A great success poem to read at the beginning of each day!

What a way to kick off this a new life with a great poem entitled “Begin the Day”. A new beginning and everything else is considered an opportunity for growing success first within ourselves and then bringing that to share with our neighbors and loved ones.

 

Begin The Day   By Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Begin each morning with a talk to God,
And ask for your divine inheritance
Of usefulness, contentment, and success.
Resign all fear, all doubt, and all despair.
The stars doubt not, and they are undismayed,
Though whirled through space for countless centuries,
And told not why or wherefore: and the sea
With everlasting ebb and flow obeys,
And leaves the purpose with the unseen Cause.
The star sheds its radiance on a million worlds,
The Sea is prodigal with waves, and yet
No lustre from the star is lost, and not
One drop missing from the ocean tides.
Oh! Brother to the star and sea, know all
God’s opulence is held in trust for those
Who wait serenely and who work in faith.

 

Everyday is A Wonderful Day

This poem is simply wonderful. Three words that caught me are; while on earth, we should be useful, be contented and be successful.  We should trust God for every provision and leave the fears, doubts and despairs and just have the faith that everything is in order.

 

What prompted me to write this book is that I feel there has to be a simple secret to success. I am also looking for a pathway to people who lived before me. Some have found it, some are still searching… I know as I am into something exciting and challenging because of what we are and why we are here on the planet called earth.

 

Life is a challenge and I believe everyone loves to want to live a life of significance, in the belief that as an ordinary person, I too can do extraordinary things!

I am here to relate the key ingredients that will make you successful in your own right. God has created each one of us as a unique person. No two persons are alike!  (Ps 129:14) It’s proven that even identical twins do not have the same fingerprints. Each one is created differently with our own successful DNA programs. We are created for success, not for failures! Banish the fears and you will live a more effective and victorious lives that brings along more successes than failures.

I am an optimist to the core and firmly believe that if one sets one’s heart and mind together, great things can happen – that is change.

The first principle to success is to have a plan. without it, any road can lead you to roam and not Rome, the destination that you have in mind. Then we have to ask ourselves some hard questions like what are the secrets of success? What are the measurements of success? We have to look at the vital points for achieving success. Then we can redefine failures as stepping-stones on the road to success. Indeed, there are ways to reframe or reset our minds by resorting to systematic coaching for success.

Look at the great players and teams in the field of sports. There are great coaches and their success rate and performance reveal we can be re-programmed to achieve excellence and obtain massive success.

What you want to become you will need to focus on by having an end in mind.

How can we find God’s will for my life?

Get into God’s words and ask God for your destiny.

Here are the steps. 1. Dying to self. Ps 138:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; See if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” God’s best outcome.

In God’s way, every situation is a learning experience. God teaches us through pruning, as we are part of him. “John 15:5 1. 5″I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (NIV)

In pruning, we go through life experiences, enriching us and we should treat those moments as learning and not punishment. Anyway, God will put a test till we cannot take it any longer. 1 Corinthians 10:13 “God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” And will provide a way out too because we have to believe everything is possible with God. (Mark 9:23)

Once we are in His perfect will, we will need to reset our hearts towards His purposes instead of fulfilling our own desires and needs. Many a times, we forget that our home on earth is temporary and in God’s Kingdom is eternal. So what are we living for? We have to then: -

1.     Admit our problem. James 1:14 “ A man’s temptation is due to the pull of his own inward desires. Our nature is always defensive and pushing the blame either to the situation or someone else. Ever heard this familiar phrase “the devil let me do it”

2.   Speak to your mountain. Mark 11:23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. In this passage, Jesus said once but we must speak it twice or more to achieve success! Lay down your life

3.     Put our past behind us. Phil 3:13-14 “Forgetting what’s behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the Goal.” Said Paul. Yes, we fall constantly, but we will need to get up just like a baby learning to walk.  Thomas Edition has this to say “Don’t call it a failure, call it an education! Now you know what didn’t work”

4.     Avoid temptation. This world and its fallen nature with the Satan cohorts are roaming for targets. Eph 4:27 “Don’t give the devil a chance” and also 1Cor15: 33 “Bad company corrupts good characters”

5.     Be Accountable & Authentic. Ecc4: 13 “Two men can resist an attach that would defeat one man.” Take a buddy system. Jesus even told his disciples to go out two by two. He knows that weaknesses of one but there is power in two!

