I don’t know what success means to you but let’s here use the basic description from the dictionary – the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.
What I know is this; If you have an aim or purpose and get started on the journey to it’s fulfillment, committing to it without giving up, despite any challenges along the way, you will accomplish it.
I know that you have a dream. I also know that you desire to see it’s accomplishment. What I am not so sure of is whether you strongly believe in the possibility of it’s accomplishment. You should. If you do believe and follow through, I know you will succeed.
In the Achieve Your Dream workbook, which you can actually get for free on my website, I share an idea which can help you strengthen your belief in the possibility of your ability to accomplish your dream by way of affirmations, quotes and verses. It works in a big way. I also stress the idea of how referencing your past victories against your current challenges is an excellent motivation towards overcoming them and accomplishing significantly. The Bible story of David and Goliath is a good example of this belief strengthening practice. If you haven’t gone through the workbook, you can click here and get it for free. It has much more insights.
So, if you have a dream and you strongly believe in it’s accomplishment plus you are constantly doing something about it without stopping for any reason, I know you will achieve it. It’s only a matter of time. Keep going.
Let me tell you of something that happened to me sometime back which I believe is going to give you a thing to critically think about.
A gadget in my house broke down. Since I was already contemplating replacing it with a new one, this provided a good opportunity to do so. I hence approached a neighbour of mine that I thought could make use of it. As far as I was concerned, the fault was not a major one. So I told him how with just a little fixing the machine would be up and running again. He was very glad for my consideration of him. Now if I have to tell you, this neighbour of mine deals with scrap metals.
Within minutes, he came over and I assisted him to carry the faulty machine to his place. Sometimes, what we may not value may be useful to another. I imagined that since the individual pays attention to the small details, he would fix the gadget and use it or even resell it. Only to pass by a few hours later and find the machine in bits and pieces on his yard. It was now scrap. Of course I should have known that.
A faulty machine is scrap material to him. The same machine to a technician is an opportunity for a good deal after he fixes the fault. Logically a working machine would fetch a better price than a heap of scrap metal. But that’s the logic of the technician. And mine I guess. But in this case I couldn’t predict the obvious. That people transform whatever is in their hands to a state in relevance to their custom behaviour patterns.
The lesson: When things go wrong as they often would for every living human, whom do you approach? Whom do you give your brokenness to? The answer will depend on your expected end result of the problem at hand. If you want them working again, give them to the one with the record of making things work. Not the one who destroys whatever malfunctions, but to the one who can take broken down pieces and put things back together. I am talking about any part of life that you may think of.
Action: Think of an area in your life that may have broken down or malfunctioned. Do you need it working again? Have you been giving the job to the one who would not lead you to your expected end? Do you think you can find the right one who can do it right? Make a move and give your brokenness to the right mender.
The other day, as I was moving about in the streets I saw a man with one arm. It was not my first time to see such a man but my heart ached. The man was actually holding a bowl with one hand, the only hand he had and was begging for some loose change. My heart was in pain for several reasons. The man was quite young. He was handsome but had this very sad face that made him look older than his actual age or so I thought.
The pain I felt was not because of the age of the man. It was not because of the state that he was in. It was more than that.
I dropped a coin in his bowl as I continued to go through thoughts in my mind.
I thought of how he was becoming wasted every single day that he was there in the streets. Begging.
I may not know what caused his present condition. He may have been born like that, he may have had an accident that severed his arm, he may have been amputated because of a sickness or maybe it was cut as a form of punishment as I understand in some countries they do. Therefore I stand as no judge over his past in any single way.
Whatever the case may be, an arm is missing and nothing he can do would bring it back. Nothing too that I can do can bring it back either. What I and you can do, I believe is bring back a smile on his handsome young face and a hope of the future in his heart. But yet still, nothing much can be done if his heart and mind remain focused on all he has lost-the missing arm-instead of his existing one. The negative is not only the missing arm, but anything else he may have lost or is missing in his life like we all have them. We always remember all that we don’t have and hold on to them longer than necessary. The illusions. We sentence ourselves to a life of begging for sympathy for what we lack instead of looking at the remains and putting it to good use.
