30.4.10

Turning Misfortune Into Motivation

Rising up from a fall is not the hardest thing to do, but looking into the eyes of those who believed in you, those who thought you will never make it and finding motivation to start all over again and press on despite the shame, discouragement and the psychological burden of falling, especially when you do not deserve to fall.
It is easy to say “why me” when misfortune happen. And because we can’t always see the big picture, we often fall back and get discouraged.

Some people often get overwhelmed by misfortune that they think life is not worth it. For every purpose there is a time and a decision, because the sorrow of man is great in him. Ec 8:6.

The sooner we let this mindset be in us, the better our understanding of life. I cant imagine a life without self motivation, it must be really depressing. I have heard a lot of people say “life is not fair”.

But what is life?

Life is what you make it. You can make life or be made by life.

The same sun that shines on clay shines on ice, but while one gets stronger the other melts away. Your substance determines how you respond to life’s’ misfortunes.

What are you made of?

When Agama lizards fall from a tree it looks round to get acclamation but finds none, It nodes its head in commendation and continue on its way.

Do you always depend on someone for motivation to get your life kicking? What will you do when no one is there to do that for you?

The best motivation you can ever get is self motivation. Someone can help you up when you fall, but only you can make a decision to stay up and move on…

28.4.10

HOW To acquire The Information That Takes You To The Top

One obvious difference between the rich and the poor, the educated as well as the ignorant is in abundance or insufficiency of information they have. One is only as good as the amount of information
one possesses.

The new future is created when a man hears information. Little wonder the Almighty Father says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” Hos 4:6 when one rejects knowledge by whatsoever means one is unknowingly refusing the budding of a whole new season about to be revealed.

I am fascinated about the art of war, its tactics and everything that makes it an art or science perhaps.
And I have come to see from the whole picture that “the strength of your enemy is your ignorance”.

Has it ever occurred to you how most wealthy and highly educated people around you get to know how
much they know? I‘ll share with you the steps I have come to discover over the years that can be applied to accelerate ones climb to the top:

Have a link to the top: have a good network of information from experts or people who are better
informed than you. One thing that really holds people down is when they think they‘ve got it all.

Information drives the world today, each day you wake up asks yourself, what information you need to get you to the top or keep me on top. “Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.”
William Pollard

Use the power of association: a woman was complaining bitterly about her son who always associates himself with people much older, smatter and better than he. Yes I understand her complain, she knows that her son will easily bear the brunt of the problems that occur with them, probably because he is the youngest. But I guess she did not understand that anyone would become wise that spends time with the wise. You do not have to be the best to associate with the best.

It’s easier to get to the top than stay at the top. Having a good link to the top can help.

Be inquisitive: as sure as a good ground will be blessed with good harvest, so will an inquisitive mind be
rewarded with the answers it seeks. I love to ask questions, since they will help me become better.

Getting information required to take or keep you at on top could require a master mind team. Build a reliable team around you to fill in where you cannot. Where there hands cannot reach, champions ride on the back of giants to reach. You cannot do everything yourself, the great minds and personalities the world has seen did not attain greatness by self might alone. But with the help of a good team they achieved greatness. You are as good as the team you work with.

The decisions you make are only as good as the information you have. The president of the United State gets prompts on information every morning at seven on the latest happenings he needs to know from experts in different fields. That is the spirit, take advantage and use every available information.

King David had strong and intelligent masterminds. With these mastermind he needn’t do everything.
He was a strong man yet he surrounded himself with stronger men. The people you let around you can
either lift you up or pull you down. He was intelligent yet he had the counsel of the wisest men around
him.

This could seem easy, but very difficult to apply. Why? You may ask. Pride is the reason why. It’s impossible to learn with pride. A proud man is too high to notice opportunities that lie right under his
nose and all around him. "Information is the seed for an idea, and only grows when it's watered.” Heinz V. Bergen

20.4.10

Happiness Is A Choice

Happiness is a key aspect of success. It would be difficult to disconnect success from happiness. There is this perception that happiness has everything to do with the rich than their counterpart, sometimes it tends to be true.