6.     How can we change to fit gifting, styles or personality?

a.     Believe we can change Phil 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It’s not by our own strengths, but God’s Grace that we are conquerors

b.     God initiates change. Gal 5:16”Let the Spirit direct your lives and your will not satisfy the desires of human nature. Put God first in our lives Matt 6:33”Seek ye the Kingdom of God….” Phil 2:13 “For God is at work within you helping you to want to obey Him & their helping you to do what He wants.

c.     Transformation, not conformation 2Cor 5:17 Paul changed his mind > attitude >Action and thus his destiny. Thus, finding your gift and through personality change, we can use God’s given talent (ability) to achieve everlasting success!

 

To your success! When we align to the greater good of doing something greater than us, we can find eternal happiness!

 In the word of Greek philosopher, Epictetus “No man is truly free until he masters himself” Why is it that we find it tough to do just a simple task? The more we try with our own effort we fail miserably. Even though we achieve worldly standard success, we savor the accolades from men for a fleeting moment, like the morning dew! But will they ever remember us after this? No because new records would have been broken and achievements of different kinds would be ushered in! There is no permanence in worldly success. Solomon discovers this in this verse:

Ecclesiastes 4:8 “ There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless–a miserable business!”

Yes, it can be mundane if we strive to make meaning and establish ourselves in this world. Solomon, being the wisest, richest and surrounded by concubines and many gods around, did not find the meaning of life. Why then are we in this state? Simply put, we are created in God’s image and as fallen creatures, we have to find our way back to Him through only one way – believe we have all been wired to find God. However, in this world of ours, Adam has sold his rights to Satan when he fell into temptations of him through Eve. God said eat everything except the fruits from the tree of life for you will surely die if you do that. We did just that!

So, there’s a pull of two different directions, God’s way or World’s way! In God’s way, we can have eternal success because we are answering to our destiny to fulfill our will that we are birth with. In world’s way, we worship and acquire material things – Jesus tempted by Satan during his 40 days in the wilderness! Matthew 4:8-9 “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” KJV.

Ever wonder why many of us fail to achieve our goals in life? Ever consider what comes out of our mouths can break or make us? This could be the main issue that one did not make the mark in life. Somehow, we tripped over what we confess into the environment and destroy our chances to be successful. An ordinary man can become extraordinary when he put his mind to anything he wants to achieve. What we focus on, we can achieve. This is expounded in Matthew 6:21 when it states that what our eyes focuses, that’s where our treasures lie. With that, we often speak forth from what’s in our hearts. So when one is a schemer, the words are more vile and laddened with entrapments. So it is important that we keep our hearts pure because one day you may sputter out the words that would be embarassing. Here’s is a little story to illustrate that. A little girl heard what her mum was muttering as she was preparing the food for her friends that evening. During the dinner, the girl uttered the words that her mum had spoken earlier. “I don’t know why I have invited these bunch of old ladies to the party” Just imagine what she thought of her friends! Don’t blame the child. We rise or fall to what we confess. As we know, the atmosphere is polluted with many spirits and they are recording every conversation you utter fulfilling that’s your desires of your utterances. If it was unforgiveness, jealously etc, which are negative, one will be led to that path. Our lives will be magnified with those issues, likewise with positives statements. If one say, I can’t instead of can, the information is passed to the brain which will emit endrenalin that helps the body be in that mode – to move to success or just frozen to failures. I have a poster which speaks of 3 types of persons, One that makes things happen, one that waits for things to happen and the last one, one that wonders what happen. This is not just coincidence that one would fall into waiting for things to happen if one is proactive and vice-versa, that is, if one is reactive, definitely, one would wondering what happens. Our body system adjust to what our brain tells us. Proverbs 6:2 says “Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth” Good or bad, the words dictate our posture of life. Thus, friends we need to have positive confessions, Hebrews 11:6 tells us to have faith in order to please HIM. So, so in order to have a transformed mind, we need to hear the right kind of words to help influence our minds to right thinking. Rom 10:7 says we ought to hear God’s words and that will build our faith so that we can live a victorious life. Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 the hope of things not seen and evidence of things not there. We need to resist the doubts in our minds and influenced it that we can do all things though Christ who strengthens us. (Phil 4:13) So in order to be in faith that we are building our lives using the promises of God, we need to renew it by cultivating a habit of dwelling upon the things of God that our thoughts (Phil 4:8) After that, learn to edify our spirit and the environment by speaking positive, faith filled words that have breakthrough effects. Lastly, we must talk of How big our God is. This is an amazing God that has provided for everyone who believes that healing, prosperity and issues in relationships are already provided for in HIS Grace. It is through our faith we have to appropriate it. So whatever circumstances we are in, first have positive confessions, speak to the giants of our lives. We build the spirit man and that will influence the entire body be immunized to fight the battle. The Holy Spirit will help and guide us to bring about the positive results in whatever that giant be! The successful ingredient is that we must SPEAK in belief that the giants of our lives… be it sickness, poverty or broken relationships can be broken when we have the right confessions. What is needed is having the faith as little as a mustard seed. (Matthew 17:20 & Luke 17:6) To your success!

