Corporate Vision: Begin With Your Vision

Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. ­– Jesus (The Christ)

If you want to develop corporate vision you must first have a vision! This may seem simplistic, or at best, obvious, but, many desire to build corporate vision on the foundation of no vision at all. They are the blind leading the blind. We have a lot of such all around us.

Vision is to see ahead. It means to capture a picture that others do not initially have. Vision goes beyond physical sight to mental sight. It was Helen Keller who said, “The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but no vision.” Without first having a deeply and thoroughly engrained vision you cannot get any sensible folks to share it with you. In a prior article, The Blind Man inFront, I noted that it was impossible to lead without seeing clearly where you are headed.

When you decide to build corporate vision you are offering to be a guide to the folks you are working with. You must be willing to guide them through every stage of the vision. To guide means to show the way to others. It means to intentionally influence the growth and development of others. You become a pilot, and mentor, and chaperone to your people.

In addition, your vision must be people-focused. Folks want to know how the fulfillment of your vision will lead to their fulfilling theirs. No one wants to remain stagnated and so in the event that your vision does nothing to add to them they will join the next bus away from you and your self-centered vision. A people-focused vision goes hand-in-hand with a visionary who is willing to teach the nitty-gritties of every aspect of the vision.

Finally, you must have clearly understood and believed in your vision to build a corporate one. Many seek the help of others in a vision they have not clearly understood and believed in themselves. They want others to do the work for them and so they fail again and again in developing corporate vision.

     {To order for my new book, Do it Like Kids, click here}

When you have given the right place for these areas you stand a far better chance of getting folks to buy into your vision and in turn developing a corporate vision.

Corporate Visions

And God said, “Let US make man in our image, after our likeness.” ­– God

Fact: Dreams come true. That dreams come true isn’t a statement that needs all-night research to prove any longer. Many folks have dreamed and seen their dreams come to pass. Others that did not live to see it happen left it deeply engrained in the hearts of many that people watched out to see it happen.

Fact: Big dreams are BIGGER than their dreamers. A careful analysis of big dreams will show you that they usually are bigger than their carriers – the dreamers. This is so because big dreams aren’t self-centered or myopic. They carry as many people – sometimes systems or whole nations’ ideologies – under their umbrella.  The dreamer is simply a part of the dream and not the whole.

Fact: Big dreams need teams. For significant dreams to come true you need a collection of people. A team must be built around the vision. Individual vision isn’t enough, you need corporate vision. Sometimes we want to run all alone so that we can be the only person praised but praise isn’t enough to outweigh the numerous advantages of corporate vision. Corporate vision does a lot:

1. Diversifies the initial idea and open up a world of possibilities that weren’t thought of.

2. Makes financial resources less difficult to access.

3. Makes mental resources readily available.

4. Ensures that many smaller dreams come to pass.

5.   Makes the process of actualization fun.

6.   Releases the potential of a lot of people.

7.   Fosters unity.

8.   Challenges people to grow and develop mentally.

9.    Reduces the stress that would have been on one person.

10.Makes room for expertise and skill development.

11.Builds up leaders and leadership.

12.Multiplies the speed at which goals are achieved.

13.Diminishes the probability of failure.

    {To order for my new book, Do it Like Kids, click here}

You would agree that developing corporate vision is important to your goals. I would, in the next few articles, focus on how to develop corporate vision for each goal you set.

Social Capital

Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That other disciple was known to the Chief Priest, and so he went in with Jesus to the Chief Priest’s courtyard. Peter had to stay outside. Then the other disciple went out, spoke to the doorkeeper, and got Peter in. ­– John (the apostle)  

Let’s say you want to start your dream business. You think of every item you need, you search out a location and find a perfect one, and your heart is racing to see it begin. Then you receive a report from your financial adviser who says to you, “This business will need N2,000,000 to get off the ground.” At that moment your mind goes to your account balance and you remember that you barely have N2,000 left. The next thought that goes through your mind is, “You stupid dreamer, you better wake up!”

If you are like most of us, this story describes you and your response to the universal start-up enemy: financial capital. It is easy to place a money-estimation on virtually every aspect of your life. The interesting thing about money is that the moment you bring it into a free flowing idea thought line you go blank. It often seems like the brick wall that cannot be surmounted.

