Before you face your fear

There is one indisputable way to defeat fear and that is by facing the fear. We all have fears that we must at one time or the other either face or be confronted by. It takes courage and more to face your fear, this I think is good. He is not wise who waits until he is confronted by his fears. It is not uncommon for people to avoid their fears or problems thinking that in so doing they escape it. No, you don’t escape a problem by avoiding, you do by solving it.

Whether you face your fears or it confronts you, one of two things is sure. You either conquer it or you fall in defeat at its feat. That is not what you want is it? If any fear must be conquered, one way or the other it must first be confronted. There are two stages about fear as it relates to this post, the first is confronting it and the other is getting to conquer it. Before you face your fear, here are some tips that can help.

1.    Decide to face your fear: there is nothing as powerful and effective in conditioning your mind for the task as a decision to face your fear. Many people want to face their fears but have not made any real decision to do so. Many people like to confront their problems, they think about it, they wish they could, they even desire opportunity to face it. But nothing favorably remarkable really happens until one makes the decision to face the fear. Without this, you are yet to state your stand, that alone sends a signal which I strongly believe attracts every opportunity and event that tends to more fear which eventually prevents you from confronting the main fear or problem in a manner that solves it. Don’t just intend to face your fear, endorse your intention with a firm decision.

2.    Commit to your decision: responsibility begets commitment. You have decided to face your fear; that singular decision would basically create a responsibility on your path towards achieving your goal. You now have some thing to commit to. But commitment doesn’t just hold because you want to commit to something.  You have to be realistic with issues. Have worthy basis that back your decision to commit to your course. Consider the terms and turns about your commitment, which will give clarity of purpose.  Don’t leave your commitment floating on baseless heights as such commitments don’t live long to achieve their purpose.

3.    Work it: what happens after you commit to confront your fears? William H. Murray puts it well in saying that the moment one definitely commits oneself then providence moves too. All sort of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and material assistance which no man would have dreamed would come his way. As Murray acknowledged, your decision and commitment brings all sorts of opportunity in your favor but what is opportunity when you fail to use it? What really brings you face to face with your fear is working the work. Most people decide and commit to things but don’t get ahead working towards it. We should withdraw from the idea of wanting to get lucky at everything; nature reserves little or no luck for one who will not work to earn it. You begin to get really lucky when you start working. Yes luck comes with work and most people miss out on luck because they don’t like work. Who was it again that said the harder I work, the luckier I get? Well, he’s every bit correct.

As much as you would want to conquer your fears and advance with your affairs in life, you must first cross the bridge of facing the fear. There are no two ways about conquering fears, other than taking a decision to face it which is a conscious intentional act. On the contrary, if you allow your fear to confront you (as it will most certainly do when you avoid it) for not deciding to face it, you loose that sense of control over the situation. There is a sense of control and confidence that comes with intentionally going after something rather than something coming after you, not just with fears alone. You become more confident and in control when you are proactive, taking the initiative to do things rather than being told to. That I think is a good way about handling fear. Make a strong decision to confront your fear, commit to that decision and work towards it by actually doing that which you otherwise think you can’t. Confront your fear and face the future with courage.

Power to effect change

The future that we will eventually live is not formed by means of wishes or desire but they are created by the decisions of today as well as their corresponding actions. It’s a true saying that the life we live today is a sum total of the decisions we made yesterday. How powerful can these eight letter word - decision be?
The power in the eight letter word – decision has not ceased to prove its efficacy to those who use it wisely as well as those who don’t, but with different outcomes. You are wise if you understand that life works in seasons. Most people work out their lives calling all sorts of unnecessary and unwarranted palaver because they lack the knowledge of this fundamental truth – things happen in their seasons.

I appreciate the art and science of farming, it’s a beauty observing a wise and diligent farmer, he sure understands seasons. On the other side of the matter, you will rightly observe that the world is getting faster by the moment, everybody wants the next thing now (well, who won’t, if they have the means to) even before its due season. Most people strive for such getting not really because it’s a serious need they can’t do without, this is the conscious voluntary aspects of the matter. The unconscious dimension of it is that such people do not really understand time and seasons.

The subject is quite important in determining success or failure. Most people do so much, breaking, pulling, shoving and striving to achieve various desires. Of course the possibility allows that anyone can achieve anything if they choose and work towards it. But when things are done out of their seasons progress may turn out to be only temporal.

It’s amazing how things change, in just a moment, with just one decision, at the pull of a switch. There is one switch everyone goes around with, at the pull of which you can dramatically transform situations and indeed your world. But how can you do that? And what sort of switch could that be? Conditions are controlled by seasons? When seasons change, other related or sub facilities follow suit. The good thing here is that you can change the seasons that determine your situations, as everyone can. This is one remarkable virtue possible to man. Decisions create seasons. Decision is that switch available to anyone to practically change situations. The disparity of opportunity that comes to people can be directly attributed to the difference in their decisions. Decisions create seasons. Control the seasons of your life by pulling the right switch.

Press for improvement

Man has always sought to develop himself, his surrounding and his life in general. That trend has not ceased. It is natural in man to grow as well as find exciting and efficient ways of doing things. Creativity here is the idea and ability to improve situation and do things in better ways. The instincts to always improve are there but it can also just remain there. The important question is how to stir it and put it to beneficial use. The need for creativity is higher than ever, and though time may be short, it always leaves an opportunity to improve. One can remain at a level without improvement for decades but for the books one reads and the people one meets. I know you don’t want that, you want to improve with every moment and become the best possible. I have identified some tips that can help you form the habit of conscious steps towards improvement.

1. Show concern: it all starts here; building a habit of improvement begins by showing concern. Nothing can be attempted with an indifferent attitude. It’s disturbing to stay around people who show absolutely no concern to what’s happening in their immediate environment. Such people are categorized under the groups of people who wait for things to happen. People who solve problems don’t do it because they have a special knack for problem solving. Albert Einstein in one his responses said “I’m not a genius; I only stick with problems longer”. Solving problems begins with identifying a need and showing some concern, that singular act of showing concern can spark a flurry of ideas as to solving the problem. Anybody can identify a problem but not everyone shows concern. Show some concern to improve the situation when there is no obvious problem to solve, ask you what can be improved upon and eventually when situation calls for improvement you won’t need the highest level of consciousness to identify it and respond.

2. Think possible: if you will think anyway, why not think possible? You lose nothing thinking possible; consciously nurture the thought that improvement is possible. Some people keep limiting their possibility to the standard their past has set for them. They whine to themselves- oh this’d best it has ever got with me. Since I got the idea that there is always a possible way of going about anything, I have nurtured and applied that thought to various life situations and it’s always proved helpful. A fool says it can never be done (perhaps because it has never been done) until someone comes around and does it. When a wise person has a problem he can’t solve, he doesn’t shelve it and throw the keys. He thinks to himself, I may not have the solution to this problem but someone a little bit clever than I may. Time and again events have proven that there is always a possible way about anything.