This is what Dr Ron Jensen said, Success is but just … we go through life thinking when we have all these 5Ps which are Power, Prosperity, Position, Prestige and Position.

When a person arrived at these positions, will he be called successful?

Success is fulfilment of purposes of life. What then is our purpose and destiny?

Dr Jenson and other notable figures like Rick Warren,  John Maxwell believe that we need to fulfil our calling on planet earth. It’s not to live for ourselves get rich and die ‘poor’ not in the sense of financial terms but the impact or legacies one leaves behind.
Look into our hearts and see what and who we have impacted?

In the wheels of life, there are 7 Fs, stands for Faith, Family, Firm,(work), Fitness, Friends, Financial and Fun. Are WE getting most of these with a scale of 8 or more? Hardly because it’s not humanly possible unless the Grace of God is upon us.

When we can master first three things well, we are at least able to taste the road to intangible success. This is important because it relationship build around love of God, neighbours and the self. It will bring about happiness as what John Maxwell said,

‘The happiest people are those who have invested their time in others. The unhappiness people are those who wonder how the world is going to make them happy’

As life is brief & we cannot bring away what we have gained, the best judge is how many people come to your funeral. There eulogy would have to be said and what is said and by whom makes one uniquely successful even after your death.
To your success!

Dolphins loves people.

We are seekers of our purposes in this world, whether intentional or not. Somehow, we are programmed to ask the question why am I born? What’s my purpose in this world and what am I supposed to do? Which job I’m most suitable? And where’s my Passion, Expertise and Giftedness? PEG. Coaching can help you discover your areas where you are supposedly to be! Once you are able to find your destiny, life would take off as you will lead out a life of significance!

For a start, we should consider the Life’s manual the Bible, the testament inspired word of God through the writers. It contains accounts of life’s teachings; full of wisdom that will make your life successful in the Kingdom of God.

God the creator knows each one of us well as seen here. Ps 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Furthermore, He added in Jeremiah 29:11 “ For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” So spending time alone with our maker will help us move in the right direction to fulfill our destiny that is so fulfilling.

When we spending less time in the Word, our faith from the true God, ‘Yahweh’ will grow cold and fade when it don’t take first place in our hearts even though we maybe prophesied upon. Grace without Faith and works will not work. (James 2:14-26)

We live in the world that has attractions of life that we can see with our eyes but biblical faith is hope in the things not seen and evidence of the things not there. In kingdom of the world, sometimes we see ungodly people are more blessed with modern trappings of Prosperity, Prestige, Power, Position and Pleasure. As believers, do we want to enter the rat race to gain all that! In Matthew 16:26 it states “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?

