HILARIOUS!! IF YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM, SLAP THEM!!!

Hi! I just came across this 'inspiring' video...I guess you would love the resilience and persistance of the winner...you will also admire the determination of the guy that came in second...his hunger for success and his anger at not being allowed to win. To me, this is a collectible! Have a great week...and go out there and dream of winning wont you? If you have to slap someone...slap them to win!

THE POWER OF A DREAM

Sometimes, the human race sees abominable atrocities orchestrated against each other. Sometimes the human soul is stretched to the very limit...tried and tested...deprived of anything basic...robbed of freedom. Stories abound in the past across the world of such scenarios. The Titanic Stories are mind boggling...especially when told by the survivors. Recently, we posted a story about the survivors of the war in Northern Uganda....a child narrated how her only hope in her state of abduction was a song taught in Sunday school.

The best illustration on the power of a dream is the man called Victor Frankl. Unbelievable stories abound about the Jewish Holocaust, but Frankl's account is sensational and nearly out of this world....Robbed of his freedom and dumped in a concentration camp...and let to live a life of 'waiting for your time to die'...amidst insurmountable atrocities, Victor survived by the power of a dream. He says this:  "...everything can be taken from a man but one thing:  the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." 

Paradoxically very many people have robbed themselves of this power to choose, this power to dream...by accepting their conditions...by not having that 'holy discontentment' that says "there has gotta be more to life than this!" Dreaming is the power that all and sundry have today...whether experiencing those difficult circumstances of situations...or whether coasting about in living a purpose-less life...to stretch their imaginations for a better life to come. There is a beauty that comes when we dream. Someone said that the future belongs to those who believe in the power of their dreams.

The gist of this post is not necessarily about dreaming in adverse conditions....but about dreaming itself. There is tremendous power, excitement and hope in dreaming. Dreaming has strongly been linked to Faith. Scores of souls all over the world have overcome all odds to see their dreams realized.Think about this, If people like  Victor Frankl have used the power of a dream...to build hope and faith...and to go through a tough situation, how about dreaming in the 'normal' peaceful circumstances? Probably, this is where the irony lies. When there is no pain...no suffering...when all is well...we stop dreaming! We become content, we allow things that we eventually accept.

A life Signature can formed when in those moments of peace...in those normal circumstances, that a soul chooses to start designing his or her life, and dream big. Deciding what they will no longer stand for, what they will no longer accept not only in their life, but also in their world around them. Such dreamers almost always form a nemesis that will strengthen their resolve to take action and realize a dream. A sign of people living a life on purpose is that they dream big dreams, they realize THEIR VALUE...and refuse to stoop low and coast through life by default, not making any positive impact in their world!

 It is OK to dream. It costs nothing but your mind to dream. There is nothing to lose when you dream, but limitless possibilities abound. It is OK to dream.

A research conducted in those concentration camps shows that although none of the prisoners knew when and whether they would get out, those who gave up on their future succumbed to death few days later. Marcia Weider says that the state called apoptosis that says that when your brain believes you’ve outgrown your usefulness, when people or companies stop having vision, the brain sends a message to the body that it’s no longer needed...and people and companies start to self-destruct.

Many people could be coasting through life in their comfort zones, dreamless, purpose-less, mission-less...not knowing that apoptosis has been activated  silently in thier lives....When we dream, we engage our minds, and our brains...the human brain once stretched will never go back to its original state!
So do you have a dream or are you silently wasting away?

"A FUGITIVE AND VAGABOND SHALL THOU BE!"

This can easily be one of the most controversial posts on this blog. The Title of this post is lifted straight from the Bible...a book that has amazing statistics to note. Think about this: The Bible is the most read book year in year out world-wide....the Bible is the most stolen book to date...just these two statistics should make one want to check it out...but I digress.

The Bible reports that Cain murdered his brother Abel because of envy...and boy do we see envy all around us today? Did you know that envy could be as close as inside of you? Think about it, where does envy stem from? Isn't it from not knowing and living your dreams? Have you ever found a person so passionate in their dreams and seriously pursuing them...envious of a brother or a sister who is 'seemingly' making it in life? Hardly! But I digress again.
Part of Cain's punishment was to be 'a fugitive and Vagabond on earth'. I believe that that is one of the most severe punishments that can be meted on a human being. Why? Because it is contrary to the original intention of the human race to be fugitives and vagabonds on earth. The SOLE PURPOSE for the existence of the human race lies here: "You are here to bear fruit, reproduce, lavish life and live bountifully".

Look at the energy levels of those two scenarios. "A fugitive and Vagabond, aimless wanderer on earth" vs "bear fruit, reproduce, lavish life and live bountifully"!There is a heaven and earth difference in those two scenarios. Here is a man created for the sole purpose of making things happen, governing the happening things and having fun at it....now playing hide and seek with the world, governed by fear (Cain said...."I am a hopeless wanderer on earth, whoever finds me will kill me")!!

However, bringing this close home...the analogy applies to people who are not living the Original Purpose...both generally and specifically...and oh! they are in the billions world over! Come to think of it, if I have no idea what my SPECIFIC MISSION on earth is....what difference really is there between me and brother Cain? Honestly? Can we talk about this? Worse still we all know the 'generic God given mission'...if I am not living it, acting it...what difference is there between me and brother Cain?
Myles Munroe most famously said, "The richest place on earth is not the oil fields in the east, or in the uranium deposits in the Balkans....the riches place on earth is in the graveyard".

We walk around wandering AIMLESSLY on earth...as if we are second-rate citizens, and not the initial MANAGERS of the earth itself! We walk around as vagabonds, bearing burden after burden after burden...that when weighted on the scale shows no ounce of inclination on PURPOSE!

