reflections

“When the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear” -Plato
As i journey through this year, one attitude I have held so dearly is a teachable spirit. John Maxwell once said each person we meet has the potential to teach us something, I agree with this view and I wish to add that even from a fool one can also learn how not to do things. Hence, I have learnt to listen more than I speak, to value the differences in people, cultures, views and opinions…..Hmmmnnn I have really learnt timeless lessons from unlikely people and unlikely places.
Life like it is said is a teacher, overtime we learn, unlearn and re-learn lessons with the ultimate of growing to become better persons

I have learnt:
• That life is basically about relationships (horizontal and vertical) and also to make conscious effort to build, maintain and maximize strategic relationships).
• To value people irrespective of whatever phase of life they may be right now…no condition is permanent you know.
• Practice the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
• To count my blessings and be thankful for life and the people in my life.
• Accept others just the way they are, without trying to change them in anyway.
• Cherish the moment and create positive memories.
• Hang out with people who sharpen my cutting edge
• Risk to love and trust even when it might hurt
• Make mistakes, learn and grow.
• Look past the thorns in people and find the roses in them….because everyone’s special.

The list goes on and on……above all I have learnt to make learning from others a passion. How about you?

tick, tick says the clock

“There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always time to do the most important thing”
-Brian Tracy
For those of us living in the city that never sleeps like “LAGOZ” you would agree with me that one of the most difficult resource to manage on a daily basis is your time. Personally it often seems to get out my control considering some factors such as the daily traffics on your way to and from work, however overtime I’ve been able to come up with coping strategies to help manage the day to day demands of work, personal live and other commitments.
It is important however to note that your PRIORITY (what is most important to you in life) will actually determine how you allocate and manage time as a resource,. For some it is their work that takes first position on their priority list, for others it is their family, personal development, having fun and the list goes on. Little wonder someone would rather spend three hours or more watching a movie series and another person would rather invest that time preparing for a professional examination. I guess it’s all about priority! However here are few tips you can adapt to your individual life/lifestyle to help you achieve more within the limit of 24hours allocated to us all by God.
• Get your life, home, work space organized: A whole lot of time we waste unredeemable time looking for items and documents which could easily be located if we have designated place for keeping such which makes it easy to locate when needed.
• Work with a “To Do List”: A “to do list” is an outline of activities you would like to achieve within a specific time; this could be daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. This list helps you to keep focused on your priority and it’s important to tick off accomplished activities and carry over unaccomplished one’s to the next day.
• Learn to say no: We live in a part of the world where people and activities are constantly making demand of a share of your time (this usually range from the important to the unimportant ones….the urgent to the not urgent). It is important when committing your time to critically weigh it on the above scale. This on the other hand will lead you to say NO to those unimportant and not urgent activities. This could be very difficult especially for an African who is obligated to attend almost all family functions ranging from wedding, burial, birthday, and housewarming ceremonies.
• Delegate when possible: This strategy is applicable in business and at the home-front especially if you are fortunate to have a nanny or capable hands to support you. This enables you to turn over tasks to them hence freeing yourself of time to do more important things.
• Relax and celebrate yourself: life is not all about work and achieving goals, so learn to create time for relaxation either watching a movie, playing with your children, going out to a nice restaurant, having a warm bath……you can get creative with this in your own way. Just make sure you enjoy and get rejuvenated.

Have a lovely weekend!!!

Building a high performance team

It is amazing how much organization can achieve when leaders and managers learn to adopt simple strategies such as employee participation in decision making which not only help build a motivated workforce, a positive workplace culture and ultimately a high performance organization. I understand that sometimes involving employees in the decision making process can be a bit time consuming and strenuous but I also believe that on the short and long term the result is enormous.
To make the most of this strategy, it is important for managers to create an atmosphere of “openness and honesty” in the workplace and this can be encouraged through
ü Getting to know employees and listening for their problems, ideas and aspirations,
ü Regular meetings where everyone is free to express their opinions on work related issues.
ü Discussions between individuals and groups directly with their managers.
ü Third party channels such as suggestion box, union representatives.
ü Regular communications such as newsletters, website, intra-net
ü Work teams/ joint consultative committees to address specific organizational challenges.

