Your Best
I just watched a video of a young and extremely talented doctor/singer who passed away after an accident.
I’m thinking – he was all that yet his life came to an end after it took a turn for even greater heights.
What happens to dreams, desires, and ambitions when a life comes to an end? Death often means the end – case closed, nothing more to be done; but in some cases dreams outlive the dreamers in diverse ways such that their lives keep speaking and having an impact even when they are no more – people’s memories of the person, people buying into their vision and running with it, the lives they touched, books they wrote, and so on.
While there is life, there is hope. While I’m here, I’ll give each day my best and be sure to leave a legacy. ‘There goes another dream’, you may say; but we must not stop dreaming, thinking and imagining. Albert Einstein said ‘Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions’. So I’ll keep dreaming.
How about you? How are you living today? Are you truly living or just wasting time? Are you making a difference in anybody’s life? Are you making each day count?
Here’s a toast to your success and to fulfillment in life. May all your good dreams come true, and if you feel overwhelmed already, there’s help. Call on God. Access Code: JESUS. He asked us to cast our cares on Him because He cares for us. If you haven’t done so already, this is a good time. And if you’ve pursued and accomplished so many things and yet you find yourself searching for meaning, it’s a good time to call. Make that call.
Success Strategies 2 – Negotiate
My little one is a professional at saying exactly what he wants and he often insists on getting it. He’ll specify the cup you should use and how full it should be when you prepare him a chocolate drink. He’ll say the outfit he wants to put on for his birthday and will even negotiate his schedule – Mummy, please can I play one game first, then write one to fifty, then go outside and ride my bicycle before I come back and finish my homework?
I grant his requests as often as they are reasonable and have no negative consequence. Right now as I write, he’s asking to keep playing with his bubbles and it’s past his bedtime. He says he won’t cry when we wake him in the morning to get ready for school. This is one of the times when I say NO! There is no end to negotiating with him.
He reminds me of the fact that although so many things are ours for the asking, we may never get them if we never ask. If the terms aren’t favorable for you, you can negotiate for better terms rather than just settle. If the response you get is a NO, you’re no worse off but if you get a YES, that’ll leave you with more satisfaction, more joy and an overall sense of accomplishment. I see that in the big smile that splits his face when he gets the better deal he asked for. That YES can move you many miles ahead on your journey to where you want to be.
Now being only four years old, Micah thinks mostly about himself and what he stands to gain at the time of his request but we have the ability to consider others and to go for a win-win outcome which will make the other parties more open to our proposal.
There really is something here. Know what you want. Be bold enough to ask for it. Think win-win and you will be pleased with the result.
To your success.
Success Strategies
I watched a leader give an account of his organization’s achievements over the past year. He said everything without referring to a document. He had the figures for the key performance indicators logged in his memory and I thought that was impressive.
He went further to explain the origin of the ideas that became the vision and goals his entire team ran with until every single one was accomplished and at the end of the event, he happened to share with a small group I was part of a new vision which should be realized sometime next year. Amazing!
So I deciphered the pattern – this leader spends time in prayer/meditation, receives divine direction/instruction/ideas, translates them into goals/action items, and shares them with his team. I am yet to discover if he assigns leads for the execution of each item while he maintains oversight or he gets involved in the nitty gritties, but from what I see so far, his strategy is yielding good results.
I am continually amazed at how great things are achieved and the strategies employed to do so. One thing is clear – great accomplishments do not just happen. There’s always a starting point – an idea – and then the strategies for achievement.
I look forward to a new year packed with great accomplishments so like this great leader, I will plan ahead and then work it. I wish you good success too.
Habits 2
My kids love to go swimming. It took a while but we eventually worked this activity into our weekly family routine and now the process is seamless. It’s been said that the average time required to change a habit is about twenty one days.
It’s interesting to see how easy it is to determine the positive habits you need to develop. The hard part usually is finding out what your negative habits are and this is because we are often in denial or we just don’t realize that something we do so easily and frequently is breaking us instead of making us. So it’s necessary to ask your friends, colleagues, bosses, mentors, and other role models who know you well enough for feedback on the habits you need to change.
To complete your list, look out for the trending habits in the feedback you receive. Once your list is ready, all you have to do to determine the successful habits you need to develop is flip it. So if the negative habit is lack of exercise with the consequence of associated health challenges now or in the future, the positive habit would be regular exercise with the benefits and reward of preventing those health challenges, looking better and feeling better.
But the most important thing here is ACTION! No action, no change… No change, no gain. Decide on three actions that will support each positive habit and get to work right away. Strike the days off on your calendar as you progress or find some other positive way to keep yourself motivated. It’s also important to pace yourself. Develop a new successful habit a month or a quarter… settle into it, appreciate the benefits and then take on the next one.