Frankly, I am tired of that kind of a lifestyle. My life has got to count. So should yours! There has got to be a reason as to why I did not die at child birth as Brother Job wished...there has got to be a reason as to why my name and passport size photo has never appeared in the obituary column...there has got to be a reason as to why I survived that disease...that heartache, that pain...that rejection....that retrenchment...that job loss...that 'mess'...THERE HAS GOT TO BE A REASON AS TO WHY I AM HERE!!!

I made a decision to zealously pursue and find out THAT REASON...and then passionately live it out and spend myself and at the end of the day, die empty! My mission is not that the world will see me on TV...or that documentaries be made about me...am not in this for fame or fortune...but I am in this for SIGNIFICANCE...am in this like a glove to perfectly fit 'the hand' that was fashioned to wear...and I am totally sure that the God who told Cain (after issuing his punishment) "Anyone who kills Cain will pay seven times over"...will be up there backing me up, slapping people high fives and yelling "THAT'S MY SON, THAT'S MY SON".
I am not a fugitive and vagabond...I am a man on Purpose! YES!!

HALT! WHO ARE YOU???

Some day years back, I had just visited a good friend of mine at his home in Nairobi. We were actually neighbors. I took quite a while in his house as together with a Spiritual leader, we discussed some areas of our spiritual dimensions. After a moment of bonding, I left his house and headed home...it was dark..around 8 p.m. My host actually sent me away with some three or so pieces of meat pie.

It turned out that that was my Dinner, Breakfast, Brunch, and Lunch. Just few meters away from his house, I met with marauding police officers who were sweeping the estate clean in response to some murders that had taken place the previous day. "Who are you? Where Is your Identification Card?" Their leader blurted out. I said: "Oh ooh"! The rest is history.

The dramatic story of my release as the guest of the state will remain untold for some time, to a later date.

But come to think of it.Can you answer that question without thinking? Who are you? What is your level of Self Awareness? Studies done by a company called Innermetrix identified two groups of people...those who are struggling at work...and those who are having great fun at work, bordering on genius peak performance. Do you know what they found out? Those who were struggling at work...'the Average Performers' had just about 57% level of self awareness. The Genius performers on the other hand had over 89%-90% level of their Personal Awareness!

They knew what they were good at to the furthest degree of clarity. They also knew what they were not so good at....What Jay Niblic (Author of What's Your Genius) fondly refers to as "What they suck at".

The very core of your Life Signature is Self Awareness! You cannot make an impact in this world if you have no clue WHO YOU ARE....NO WHO YOU REALLY ARE! The quest to find you out must be there.
Come to think of it, most corporate organizations normally conduct a S.W.O.T Analysis to determine their Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This is a very beautiful model to use in our own personal lives. If you really stopped to think about it, I submit that the human being is the most expensive, most valuable, and most irreplaceable 'organization' that the world has ever seen.Say...what's your worth really?
It goes without saying that we MUST be totally aware of ourselves.

1. Focus 80% of your time, effort, energy and money on your strengths. Taking the dimension of what you SHOULD DO....rather than what you COULD DO. This is where success stems from. It makes no sense for me to neglect my strength areas and focus on my weaknesses, trying to improve them, yet I can coast effortlessly in what I love, What I am Gifted and Talented on...or what I have formidable experience on. Do you know your strengths? There is a book called 'Now Discover your strengths'. That would be a good place to get started. Someone said that Integrity is being true to who God made you to be...and certainly that domain is the domain of your strenghts.
2. What you are not aware of will be your Waterloo. Again, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Knowing what you 'Suck at' is an integral part in life. This will help you strengthen your strengths, by not dwelling so much here. Jay Niblic says: "When I align myself with what I am doing to depend on what I am NOT good at, I am manufacturing my weaknesses"
3. In turning Passion into Profit, there is no better place to look at than your strenghts. Businesses exist because they provide VALUE to the society. We need to do a thorough examination of the NEEDS the society has out there...and see how naturally our Strengths can be used to meet these needs.
4. Lastly, we must be really aware of what we have taken for granted. What we neglect to cultivate. What strengths we have and could use yet we stock them to gather dust. Brian Tracy says that the human being has been made with a vast capability of creativity...which is honed by use. The moment you stop using your creativity, you lose it-at least temporarily.

So, Who are you? Do yourself a favor and know thyself! Honestly...who are you really? He is cuffed for success he who has a low level of self awareness!

ARE YOU WEARING YOUR ENGAGEMENT RING?

Certainly, one of the most exciting things in a gal's life is when a dude goes down on bended knee, looks into her eyes and 'pops the question'. I have no clue how a gal feels when this happens...but the part that I know is that the dude normally scratches his head to figure out the 'how'....the very best way that he will pop the question. Dudes always want it to be an unforgettable and memorable experience for their gals...which is very commendable. I have done that popping thing twice...and I know that I was not creative enough on both counts...but that is another story that I will not digress on.

 

Anyway, I really love that part of life...it tells you that someone has narrowed down...zeroed in on their focal point, and from there on, that is what their focus for the rest of their lives will be about. Isn't that just cute?

The same thing applies on our Calling, Our Life's Purpose, Our Mission on earth, Our Life Signatures! Say...are you engaged to your Mission? Have you zeroed in on it? Do you have the focus it takes to propel your life mission to the next level?

In our earlier post, we talked about 'How to Reconnect with your Life Purpose'. The very next thing that happens once you have reconnected with your life purpose is Engagement. This process is what is called Alignment. In order to fulfil your God given purpose on earth...you must know your starting point. You must first understand what that starting point is...your talents, your gifting, your passion, your calling, your strength zone, your experiences or education, your pet subject, your heart's desire. You must also understand your nemesis, your weaknesses, your moral code. Long story short, Alignment comes just before engagement.(I know this alignment example is not even relevant to the guys who get betrothed at a young age,but it does apply to engagement) In the same way that the gal is sought before being engaged, there has got to be a quest, an ardent seeking for your WHY on earth.

