Cease to just exist!

Cease to just exist!

Existing does not equate to living.

The lifeblood of human existence is purpose. This is what transforms existence into living.

A life without purpose is simply an “existence”, it is there for important to find your purpose and live it.

This has proven quite difficult for a lot of people and some people actually go through life without truly discovering their purpose. To discover your purpose, you may want to ask the following questions…

What arouses my deepest emotions?... do you feel deeply burdened by the sight of hungry children? Does the sight of helpless old people make you sad?

What do I do effortlessly?... Have you found that when you speak, people feel uplifted and encouraged?

What do I love doing? Do you enjoy cooking?

What piques my interest? What’s that thing that gets your instant attention?

Answering these questions may not immediately lead you to discover your purpose but it is likely to take you one step closer and also put you on the watch for opportunities of purpose discovery. Also, the mistake people often make about purpose is that they think it should be elaborate, popular, big, or loved by everyone, etc. Your purpose does not have to and may not be loved by everyone but your conviction and tenacity will help you make true impact, even in the lives of those who mock you.

Your purpose may be as simple as encouraging people or helping old people but the power behind it is the passion that fuels your purpose. And that passion is fueled by YOU.

Define “Your Success”

Define “Your Success”

Simply wanting to be successful is not enough. You have to define “your success”, set your own standard and work towards achieving that success. This is because your own definition of success may differ from that of the next person and not defining yours clearly make cause you to be distracted/derailed by the other person’s idea of success. This may be damning as in doing that, you are only trailing behind someone else and your achievement of “their success” can only be second-rated at best. You lose yourself in another person’s dreams and get frustrated by the inherent unfulfilled potentials that your gut feeling will keep telling you that you have.

This is probably the reason some “successful” people end up committing suicide or derailing from the path of success. It is because they have allowed themselves to be distracted by other people’s definition of success and have lost their true selves in these definitions. Your parents may think their ideal child should be a medical doctor but you are convinced that being a teacher will be more fulfilling as you derive immense pleasure from molding destinies and setting young people on the right path. You may excel in biology and pass medical school in flying colours but finding true joy and fulfilment will be difficult as that is not your calling.

I urge you to clearly define “your success” and align your actions towards achieving it, do not get distracted by other people’s ideas of success and stick to your passion. You CAN get there, you WILL get there.

Begin with the End in Mind…

Begin with the End in Mind…

This phrase can be credited to Stephen Covey, the author of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, a book that greatly impacted my life positively.

Beginning with the end in mind makes a lot of difference because then, you clearly define what you plan to achieve from every cause and you are able to align your actions and steps to the plan. It means having a clear vision, objective and/target.

It helps you to focus better and not get distracted by the “noise of the market”, it builds your resilience because in face of challenging situations, you will be able to draw strength from the clarity of your vision.

You are an Ambassador!

Yes, you are! You represent yourself, your family and every other entity that you identify with. This, when looked at deeply is a huge responsibility because your actions would largely determine the way all these entities (including yourself) are viewed so it is important that you hold your head high at all times and do only things that will show these entities in positive light. One way to do justice to this responsibility is to ensure that you know exactly who you are, where you are going and what you need to do to get there.

You cannot afford to take any aspect of your life for granted or to live life haphazardly. If you do this, you expose yourself to haphazard results.

You need to consciously strive to protect your image and reputation so you do expose yourself to unfortunate losses that come from careless decisions.

Once you have a clear vision of who you are and where you want to be, it is easier for you to carefully orchestrate your every action towards achieving your set goals.

Remember, every single detail matters!

On a second thought…

I know I said that we will be talking about excellence but then it occurred to me that there are also several factors that can prevent/stop individuals from pursuing excellence and these factors, if not addressed can alter the course of one’s life forever. This made me realize that it would be more impactful to delve into the issue of self-development in its totality and I will be sharing my thoughts on issues that affect us as human beings and that can have an impact (positive or negative) on our ability and decision to pursue success and excellence.

Excellence... what about it???

“Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.” 
― Booker T. Washington

This quote by Booker T Washington appears to be simple and easy enough to understand. However, we often find ourselves getting stuck in a routine of a thousand years, so much that mediocrity becomes the norm and excellence is seen as "obsession", "wickedness", "stiffness", and we go on to call it all sorts of names.

Excellence, when applied to even the simplest/normal of tasks transforms it into the extraordinary... this is probably why Mama Chidinma the "local" hairdresser always has a queue in her shop while Mama Salewa, the British-trained hair specialist continually sits on the edge waiting for customers who are queuing up in Mama Chidinma's shop. Successful people strive for excellence and are never tired of trying for better ways of doing things, they continually strive to be a better version of themselves. This drive attracts opportunities and makes it easy for them to spot the opportunities as you can only find what you are searching for.

Excellence is not perfection but keeps you as close to perfection as humanly possible. To strive for excellence, one has to be disciplined, consistent, patient, humble, open, decisive and precise.

On this blog, we will be talking about excellence in every aspect of life; work, business, marriage, relationships, parenting... We'll also be learning, discovering and journeying into a realm of uncommon understanding of our God-given purpose.