Feedback
It is important to note that all ideas raised by your teams and individuals within the organization cannot be implemented, hence recognize and appreciate their ideas and possibly explain why you may not be able to implement such ideas in specific situations.
Responsive action and feedback on outcomes of ideas should be given from time to time because this would encourage employees to put forward ideas and suggestions in the future and also create a sense of ownership within the organization.

Delegate
Delegation is one way secure leaders encourage employee participation in decision making, this has to do with encouraging your people to take responsibility for doing their jobs without much interference from the manager. The implication of this is that employees gain new skills, experiences and also develop their leadership potentials.
Although all organizations differ in size and vision but on underlying factor still remains that leaders and managers should value their people’s views and opinions and learn to engage the principle of employee participation to improve organization’s performance.

love unlimited

It’s a beautiful morning and it has been a great week indeed. What more can I say…… it’s the month of February. What is it that makes FERUAURY special out of all the twelve months in a year? I guess it’s something about LOVE and VALENTINE. This brings to mind the events in my secondary school days, the clamor for teddy bears, cakes, cards, chocolates, roses and all ……..February was a month to look forward to in those days and am wondering is it still the same today?
Yes I hear it’s a month dedicated for lovers to show LOVE to their partners by going out on special treat, exchanging gifts, cards and more. This for me is very nice and acceptable, but my question however is do we really have a good knowledge of what love is all about. Is it all about the feelings you have for someone, is it about the decision to stand by your partner through thick and thin? What exactly is this celebration of LOVE about? Love is one force in the course of human existence that never fails…. and am talking about no other but the God kind of Love. 1 Corinthians 13: 3 -8 gives us an insight into what love is

“What if I gave away all that I owned and let myself be burned alive? I would gain nothing, unless I loved others.
Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude.
Love isn't selfish or quick tempered.
It doesn't keep a record of wrongs that others do.
Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil.
Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting.
Love never fails!”

In a world where self-centeredness seems to be the order of the day, wouldn’t it be nice for you to subscribe to the God- kind of Love and help make the world a better place.

lessons of life

In the course of our journey in life we go through various experiences, some of which are not palatable. Some folks are betrayed by their most trusted friends or acquaintances, for others it is rejection, loss of a job, financial loss, lack etc.. Whatever they are God has given us the power to choose our reactions to such experiences. Would you rather look back over them and pick up the lessons and move on to become a better person, or would you prefer to shift blames and be bitter about them?
The choice is yours. Srully Blotnick once said “what looks like a loss may be the very event which is subsequently responsible for helping to produce the major achievement of your life”.
Reading through Joseph’s experience of moving from prison to palace(Gen 39-45), there was no other person qualified to be bitter after all that he went through but interestingly the weight of the blessing that God brought into his life after all the trials outweighed the pains.
It is my prayer that as you journey through this year, the experiences that look like your stumbling block will be the very stepping stone to your victory and celebration in Jesus Name.
Like I usually say the trials come to make us strong and to make the story of our life sweeter. What would the story of our life be without those intrigues and suspense? ........indeed all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose in Christ Jesus.
Have a great week.

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DARE TO BELIEVE

I came across this story of two young brothers whose father was an alcoholic and drug addict. One of them ended up exactly like their dad while the other became a very successful man. I then began to wonder is it the environment and events of our lives that shape us or our beliefs about those events.
I came to a conclusion that it is actually how we interpret the events of our past that shapes us and who we’ll become tomorrow. Beliefs are so powerful that it distinguished Joshua and Caleb; they dared to believe God’s word in spite of majority opposition. Guess what? They were able to possess their promise land.

