Inspired IDEAS

Ideas plus Inspiration; that's the mixture that really turns things on, sends an entrepreneur program into high gear. We need ideas for the goals and plans and we need inspiration for the emotional vitality. To put it to work, to make it flow, to make it multiply.

However, the greatest step toward success is self-confidence. The greatest builder of self-confidence is self-esteem, and self-esteem comes from doing the daily things you know you should do.

Sometimes your self-esteem will start to soar when you make some critical decisions. Decisions to walk a new road, to start a new direction, to start a new discipline, to knock new doors.
Turn on your wheel of success, in 2014.

Opportunity & Preparation

John Wooden a basketball coach once said, "When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare." In other words, we should prepare ahead of opportunities. Likewise, we need to be prepared with the necessary skills and abilities to meet opportunities.

Here’s what preparation is not: Knowing all the answers before you start. The key is to recognize when you know enough to start down a road. Otherwise, you’ll be plagued with the paralysis of analysis.

Ask yourself what will happen to your options in the meantime. Will some be eliminated as time passes (for example, if someone else’s decision will impact it)? If waiting will eliminate an important option, decide and act now.

Leading and Listening

Developing stronger leadership skills is an important act for virtually everyone in business. But becoming a better leader doesn't always require attending a pricey seminar. Sometimes, simple acts can have an immediate impact.

Being a good listener is a needful but rare quality in leaders. Every day, spend good time with someone who has something to say about a challenge or opportunity your business or society is facing. It might be an employee, relation or a friend. Leaders often talk too much and don't truly listen to the people around them, who often have valuable insights. But good ones do! As a JUST leader, listen to other people with the same level of attention and open mind as you would listen to a consultant or outside expert. You don't always have to follow the advice, but this exercise can help you get out of the same-old patterns of thinking.

Less wonder, God made our ears two.

Two Sides of PRIDE

When you think of the word pride, does it strike you as positive or negative? There are certainly many positive types of pride. It’s good to “take pride in our work.” We like it when someone tells us, “I’m proud of you.” And nearly everyone wants to live in a neighborhood where people display “pride of ownership.” All of these expressions communicate a positive kind of pride: dignity, respect and honor, traits that we all can embrace.

But pride is not always positive. Pride can also mean conceit, arrogance, or superiority. This kind of pride is based on self-centeredness, and it’s destructive. Selfish pride is especially destructive to relationships. That’s because the opposite of loving others is not hating them but rather being self-centered.

Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better looking than others. If every one else became equally rich, or clever, or good looking, there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.

So how do we solve the problem of pride? I believe there are several steps we can take to counteract our tendency toward self-centeredness.

1. Recognize and Admit Your Pride. The first step is to realize that one is proud.

2. Express Your Gratitude. Henry Ward Beecher said, “A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.”

3. Practice Servanthood. A person who is truly great is always willing to be little. Serving others requires us to focus on their needs rather than our own.

4. Laugh at Yourself. There’s an old saying, “Blessed are they that laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be entertained.” Once you begin to look for humor in your behavior and situation, you find it everywhere.

If your pride pushes you toward performing with excellence, doing your best, and finding joy in the accomplishments of others, it’s probably helping you become a better leader.

365 days...

On Sunday 15th December 2013 I completed a '365 miles' marathon. This marathon this year signifies a lot to me - the good, the bad and the ugly. As I was running the race I was thinking about the parallels between putting realities of life into movies and actual race of life. Below are a couple of lessons that I’ve learned from my 365 miles marathon experience:

• Have a plan and stick to that plan: In life, if we want to accomplish great things we have to have a plan. For me, I have a written life plan that articulates what I want to accomplish and how I’m going to accomplish it. The plan consists of 10 different areas that are important to me: spiritual development, marriage, fatherhood, ministry, relationships, career, personal growth, recreation, financial and health. Do you have a plan? If so, are you following that plan and doing what you need to do on a daily basis?

• Accountability keeps me consistent: I would not have completed this marathon without having a running partner. Thankfully I had the opportunity to prepare and run this marathon with a very good friend of mine, Fisayo. Accountability is necessary for each of us to be the best version of ourselves. We celebrate life’s victories together as well as walk alongside each other in life’s difficult seasons. Who are you accountable to?

I know this isn’t news to you but life can be painful. You’re going to face challenges and obstacles in the pursuit of your goals. The successful people are energized by the challenges and refuse to quit while everyone else shirks back from the pain and difficulties. What challenge or obstacle are you currently facing? Are you tempted to quit? What will keep you motivated to keep pressing on?

Glory be to God for yet another journey of life. Remember, the JUST shall live by faith.

Year Ahead...2014

By now you have exchanged gifts and are heading towards a new year filled with opportunity. This is a perfect time to look forward and set your targets (not resolution) for next year. So, if I may ask rhetorically, what are your targets, objectives and goals for 2014? ...so numerous!

Regardless of what your goals are for 2014...make up your mind to impact the world you live in the coming year. There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts:
1. What we do
2. How we look
3. What we say, and
4. How we say it.

Proclaim goodness, increase into your life in the coming year. Believe that it is well with you. May we all enjoy the good blessings of 2014 in Jesus name.

Happy New Year in advance.

Maturity nurtures Success

I once read in John C. Maxwell book that "God is as interested in our success as He is in our maturity." That is a sobering thought, and I quite agree with it. Maturity is more often developed out of our losses than our wins. But how you face those losses really matters. People suffer losses, make mistakes, and endure bad experiences all the time without developing maturity. So how do you become mature?

First, you have to learn from your mistakes and losses. Learning is what investor Warren Buffett has done. People today know him as one of the richest men in the world. This elder statesman is well respected for his financial skill and wisdom, but those qualities have come as a result of learning from his losses. He says, “I made plenty of mistakes and I’ll make plenty more mistakes, too. That’s part of the game. You’ve just got to make sure that the right things overcome the wrong ones.”

Learning from our mistakes is wonderful, but it means little if you don’t know how to turn the lesson into a benefit. That comes when we take what we’ve learned and apply it to our future actions.