Successful people are engaged individuals. Think about it, what happens when we get engaged?

1. We give the 'victim of our emotions' a SIGN of our commitment-A ring. Two powerful words here: SIGN and COMMITMENT. The ring speaks to both the gal and the dude. From that point on, the two are committed to each other, looking forward for bigger things in the near future. That is what happens with our Life Purpose. Once found, you start preparing for it, researching, analyzing, asking questions, and fueling it.
2.  We tell the world what just happened. This aligns the thinking of the world to the knowledge that the two are locked. It is like a missile locked onto its target...even if the target moves, that missile will change course and follow the target. When you get locked to your Life Signature, the your whole world is centered around it. What happens next is that the World (not just your world) but the world will see you in the light of your Purpose. Has the world taken note of you lately? If not, you are not wearing your ring.
3. The two pledge faithfulness to each other...'forsaking all others'. Successful people are faithful to their passion, and pay less and less attention to other things, namely their weaknesses. A previous post talks of the power of focus...you become a MASTER in your niche and trade. When I want to have decorations done for my wedding, I will not look for a lackluster Decorator...we mostly look for MASTERS in their trades. Wearing your ring prepares you to become a MASTER.
4. We set a date for the 'Big Day', the wedding. I love it. Anytime someone sees your gal wearing your ring, they ask...'So when is the big day?' The big day is future oriented. Your Mission on earth is not fulfilled when you realize it...it is fulfilled OVER TIME as you keep working on it. Realizing your dream should be the happiest START DATE of your life. There are two very important days in our lives-first the day we were born, and second, the day we realize WHY? Goal setting is a crucial component of world-changers. Just like the date is set for the 'big day' so we must set dates, goals that tell us of our intention to 'do' stuff related to our engagement.

My vision is to see as many people as possible wearing their rings of purpose...and totally engaged in in passionate pursuit for their big day and far most important...the rest of their days. After all, the most important thing in a relationship is not the wedding....but the Marriage.

Folks, it is time to get locked! Are you wearing your ring? Does 'your world' know that you are here? Has the world spotted you?

NO DREAM IS IMPOSSIBLE

It has been said that whatever is conceived in the mind can be achieved. We, the human race are all dreamers and visionaries. Some of us are Stellar Visionaries. When it comes to dreaming, you cannot fail the exam, since we all do have heart's desires that we would give anything to materialize. I have some dreams that are so deep seated, that anytime I talk about them, I cry. Some dreams can be as common as being a Daddy...as simple as having a University Education, as inspiring as making a difference-but they are all achievable. No dream is impossible.

The following story is borrowed from Visionary Business University (of which I was privileged to attend online some time in 2010). The chief Visioneering officer is Jeffrey Howard of www.mastermindmentor.com. Jeffrey had an interview with Marcia Wieder, a Stellar visionary of Dream University, who has been hosted on Oprah, has met several US Presidents and is the personal Coach to Jack Canfield, the best selling author of Success Principles. This is part of it:

My favorite story - and I guess it’s become the signature story because I tell it so much - but it’s a brief story and I really love this.I was giving a talk in Portland, Oregon and a young man came up to me and he said, “Thank you for your talk today, it really inspired me, I’m a long way from
home.” And I looked at him – he was very tall, very unusual, very dark skin,  almost blue. And I knew he was from far, far away. He had said “I’m a long way from home.”And I said, “Oh, I travel a lot too.” And he said, “Well, this might be a little different you see this is the first Sunday
of my life that I’ve been away from my tribe.”Of course I stopped what I was doing, “Your tribe? Who are you? Where are you from?”And he said, “I’m from Kenya, Africa. I’m part of the Maasai Warrior Tribe.”And I said, “Well, what are you doing in Portland? (laugh)

He Said, "When I was very young, very, very young, I became ill and mother took me to a near-by medical clinic. And from that day forward my dream was to become a doctor, but it was impossible. There was no training,available, and you didn’t leave the tribe,” he said. It just wasn’t done.” He said,“As I grew up. I shared the dream with everyone and everyone including my own family told me to forget it. They told me it was a fantasy. They’d role their eyes at and told me to go back to work.” He said, “but I never forgot it, and recently around my 18th birthday, a visitor came from your country an it turned out that he was a writer for the Washington Post. He wrote my story. A few weeks later, a couple in Portland, Oregon happened to read it. I was invited to apply for undergraduate work. And in a matter of months I was accepted at the University of Portland.” And I looked at him and said, “It must have been the happiest day of your life.” He said, “No, it was the worst day. It was horrific.” My family didn’t have the resources to send me off to America to follow a dream of becoming a doctor. It
just really was impossible.” And he literally said Jeff, he said, “I did the only thing I knew to do. I prayed for a miracle, and that’s what I got. Four families came forward. Each one made the commitment one year apiece to feed me, to house me, to buy my books, to basically love me and be my family while I was so far from home.”

Well, he’s telling the story, and I am a puddle, as you are right now. We just turned into puddles, because it’s just unbelievable. And what he said next is what really makes him one of the great visionaries that I ever met. He said, “But it wasn’t until today when I heard you speak so passionately about dreams, that I really got clear about what I need to do. I need to become
a doctor, of course, that’s my dream. But then I need to go home. I need to go back to my tribe and be an example that no dream is impossible, and the extraordinary things that can happen when we gather together as a tribe or as a team .