In life we usually find ourselves in different unprecedented situation and circumstances. Some we have control over and others we don’t. We may not have control over the family we were born into, our upbringing, nationality but we definitely have control over our beliefs, attitudes, decisions, choice of friends and other things that could influence our life for the better.

It is wisdom to focus our strength, effort and attention on the things we have control over to get the best out of life and ignore those we don’t have any control over such as our prevalent environment. However often times what we do is the reverse.
Life in itself was designed by God to be fulfilling, if only we are armed with the right information that develops the right attitude to life and eventually leads us to the path of success. The battle to succeed in life begins in the mind, most of the time people program their minds and life with wrong information and attitude which eventually control their lives and repels every form of opportunity that may come their way.

Break free from every limiting thought, mindset and attitude that has kept you at the back seat of life. It is time to move forward to possess your promise land and be the man/woman you were designed to be. It’s time for you to begin to think out of the box and begin to see the vast potential and opportunities that lies within and around you and how you can maximize them. Lovely day.

MULTIPLY YOUR SUCCESS

I am writing today on leadership development, this is one topic am very passionate about especially as it relates to our part of the world. Recently I qualified for a formal mentoring program sponsored by a multinational company which afforded me the opportunity of meeting women from different walks of life who are achieving great feats in their various fields of endeavors. It was indeed a rare privilege to interact freely with those rich minds “uncensored”. Looking back over this experience and the lessons learnt so far I cannot but advocate a case for mentoring as an effective mechanism for leadership development at all levels of our society. Isaac Newton once said “If I have seen any farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of them who have gone before me”. In your career, business, family-life, ministry….who is inspiring you? On whose shoulder are you standing? Who is cheering you on?

Once in a while I look at the journey of life as a very sensitive one to engage in without a mentor, someone who has walked down the path ahead of you. One with an archive full of successes and failures as well, a tour guide sort of who is very familiar with the terrain you are about to sojourn, one who has climbed up the ladder and is willing to help others up the same ladder. One who is willing to invest time, energy, resources in other to see another flourish without any feeling of inferiority.

In my study of great men I realized they always have a reference to someone who contributed greatly to who they have become by virtue of mentoring. Interestingly however is the fact that you don’t have to wait till you become the President , Governor, CEO of a multinational company before you qualify to be a mentor, rather every lesson and experiences of yours as you journey through life qualifies you to help someone coming right behind you. How about sharing those experiences and giving a word of advice to that junior colleague, neighbor, family member…. Who needs someone to look up to? You never know how far those little gestures could go.. ...and maybe one day such would say my success story would not be complete without mentioning the contribution of ……….

Don’t join the clique of those who climb up the ladder and pull the ladder off their backs so that no one is able to climb to their position or like those who turn themselves to “Mario” who will sit tight in a position not knowing when to leave the field for other players to take their place.

Do have a great day.

DIFFERENT STROKES

How has the year been so far? It has been very interesting on my side and I can say indeed God has been faithful. Lately I was reflecting about life and discovered that there are three basic categories of people.

I realized that there are those who can be termed as Ignorant, others acquire some level of knowledge but do nothing with what they know. The third category are those who acquire knowledge and take appropriate action with regards what they know and achieve results. Which category do you belong? One of my decisions this year is to know the truth, process it and finally put it into application in every area of my life for me to achieve my expected results.

While growing up I read a lot of books on different topics ranging from spiritual, business, relationships e.t.c. looking back over those years I realize I was just acquiring those knowledge and doing nothing about them and today I see a lot of people especially Christians in the same scenario. Too much knowledge but little impact, this led me to the decision to invest more time to process and practice the old knowledge that I had done nothing about. You know what? That decision is paying off for me big time.

Lately I took my time to listen to some of the messages preached last year over and over again and I realized that I really did not apply much of the knowledge that I acquired and obviously did not experience to full capacity what I should have achieved. Personally I defaulted in learning to trust and lean on God’s Grace concerning the issues of my life, rather I engaged in trying to figure out and control the affairs of my life when I should have trusted in God and acknowledged him in all of my ways so that he can direct my path.