Financial capital blocks our ideas because we fail to look at other forms of capital. One of such capitals is the social capital. Social capital involves every single person you know; relatives, friends, acquaintances, and the like. Social capital will open doors that financial capital may never be able to. If your dream is to meet one-on-one with the UN Secretary General, for example, you may not have the wherewithal from where you are to achieve this dream. But what if you knew the president of your country on a personal level? All you need is to hop in an official trip to the United Nations Assembly and your dream may be achieved.

           {To order for my new book, Do it Like Kids, click here}

        Do not look down on the people in your life. They are all there for a reason. I regularly remind myself that people are more important than things – because they truly are. 

Intentional Education

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi

I am a strong voice behind the need for necessary self-education. I believe that beyond what we learn in the schools system we must engage ourselves in developing our minds. This would require several hours and days of continual “boring” work. Self-education is the platform upon which you can determine your own progress.

Unfortunately, I have realized two pitfalls for self-education in our societies. The first is that many-a-folk don’t see the dire need for it. They probably wonder why they should endure all the stress. I met a man at the mechanic workshop some days ago. I was reading the Autobiography of Martin Luther King (Jnr) at the time. We got talking and he remarked that he no longer reads because reading has been left to the rich. This came as a big surprise to me as I have never thought of anything in that line. By this he meant that the poor were too preoccupied with poverty to read. I promptly, but kindly, told him that even if we were to take his assertion as true, then it is the poor that must be found with a book everywhere they went.

The second is the compulsion that those who actually read have to irrelevant information. I was for a long time trapped in this. My library was filled with motivational books of all kinds. To my frustration I felt these books did little more than arouse my emotions and leave me with dissatisfaction. It was not until I realized that I was carrying it out the wrong way. To educate and develop my mind I needed to read books related to the fields I wanted to be outstanding in then intermittently bring in a motivational literature. What I mean is if you want to be the best manufacturer of furniture in your city, your library should be filled with books on types of wood, wood finishing, business and factory ethics, etc., and not books on motivational public speaking.

        Educate yourself intentionally. The purpose for self-education should determine the process. Make sure your aim for self-education is clearly defined then get books and other sources of information which teach you exactly how to achieve your aim. Without this you would probably be stuck with some crazy novels whilst you think that you are educating yourself. 

The Blind Man in Front

“One blind man cannot lead another; if he does both will fall into a ditch.” – Jesus (the Christ)

When you see a man with a stick and his hands placed on another person right in front of him you automatically assume he is blind. What never crosses your mind is that the blind person may be the folk in front or, more comically, both may be blind! You assume this because you know that to lead you need to see.

Unfortunately many leaders cannot see. To be a follower denotes there is a place you want to get to but you need someone else to facilitate your journey. It certainly is – at least physically – permissive for a follower to not see his way. To be a leader, on the other hand, you must see your way through.

Many folks take this for granted because they have misunderstood the basic concept of leadership. It is assumed that leadership is about staying in front or being on top. Both of these ideas are misguided because a shepherd boy, for example, leads from behind his flock. In effect he is more a guide who knows where he his flock needs to be and how to get them there. Without proper knowledge of where to lead people to you cannot guide.

Second, many leaders imagine themselves and their followers as a pyramid structure in which they are the peak while their followers carry them. This is another misconception because rather than a pyramid, the structure is turned upside down and the leader is at the bottom carrying the weight of the followers.

       With this modification in conceiving what leadership is, you would realize that you cannot lead without seeing where you are headed. The sight of the leader gives solace to the followers. It makes them confident to put the next foot forward, knowing that if their leader did not fall into a ditch they would not.  

It does not matter if it is a question of marriage, church, or football team. A leaders’ vision is paramount. The first question to ask any one person you intend to follow is, “what can you see?”

Dream-Maker

I just now remembered something – I’m sorry, I should have told you this long ago … there was a young Hebrew slave whom we told our dreams and he interpreted them for us. – Pharoah’s Cupbearer (speaking of Joseph)

 I am not one of those who believe in the “Self-made” man. I read gazillions of articles that use words like, “Self-made millionaire,” “Self-developed speaker,” and lots more but I don’t think that in practice there is anyone that can described as such.