Wow! Enough said. The story captivated me so much, seeing that I am a Kenyan, and I got to hear this story online from someone so far away in the US. The biggest part of the story is how Marcia Wieder closes it:

I just hear that story and I think: No dream is impossible. And I don’t care how big your obstacles are, or how little you have, or what the issues are - if you really are committed to your dream. Then I would say, “Put a stake in the ground. Set an intention. Put yourself in right relationship to it with your integrity, because in my work: intention and integrity together form the core building block for making your dreams come true. So it’s not enough to say you want it, you have to do something about it. And when I watch people do
that, miracles do occur.

Go out there and DREAM!

ACTION ATTRACTION

Don't Just sit there, Do something!!

It was Teddy Roosevelt who said: "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." That gray twilight that Teddy talked about stalks VISIONARIES day in and day out.
 I read somewhere that "there are those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and then there are those who ask "What happened?" Granted, I'd rather hang around a visionary, a master dreamer than be in the company of vision less, dreamless people who accept et all that life deals them.  However, every visionary must in all due respect take action and transform his or her Vision into a passionate heart pursuit Mission.According to Dr. Myles Munroe:

If you want to become successful in life, take your ideas and turn them into imagination; then take imagination and duplicate it physically. Put it down. Let it become a plan of action.-From 'Purpose for Living'

Personally, there are tens of ideas that are mulling over my mind. In addition there are hundreds of concepts that I have gathered over the years and now located in the hard drive of my laptop. One of the greatest tragedies in life is not that we do not know what to do, but that we do not initiate action on the  tiniest of clues that we have. If I would implement just two of my ideas, coupled with just five concepts, I would be a thousand more fruitful in the next one year than I have been in five years!

The First biggest reason as to why Visionaries don't take action is the feeling that 'they don not have enough information to take action. As a result we end up in what i call research paralysis. We keep gathering information upon information, the whys and the wherefores, the ifs and if not's. I have lived short enough to discover that "Your finite mind will never have a full grasp of a concept or idea at conception". The Only mind that can conceive in totality the beginning, the process, the end, the outcome, the setbacks et all is the Infinite mind. If you are trapped in this research paralysis, it is time you put your vision into motion.

The second biggest reason for endless 'vision-eering' without action is the feeling that the vision is too huge to accomplish. The feeling that tells you that there are no resources, and that you do not have all it takes to bring the vision into fruition. This is like the first, they are like Siamese twins. The Paralysis that comes from here is as a result of taking the whole project at a go, and feeling absolutely stuck and hapless. The remedy again is ACTION. Martin Luther King Jr said " Faith is taking the first step even when you do not see the whole staircase". Remember the finite mind? At the time that the finite mind is thinking limitations, impossibilities and difficulty, the Infinite mind at that very same moment has a way out!  The best way out of this is to take small sure and consistent action steps that OVER TIME will accumulate to a massive force of momentum which Darren Hardy fondly calls "The Compound Effect".

The third reason why I am all talk and no action is fear. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear that others will laugh at me. This is a biggie! Again, talking of the finite mind....at the time that you are busy being afraid of the outcome, at exactly that SAME time, the Infinite has numerous ways out of that predicament. The very first post on this blog was about 'OVERCOMING FEAR'. Guess what remedy was suggested? ACTION!! This works for me as sure as this morning.Creativity seldom stems out of dormancy. In fact, I am told that there is a certain condition (i forget its name) where the brain sends messages to the body, telling it that it is no longer needed- because of dormancy!

Taking massive ACTION is a powerful way of obtaining unfathomable results. At the time you set out to do something, you might have no clue of its total outcome. However, as you keep at it, as you build momentum, one MANAGEABLE action step after another, the Idea grows daily, and even BRANCHES of to other ideas and causes. In a previous post, we talked about the revolution of Mobile Telephony. We said that if you were asked few years back whether it was possible to send/receive cash, pay bills, and purchase groceries using your cell phone...you would not believe it. Why? Because you did not even have a Cell phone, and had no Idea whether you could own one! But do you think that stopped the revolution? No it did not. Today, so much is done by that small gadget by billions of people. Nothing can stop an Idea whose time has come. Just like a living cell multiplies, so that idea will grow exponentially.

I had the idea to start up this blog last year. However, I too fell into that trap of visioneering without action. However, when I decided to take action, my ideas have grown through leaps and bounds. At the moment, I have over 20 posts-concepts that I am mulling over in the blog. About three of these have already been written, just waiting for the appropriate time to publish. With every post I publish for sure, there are several BRANCHES (read posts) that I can take. There is no way I could feel the truimph I feel with this blog if I never took action.

Taking massive action is one sure way of creating unrivalled momentum with your Idea, your dream, your vision, your Life Signature. It is easy to steer a vehicle in motion than a parked one. Again, it is very difficult to dump things on a moving object than it is to do so on a stationary one.

Ask yourself:
What is my Life Signature?
What is the next intermediate step that I can take towards this Vision?
What is holding me back?
Have i thought it through?
Don't just sit there, come on. DO SOMETHING!!

WHAT ABOUT DEAD DREAMS?

"What about trees? What about Love? ...." Those are some of the lyrics of a powerful song done by the Jacksons back then when music was music, and Dad had an Afro. For those of you who are younger than me by say 10-15 years, we used to wait for a certain show on Saturday called Saturday Night Live to cram the lyrics of famous songs. The presenter would play the song of the day and read the lyrics back and forth…few of us had radio…and for those who had to share a radio as a family…your dad probably would not be interested in the program you were listening to…I digress.

Pop Legend MJ was part of this group. THIS IS IT was his last instalment to the music industry.. That too is a dead dream. Micheal died few days after announcing a musical tour, that according to him would eclipse all the work in his lifetime. Sadly, that dream died with Micheal.

