Good Thinking: Key to Overcoming Peer Pressure

One of the things that keeps many youth from making progress in their lives is peer pressure - they go with the masses instead of using their quality of thinking to chart out a path that is truly theirs. While it might seem ‘cool’ to some people to be part of the “crew” and think like, talk like, behave like everyone else, that will not take you over the top in life.  To become a winner in life you must be a trailblazer. A true trailblazer is a pioneer – someone who goes his or her own way when all the pressure is driving him or her another way. The key to being a trailblazer is to be a good thinker.

A few years ago I really enjoyed reading John C. Maxwell’s book, Thinking for a Change. I had already been practicing some of the concepts he developed in the book but he added superb insight to my understaning of the essence of good thinking. Three of his ideas stood out:

1. Good Thinking Creates the Foundation for Good Results

What do you want to achieve in life? The key to that will be in developing a reservoir of good thoughts that are well implemented. Your progress in life is directly proportional to the quality of your thoughts.

2. Good Thinking Increases Your Potential

You need to understand your own full potential in life. Potential is simply the capacity that a person has for effectiveness in life. We can all attain our potential as we begin to elevate our thinking. Good thinking increases the level of results one can expect in life.

3. Good Thinking Produces More Good Thinking IF . . . You Make It a Habit

Nothing dominates life more than a habit. As you practice good thinking, you develop a foundation from which you can continue to harvest even better thinking. We have to continually raise our level of thinking – it takes a habit of good thinking to do that.

Will you climb out of the pile or will you stay rooted in it? As you climb out of the pile, remember the story of the crabs in a bucket. As one tries to climb out, the others will, without question, try to pull it back in. But know this one thing, there are encouragers who will make themselves available to push you out of the pile and I’m one of them.

Clawing Up the Leaderboard of Life

I love the game of golf. It gets me thinking and provides me with instant feedback and instant opportunities for self-correction. My vision is always great right before I tee off but somehow the execution never seems to be aligned to that which I had envisioned. I therefore have a lot of respect for a player like Tiger Woods, who has a way of making the game look like a Great Opportunity to Look Foolish (G.O.L.F) for many. What terrific rounds of golf he always plays! I always gasp in amazement as Tiger claws his way up the leaderboard! We also need CLAWs if we are to climb up the leaderboard of life. How does one avoid the cut and claw his way up the leaderboard of life? Here’s the key:

Create a powerful picture of your destiny – You have to see yourself as a champion. Tiger wins because he knows he is the best. Greatness comes to those who anticipate it because the world will stand aside and lets pass the man who knows where he is going. Winners start of with a powerful picture of their destiny.  

Leverage your potential by playing to win – Some people play not to lose. That is the prime recipe for failure. You have to play to win, not play to avoid losing. Mentality is the key to winning, perspective is the hand that turns the key. Play to win!

Adjust your swing using proven technique - Tiger makes constant adjustments. The key to winning in life is making adjustments. Change is not your enemy – change is your greatest friend. If you get stuck in one mode of doing things teh same way you’ve always done them, you will go insane. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting different results.

Widen your vision by developing a BHAG – You need a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). The quality of your vision depends on the magnitude of your BHAG. Think beyond your daily sustenance. Have a goal that will continously pull you into the future. A goal is simply a dream given substance, direction and timing (read my previous blogs).

My friend, you can CLAW your way up the leaderboard of life. Apply these techniques and I will see you over the top!!!!

Discover Your Destiny

Youth today have a hunger for fulfilling their life’s potential. Our generation is characterized by a deep desire to grow and develop one’s personal potential. This is an age of empowerment and those with a desire to live above the level of mediocrity are seeking ways and means in which they can live more meaningful lives. The key to this is to plot your own destiny.

In my book, Battling for Your Prophetic Desiny, I have written at length about  specific strategies that can be utilized in plotting one’s destiny. A couple of weeks ago, I developed an acrostic that is key to empowerment in the realization of personal destiny. These thoughts form the word DESTINY:

Determine your true passions

You have to find out exactly what makes you tick. Many people stop pursuing their true passions when they get a job. A job is your pre-occupation while your true passions are your true occupation. What gets you excited?

Embrace your assignment

Your true passions will reveal to you your assignment. Your assignment is that which you are meant to accomplish with your life that few others will be able to do as well as you could. Every human being has the capability of expertise. What are your talents? What do you enjoy doing most? That could be your assignment.