That is simply because I don’t believe that the governor in a great governor is solely accountable for the greatness of the governor. I strongly believe that the friend, the foe, the neighbor, the stranger, the seller, the buyer, the speaker, the listener, the teacher, the learner, the receiver, the giver, the lover, the hater, the ex-lover, the marketer, the consumer, etc. in the governor, also play an imperative role.

All the people and factors that surround our lives collectively make us. They help you succeed in succeeding or succeed in failing. I believe that Moses wouldn’t be Moses without Pharoah and Jethro, David wouldn’t be David without Samuel and Saul, Jesus wouldn’t have been the same Jesus without Joseph and Mary.

You can be part of the another’s success story. I met a friend after a long time apart. I discovered that he was now a pilot. I was noticeably in awe of this. The closest I have come to a pilot was the public address they give before take-off and landing. So I dug deeper as to how he became one. He briefly narrated how his father called him up and asked if he still wanted to pursue his childhood dream of flying and offered to support him actualize it.

When folks tell you of their dreams and aspirations, search your heart to see how you can help them bring it to pass. No person grows appropriately as an island. We all need others to survive and to thrive. My success is tied to you and so is yours to me. There is a song that goes:

I need you

You need me

We’re all a part of God’s body

Stand with me

Agree with me

We’re all a part of God’s body

It is his will that every need be supplied

You are important to me

I need you to survive

I won’t harm you

With words from my mouth

I love you

I need you to survive…

…

Decide today that you will be a part of someone’s success story. You will be glad you did.

For other articles on Ambition, click here...

Parable of the Blessing: THE EXTRAORDINARY STRATEGIST

When the philistines got word that David had been made king over all Israel, they made war against him. David inquired of God: “Shall I go up and fight the philistines?” … “Don’t attack them head-on. Instead, circle around behind them and ambush them from the grove of sacred trees. When you hear the sound of shuffling in the trees, get ready to move out. It’s a signal that God is going ahead of you to smash the Philistine camp.” – The Bible: 2 Samuel 5

You may have gotten hold of a great vision and set your eyes on goals that will bring your vision to pass. This would give you some sense of accomplishment, which you deserve indeed. You still need a strategy as to how you will achieve your goals.

A strategy is a careful method for achieving a particular goal that usually spans a long period of time. To work out a successful strategy you need to think it through, plan sufficiently and manage it until it is fulfilled. Nonetheless, my focus in this write-up is to introduce you to an extraordinary strategist.

Elihu (Job’s young friend) opined: “I kept thinking, ‘Experience will tell. The longer you live, the wiser you become.’ But I see I was wrong – it’s God’s Spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty One, that makes wise human insight possible.” Did you see it? Here it is again, “God’s Spirit in a person, … makes wise human insight possible.” If you want to experience extraordinary strategy, you need the Spirit of God.

He inspired Noah to build a floating shelter to protect humanity from rains they had never seen. He gave Moses the logically “foolish” idea of walking through a split sea. He motivated Joshua to march round the walls of Jericho for seven days without saying a word. He told Gideon to reduce his 32,000-man strong army to 300 feeble men.

This extraordinary strategist will give you ideas. He will guide you to accomplish them. He will protect you through unexpected turn of events and eventually he will expect the glory while you take the victory.

        Don’t you want this extraordinary strategist? 

Parable of the Blessing: THE BEGINNING

First he took my rights as the first born, and now he has stolen my blessing. Oh, haven’t you saved even one blessing for me? – Enoch (speaking of Jacob, his brother)

      So you could sing, you were a great writer, you dressed exceptionally, had the best looks, was educated in elite schools, was loved by the ladies and lots more. You seemed set to being the ideal person – the role model for your generation – and yet you wonder what happened that you didn’t amount to much.

This is not a far-fetched scenario. Several people – men and women alike – have fallen into this. They look back at their lives and realize they have not succeeded though they were the most-likely to succeed.

Potential does not always translate to productivity. In fact, potential in every area of life, more often than not, lead to poor productivity. This happens because of the laxity that accompanies overconfidence in potential. A lot is then taken for granted because it does not seem logical that you would “fail in every area”. This is easily and clearly evidenced in countries. There are more natural resources in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for example, than the whole of Europe combined, but figures and estimates from the International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook Database, April 2013, pins DRC as the poorest nation in the world.

