when difficulties come your way – and they will. Sometimes we smartly do nothing when we are faced with troubles in some areas of our lives but that, though it was intended to, does not show strength but weakness. It shows a limit to how much strength we have.

     If you desire to build strength in areas of your life, I would suggest building yourself in three dimensions:

     Dimension I: Build your knowledge. The fighter who knows his opponent well enough has gone a long way already in the bout even before it begins. The less he knows about his opponent the less he can face the opponent when the bout begins.

     Dimension II: You will need to build your “more capacity” – more speed, more accuracy, more balance and self-control. Build your capacity to carry out more thereby making yourself more efficient. More efficiency will mean you use less time and less effort in achieving great results.

     Dimension III: Finally you must be flexible. Be flexible to change, be versatile to different roles and responsibilities. Many people are very rigid and their rigidity undermines their strengths. If you will survive you must be like Bamboo trees, ever bending but never breaking. You cannot achieve this dimension of strength unless you are flexible to the harsh things that will come your way.

How to succeed in ANY working environment

"Fair enough," said Laban. "It's a deal." But that very day Laban removed all the mottled and spotted nanny-goats, every animal that had even a touch of white on it plus all the black sheep and placed them under the care of his sons. (Genesis 30:34-35)

     Do you love your job? I mean do you really love what you do to earn money? The answer for many is summarized with the popularity of the cliche, "Thank God it's Friday (TGIF)". In reality I will not wave a magic wand and make you enjoy your job tomorrow but I will show you how to succeed in any working environment. 

   One thing that is paramount for working in any environment is focusing on purpose. This presupposes that you first know what the purpose for the work is. It has been popularly said that if the purpose of anything is not known it will certainly be abused. It is only when you focus on purpose that hard times will not mature to frustrating times.

   Learn to follow instructions as they come. Every product comes with an operation manual. It does not matter how many times you have used a similar product, reading the operation manual is a sure way to prevent abusing the product. It is the same with any working mandate. God gave Noah such a mandate and we read that, “Noah did everything just as the Lord commanded him,” (Genesis 6:22). That was one reason Noah was able to overcome the obvious disbelieve of the people of his time. Instructions may come to you through people ahead of you at work. Abide by them to the best of your ability.

   Learn to rely on God. It is becoming strange in today’s corporate world to tell people to depend on God. It is “old school” to mention God in the success equation but the same “old school” idea that worked for David works today! He was once faced with a life threatening situation when his own subordinates wanted him dead. He did not respond by defending himself but by asking God for direction. Once you abide by this rule you will certainly have success in every environment.

   Learn to commit your work to God. God is willing to help you build success in your working environment. Like Joseph who succeeded even in prison, you can succeed is every working environment - irrespective of how queer it seems.  When some people face harsh challenges at work they quickly run to their qualifications and strengths. But this does not show wisdom. 

The Swift Achiever

I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark. – Mohammad Ali

   I have had opportunities in life that I missed out of because I was not swift enough. I am pretty sure that you will not think too far to identify such occurrences in your life also. In relationships, business, and vocations – they cut across every area of our lives – our lack of swiftness costs us more than we bargained for.

   In my desire for extra knowledge I love to read about and watch documentaries on eagles. From some of the things I have learned them I have picked some points to highlight in this discourse. The eagle is such an excellent hunter because of three things – sight, flight, and grip. It is of these characters I would write on.

  To be swift in any area of your life you must have an excellent sight. By this you will be able to identify opportunities from afar off. Eagles can see prey from over a kilometer – now that’s sight! Sometimes opportunities stare at us right at the face yet we do not recognize them. You must be able to distinguish an opportunity from that which isn't from a great deal distance. This is the very first step to swiftness.

   Also, you must have the capacity to plunge-in for the opportunity as fast as possible. This will require a fair deal of effort and practice and time. It takes time to become fully familiar with your flight accessories and to use them to the optimum. Your flight accessories are your talents, abilities, education and skill. You use them to nose-dive toward your prey.

  So, you have identified a great opportunity, you have plunged toward it and now it is just by you, what next? You must be able to take it and maintain a firm grip on it. Sometimes we lose opportunities either because they simply slip out or our grip was, in the first place, a weak one. It is one thing to take up and opportunity and a completely different thing to hold on firmly to it.

  With these you will be well on your way to eagle-like achievements!

If you don't fight you will DIE!

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say. "I used everything you gave me." – Erma Bombeck (American humorist).

More often than not we sit back and watch our lives fizzle away. We recoil and let life happen to us. In our bid to abstain from trouble we abstain from living. So, in effect, we become the walking dead – we have life in us but are not truly living life.

This is partly so because of how we have been raised. Our inner programming says, “If life does not give it to me then I can’t have it.” This mentality is a warped one because life responds to the demands you place on it. If you demand big you receive big if you demand nothing you receive same.

There are three ways you can fight back for your life:

Flee the comfort zone. We all have comfort zones. This zone is that which you are most comfortable in. You normally resist anything or anyone that seeks to push you out of this zone but it is this same zone that will kill you! If you remain in this zone you will not grow any better than you are. Get out of that zone today!

Dream big and pursue your dreams. Many fail to dream. They have concluded that weaklings dream – a sorry thought. In truth if your life will take any reasonable shape you must dare to dream and dare to pursue your dreams no matter the odds.