And if you decide to work on reading more, as a new positive habit, consider making The Power of Focus by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt the first book you read.
Smoking HOT
Smoking! Somebody… stop me.
Do you remember this statement from the movie, the Mask? Of all that was said, that’s the one line I can’t forget. Though an old movie, you can still draw a lot of meaning from that one statement.
At the peak of his masked capacity, Stanley Ipkiss made this remark. This was him telling everybody he was all that and more – A confident statement of self assurance, an acknowledgement of his enhanced capacity and his absolute enjoyment of all the benefits that came with this magic mask he found.
Yes! It’s absolutely okay to be your own cheer leader. Oh yes! You can pat yourself on the back, give yourself a high five or a thumbs up and affirm yourself. In fact, in this day and age when negativity seems to be more noised abroad than things that are good, encouraging, refreshing, and motivating, it is needful to do this.
So when you look in the mirror and are pleased with what you see, affirm yourself. Let statements like I’m unstoppable, I can do all things, It’s my time, I’m a champion, I always win, my future’s so bright I need sunglasses to view it… be part of your every day. Think it, say it, shout it. Go ahead and add a melody to it and dance. If ever you were to speak positively, the time is NOW.
Use your words to motivate yourself and create an enabling environment for success to happen in your life, and soon it will be evident indeed that you’re smoking hot.
Dream Bigger
While organizing the files on my system, I happened upon a document I called ‘Dreams – What I’m believing for’. I opened it to see what I had written. The column headings were:
- What – the item/my desire
- The Promise – scriptures to encourage me on the subject
- Description/details – the finer details of what I wanted
- Potential Challenges – what I thought could be show stoppers / obstacles
- Strategy for achievement – including the suggestions for how to address the potential challenges
- Target date
- Date accomplished
I totally forgot I had prepared this document though I had the key points outlined in my journal so I could pay attention to them. I read through and realized that from the time I created this document in 2014 till now, eight of the ten items have been completed – some before the target date, some shortly after; but they’re done. 80% success rate. Great!
Of course you know what I considered next – why don’t I make a fresh list and dare to dream bigger than I did the last time?
Well, that’s exactly what I’m doing and I invite you to join me in making your own document.
A toast to your success and mine.
Who I am and Why I’m here
Who am I? I’m a singer, songwriter, chemical & environmental engineer, wife to one husband, and mother to three wonderful children whom I learn from day after day.
As I go through life, I try to learn from my experiences and those of others. I believe we can create a better tomorrow by applying these lessons so I share them on my blog so others can benefit. You can call this my little contribution to make the world a better place, one lesson at a time.
A dose of motivation is needful every now and then. Sometimes the pressures of life hit hard and bring us down to the point where we even begin to consider giving up. When I feel the need, I do not hesitate to push out some positivity pills to boost the morale of a weary man on a good mission and get him back on his feet. So, yes. You’ll find some motivational pieces here.
Goal setting, planning, work-life balance, family life, purpose, destiny, and success are some of the things that interest me. I love to work hard towards set goals and to celebrate when the job is done. Achievements keep me motivated.
If blogging can serve as a platform for networking, I hope it brings me in contact with people of integrity who believe that they have all it takes and then take deliberate steps everyday to be all and to accomplish all they were created to.
If you’re thinking of the sky as your starting point, rather than your limit – you’re my kind of person. Let’s make a mark; let’s make our world a better place; let’s leave a legacy.
Who I am and Why I'm here
Who am I? I’m a singer, songwriter, chemical & environmental engineer, wife to one husband, and mother to three wonderful children whom I learn from day after day.
As I go through life, I try to learn from my experiences and those of others. I believe we can create a better tomorrow by applying these lessons so I share them on my blog so others can benefit. You can call this my little contribution to make the world a better place, one lesson at a time.
A dose of motivation is needful every now and then. Sometimes the pressures of life hit hard and bring us down to the point where we even begin to consider giving up. When I feel the need, I do not hesitate to push out some positivity pills to boost the morale of a weary man on a good mission and get him back on his feet. So, yes. You’ll find some motivational pieces here.
Goal setting, planning, work-life balance, family life, purpose, destiny, and success are some of the things that interest me. I love to work hard towards set goals and to celebrate when the job is done. Achievements keep me motivated.
If blogging can serve as a platform for networking, I hope it brings me in contact with people of integrity who believe that they have all it takes and then take deliberate steps everyday to be all and to accomplish all they were created to.
If you’re thinking of the sky as your starting point, rather than your limit – you’re my kind of person. Let’s make a mark; let’s make our world a better place; let’s leave a legacy.