The list is big. We worry about……. 1. The education we never had. 2. The many missed opportunities in our life. 3. Our failed business. 4. The boyfriend or girlfriend that left us. 5. The divorce that we may have gone through. 6. The mistakes that our parents did. 7. The mistakes we made when our children were growing up. 8. The bad choices of our career. 9. Involving ourselves in the past with people and habits that affect our present day health and wealth. 10. The things we can never change. Like being born in “the wrong” family, neighbourhood, country or continent. 11. The list goes on………..
That’s the missing arm. The arm which, if we continue focusing on, may leave us sad, miserable and even depressed. Sentencing ourselves to a life of begging.
Personally, when I looked at the man, I did not see the missing arm. I saw the existing arm. I saw potential. I saw power that has been denied it’s own expression through what exists, in the focus of what is missing. Ι did not see a man without one arm. I saw a man with one arm, a handsome face, some two legs and strength enough to walk around the world changing his present status and influencing many to change their own lives positively.
On the other hand, to me, he seemed to see himself quite differently. What he is missing and what he will never have.
God (or nature as some would prefer to say) may not have given us everything that we may have wanted but we have been given more than enough of what we need. Therefore let’s not place the blame on God or nature. Let’s not focus on the lack but rather on the abundant provisions.
Some of us do not blame God or nature, neither the other person. We blame ourselves.
Do not be one of them. Don’t be so hard on yourself over things you may have done or those that you may have not done to put you in your present state. You have so much good that you have done and so much bad that you could have done but didn’t do.
All of us have done some things all wrong. Some of us have done many things wrong. But none of us have done all things all wrong. At least all of us have done something right. This is what should count. Let It Be The Light. Let it shine bright. Try to focus on this for there is something good with focusing. Whatever you focus on magnifies.
There is one poem that has really influenced my life so far. You may have heard me mention it. It’s called “The equipment”. It says that you have everything that the greatest of men have had. But I hereby say that you have more than what some of the greatest of men ever had.
I don’t know whether until this point you have agreed with my viewpoint, but am deeply convinced about it myself. Maybe my perspective on this man without one arm is influenced by one great guy called Nick Vujicic. A man who would be surprised and even disappointed with us for spending so much time discussing about an arm while he doesn’t have any. If at least we were discussing about a leg, we could catch his attention. For he has a pair of shoes in his closet which he has kept in faith that one day he will have some legs to wear them on. But I guess he will never come across this article. He doesn’t have that time. He is so busy moving around the world telling everyone about the goodness of God and God’s unending love, irrespective of his disability. Because his belief is that disability is not inability. You can watch his video here below.
Please note this. The video is a few years old. As at the time of writing this article, Nick is already married to a very beautiful lady and they now have four healthy children. I know you will love his video. If you’ve watched his video before, it doesn’t hurt to watch it one more time. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched it.
He has also written some books. But as for now, enjoy this video.
Coming back to the man with one arm and two legs. I can’t quite recall which of the hands he still had. Nevertheless, whichever it is. Let’s thank God. If it is the Right, THANK GOD. He still can do many things Right. If it is the Left, THANK GOD. He still has got something Left. It is not a matter of what we lack. It is a matter of how we use what we already have.
When I met with him, I did not manage to speak to him and tell him all that I have written here. But promise me one thing. That if you happen to meet with him, you are going to tell it to him. Promise too that you’re not going to be hard on him. Because you do not know where he’s coming from. You may not have experienced his pain and pain is real. You have not walked in his shoes. But you can try to show him where he is and where he should be heading. Let him know that it’s not the missing arm that counts. It’s the existing one. The missing one is a minus, but the existing one can add and multiply and then divide the wealth of experience with all who are in need. You can also hold his hand if it’s possible. The hand you see not the one that you don’t. Walk with him a step at a time. Until he gets to where he should be going. To the right direction. But meanwhile, before you meet him, you can share this article with your friends. You never know, it may just land in his existing hand-his hope for now. So go right ahead and click share.
