New Years Message-Part 8: Hunger

For some reason, hunger normally bites so hard when there is no food or money to get the food in the pocket. I know you know what I am talking about. The same hunger can be easily tamed the following day without food...but just with the knowledge that you have the means to conquer it! It is a mind game sometimes.

Today, I am not talking about hunger for food. I am talking about a different type of hunger, which I believe is very critical for any Life Signature.

So as I have been reviewing my life, I have come to realize one gaping hole that has been unfilled for quite a while. You see, there are those days that I used to be so hungry for meaning in life. My greatest prayer those days was that God Almighty would give me something specific that I would put my hands on it with reckless abandonment.

I did not just want to exist. I wanted to be alive and to make things happen...but I was waiting for God to tell me exactly what my 'destiny' was. Man, I miss those days. In my personal review, I am realizing how vastly that 'hunger' has dwindled.

Then there was a time that I so much hungered about being a Life Coach. It even became part of the 'prayer of Lawrence'.

Then there was a time I was so 'hungry' for my own family..wife and kids...

Am I getting comfortable? How come there is no real hunger for something in my life right now?

In 2014, the guys who are passionately hungry for something greater than themselves are the people who have the greatest chances of being meaningful.

How do we get hungry for something greater than ourselves? Just go a step further than dreaming/visioning
How do we make sure that the 'hunger' we have had does not diminish? Feed it up with actions are refuse to stay comfortable.

Over to you.

New Year Message-Part 7: Let's Get Pregnant

It has been said most popularly by Jim Rohn that simple things are not easy to implement. The fact is that if we stopped assimilating for information, more nuggets, more self help, and more 'how to' information, we already do have quite a bit of data that can cause personal revolutions.

By extension, I have noticed that for the most part, people seldom live. I mean just savoring every minute of our day...investing all our attention in every little task of the day as it occurs. For the most part, we are miraging. We are thinking that sometime later on in the future...we will really live.

• The wife goes uncomplemented today...until that time that you feel like doing it
• The child is not given attention until after Arsenal has beaten Aston Villa in 90 minutes...
• The present is not bought until after enough or 'surplus' money is available...the list goes on.

Why People Do Not Use Their Treasure

The secret is in the usage of what we already know or have right now and today. There are two major things that make people not use what they already know...well, may be three things:

• It is easily available: Have you noticed how we take for granted things that are already available? Notice how badly you wanted something...how your emotions were in a roller coaster as you said to yourself..."If Only I can get that thing...."  And then you get it...only to lower it's value in your eyes. Somehow, while it was on the display shelf and seemingly well beyond your reach, it was so dear. Now it is in your house...the craving stopped, its importance diminished...now you want something new. If only we could go back into our 'houses' and unearthed the buried treasure...but I digress. In our generation, more than any other, we have lots of information we need for success, greatness and wealth creation than any other...and this information is easily accessible and in droves! Yet few people would access it...the supply and demand curve is at work here I guess. In 2014, do not be one of the captives of hoarding self help. Be one of the champions who would apply just one nugget the whole year round and make an impact.

• The hunger for more 'out there': This is 'the grass is greener on the other side of the fence' syndrome. It is also a result of many people chasing after the so called 'secrets'. Somehow, we think that what is the real deal must be something unique...something hidden...something way out of our reach...something we do not have now! OK, am not saying that this is all wrong. In fact, what you need might really be just one notch out of your reach. My point here however is...what are you doing with the little that you already have now? Have you tried using it and it failed? If so, then by all means, get out and find something better. You however have no business reaching out for more before you can consume what you already have!

• The hunger for instant results: This is the crux of this message. We live in a society of instant results...which is not a bad thing. The only problem is that life has been structured to gestate. Life in general has rules that will always border on processes regardless of how advanced and modern we become. But we love instant results. So if today you started doing say your affirmations...and while you are at it, you feel absolutely nothing. In fact there is no immediate result of your inspired action. You tend to give up. My friend, the greatest weapon you can use in 2014 is the weapon of gestation. Understand at the back of your mind that every little action you take is like a seed that will grow. How about nurturing that seed consistently? How about taking that action daily whether you feel like it or not? Over a huge amount of time, you will notice that the results are insurmountable. If I wrote one page of any book title that I am passionate about every single day...in just over 3 months, I could be an Author. Of course there would be those days that I would not feel like I am authoring a book. What do I do? Give up? No. Just gestate.

Yeah...just gestate in 2014. Find something you can carry as some form of pregnancy the whole year.

New Year's Message-Part 6: The Biggest Purpose Buster in 2014

Intention is good, but not good enough. You know why? Because the life we experience here on earth is not in form of a straight line. Our path is not as smooth as glass. 

What happens when intention meets a detour?

What happens when intention meets an obstacle?

What happens when intention is chocked up by the worries and cares of today's survival?