It is not so common to find a soul who has all wishes and dreams fulfilled. A host majority of people had yearnings and desires that either have not been fulfilled or that they have given up on them altogether. I personally had a dream of being a Human Rights Lawyer…it was real, it was compelling. If the correct circumstances would have been put in place, I would probably be one of the most vocal human rights fighters. I would probably be on the forefront of prosecuting violators of human rights at the Hague.

The second dream that I had that was very compelling was being a journalist. I dreamt of writing compelling stories in the print media. Needless to say, that dream is dead.

The Third Dream that I had was to rise to the echelons of the Computer World, specifically in Information Technology. Like the first dream, I am sure if all the ingredients to achieving this dream were met, I would be the Top Most IT practitioner this world has ever seen. Why? Because my dream was real, compelling.

The Fourth most compelling dream I ever had, that I could even rank it first on the intensity scale was to obtain a university degree. I have never been so desirous about a thing like I was on this one. Again, if all the ingredients necessary to fulfill this dream were available, I am totally sure I would be one of the Top Most graduates of all time right now.

The pertinent part that I would like to focus here is the question “Is it possible to have a Life Signature while at the same time I have Dead Dreams?” Someone might be saying “I could give anything to be a nurse”…but they have absolutely no ‘ingredients’ to make that dream happen. Such stories are multiplied all over the place.

We all know of the following series of dead dreams:

• He lost his job in 1832 (Sounds familiar?)
• He was elected to the legislature in 1834
• He suffered the death of his sweetheart in 1834
• He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1836
• He was defeated for speaker of the State Legislature in 1838
• He was defeated for nomination for Congress in 1843
• He was elected to Congress in 1846
• He was rejected for the position of Land Officer in 1849
• He was defeated for the Senate in 1854
• He was defeated for the nomination for vice president of the United States in 1856
• He again was defeated for the senate in 1858
• He was elected president of the United States in 1860.

The human being is the creature that has been filled with the highest level of resilience on earth. What about Dead Dreams? I am a Lawyer? Am I a Journalist? Do I hold a degree? Not guilty on all counts your Honor! But I keep looking deep. If you have suffered dead dreams, probably, that is where you need to really start looking for your life signatures.

What was the underlying WHY of your Dead Dream? Enumerate all the WHYs of your Dead Dreams. Can you pursue the fulfillment of those WHYS in ANOTHER FORMAT? Can you accomplish those WHYS without the TITLE that you were seeking?

Failure, ladies and Gentlemen (as well as Dead Dreams) should never be our undertaker, but our teacher of resilience.

Care to share your Dead Dreams?

YOUR MASTERS YOUR LIFE SIGNATURE

I recently had a chat with a friend of mine who is pursuing a Degree Course in Journalism and PR in the United States. That must have been after about six years of not keeping in touch, so you can imagine that we were both curious. Needless to say, our discussion somehow zeroed in on marriage. She was very emphatic that she will not be marrying anyone UNTIL she has her MASTERS Degree!

Later on, we will be talking about Beliefs and Conditioning that the 'education system' has subjected us to...but I can mention here that quite a good percentage of people are intimidated when the words 'Degree', 'Masters' or Phd are mentioned. I love the Word Masters. To some people, a Masters conjurs up the picture of Tiger Woods in a Green Jacket... To me, it speaks of FOCUS and passion.

The sun is a powerful force in the universe, yet its rays are spread all over the place. If you would leverage its power  with a lens and converge its rays to one spot...watch out, there will be a fire! You are a SPARK ready to burn with passion as you pursue your Life Mission.

That is the awesome power of focus. Life Coaches world-wide will tell you that 'Whatever you focus your mind on becomes your reality'. That is the beauty of pursuing a Masters. You get to FOCUS on something SPECIFIC over a period of time until you become an AUTHORITY in that particular area. How beautiful would that be if what you focus your energies on is something that you Love, and are Seriously PASSIONATE about? The great teacher said "I would rather you were either cold or hot...and not lukewarm! Focus distinguishes us from the rest of the crowd, and believe me, the crowd is as big as 6 Billion at any given point in time!

The tragedy however, would be that you Master (or is it muster) something that you are absolutely passionless about. Your ladder is leaning on the wrong corporate wall, and you are busy climbing it! You get to the top, only to realize that you are on the wrong roof!


Naturally, a Master's Degree is awarded to individuals who have applied themselves to a SPECIFIC field of study or area of Professional Practise. This is normally in the academic domain.

In Life, everyone was born with a Purpose and a Mission to fulfil. The necessary interests, emotions, Passion and drive for this Life Purpose comes together with the individual at birth. Indeed, we have been given all that pertains to life and Godliness. Success easily comes when we do what we love and love what we do.Someone somewhere said that you need to turn your passion into profits. We will also be focussing on that particular topic later on in future posts.

Granted, everyone has a Life Purpose...but to quote Pastor Wa in his blog:

The truth is, your life is waiting to start when you start making choices to start it. Not when circumstances allow it. You see living your dream is just that. Living a dream. Something unreal. It means it's something unreal. You are simply taking something unreal, and bringing it into your real world...If you want difference in your life, then take charge of that Change!

I read a quote this morning that says "You are the CEO of the future of your life". The future belongs to the competent. The competent have MASTERED their trade. Remember, it is absolutely pointless to master something of which you are passion-less about.In this life, we have Doctors who should be Chefs, Business Executives who should be Pastors, Accountants who should be Social Workers...and many other Masters that are misplaced.

