FAILING WITH A SMILE...

"There more I look at it, the more I think it is folly to eliminate #Failure from our lives. We are not God"! ~ Life Signatures 

I just had a heated ‘discussion’ with my colleagues about why there was no much euphoria in Kenya after the Olympics like there was in Uganda. A small detail to mention is that Kenya won several medals while Uganda came out with just one Gold medal courtesy of one Stephen Kiprotich.

They tell me that Ugandans are more celebratory and love appreciating small things…I tell them that their purported ‘small thing’ is a rare gold medal after 40 years of waiting. I tell them that Kenyans average at least 5 gold medals each year…the discussion is a stalemate…so I move on to add one more post to this blog.

That gentleman Kiprotich said something very interesting. He said that he practiced or rather trained for that gold medal for more than five years. He says that one day, he raced against the great Haile Gabrselassie. During that meeting, he asked for tips on how he can be great.

As it were, Stephen lost that race…yet with a smile on his face. That was not the only race he lost. Yet that smile still was on his face. He knew what he was aiming at. Sweet loses those were for the man knew that race by race, he was inching closer to his greatest goal.

Stephen already embraced what I strive to embrace myself...loving to fail. Here is the thing: We all hate failing. We would all go to all costs to avoid failure. Yet again and again, even from birth to our first baby steps, it is failure that has shaped us.

It is misfortune that creates revolutions

It is oppression that creates activists

In Kenya, it was that second President who many consider a dictator that made people clamor for a new constitution.

It was Stephen's subsequent failures that made the man an Olympic Gold Medalist,

It was the 1000 failed experiments that made the bulb a reality.

My own life has seen great 'revivals' because I failed in the first place.

Something tells me that the shortcut to peace and success is a big old embrace of failure. Why is that?

There is only one thing that causes failure...ACTION. Is it any wonder that great ideas are just that--Ideas?

Is it any wonder that many people do not take the very next simple action towards success because they fear to fail?

My life in 2013 will be marked by audacious action taking...kind of like hunting for failure. I perceive that i have been comfortable for too long waiting for the right thing at the right time with the right people...a rarity in itself.

It is time to put a smile on my face and celebrate my taking action more than the feedback I get from it--whether I fail or succeed.

You wanna join the quest? Its gonna be fun!

YOU SEE POISON, I SEE MEAT. LET'S EAT!

Isn't it amazing how different we see the same thing? It has been said that one man's meat is another's poison. Meat and poison moments occur to us invariably all along our lives. How we see ourselves in these situations will determine our outcome in life.

A story is told of one of God's Generals called Dwight L Moody, the nineteenth century preacher. Moody was in London during one of his famous evangelistic tours, several clergymen visited him wanting to know his secret (And there is that word again...secret).

How, and more specifically why--was this poorly educated American so effective in winning throngs of people to Christ? Moody took the men to the window of his hotel room and asked each in turn to tell him what they saw. One by one, the men described the people in the park below.

Then Moody looked out the window and tears began coursing down his cheeks. "What do you see Mr. Moody?" One of the men asked.

Moody replied, "I see countless thousands of souls that will one day spend eternity in hell if they do not find the Savior".---Erick Reese, S.H.A.P.E.

Another story is told of a basketballer who sprained his right arm. Being a right handed player, he found it challenging to practise even on his own. However, he decided to do something with his situation. He started practising with his left hand.

It must have been infuriating and frustrating trying to do something new at his age. Persistence and determination was key. He never gave up. To the casual observer, this sportsman is just passing time. It all depends on how we see things. One man sees trouble, another sees opportunity. In the end, what seemed to be a misfortune in the sportsman's life makes him even better for he now can dribble with both hands equally well!

Does he want to break his hands again? Of course not. Would he wish he never broke his hands in the first place? Well...that all depends. Meant or poison? You decide!

I have said in the previous post that life accords us opportunities in between now and our next break. It is wise to take the in betweens more seriously and do something about them than to wait for the break to come. Everyone the world over is waiting for their ship to come...problem is that there are fewer harbors for 7 billion people at a go.

A salesman gets into a village selling shoes. Calls back his headquarters and laments that nobody in the village wears shoes...that his adventure is a waste. A second salesman calls his headquarters and demands that they send tonnes upon tonnes of shoes...no one in the village wears shoes...what an opportunity!

Tough situations will always be with us. What an opportunity! What a chance to make the best out of it. I encourage all the visionaries of Life Signatures to tune in their brains to the opportunity network... no not when all is cozy and rozy...but when all is rough and tough. There in lies our opportunity.

What are you looking at today? What do you see that others do not see? Think about it!

HELP...WE ARE EXPECTING AGAIN...AND WE DIDN'T PLAN!