However, it’s crucial to emphasize that happiness is not solely a result of wealth or abundance; “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”-Herman Cain

If happiness really is a thing of choice, it then suggests that people who find themselves in sad depressed shape deliberately chose to be that way. Personally, I don’t think anyone would deliberately opt to live a sad depressed life, sometimes these things just befall us and we find it difficult to break free. When this happens a lot of people go chasing fading shadows rather than solution.

People don’t necessarily choose to live sad depressed lives, they only fail to do what is necessary to be happy and stay happy. “Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.”

Anybody can be happy despite the situation. It only requires understanding and a little bit of self control. There are steps one must take to keep happy despite the state of affairs:

Get to understand
: many sad depressing situations we encounter result from poor and negative response to the problems we face. Therefore we have to understand that external problems we encounter should not engulf and control other areas of our lives. Though it’s quite difficult, we must learn how not to shift problems from one aspect of our lives to other unrelated aspects. Happy is the man who…understands Prov 3:13

Recognize
that happiness is not necessarily the absence of sadness or problems neither is it ensuing from riches. It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. -Spurgeon

Use yourself as a yard stick
: if you want to keep happy, don’t use the achievement of others to measure your own improvement. It is wisdom to understand that life is a race and your opponent is you. Work and grow at your pace. However this doesn’t suggest you should compromise hard work, timing and diligence. You might never get to be that happy fellow you want to be if you measure your progress by the achievement of others, because whether you like it or not, you will always see things that will challenge you and meet people with better advantages than you. Happy is the soul that has something to look backward to with pride, and something to look forward to with hope. -Wilson

Choose to hear right
: after her observations at the royal palace of King Solomon, queen Sheba stated; ‘Happy are your men, happy are your servants, which stand continually before you, and that hear your wisdom’. Happiness doesn’t just fall from I don’t know where; you have a role to play. Get to hear words that stir your being towards happiness. Say things that make people happy; your words at this point are very important.

Be happy when corrected
: one interesting thing about humans is that we tend to detest anything that will oppose our intention. Someone once corrected me in a harsh manner, to his amazement rather than be angry at his tone and manner of correction I responded quite cheerfully. That singular act changed his countenance and the general impression in the room…. happy is the man whom God corrects: therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty Job 5:17.

Help bring happiness to others
: joy doesn’t only come by sharing it also comes by caring and helping. Be humane enough to help someone in need, be a light for someone in the darkness of her confusion, give little comfort to the one who is in despair… he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he. Prov 14:21

Avoid frustration
: anger comes before frustration and it doesn’t take long before it turns into sadness. Frustration can mean that you are expecting too much or that you know you should be doing more.
If money or power can buy happiness then the author of the book of Ecclesiastes should have been overjoyed. He tried at one point to make a test of pleasure by seeking happiness in his in riches. And his conclusion went this way ‘So my mind was turned to grief for all the trouble I had taken…’ Eccl 2:20’
Happiness depends on a lot of factors but most importantly it depends on you, first chose to be happy irrespective of circumstance. Life tends to smile back at those who smile at it.

11.4.10

Develop Your Decision Making Skills By Working On Your Ability To Learn From Experience

“The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.” -Tom Bodett

Success should not be seen only in the big picture as a big great bang. Rather it should be seen as a process that begins with internalizing certain principles which if applied would help work one's climb to the top.Being successful require one’s ability to deliver results as at when needed. Nobody wants failure, we all want to get results and be successful. However, achieving the right results begins with making the right decisions. Decision making is a very critical aspect of living a successful life.

