Jump into the Rain if You Have to Make It

Dear loving people,

Tekinda got up that morning feeling on top of the world; he was all-smiles as he gaped at the mirror on his wife’s vanity table. His smile broadened even more as he nodded to himself. His brand-new 3-piece suit was nothing less that perfect on him. In fact, he loved the way it folded along with his natural contours.

Satisfied with his dressing, he headed for the door and just as he grasped the door handle, he came to an abrupt stop and looked towards the ceiling in total disbelief, a terrifying lightening sent bright rays through the windows and lighted up the room, then came a mind-blowing thunder accompanied by torrential rain.

Peeping through the window of his sitting room, it was clear to Tekinda that he will not be able to make it in time. I met a completely dejected Tekinda that afternoon; he was filled with rage for having missed a recruitment interview. He had been job-hunting for the last three months and here was the first opportunity that just went down the drain, he arrived fifteen minutes late for the interview and was sent off.

I asked Tekinda a question; are you angry at your improper preparations, the rains, the lost opportunity or the time conscious interview panel? Behold, he was speechless. You see, most of the time; we leave the object and go chasing the shadow. If Tekinda my friend badly needed that job, and translated his desire into action, he would have tried all options and if it all came to the worse, he would have jumped into the rains. Yes you heard me right and why not? He must have thought like many other people that just for the simple reason he so badly needed a job, the universe was just going to align with him without minimal effort on his part. No way! All research on earth concord with the universal rule, which states that there is no free lunch. What you get out of life must equal your level of effort.

Tekinda did not do his homework well. If he did, he would have realized it’s the rainy season thus; he should have made arrangements for an umbrella or should have arranged for a cab to pick him up early.

How many times have you been in a similar situation? Instead of evaluating it, learning from it such that you do better next time, you retreat to a corner in total dejection. When you do that, you simply reinforce the guarantee that the next time, you might repeat the same mistakes or do worse.

How many people do you know who desire to be rich, who want to step onto the higher grounds of individual achievement but turn around each day and either do those things that rather distance them from what they so desire or do nothing at all? How is it possible that you want success but you are not ready to pay the price? Get it from me today if you have not already, every single major achievement in life, has a price tag on it.

“You say you love rain, but you use an umbrella to walk under it. You say you love sun, but you seek shelter when it is shining. You say you love wind, but when it comes you close your windows. So that's why I'm scared when you say you love me” says Bob Marley.

Success Lessons From 2014 - Part 11 - Trust Things Will Turn in Your Favor

Dear loving people,

One of the best prayers that we could ever pray is “God, not my will, but Your will be done.” If you will stay open to His direction, and follow your heart, for sure, God will protect you. So sweet isn’t it? So then, what if you believed that everything in your life was happening for your greater good?  That you couldn’t go wrong? That even in the face of adversity, the universe was colluding in your favor? This however, doesn’t mean that we eventually get everything that we think we want in this moment. That tends to require settling for a smaller version of our life’s ultimate purpose.

Get me right here! Things always make sense in retrospection. When we look back on our lives, we can see that we went through the exact challenges that were necessary to allow growth in the precise way that we most needed it. Our personal struggles led us exactly where we really wanted to go but didn’t know it at the time. I’ve seen people jump into a relationship or a business deal that they didn’t feel good about, but they wanted it so badly. God is a gentleman. If you insist, He will back off and let you do things your way. Most of the time when we do that, though, we end up settling for second best.

Here is the trick; you have to muster unbelievable amounts of enthusiasm most of the times. Having an attitude of gratitude really does go a long way. If you want something in life you have to will it. You have to open a layer in the Universe that is going to take into consideration your request and to do this you have to be positive. Enthusiasm, a good attitude and sincere excitement go a long way in this world. If you’re thankful and show it, if you don’t think you can say thank you enough, if you always remember that all the pieces have to fall into place JUST SO, then 100% more wonderful things will happen to you.

Some of the times however, all might not be well. If events are not happening as quickly as you would like, or if you are not seeing circumstances change in your favor, open your grip on the situation; relax and learn to trust God. Know this: God is on your side. He is not trying to hold you back. Nobody wants you to fulfill your destiny more than Almighty God. Nobody wants you to see your dreams come to pass any more than He does. He put the dream in your heart in the first place. Let Him lead you and guide you.

Joel Osteen puts it another way “You may be going through great difficulties, and you’re tempted to think, I’m never going to get out of this. This is never going to change. I’m never going to win this situation. Stand strong. When negative thoughts come, reject them.”