What happens when our good intentions encounter the luxuries of today...

• When a friend wants to chat you up on Facebook...
• When your mail box is full of information from all the groups you have subscribed to...
• When there is a WhatsApp video that you have to check out...
• When you are dying to see how many people have retweeted your funny quote...
• When you cant wait to see how many people have commented on your article?

The Biggest Distraction to Purpose in 2014

2014 more than any other year in the history of mankind gives us a double edged sword of technology and social media. On one hand, we can use it to further our goals, dreams and desires....and on another hand, this technology can kill our intentions of living a life by design daily.

As I write this, there is half a dozen of social media outlets that are seeking my attention...and it is not just today, it is every single day.

At some extreme, some Life Coaches would tell you that you need to get off social media completely. That social media is a time waster. That is half a truth. It is true that social media can be a very big time waster. Some people are using social media to hide from facing life head on.

Schedule the Fun!!

There is one major thing that trumps all these 'distractions' and creates a win/win situation: Schedulling!

I will not tell you to keep off social media, I will tell you to be there but schedule your timing (s) 

I will not tell you to keep off social media, I will tell you to be purposeful and intentional about what you do there

I will not tell you to keep off social media, I will tell you to Identify topics of discussion that you can own and moderate.

In 2014, you can easily build your brand in whatever area you select by using social media...

What would happen if you tweeted 5 times a day, blogged twice a month, facebooked 5 times a day, on one topic you are passionate about...lets say Life Purpose?

The following would happen:

1. You will stay relevant in social media and maintain your presence there
2. Your will be taken more seriously by your friends and strangers as well
3. You will develop your brand
4. You will have at least 1500 tweets/posts that are meaningful in 2014
5. You will become the goto person in the years that are coming on that subject
6. You may even be able to write a book on that topic
7. You will get interested in learning more and more about the topic.

One thing is for sure. Social media in 2014 will either be the greatest 'detour' in fulfilling your destiny or it will be the greatest catalyst in accelerating it!

Why don't you take some time today and craft a simple social media strategy? Smart people like myself are already on it!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Message-Part 5: Beliefs and Values

It has started in earnest this 2014. I mean in just few more weeks, January will be gone—and we all know how February flies. March and April will beckon us and go away due to the Easter Holidays and before you know it, it’s midyear!

Today’s message for the New Year is simple yet seriously profound. Just as cornerstones hold up a building, our values in life will determine the quality of life we will have in 2014. 

The worst we can do in 2014 is to roll on from 2013 as if nothing changed. The worst we can do in 2014 is to live our lives devoid of any known values that we dearly hold or follow.

One thing is for sure: We do what we do daily because of what philosophy or values we have subscribed to. This morning, I read a very powerful tweet from Tom Le Blanc that I would like to share with you. Here goes:

"Since Beliefs are thousands of times stronger than Desires, we must BELIEVE we can do something more than we WANT to do it"- Tom LeBlanc

That tweet made me stop and really think about what I really do believe about what I aspire to do in 2014.

You see, if I Desire to do something yet in the deepest recesses of my heart I believe for a fact that I will not make it for one reason or another, the belief will triumph over the desire. This is a sobering truth.

Our beliefs will ultimately determine what kind of values we will have. Our values will hold that belief up in whatever circumstance or situation. The son of a king for example has a belief system that is different from that of a subject or a peasant.

Our challenge today is to indentify just four strong values that will govern our lives in 2014. We can do the resolutions and set the goals…but if we do not do that from a standpoint of knowing our values…or at least knowing the reason why we want those resolutions to happen, then we are setting ourselves up for a fall.

1. ·        Values Define Us: We define our values and they define us.
2. ·        Values determine what we will attract in life
3. ·        Values Determine what we will repel from our lives

I am willing to bet that at some level, all of us are operating with values at the back of our subconscious minds. We just do not know it.

A very powerful thing in 2014 would be to take some time and define some of our values and then choose what exactly we would want to operate with to support our goals and resolutions.

How is that done? By reflecting upon your heart. Use the following questions:

• 1.     If someone waved a magic wand that would increase any value I choose by 1000%, what value would that be? For me, it would be Compassion.
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• 2.     If I were to teach my children about values, what three things would I emphasize on? For me, it would be 1) Purpose 2) Passion 3) Prayerfulness
• 3.     What three things do I hate most? For me it would be: 1) Exploitation of people 2) Half-baked work 3) Lying
• 4.     What values do I see valid in 1000 years? For me it would be: Integrity, Excellence, Spirituality, Purpose, Consistency and Hard Work.
• The next thing to do is to identify any recurring themes before you can get the top 3 values for 2014. As you set your goals and resolutions, make sure that they embody your values.

Happy New Year once again!

New Year's Message -Part 4: Learn From the Best!