3. Be the change: the term change alone sparks a lot of feelings in different people, some detest it, some enjoy the challenge and opportunity it brings, and some others don’t just care. But the truth in its crude form remains – no change, no growth, and no improvement. Change – whether you like it or not, you will still experience its effect (nobody is immune to it). Become the catalyst of the improvement you want to experience in and around you. Change as we want it should not be determined by external influence. But lasting and effective change should start from within; it should be a product of our own conscious decision.

You can’t possibly be a solution to a problem you show no concern over. If you will think any way, think possible, think big. If you want to see any change, you might as well start it.

Self Definition: Who are you?

The seemingly most misunderstood question is a very common one and comprise three words – who are you? Each time I asked this question, I usually get varying answers. It goes a long way to tell our individual uniqueness. It’s equally interesting what you will find out when you consider how people define themselves.
Notwithstanding, every individual reserves the right to define themselves however they please, whether it’s through the eyes and opinion of others or in the light of their own distinctiveness. This perception and definition of self should however not undermine one’s confidence as it often does when people define themselves according to the perception of others. How we classify ourselves can decide how we function in society as well as our personal space. It’s important to see ourselves through the eyes of others, it’s more important we see ourselves in the light of our own eyes devoid of external prejudice which could undermine individual uniqueness and self confidence.

In any case, the truth always holds way – as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. The problem however is we often fail to think of ourselves in our individual uniqueness. Careful observation shows that we usually define ourselves by

What we have
What we do or have achieved
Our position in society
Who we are related to and
By what we think we have potential for or aspire for.

I may not have the finest idea as how best to define oneself but the truth remains that you are what you think of yourself. What you think of yourself is the consequence, the cause however is that which influences or determines the thought. How we think of ourselves can be influenced through three channels, they include but are not limited to
What we observe by sight: the things we see could be very deceptive. What you don’t see in yourself and perhaps feel you need, can raise thoughts which could eventually dent your confidence, making you feel inferior especially when you have the wrong idea about it. It is not unusual for people to think in this direction, comparing themselves to others by what is visible hence defining themselves in the light of this wrong motive.

What we observe by hearing: This is an important gateway to the mind that can influence the way we think about ourselves. Words can serve as powerful tools as well as dangerous weapons; the ears are open to them all leading them to the mind. It’s equally not unusual for people to see themselves in the light of what others say about them, which in most cases is not usually wrong. It becomes an issue of concern when one values others opinion more than one’s opinion of oneself.

What we speak: This may seem out of place but it’s not. What you say in your hearing about yourself is as effective as what you hear others say about you. It can equally serve as a force to counter negative external influences.

It’s important we control, influence and perhaps direct positively the knowledge and ideas we gather through these channels in a manner that will not undermine our uniqueness and confidence or raise misleading thought of who one really is.

Handling Boredom By Purposeful Engagement and Conscious Mind Control

If life were a race, it would be a marathon not a sprint. But in this case, you race with none other than yourself. This is however not the case today. People rather see themselves as opponents that must be defeated to win life's race. The key to purpose discovery is realizing that every individual must discover the portion allotted them to work it, develop it, produce and grow with it as well as impact meaningfully using the same channel.

Human beings are dynamic creatures full of contradictions, experiencing troubles, conflicts and fear as well as boredom and satisfaction. When the mind is in its up-time the whole being usually follow the same hue. boredom is more of personal choice and less related or dependent on external forces and situations. Someone said “I will be bored if and only if all the problems in the world have been solved”. You can read any meaning into that statement but know that the presence of problems alone doesn’t take away boredom there are many people surrounded by tons of problem begging for attention yet they wallow in boredom. It’s all about attitude and orientation to improvement. There are people who can't continue at ease without finding a way to improve the status quo around them. For them it has become a habit and philosophy that things can always be improved upon. Hence the presence of problem does not take away boredom, what most certainly does is the willingness to do something about the problem. Here are some tips you may find helpful.

1. When boredom begins from the mind: situations will occur when a bored mind would result to a bored being, the reverse is also possible but this time only worse. When the former is the case one thing you have to your advantage at the initial stage is an active body, get yourself engaged with something purposefully interesting. The mind usually withdraws from what it has lost interest over, restore interest in a bored situation by being dynamic. Identify a problem you can solve quickly within that short period to excite your mind again.

2. Active mind but weak body: The mind can be raring to go but that will only amount to little when the body is bored or tired. In cases like this (but seek to know the cause of the tiredness as tiredness is not boredom), you have to get refreshed - usually a cold shower will do but in work environment where this might not be quickly obtainable, you can surf the net for something interesting or work out you mind and hands on a game (I learned that the fingers can influence the state of boredom...hm).

3. Highway to constant boredom: An express way to boredom is not by cutting off all contact with humanity. You can be surrounded with a hive of humans and still get bored. Boredom is cutting yourself from creativity and productive work. The presence of these can create social interaction, growth, motivation, sense of purpose which eventually eliminate boredom.

Human beings are dynamic creatures full of contradictions experiencing troubles, conflicts and fear as well as boredom and satisfaction.

Habits That Help Happiness: 20 Tips to Build Pleasant Habits

Anybody can be happy if they decide. Satisfaction capable of influencing happiness can be derived from what one does or possesses . One would be partially correct to consider wealth as a major factor influencing happiness, considering the fact happiness like any other feeling doesn’t just happen but are motivated by related factors. Security is one key factor that influences happiness whether it’s social security, financial security or health wise. Financial buoyancy may not guaranty security at all aspects but it can surely cover some vital aspects of your basis. Some people are blessed with such a beautiful personality, they appear to be happy virtually all the time, one can hardly find them in an unpleasant moods even when offended they just smile. Everybody’s not like that though, but the fact is that happiness is a choice. Here are certain habits that help us choose as well as stay happy.

1. Learn to laugh: laughter is the closest feeling to happiness .

2. Take issues calmly: form the habit of taking issues calmly, this certainly doesn’t mean taking things lightly.

3. Learn to like people: you have seven billion neighbors, considering this huge number, how do you intend to keep happy when you don’t like people.

4. Stick to your values: having values and keeping them gives you a sense of value, fulfillment and purpose. Purposeful living creates happiness.

5. Learn to appreciate: I can’t that “thank you” is such a hard thing to say.

6. Avoid stress: yes you can avoid stress, you can avoid unnecessary worry.

7. Live the moment: learn to live the moment and not necessarily for the moment. Live as if each second counts in determining your life, of course it counts.

8. Choose happiness with you words. What you hear can influence happiness but more important is what you say. Affirm to yourself that you choose to be happy, condition your mind to think in that hue, let your expression show it. It’s not easy but it makes for a sound mind. It might seem like acting but it’s not, you are rather building yourself into a better and pleasant character.

9. Count your blessings: how readily we count and rue on losses and misfortunes. Take time to think about your good fortunes, blessing and the pleasing moments in your life.

10. See your life as significant and make it significant. It’s worth knowing that you are one among billions and that you are unique in nature. And you can take it from there to discover, understand and fulfill your purpose.

11. Think right: as a man thinketh so is he, apply the conscious thought control. As the thoughts of a person is either bad or good so will the direction of his/her life and events will follow.