In this article you will learn how to improve your decision making skills by enhancing your ability to utilize “experience and intelligence” towards achieving the right results. Experience, being the knowledge gained by repeated trials can only be of any benefit when intelligently applied to present situation. You will drastically reduce the likelihood of wrong decision making/repeated failure by applying these mind enlightening tips:

Learn to learn from experience: the question is not how much you have experienced but what actually you have learn t from it, which is what eventually pays. Experience is not always about years and decades, the seconds and minutes that trickle into hours are as important as the years you suppose will create experience. Value every second to learn from it. Apply the DON’T principle and you will be amazed at what you will achieve. There are two fundamental virtues that you gain when you discipline yourself to learn from experience

You gain the ability to discern time,

you also gain a good sense of judgment


Be patient: patience creates experience; you will never find the opportunity to learn and pick valuable lessons from an experience if you don’t take your time in seeing it through. The world today is that fast that people compromise time and excellence. My father always tells me “better do a thing perfectly, than cover multiple tasks without actually doing any of them well” The greatest minds have one common attribute they share which is “patience”. The finest footballers are those that are patient on the ball, and because they spend time on the ball they virtually don’t think of what to do when on the ball.

Be intelligent: Intelligence like success is not a rear gift bestowed on a selected few, when you decide to have it, seek it and you will find it. Things don’t just happen they are made to, virtues are not always born they are also learnt. Intelligence begins with the details; it comes with perception and action. Experience gives you what to expect while intelligence tells you what to do and perhaps how to execute it. Your perceptive ability to sort and utilize the slightest of information in a given data to achieve result is being intelligent. Intelligence is the ability to read situations, know intentions and create the stuff needed to act accordingly. The best results can also be achieved by obtaining the information for making the right decision. Information is the basis for important decision.

Utilize the power of repetition and consistency: repetition is the mother of retention. Train your mind to preplay events, that way you get prepare for them as well as familiarize with the situation so much so that you almost don’t think of what to do when you encounter it. I have found that the more time one spends trying to reach a decision, the more complex and difficult it seems to achieve. Prioritize the exercise of your mind; you can’t afford to leave the mind quiescent. Consistency is everything else; success is more of consistency than skill.
It is a fact that history has a way of repeating itself, and most times for the sad reasons. Certain unpleasant things will continually repeat on you until you gain their experience and master them. History will be kind to me for I intend to write it- Winston Churchill

Experience begins with the decision to learn and master a situation. Experience doesn’t come by doing something over and hoping that you will get to the point of absolute familiarity and mastery of it. Experience is more of taking the decision to master a thing than hoping for it to happen.

Being advance in age is not experience, your ability to master a thing is. Failures and mistakes are often repeated, not because one has not had enough encounters to learn from, but because one has failed to take that vital decision to master the situation.

 Keep the lesson fresh in mind. Out of mind they say is out of sight, it’s like mathematics it leaves you as soon as you leave it. Remember it’s the lessons learnt that you are keeping in mind and not the experience in its entirety. Bearing the whole experience in mind can reduce your momentum for success especially when you dwell on its failures. The more you think of success the more likely it is to achieve.

6.4.10

Coping With Difficulty In Challenging Times

Desperate times call for desperate measures, like you well know; courage is not proven in times of comfort but it is tested in desperate and challenging times. It’s kind of discouraging to encounter unexpected difficulties that defy a preplanned strategy for an objective. Our determination or disadvantage is made evident on a daily basis by virtue of the challenges we face. A strategic plan will always anticipate challenges as well as take care of them.

But there are times when even your best of plans seem to encounter difficulties that defy their strategy and potency. Now what do you do in such situation? Do you give up on it or do you strive to succeed with it, even when everything seems to point to an impending probable failure?

This one thing I do, I try to be realistic with a positive, can do outlook on the situation. The fact is that you can’t always win, but it will only be cowardly if you choose to dash an opportunity for fear of failure. Only losers hold such principle (rather not attempt it than do and bear the embarrassment of failing). There are two fundamental questions I ask myself:

-Is this winnable?

-Do I stand the slightest of chances?