Live for others. Albert Einstein notably said. “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” I must get to the point that life isn't only about me, I, and myself and so should you. Learn to think others into your life. This means that you should live to make others happy and to bring fulfillment to them.

Finally, declare again and again to yourself that you are a HUMAN BEING and you have dignity! You deserve to live life to the fullest… and you shall.

All BIG things start small

Our vineyards are in blossom; we must catch the little foxes that destroy the vineyards. Songs of Solomon 2:15 

    The names Bill Gates, Aliko Dangote, Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, and many others represent people that are perceived as being at the peak of their fields. They are the “BIG boys” in what they do. The media hype, the splendor and pomp that accompany the status leaves many young folks with an unsatisfied crave to be “BIG!”

       There is nothing wrong with being BIG. I reckon that it is natural to desire growth. When I was a child I craved adulthood at every moment. I wanted to eat whatever I wanted when I wanted, sleep when I felt like, talk to whomever I desired, and much more. In effect, I wanted to be all I felt I should be.

     As time went by, I grew to observe that NO-thing I did made me BIG. I didn't become BIG by thinking I was, I didn't become BIG by acting as though I were, I didn't become BIG even when I said I was!

      Gradually, I forgot about being BIG and now I am!

      Thinking back, I cannot recall any day that I actually saw myself grow. I now know that I had nothing to do with the growth process – nature simply took its course.

     As it was with my growth, and undoubtedly yours also, so it is with attaining that BIG boy status in your mind.

    Many young people make the various mistakes there are to make in trying to become BIG when all they needed to do was allow nature take its course.

 ...a person who wants to get quick riches will get into trouble. Proverbs 28:20.

     This is the course of nature: All BIG things start small.

     This also mean BIG businesses, BIG nations, BIG sportsmen and women, BIG singers and musicians – they all start small and grow big.

     Nothing is born BIG!

    This is an open secret of success. Do not let the splendor trap your heart. Do not let the over-bloated tales of the media ensnare you. Choose a worthy path for your life, enjoy beginning small in that path, work at growing daily, give both it and you time, and you SHALL grow BIG. Nature takes its course on all things… and that includes you!

Developing Great Habits

                  Habits are cobwebs at first, cables at last. – Chinese Proverb

  Bukassa, Samora, Toby, Chyna, are some of the dogs we grew up with. A visit to our house was surely a visit to the family with a dog.

  Of all the dogs we had there was George which I fondly remember because of his rather strange habit of jumping over fences.

  It started when George struggled a little but eventually began jumping over our four-foot-tall fence. Soon it was second nature to him. We didn’t like it and wanted to stop him so we increased the height of the fence another three and a half feet. Within a few days George was high over it! For George, jumping over fences was now an irresistible habit.

  As it was for our dog, so it is with people. We are all creatures of habits. Habits are those little actions you take so often that they become a part of you. Though initially small, our habits eventually become big, sometimes to a point we can no longer control. Your life is a testament of habits- you were not born the way you are today- who you are is a result of the habits you practiced.

  So, the question is not whether you have habits or not. The question is whether your habits are positive or negative.

  We are the same with George in that we all adopt habits. We are the same in that habits once adopted are difficult to stop, even if it means raising the fences. Nonetheless we, unlike George, are not dogs. We can change our negative habits. To do this we need to keep three things in mind.
    Today is in your hands: every morning keep in mind that it is a brand new day. When faced with a decision know that whatever choice you make will influence your habits, strengthening or weakening them. Choose to strengthen the positive ones and not the negative.

  Start small: ALL things start small and grow big. All negative habits started that way. Building positive ones in their place will also have to start that way. Take small steps in the positive direction. When you succeed (and you will), celebrate it. If you later act otherwise, don’t sweat it, it happens. Simply start small again and keep at it.

   Believe God: God has the ability to “keep you from falling,” (Jude 1:24). Hang your faith on this and enjoy a “fall-less” life of positive habits!

Grow Through Change

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. - Paul (The apostle)

It is said that the only constant thing about life is change and when you think about it you will realize it is true. You do not need to do anything for change to occur. The moment a child is conceived the mother takes the right foods and does the right exercises but other than that she does nothing to the child to make it change state. When a river decides not to move, it may not change position but it sure does change in state- it becomes stale!

Consider these words: “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert”, (Isaiah 43:18-19). He begins by saying we should not remember the things of the past so no more saying, “the good old days”! He is saying “get ready! Something new is about to happen! Change is about to take place!

    Change will happen: Change is the only constant thing about life. You do not need to believe it will happen to you for it to happen.

           Anticipate change: beyond knowing that change will happen you also need to anticipate its occurrence. In every aspect of your life expect change. Be on the look for it.

        Adapt to change: when things happen, learn to adapt to the new   conditions as fast as possible. This is your only lifeline for surviving change. In the theory of evolution Darwin observed, and rightly so, that it is not necessarily the strongest or smartest of creatures that survive the changes in their environments but the ones that know how to adapt fastest to it. For many great creatures their lack of adaptation has meant extinction. The apostle, Paul, stated of himself, “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me, (Philippians 4:12-13). What do you think he was talking about?

CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT THING IN LIFE!