Yes I Can!

Dear loving people,

As a matter of fact, Yes I Can! Success strange I tell you, if you asked ten different people from different backgrounds what success means to them, you are sure to have ten different definitions. Why? We live in a world overflowing with new possibilities! It’s so exciting! At the center of it, we set different goals, those who want to be rich; those who want to be financially independent like myself; those who want to be happy and those who want to be able to squarely face the challenges that come their way. Success to these people with different goals becomes the ability to attain them by working to make them happen. But I have a question… have you honestly done “the work?

Whatever the goals you set for yourself, you need the requisite inner motivation than anything else, that pulsating force within you to drive you towards your goals. President Barack Obama must have understood this so well and coined a shared motivation with the American electorate. His famous slogan “Yes We Can” during the Obama presidential campaign of 2008 made the difference. It brought hope to a disenchanted American people. Did you know he was not the first to use it, it had been the theme of a 1973 song by Allen Toussaint and had equally been used as a slogan by the Scottish National Party's campaign of the United Kingdom general election in 1997.

The Bible says in Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." How good it is to be reminded that it's His strength and not our strength which propels us along in sanctification. It is good to be reminded that He is our all, and that all is possible. However too many people misunderstand and misuse the verse. It does not mean I can attain whatever desire I have through Jesus. And it doesn't mean Jesus drops all things or all strength down into us fully formed and ripe for use No! We’ve got some preliminary work to do, we’ve got to be in the process of achieving something noble only then will His grace be upon us and only then can we hope to be blessed with His strength. God’s strength will not wake-up a lazy drone from the doldrums and give him strength to enjoy what he did not work for. The Bible goes further to state clearly in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “He who does not work, neither shall he eat.”

The “work” equally involves some inner work. The belief in one’s self. The belief that you can do it. The belief that YES I CAN. This is what we teach at Living Lectures. Living Lectures is a journey we invite everybody to undertake. It’s one of serious reflections and introspection. It’s one that brings you to the point of getting real and being honest with yourself. You have to be ready – both in your head and in your heart! You have to be open to the possibility. And then, and only then, do the doors open and you can see what was right in front of you all along.

If you’re working on something important, then you’ll never feel ready. A side effect of doing challenging work is that you’re pulled by excitement and pushed by confusion at the same time. You’re bound to feel uncertain, unprepared, and unqualified. But let me assure you: what you have right now is enough. You can plan, delay, and revise all you want, but trust me, what you have now is enough to start. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to start a business, or achieve any number of goals, who you are, what you have, and what you know right now is good enough to get going.

We all start in the same place: no money, no resources, no contacts, and no experience. The difference is that some people, those I call the winners, choose to start anyway while the losers want to be sure. No matter where you are in the world and regardless of what you’re working on, I hope you’ll start before you feel ready. Just tell yourself “Yes I Can” and get going with it.