Sometime ago i read Dale Carnegie’s book on “Winning friends and influencing people”, embedded in that book are very simple principles for getting along with people but in reality I had not consciously putting them into practice.
In our pursuit to achieve success in business, family, career, relationships and other areas of life there are required principles to practice to guarantee success. However some people are totally ignorant of those principles, some others are aware of these principles and do nothing about them, while others know the principles, apply them and enjoy the benefits thereof.

Make up your mind to get out of the bond of ignorance if you fall into this category. I have tasted the pain of ignorance before and I can tell you it is not very palatable.
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

If you are in the category of those who acquire knowledge without adding action to your knowledge, make up your mind to be ACTION ORIENTED.
James 1:22 “Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice.”
Consciously decide to join the category of those who acquire knowledge and apply the knowledge to the issues of their life and produce results.
Mat 7:24 “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock” .

Do have a lovely day.

I leave you with this joke …….

There was this case in Kenyatta National Hospital Intensive Care ward

where patients always died in the same bed on Sunday morning at 11am,

regardless of their medical condition.


This puzzled the doctors and some even thought that it had something

to do with the supernatural no one could solve the mystery.... as to

why people died at 11.am


So a world-wide expert team was constituted and they decided to go

down to the ward to investigate the cause of the incidents. So on the

next Sunday morning few minutes before 11am, all doctors and nurses

nervously wait outside the ward to see for themselves what the

terrible phenomenon was all about.


Some were holding wooden crosses, prayer, books and their

Objects to ward off the evil.....Just when the clock struck

11.....Guess what happened...... Mukhobero Wepukhulu, the part-time

Sunday sweeper entered the ward and unplugged the life support system

so that he could use the socket for the vacuum

cleaner.


If you think education is expensive, try ignorance

HAPPY NEW YEAR

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! To you all out there, Thank God we all made it through into this New Year. It’s a great privilege and honor to be counted among the living and I believe we are alive for a purpose. I had an awesome time at the watch night service at my church which started at 6pm and ended at 9pm. It was a time of gratitude to God for all the awesome things he had done in 2009 and to look up to him for renewed grace in the coming year.

As usual I went in with my goals all written out, Guess what? Just like my pastor warned during the service” some of you might have to go back and review those goals you have written”. I realized those goals really had to be reviewed (upwardly…lol) so that God’s power and wisdom can be made manifest. I needed to get to the point of absolute dependence of God’s power for the realization of those goals.

Tips for goal setting

Let your goals be SMART
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time bound

Lastly, whatever your goals are commit them to God in prayer and review them periodically. I leave us with words of wisdom from Proverbs 3: 5-7(MSG translation)
“Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for GOD's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track.
Don't assume that you know it all. Run to GOD! Run from evil!”

Do have a great year ahead.

ON YOUR MARKS, SET, ....... GO

Three days ago i finally succeeded in completing a task which usually takes much of my mental energy. Someone might be guessing what task could that be?.... hmmn, it is no other task at this time of the year for me other than setting goals for the next 365 days there about. Maybe i also have some witness in the house who are in a similar shoe as i am. I came across a quote by Charles Sheldon which says "Good resolutions are like babies crying in church, they should be carried out immediately". This quote got me laughing however its a statement of truth.

In the course of my facilitation with entrepreneurs i realise quite a number of people don't actually set goals for their businesses and even their own personal lives and the common excuse i get is that things are not predictable in this part of the world and so its worthless setting goals. At other times people tell me they have engaged in goal setting before ....that the thing doesn't work jare.
Goal setting i believe can be likened to good decisions and John Maxwell would say

"Good decisions minus daily discipline = a plan without payoff
Daily discipline minus good decision = regimentation without reward
Good decisions plus daily discipline = Masterpiece of Potential"

My starting this blog was a good decision but it takes a lot of discipline to keep it going. Let's get very practical now, for those of us who believe in goal setting and atleast have drafted something on paper and fixed a deadline to each goal. For example if your goal in the area of finances is to earn xxx amount of money next year you would now pick a pen and paper and draft all the new skills you would need to acquire to position you for the kind of job that would earn you that kind of money and the strategy for the acquisiton for those skills.

