Staying the Course

Staying the Course

Every time you set out to do something, many things arise that stand in your way of going on to complete it. You should never accept to be pulled back and shackled by anything. You can get slowed down or thrown off course by any circumstances. My experience has shown me that the greater the significance of that which you are trying to accomplish, the greater the opposition you will face. Therefore if you are facing heavy duty opposition, distraction and waves, it is highly likely that you are rattling some serious rattlesnakes and ruffling heavy feathers.

How can you ensure that you stay on course at all times?

1)      Anticipate distractions. You must constantly check around you and you will know beforehand some of the sources of your distractions. When they come with your prior knowledge or prediction, you are able to handle them more confidently because you saw them coming. Try as much as possible never to be caught by surprise. There should be very few things that catch you by surprise and you will handle your distractions much more easily.

2)      Make a plan for tackling anticipated distractions. If it has a chance of happening, then by all means prepare for it. You should have in place your response mechanism for distractions so that you waste as little time as possible in dealing with them and maintain your focus on the most important thing.

3)      Know what the main thing is and keep it that way. When you have a thorough understanding of what it is you are chasing towards, then you are able to easily tell what it isn’t. Those who are aiming at nothing will constantly hit their target irrespective of how disappointing it is. You should know what you are chasing so well that anything else that is not it stays out of your view.

4)      Accept that hardly everything goes according to plan but still move on. You must get to the point of understanding that even with the best anticipation and planning, there will still be a few surprises along the way. These should not make you quit. You must continually pick yourself up and move on towards the all-important goal.

5)      Develop thick skin. Resolve in your heart that nothing is going to break you until you receive the thing you are chasing. Those who get there choose to push ahead with what they are chasing Thomas Edison who invented the light bulb. It is said that he tried to do this same thing over 10000 times but each time something happened that was not right. The guy did not allow any of these happenings to faze him. He stayed the course until he delivered a working light bulb to the world. Which brings me to my next point.

6)      Think constantly about the people who will benefit if you get to the end. There are times when we need to talk to ourselves about the significance of what we are trying to accomplish. There is need to think of what you are doing in terms of the impact it is going to have on those who are waiting for it. That should push you harder to make it work. The very idea of knowing that someone will benefit immensely from what you are doing keeps you doing it. I have toiled on businesses sometimes not because they are making money right away but because I have thought of the benefits when I make money and the benefits to the customers who will be served by these businesses. It has kept me going during the times when I would easily quit.

7)      Get yourself a coach. We all need someone urging us from the outside. Even the best athletes work under a coach because it gets the best out of them. There are days when you don’t feel like getting out of bed to go and do what you need to do. During such times, a coach will help you in spite of yourself. You will get out because there are certain expectations upon your life which you cannot quit on no matter what. The presence of someone constantly checking and analyzing your movement pushes you to deliver the best for yourself and them all the time. Find a coach who can push you, who you respect and whose commitments you want to honor.

8)      You must develop a never say die kind of attitude. It is good to constantly rise up, dust yourself and move on. The constant knocking should not get you quitting. Like the champion that you are, you must never allow anything to bury you permanently. There is need to constantly wipe off the dust and carry on the fight. Your withdrawals must only be tactical to allow yourself to gather your strength afresh before you go on. Never give anyone or anything the pleasure of bragging about how they made you quit. If only you can rise up one more time, there is always the possibility that you will win. Never say die. Stay the course until you receive your reward. A lot hangs on this decision.

Surmounting Odds

We all face obstacles along our path. Wherever it is we are headed to, one thing is sure-Nothing good has ever come easy. If at all you are headed towards something worthwhile, there is one thing you should anticipate. There will be a host of hindrances standing in your way. There are people and circumstances positioned to bring you to a halt. Your focus must constantly be on the prize.

The world has its fair share of negative people. As currently predisposed, the world makes it difficult for those who want to achieve truly great things. Since the fall of man and the entry of sin into the equation, the world has been fashioned to easily accept the negative, the wrong, the mediocre and all that. This leaves us struggling to get anything worthwhile done. What can someone do to rise above all these odds and go on to accomplish what they set out to do?

Eye on the Prize.