By declaring that everyone is supposed to have a Master's Degree, I am not in any wise insunuating that it is an easy four-step process, or that there is some 'secret' formula to obtaining a Masters Degree in Your Passion. Yes, there is a process, but most importantly, there is the INDIVIDUAL. The fact is that to as many as will rise up and reach out passionately to their Mission, there is no stoping them...and watch out as they 'turn the world rightside up!
For those who love lists, to have your Masters Degree in Life Signatures, the following are the steps you would take:

1. Reconnect with Your Life Mission, Your Life Purpose, Your Life Signature
2. Research thoroughly in your area of Passion. Self education will make you wealthy.
3. Reach out to OTHERs with your Life Signature, and contribute to their well-being.
4. Re-invent your Passion into Profits

Realize that in now wise can you achieve the above big bang. That is why you need clear and deliberate steps to attain your Masters and write your own Thesis. Remember, you need to obtain your own MASTERS, and have fun while you are at it.

CHILD SOLDIER NO MORE

This is one blog post that even I did not see coming. I am just from attending a presentation dubbed the Restore Tour, Child Solider No More at www.watotochurch.com (Sunday 10^th January 8:00 a.m.)

“There are two words that should never appear in the same breath, those words are ‘Child’, and ‘Soldier’. If they do, then they MUST be followed immediately by these two words ‘No More’”. That is the tour Leader speaking as he introduces this touching, inspiring and heart-searching presentation.

I had those deep body-shaking sobs at different times during the presentation. My mind was bombarded with this and that, and kept going back and forth…focusing on the victims, the vision bearers of the project, and my very own self.

That the atrocities depicted in the presentation happened in our day and age, under our watch is something unbelievable. 

The Reasons I sobbed:

a)      Inhumanity: “New born babies and toddlers were considered baggage, when the LRA soldiers raided the village, they smashed babies against trees until they died”…. “I was forced to kill a man, I could see him crying and pleading with me. I knew that if I did not kill him, I would be the very next victim….this happened over and over again until I had no remorse left in me”….. “I was raped…” “…they mutilated my grandmother and left her for dead…” “….I was only 12 when I was abducted…my brother was killed…my Father is missing…”… “we would be forced to push a family into their hut, burn it down and watch them die…then we would be made to sit on the dead bodies and eat food…at times we were told to taste their brains…”

These were systematic inhuman activities were carried on in Northern Uganda village after village, month after month, year after year…just to see the survivors narrating their story, I could not help but shed tears…tears of desperation, anger…I thought I had problems….

b)      Vision: “Where there is darkness, light shines even brighter”. Vision attracts people to rally around a cause and make positive change. A visionary is a man filled with so much passion. He DOES something, he acts. He is filled with compassion.  As the presentation went on, I could not help but shed tears. Smack in the middle of the heartache, turmoil, mutilations and untold human suffering, there is hope. His name is Gary Skinner. Together with Marylyn Skinner, they have helped rise up Watoto Church Gulu to bring hope where it was all but lost. The Restore tour is just but a glimpse of what this visionary couple has done. This journey has seen these once child soldiers tour the USA, Canada and the UK spreading the message of ‘triumph and not victimization’. My tears were tears of gratitude… “There was a man who answered the call”.

c)       Forgiveness: Even the angriest of us in that auditorium today was reduced to sobs when we heard one child soldier after another declaring that they have forgiven those who killed their parents, abducted them, raped them, killed their friends, smashed their cousins against trees to death…. “I forgive Joseph Kony for what he did to my family”…. “I forgive Commander___ for killing…” “I forgive my community for rejecting me when I came back from war”…. “…and I know I need to be forgiven for the very inhuman acts I was forced to do”… “I forgive myself”….

This is a phenomenal act in restoration of lives. Forgiveness. It teaches you to take personal responsibility for your recovery.  Forgiveness. It is setting someone free, but only to realize that the one being set free was you. When I saw young gals who were made child mothers, brutally separated from their homes, raped, beaten senseless, made to walk from Uganda to Sudan…pronouncing forgiveness to their captors and torturers…I was reduced to tears. These are kids innocent just like your own 6 year old sweet little daughter….your preteen niece…your funny and intelligent cousin…

Needless to say, I have never been so touched by a story in the recent past like the ‘Child Soldier No More’ presentation. I am more than challenged and know that this life of mine can also count for the better of humanity.

Right in the middle of this dark story, there are several life signatures that are in play. The Vision of Gary and Marylyn Skinner will always draw me to action…and will always lead me to sob with gratitude. Theirs is a Life Signature like no other.

Several other Life Signatures are being formed:

·         Rostow Abitegeka, Age 15, an orphan from the war. Future: Musician

·         FIder Akech, Age 17, Abducted at 9, future Teacher.

·         Florence Akello, Age 9, Orphan, Father abducted and killed; stepfather also abducted and killed, future: Doctor

·         Ketty Akumu, Age 12, orphan, Father was a soldier, future: Teacher

·         Geoffrey Alango, Age 19, abducted at 12, brother killed, father missing. Future: Doctor/Businessman.

·         Flavia Apio, Age 17, orphan, abducted at 7. Future: Doctor.

…among others.

This week’s Image of the week is that of the vision bearer of www.watotochurch.com, Pastor Gary Skinner.

For more information on how you can get involved in Impacting a Life, restoring a community, visit www.restoretour.com

HOW TO RECONNECT WITH YOUR LIFE PURPOSE-1

My Mentor, Coach Phillip of www.intelligent-performance.com teaches the 4-MAT process in Public Speaking: Why, What, How, What If.

