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.