At the end of the day it does not really matter how much potential you have. What matters is how much you can make of it. To convert your potential to productivity, some things must be in place. First, you must have vision. Nobody becomes what he does not see. You can only progress as far as you see.

Second, you must learn to set goals. Goals are to the human mind what the steering wheel is to a car. Goals guide you to a destination.

Third, you should develop a habit of planning and working with strategy. Goals are achieved by proper planning. Without a plan a goal becomes a wish.

Forth, you should learn to diversify. This is the proverbial not “putting all your eggs in one basket”. The law of chances states that, “you stand better chances of succeeding when you have more things working for you at the same time.”

Fifth, you have need for focus on the purpose, call, ministry, or vision. You must have your eyes set on the final (which was in fact the initial too) goal.

In the next few articles I will be expounding on these principles.

And the Thunders get Silent

All great and precious things are lonely. – John Steinbeck

I want to be a little personal about some things that happen to me when I get a hold on an idea. Most ideas come to me with a spark. Some thundering in my heart that produces some zing that electrifies and makes me feel that it is impossible to fail if I venture into it. This phase is important for me because the possibility of the idea coming to life is totally dependent on whether or not I am excited about it.

Immediately after this phase I face a deafening silence. A silence of thought. A silence of ideas. A silence of action – or inaction. I look at my idea and it suddenly does not look as revolutionary as it did days earlier. If you have pursued a goal and achieved it or failed at it you would have experienced what I am describing.

I think it is the loneliness that engulfed David in the caves of Adullam. Imagine him sitting derelict in cave frustrated of having run from the king for weeks and hearing those words from a prophet whose words never fail ring in his heart: “Send for him [David], for we will not sit down to eat until he is here.” If he was to be king why have the thunders held their peace? Why are trumpets sounds not welcoming his every move?

The same can be said of Joseph. His dream showed glory but unfortunately didn’t show him the dry well or servant life or prisons. Sitting in the midst of silent thunders he would look back and wonder if he dreamed it right.

All achievers must survive the silence of thunders. Your dreams will pass through this phase. If it will come to pass you too must survive this phase holding on to your dreams.

        I will keep my eyes on my goal. A friend once told me the way up is a lonely boring way. Though I love to change the images such words give me, I know from my experience that it is indeed lonely and boring. But if my dreams will see the light of day I must believe in them when no one else does. I must hold them firmly and closely while I survive the silence that comes after the thunders. 

If they can't kill your dream, they can't kill you

“Here comes that dreamer. Let’s kill him and throw him into one of these old cisterns; we can say that a vicious animal ate him up. We’ll see what his dreams amount to.” – Story of Joseph

 

All dreamers have haters. A young Joseph had his brothers, MLK (Jnr.) had Jim Crow, and Mandela had the entire apartheid system. Who is yours?

 

Before you go looking for enemies, hold on a bit. Chances are that they are not really after you. It is the dream in you they are after! They hate you because you dream! Imagine that MLK's speeches were titled, "I have no dreams!" He might have lived longer that way.

 

They want to kill your dream because they cannot imagine a world where a small you can achieve such extravagant dreams. They cannot imagine that you deserve to attain so much that your accomplishments alter the fabric of the world they know. Why should you be allowed to shake them out of their mediocre comfort zone and redefine the meanings of things around them? Why should they let you reconstruct what business as usual means to them?

 

My thoughts: If they cannot kill your dream, they cannot kill you! Well, technically. The point is that you are more than just your breath and physical existence. You can live beyond your time on earth because your very essence lives in your dreams. Be firmly rooted and founded in your dreams so that when (not if) opposition comes, you and your dream will survive it. Here are 5 tips on surviving dream attacks:

 

1.  Keep your focus on your goal
2. Allow like-minds to help you
3. Refuse to be distracted
4. Review and restructure your goals at intervals
5. Adopt a defense mechanism

Helping Others Up...

Give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full – pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. – Jesus (the Christ)

 It is a normal thing for many-a-folk to expect people to do things for them. We wait for people to make things happen for us. We rarely consider that we can be the persons that should make things happen for others.