12. Increase in knowledge: a balanced life is key to happy living. Let physical and moral development be matched be with their intellectual equivalent. Don’t ignore an opportunity to improve intellectual capacity. Know it and then do it. Happiness does not come only from what you know but from practicing it. No knowledge is indeed a waste but what’s the good of knowledge if it’s not put into purposeful use?

13. Live secure: security is a basic human need, while some take various risks to meet this end others live quiet lives to maintain it.

14. Choose what you hear: your ear is a major gateway to your mind.

15. Don’t condemn yourself. Mistakes, failures or blunders are unavoidable parts of success and living.

16. Take correction with cheerfulness. This is an admirable quality that makes for a pleasing personality. To err is human but to accept correction with cheerfulness is a wonderful personal value.

17. Invest in people: when you invest in material things the rewards come in same kind. When you invest in people you leave a lasting legacy.

18. Learn to understand. Think before you act, this has not proved to solve the problem. Go a step further than just thinking, understand before you respond. Understanding helps you act with discretion. Happy are they who experience wisdom in daily living.

19. Help people: you ease your own worries and make yourself happier when you help others solve their problems and achieve their goal.

20. Eat healthy and exercise.

How to Achieve a Goal

There is a system for achieving a goal like for any other thing. Many people fail due to inaction than for ineptitude. When there's a problem to be solved or a need to be met, it's only reasonable to device a means to get it solved (that is if we want it solved in the first place). In the whole process of devising a solution, plans are made and goals are set. However, setting goals alone will not help for efficient handling of a problem. Goals are not objective in nature; they don’t give a clear structure of how to solve a problem. For instance say, "I want to buy a new house." That's a goal, working with that alone won’t get job done as it's soon crowded out by commitments. Goals are important in problem solving or meeting needs but to achieve what we want our goals have to be effective not just important. Effective goals are born out of plans. Achieving any goal can be as easy as breaking the process into two lines of action.

1. Plan: He who fails to plan, plans to fail. Well, nobody really plans failure for him/herself but people only fail to do what is necessary not just to avoid failure but to succeed. Planning requires understanding the problem, the goal and the process. It allows you solve a problem before committing material resource into executing it. Planning could be mentally demanding, hence most people don't plan. When such have related problems that require a plan they create goals out of blue skies without a definite structure for achieving it. But it shouldn’t be so. Follow your goal with a plan, your plan helps you break goals into packets I like to call roles or objectives, these are more focused and precise to achieving a goal. This will help you narrow down to more important aspect of the problem and create concrete realistic steps to solving a problem. Goals only help you go in the direction of solving the problem while objectives create a clear structure on how to solve it.

2. Execute: this is where your effort and resources come to play but it’s also where the effectiveness of your plan is tested. With a good plan, this stage could be as easy as it could get. However most executions fail not necessarily because of a bad plan but from what I call the inability to act. Here is a method people usually apply in achieving a goal. They plan, they implement and try again when they fail. As much as this could seem like a general rule, one would be doing an endless cycle if the plan is a bad idea in the first place. If a project is not a good idea, yet you stick with it and persuade others to contribute resources and money, the costs of failure will be large; as whatever can fail will fail.

A goal can be achieved in two stages; planning for it and executing for it. In some cases we fail to achieve our goals because we failed to choose the right approach to achieve it. The success of a goal could solely rest on a good plan. At other times failure to achieve a goal could rest little to how good or bad a plan is but on our ability to act. Any goal is achievable if one sets one's minds to it and choose the right approach about it. Some things require patience and persistence even our goals. Breaking goals into objectives helps you analyze your progression as well as know when you finally get there.

A Pleasing Personality

Growth cannot occur without change like change might not be effected without learning. Learning is an integral aspect of life and development. How often we neglect the opportunity to learn amidst the hustle and bustle in our daily chase. As the saying goes, we live and we learn. Amongst the many things that can be learned, learning to exhibit a pleasing personality is essential.

1. Learn to laugh: there is nothing like a good laugh, I don’t mean laughing at people to mock them. Some people never laugh, or at least not openly when it is necessary. A good laugh does for you what an air freshener does for a living room with an offensive ambience. A good laugh makes you feel as well as look human, which you are. It has never been a good recommendation to always keep a mean look especially for people in leadership positions. You ease tension in the atmosphere when you laugh or smile and this makes you a more pleasing person to have around. Here’s the interesting part, a laugh makes you feel good and when you feel good, you raise your hopes and happiness as well as gain confidence to achieve your goals.

2. Learn to listen: considering the human physiognomy, nature made it that the ears should be involuntarily open while the mouth only does same voluntarily. But some people choose to do the reverse, keeping the mouth open and running. Two things happen when we contradict the design set by nature. One is that we could end up removing flies from our mouth; two is that we don’t get to learn much. You learn more when you listen more. Sometimes we are more helpful to people when they have our ears than when we give advice they obviously don’t need at that point in time. And it’s funny how we listen when we do; we readily listen to know how to respond rather than listening to understand. You make yourself unpleasant when you are apt to give counsel when people rather need your listening ear. Advice won’t always solve a problem in that has to be gotten out of the chest.

3. Learn to love: it is not always an automatic process to love, that’s why, it has to be learned. Like persistence, love doesn’t just happen. When love is built on material things it can fail and it will fail. To have a pleasing personality you must learn to love people in spite of circumstances as well as show genue concern. Look for the good in people and encourage them towards more good through the same channel rather than finding reason to fault them for their wrongs.

Let people know you for encouraging them towards good and they will like you for it. A pleasing personality is great asset, there is something about one with a pleasing personality that arrests your prejudice you simply can’t just ignore. A pleasing personality matched with humility in service make up for a great quality in manhood or womanhood. There is no art more beautiful than that of a pleasing personality.

Pillars of Persistence

Welcome to seeds of success. Today’s personal development will be looking at persistence. Persistence is one virtue that great achievers habitualize. It's interesting to know that people don’t give up only when they face opposition. There are three times when people give up. They could give up at the face of opposition, they could give up when they feel they have achieved a reasonable percentage of a project so they think they know how the completed version will look like, and thirdly people give up after first success. The first is common, the second is pernicious and the third is just ridiculous.

Persistence is not a natural occurring trait, but like many other virtues it is developed. Persistence is one of the key pillars of personal development but on what does persistence stand? There are three important pillars of persistence.

1. Hope: every act of persistence reclines upon a given hope. Nobody will continue giving time, effort and resources into an obviously hopeless venture. It is said that where there is life there is hope but where there is hope then there is the will and strength for persistence to hold through. But what is hope? Hope is not wishing that help will come; it is knowing it. A life to be pitied is not the one who has lost possession, family, friends, good reputation nor the one who has lost arms and legs, sight or hearing, but the one who has totally lost hope in living. Hope is a cardinal factor not only for persistence but in living.

2. A worthy goal: the achievability of a goal is determined not only by the individual whose objective it is to achieve the goal, but on the worthiness and importance of the goal. Psychologically you give yourself a reason to give up when your goal is not worth the effort, risk and resources to persist all the way in achieving it. And that way it is hard to keep up the will and strength of your persistence. For persistence to hold through the many obstacles and opposing forces, it must rest on a sure bet that the goal is worth it.

