Make Excellence a Habit

Dear loving people,

Join me this morning as I adapt this write-up from Jef Poskanzer

A habit is a routine behavior done on a regular basis. It is a recurrent and often unconscious pattern of behavior and is acquired through frequent repetition. Most of it is unconscious as you don’t even realize you are doing them. Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines habits as “an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary”

This definition ties exactly with Aristotle’s words “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

This practically means that you should give your 100% into EVERYTHING you do if you want to make it big. This is what the ancient Yogis believed was the key to success. If you want to be good at football then you should not only apply yourself to your football training but also to ordinary day-to-day activities. By doing so you cultivate the habit of excellence.

The media has made it easy for people especially in some third world countries like Cameroon to have an idea of how life these days in the western world can be really easy for a lot of people. While people there complain about the weather, traffic etc. but compared to many people in the third world, those in the west seem to have it easy. They don’t have to work hard in fact, there are those who have never had to worry about starving to death, some have never been in a war or some of the calamities we witness every day.

The truth is that you can get by in life these days without putting 100% into it. You can probably cruise through at around 80% and be fine. But the quality of your life will reflect what you put into it. You put in less, you get less back. I personally can’t sail along with the 80% majority and so I strive to give in my 100%.

Popular culture in the world today does not encourage us to strive for excellence. In fact it probably encourages the opposite. When I was in school the kids who worked hard at their homework got teased, and sometimes this attitude still prevails in the adult world. Think about your work colleagues, your friends and family: how many of them are putting 100% into everything they do? Sadly excellence is not a common thing. If you are someone who strives for excellence in all things then you are a rare breed.

Be the exception. Wash the dishes to the very best of your ability, clean the toilet to the very best of your ability. It might not seem like much but by doing this you begin to establish the habit of excellence in everything that you do. As it becomes more entrenched, this habit will spill over into your relationships, work, finances, health…

It’s rather like physical fitness. It takes effort, but the more you do it the easier it becomes. At first you have to train yourself and push yourself towards excellence even when you don’t feel like it. But start with the little things and you’ll soon see it spread across all aspects of your life. If you practice this approach even for a week you’ll see what I’m getting at.

Changing your habits is generally easier said than done but not in this case. If you simply do the next task you do to the very best of your ability then you’re already on your way.

Sail Through Your Storms

Dear loving people,

May your life always be Counterpoint to the Clamor of the World.
May you delight in Dancing Lightly With Life.
May you soar on eagle wings, high above the madness of the world.
May you always sing Melody in the Symphony of Your Life.
May you taste, smell, and touch your dreams of a beautiful tomorrow.
May your sun always shine, and your sky be forever blue.

You can’t imagine to what extent I am consoled by this great wish from Jonathan Lockwood Huie. Reading through them, you feel as if it’s that easy for everything you wish to click into place. I can tell you the truth that it could be that easy if you do some preliminary work with yourself and your processes. How easy life becomes depends on your inputs, you have to work daily for what you want to achieve, it’s that simple.

Somebody said “To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest.” In the same light, David Nicholas says “God's promises are like the stars; the darker the night the brighter they shine” I agree with him.

The things you do minute by minute cumulatively determin the extent to which you achieve your dreams. God’s miracle can fall on lazy, idling and aimless people and once you decide to take action, you must remember Jim Rohn’s words “The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.”

Therefore, you need considerable courage at the start off point that constitutes part of the radiance within you because as Elisabet Kubler says “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”

On the other hand, you must show kindness to others, demonstrate faireplay in the competitive climate and face your own music squarely especially as “It isn't necessary to blow out the other person's light to let your own shine”

But then, irrespective of all your good intentions, what do you do when life serves you a blow? Do you grumble? Do you complain? Do you yell at the world? Do you get frustrated? Do you feel like you have been taken out of your comfort zone and have to deal with new issues that you've never had to deal with before? Do you think that if you had all the money in the world that your life will change for you? Maybe? Do you ever hope that some kind person would come and rescue you out of your storm? Do you imagine what your life will look like after your storm?

Storms are bound to come once you decide to take action towards growth. You can learn to be positive during your storm. You can trust and believe that your storm will pass and you will escape it unharmed. Do you ever think what your storm is possibly trying to teach you? Do you really stop and think about what is going on in your life? Maybe you are being led to a higher ground in your life and your storm was sent to strengthen you and prepare you for something big in your life? Maybe your storm was sent to you so that you can develop sympathy and compassion for people? Who knows why we have to go through storms? A lot of times, storms are sent to make us grow up. Storms happen for a reason and all of us can learn from our personal storms. Storms seem to last a long time when you are the one passing through your storm.