Can people run to you when they are stuck in their goal pursuit? It is important we note that we will achieve our goals much faster if we help others achieve their goals. It sounds funny but true. The norm is that we should focus on our goals while others focus on theirs for when will we have enough time to achieve our goals if we are busy with the goals of others?

On the contrary we should make out time to help others achieve their goals. Your support may not be the ultimate load that breaks the camels back but it very well will take it a little closer to fulfillment. This is so because we are all intricately interconnected and to break this connection is to see all our goals fail.

You can help other people’s goals by giving your time. A lot of people just need you to listen and it will go a very long way in ensuring they succeed. The time you invest in their dreams can give them that confidence that their goals are worth the effort and hence make them achieve them.

In addition, you can help by putting in your finances. This is a grey area and many cringe away from it. The reality is that a lot of goals will be achieved if the finances are available for them. Unfortunately the “dreamer” may not have the money. The good part is that the dreamer does not have to be the financier. You can help bring a dream to reality by helping (if you can afford to) with your finances.

You can help another get what they want by contributing your knowledge, skill, and other abilities. Nobody knows it all – more importantly, nobody can do it all! If you find a person you can help ensure you do it. Help out, do your part. Don’t place your mind on the “glory” going to someone else. Remember that your goals will be achieved as you help enough others achieve theirs. 

Receiving Help from the Spirit of The Lord for Success

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor … - Jesus (the Christ)

When it is said in the Bible, “The Spirit of God fell upon …,” it normally is succeeded with immense – obviously unnatural – empowerment which leads to success in a venture. When the Spirit of the Lord fell upon Moses, he empowered seventy others to serve over Israel. When the He fell upon Samson, he conquered thousands. When the Spirit of the Lord fell upon the followers of Jesus, they preached and three thousand others joined them.

The Spirit of the Lord obviously will come upon every person who is willing but, there is a fixed (by this I mean immovable) condition. The condition is that there must be a prior, clearly understood and defined assignment. The Spirit of the Lord will not come upon a person that is going nowhere. It makes for reason that a person that has no need for power should not receive it. If you want to be empowered you must have identified a reason why you should receive that power.

How then do you identify a reason for empowerment? I would strongly suggest you search your heart for the burdens that lie therein. Since the Spirit of God is on a re-creational mission, then your burden will tend the path of correcting what is not perfect. There are enough burdens in our society to go round every folk who desires them. It may be the rot in the education sector, or the nonexistence of good drinking water for the masses, or the plague of drunkenness upon our young men. It does not matter what it is, what matters is that the burden points to the area you will receive the empowerment of the Spirit of the Lord.

May I note here that your burden, though may bring some, will not revolve round selfish (I mean this word in the best possible context) needs. Rather they will serve a need in society. Your burdens would be such as Jesus (the Christ) proclaimed, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor …”

Take it Easy, Success is a Process

I often pride myself with the story of the double promotions I got in my early education. Twice in a process that should take eight years I was taken a year ahead of my peers. It was to me a batch of great honour and in my mind imagine it been said of me, “Here is a lad who jumps the process.”

It may be desirable – indeed almost harmless – to see that your child can be intelligent enough for his teachers to recommend a double promotion (as that will mean you don’t pay the fee of three terms – or in my case six) but in your personal success journey you cannot jump the steps. The moment you get on your unique success path you discover, more sooner than later, that it is a process, which you cannot help but follow.

The problem is that in or world of speed – speed boats, speed trains, sports cars, and fast food – nobody wants a process. Processes are too slow for us. We seem to ask, “Why do I need to learn ‘A’ before I learn ‘A, B, C, D, to Z?’” We see very little sense in following processes that can be truncated.

God, though, is a God of processes. With God it is, more often than not, one step at a time. Isaiah (a prophet) says, “The LORD is going to teach you letter by letter, line by line, lesson by lesson”. Another way to put it is: “GOD will start over with the simple basics and address you in baby talk, one syllable at a time—“Da, da, da, da, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's a good little girl, that's a good little boy”. I conclude that God wants us into the process so he makes it slow enough for us to understand.

I once taught computer studies at a primary school and the way these minors establishes the fact that we were wired for processes. The moment you take the shortcut of jumping steps, you realize that it wasn’t a shortcut after all. You have to be patient and wait until they learn a step before you move on. God also teaches us that our success journeys are that way, carefully, patiently, one step at a time he waits for us to understand before he moves on to the next level. 

