**** Best Words of Advice****

" Make your life a masterpiece, imagine no limitation on what you can be, have or do"

-BRIAN TRACY

The Power Of Positive Thinking

If you want to be successful in your life, you have to start by changing the way you think. Proverbs 23:37 "For as he thinks in his heart so is he." What you think eventually manifests in one way ore another.The difference between the people who make it in life and those who do not, is not the schools they went to or the place they were born in, it is the way they choose to think and believe. If the homes we were born in or the schools we went to would determine our success eventually, then we would expect all people who went to the same school to have the same level of achievement. However this is not true, you will find a very successful person who emerged from one of the worst performing schools and a non successful person who emerged from schools considered to be the best.

Successful people have one thing in common, positive thinking. "A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes." Mahatma Gandhi. If you think limitations, limitations is what you get, you think problems, problems is what you get, if you think love, love is what you get and if you think success, success is what you get.

The world around us has a lot of negative energy, it is easy to be part of the negative energy and this explains why few people are successful and many are not. You have to make a deliberate choice to think positive, it is not going to be easy, but if you really want to be among the few who have made it in life you have to do it. Start by surrounding yourself with positive people,read materials that encourage you to think positive, listen to materials that encourage you to live the same lifestyle you desire and you are halfway there. But most of all you have to affirm yourself.

It is unfortunate that some of us have been brought up in a society or homes that have taught us to believe and live within our limitations. You may have heard this many times, this is not for you, our family has never done that, leaders have never emerged from our community and the like. Unknowingly, our mind and our hearts have been programmed to think and believe limitations. The day we know how limitless our capabilities are, that is the day we will find our freedom, spread out our wings and soar like eagles. Luke 17:6 Jesus tells His disciples, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” The good news is, it is not late to re-program your mind to think positive, have powerful thoughts without limitations and live your dreams. Let not your past define you, rewrite your future and start by thinking positive, believe that it is possible to achieve and live your dreams .

New Year Resolutions

So the year has come to and end and we are now on the chapter of another one. Every commencement of the year is never complete without new years resolutions. It is everywhere, its the talk of every one, every company. We are all excited to have a new slate from where to start on after all it's a new year and a new year should start with new beginnings. Well I do not know about you, but where I come from, New Year is a BIG deal and new year resolutions are part of it too. I am going to guide you on how to effectively make your new year's resolutions, that is if you have not done so..

What I learnt from last year
Last year I decided to take a new approach as far as new year resolutions are concerned. I decided not to have a big list of resolutions but cut them down to minimum. For the first time in my life I had only one resolution, one goal to achieve and it was all about me. Making me a better person. It is amazing how focusing on me made me grow this last year. I discovered a new me, or rather a me that I did not know existed, potentials that were laying unexploited and opportunities not yet explored. A whole new world opened up before me, an amazing world with unlimited possibilities. It is true that until you know yourself, you will always limit your skies and your wings to fly.

With this also comes the knowledge that it does not matter how much you have in your cup but what you have in it, if it is poison you better get rid of it, if it is wine well then call your friends and family and celebrate. Till the day you know what is in your cup, what is on your mind, that is the day you start to grow a new to unlimited horizons. If you have not yet take this reality check, I recommend you do so as soon as possible otherwise you are on a journey leading to nowhere.

One goal, one thing, one accomplishment at a time
Having this piece of information was important, I knew I had many dreams, many goals that I wanted accomplished in my lifetime. With this also came the realization that all of them can not be accomplished at the same time, one thing at a time, one goal at a time led to more accomplished work. If you thought that only your house needed de-clattering, think again. How clattered is your mind, your ideas, your goals? Reason why you should write them down, this will help not only to de-clatter you mind but help you to organize your goals and prioritize them. You will also realize that the accomplishment of one goal makes the achievement of the other nearer and easier. Make a point of picking one goal at a time, work on it, if you need to lay a foundation for another do so without losing your focus on the first one. The main idea here is to focus till completion. If you have the talent of working on multiple goals simultaneously without losing your focus, better for you. If you are anything closer to me where fewer goals work better than many, hold my hand and lets rock this.