Do you recall that a few months back I lost my entire blog? I then later on recovered the contents through the help of a friend and promised to re-share them one by one on my new site. Here is an article I had done but is now edited to reflect the time it was first shared. Enjoy the story.
Rrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnngggggggg! The phone goes. — Oh! that’s a description of eons ago but I know you get it.
I pick it up.
“What’s your name?” The caller asks.
Of course this is not the formal way of starting a phone conversation. When someone calls a personal number, he/she already knows whom they are calling. If you are calling a stranger, you usually start by introducing yourself not demanding for an introduction from the other party. This therefore sounded strange.
“What for?” I ask her, not intending to be rude. I guess she could actually feel my confusion, my wondering and maybe a fraction of fear of the unknown like most of us would admit that such an intro would bring.
“I am simply asking you for your name. For example my name is Mary. What is your name?” She continues.
“My name is Anthony.” I calmly respond curious of where this was leading to. Since I was not as busy, I thought I should wait to exchange a few words just before I call it quits if it got worse. At other times, I would not give such a call an extra second of my time.
I had been receiving several cold calls from marketers, though I don’t think whether they really qualify to be called cold calls. They usually are warm. Some of them hot calls. Someone would greet you in a very polite manner, introduce himself/herself before proceeding. It’s for this reason, I suggest that we change the term from cold calling to warm or hot calling. Maybe if we have this perspective in mind then today’s marketers will make more sales. The next time you go to make an unsolicited visit or phone call to someone, in an attempt to sell goods or services, why not say I am going make a hot call? Just my opinion.
This particular one however qualified to be called a cold call until this particular moment.
“Do you design websites?” She asks “Yes I do.” Comes my reply. My face now relaxes.
Some years before this call, I happened to be wearing one of my many hats – website designer. Something that I had done for sometime although at this particular moment I had not been paying much attention to and therefore not actively promoting the service. I had been focused on other things. Hence, I had not been expecting much from that direction. It’s logical, when you don’t do much, don’t expect much.
She continues. “We have opened a new shop and we need a website for our business. When can you come over to discuss further?”
At this point, I asked her for the address of the business and within two hours I was in her shop negotiating the price and requirements of making a business website.
This reminded me a few lessons.
1. Be known for something that you do. I happen to have done a lot of things in life as I mentioned above and sometimes it becomes a challenge for me to speak about everything I have done or that I can do, to everyone I meet. But when it matters I always let those who care to know, do so. The challenge is that we don’t know where to draw the line between who to tell what and who not to tell. We cannot judge who knows what, who knows who, who does what and so forth the first time that we meet them. But when you have the opportunity, let the world know what it is that you do.
Hey! I am a motivational speaker and I have written books just in case you were not aware.
Please also tell us in the comments what it is that you do. You never know who will read this post.
2. When you do something, do it well. Even though Mary did not disclose to me from the phone call who gave her the reference, when I met her she informed me that she was given my phone number by someone who liked my services. The person had recommended me to her because of the work that I had done for him and my rates.
3. Always maintain your contact details. I have always known this, but unfortunately, I have some friends who always change their phone numbers every now and then and I know that they could be losing something along the way, so I thought of mentioning it for someone who does the same.
Later on as I am describing that incident to a friend of mine who is from the US but is currently living in Athens, he tells me something interesting. He’s been about 6 years out of the States. The funny thing is that he keeps getting calls for business that he stopped doing a long time ago. He definitely refers this business to other people who are back there. Just imagine that. Getting calls for something you did ten or twenty years back and might have forgotten all about it. If you have changed your contact details, then that business goes to someone else. Keep your contacts the same for as long as humanly possible.