Your focus must be on what you set out to do. This means you need a clear vision and goal that you are going towards. Thinking constantly about why you started in the first place gives you the motivation to go on when things get thick because they sure will get thick one time or another. What are you chasing? What do you want to see at the end of the day? What reward will you get when you have done all that needs to be done? What do you stand to lose if you quit now? All these are different ways of keeping your eye on the prize. Understanding with clarity what you are going for will enable you to surmount whatever stands in your way and go on to accomplish great things.

Anticipate Odds/Opposition

Those who are able to cope well with odds anticipate them in advance. When you are planning your attack strategy for whatever it is you are set to pursue, you need to factor in all possible odds. Smart people know that there will be unexpected happenings as they pursue their goal and they therefore plan for them in advance. Do not allow yourself to be surprised by things which you would have pre-planned for with a little due diligence. It might seem pessimistic to start talking about all the things that could go wrong but it truly helps you to have contingent plans for when they arise.  If by any chance they do not show up well and good but you should never allow anything to creep up on you that you would have foretold if only you were honest with yourself. Having said that, there are those things that will truly come as a surprise to you and before you find a way around them they are settled and ready to hinder you. What do you do in such a scenario?

Think on your feet

For obstacles that come out of nowhere, you must be able to think as you move. You must develop the ability to come up with solutions even as you make progress on whatever it is you are chasing. Prior knowledge gathered in times of ease comes in handy at this point. Whatever knowledge and insights you can acquire as you go along you had better put it in your quiver. You never know when you are going to need it. It is better to acquire knowledge and to keep it for a rainy day than to assume you may never need it. Knowledge never hurt anyone, if anything it equips you to make wise moves. Sometimes you are already in the midst of chasing things and the best you can do for yourself is to have a well full of knowledge you can draw from so as to keep chasing as you surmount odds.

Ask for Help.

Irrespective of how good you are, you do not know or have everything. This is why it is important to ask for help from others. There are people better placed at handling certain challenges than you are. Such people should be embraced and given the opportunity to be of help. It is pointless to struggle around something when there are people well able to help you. You must also never forget that beyond human help, there is divine help. One thing about divine help is that it is unlimited in its power. There is nothing beyond the ability of God. All you need to do is take it to him in prayer. He is more than ready to help you conquer and overcome.

These are just but a few of the ways and means of conquering and surmounting odds. What other ways can you think of? Feel free to share them with us that we may all learn and grow.

To a better life for all of us,

Sam.

Surmounting Odds

We all face obstacles along our path. Wherever it is we are headed to, one thing is sure-Nothing good has ever come easy. If at all you are headed towards something worthwhile, there is one thing you should anticipate. There will be a host of hindrances standing in your way. There are people and circumstances positioned to bring you to a halt. Your focus must constantly be on the prize.

The world has its fair share of negative people. As currently predisposed, the world makes it difficult for those who want to achieve truly great things. Since the fall of man and the entry of sin into the equation, the world has been fashioned to easily accept the negative, the wrong, the mediocre and all that. This leaves us struggling to get anything worthwhile done. What can someone do to rise above all these odds and go on to accomplish what they set out to do?

Eye on the Prize.

Your focus must be on what you set out to do. This means you need a clear vision and goal that you are going towards. Thinking constantly about why you started in the first place gives you the motivation to go on when things get thick because they sure will get thick one time or another. What are you chasing? What do you want to see at the end of the day? What reward will you get when you have done all that needs to be done? What do you stand to lose if you quit now? All these are different ways of keeping your eye on the prize. Understanding with clarity what you are going for will enable you to surmount whatever stands in your way and go on to accomplish great things.

Anticipate Odds/Opposition

Those who are able to cope well with odds anticipate them in advance. When you are planning your attack strategy for whatever it is you are set to pursue, you need to factor in all possible odds. Smart people know that there will be unexpected happenings as they pursue their goal and they therefore plan for them in advance. Do not allow yourself to be surprised by things which you would have pre-planned for with a little due diligence. It might seem pessimistic to start talking about all the things that could go wrong but it truly helps you to have contingent plans for when they arise.  If by any chance they do not show up well and good but you should never allow anything to creep up on you that you would have foretold if only you were honest with yourself. Having said that, there are those things that will truly come as a surprise to you and before you find a way around them they are settled and ready to hinder you. What do you do in such a scenario?