The most bizarre thing you hear a parent telling her child is this: "You know, we never planned to have you. Your brother was gonna be the last born...but then you showed up" However innocent that revealing statement is, it is simply dumb. 

It is dumb in that it shows how ungrateful you consciously could be as a parent. It is dumb in that it drills into the psyche of the said child of how an inconvenience they are to you and the world as a whole. You don't just say those things.

As Parents, such things happen to us don't they? What do you do with the unplanned? What do you do when something out of the blue shows up? A certain general was asked about the importance of planning his war. He said, "The planning and scheming was useless at war, but rather indispensable!" 

You have probably heard this saying: "Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans" , haven't you? In there is the secret.

Picture this: A man is waiting for a new job...he has actually been promised about that job. In between now and the new job, some other amazing opportunities come by. Question: Should he abandon them in favor of the job that is not in the bag yet?

That is the million dollar question right there! Most of our real chances in life are in between our now and our promised chances that are not yet bagged!

Many people have been virtually stuck with excitement as they waited for the promised break to come, at the expense of many opportunities that paled in the shadow of the promise. Eventually, the promised break never materialized and they got so disillusioned.

Many other people stopped doing what mattered to them again in excitement and expectation of the promised break. As a result, they veered off their goals that contribute ultimately to their life signatures...and crashed badly. Time was lost, momentum was lost, opportunities were lost. Now, they need extra energy to get back on track again.

What do you do when an unplanned promise of a blessing comes your way? Here are my thoughts:

1. Put your feet on the ground: Many people get virtually paralyzed with excitement and anxiety when some good news comes of a promised break. When this happens, make sure that your day's activities are back to normal as soon as possible. Learn to wait for the break and only bank it when the contract is signed and money is in the bank. That is the time to celebrate. For now, do what matters today...and that does not involve a promise that has not materialized yet!
2. Remember the Vision: This is perhaps the most critical aspect of our lives. The only constant in our lives is our calling...our mission and vision in life. We should not abandon this and down our tools in excitement for the coming break. This should remain priority in our lives. The break should find some space in our already predetermined vision-centered activities.
3. A bird in the Hand is worth two in the bush: If an opportunity comes by in between your today and some future, take the now! Live in the now. Take the now and run with it. You are sure about today, you are not sure about tomorrow. Recognize the beauty of this chance. Recognize the value of this child...that you did not plan for. It is a blessing, that is why it's called the Present. Living otherwise is full of denial, struggle and unhappiness.
4. Think in the Long Term: It is advised that as we are making decisions on our wait,  we evaluate how our lives will play out in the long term. We mostly get bogged down by running for quick fixes. The problem with them is that we always get back to where we left off when we abandoned the ship of our life signatures.
5. Recognize your Acres of Diamond: The alternative you are overlooking today could very well be what you should be focusing on. The Simple reason is that you have all the details probably in 3D about the now, well enough to take action on them NOW. For the most part, that is where our acres of diamond fall. This is critical!
6. Opportunities are Disguised as work and they wear overalls: Sometimes, the promised break is a break because it guarantees less work than that which you are expending on your vision right now. Many people fall trap to promised breaks that guarantee less work and more money. Even the Bible says that 'he who does not work should not eat'...
7. Re-organize: It would be foolish not to factor in the promised break. The thing to do is to mentally make some time for it, while firmly prioritizing your acres of diamond. When the promise comes, make sure it does not take over your vision, values and mission. Make sure the aspects of your life signatures are firmly embedded in your daily schedules.

HOW I GOT CALLED TO INSPIRE HOPE AND ENRICH LIVES

One of the longest and most passionate searches in my life has been the search of 'my destiny'. Frankly, I do know of a human being who is not remontely fascinated by this all important subject.

I always was and still is hungry to know why I was created, why I was born. I always badly wanted to find the answer...and when I do, 'put my hands on the plough' with reckless abandonment and not look back!

Lawrence Namale: Life Coach/Motivating Speaker/Visionary.

Have I cried about it? Yes, I think a couple of times. I came to realize that for the most part the 'call' never comes dramatically and all at once. The call for the most part espouces a process of unfolding over time. The interesting thing about it is that the process you go through in discovering (or reconnecting) to your life purpose is indespensable...and always feeds onto the purpose itself.

That is why you will seldome have a burning bush experience. Those are for special urgent cases...and as far as we know, that experience is one in billions! The funny thing about processes is that not all of them are fun. Some of them can even be seen as a waste of time...but I have learnt that there is no process you go through that is wasted. No, not even one!

A call or a search? Both. We are all called, yet to hear that call, we must look for it through enduring processes and relentless seeking.

My call to 'Inspire Hope and Enrich Lives World-wide' must have started well before I was born. That is why I came to earth with special gifts and talents. I am an avid writer, a devouring reader, a big researcher. I am also a good speaker. I am filled with lots of empathy and compassion. All these things and more were inherent in me at birth.