Goal Action Stage: IGNORE DISTRACTIONS

In this article I conclude on the topic: HOW TO ACHIEVE GOALS.

You will never reach your destination if you stop to throw stones at every dog that barks. - Winston Churchill

Three boys were set for a race and their fathers served as their motivators by staying at the finishing line and waiting to receive their boys. When the whistle sounded, they all shot up as best they could. In a short while one of the boys took an early lead, clearly having the momentum to win the race. He began to look behind him to see how far ahead of his competitors he was. Suddenly he lost his footing and his lead. The second boy hence took the lead and was in front for some considerable distance but he was too obsessed with the cheers he received from the crowd that he lost his footing too. The third boy then took the lead and won the race that he began as last. When asked what made him win he said, “All I did was keep my eyes on my Dad and ensure I wasn’t distracted by anything.”

Every time we desire to achieve a goal we will be faced with distractions. There are a thousand distractions around us. Failures in the past, fear, low self-esteem, are some of the things that commonly distract folks from their goals. Interestingly not all distractions are bad things. We could be distracted by very good things like money, fame, and success. So I would say that a distraction is anything that takes your eyes off the goal.

You must have the tenacity to keep hitting at the direction of your goal. All too often beginning is not a problem it is finishing that overwhelms us. Solomon (king of Israel) noted that, “Endings are better than beginnings, sticking to it is better than standing out.” When you have such an attitude it won’t matter what comes to you. Suddenly, no obstacle will look insurmountable, no fear will cripple, and no failure will be permanent.

Distractions will come – in fact they should come because they are refiners of character. The people that win irrespective of them are the true winners. If you can stick to it irrespective of the distractions, you will eventually be like Joseph (Prime minister of Egypt) of whom it was said, “Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character.”

Goal Formulation Stage: ALLOCATE MILESTONES

I love the scenery while travelling but when there is nothing else to see I put my thoughts on the milestones next to the highway.

So let’s say I am on a journey to Lagos from Kaduna – a distance of about 1000 kilometers. The first milestone I see is, “ABJ (Abuja) 200 kms”, then “ABJ 199 kms”, and counting down as the journey progresses. When I get to Abuja, I see, “LKJ (Lokoja) 300 kms”, and counting down. I don’t see, “LAG (Lagos)” until I get to Ibadan, which is the last major city before Lagos – and I am glad about that because imagine how discouraging it would be if I saw, “LAG 1000 kms”.

Milestones help us know where the road we are on leads to and the distance we still have to cover to get to that destination. Now, the fact that I am travelling to Lagos but see a milestone that says, “ABJ 170 kms” does not mean I am on the wrong road. This is so because Abuja lies on the way that leads to Lagos from Kaduna. If, on the other hand, I see “KN (Kano) 180 kms”, I am certain that something is wrong because Kano does not lie on the road that leads to Lagos from Kaduna. Milestones are then the same journey broken into sub-journeys, and for them to be of any relevance you must have an idea of the cities that lead to your destination.

As it is with milestones on the highway so it is with milestones in our success journeys. A person that has the goal of being a doctor knows that he must have good secondary education, university education in human medicine, internship in a good hospital, and employment. These are the major milestones that must be on the road that leads him to becoming a doctor. So, when a secondary school student with the dream of being a doctor wakes up in the morning, his focus is on getting all the credits required to get into medical school rather than on medical  practice. If he thinks only of the practice and not on his first milestone he will be discouraged and will eventually fail or give up. Also, if he gets admission into the university to study Geology, he would know that he is certainly on the wrong road.

For a goal to succeed it must have clearly identified and allocated milestones. This simply means that it must be broken down into smaller parts. The whole will be too big to handle. When it is broken down it becomes more achievable. 

Goal Formulation: DEFINING PURPOSE

What have I done now? Is there not a cause? - David (In the battle with Goliath)

In the pursuit of any goal it is of utmost importance that you define clearly to yourself what the purpose of your goal is. Why do you want to achieve the goal? Is it to gain more relevance, or more money, or more skill? Is it to be the best in your field and leave a name for yourself or to push the work of God’s kingdom one mile further? I am not here to tell you if your purpose is right or wrong (when you define it you will tell that to yourself). What matters to me is that you define the purpose no matter what else you do.