3. Habit: habits are very important determinants in the formation of character and eventually the direction of one's life. It is very important that we choose wisely and form habits consciously. People who give up don’t do so just because they like to be quitters, knowing that quitters are referred to as losers. They usually do because they have formed the habit of quitting when things seem not to be working out well. On the other hand there are others who through conscious efforts learned the discipline of not being easy quitters at the face of difficulty. Your persistence or in-persistence drives towards the direction of the habits you have built about it over time.

As you work to achieve your goals, let your persistence stand on firm pillars to pull you through the obstacles and opposition that will come your way.

Hope you enjoyed today’s blog on seeds of success. Let’s do this again tomorrow. Have a great day.

Letter to an Old Friend

Welcome to seeds of success.I stumbled upon a quite interesting poetry, you might find it funny. But enjoy it and tell me what you think.

Oh! Poverty my good old friend
How are you today?
Hope you are hale and hearty?
Waxing and waning, kicking harder?


My warmest regards to your new friends
Treat them kindly, give them courage
Tolerate them; let them also understand your path
Hold them gently, touch them softly,
you know how it is


You have been too good to me not to say goodbye
I shall never forget you in a hurry
It's painful to say goodbye
But my prayers are never to see you again


I am sure we 'll seldom meet
Not even in heaven when you die
Greet your friends for me
But remain down there, I have risen above you

By Michael Igele

Risk Factor: Everyday Brings Opportunity

It may interest you to know the uniqueness of today. In all of history, there has never been a day titled today, neither will there be a repeat of today and the opportunity it present. However it’s more interesting to know that you can make the best of today and what it has to offer. There is one sure thing toady will bring you, it may not bring riches, it may not guaranty safety or security but it will surely bring opportunity.

Everyday is a seed and it offers opportunity or at least the potential to create opportunity. The problem most times is that we wait for opportunity to knock on our door rather than being proactive about it. Opportunity is created when realization meets necessity and possibility. If everyday bring with it the opportunity to achieve, then we have the most readily available resource to utilize that opportunity – “time”.

We have ourselves to blame alone if we form the habit of excusing from opportunity for reason of time. I'm informed that three seconds up to now, every person on planet earth has 1440 minutes in his/her day. The nature of our day varies in proportion to the variance of our faces. There’s one important lesson to be learned, nothing is new, events do repeat and there is sharp commonality in human affairs as well as their experiences. So the prudent learn from them.

I’m not excluded from the minority who reason that there is a degree of stupidity in man (both male and female), which most often manifest in our daily is living. It comes to play in related issues like decision making and risk taking. That’s why many people get stuck in the situation they are passing through because they hold sacred the idea that doing anything aside what they are taught or accustomed to could spare only disaster. They think doing anything other than their usual will be very risky.

It brings us to the question, why take risk?  “it's fair to say that any reasonable person would basically take risk to achieve the best”. Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one’s better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas, or to take calculated risk and to act – Maxwell Maltz.

I hope to meet you tomorrow. Have a great day.

Envy Factor: 6 More Reasons Why You Must Not Envy

Do you envy? If you answer that question faithfully, then you have taken the first step to disclose to yourself some really helpful counsel. But I must warn you, this blog is liable to purge you of some fitly envy ailments, so prepare your mind (you will be better for it anyways). To a large extent, envy is a result of ignorance. It won't be too loud to say that people envy because

1. They lack knowledge of their calling, but it’s true. If you know what you are cut out for, you will understand that you are in a competition, not with any other but with yourself; to consistently improve upon your effectiveness. The knowledge and practice of this fills and annuls every opportunity for envy.
We definitely can’t avoid competition, it happens virtually everyday. However, is to improve your effectiveness and not to use others as total yardstick for your existence. Comparing yourself to others is ok to an extent but end up calling the ill emotion cause they can’t help the solution.

2. They can’t control their desires. Envy could equally result from not having what you think you want and not being able to bear it because another has it and you think or wish they shouldn’t. if you seek to rule the world or perhaps your ‘world’, you must first control your desires and emotions. Vain glories are not to be desired.

3. Anyone who has a stony mind towards change most certainly tends to envy. When you ignore the reality of change, and envy would be certain when you see others sailing safe on the tides with change while you are stuck on shore by an unwilling attitude towards it. Change could be risky. We take risk to achieve the best.

4. Envy could result from low self-esteem. People who think low of themselves often use others as a yardstick in the aspects of their lives.

5. Envy is not far from pride. Yes that’s true. Pride will envy in seeing another do with humility that which it can’t do out of pride. Out of the many definitions of pride, one is striking. Pride is failing to do what you should.

6. People who lack common sense of basic judgment tend to envy. Not distinguishing what is permitted from what is pertinent , they wonder in the valley of wrong choices or indecision. Sometimes common sense is not common at all. It takes common sense to know what is right for you (job 5:2).

It’s believed that there is a positive aspect of envy (benign envy) the one that motivates towards improvement. It’s ridiculous how some are driven by envy to do right, when the right is in sharp contrast to their will, values and tendency. They do this to either get even, prove a point or to even satisfy their envy. But at the end, if there be any such thing as good envy, a right minded person will be sure to use it wisely. I’m among the few who believe something good can come out Nazareth.
Show me what you lack and I will show you what you don’t value to work hard for. Envy could refer to being angry for not having a thing and wishing on the other hand that others shouldn’t have it too. If you consider these words, you will do well to get that sinful emotion out of your back. Hope to meet you tomorrow on this uplifting blog. Good luck.

Succeed in Service by Humility

Did you know that humility can work in you, through you and for you towards success? Humility is not a trait of weakness. Only the strong can be gentle, it takes a great deal of self worth, character and understanding to be humble.

The first action line of humility is personal, it concerns itself with improving ones mental frame, and it equips one with the understanding of who one is. We know what we are to ourselves, it’s not the same with what people see of us. It’s necessary we see ourselves also in the light of how people see us. Humility helps us in this aspect. It not only helps us appreciate or show concern, it makes us see value in people. When you don’t value people, it’s hard to see any good whatsoever in their opinion or contribution even if they have the perfect solution.

A master piece is not produced only by the skillfulness of the craftsman alone, flexibility is required on the path of object of work. As much as we want to be flexible to change, we equally desire to be agents of the change we desire. That’s what humility does, it reeds you of rigidity.

we are yet to realize and utilize the potential of possibilities we are capable of. Humility is a key virtue in making one a ready agent of impact, change and empowerment. These can only be achieved by service.

To be humble you must not only conquer pride but self. If you can conquer and control self, you can possibly conquer anything. You are humble not because you don’t realized who you are, but the correct idea about is; you know who you are so you must be humble.

The Prime Problem of Success

Beware of the common attitude that follows satisfaction, progress and abundance. These indeed do great deal of good to the human person and his self esteem but don’t be ignorant of their opposite effects. Satisfaction is a wonderful feeling considering that unsatisfaction can cause cancer. Satisfaction to an extent can lead to mediocrity, likewise comfort and abundance; as they both have their negative effects. Right now you might be thinking I’m trying to bring something under a bad light. No am not. I’m only trying to make plain the truth that too much of anything doesn’t help personal development.