Wake Up! It’s Within Your Power

Dear loving people,

How is it that you are being requested to wake up when actually you might be awake and kicking? Waking up can mean waking up from sleep, it can equally mean being honest with yourself and not allowing yourself to get lazy in your thinking. You need to stop making excuses for not doing whatever it is you want to and have to do. You rather have to actively figure out the best ways to make it actually happen, as well as not lying to yourself about what you're capable of and what you can actually do.

The Bible says in Ephesians 5:14 “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” As children of God, we are sometimes asleep, and need awakening; of the nature, causes, and ill consequences of such sleeping, and of the methods by which they are sometimes awaked out of it. 

Living saints who at sometimes fine themselves among dead sinners need to arise from among them, and quit their company. The company of dead sinners is infectious and dangerous; it is a means of hardening in sin, and of grieving of the people of God, who observe it. By abstaining from their company, a testimony is borne against sin, and conviction is struck into the minds of sinners themselves. God is pleased with those who come out from among sinners and promises to receive them.

Do you want to live your dreams? Then then you have to stop living in your dreams and wake up. Daydreaming about that new job, or new house or huge bank account isn’t going to fall into your lap no matter how hard you visualize and desire it. You can dream all you want but dreams are always made in reality.

The first step to waking up is acknowledging that you are 100% responsible for where you are in your life right now. Yes! You heard me right and I know that’s a difficult pill to swallow for many, but it’s also very liberating. You might have created (consciously or subconsciously) your current problems or a life you don’t want now, but you have the power and the ability to turn that around. It’s within your power.

The second step is to take action. You can’t just visualize and manifest your new reality. You’ve got to work towards it. Visualization techniques help as do vision boards, but setting aside an hour or two to work on your goals each day instead of doing unconscious activities (like watching TV or wasting time arguing on who the highest paid footballer in the world is) will speed up your success much quicker.

Life gets hard sometimes and it’s easy to slip into a pattern of dreaming about how we wish things were. But a goal will never be a reality unless we wake up and make it happen.

Take Action: Take a one-week television fast. Spend the time that you would usually watch TV (or to argue aimlessly) and do something productive toward living your dream life. Work on your artwork, start a business, shoot a movie, finish that screenplay. Instead of watching TV and putting your mind to sleep, wake up and put your success in motion!

Paul Valery says “the best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up

Failure is a Stepping Stone. Use It

Dear loving people,

Five of the twenty seven messages I got from Living Lectures subscribers this morning enquired about the fear of failure in the quest for success and so permit me handle that in this post.

The fact is that failure is part of the human condition.  Everybody fails at something.  People who achieve a great deal fail at many things. But! You can choose to regard failures as negative experiences - defeats, losses, setbacks.  Or you can choose to regard failures as positive experiences - opportunities for you to learn what not to do, what needs to be changed, and what needs to be fixed.  Failure can accelerate our success. Yes! You got me right. This will happen if and only if you take the time to extract clear lessons from your failures, and then apply those lessons to your next endeavor. 

Therefore, “If you’ve never failed, you’ve never lived”. It’s a good reminder because as we live our day-to-day life, we tend to forget this very important message. We end up thinking that everyone that succeeds has had nothing but luck all their life and that they had it easy. Who can blame us too, I mean by the time we hear about someone making it, the focus is on the success, not on the long hard struggle to get there.

Don’t get me wrong here but the point is that recognizing failure as a potential positive experience gives you a new freedom - the freedom to try new things, be more creative, and stretch outside your comfort zone.  If you don't achieve the results you seek, ask yourself, "What did I learn from this?"  Of course, accepting this concept intellectually is one thing.  Dealing with failure emotionally is another matter entirely.  Before you can learn from your failures, you must learn to fail.  And, in order to do that, you must understand failure and put it in its proper perspective.

Failing is trying. Without trying we never have a shot at succeeding. The quicker you can deal with failure, the quicker you are ready for success. Each failure is a building block to success. Some people cannot deal with failure, so they never try anything. The result: nothing. Nothing can happen without action. Life is all about action, and taking risks.

There is value in failures, as you can see. And most importantly, failures are lessons. What you can draw out of each failure is experience and knowledge that will help you succeed better. That is why you should never ever be afraid of failing, because there is absolutely nothing to fear. In the game of life, nobody plays a perfect game. If you think that some people lead perfect flawless lives, it’s your perception, but certainly not reality.

Accepting is not expecting! You should never expect to fail. The ones that expect to fail realize their wishes very easily. You can be logical and accept that the possibility of failure does exist, but you can be confident in your chances to avoid such failure. This is crucial, as you do not want to become a habitual failure. Just knowing that even if you do fail, you will get over it, and that it won’t destroy you is so empowering that simply having that frame of mind increases your chances of success even more.

Michael Jordan is a great example about success through failure.  There are many lessons that can be learned through his experiences.  Use his six lessons as an opportunity for self-examination.  How do you respond to failure?