4. Your past follows you. As you move on with your life, make sure that you do the best that you possibly can. I say possibly can because there are some circumstances that you have no control over. Where you can, do good. And when you do all the best that you can, make sure that you leave some tracks for the things to follow you when they will.
That’s it for now.
At this point, please remember to leave a comment here below. If possible, tell us what you do or can do and how we can find you.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” – Galatians 6:9 –
In the last few days, the world has been abuzz with news of great outerspace discoveries courtesy of the James Webb Space Telescope. The great discoveries remind us of how vast the universe is and how less of it we actually know.
Allow me to share with you a statement by Barack Obama. On his Facebook page, he said,
“These fascinating new images from the NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope offer a view of the universe that we’ve never seen before, and will inspire a new generation to look deeper into space. Congratulations to everybody who made this possible—I’m excited to see more!”
Are you excited too to see more?
One of the uses of the telescope is to explore for potentially habitable exoplanets. To date we have a list nearing sixty of positively identified potentially habitable exoplanets, though it’s estimated that there could be as many as 300 million such planets in our galaxy. Can you imagine that disparity?
Please note this; Space exploration has its budget in billions of dollars with this project alone being close to 10 billion dollars.
The journey continues.
How far more shall we have explored in our lifetime? With those numbers of estimated planets, not much far I guess. What surprises me is that what we already have with us has not been fully explored, leave alone the planets that are billions of lightyears away. Do you know that every single day we discover new things on the face of the earth? What of the vast number of things not yet discovered below the surface of this rich planet? As economies crumble and panic grips the common man, billions are sent to space and some huge deposit of gold remains undiscovered somewhere near you. Maybe in your backyard.
Is it possible that the next world-shaker will come from you? Why not? Take a moment and think. The man who designed the telescope was not different from you. He had all body features like yours and a brain just like yours of which he chose to use. You can too. Then there came together individuals of like mind to wow the world with inventions of astounding discoveries through collective ideas and effort. Why not you and I? Yes we can.
With this in mind, I hereby remind you to look within in order to see farther out. The kingdom of God is within you. Look within and connect without.
I want to urge you not to think of scarcity but in abundance. To know that you have such a big potential that you will never use half of what you can. And by the way, only a fraction of what is possible for you is really necessary to you living an exceptionally meaningful life. If you then align yourself with people of like mind for synergy, the extent of your accomplishments will be astronomical.
Six months have gone by and six months wait ahead of us to complete the year 2022.
I have two questions.
How have you spent the first six?
How will you use the next six?
We all know that life is full of ups and downs, gains and losses. And we all experience those times in our own lives. It has been a part of life and continues to be, to the end of time. This year has not been an exception. We’ve all laughed and at times cried and it all makes us appreciate life.
But you can only appreciate anything, if your focus is on the things to appreciate. Whatever it is that we focus on, we magnify. So, if your experiences for the first half were good, appreciate that. If you had some not so good experiences, learn something from each and appreciate the fact that you now have a second chance for some great experiences in the next half of the year.
There’s a common thing that has been a big issue around the world for the last two and a half years. The pandemic.
I thank God that things appear to be in control and people are now reclaiming their freedom. I also thank God for you. You made it through one of the toughest times of this generation and that’s how you ended up reading this article. Give glory to God, commit the future to him, then put in the effort to make it a beautiful second half. Remember this, it’s God who grows the plant to maturity and fruition but it’s your duty to plant the seed that you want and to take care of the plant to get the fruits that you desire.
The glass is half full. Keep filling it.
For me, it has been a busy first half. There’s much that has been going on in my life but allow me to talk about books. I love books.
I have always loved reading and now I am loving writing them, publishing them and talking about them with other authors and readers. I published my first one last year and soon after launched Book Talk. A show where other authors come to talk about their own books. The talks can be found at www.bookplacemedia.com. In the month of May, we celebrated our first anniversary and in June we crossed the 100 episodes mark. Thanks be to God and a big thank you to every author who has been a part of it this far.