But for progress…I’m yet to figure out the adverse effect of it. I know that success as it progresses encounters problems it must have to solve. Every progress shares one common challenge. At the feet of this challenge many success metamorphose into mediocrity.

That challenge is improvement and all it connotes. One common problem with man is that he does not come to realization of what he is capable of (so he settles for less). The little I know, I owe to my ignorance – Sacha Guitry.

It’s natural to revel and savor breakthroughs and achievements, it’s however more common to be carried away by it. The distance between consistent progress and mediocrity is the sense of improvement. There is always opportunity for improvement. One question I ask and recommend is “Is this the best that can be made out of me”? if you answer faithfully you will discover streams of ideas, passion, aspiration and motivation that will flow through.

A key to consistent progress is, knowing that there is always opportunity for improvement and that you can be/do better. Though time runs it leaves behind opportunity for improvement. And while we haste to keep pace with time we run over opportunity that could make appreciable impact. So appreciate the thought that time is not against you rather you are against time. He is not in haste that knows what he is doing. If you know what you are doing, you won’t envy. I think those who envy others success are those who fail to do what they should yet hope on luck to see them through.

The level of effort and thinking that results to a success is not the same level of effort and thinking that would propel or facilitate continuous growth of that success.

3 Factors That Would Most Definitely Guaranty Failure

Today’s topic on seeds of success brings on vital issues we encounter on a common basis. Fundamentally one might be tempted to believe that if one could avoid failure and all that it stands for then one would be reveling in the realm of success. Since success could be viewed as the opposite of failure it might not be wrong to think in that direction. However, success is not necessarily the absence of failure; as not being a failure does not ultimately declare one a success. You can decide not to be a failure and yet not be a success (strong words huh?). It’s a two way decision process. When the decision not to be a failure is not followed or by the decision to , mediocrity automatically fills the void (nature does not permit vacuum). Things don’t just happen. There is a safe haven between success and failure for anyone who thinks he has arrived. Yes you guessed right – average. Average is the diplomatic way of saying mediocrity. Decision not to be a failure helps you to where you are not a failure but yet not a success. On this ground, many arrive and build mansions rather than tents. However, this is not a surprise. You will push to the goal despite the achievement on the road, if you know what you want. On the other hand, if you don’t expect a thing and eventually get it or something close, it’s only natural that you revere it or probably settle for it. Donald Trump puts it well, “think big… or in my words expect big. Out of the many that are called, few choose to push to the end. Three factors would almost certainly guaranty failure in any venture.

1.Starting with only the now in mind: the statement “now is the best time” is not a general rule. Start with the end in mind. Man is intelligent; he will avoid certain misdeeds If only he pauses to consider the eventual outcome be his act. Anyone would readily take an opportunity that has an appealing now. Latter is a procrastinating word. They usually meet disappointment, those who do things for the present rush alone. If you start small in doing the right thing, you will most certainly grow with persistence, applying the right principles. If you start big, despising the small but necessary things that form your basis for laying the right foundation, you will most definitely end small.


2.Starting with the wrong motivation: your motive determines failure or success, it works In line with nature. Though it’s hidden and might not be lived out, by nature you will attract what you ask or deserve. Good motives often attract the right opportunities, events, and people to achieve its goals. Bad motives no matter how secretive and painted would eventually attract as it deserves. Motive is primary, it forms the basis on which values are created and habits formed. These two are key pillars on which character is created. Your character is who you are. Progress no matter how progressive is only temporal when the motive is wrong.


3.Doubt: doubt is when you can and think you cannot. When you doubt you create a war-zone between two strongly opposing parties within you. When this happens you divide your strength, skill and mind to achieve. You also call two incompatible forces, that of fear and faith. This leaves you handicap in the game of decision choice and focus. Though there be skill and ability doubt kills the strength and will to perform. And most certainly failure would be inevitable when you so much look in the direction of fear than faith.

We Get What We Want

It’s said that we have the power to attract anything to ourselves. As a man thinketh in his hearth so is he. In order words, you are what you think. Or you become what you think of yourself. You are outwardly, what your internal members concur to. It’s interesting to know that we are of different parts; the outer person and the inner person. So you can’t easily change the outer person without influencing first the inner being, as everything we become outwardly is eventually what we have up inwardly. The inner person could be an entirely different character altogether or could be controlled in a different manner from the outer person.

You live out what is already inbuilt within you. You can’t act out what your internal members have not built up within you. It’s believed that everything, action, words and mood a person displays outwardly is only an outcome of what reclines within him. Out of the abundance of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Out of the scarcity in the heart the mouth keeps mute.

It takes wisdom and a wonderful personal character to reserve your comments when there is enough in your hearth to speak of. It only takes a little folly and lack of self control to always comment your reserve even when the reserve does not help the solution.

Can we actually attract that which we seek? Ask and it shall be given to you, Seek you shall find, Knock and the door shall be open to you. This is not a conditional statement. We usually get what we ask, whether by words of mouth or by our action. The action part is where people miss it. Whether you know it or not, every act you put has equal capacity to call things, as your words can. We usually attract what we think. However, there are things we deserve that we don’t get and there are things we ask we equally don’t always get. Why it happens that way I can’t tell.

When one is prepared with confidence in one’s ability he prays thus “oh God I have worked hard for this, give me what I deserve; victory is what I deserve”. The one who has prepared less and is unsure of winning then pray, “God gives me what I want, I want success”. While some people don’t deserve what they get, others simply get what they deserve.

Skill Without Strength Of Mind

You need skill to be competent and efficient; strength of mind is to anyone what a propeller is to a helicopter. Efficiency is key. Virtually everyone demands efficiency from everyone. As the world grows in population and innovation, the need for efficiency is emphasized in daily operation to solve the human problem.
There is opportunity in every day. There is opportunity where you are. You can create opportunity for achieving that which you desire. But it doesn’t end there. When the opportunity finally comes what do you do with it? What does it take to achieve what you want in the light of opportunity? Opportunity is not always a guaranty to achieve what you want.

One new skill might be the missing link between a person and his goal. Every personal virtue attracts opportunity for it to be demonstrated as every thought would attract the equivalent situation or opportunity for it to manifest whether they are good or bad. Skill is important but not all mighty. Skill can convince you to seize an opportunity, but it may not give you the stuff to go all the way. But by the way, why do people take the initiative to do what they do?

1. Because opportunity is available. Do you do what you do just because you have the chance to do it? Yes a lot of people do; without counting the cost and considering the process, they take opportunity head on without proper thought. And in the middle of the whole thing when the outcome is view or when they meet with any slight opposition it suddenly dawns on them. Learn to take opportunity not because they exist for the taking.

2. Because others are doing it. There should be a better reason for doing what you do. People who do this don’t do it because they don’t have idea of the goal they want to achieve, but because they lack the right plan to achieving what they want. It’s like knowing your destination without the slightest idea of how to get there. Usually the result is that you get to end up in the wrong bus, with the wrong people and at the wrong place. Talk about being moved by what you see than what you are sure of.