Definition of purpose is one of the most important steps in goal achievement, the lack of which leads a thousand goals to the drains. This is so because you will be confronted with the question, “Why?” a thousand times over, and in different forms.

The young man David was confronted and rebuked by his brother while considering the unrealistic duel with the giant Goliath. Ordinarily this opposition should make David stop his enquiry but he asked: “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” This was David’s energy source. It was his greatest motivating factor. He did not just feel like fighting a giant man-killing machine, he was acting based on the purpose that won’t leave him no matter how hard he tries.

People will confront you and show you splendid reasons why you should abandon ship. Situations will compel you and place your finger next to the “Abort Mission” button. Your parents, siblings, or even I may not believe in your cause. But if that goal is borne out of burden and you have sought God for direction, all you need to keep you on track is defining – in very clear terms – why you are doing  what you are doing and the sky will be but a starting point for you.

Goal Initiation Stage: SOLIDIFYING

It gives great fulfillment to see a goal come to pass. Humans are goals-seeking creatures. This is so because fulfilling goals gives us hope and leaves us with a sense of significance. The most difficult lives to live are those not motivated and directed by goals. The psychologist, Ernest Becker notes that, “What man really fears is not so much extinction, but extinction with insignificance.”

In this article I shall continue on the goal initiation stage.

COMMIT YOUR BURDENS TO GOD: When you identify areas that lay burdens upon your heart, do not make the mistake of running off into achieving goals. Goals are not simply to make people famous. They are primarily to correct things that have gone wrong. You need direction on how to carry this out. Pray to God to clarify what exactly you can do and to direct you on how to get going. In addition, you will easily notice that your goal expands beyond your logical ability. This means you can pray that God increases your strength and enlarges your capacity to accommodate your goal. “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart,” remains true. If you acknowledge the Lord in all your ways he will “Direct your path.”

In addition, it is God that makes people. You cannot make yourself achieve a worthy goal. Peter learned this early on when Jesus told him, “Follow me and I will make you …” You need to be made. Fabricated. Branded.

KEEP YOUR GOAL TO YOURSELF: Many folks (yours sincerely once included) have the tendency to go raving about announcing their goals to just about anybody that gives an ear. We think doing this will make us get closer to it or commit us to accomplishing the goal but the opposite is true. When you go sharing your goal to just about everybody you stand a much higher chance of failing as opposed to when nobody knew about it. This is because many folks will show you reasons why your goal is ill-thought of and on the path of certain failure. In a bid to help, they help you abandon ship.

Also, when you indiscriminately tell people your goals and they wow at your ingenuity, your brain registers a feeling of accomplishment – the same as it would have if you in reality accomplish it. This way it rewards itself and you end up with a deflated momentum. Cake eaten (and what do they say about eating your cake?), pleasure gained, goal untouched. Preserve your precious goal by shutting your mouth.

The Process of Achieving Goals

This one thing I do ... I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. - Paul (the apostle)

The degree of failure among young people is mind-blowing. Today, it is a normal occurrence to hear of high percentages of failure in examinations. In many parts of the world – mine especially – standard of education is at a record low and mediocrity is triumphantly celebrated.

Failure is almost a synonym of human relationships. Parents and children, intended marriages, existing marriages, workplace and business relationships, and plain old friendships have lost their meanings as the social fabric of society is shredded in a thousand pieces.

Indeed, everywhere you turn it seems the same problem exists. I believe this is so because people do not set goals. Goals are to the human mind what heat is to a heat-seeking missile. It remains lame as long as there is no heat for it to pursue. If on the other hand there is heat for it to chase it becomes a potent weapon that accomplishes the bid of the person that sends it. The higher the degree of heat the higher it’s precision.

In the next few articles – I hope – I will break down the process of achieving any goal. For the benefit of understanding it I will break down goal achievement into three stages, namely, the INITIATION stage, the FORMULATION stage, and the ACTION stage.

In the initiation stage I will write on, Being sensitive and building on a burden, seeking God’s guidance, and keeping your goal to yourself.