Our life on earth should not be a place of strife that we would have to crucify the sinful nature with its passions and desires… Let us not become conceited provoking and envying each other but we should enjoy the fruits of the spirit Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. But do not look at the fruits, but the roots. Our moral compass should be principled centered so that we can be a difference in the world of indifference. This is why we should look at Character quotient, not just Intelligence or Emotional Quotient. What good when we do not live by universal principles? Where does this style of living lead us? Well with coaching we hope we are aligned to live by our principles to maximize our lives and also sow to others one soul at a time.  The book by “Achieving Authentic Success” by Dr. Ron Jenson talks about “Character and Behavior” that can lead us to successful life that is God Centric. To learn about this we need to know how to live a “MAXIMIZERS” lifestyle. This acrostic stands for.

M= Make it Happen

A= Achieve Personal Significance

X= X out the Negatives

I= Internalize Right Principles

M- March to a Mission

I= Integrate All of Life

Z= Zero in on Caring for People

E= Energize Internally

R= Realign Rigorously

S= Stay on Course

This is governed by a simple principle of Attitudes, Beliefs and Commitment (ABC) that can be broken down as follows: Attitude= MAX, Belief: IM Commitment: IZERS

So as we begin a journey to discover what our PASSION is, what our Expertise we have had and how God is going to use it and lastly our Giftedness, God will show us the way through as He leads and we follow because His ways are higher than our ways. 

To your Success!

“IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE LEADING YOU TO SUCCESS?”

In the word of Greek philosopher, Epictetus “No man is truly free until he masters himself” Why is it that we find it tough to do just a simple task? The more we try with our own effort we fail miserably. Even though we achieve worldly standard success, we savor the accolades from men for a fleeting moment, like the morning dew! But will they ever remember us after this? No because new records would have been broken and achievements of different kinds would be ushered in! There is no permanence in worldly success. Solomon discovers this in this verse:

Ecclesiastes 4:8 “ There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless–a miserable business!”

Yes, it can be mundane if we strive to make meaning and establish ourselves in this world. Solomon, being the wisest, richest and surrounded by concubines and many gods around, did not find the meaning of life. Why then are we in this state? Simply put, we are created in God’s image and as fallen creatures, we have to find our way back to Him through only one way – believe we have all been wired to find God. However, in this world of ours, Adam has sold his rights to Satan when he fell into temptations of him through Eve. God said eat everything except the fruits from the tree of life for you will surely die if you do that. We did just that!

So, there’s a pull of two different directions, God’s way or World’s way! In God’s way, we can have eternal success because we are answering to our destiny to fulfill our will that we are birth with. In world’s way, we worship and acquire material things – Jesus tempted by Satan during his 40 days in the wilderness! Matthew 4:8-9 “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” KJV.

What do we seek in life? Do you know that what you sow you will also reap? Likewise, what you don’t sow! We have a choice in life. If you live for yourself, you will not reap the bountiful harvest of having relationship with others, for you are self-preservation! The greatest two commandments Jesus said was Love God and then Love your neighbors as you love yourself!

We are seekers of our purposes in this world, whether we like it or not. Somehow, we are programmed to ask the question why am I born? What’s my purpose in this world and what am I supposed to do? Which job I’m most suitable? The girl or man I’m supposed to get married? And where’s my gifting? Is there a God that knows why I’m born? In other words, we are in identical crisis.

That is the reason why many are lost today for they do not know the truth that will set them free. They don’t have the end in mind so how are they going to find where to begin?

Throughout history, man does all kinds of things to find the meaning to life; somehow they missed it as they create their own gods out of wood or precious metals and start worshipping it! Then they find that the yearning of the elusive happiness is not there.  Finding for happiness is the most important part of human endeavor because without it, life has not much meaning.

That is the reason why today we have countries like Bhutan etc still interested to preserve their culture in order that they maintain an ecosystem that will lead to happiness. Well then I believe that’s forcing the issue by denying the things that will lead you a better appreciation of life. However, God allows that because we have to make choices in life.