3. Because they cant see the end from where they are. A good way to avoid an embarrassing or calamitous outcome is by starting with the end in mind. It’s an issue of concern how people often take opportunity just for the motivations without considering the beneficial good it could bring. Motivation can get you started but doesn’t always keep you moving. It can inspire the will in you but doesn’t always give you the strength to walk the way. A common but powerful motivation here is money. There is a tendency to readily take opportunity to do anything once money meets the willingness at the other end.

4. Because they have not matured enough. Maturity is not growing old. Here maturity can refer to developing character enough in turning down a lot of good opportunities but never missing the best one. The more mature and successful one becomes the more he narrows his engagements and opportunity he chooses to accept though his options of choice be numerous. He no more takes opportunity only for the sake of meeting an end. On the other hand when one is yet maturing one is apt to virtually take every opportunity that comes one’s way.

The ability to perform a task creditably to a prescribed standard require skill. In the face of opposition and challenges where persistence becomes vital, one must have strength of mind to push against the odds of opposition.

Success Must Bestow Humility

Success is a desired achievement. Humility is a great virtue, contrary to what people think of it. But are these two compatible? There is always that temptation to be proud when one finally attains that enviable height of preferment. Even one from humble beginnings could be tempted to forget their roots, cast out every element of humility and become otherwise (humility is not necessarily associated with humble beginnings though). This phenomenon does not take away the truth that true success cannot expunge humility from its prided virtues. Humility is a character issue. Both success and humility share quite similar but different path to attain.

Humility is the ability to recognize that you are human. It’s the ability to be humble when you have opportunity and right to be proud. It is common place that pride is mostly associated with wealth, outstanding talents and the likes. If you noticed, I didn’t use the term success when referring to pride. Why? You may ask. It brings us back to the “all important topic”; WHAT IS SUCCESS? I wrote exclusively about success, if you read it, it will help clear out the misconception between success and riches. Success is definitely not riches however, it‘s an aspect of it that cannot be ignored. Happiness is an important part of success as success means different things to different people at different points in their life.

Humility comes from a great deal of self understanding and self worth. Humility is a wonderful personal virtue that many relegate to the background. These days I seem to talk a lot about the easy things, pride is one of them. It’s a no brainier to be proud once you attain a level of preferment. The easy stuff doesn’t usually stand you out. Beware of effortless attainments, for as much as I know, all worthy accomplishment are not without there fair share of difficulty and uneasiness at their initial stages. If your journey is without effort or opposition, it could be you are going down the hill. Here is something to consider about humility.

1. Humility brings you to terms with who you truly are. Pride on the other hand does the very opposite, it masks you from your true self and sets you aside not just from others but from yourself and you true values; it makes you build confidence around fetish hopes rather than gain it from internalized values. Every need has an ego to feed – Bob Marley. But I say, “Every cruelty or unpleasant character has a weakness it shields”.

2. Humility opens you up to opportunities around you. This is a neglected aspect; I believe that there is opportunity where you are. Pride lifts the head so high that it doesn’t allow one to see the possibilities and danger below.

3. It is easier to gain trust and association, with humility. A proud man is so concerned about only himself; he appreciates his qualities so much he barely has time for the greater good he can do to humanity.
One guaranty about pride is that it will surely lift you up. Who doesn’t want to be lifted up? Everyone wants to, but before you take the lift pride offers consider clause. The only reason why pride lifts you up is to let you down. “A man’s pride shall bring him low….”Prv 29:23

Every success has a level of pride attached to it. But any person of character learns to be humble and human irrespective of achievement. One pivotal key to overcoming pride is service. Service is a key calling in nature. Inasmuch we are born to win we are called to serve. Unfortunately pride can’t serve, should I say it can’t serve effectively. The moment you stop serving, you start losing relevance. The saddest thing that can happen to anyone is to know how irrelevant one has become to loved ones, the society and humanity. Humility creates opportunity for service. Conquer pride with service. The richest companies and people in the world are the ones that provide you service on a regular, consistent and satisfactory basis. There is no reason to be proud when you know you are at service.

Change Is Only Natural

It started with change right from the very beginning; man and his environment are governed by one indisputable factor – change. Everyday we see change, it’s very obvious and yet some can’t find out and understand that they are indebted to change.
Nothing is as constant as change. At the long run anybody would realize that at one point in life they must either change or be changed. There is a feeling people show towards change. You know the feeling that usually meets a major reshuffle in the office or the emergence of new competition. The common unpleasant emotion that comes with change is insecurity and uncertainty though they are natural to an extent. The unstable balance is always troubled by change at any attempt on our fundamental needs. Every person has the fundamental need for love, security, recognition, creativity, expression etc. Anything that attempts to alter the status quo is often met with unpleasant emotions.

Can you avoid change? Can you work to a level of utmost security and satisfaction that would guarantee anti-change effects? Of course yes? But only fools imagine thus? Change has a double edge effect. To the one who detest and tries to avoid it, it often spares disaster and unpleasant emotions. To the other who sees it as only a natural phenomenon, and does what he should to flow with it, he will sail safe on the tides of constant change.

Satisfaction and contentment are two feeling everybody wants to experience in their daily life. But these same feelings can be enemy to the positive effects that change brings. No one would seek to improve what he is totally content with. And I think there is that tendency in everyone to want more. If satisfaction where a commodity, it would be very scarce. Contentment is a virtue, a desirable one at that. But if everyone where content with what they are, how they feel, and what they have then there would be a killing air of mediocrity, ineptitude and definitely no need for improvement. I also think there is that tendency in man not to be content. That’s why every forward thinking person always wants more, that extra touch that makes it look better; they want to take it a little bit higher, to step up the status quo.
And for boredom? There is always a positive approach to every thing even this. Give a toddler a toy, soon he gets he gets bored with it; he wants more he wants something better, a little bit exciting and satisfying. And that’s the basics of improvement. Where there is a tendency for more or improvement there would always be progress and development. Where there is utter contentment there is little development. Mans need is insatiable.

Is there any wisdom in avoiding change? No. is there any reason in having unpleasant emotions about change? Yes. So what’s the deal?

1. Change is only natural. It’s as natural as reaching for water when thirsty. It’s as natural as the seasons in a year.

2. You can work it. You can prepare for it and use it beneficially. Your attitude and character matters here. Build up a character that is not afraid of change effect by being proactive, because you are prepared and positioned for the next; because you are informed and constantly learning (growing).

And for improvement? You can only reach for better when you have known the good; you have an idea of the best and want to get there. We aim above the mark to hit the mark – Ralph Waldo Emerson. The antidote for change and the unpleasant feelings about its effects is consistent discreet improvement. Like I would always say there is always enough room for improvement and everyday brings that that opportunity to achieve that.

Is It Worth The Risk?

They say anything worth doing is worth doing well. But I will not be wrong to add that anything worth doing is worth the risk. It’s commonplace to think of risk as something that must be avoided, but it’s more ridiculous to consider people who do as inept, uncoordinated heads, people who speculate rather than strategize. Well if you think that way, I think you need a second thought; life in itself is a risk. Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. T.S. Eliot.