Special thanks goes to Jonas Saul an international best selling author with over sixty books to his name, thirty of which are a series that is soon to be made into a movie. He has been a great inspiration to me and supporter of my writing and every other project involving books. He was a great reason that my first book came to life and was the first guest on my show.
Second in line is John Kabue. He is my number one fan doing everything possible to make sure that I keep going and never stop. One person can be a big influence in your life. Be careful whom you associate with. Your close associations will either build you or break you. I pray that John will continue to enjoy the many blessings God has in his life and add him more to overflowing.
Coming even closer to me, I want to highly thank my wife Felister. She has been a big blessing to my life that a book will not be enough to thank her for this far, leave alone an article. So, let me save this space for the second half of the story. God bless you my love.
The glass is half full. Keep filling it.
One of the questions I keep getting from people is “Anthony, how did you write and publish your book?”
For this second half, I want to answer that question publicly. I want to write a book and share my story of how I did it. Not only that, I want to share stories of how other authors wrote and published their own book(s), so that the next time someone asks me how I did it, I will simply hand out a book explaining how several authors did it. Look out for it. Coming soon. Currently inviting authors to send me their stories.
If we make to clear with this project in good time before the year is over, a sequel of my first book “Be Good For Good” will also come out. I will be inviting contributors to each tell a story of goodness. If you have such a story, check out book one and read the stories to see the format of how yours should be. Write and send it to me.
What are your plans for the second half? Please leave us a comment here below.
In late 2019, I watched as people run a Marathon in Athens Greece. I picked a lesson from there about endurance. Little did I know that for the next two years there wasn’t going to be a marathon happening, but it was going to be a tough race of life for the whole world. All through, I have seen people endure some rough times in their own life but still keep going. This is my encouragement to you this day. However tough life might get at times, keep moving. Don’t quit. There’s always a hope of a better tomorrow than yesterday as long as we keep moving on. Be known as a finisher not a quitter.
Today as I was going through some YouTube videos, educating myself more about podcasting, something that I have recently picked a passion for, I was hit by a surprise.
The presenter while giving an example of how to pitch to a podcast host decides to show it practically by picking on a show. And whose show does he pick? My show. A show that I started a while back with a lot of enthusiasm but then soon grew cold on it. In the recent past, I have not booked a guest on it and haven’t actively promoted it. Through this incident though, I picked a lesson or two.
I am glad that the show is out there. From this event, it’s being revived and I believe that it will come back stronger than it was at the start.
Had I not started it, put it out there to the public and done the five episodes that it has at this point, it would not have been discovered by anybody.
If you think about it, it’s the same with that big idea or big dream that you have been holding onto, procrastinating on and have never taken the smallest of steps to get started. In that state, nobody will ever know of it and you or anybody out there that could benefit from your idea has no chance to. Do it now.
You never know who has been waiting for the seedling of your dream to appear above the ground so that they can be your helper. And even before that, we all know that it’s God who grows the plant into maturity and fruitfulness, but it’s your duty to put the seed into the ground. Just do it.
You might have been waiting for God to bring opportunities your way but God could just be waiting on you to take your first step towards your opportunities and into your greatness/destiny.
In our busy world, it’s very easy to be lost in the crowd. Each and everyone is busy running their own race of our life’s journey. The reason that you are never noticed is not that you are insignificant. It is because others have so much to focus on. The competition for attention is fierce. Not because others necessarily want you to lose, it’s just that they are hungry to win. If you compare yourself to others, your journey becomes a struggle.
Do not strive to become better than anyone out there, aim to be better than your previous self. Make today count. If it counts well, it will not only give you a better tomorrow, it will also add to a good lasting memory.
Keep going while others have left you behind. Keep going while others have been left behind exhausted.
And when you think that you done all that it takes, ……… do more.
‘Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.‘ – Ecclesiastes 11:6
If you can notice yourself in motion, others may soon notice you.