I believe the happiness we look for on earth will be to understand ourselves, achieve the purposes that God has designed us to be so that we can become effective disciples to bring about reconciliation of God to man. One of the greatest gift is fruits of the spirit as found in Galatians 5:22-23 which is love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, fruitfulness and self control. Another one classic is love found in 1 Corinthians 13:1, which expresses that love, is the most important part of the entire human relationship. With all these truths, we should have happiness perennially! Not a part of the day, month, year but till eternity. Only thing is what do we have inside that is bubbling with this explicably joy that people can feel and see.

What’s wrong then? Well, people are inquisitive and are sold by the devil to be self-centered, go for success and receive rewards so that they can have a better lifestyle, have worldly recognition that they have made it. Thus they are driven by what they can see and channel their focus for self-glorification and no wonder they are fearful of losing their wealth. So in the end, they may lose their health from worrying. And they end up spending huge amount of money in just maintaining their health.

It’s their mindset, if you give out of abundance, its not happiness! But if you give out of lack, that if you have the ability will bring greater joy and happiness!

In seeking for your destiny, what I try to do is to succinctly put it with the help of different authors; especially so ‘The Power to change your life’ by Rick Warren, ‘Self Awareness’ by Travis Bradberry, ‘Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath, Transformational Leadership Coaching, Naomi Dowdy’s preaching on Destiny and many articles etc.

Mind is the most intriguing part of our body. It controls our 5 senses which in turn sends signals to all parts of our body. If we are hungry, thirsty, tired etc, the cortex of the brain tells us what to do next. Our operating system is well trained since young through parents, schooling, peer etc. We process much information faster than a computer. However we tend also not changed once we are in a comfort zone . Erroneous thinking is then multiplied. We don’t challenge and stay status quo because of our mindset. Never question conventional thinking. Example, the world was  flat theory until Galileo presented the theory that the world was round. For that challenge, he nearly lost his life as it was heresy! Laughable ? You may say but unfortunately many of us move on or live life perfunctory without thinking because we all are driven by herd mentality. We DON’T put on our thinking cap. Also in certain culture, its improper to think outside the box for fear of retribution or ridicule! Thus we perpetuate that kind of culture in society. Don’t Ask, See or Talk of any breakthrough things that would upset the Apple cart.
I heard of a story that illustrate this point. A family of three generations was asked why they cut the roast into half before baking. The daughter didn’t have a clue so she went off to ask her mother who in turn told her to ask grandmother who said the simply in the old days, the oven wasn’t big enough. We live in ignorant and didn’t enjoy the freedom because of lack of the questioning attitude we lost.
As success technique is questioning more than having the answer, we should develop this habit.
Many successful individuals, corporations used this technique to break out of their old mindset. The simple technique is called the Kipling’s men. Always use, why, where, what, who, which and How to accomplish great things.
Inventions and simple to mind blogging breakthroughs are achieved through questions the assumptions. New technology soon replaces the old because someone out there took the trouble to focus & think through.
The bible says ‘ where the mind focuses, that’s where the treasures lie.’ Matthew 6:21 sq

It’s very visually enticing to see so many fruits on my lime plant. I believe all of us can identify with fruit bearing plants. It’s such a joy not only to see but we would later on enjoy its fruit.
As an amateur gardener, I’m encouraged that my labors of hard work tilling its ground, watering adding fertilizer has finally paid dividend.
I guess it must have a good effect on the roots. It has to be healthy with no insects nibbling away at its roots.
When we look at ourselves, there are similarities here. The roots are our character & fruit as personality.
In nature, this is authentic . What we see in its fruit we can conclude the roots are healthy. However, can we see that in human? I guess not for some, but as they say, we can read others like a book.
In the book by Dr Ron Jensen, he alluded to the fact in his book achieving authentic success there are more than meets the eyes.
As some sayings go, still waters run deep, the heart betrays the emotions & thus is shown on the facial expressions. The heart being the roots and the emotions the fruits.
Check in again for next instalment of how we can live with authentic success.