For the Mr Bachelor/Miss Spinster that wants to get married... what are those qualities and character you need to work on and also develop that would attract your dream partner to you . For the young man whose personal development goal is to finish a book weekly in the area of your discipline what time wasting activities would yo need to cut off from to enable you achieve this goal.
We can apply this exercise to every area of our life that we are setting goals for....spiritual,relationships, family etc.

This seems more practical to me and i believe we can further draft the required discipline for every goal we have set for the coming year so that indeed with the help of God our lives can become a Masterpiece. Even God in the book of Genesis after incubating the Vision of Creation broke down his vision into small goals, got down to business with a lot of hardwork and discipline before he finally (went on vacation.....lol) rested on the 7th day. That was a Masterpiece isn't it?
You are created in His image and likeness and can make a Masterpiece out of your own life too.

I believe one of the areas of our lives where we would need to make changes as we prepare to step into the new year is to embrace the principle of Goal setting. Please feel free to share your comments and the impact goal setting as a principle has had on you with us. In the next post i would continue on tips for goal setting.

CHANGING TIMES

We are in a season characterized by CHANGE. Change like we know is the only thing that is constant about life; this however could be negative or positive. Sometimes change announces its arrival at other time it is sudden. Whichever dimension change exudes we need not get ourselves agitated unnecessarily about it but rather position ourselves to accept it and make the needed adjustment in our lives. My question now is, how much change are you prepared for in 2010?

Changing times require change and it’s often a time for the discovery and release of hidden potentials. Looking through the Bible we have stories of people who got into limelight at seemingly critical moments. David’s ability to confront and conquer Goliath, Joseph became a prime minister in the time of famine, Daniel emerged as a leader in his own time.
The season of change we are undergoing all around the world and specifically in our country right now, has inherent in it the ability to unleash the multi-dimension of potential in individuals, businesses, organizations and the nation as a whole like we have never experienced before.

However what you will experience is a function of your perspective to the change going on. I want you to be positive and believe that these changing times will favor you. It’s my believe that this season will be a time for the release and development of your leadership potential in all areas of your life. This is your season of shining Isa 60:1, it is time for you to arise, reinvent yourself, and step out of your comfort zone to your place of glory irrespective of the imminent darkness.
Months, years down the line you will look back at your life and thank God for change. More than ever before we are in a season when we need to draw closer to God to download revelation (God’s point of view about your given situation). It is when you see, think, feel like God that you can believe and speak the truth of the word which is often contrary to what the world can see. It is then you can say that when there is a casting down you will arise and say there is a lifting up for you because you operate from a different kingdom controlled by divine principles.

This is a time to check the foundation upon which we have been building your life, business, organization, future, nation on and begin to make a positive restructuring as we begin to build a new and lasting foundation based on the word of God. Let the word of God be your anchor in this time of change. YEAR 2010 IS YOUR BEST YEAR EVER, BELIEVE IT AND PROCLAIM IT IN JESUS NAME.

WELCOME ON BOARD

You are welcome on board to new and exciting journey into the year 2010. I would be your regular host on this blog and it promises to be fun all through. The launch of this blog is one of my long incubated dreams and i want to thank God that it has finally been birthed. One of my goals for the year 2010 is to be a blessing and add value to as many lives, businesses and organizations as God grants me the Grace to.

I believe you all out there are as excited as i am, i recognize that we are in a season of change both as a nation and as individuals. i also believe serious preparations and adjustments are required to survive at such a time as this.

Make it a date to be regular on this blog as we share and learn from the Word of God and eachother's experiences all through this year.

Once again, WELCOME TO YOUR BEST YEAR EVER.