1.      Take the Shots: Michael Jordan often talks about how many shots he missed.  He missed shots because he was willing to take them.  Are you willing to take the shots that will help you succeed in your goals?

2.    Don’t Let Failure Stop You from Trying Again: A missed shot didn’t stop Michael Jordan.  If he had stopped shooting because of one miss, or not been willing to take the next game winning shot simply because he missed the last one, he would not have become the championship player he was. Is a past failure stopping you from moving towards your goals?

3.    Don’t Let Failure Get You Down: Michael Jordan didn’t let a missed shot create discouragement.  You cannot dwell on your failures – you must move on.  It is hard to overestimate the importance of a positive attitude on life especially when you fail.  If you are able to keep a positive attitude when you fail, you’ll be able to be ready to try again more quickly.  Have you let failure get you down?

4.    Learn Every Time You Fail: There is no doubt that Michael Jordan learned from his failures.  By learning from your failures you will gain more success.  Every lesson you take from failure can be used to help you succeed the next time.  Failure simply shows you what doesn’t work, allowing you to go do what does work the next time. What can you learn from your most recent failure?

5.     Know your Game Winning Shots: Your game winning shots are the activities which push you over the edge as you work towards your goals.  They are the things you can do that allow you to win. Your game winning shot might be making sales calls to your top prospect list, or submitting another book proposal to a publisher. You need to know these most important activities and look for opportunities to take shots. What are the game winning shots for your business?

6.    Your Response to Failure Impacts Your Team: Not only was Michael Jordan a basketball superstar he was part of great teams. With Michael Jordon the Chicago Bulls won six NBA championships. Similarly, you need a team to succeed. Your team will follow you lead.  If you respond negatively to failure, your team will follow. If you dismiss failure, learn from it, and quickly move on with a positive attitude your team will do likewise.  How is your response to failure impacting your team?

Always remember, you can at all-time either make or mare your life because you and you alone are the CEO of your own life.

Take Action - Now!

Dear loving people,

I had an interesting call yesterday from a Living Lectures subscriber in Belgium and she asked me an important question. “You’ve been talking about taking action for a while now, what is it really all about?” let us now reflect on what taking action entails…

We all desire almost at all times to succeed in whatever we do right? To go from where you currently are in your life, to where you desire to be in the future, requires that you have goals. Depending on how big your goals are, will determine how much you grow to feel motivated to achieve them. Your future thus, is the continuous manifestation of what you are planning to do!

In other words, what you plan today, determines what you are going to do tomorrow! Your goals must be achievable and reachable; and with this in mind, they must be scheduled in a plan to the point where you conjure up enough emotion inside of you that drives you achieving them!

Imagine yourself 5 years from now... What would you like to achieve? What would you like to manifest for yourself? After you create success, how will you help the people around you? This requires you to make a 'present' decision, in this very moment – To Take Action!

Your daily actions are governed by your everyday decisions! Can you remember a time when you got fed up with something and you decided 'enough was enough' and it pushed you to create success? Start thinking about what you want to create, and then think about what will happen if you don't create it; what would be the ultimate price if you don't take action?

 

Dreams, wishes, and hopes, whilst all an important part of success in life they won't do anything for you - except to potentially cause you to become frustrated - unless you take successful action. The most successful people in life are committed to taking action on a regular, consistent basis.

Napoleon Bonaparte (the great warrior of 1769-1821) said “Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.”

What I understand in Napoleon’s statement is that it’s often easy to procrastinate and over-think things. Often the most successful people are those that simply tried many different approaches until they found one that worked.  This is equally in line with Mark Twain who said “80% of life is simply showing up.”

People often look at business leaders and successful people and wonder how and why they are so successful – a large part of this is that they simply chose to take action. Instead of talking and thinking about what they could achieve, they more often than not did something about it.

Leadership is essentially nothing more than swift and responsible decision-making that in turn creates consistent action. Ensure that you are taking action but without trying to over-control the outcome. So, what can you do today to take some action towards a goal?

1.    Choose something today and take action immediately!

2.   Don’t get stalled by negative feelings of ‘fear’ or ‘what ifs’

3. Don’t worry if your idea is not 100% perfect – it never will be. You can fine-tune it as you go.

4. Remember to be open to different outcomes and to relax and enjoy the productivity of ‘doing something useful’!

5.  Learn from your choices. Even if you don’t get the result you want, you can learn from your experience

I guarantee you that by taking action and doing something useful (no matter how small) you will come out feeling positive, enthused and energized. It may take a little practice to build up the energy in your body and then release it gradually.  Your ability to use this technique will surely improve over time.

Give this simple technique a try, and allow your own thought waves to drive you into action.