Start right NOW!

Life is lived in the now. Most people’s undoing is that they live either in the past or in the future and experience very little of the now. The company that you’ve always dreamt of starting, start it right now! That song that you always wanted to compose, write it right now!

Transform your thinking

Your thinking sets the pace for your doing. You can’t experience greatness if you continue to think in the same manner that you have always thought. Don’t allow yourself to get stuck in the rut of bad or poor thinking. Elevate your thinking by associating with good thinkers.

Identify your strengths

Winners play to their strengths. if you are going to be massively successful in life you have to start that journey of identifying your strengths. As you do this you will definitely uncover some opportunities for improvement in many areas of your life. Strengthen your areas that need improvement and you are well on your way to a great destiny.

Notify key personnel

You need a circle of support around you that will motivate, support and keep you accountable. Share your dreams with them. They may be the key to your ability to move to the next level. Find trusted people who will become your inner circle of confidence. Never under-estimate the power of your close associates.

Yoke with thought leaders

Someone once said that who you become five years from today is determined by the books you read and the company you keep. Yoke yourself with thought leaders. Find people who are leading in what you dream of doing and connect with them.

Eagle or Turkey: What kind of person are you?

Winners in life possess a different mentality. In this post I want to challenge you to consider what image you portray to the world. I would like to differentiate between an eagle and a turkey. Most people are turkeys, they don’t soar in life but spend a lot of time showing off their ‘beautiful feathers’. Those who become great leaders are eagles. Here are six marks of an eagle:

1. Eagles are catalysts of experiences – Eagles make things happen based on their skills and abilities. They walk the road less traveled, defying models in order to blaze new trails.

2. Eagles possess great vision and execution – Eagles don’t perch on a tree and wait for manna to fall from heaven. They go out and look for opportunities. They are not risk averse.

3. Eagles are change agents – Eagles influences others in positive ways. They are 360° influencers. Their influence is not restricted by attributes like age or profession.

4. Eagles are multipliers of value - Turkeys bring added value to the company but eagles are multiplier value. The average group has people who subtract value while the mediocre group has people who divide value.

5. Eagles empower eagles to lead – Birds of a feather flock together because only they have an uncanny ability to bring out the best in each other. Eagles don’t hang out with hawks.

6. Eagles are sources of creativity – Eagles hunt for ideas that result in rapid growth for any group they are involved in. Because of this, eagles will always be leaders of the pack.

Starting Off Right: Ten Choices That Will Revolutionize Your Life

The journey into adulthood is not an easy one. It must be navigated with skill if we are going to experience the significance that comes with living a life that is worthy to society. Any journey has intersections and those who win are the ones who make good trade-offs at the intersections of life. Bob Buford once said, “None of us know when we will die, but all of us, if we wish, can select our own epitaph”. We select our own epitaph based on the kind of life we live. Are you pursuing a better life? If not, here are ten choices worth making that can qualitatively improve your life and a question after each to prompt your decision-making.

1. Choose accomplishment instead of affirmation – Are you going to be one of the boys and get the affirmation of mediocrity or will you step out of the herd and blaze a trail of accomplishment?

2. Choose future potential instead fo financial gain- Will you be enticed by the promises of wealth or will you live for a life of significance based on your true capacity?

3. Choose personal growth instead of immediate pleasure - Are you tempted by the life of ease and play now, or are you motivated by the desire for living your best life possible?

4. Choose significance instead of security - Do you want to live a comfortable life of comfort and convenience or will you soar towards a better life in which you make an even greater difference?

5. Choose excellence instead of acceptance - Are you going to settle for the acceptance of your peers and friends or will you aim for the excellence that comes from the pursuit of your dreams?

6. Choose multiplication instead of addition - Are you satisfied with adding value to your community or will you go for the more rewarding joy of multiplying value to the world?

7. Choose one thing instead of many things - Will you be a jack of all trades and master of none or will you stand out from the pack and be a master of one thing?

8. Choose quality instead of quantity - Are you going to fill up your life with things and events or will you go for the right things and events?

9. Choose success instead of stability - Is your prime desire to have a stable life or are you willing to tap into the success of knowing and realizing your true passion?

10. Choose family instead of work - Are you laboring at your work at the expense of your family or are you creating a legacy for those whom you love?

Only through making wise choices can we truly reach our potential.