Some say they don’t take risk but even if they have to, it has to a calculated one. Whether risk is calculated or impulsive will only change its flavor of conception but not the color of its nature. Because man is not God he will now and then need to venture into uncertainties; though man is so gifted and intelligent that he can predict the future to a certain degree of accuracy; he has the ability to contrive what is and decipher the outcome of what I will call the cause consequence effect.

Everyone has that instinct of creativity even though not everyone digs into it it; and anyone who would exploit it would perhaps encounter some sort of uncertainties in his quest to create. The biggest risk is to run from a risk that you must have to face in order to achieve the best. And that’s the why I see risk as necessary. The men who have done big things are those who were not afraid to attempt big things who were not afraid to risk failure in order to gain success – B.C. Forbes. Good is good but better is better. One who has the habit of avoiding risk irrespective of the beneficial good it could have on humanity stands little chance to add any meaningful value to life. `Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness;' Judges 14:14. Some things just wait for the taking.

Why do you beat sleep and wake up each morning, brush up yourself and do what you do? For all obtainable reasons, I would put it in one statement; you want to satisfy your basic human need. The need of love, satisfaction expression, recognition, responsibility, security etc. one would usually take any risk be it calculated or otherwise in order to hold one’s own. Nobody would want to take any extra risk when these needs are conveniently met

Most people tend to exploit their potential the most in an air of freedom and security. In life, risk is always a commonality and a factor, whether you get hard at work in order to avoid them or you face them fare and square to meet the needs or achieve the best.

3 Keys To Keep Up With A Goal

Everyday day is a seed, it comes with opportunity enough to solve problems, meet needs and improve self. A society is only as improved and developed as its inhabitants are informed and developed. It is like a system, where one person's improvement can influence that of the whole. In the strive to meet daily challenges, amidst much commitments, commitments are miss committed. Like in a football game, the objective of each team is to hit the goal as many times as possible to win (as long as they do this more than their opponent). But some games sadly end barren. And one would wonder a full match could not produce a goal. Your ability to see patterns and understand them determines passage, in the maze of affairs. Like in a football game, each team is strategically structured to stop the other from scoring while they themselves work to score. A team will definitely score when they see the pattern through the other team's opposition. Everything in life has a pattern. That's why success is not always of strength or skill, but working according to the natural laws about anything. There are three simple yet important keys that will help one keep track of one's goal, unfavorable situations not withstanding

1. Focus: when you find purpose, focus on it. This is according to the law of sequence. First things first, you can't focus on what you don't see; you can't take what you have not discovered. It's one thing to have a goal; it's another to have another goal. There will always be goals to achieve. As long as there is progress in any venture there would be new problems and innovative demands. For these to be met, goals sometimes need to be set amidst existing ones thereby increasing commitment and possibility of losing sight on the most important things. When it gets tough in football match, a team might lose focus on goals while trying to handle the surging offense of the other team. The sun will burn out flesh with the help of a convex lens, ordinarily it can't. You must not necessarily abandon every other commitment just to achieve one goal, that's not wise, is it? Focus in concise definition is giving each goal or commitment the justified required attention in its given time.

2. Consistency: with consistent heat, a stone will dissolve in boiling water. There is no progress in inconsistency. You will be a pioneer in what you initiated, but if you start a thing and show consistent improvement over time you will perfect in it. Consistency is not mediocrity. Mediocrity is maintaining the status quo (even when the status quo is below standard). Consistence is continual progress no matter how slow or gradual.

3. Persistence: consistency is not always possible without persistence. Consistent progress is not without obstacles and failures but it's in the ability to rise and still improve. With persistence, consistent heat will dissolve a stone in boiling water; that's a proverb anyway. One cardinal virtue and common factor in every worthy achievement is you guessed right, determination. As much as I know it is not always an inborn virtue, it's developed like many other virtues. The world will wait for a determined man.

He is not in haste

Time is not always against him
Usually he is against time
With consistent determination he focus on the goal
To achieve it
The world will wait for him
Because he rides on the back of three
Three cardinal virtues that nature respects.

How Your Emotions Can Affect Your Health

Have you ever heard the term emotionally induced illnesses (E.I.I)? If you have what do you think of it? if you haven’t heard about it, well you know about emotions because we all tend to have a good doss of them each day. It will interest you to know that your emotions mean more than mere feelings. A colleague of mine automatically fell ill, few hours after he bought a pair of shoes. The price he paid for the shoe was grossly disproportionate to its quality. Emotion is a state of mind that manifests itself by sensible changes in the body – William James. It all boils down to the mind again, everything begins from within. It would never be easy to maintain pleasant emotions always especially in times like these, with disasters, economic crisis and personal hurricanes. We are apt to react with an emotion at certain circumstance and every emotion has an equivalent effect, whether positively or negatively. Over 50 percent of those seeking medical aid today have E.I.I. Emotions like fear, anger, happiness, unsatisfactory attitude or emotion, sadness, disgust etc we call common are by no measure common in their effects. It is not criminal to respond with bad emotions at unpleasant situations but on the other hand it doesn’t help your health. This is what I mean.

1. Anger: when one shows the emotion of anger, the blood cells circulating in the blood increases by half a million per cubic millimeter, the outlet of the stomach muscles tightens, blood pressure rises by over 75% etc
2. Fear: here there is a squeezing down of blood vessels supplying the brain.
3. Dissatisfaction: anyone who is aggressively dissatisfied is a candidate of ulcer.

Now here are some recommendations for keeping pleasant emotions.

a. Learn to laugh: there is no better medicine than a good laugh. Some people are blessed with such cheerful temperament that they seem not to get upset by anything. But not to worry if you are not such. Learn not to always backlash yourself at every mistake. There are some things so serious you have to laugh at them.- Niels Bohr. it actually takes less effort and muscles to laugh than keep a sad emotion. A smile does more good to your soul. To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.
- William Arthur Ward
b. Treat every blunder at the point: this will reduce regrets later on as well as self backlash. A manager I know does not waste any time to reprove his workers at any misdid, in doing this he is usually get unpleasantly emotional but the next moment after that scene, he becomes jovial again. That way he makes his point without making enemies as well as ensure his healthy emotion.
c. Respond with pleasant emotions at unpleasant actions. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be realistic with your emotions, doing this at times might also look really ridiculous but you still have to consider the benefits.

Negative action + negative emotion = increase the chances of E.I .I
Negative action + pleasant emotion = cancels and reduces the chance of E.I.I
Good emotions are your best medicine. Can you control your emotions? If you can you, you have a hold on your health.