Think on your feet

For obstacles that come out of nowhere, you must be able to think as you move. You must develop the ability to come up with solutions even as you make progress on whatever it is you are chasing. Prior knowledge gathered in times of ease comes in handy at this point. Whatever knowledge and insights you can acquire as you go along you had better put it in your quiver. You never know when you are going to need it. It is better to acquire knowledge and to keep it for a rainy day than to assume you may never need it. Knowledge never hurt anyone, if anything it equips you to make wise moves. Sometimes you are already in the midst of chasing things and the best you can do for yourself is to have a well full of knowledge you can draw from so as to keep chasing as you surmount odds.

Ask for Help.

Irrespective of how good you are, you do not know or have everything. This is why it is important to ask for help from others. There are people better placed at handling certain challenges than you are. Such people should be embraced and given the opportunity to be of help. It is pointless to struggle around something when there are people well able to help you. You must also never forget that beyond human help, there is divine help. One thing about divine help is that it is unlimited in its power. There is nothing beyond the ability of God. All you need to do is take it to him in prayer. He is more than ready to help you conquer and overcome.

These are just but a few of the ways and means of conquering and surmounting odds. What other ways can you think of? Feel free to share them with us that we may all learn and grow.

To a better life for all of us,

Sam.

Surmounting Odds

We all face obstacles along our path. Wherever it is we are headed to, one thing is sure-Nothing good has ever come easy. If at all you are headed towards something worthwhile, there is one thing you should anticipate. There will be a host of hindrances standing in your way. There are people and circumstances positioned to bring you to a halt. Your focus must constantly be on the prize.

The world has its fair share of negative people. As currently predisposed, the world makes it difficult for those who want to achieve truly great things. Since the fall of man and the entry of sin into the equation, the world has been fashioned to easily accept the negative, the wrong, the mediocre and all that. This leaves us struggling to get anything worthwhile done. What can someone do to rise above all these odds and go on to accomplish what they set out to do?

Eye on the Prize.

Your focus must be on what you set out to do. This means you need a clear vision and goal that you are going towards. Thinking constantly about why you started in the first place gives you the motivation to go on when things get thick because they sure will get thick one time or another. What are you chasing? What do you want to see at the end of the day? What reward will you get when you have done all that needs to be done? What do you stand to lose if you quit now? All these are different ways of keeping your eye on the prize. Understanding with clarity what you are going for will enable you to surmount whatever stands in your way and go on to accomplish great things.

Anticipate Odds/Opposition

Those who are able to cope well with odds anticipate them in advance. When you are planning your attack strategy for whatever it is you are set to pursue, you need to factor in all possible odds. Smart people know that there will be unexpected happenings as they pursue their goal and they therefore plan for them in advance. Do not allow yourself to be surprised by things which you would have pre-planned for with a little due diligence. It might seem pessimistic to start talking about all the things that could go wrong but it truly helps you to have contingent plans for when they arise.  If by any chance they do not show up well and good but you should never allow anything to creep up on you that you would have foretold if only you were honest with yourself. Having said that, there are those things that will truly come as a surprise to you and before you find a way around them they are settled and ready to hinder you. What do you do in such a scenario?

Think on your feet

For obstacles that come out of nowhere, you must be able to think as you move. You must develop the ability to come up with solutions even as you make progress on whatever it is you are chasing. Prior knowledge gathered in times of ease comes in handy at this point. Whatever knowledge and insights you can acquire as you go along you had better put it in your quiver. You never know when you are going to need it. It is better to acquire knowledge and to keep it for a rainy day than to assume you may never need it. Knowledge never hurt anyone, if anything it equips you to make wise moves. Sometimes you are already in the midst of chasing things and the best you can do for yourself is to have a well full of knowledge you can draw from so as to keep chasing as you surmount odds.

Ask for Help.

Irrespective of how good you are, you do not know or have everything. This is why it is important to ask for help from others. There are people better placed at handling certain challenges than you are. Such people should be embraced and given the opportunity to be of help. It is pointless to struggle around something when there are people well able to help you. You must also never forget that beyond human help, there is divine help. One thing about divine help is that it is unlimited in its power. There is nothing beyond the ability of God. All you need to do is take it to him in prayer. He is more than ready to help you conquer and overcome.

These are just but a few of the ways and means of conquering and surmounting odds. What other ways can you think of? Feel free to share them with us that we may all learn and grow.

To a better life for all of us,

Sam.