How do you know if you are a fewer goal oriented person?
Check on how many ideas you have had in the past, how many projects you have started and how many of these have been accomplished. Do your projects lay unfinished? Do you still have a dream of finishing these projects? Does the passion of those projects still burn within your heart? If the answers to the questions above is nothing but yes, then you are a one goal or fewer goal oriented person. Re-write your unfinished projects in regard to their importance and priority putting into consideration the amount of time and money you need to accomplish them. Pick them one by one and work on then till completion before you pick another one. I know some of our last years resolutions lay in this category, do not put failure where it is not due, a continuation mark will do. And yes before I forget, we do also realize with time that some pursuits are not viable, they were neither goals nor our part of our dreams but a euphoria at the time. There is nothing wrong in admitting mistakes, be brave and noble enough to drop such as they will only drain your energy, passion and resources. Life is still good and too short to be wasted on trivial matters as such.

So what are my resolutions this year?
Personal development and more personal development. When personal development ceases, so do our dreams, goals and life as a whole. I will borrow this slogan from my mentor "small changes, big results" and work on this slogan towards my bright future. Sometimes all we need is to make a small change in what we eat, the time we wake up, the number of tasks we accomplish everyday, the way we talk to people, the strategies we employ from day to day operations, the people we associate with and we are open up to enormous possibilities and opportunities for growth. This is our year, lets rock it one goal at a time.

The need for approval and success

The need for approval arises from the fear of rejection or criticism. It is a behavior learned over time from earlier childhood as a result of our interactions with the people around us more especially our care givers. The over concern for approval manifests itself in adulthood in one's workplace seeking approval from our bosses, colleagues or in spouses in a family set up. As an adult, one becomes pre-occupied with opinions from others and can easily lead to an obsession to please or over-perform.

Obsession to please others
How does extreme need for approval affect our success? The extreme need for approval results in one over-exerting themselves to earn approval and can easily lead to stress in your life. You will find yourself putting more energy in pleasing others and not in accomplishing your tasks or goals. One can easily deviate from the set goals and get pre-occupied with undefined goals with no clear vision. If you are a parent it is highly recommend not to over demand your children with goals that they have no passion in. Your children may easily become unproductive, withdrawn or rebellious in the process.

Unrealistic Goals
The urge to please others may lead you to follow unrealistic goals. You will find your self living or pursuing other peoples goals instead of yours, the end result is always devastating. No one can live another's life of pursue another's goals and achieve them. The passion and the will power will eventually fade away and the tasks will be left undone. You will feel like a failure and frustrations may come in as a result. On the extreme side, people may lose trust in you as you leave most of your tasks shoddily done.

How to overcome the need for approval
We may have grown up in an environment where we always feed the need to proof ourselves to others in search for a sense of belonging. It is not your fault that you found yourself in such kind of environment as a child, however it is good to know how damaging this can be as an adult. The good news is, all is not lost. You have an opportunity to unlearn this behavior, I am not going to promise you that it is going to be easy, it requires determination but not impossible.. You have to realize the fact that most people are not thinking about you at all and may not notice the torture you are putting yourself through in order to please them. In addition to that, you can never please everyone, we all have our likes and dislikes, your efforts to please people will only result to confusion and burning yourself out. Be yourself, determine your goals and follow them through at your own pace and standards.

Secondly, do not be afraid of criticism and rejection. Some people are going to reject you in life not because you are not good enough, but because you are too good and for some they just have no reason for it. It is good to note that you can not make people like you, people will make their own opinion and a choice just like no one can make you like someone or something that your heart is not into. Take a breath live your own life and be true to yourself.

Last but not least, rejection of your ideas does not mean your rejection. We all have different ways of looking at things. I am over 30 years and until today I do not understand the craze people have over beer, as a matter of fact I find it very repulsive. It is however good to note that I have friends who love beer, they do not understand my dislike for IT, but that has not prevented us from being good friends. We agree to disagree in our opinions and likes. If you are looking for someone who will have the same opinion as yours in all your ideas and have the same likes as your, you are going to look for that person for a lifetime, because such does not exist. You may have similar likes but not in all things and that is the beauty of life, diversity.

****Best Words of Advice****

Live your life and be true to your self

Teamwork- Secret To Success

"You are only as strong as your weakest point." I am sure you have heard about or come across this phrase. The first time I read about it, I could not make head or tail of it. Strength and weakness have nothing in common or so I thought till I learnt otherwise.

Teamwork is diversity
I work in the service industry in an airline to be precise. We have the marketing team that takes the product to the client, the sales team that convinces the guest to buy, the check in agent who ensures the client checks in and boards the flight, we have the flight attendant who ensures the customer is comfortable on board and off course the team that will receive the client on arrival. You will notice that I have only mentioned the customer facing teams here.