Followership Keys to Boost Your Leadership Skills

A couple of weeks ago I found myself stuck in traffic really close to a bakery. I wasn’t thinking of anything specific and allowed myself the pleasure of having my eyes roam about the neighborhood. Within a short time I learnt what had caused the traffic to build up. A bunch of people were standing in front of the bakery getting free bread. I could hear from the noise that they were excited. The smell of baked bread filled the area (As I write this post, my wife is making some banana bread and oh the sweet smell! It’s filling up my home office and making it hard to concentrate. I’ll go take a quick peek and come back to the post in a few minutes).

Ok. Where were we? Oh, at the bakery! I could easily see a crowd in the area right in front of the bakery and my gut feeling was that the bread was being given for free. Right at that moment I decided to be creative and use my time in traffic in developing some thoughts on leadership, based on what I was seeing in front of me. I was able to come up with the following four things that leaders should follow:

1. Follow your ear (I heard the noise)

Learn to act on what you hear your followers whisper. If you can act on the whispers, you won’t have to react to the screams later on. Sensitize your ear to the imperceptible cries of your people. Your ear should be able to vibrate with what is resounding from the lives of your followers. A leader should always have his ear on the ground but not all the time because if you are always bent on the ground and listening you can’t be able to see ahead. There must be a balance. The leaders ear must ring with the voices of the people. 
 
2. Follow your nose (Oh the smell of bread!)

Strive to perfect your ability to smell what is coming. I learnt this from watching leopards hunt back home in the plains of Kenya. Their main advantage is that they can smell their prey from very far. Let us endeavor to smell the future before it arrives. The better your leadership smell buds, the more accurate you will be in anticipating inevitable happenings. The leadership nose is able to determine what is good and what is bad. We like what smells good isn’t it? Leaders should be able to sense the flavor before serving their followers. That’s the key to winning their hearts.
 
3. Follow your eyes (I saw the crowd)

This is where many leaders lose it. They leap before they look. In more adverse situations, they think before they look. I would like to change a very popular saying. They say “Look before you leap” but I say, “Look before you think and then think before you leap.” As a leader, you must be able to first analyse a situation, synthesise it and then pounce on it. Because leaders possess the big picture and see the whole view before their followers, they can easily be enticed by what looks appealing. Leaders should be able to see, then use their minds and determine the right course of action.

4. Follow your gut (I sensed they were getting free bread)

Intution is a leader’s best friend. This is something that many leaders have yet to fully grasp. You can’t teach anyone how to listen to the gut. It’s something that is cultivated personally. Just a little wisdom to help you as you do this: THE GUT SIGNAL is like red lights flashing within you. Leaders should be able to sense things so that they are not caught unawares.

Ear, nose, eyes and gut – the anatomy of leadership!

Encouraging the Heart through KUDOS

I’ve been thinking of the many people who work with youth. They need to be encouraged as it is always challenging. I’m also thinking of youth themselves who need encouragement for the journey ahead of them. Both of these people need Kudos. Kudos is a rarely used english word that simply means giving compliments to another. Maybe the rare use of the word signifies the need for more kudos. In an effort to contribute towards this, I would like to suggest a KUDOS formula for encouraging the heart.

Here’s the KUDOS formula:

K – Keep your focus on finding acts worthy of encouragement in people.

U – Underscore the vital necessity of a climate and culture of encouragement.

D – Discover the 101% principle (Find the 1 thing someone is good at and give 100% encouragement in this area).

O – Outline your expectations, knowing that people soar higher once encouraged.

S – Seek to encourage with a desire for the other person’s benefit, not your own.

Five Key Results of the KUDOS formula:

1. Increased productivity in service and results.

2. Generates motivation and keeps momentum going.

3. Cultivates energy for input of effort and hard work.

4. Maintains commitment as the personal power is unleashed.

5. Leverages the final outcome of a desired target or objective.

Give KUDOS today!

Owning the Future through Dreams and Vision

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”. Dreams are born of hopes and desires while vision comes from foresight and passion. It is essential to have both because they work together in the manifestation of personal purpose and potential.Two Key Questions:

1. What is your dream?

What is your greatest hope or aspiration? What do you yearn for earnestly? What do you secretly wish for yourself and those around you?

Dreams really are the cornerstone of life. Without dreams, life is meaningless. Dreams give substance to existence. They allow us to go beyond mediocre living to living with a zest for life. Dreams activate within us a willingness to embrace higher ideals worth striving for. Dreams are the bedrock of life.