Lots have been talked about Life Signatures, but one thing that has not been talked about is the HOW. By now, we all know WHAT a Life Signature is. We know WHY it is important to have and pursue a Life signature, and to live a life on Purpose. I am sure there are great questions that are being asked about the concept of Life Signatures. For example: How do I reconnect with my Life Signature? Why on earth am I here? How do I reconnect with my Life Purpose, my Mission? What's my mission? How do I know that I am living my Life on Purpose? Is Life Signatures only for religious people?

Great questions right there. Today, we are focussing specifically on the HOW. This might not take one blog post to exhaust. However, we will deal with the key aspects of Reconnecting with your Life Mission.

A common story is told of a dad who wanted to distract his son so he could watch his favorite game on TV. (Stay tuned, we will be addressing TV later on, and by the time we are through, you will shoot your tube dead!). No kidding, and no pun intended. The dad's method was to give his kid a complicated puzzle to piece together. This puzzle was in the form of a world map in the local daily. The smart dad tore that map into pieces, and send the son away with the assignment. Well...like father like son the Smart son came back FEW MOMENTS later with a job well done.

The Dad was shocked! It was now the Dad's turn to look at his son like he had just gotten off of a bus! "How did you do that?", he asked his son. "Well dad, on the flip side of the page was the face of a man, all i needed to do was piece the man back together, and the map would take care of itself". Bummer!

When you take care of a man's life, his whole world map comes together! For the time being, let us take a look on these two major issues on Life Purpose. They are intertwined:

• Its Within You, therefore, Look within and not without.

First off, we are talking about RECONNECTING. Not FINDING! Finding has a connotation of something being lost, when we talk about Reconnecting, it means that there was a connection, which at some point in time was plugged off. Your Life Signatures is within you. You were created and came to earth marked for greatness, and the greatness is not greatness itself. The greatness is knowing your mission, sticking to it like a stamp on an envelope to the very end, dying empty!

Therefore, the first thing you need to know in reconnecting with your life Mission here on earth is that it is within you. It is not something you acquire from outside, not something that you pick up and peddle around. On the contrary, your Life Signature is what picks you up when you reconnect, and shows you around the world!

• It is a HEART Issue:

You have already been calibirated to fulfill your Mission on earth. You are subconsciously aware of your Life Signature. It has to do with the heart, and nothing about the mind. A Life Signature is a function of the things you are passionate about. Things that make you cry. Things that make you ANGRY. Things that are your true heart's desire. You realize that they might not be a perfect match with your current vocation. It is easy to know...you dont like the work you are doing...you dont enjoy your work...and like myself about seven years back, you rebuke your work place every morning before you go there...

Your Life purpose is none of the following:

1. A Job Title
2. A wish
3. Attainment of material possessions
4. Attainment of Financial Freedom
5. Your academic qualifications

In summary the very place to start looking for your Life Signature is within you. Secondly, find out and enumerate all those thins that:

1. You are Passionate about
2. Make you angry.
3. Make you cry.

We will explore more on the HOW to reconnect with your Life Signature in later posts. Have a great weekend wont you!

WHERE IS YOUR SILVA COMPASS?

If life was a map, what would be your compass? Well, this question might not make much sense to you unless you understand the purpose of a Compass. Back in High School, I joined a Club called the President's Award Scheme. This is a National Challenge Award to the young people  aged between 15 and 25 years of age.The purpose of the award is to encourage young people to set and achieve a demanding challenge for themselves in each of four different areas of activity such as Community Involvement,Personal Skill,Physical Recreation, or Venture Activity.

Map and Magnetic Compass

 For the Venture Activity, a group would be dropped in some obscure spot in say a forest, given some time to rendezvous with the assessors at a particular point B. Those two points were well marked on the Map.

Our biggest navigational system was the Silva Compass. Remember, we had never been at that location in all our lives. I assure you that without that compass, there is absolutely no way (apart from guesswork) that we would arrive at point B and on time.
When you throw in that aspect of TIME, the whole equation really changes. If time was not a problem, am sure we would have lots of fun trying to guess what point B would be, but then that is where the problem starts. Each person in the group would have their own IDEA on what Point B is. The ramifications of Cholerics, Melancholics, Phlegmatics, Sanguines and those of us who are a mixture of all those groups trying to agree on point B would need another Blog to tell. And even if we remotely came to a concensus, pray tell me, how would we know that we have arrived at Point B?

Long story short, if this life was a map, our Life Signatures are the Silva Compass that we need for navigation. There is nothing as exciting as knowing where you are going and most importantly, knowing why you are going there. Again, the WHY of doing something is a great motivational force. People living their signatures are the most creative, enthusiastic and energetic you would meet. A certain preacher once said, "I set myself on fire, and people come to watch me burn!". That cannot be said of individuals who are not living their purposes can it?

People living (existing) daily without the knowledge of their WHY are not as productive as should be...they are those who Dr. Myles Munroe says die full! I remember working some few years back as a Data Analyst. This job was so demanding.

I needed to know the status of everything at all times, needed to give feedback to people in the office, in the field, as well as to the client. There are those hectic days that I would get off my desk in a major rush going to run errands...only to get stuck half way through where I was going, having totally forgotten WHERE i was going and WHY.

This is because I was doing many things at the same time. Sometimes life feels that way. The problem of not having a Life Signature is lack of productivity, and sometimes paralysis. The way they tame the great lions in Kenya is by use of a four legged stool. When a warden shows this to a lion, the primate has the urge to attack all the four points of the stool at once, thus being totally paralyzed.

If a man or woman has not Identified their Life Purpose on earth, pray tell me...how will they say together with Paul the Apostle "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith?"

Will they enjoy the search to Point B? Do you think they have enough time to search out their destination? Do you think they will ENJOY the search in the first place?
Do you have your compass?