Answering these questions technically and sincerely will, on the positive aspect create a massive determination in me capable of propelling me through any opposition that the challenge might pose. There’s nothing that rouses one like a little opposition.

Learn to be self motivated: challenges don’t ring bells before they show up, so you will do well not just to expect them but to prepare for them. However, motivation is very important. Some people find it difficult to motivate themselves in times of calamity. To live that happy life in addition to having a positive outlook on life one must come to the point of self motivation. This involves getting the body, soul and spirit to appreciate the motive towards actualization.

Learn to stand up to challenges: If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Stand up to your challenge. My mother use to say “what doesn’t think (inanimate) cannot outwit that which does”. Failure establishes only this, that our determination to succeed was not strong enough. –Bovee. Only robots are designed to avoid obstacles on their path. You are not a robot are you? You are endowed with a unique ability to handle and overcome challenges; challenges are opportunities in disguise.

And remember, no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

2.4.10

Tips On How To Get Out Of Boredom And Achieve Fulfillment

Quote of the day "Boredom comes from a boring mind."
Metallica

Have you ever found yourself in a situation that leaves you completely docile and passive, even when you are willing to make a positive move but you can’t just help it? Then know for sure that boredom has set in. Boredom is the inability to accept the moment for what it is , boredom is the failure to accept the situation and utilize it for achieving the purpose of the moment. A lot of times people find themselves in such situations where they seem to have lost the passion and drive to get things going even when the y have their work well spelt out. Boredom is the neediness for something "exciting" to happen. Boredom if not handled wisely can set one backpedaling. It could be difficult finding your interest when you lose it, this could eventually lead to the neglect of that responsibility. Like I always say “neglect will eventually lead to regret”. Learn not neglect responsibility no matter how small they seem (that is discipline right there).boredom is the inability to see the opportunity in the moment, One bad thing about regret is that it doesn’t call back lost opportunity. You can only care about what is of interest to you, and it is only natural to show responsibility in that which you pick interest in. no reasonable person has time enough to waste chasing what will not lead to her improvement as well as her general well being.
Boredom is the refusal of accepting what is, it is craving for what is not at the time it shouldn’t be. Boredom is the acceptance of what is pleasurable over what is pertinently right. Boredom is that situation when the mind and the spirit cannot get the body to cooperate in dealing with the issue at hand. Boredom is the compromise of the mind with the body to reject responsibility and accept weakness. To overcome boredom it takes more than a slash of water to the face. These tips will help you handle and overcome that sinking feeling when next you hemmed in by it.
#1 Know your responsibility: the fastest way to be irresponsible is when you don’t seek to know as well as do you responsibility at each given moment. Time is very important, time is not money it is a bit of your life.

#2 Affirm yourself of your responsibility: be conscious of your responsibility, the purpose you have in mind you will seek to achieve. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. When you speak something achieving it becomes a priority.

#3 Apply Discipline: boredom is lose of control; it is the failure to see the opportunity before our very eyes. The first and most important discovery for any purposeful person is self discovery; it takes discipline to be in control. There are times when you just loss total control and allow boredom rule you. At such times taking a good cool shower can help, I tell you this works. Just get under the water and you will come out a new you, ready to go.

#4 Choose to be happy: boredom is born of ignorance and unconsciousness. when boredom takes control, one loses all sense of satisfaction. One will never get to lasting happiness and satisfaction when one assumes that happiness is limited to life’s present circumstances. Real and lasting happiness is always experienced within. You choose to laugh to a joke, you can choose to be happy despite the present circumstance.

#5 Be the impact: the surest way to gain satisfaction is by affecting someone positively. You gain an incredible sense of satisfaction when you know that someone’s life has just been made better by what you have done. I have been applying this principle and I have always been motivated by it.
So the next time that sinking feeling sets in apply these tips and seek for someone to impact positively. Boredom cannot be quenched; you can only get out of it.

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