2. What is your vision?

What do you imagine when you think about the future? What do you see yourself capable of achieving? If you had all the resources you wanted in the world, what would you do?

Visions give structure to life. They give form to dreams. Without vision life lacks power. Visions provide us with a framework for accomplishment. They enable us to go beyond living with zest to having a zealous pursuit that delivers results. Visions allow us to go from activity to productivity. 

The Marriage of Dreams and Vision … is the birth of purpose!!

Dreams + Vision = Purpose!!

What’s your purpose in life? What is the reason for your existence? Can you clearly define that which you would give your all in order to realize in life?

The Offspring of Dreams and Vision … is pure potential!!

Dreams X Vision = Potential!!

Every human being has the potential for greatness. In order to uncover your true potential, you have to allow your dreams to flourish and pursue a solid vision with purpose. Go ahead,… own the future!

The Little Blog Post of Connectedness

Over the past couple of days I’ve been reading a content rich book that’s titled, Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to RICH Relationships. It’s opened my eyes to so many aspects of connectedness that I’m beginning to apply in my personal life. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to develop a rich network of relationships – and that really should be all of us! Quite a plug, huh!

Anyway, connectedness changes lives. I was inspired late last year to develop a vision of what connectedness will look like for me in 2007. I’d like to reproduce it here as “The Little Blog Post of Connectedness“. Connectedness brings order and synergy to the people, things or events that are associated together in that relationship. My vision entails new thinking in terms of connectedness which will be the springboard for the advancement of greatness in people. In the past, many people have had a lot of disconnection in certain crucial components of their lives and my goal is to bring all these together as one complete package.

Here is what connectedness means to me in 2007: 

1. Connectedness to true spiritual roots

Spirit is essential in the pursuit of a better life. Our souls should prosper as we endeavor to help others develop their personal potential. Our first quest in connectedness should be a solid relationship with God. The winds of social change are blowing in all sorts of directions and it is impossible to navigate them without solid connectedness to true spiritual roots. Our entire intelligence, consciousness and sentience must be inspired by our spiritual development. This is the key to vibrant and effective living.

2. Connectedness to one another and to family

In December of 2003, my wife and I created what we call our nuptial values. These values were an off-shoot of our marriage vision statement. While we have encountered tremendous success based on this vision, we sense a need for even deeper connection as we pursue our ultimate family legacy. Human connection needs to go beyond the superficial to real community. Community starts with an individual and extends to the family, then to society.

3. Connectedness to our unique individual visions

In this day, we need to demonstrate a commitment to personal vision for life more than ever before. If you have never concretized a solid personal vision for life, this is the time to do it. Significance in life is a direct function of your personal vision for a better life.

4. Connectedness to our joint destiny and family legacy

We need a clearerer understanding and grasping of our place in the human family and its destiny. More than ever before, people want to engage in contributing at a higher level to the well-being of others, regardless of their individual differences. This is easily manifested in many facets like volunteering for greater causes, community activities, travel and many others.  

5. Connectedness to the people who matter in our lives

Great social and professional relationships are essential for the realization of one’s personal destiny. We need to associate with good thinkers, thought leaders and idealists with a passion for better life. Nothing is more joyful than productive gatherings of visionary thinkers at coffee houses, bookstores, city squares, college campuses and many other places. This is always a huge avenue for the development of robust ideas which greatly enhance the lives of so many people.

Get connected!

Actualize the Greatness Within You

We live in a day when many people are being inspired to reach for the greatness that is within them. A lot of credit goes to the self-improvement industry which has done a lot to expose people to their true potential. People are dreaming more and dreaming often. But still there are many who have not come to the point of making their dreams come true. How can dreams be pursued and realized?

In my book, The Road to Arrival, I have defined a dream as a strongly desired goal. Dreams can easily be realized when they are broken down into specific achievable goals. In The Road to Arrival, I discussed ten empowering principles for actualizing dreams: faith, associations, detachment, perseverance, faithfulness, character and integrity, diligence, the tongue, puruit and connection. In addition to this, I outlined nine key principles that identified the steps, levels, conditions, essentials, keys, phases, rules, laws and stages of actualization.

What’s your dream? Are you pursuing it? We are all waiting for your arrival in the land of your dreams. Capture your dreams and let your vision soar!