The Greatest Room

Today I would like to share with us on why all our lives can get much better than they are. I am sure if I asked randomly who is content with their lives, I will find many who want to go one further, want to do better than they are currently. The truth of the matter is that life is a journey. We only arrive when we breathe last and go on to our next life. For as long as you still live, you still have the opportunity and are expected to go one better. This is the gist of my message for today.

It does not matter how well or how badly you are doing right now, look around your life and you will find things that can get better. There is only one who is perfect and does not have room to be better. Can you imagine a God who would constantly need to improve on being God? I wouldn’t want to be a subject to such a God. Such a God does not inspire confidence. God is supposed to be the best at everything and sure enough that is Who and What He is. When you read your bible and see him described as King of Kings, this is what it means.  There can never be another king above Him. He has mastery over all things and the highest of us can only touch the peripheries of His greatness. This is why we have quite a long distance to cover.

God does not require of us to march Him. He requires of us to be the best version of ourselves possible every time and get better as the days go by. The greatest room you have been blessed with in this life is the room for improvement. The room never gets full. The moment you think you have attained the highest possible, the more you realize that you are still getting started. The people at the top of their fields in whatever discipline have this constant realization that there is much they are yet to grasp and capture as much as they know a lot already. Little knowledge is dangerous and so is a little success. It has a tendency of lulling people into sleep such that they begin to believe they have arrived. When you look at the thought leaders of our days-the likes of Richard Branson-their thinking is one of a traveler. One who has not arrived. They are constantly challenging themselves to go one better.

Nowadays what differentiates products is the extra attention that is given to improving its features, its performance or whatever other parameter is used to measure the progress. Top tech companies like Apple, Samsung and Google have teams devoted to constantly studying their products and services with a view to improving them and making them better. It is why there are constant software and hardware updates. That is how they stay ahead of the park. Any sleep and their competitors would quickly move in to feel the void left by them.

Life is about getting better as the days go by. What you need to be asking yourself is am I getting better at what I am doing or am I still stuck in my past? When you assess your progress be it at work, school, home, ministry or anywhere else which you can fill in as we go along, do you see improvement or stagnation. Your eyes need to be open to refining your processes and ways of operating to what is working right now so that you don’t get left behind. You must guard against falling to the lie of reveling in your past success that you forget it’s a new day. Even where you are doing exceptionally well, it is important to look again just to make sure you are not left behind. It is a fallacy to say ‘you don’t change a winning team.’ A good manager will make decisions on his team focusing on what is happening currently. You cannot keep a team member who is not delivering simply because they delivered two years ago. They could be standing in the way of some other good team members who are waiting for their chance.

You need to take charge of your life and lead it in the way that you know it needs to go. You must stop staying stuck in the rut and make that progress which you know is well within your reach. What area of your life do you think you can improve on? What adjustments can you make to your life to take it a notch higher? Where have you remained content that you are finding yourself left behind? There is room for improvement. Make the most of it all..

Inspiration

Sam.

Impetus

What drives you? What determines your actions in life? It is important to understand why you do what you do. In many cases why you do something is more important than what you do. I'd rather struggle with what to do than why I am doing it.If i do not have a clear why, then I live my life on the surface. My actions are dictated by what goes on around me as opposed to what is on the inside of me.

The best life is lived by those who have decided what they want out of it and who have clear persuasions behind all their actions. With the right why's you are able to decide what is good for you and what isn't. You will know when to chase something and when to hold your peace. It is said if you cannot answer the question why at least five times concerning something, then you  do not have sufficient reason to rush into it.What are your why's in life? To be Continued,

Core Value No.3:Creativity

I believe in exercising all what I have been endowed with. When I read the word of God, one of the things that comes out very clearly to me is the fact that I am made in God's image and likeness. Gen 1:26. What that means to me is that God has put in me creative ability just like he has it. I consider it a grave failure not to put this creative ability to use.

I have made a point of demanding it of myself and others as well. I do not subscribe to the status quo. I believe in pushing boundaries everyday in every way possible. I believe that the world is made better by the creatives in whatever field. Imagine what a world we would have if there were no creatives anywhere. There would be no Mobile phones, no handheld computers and very many other things.

The world owes creatives its fun and ease of life. If people did not think of how to improve the way things are done, we would still be in the Stone Age. What a boring world this would be? What a sad state of affairs we would have to contend with?