LIFE ON PURPOSE

Success. Do you know that word? Does your life epitomize success? Do you know how to be successful? Did you know that you are INTENDED for success? At Life Signatures, we believe and know that success is the calling of every human being ever conceived and brought on earth. The most important ingredient in the quest and maintenance of success is living a life filled with purpose!

In fact the Concept of Life Signatures is simply the concept of 'having fun as you succeed'. The most successful people in life are those who are extremely passionate about what they are doing...they could even do it for free. In one of his blogs, John C. Maxwell says it best:

Over the years as I have watched and listened to successful people, I have discovered a common thread: They know why they’re here. Knowing their purpose in life gives them stability. And when others around them start abandoning their causes and jumping ship when life gets tough, these people use this assurance to steady the boat, to ride out the storm because they have a true North Star. It becomes an anchor in their life—a confidence based upon knowledge of purpose. Someone once said there are two great days in life—the day you are born and the day you discover why.

Wow! The day you discover WHY you are here on earth is the day your life will take a serious paradigm shift. A shift for significance, a shift for purpose. A shift for legacy. The paradox of Life Signatures is that you do not pursue to leave a legacy...you live out your purpose passionately here on earth...leaving a legacy behind is an effortless result that you do not need to oversee.

So it is with success. You do not pursue success to be successful, you become successful as you live your Life Signature.

Successful people are those who are 'loving what they are doing, and they are doing what they love'. Finding your Life Purpose on earth is in the initial stages of creating your Life Signature. If I could paraphrase Steven R. Covey, "Leadership is making sure that the ladder is leaning on the right wall". It is a beautiful thing to watch someone who is consumed with passion in what they do...it could be raising pigs, flying jets, raising a family like my Mum, or whatever. The bottom line is you are doing what you love, and you love what you are doing.

Gracing today's page is a photo of yours truly and Mama. She is a primary school teacher, but has raised four men against all odds, almost single handedly, through High School, two through University, and two through College. In fact, the last born crossed the border from Kenya to Uganda to pursue Senior Five and Six Education. Years back, I wrote Mama and told her "Your mission on earth I believe, is not to teach kids, but to raise four men".

When we were raising funds for the kidney transplant of our third born, Mama alone raised more than 50%. Passion, Love, Purpose.

You realize that when life is on Purpose, it makes no difference what the odds would be against you, you are always assured of success!

Have you found your purpose? Do you know what mission you are called to fulfil on earth? Is your ladder leaning on the right wall? Are you desperate and hungry to know "Why on earth Am I here?". Pursuit for purpose has been the longest I have ever embarked on...and am glad that I can now help millions of others shorten that seeking time through Life Signatures.

As the new year rolls away in earnest, think on these things, as David the Psalmist put it "Selah"

THE BIRTH OF LIFE SIGNATURES

"You must do your work and leave a mark behind that says: Lawrence was here". I caught myself telling my Coachees more than five times. In fact, this school of thought increased exponentially to the degree that I proclaimed to my Coachees "I am gonna build a website, and I would call it "lawrencewashere.com" .That was sometime back in 2009.

The one distinguishing aspect every time I spoke on this concept was the passion with which I communicated. I remember after a job well done in the close of 2009, I declared to my team…”there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that you did it, it will be said of you that you were here in 2009”. That statement is most true today. The team I led in 2009 to champion for the very first time since creation, in the land of Uganda, the concept of Mobile Money Transfer rose to the occasion and delivered. When this happened, I got very interested in the aspect of Performance, going all out and leaving a mark. That mark is nothing but a legacy.

Behind the scenes (read in the subconscious mind), something was cooking. Dr. Robert Anthony calls it “The Law of Critical Mass”. This Law states that: What you focus your heart on becomes increasingly important and it expands. What you focus your heart energy on will expand. The more you focus on your heart’s desire the more you build towards the level of Critical Mass.

Life Signatures is definitely a HEART issue. This concept of High Performance and Legacy was and still is to a larger degree my main key note for motivation and inspiration. I have since focused on these concepts as the Law of Critical Mass builds up to something grander than I have thought, all starting with an Idea. This is what I call Branching (But we will come back to it at a later date).

What is Life Signatures?

The Words Passion, Purpose, Energy, Fulfillment, and Legacy are all associated with Life Signatures.

A Life Signature is a life lived on Purpose, fueled by Passionate Heart’s Desire, plugging into our Core Dreams, generating massive Fulfillment, the end result being OTHERS™ lives being positively impacted, thereby Leaving A Legacy.

I am thoroughly convinced that each conception in the womb since Adam has a Life Signature. Why? Everyone has a dream. Everyone was created to fulfill a Mission here on earth. The highest form of fulfillment is making a positive change to the world. The only simple (not easy) was of doing this is through Life Signatures.

Of course the substitute to leaving a legacy is working hard using will-power. With this kind of concept, the odds are against many people. Hard work on something less than a Life Signature will never leave a legacy. Take a small census of people who left or are leaving (living) a legacy on earth: Nelson Mandela, John C. Maxwell, Abraham Lincoln, Moses, Jesus Christ…can you see the concept of Life Signatures in them?

One Life Signature in the name of Zig Ziglar says “No monument has ever been erected for a critic”. In fact, one of his most popular dictums is “You can have everything you want in life if you help enough OTHER people to get what they want in life”. Enough said.

Given the statements above, the only thing left to reckon with is the HOW. How do we obtain and operate with Life Signatures? The answer to this question is this Blog. I am sure with the Law of Critical Mass, as well as Branching, Life Signatures will ‘Inspire Hope and Enrich lives Worldwide’. Here at Life Signatures, we treasure above all else the well being of others by getting involved in their lives through giving of self, material, example, motivation and inspiration.

In 2011, why don’t you strive to have Your Life Signature? Happy New Year!!