In the formulation stage I will write on, Taking your opportunities promptly, defining the purpose of your goal, Having a definite time-frame, and breaking down the process.

Finally, in the action stage I will write on, Doing a quick feasibility study – analyzing the task – before you act, Sharing your goal with like-minded people, Delegating responsibilities, and Ignoring distractions.

These short teachings will open your mind to accomplishing every goal you set. 

Following for Success

Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, "Follow me!" So he got up and followed him. - Matthew (the apostle)

Whenever the leader-follower relationship is mentioned more emphasis is laid on the leader as the all-in-all of the duo. The leader is made to look strong and hence idolized. This makes us desire leadership and not followership.

Has it occurred to you, though, that there is no leadership without followership? The follower is as much responsible for the overall success of any organization as the leader. I will proceed to show five types of followers and in them you will see why some organizations succeed while others fail.

THE FEEBLE FOLLOWER: This follower is passive and inactive. He allows – indeed wants – the leader to do everything. He does not take responsibility for his actions but always hides behind the leader. Though this follower is loved by weak leaders, a strong leader will find him restrictive. Potential of both leader and follower will not be fully exploited as the leader has to drag the follower along in every action.

THE SELF-SERVING FOLLOWER: This follower is only concerned about himself. He wants to show-off personal ability at the expense of the organization. He sees his position only as an opportunity to sell himself to the world. The leader will eventually feel there is no point for him being there as no following is actually accomplished.

THE REBELLIOUS FOLLOWER: This follower has no respect for the vision of the leader. He will change plans and course of action without checking with the leader. He always has a different point of view even when a different one isn’t needed. Most leaders don’t want to lead such followers. There is little or no fun at all as the work environment is often aggressive and hostile.

THE GRACEFUL FOLLOWER: This follower is fully engaged in every process. He pays full attention and desires harmony with the leader. Co-creation is the key word in this leader-follower relationship. Potential is easily maximized with this follower because the leader feels more creative and free to explore the different aspects of his vision.

THE STRONG FOLLOWER: There are many instances where the leader goes off balance and loses focus on the vision. The strong follower helps stabilize the process. He ensures that the organization does not fall apart because of a temporary shakeup. This level of followership usually grows out of graceful following.

Productive organizations have complimentary followership as opposed to merely the traditional hierarchical ones. Leaders and followers should help each other achieve the common goal by making unique contributions to the organization.

Thought Line on Success

I know the thoughts i think toward you ... thoughts of good and not of evil. - God

I often pride myself with the following tagline: “I am a writer.” By this I mean I write or something like that). There were many times I make this statement and pray my audience don’t get bold enough to ask what I have written. A friend once told me, “Leinge, a writer writes.” Well that went a long way in sinking into my mind that he intended to say, “Leinge, you are not a writer!”

I have learned that public opinion is very important. It is just not as important as personal opinion. A songwriter said of Joseph, “Until his (Joseph’s) opinion of his future became a reality, God tested him.” Joseph’s family’s opinion was not near as important as his own and the opinion that God would have of him after he tests him. Successes listen to understand public opinion of them but they do not meditate on them until they become crippled by external opinions that have become internalized.

It is fun to say you are something. We hear, “I am an Engineer,” “I am a Pastor,” “I am great person (as though that were a goal),” daily, but the problem really comes to bear when we try to actually be “Engineers,” or “Pastors,” or “Great persons”. This is where the cliché, “Talk is cheap,” applies. Luke (M.D.) wrote a letter to his friend Theophilus, and he said, “I once wrote to you about the things Jesus began to do and to teach.” Notably, doing came before teaching because it is important, indeed more potent, to proclaim what you do.

Young folks should learn to begin small. My pastor, Chris Olamor, once said, “God never starts small things in a big way but rather starts big things in a small way.” How true! Zachariah (a prophet) once noted, “Do not look down on small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plume line in [your] hand.” So you want to be an actor, or a singer or a movie director, or a writer, or a doctor? Begin! Start! Do something – anything – that etches you closer to your goal! It is far better to do it wrongly than not do it at all.

Finally when you get yourself to start something, do not stop. Keep at it. You will get tired – possibly as tired as I get posting daily in my blog – but do not stop. It is in stopping for a rest that you fail.