"Teams are most productive when they stimulate innovative thought and propose original approaches to achieving  goals ."

" If the team members all think alike – every person in the group is unnecessary, except one." Scott Mckain

We all of course know that a lot takes place in the background from the time the client decides to buy a ticket to his arrival at destination. We have the caterers who ensure the meals are well cooked and packaged, the pilots who ensure the smooth, safe take off and landing of the flight, the loaders who ensure your bags are safe on board, the IT guy who ensures the systems are up and running to avoid any delays in your flight and the cleaners who ensure the toilets within the airport and in the cabin are clean for your comfort among others. All these people have different skills and abilities but they work together towards a common goals, the client. If one of them fails, the whole system fails.

Teamwork is having a shared vision, clear roles and responsibilities

"The problem is that many leaders and organizations believe “teamwork” also includes liking each other; hanging out after work; going along to get along; or sharing personal stories after a long-day of team-building games. If that’s your definition, teamwork is not as important as you think." Randy Pennington

Getting along after work is not teamwork if the team does not have a common goal, defined responsibilities and clear roles. We do not expect the pilot to do the flight attendants's job or the sales agent to ensure the bags for the clients are on board. The sales agent is going to assure the clients that the bags will be safe till the end of the flight but someone else is going to ensure this has been done. The goal is one, the roles and responsibilities are different and clear cut. When goals are not shared or responsibilities and roles well defined, a blame game arises and nothing will get done and of course you have guessed it right, you will have one unhappy customer to contend with.

Teamwork is removing barriers
Working in silos is a sure way to failure as a team. You must remove any barriers and encourage communication to ensure success. The sales agent has to ensure any meal requests for clients have been passed on to the caterer, the caterer has to ensure the meals have been availed on board and the crew made aware where and how they have been packed. The check in agent has to ensure the meals have been inserted well in the manifest and the same availed to the flight attendant. Barriers have to be broken down to ensure a seamless service. Have the initiative to find out how your colleagues are working, their challenges and how you can make their work easier,any delay in delivery from one group means failure of the whole group.

Teamwork is respect for each other
Teamwork is respecting the ability of every member in the team. No one is more superior than the other. Trust me, I am an expert when it comes to cleaning my toilet at home, but I can not promise the same when it comes to cleaning an aircraft toilet and I do not expect the pilot or the checking agent to know how. We have the best sales team out there and they bring in the best clients, I do not expect them to fix the aircraft when it has a technical issue, that is the work of our highly skilled technical team who am sure have no idea how to convince a client to buy us. Every member in the team has a special ability all of them different but equally important, none can do without the other.

Success in any team is pegged on it's strengths and weakness. You will only be successful as far as your weakness allows. Same goes to your personal success, the weak points you keep on brushing aside focusing only on your strengths, could be the reason why you are not as successful as you would like to be.

****Best Words Of Advice****

You are only as strong as your weakest point

How Your Faith affects your Success Part 1

What is Faith?
Faith is the complete trust and believe in someone or something. Today we are going to discuss about faith in someone, and that someone is you. How much faith do you have in yourself? Do you know the relationship between your faith and your success?

I am going to give you a true story, names have been changed for privacy purposes. Mary and Jane got employed in a marketing company on a similar date. Mary’s academic papers indicated that she was a A student and always at the top of her classes unlike Jane who was an average student. It was only natural that the company expected Mary to be a better performer as compared to Jane. The company expected that Mary would bring in more customers, more sales and higher profits. Ironically at the end of the financial year, Jane's performance was almost twice better than Mary's and she looked highly motivated too. Mary on the other hand was demotivated, her performance was below target. So what happened to Mary? How was it possible that an average student became a better marketer than an A student?

Mary and Jane came from two different academic institutions. Mary was taught that getting good grades was the key to get a good job, earn good money, have a good life and this was success as far as she was concerned, what else would she ask for. What they never taught her was what comes after securing a good job. On the other hand Jane was taught that good grades were not enough to make her a successful person, securing a good job was not the end but the beginning. She was taught that in order to succeed in life she had to believe in herself and her abilities to handle new situations and challenges. This little aspect differentiated Mary and Jane out of the academic world. Education is important, it is a key to success in life, but education alone is not enough, we must have knowledge on how to handle and use what we have acquired academically to achieve success. How do you build faith in yourself?

