Work IS Progress

On the seventh day God finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. – 1st Book of Moses

 “All work and no play,” it is said, “makes Jack a dull boy.” True. Have you ever wondered what all play and no work makes Jack?

Work is a universal part of human life. Skin color may vary, cultures may be different, and tongues may be diverse but everywhere you turn on the face of the globe people work. It is a good thing to work. Paul, the fiery apostle once opined: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat”! He was of the old school that taught there is no food for lazy man.

Beyond food, there are some very important things to note about work. First, we were all created to work. We read that, “God placed the man in the Garden of Eden as its gardener, to tend and take care of it.” The very first assignment man had was work-hinged.

Second, work brings us into productive living. You cannot live productively without working. Paul encouraged us in his letter to the Ephesians, “If anyone is stealing he must stop it and begin using those hands of his for honest work so that he can give to others in need.”

Third, work teaches us self-discipline. Remember that whatever (it doesn't matter what it is) your hands find to do, do it with all of your might. It takes self-discipline to exert such a level of effort to a work.

Forth, your work is healthy for your body and mind. Waddell G., Aylward M., and Burton K. in Work and common health problems, note: “It is known that unemployed people and their families suffer a higher rate of premature death, increased rates of depression and anxiety, higher rates of self-reported ill health, heart disease and risk factors of heart disease.”

                          [also read: How to Love What You Do]

       Finally, if you work you will appreciate other peoples work. You would learn to see the efforts of others and have respect for it. It is easy to look down on another person’s efforts if you are idle but when you work your outlook will be different. 

Have you Asked Yourself the Right Questions?

At the end of the day, the questions we ask of ourselves determine the type of people that we will become. – Leo Babauta (Blogger and author)

“Who has a question to ask?” You probably have heard this statement a zillion times in classrooms, conferences, seminars and churches. The default response is, “No” (at least until someone becomes bold enough to ask some silly question with an obvious answer.)

Interestingly, your breakthrough can come from the quality of questions you ask yourself. It was Voltaire that said, “Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” Many questions lack substantial quality and so shut the doors of progress rather than unlock them.

I suggest a progression in the path of quality self-questioning. In this process there are three very important words: What, Why, and How. These words must be used in this progression. Do not stop until you conclude the process else you will be left with a crippling answer.

So let’s do a little exercise on a person that has an issue with his or her looks:

STAGE I:

Question: What is the problem I have with my looks?

Possible Answer: I am thinner than I wish to be.

In this stage the word, “What,” unlocks the situation. It brings you to a clear realization of the problem. The clearer you ask this question the better the response you will receive. Now you can progress to the next stage.

STAGE II:

Question: Why am I thinner than I wish to be?

Possible Answer(s): Because my mother was very thin. Because I don’t eat healthy foods. Because I don’t have friends to support me.

  This stage tells you the possible reasons why you are facing a particular situation. You must be careful with this stage because you can easily get very bad answers that can affect your self-esteem. This is more reason why you must not stop here.

STAGE III:

Question: How can I get better looks?

Possible Answer(s): I could eat healthier diets. I could begin an exercise program. I could read stories of people that overcame similar problems. I could start a blog that tells people about the progress I am making.

This stage is very important as asking “How” unlocks your creativity and ushers you into a world of positive answers. This is the stage that will liberate you from any problem. Without this stage quality self-questioning is impossible. You can try this exercise with any problem you are facing – it works all the times you use it. 

On the Wings of Motivation

Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. – Thomas Jefferson

There is a story told of a very rich man who had one beautiful daughter. It got to a time when he wanted to publicly give out a vast portion of his estate. So he called for a huge party and at the end of it he called out, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make.” Everyone’s attention was captured the way it usually is when a rich man calls for attention. “I have a very special gift for a special person and that person can be you. I will give out any one of the following to the young man that can pass my test: He can have all my fertile lands in all the mountains of our city, or all my gold and silver, or he can have the hand of my one and only beautiful daughter and become an heir to my entire estate.”

“What is the test?” Many-a-young men muttered to each other.

“All the lucky young man needs to do is to swim across my wild crocodile infested pond and meet me on the other side.” No sooner than he ended his speech, a young man was in the pond and swimming exasperatedly toward the end of the pond. The folks with in the party watched with unbelief as he swarm all the way and jumped off the pond.

The moment the ovation of the crowd deadened the rich man asked this hero, “What do you want for your show of courage? Do you want all my fertile lands in all the mountains of our city?”

“No,” answered the young man.

“Well, do you want all my gold and silver?”

“Not at all,” he responded.

“Then I must assume that you want the hand of my one and only beautiful daughter and become an heir to my entire estate.”

“No, I do not,” responded the still panicky young man.

Bewildered the rich man asked, “You took the deadly plunge into my pond and swarm bravely all the way. What then do you want?”

“I just want to know,” slowly began the young man, “the name of the nincompoop that pushed me in.”

As the crocodiles were to the young man so it is with you. If you would achieve much – every single time you try – you must be motivated. If you lack the motivation you will not accomplish your goals.

Parable of the Blessing: FALCON EYES

Let your eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and let your gaze be straight before you. Know where you are headed and you will stay on solid ground. Don’t make a mistake by turning to the right or the left. – The Bible: Proverbs 4

 In the proverbial “final stroke of the pen” (in this case keyboard), I would like to draw your attention to the ability of my favorite bird – the falcon – to focus on its prey until it hits it. The falcon can see its prey from over a kilometer. Its takes a dive at it – travelling at speeds of over 300 kph – all the while keeping its focus firmly on its target. In a short while the prey would not know what hit it.

For potential blessing to become productive blessing you must keep firm focus on the purpose to which you began. It is the purpose to which you are acting that will determine if you will succeed or fail. Young David asked his elder brother, “Is there not a cause?” He knew that the cause will keep him focused on the goal of fighting Goliath the giant.

Many countries do not focus on any serious cause. It is this that creates several discontinuities in leadership and in effect limited progress. One government comes into office and creates an agenda only for another to replace it with another completely different one. This is more worrying when it comes from different administrations of the same political alliance. Just the way the falcon won’t hit its prey if it tries to focus on more than one, people don’t achieve much when they have to continually change their focus.

Are you a focused person? If you would succeed you must have falcon eyes. You must learn to set your sights on your goal and focus on the purpose to which you began in the first place. Remember that the purpose will keep you. 

Parable of the Blessing: STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY

In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. – The Bible: Ecclesiastes 11

I started this series on the premise that potential blessing does not necessarily translate to productive blessing. If you would make significant progress in your success path potentiality must become productivity. We then looked at the things that can lead to productivity and highlighted vision, goal-setting, and strategy. Today we shall take a further step as we look into strength in diversity.

If you are like many-a-folks you would have identified more than one area of your life that has potential for progress. The problem then has been how to harness all these scattered potential blessings and utilize them appropriately. The goal for you should not be shutting some doors and opening the ones that look viable. It should rather be maximizing the potential in all the areas you have identified.

To maximize all your potential you must first identify them – individually, uniquely, one after the other. You cannot maximize what you cannot identify. It must transcend just a feeling. They must all become itemized and understood.

Second, you must understand that some things can (indeed should) lead to others. You do not have to be all that you can possibly be at the same time. This is where strategy comes in to guide you to make the progress you want to make.

Third, do not fight against yourself. It is possible to have inner conflicts time and again in your bid to maximize potential. This will disrupt and slow you down. Your various areas of potential are not intended to create inner conflict but to bring about all-round success.

If all the individually identified areas are being developed, you will have a complete success experience rather than a “malnourished” one.