All storms are different and they have different outcomes. You never know who you will help after your storm is over? You may receive the chance to offer encouraging words to another person during their storm? Close your eyes in the midst of your storm and just smile. We share a gift and that gift is smiling. Learn to utilize your smile. Smile at your storm and trust that it will pass. Hopefully, you will develop the gifts of love and patience while passing through your storm.

Norman Vincent Peale says “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”

A Letter To My Past!

Dear Loving people,

Join me as I write this letter to my Past. It could equally be your past. Given that our past often hangs around us for a while, I will be choosing my words carefully but being firm….

My time honored past, you have this way of letting me dwell on you from time to time to the extent that I now think its okay because as it goes, I am human with emotions.  As I live life and experience it to its fullest, it’s only natural that I sometimes cling onto what once was.

Some days it’s easy to get stuck in the past, to dwell on the things that didn’t turn out the way we wanted them to.  It can be easy to slip into this way of thinking when we are feeling sick, lonely or stressed. Whilst reflecting on the past can be a helpful learning tool for making better choices going forward, spending too much time looking back and wondering what could have been is often a waste of time and energy.

I read from an unknown author that “A bend in the road is not the end of the road…unless you fail to make the turn.” That is why I must tell you that when my human desire to cling to you affects my future, I begin a potentially unhealthy and seemingly endless battle with anchors that can hold me down and sink me. At such moment malicious Past, you better leave me alone.

I grew up in a rural community wherein recounting frightful allegories was the order of the day. I once was told that at a certain in October every year, a fierce faceless creature in the form of a man roamed the hills and lonely roads decapitating children. This story often paralyzed me and killed all ounces of courage in me, I was often scared to death when my parents sent me on an errand that required me passing through lonely roads. I could not stay in the house alone, or be anywhere alone. It got to a point where I was sick during the month of October just thinking that I might be a victim at any moment. It was much later in life when I got to realize that the story had some similarities with the Celtic feast of Samhain and that parents used it to deter their children from wondering about aimlessly.

But then, I carried this burden with me, letting it anchor me down, which made certain locations, periods, and possibilities “off limits.” I dreaded every October, afraid that my emotions would spin out of control because of these anchors. Sometimes they did, but it took me a while to realize it was because I let them. I got know that many other people who might have experienced a breakup, a tragic death, or a streak of bad luck, certain people, places, and things probably anchor them to the past. Now is the time for you let go and move forward:

Desolate Past, I am telling you exactly how I am going to kill you. When I begin to dwell on you my Past more than I feel is healthy, I ask myself a series of open-ended questions: Why does this memory matter to me? Does it serve me to restrict certain opportunities because they remind me of this memory? What’s the worst that can happen if I’m faced with a brutal reminder of this memory? What can I do to live with this memory, accept it, and move forward? And of course, eliminate could, should and would from my vocabulary. Sue Augustine advices “Our past can control today and tomorrow only to the degree we allow it. The past should not be a place where we dwell but a place from which we learn all we can and then move on.”

Miserable Past, I am taking with seriousness Take Dr. Seuss’s words: “Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” I am capitalizing on your feeble tactics as an opportunity to discover who is really touching my life now. Who’s truly there for me? How can I enjoy my shared connection with a person to my life now?  I am trying my hardest to forget about who once was there for me.

I have decided to be there for those who are there for me. I think that this is a great step in building new and meaningful relationships to help focus on the present. Perhaps they’re anchored down, too. We can help each other. This is why reciprocated relationships are the only ones that truly work.

I have come to understand that my anchor does not own me. It cannot dictate my actions, make me feel inferior, or restrict me from living the life I want without my consent. I hence know that I am my own person, every anatomical and emotional part of me. My charisma is unique and I am owning it and I know I will rise up.

To drive home the last nail on your coffin shameless Past, I am now busy with my daily activities, I will hence identify with like-minded people because I have realized that each new day presents me with huge opportunities to make new memories happen. This is a gift I have often taken for granted. I must tell you that your anchors will not hold me down anymore. I have opted to let go and now they are slight road-bends in the endless highway of life.

Sue Augustine says “The time has come to lay that baggage down and leave behind all the struggling and striving. You can be set free as you journey forward into a balanced healthy and rewarding future.”