“Education doesn’t just take place in stuffy classrooms and university buildings, it can happen everywhere, every day to every person.” – Richard Branson

Belief in Yourself
Faith is believing in yourself even when the whole world does not. The worst thing you can do in life is to stop believing in yourself. There will come a time when no one is going believe in you, that does not mean you have to do the same. You are the only person who knows you best, no one is ever going to know you better than you do apart from God. Seeking approval from other people all the time is not going to take you anywhere, remember everyone has been called for a purpose and each calling is unique. The Lord God Almighty has called you for that purpose and He has planted a seed in you, it is this seed that gives you ideas, prompts you to do a certain task or follow a particular project. No one else has been called so, yes I know many can be called for a specific mission, but every mission has a particular task that only you and no one else can fulfill. People are going to see things differently from the way you do, that does not make you superior or inferior to anyone else, it simply means you are bringing unique ideas to the table to enhance the final product.

Belief in Your Ideas.
Faith is believing in your ideas however small they may look. I work in an airline industry I have had I had a privilege of working in the cargo department for three years as a Ramp Agent and Load Master. Our manager was a good leader and he had introduced brainstorming sessions once a month where everyone including the loading agents could point out shortcomings and give suggestions on how to improve operations. The loading agents used to shy off at first because they were not used to the idea of giving their views in such a forum, this was a forum that had powerful people in the company and they felt intimidated by their presence, however little by little they warmed up to the forum and gave in their contributions. I remember very well, how 90% of the the ideas that were implemented and became successful came from the ideas that were initially thought to be insignificant. The ideas were small yes, one of them they included making a small alterations to some of the loading equipment to avoid wear and tear. The changes not only deterred wear and tear, they greatly improved the rate of consumption of power consumption, reduced manpower per equipment and saved time in loading and money for repairs. This idea alone saved the company over $10,000 per month. Was it a big idea? Most people thought it was a small idea. Did it come from an engineer in the company? It came from a loading agent who saw a problem, came up with a possible solution and someone believed in him but he believed in his idea first.

You have to belief in your ideas first in order to succeed. When you believe in your ideas, it becomes easy to convince others to support you in the journey to drive your idea, project, or mission to a positive end. People will believe you more when you believe in your self and in the agenda you are bringing to the table.

Belief in Your Potential
Faith is believing in your potential. Have you ever been surprised when people tell you how good you are in something you never thought you were good at? It has happened to me many times, this blog is a living testimony of a result of believing in my potential through what others saw in me. People have seen your potential by the time they point out that you are good in something more so if it comes from trusted people and unexpected people or strangers. If you hear it severally from different people it is time you believed in it and move on with it.

Your boss may entrust you with a task at work out of the blue not in line with your key responsibilities, most of us will either find an excuse as to why we cannot do it, or complain of additional workload. Minority will gladly take it up and see it to conclusion. These are the same people who move easily and quickly up the career ladder and we keep on wondering how they manage to do it. They believe in their potential not only in handling normal tasks but also what has been entrusted to them by faith.

“Take a chance. It’s the best way to test yourself. Have fun and push boundaries.” – Richard Branson

When your boss decides to give you a task, it is because they know you can handle it, they have seen your capabilities, take it up and do it, do not give yourself excuses as to why you cannot handle it. In our culture we have a saying that states “ If they believe in you, believe in yourself” One common mistake most people make is belittling themselves and their capabilities, yes you have to be humble and not blow your own trumpet, but that does not bar you from performing your tasks with confidence and to completion.

Belief in God
Faith is believing in God and his promises. If God has said he made you in his own image, believe in it. He is the greatest master Creator of the universe and everything in it. He is the master of knowledge and He says that nothing is impossible through Jesus Christ as long as we walk in faith. When we lack faith we have no stand, we have no focus, we can easily be swayed and tossed around, we hand over our power to others and give them a ticket to use us to accomplish their goals and not ours; this is what many politicians do, they take advantage of our little faith and use us to accomplish their goals. If you have faith, you know your purpose, you have a clear vision and you know the path to take to achieve that mission. Let us move by faith, let us believe in God, let us believe in what God has called us to be, conquerors , high achievers,winners in everything we set out to do.

****Best Words of Advise***

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:6

**** Best Words of Advice****

"Whatever you want in life other people are going to want it too. Believe in yourself enough to accept the idea that you have an equal right to it"

-Diane Sawyer