Gifts and talents are the most obvious of 'tools' for a life purpose, they give an indication to what kind of purpose one has.

One day, a certain collegue intimated to me about a business deal that I should consider taking up. Interesting enough, that invitation came at a time when I was disgruntled majorly with what I was doing then. Life has a way of balancing equations. You ask questions, the aswers appear.

It turned out that the business opportunity was a network martketing thing. Needless to say, the man who was recruiting me into the business pressed my life exactly where it hurt. He talked of the restlessness in life. He talked of lack of finances. He talked of mediocre health levels. I resonated with all that. Then he talked about what I could do to improve and change my life--take on network marketting.

I never did...yet I was never the same again after that meeting. My antenna was up again, seeking to receive important signals for my life Signatures.  I was so inspired with the talk that I started telling other people the same thing.

At the same time, I was a leader in the Local church...trained about small group dynamics and leadership in general.

As a leader in my professional work, part of my retinue included motivating and inspiring the workers to be more productive. This meant taking in more research hours. The more I researched about this, the more I realized how deeply caring I was about this subject. I never knew a thing about Coaching...but It showed up in my researches.

One day, in my quest to write down my personal vision, I went through a very thorough and orchestrated process by one professional Coach. Going through my values and my mission, I realized that "Inspiring hope and enriching lives world wide" was all that I cared about in life. Since then, most of the things I do revolve around this.

As you can see, this was not an abracadabra magic wand kind of a thing. It took time. It was only realized when I became deliberate  about my search. Can this process be shortened? By all means! The shortcut is being urgently deliberate instead of sitting and waiting for God's voice to boom from the heavens.

Look out for hints and tools for a life purpose. What you are passionate about; what thoroughly infuriates you; your heartset; your skills; your giftings and talents. If what you are doing is outside of all of these, you are missing the point.

Have a discovery week, wont you?

Remember:

• Inspiration works
• Follow the trail
• Be open minded
• Embrace the call...do nothing else centrally but the call.

WHY WE MUST ABSOLUTELY DREAM...DAILY

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” ~ John F Kennedy Nearly 10 years before the Moon Expedition

 

In a soceity that is so religiously legalistic, it would be sinful to dream of fun, comfort, abundance and wellness. In my book, Permission for Greatness: Bridging the Gap between School and Relevance, I share a story about my mum. The way she used to promise us kids that she would one day take us to a radio station to see what takes place in the studio...

That is a form of dream installation. In a family where dreaming is no longer cherished, there is lots of unhappiness and distress.

In an organization where problem solving is emphasized more than dreaming and strategising, profits dwindle and people get tired.

In a life where we do not take some time to formally dream about a grand future, and passionately aspire to see it come to fruition, we die in installments.

I am meant to understand by the CEO of Dream University that there is a medical term called apoptosis. The explanation is that when your brain believes you’ve outgrown your usefulness (which can happen at any age—we see it most often when people retire, get laid off, experience an empty next), when people and organizations stop having vision, the brain sends a message to the body that it’s no longer needed.

At that moment, people, families and organizations begin to self-destruct. Why would a couple who just recently got married start having discussions about a divorce? Simple. They stopped dreaming. Before they got together, they had a massive dream about being in love, waking up together, comforting one another. Now that it is done…what next?

I do not think physical death is the greatest misfortune to humans. I think however that our greatest misfortune is to be living while we are dead…and that happens when we stop dreaming.

When a visionary steps out to do something and fails…it is when they give up on dreaming that they really become failures. We are all potentially loose cannons. If the bottom would let go, some people would be found in brothels…some would be leading a life that is a direct opposite of what they value.

Dreaming is a big thing. It is life to dream. That is why on the New Year celebrations, billions of people across the globe happily count down to a new dispensation. They are all excited to make it thus far, but mostly they are excited about what the new year offers!

It is death, although not physical, not to dream. However, dreaming is not all there is. I personally value dreaming so big as a personal motivational factor. There is life when I dream. There is however more enthusiasm to live when we are doing everything to do to activate the dream (s).

Dreaming is paramount to life signatures. All discouraged and distressed people need to dream. It costs nothing much to dream.

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR DEATH

For those of you who love statistics, here is one: Out of every 1, 1 will die...and guess what? That includes you!!

And me!

And all our loved ones...

And all our ENEMIES

And all our rivals...

And all the current Presidents, Kings and Queens, even though we salute them by saying "Live Forever!"

OK, so with that small detail being settled (and by the way, it is small because it has been that proverbial elephant in the room), the most important question to ask is not when we will die...but how will we die!