Cause And Consequences; How to Achieve Optimal Results

When it happens like bang, what quickly become obvious are the consequences, and rarely the cause. And when the cause eventually comes to mind, we tend to excuse it with the urgent demands of the obvious (consequence). Common sense tells us that the best way to solve a problem is to treat its cause and its consequence. But do we always look in the direction of the cause when the consequence is quite obvious and calling? Reminds me of Derek Prince during World War II while he was serving as a medical orderly with the British forces in North Africa, and I quote,

A British soldier had come into our reception station with a shrapnel wound caused by a bomb exploding near him. He took off his shirt exposing a small puncture wound in his shoulder. The edge of the wound was slightly black. Thinking of the ready to use sterile dressing that was part of our medical equipment, I said to the medical officer, “shall I get a first field dressing, sir?”
“No, that’s not what’s needed,” the doctor replied. “Bring me a probe.” The doctor had the man sit on a chair. Then he struck the little silver stick into the man’s wound and wiggled it around gingerly for a few moments. Suddenly the man let out a yelp and goes up in the air. “Now fetch me the forceps,” the doctor said. I gave him the forceps which he inserted into the wound in the area where the probe had located a foreign body. Cautiously he extracted a little piece of black metal. After cleaning the wound, he finally said to me, “Now you can bring the dressing.”
Afterward he explained, “You see, the piece of shrapnel that caused the puncture was still there. If you just cover that shrapnel up with a dressing without removing it, it will be a continuous source of infection and will cause further complications.”

Now on the other aspect of cause and consequences, is the Pareto principle or the 80-20 rule. Vilfredo Pareto, a 19th century economist postulated that a large share of wealth is owned by a small percentage of the population. Put more simply, 80 percent of consequences are as a result of 20 percent of causes. Now, how can this apply to goals and personal achievement?

I often tend to push myself to an extent on the cause effect issues; though it’s a sort of character test. I strive to achieve 80 percent of results with 20 percent of required time. Very demanding, you would say; but very helpful as well, especially in restoring focus, concentration and determination in producing results for a given task.
If principles are said to be natural laws, then the Pareto principle will be an effective tool that could transform ones effectiveness and consequently ones life. Knowing that we need 20 percent of our engagements to yield 80 percent of the results needed, the question is, “out of the many things we do or can do, what is that 20 percent that will produce the 80 percent result that we need? In other words, what are the most important things in your life that would create the defining results? Can you draw a line between the 80 percent less effective things and the 20 percent effective ones?

You can separate the few major problems from the many possible problems so you can focus your improvement efforts, arrange them according to priority or importance, and determine which problems are most important using data, not perception.

Avoid That Hurricane The Funny way

As environmental hurricane rage, it sweeps things off its path. We also encounter some other kinds of hurricanes that pose identical threats in our personal lives. But what prompts these hurricanes? And how can they be avoided? The good news is that hurricanes don’t just happen. They give signals which eventually help in detecting them. From the ocean where they evolve, hurricanes foment with a warm source. If you notice the stages of a hurricane development, they begin with heating up of ocean temperature, then a bad weather, then the storm, and the hurricane. Quite synonymous with how trouble evolve. It begins with a little disagreement, a grudge, some other in betweens, tempers flaring and then the bang (whatever that means). It takes two to tangle, so watch it when it begins to get warm. But that’s the bad side of “hot” though; we want the good side – “to be hot, – like blazing”.

For the purpose of this post, there are two kinds of hurricanes. The one that just happened in the U.S. called Irene (environmental hurricanes) and the one that is currently happening in every other part of the world (personal hurricanes). The former destroy structure while the latter, persons. Both are however identical in the effects they leave behind – a devastating effect. It is fascinating seeing these environmental hurricanes shatter houses and toss cars like cartons, their effects are obviously conspicuous. The personal hurricanes don’t demonstrate their wreckage like the former. They occur on a more regular basis so people think of them as natural.
We are stunned by circumstances at a point in life. Sometimes these personal hurricanes get so tense we think we won’t see the next. Personal hurricanes don’t form from sea beds; sometimes we initiate them by our actions and inaction. Whether these hurricanes come to test us or make us fail, I do not know. But one thing I know, good things fall into place for us when we do well. Disaster happens when we do the opposite. Personal hurricanes require wisdom to handle, or better still avoid.

Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them – Albert Einstein.

Here are some tips you might consider in handling the hurricanes
1. Don’t panic but keep a cool head and be coordinated.
2. Work your senses, get information, and observe your environment.
3. Turn off the warmers and turn on the coolers.
4. Get your speed on. There might be need for take off any moment.

This post was prompted by my observation and comparison of hurricanes with life issues that seem to trouble us. When hit with such personal hurricanes, we should begin with being as calm and coordinated as possible. One sure way to kill a hurricane: Take away its warm source which is what happens when a storm moves over land.

Getting Off The Launch Pad

It’s take off time, are you ready? I have seen good ideas with fine plans and the right resources to implement them but they never get of the launch pad. It’s really unfortunate to see very good ideas linger for years on the launch pad when it should actually be sky bound. But come to think of it, why do people stay long on the launch pad beyond the required time estimate even when they are good to go, sometimes they have all it takes to be sky bound but they still cant it take off.

It’s not that they want to remain on the launch pad, nor do they lack the intention and desire to be sky bound, to take off that project or dream or to implement that idea; it’s not also a question of not knowing how to take off, but often of ability. It’s that little something, that initiator to spark up the desire and verve in them. This tendency is also in agreement with Newton’s first law of motion which states that a body will remain in its state of rest or uniform velocity unless acted upon to change by an external force. I will share with you some helpful tips to get yourself off the launch pad into the heights.

1. Begin with a plan: when you have dream or an idea the next thing you should go for is a plan. It’s very important. With a plan, you know what to expect, it will help you chart out all possible solution to the challenges you might encounter. The process is as good as the plan.

2. Act upon the plan: a good plan does not get job done no matter how great and strategic it may seem. A plan can only prove effective when acted upon. To act upon a plan, accept your plan as a blueprint that can help you achieve your objective. Commit to your plan. Your level of commitment to the plan depends on how much you believe in the plan. So try as much as possible to create a good and workable plan. Comply with the plan. Take significant disciplined steps toward implementing it, get the right counsel. Without counsel plans/purposes are disappointed, but in a multitude of counsel they are established. Build a good team around you.

3. Don’t fall in love with the launch pad: a lot of things can be happening in the launchpad; there the rocket doesn’t do much but wait as it is prepared for takeoff. Launch vehicles could stay on the launch pad long enough until it’s ready for take. Some people so much enjoy the preparation period that they are carried away by the simplicity and fun of this stage (compared to flight phase), thereby extending and delaying the take off of their dreams or projects or ideas. Sometimes it could be due to laziness or fear of the task which lies ahead. Don’t make your umbilical attachment to the plan of iron such that you can hardly detach from it. I wrote a comprehensive post on this.

4. Go in packets: one step after the other, some people take a mega project the first time all at once and they are weighed down by it. They strive for perfection in getting the bits and pieces together to get a perfect picture; this keeps them longer on the launch pad. Big vehicles don’t make sudden turns. When you remember how enormous the project is and the effort it takes to put all the things together you loose the inertia/ motivation to spark the take off. Start with pin point smaller projects and execute them. Then you will gain satisfaction of accomplishing a task well and the necessary momentum to take on larger ones, than taking up large projects that might ground you and at the end you make a mess of it.

I believe that small is better, big is beautiful. Start small and then move to the big. But in whatever you do, just don’t let it end on the launch pad. Don’t remain on the launch pad of planning, planning, planning, waiting and never achieving anything. Start with the small, get sky bound and you will gain the motivation and momentum to take on the big.