Esteemed Magazines April-May 2007 | Page 7

By yourself to rejuvenate Quiet time by Wangari Kimani "The Universe is no respecter of persons --- only principles." Gravity is a great principle of the universe and regardless of who you are... regardless of your intelligence... regardless of your wealth (or lack thereof)... you are subject to the law of gravity. Step off the edge of a building and you will get the exact same result that I get if I step off the edge of a building. Success is the same way. It's no respecter of persons --- only principles. To ignore the fact that success is no respecter of persons --- to work yourself to the bone in ignorance or disregard of important principles --- is the quickest way I know to sabotage your success Wise words to get by:  One comes to believe whatever one repeats to oneself sufficiently often, whether the statement be true of false. It comes to be dominating thought in one's mind. - Robert Collier  Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire. - Dale Carnegie  Within you right now is the power to do things you never dreamed possible. This power becomes available to you just as soon as you can change your beliefs. - Dr. Maxwell Maltz  The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by obvious realities. We need men and women who can dream of things that never were. - John F. Kennedy  We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. - Marian Wright Edelman  We must overcome the notion that we must be regular... it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary and leads you to the mediocre.Uta Hagen  It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference. - Paul "Bear" Bryant  The principle of the Law of Attraction is that whatever you are seeking in the Universe is also seeking you. - Vic Johnson  It's not what you are that holds you back, it's what you think you are not. - Denis Waitley  If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. - Lewis Carroll Poetry of the heart SMILE - Author Unknown A Smile costs nothing, but gives much. It enriches those who receive, without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it, and none is so poor, but that he can be made rich by it. A Smile creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in business, and is the countersign of friendship. It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and it is nature's best antidote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone, until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile; Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give. Inspired by the one who owns cattle over a thousand hills W hen I read the word of God and I look at the people He chose to do His work, I am amazed. Look at Noah, when God told him to build the ark, the man was 600 years old (in the current generation, this is not possible especially when you consider that anyone above 100 years is extremely old). He was the only one found righteous in the sight of God when God wanted to finish the world because of its sin. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Joseph, Samson, David, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, Job, Esther, Ruth, Sarah, Hannah, Rahab, Mary and many more of these great men and women. None of them had anything to offer the world and they have their names living until today because God saw that they had the potential to do His great and mighty work. Even they did not consider themselves worthy and capable of such great jobs. They just did what they did average. But when they got the revelation of God, they stopped being average and common; and what they then accomplished, was more than anyone could imagine. For each person who made a great accomplishment in the bible, they had a personal meeting with God where a divine revelation was made. None of them just woke up one day and decided to do the great deed. There was a divine assignment. For many of us today, we think that divine assignments ended with the biblical times documented in the bible. But they did not. They are still as alive as we are. I keep asking one question every time I find myself wondering if I will make it to be a successful person who does the will of God and one who has a purpose and destiny. The question is – if I worship and have faith unshaken in the same God who made the waters of the Red Sea part ways for the Israelites to cross over while escaping the Egyptians, what makes me think that that same God cannot bring to pass that which I am trusting Him for? It is good to know the bible stories and the miracles that took place because then it reminds one that we are not dealing with “powers that be”. We are dealing with the Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and Earth and Giver of Life. In our path to success over what He has revealed to us and in what we are pursuing, be it employment in a government office, self-employment or philanthropic works, we need to remember that we need to rise above mediocrity and perform at higher levels of excellence and perfection. Even in our businesses, what is so special that removes you away from the rest of the pack? It is time we stopped doing business like everybody else. Point of illustration – if you keep going to sample services in different restaurants and you find that out of five that are in the same lane or block they are all offering the same standard of service, will you bother to go back? Won’t you start diversifying out of that lane to see if those further afield have something different and better to offer? And that is where most of us lose our very dear customers. We get too familiar with them and stop treating them as special, hoping they will understand that that’s just the way things are. As one preacher said, mediocrity creeps in when we believe that we have it all. Page 7 Excellence in your business and life should not be an achievement; it should be your character. A reference point by which people can refer to or describe you. And how do you achieve that level of perfection and Prime status? 1. Commit all to God. Prime to everything else is the understanding that nothing is possible without God. Failure to include God in all your plans and committing them to God is a recipe for extremely slow movement to your success, if not failure to get there. God gives us the talents, gifts, and resources; by His grace, doors that would previously be closed to you are opened. By committing our plans to Him, His favor precedes us and we are able to achieve more than we even imagined. 2. Work hard and smart. Ever watched a wind vane, It is important as it gives us the direction of the wind and that is why it is placed so high up with no barriers. Unfortunately it just goes round the same pole, never gets anywhere but it is seen to be working. Now a lot of us are exactly the same. We are working so hard and not getting anywhere because we have got no particular direction we are going to. Working smart allows God the opportunity to answer the prayers we make concerning our success and it allows us to utilize the gifts and talents that God put in each one of His human creation. 3. Stop being afraid. I once heard someone say that fear aborts God’s blessings for us and it also keeps us away from God’s blessings. If Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Group of companies) had been afraid to risk his life while crossing the Atlantic airborne, that bit of history would probably still be unwritten. Get out of your comfort zone and just worth noting is that those who dared to be blest by God dared to risk everything they had and the rewards were beyond their imagination. 4. Don’t be a cry baby. Just because things don’t work out, don’t grumble or beat yourself up about it to the extent that you think that you can’t try again. Learn from your mistakes and keep moving. Fall down, get up, dust yourself off and walk again. Develop a spirit like that of an alley cat. It goes out there fights for its rightful place, it is scratched, hurt and bloodied. It then retreats to its corner and nurses its wounds and before long, it is back there again. At some point the rest of the cats just don’t see the point of fighting anymore with one who doesn’t give up. Refuse to get frustrated. 5. Love and appreciate yourself. Personally I have accepted, I am not a party animal! Any gathering beyond 10.00 p.m. can sure be better without me because my eyes get a life of their own, they start acting droopy and the safest place to be is my bed. That I have accepted. Anything to the contrary is punishing myself and inconve niencing any company I may be in at that hour. Accepting what you are not is not a weakness, it is a strength because it is in this acceptance that one realizes what they are good at and they can develop it rather than fighting a losing battle with what they are not.