Anybody still interested in the subject? I am. So let me go on. A few days to New Year's eve, at around 1:00 am I was woken up by a loud and disturbing bang. Two vehicles had been involved in a nasty accident...a lady came out of one of the vehicles screaming and calling on the Name of the Almighty.

I do not know why I was that frightened. I do not know why that situation happening to somebody else was affecting me that big. Suddenly I realized how fragile life is, and I kept saying it aloud again and again that life is fragile. Death had come unannounced.

Yet, it is possible to announce one’s death! Moses, the man who is depicted in The Prine Of Egypt is historically reported to have walked to his funeral…he knew his time was up, his assignment done.

Several years earlier, his great grandfather knew that his time was up…gathered his family around him, spoke his last, gathered his feet back on the bed and breathed his last.

In our generation, Kenneth E. Hagin is reported to have told people few days before he passed on that his work on earth was finished. Then he passed on shortly after.

Apostle Paul wrote: “I have made a good fight, I have come to the end of my journey, I have kept the faith”. Shortly after, he was executed.

Jesus Christ himself spoke of his death more fondly than any person who ever lived. It was at His crucifiction that it is reported he died on his own accord. Read here for details.

So how can we choose our deaths? I have several suggestions. Looking at the characters above, they had a life worth living. The best way to select your death is to have a life worth living! They knew why they were living. Some of them were so clear on their assignment on earth so much so that they knew when they were done.

I have been caught several times telling people that it is not easy for someone to die once you have identified your why of living…until that why is accomplished. Why do I say so? Well, it is because there is no other reason of your being alive, save from that why. Think about that.

• ·         The first way to select your death is to reconnect with your why of being alive in the first place. When you get sold out in dispensing all that there is to dispense of your why of existence, you kind of get the sting out of death.

• ·         The next thing to do in selecting your death is living all out daily a life governed by your life purpose. There are two paramount things at the point of death: Regrets or Peace. How we live today determines which camp we will fall into

• ·         Thirdly, no one is afraid of death that chooses to die daily. This is a big one. Choosing to die daily is basically living a disciplined life. It is having the nerve to say no to the unnecessary and to be totally in control of one’s life. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the greatest decision mankind faces on a daily basis.

I have heard people expressing their fears on how their bodies will be treated when they are dead. Frankly…I don’t give a hoot! The biggest concern we should have is how richly we lived, not how we will be buried.

So…how do you choose your death? Simple. By choosing how well you will live.

Have a decision making day, wont you?

LIVING vs EXISTING, 5 LESSONS OF TAKING CHARGE

"To live is the rarest thing on earth. Most people just exist" ~ Oscar Wilde

Some years back, I took a Coachee through a thorough life assessment. Evidently, she had never done this proding assessment and by the time we were through, she was a wreck. She was totally mad with herself. She came to realize that she has been existing in life...not really living.

This and more stories are captured in my book that I am yet to title since I am spoilt for choice at the moment. The crux of this article though is that what I take my Coaching Clients through is not just text book. It is exactly what I have done myself over and over again and built much needed consistency.

Jim Rohn said:

"A life not evaluated is not worth living"

How so true! There is a small percentage of people in the whole world who are living....the rest of the people are existing.

You are existing if you do not know your life purpose yet you have millions of activities daily

You are existing if what you are doing for life is totally dependant upon what you hate

You are existing if you never have answered the question of the essence of life

You are existing if you do not occassionally re-evaluate your life

You are existing if you have no major aspiration that at least affect others other than your wife and kids...

Think about that. I could go on and on.

So anyway, the photo here is a snap shot of how my graph or living looks like for the month of January. From it, we learn the following lessons:

1. Life guarantees Failure: It is a fallen black world, and better yet, we are humans! Learn to accept the downs in life and even plan your resilience before hand. Failing to anticipate failure is not positive thinking, it is illusionary!
2. We must learn to bounce: Notice that the graph is not a straight line. It has ups and downs. For an upward trend, we should make sure that our next 'down' is higher than the previous.
3. Do not stay down: Notice that immediately I got down, the very next day I was right up. We need to learn to reduce our 'down time' so considerably. The longer you stay down, the harder it gets to get started again.
4. Tracking Ensures Consistency: One of my main motivators when I track my daily progress is to make sure that I at least equal yesterday's score and go one better by breaking the set record. This is internal motivation...and guess what? It is free of charge!
5. Beware of Shiny Objects: My graph shows that on two otccassions, I was derailed specifically by the trap of 'activity'. I delved into doing things that were not planned, filled up my time yet the activities contributed less to living and more to existing. Unfortunately, some people's whole lives are a chase after these shinny objects.

I am enjoying living life by design, and I guarantee you that it is very extremely rewarding. My mathematical functions show that in taking action, I achieved just over 60% in effort. February here we come!!