I believe in creativity in everything I do. When I am working, doing ministry, taking care of family or whatever you would think of. I strive to make my processes better. I believe in invention and innovation.

Is creativity significant just for people in the arts and writers like me? I don't believe so. It is for everyone and we must all strive to do things better.

That will be all for now. Go out there and create! create! create! invent! invent! invent! Innovate! Innovate!Innovate!

Today like promised I share my core value number two. Which one do you think it is?

Beyond integrity the one other thing i value is excellence. Whatever it is I am doing, if i cannot give my all to it, then I would rather not do it. My work is laced with the touch of excellence irrespective of whether anyone is watching or not. 

Excellence for me means doing all that is within your power to produce the very best results there can be on any project you are working on. What this means is that you can not settle for anything less than the best you can offer. It means studying to understand what best practices are there in whatever you are doing and pursuing them wholeheartedly. It means going out of your comfort zone and pushing yourself beyond your limits to get it right.
Excellence is not perfection, it is making sure you live yourself on your work. It means making sure there was nothing more you could do.

I apply this to my life, my work, my ministry, my parenting and virtually everything I do. if I cannot do it well, I'd rather not do it. What is excellence to you? Do you value excellence in others? Do you value it in yourself?Are you being excellent at what you are doing?

Our God is an excellent God and He made us in His image. How is your life reflecting that excellence? I choose to do it in everything that I do. I invite you to join me.

Sam.

Core Values-Integrity

Today I will begin like promised to share my core values. What are core values? They are what a person or organization is all about. They are what is found in the deepest part of a person or company.  They are what is second nature to a person or organization. That is my simple definition of core values. They do not simply reflect what you aspire to. They belong in the realm of things you have internalized and they come like second nature to you. At least that is what core values should be in my understanding.

There are many people walking and living today who have no clue what their life is about. Their core value is they have no values at all. Their lives are shallow at best. Is this the best way to live your life?  I wouldn't say so. It works out well for someone when he has certain guiding principles in life. We are not under any obligation to mimic the values of others but we are at liberty to embrace the good we find in others and and make it part of our values. The truth of the matter is that we all learn from the example of others and the values we hold dear are shaped by the people we have grown up with and interacted with over a long period of time.

One of the primary core values I hold on to is integrity. Integrity comes from the English root word integer. What is an integer? It is a whole number if you can remember your basic mathematics. Integrity therefore means wholeness, oneness and fullness. It means you do not say one thing and do another. What you preach, you practise. Your positions do not shift with the shifting ground. You remain true to yourself and others irrespective of what it will cost you. Psalm 15 talks of a man who swears to his own hurt but does not change his word. That means when you promise to get something done for someone you do all you can to fulfill your promise without thinking what it will cost you It also means being careful not to offer empty promises in the heat of the moment. You must fully understand what you are getting into so that you get to do what you promised. However in situations where you do not have full information, the fact that you promised to get it done means you are bound by your word to do it. The only thing that should  stop you is death or incapacitation. Any other thing is an excuse and people of integrity do not hide behind excuses to fail others.

What does all this mean for me? It means I am careful to do what I promise without giving lame excuses or even some seemingly justifiable excuses. Integrity is key and a lack of it is costing us a ton as individuals, organizations and nations. Think about people and organizations breaking their promises. What would this world come to? Think about if your service providers lied to you about the reliability of their services? How much damage would it bring you? That is why integrity is something we must all hold dear and aspire to.

Have a week of Integrity.

See you next Thursday

To a better life,
Sam.

Hello beautiful people. it's been a while since I was last here. Mostly it is because I have been doing a lot of running up and down since I last said anything here. Beyond that I have also been thinking hard about how to make this valuable to anyone who happens to pass by here. I would love to make this more about all of us and I am shifting the focus to speaking words of encouragement, motivation, correction and inspiration.

starting next week I will be putting up weekly posts every Thursday to uplift your soul and challenge you to be the best version of yourself there can be.I will be sharing from my struggles, successes, high and low points just so you know that you are not alone on this journey of life. I will also be putting forth some great ideals which we should all aspire to because at Asenaville I.e my ideal world, there is quite a number of things that need to be hallmarks. in the first few episodes,I am going to be sharing my core values with you and why I hold them dear. I hope you will be inspired.

watch out for great stuff next Thursday.

In the meantime, remember 'Life is never about how long you lived but how well.' Live well.

Asena.