One of the things that really consume my life is this passion to learn. In our present world, learning has been made so much easier and at the same time so much complicated.

The biggest problem with the information age is an overdose of information. Google can give you hundreds if not millions of search results in a matter of seconds. In fact, if we are not careful enough, textbooks will become extinct.

I see in the future references being made to websites than to textbooks even in primary schools. That future is already with us.

As we enter 2014, one of the most important things we can do is to stop all the traffic. Stop all the flurry of activities. Before we can reach out to claim some more in 2014, we need to learn some things from 2013. (Please Tweet This)

Lets ask 2013 some questions

1. ·         What are our greatest regrets in 2013?
2. ·         What are our top 5 achievements in 2013?
3. ·         What are the greatest lessons we learnt in 2013?
4. ·         If we could go back in 2013 (OK, I know some people do not want to go back there), how better would we experience life?
5. ·         What are the major risks we took in 2013?

One thing is for sure: If we do not learn from our past, we are most certainly doomed to repeat our follies. And then what happens is that we find ourselves in this continuous loop of ‘comfort zones.’ Our 2014 becomes as faithfully the same as was 2013. In turn 2013 was more or less the same as 2012.

• ·         No extra person was impacted…no extra person was glad that we lived,
• ·         There was no increase in finances
• ·         There was no attempt to become better as a person...
• ·         Your relationship with God is the same old same old…full of ‘graphs’…and so on.

Becoming Better Each Year

Each year, we are meant to be bigger, better, grander, more involved, more spiritual and more impactful. You see, that is how God has structured life. From the seeds of today, we are to develop some roots tomorrow and have some fruit next week. That is progress. (Tweetthis please)

So we need to learn, and we need to learn from the very best. Do you know the greatest source of lessons in our lives? It is our own personal lives! Education obtained from our past is much more valuable than what 10 professors can teach in 10 years. (Tweet thisplease)

Why people do not Learn from themselves

The problem is that few people know how to get this self education. Another problem is that nobody sets examinations for this education and nobody gives us scores and grades. So what happens? Nobody takes heed. Many people think that what is important is what is examined, graded and certified. Nothing can be further from the truth. (Tweet this please)

The best way to learn from our past is to use serious probing questions like the ones posed above. Each of these questions must have answers. In those answers are our action points for 2014.

If we are faithful enough to implement changes in our lives from the answers to these questions, chances are that 2014 will be a much more valuable year in the recent past. You can tweet that!

Once again, Happy New Year (When do we stop saying Happy New Year by the way?)

New Year's Message-Part 3: Structures for Dreams and Desires

There is a secret to creation. There is a reason as to why God created what he did and in the order that he did. In my understanding, anything that came prior to the creation of man was what you could call ‘side-shows’. Much like the supporting cast of the hero in many superpower story lines.

That is by no means demeaning the supporting cast. They are so crucial in that without them, the hero would be useless. I hope you get the point.

In 2014, how you and I apply this secret that God used in creation will determine whether we finish what we set to do or not. [Click to Tweet Please]

Many people, myself included are at this point in time writing/re-writing their goals or making new year resolutions. This is perfectly OK. I love the New Year because it shows us how many ‘second chances’ we can receive over a life time.

Think about how many second chances you have had ever since you were a teenager? And as you read this, think about this massive second chance that you have in 2014. (something to tweet)

To do things right,

To implement lessons learnt previously,

To reach out to your full potential,

To draw closer to your wildest dreams and desires

To live and love and matter, as Brendon Burchard would say.

The fact is that you can only make in impact in your life and indeed in the lives of others if you

• 1.      Know the secret of creation
• 2.     Apply the secret of creation.

Think about it…God wanted the whole earth to be filled with his sons and daughters at creation. Why didn’t he just create us all at once?

Well, if he did that, he would have deprived the world one of the most gracious gifts of life: the ability to grow, to learn, to expand.

So what did he do?

Simple.

God sat down and put some structures in place that will guarantee the fulfillment of his dreams. You and I today are living within those structures. We can corrupt them, ignore them or misuse them, but they will never change. Some of them are what people call the laws of nature. (Tweet this please)

If you intend to succeed in 2014, apart from identifying your passion, documenting your dreams and desires, it will be prudent if you had supporting structures in place to bring your ideas to fruition. (Tweet this please)

Think about it. Why in the world don’t we meet goals more often? Why do we always wait for another New Year to set the same goal over several years without attaining it? It is because we lack supporting structures to implement.

At the end of the day, the structures are more elaborate than the goals themselves:

• 1.      Routine: Just like God did not create 6 billion people in one second but let the ‘seeds’ do that job, you must crystallize the major goal into daily activities.
• 2.     System: This goes past the feelings and emotions. It is as simple as the timetable we used to set as kids in primary school for our spare time reading.
• 3.     Tracking: The structures you put in place must on a daily basis track what you have done in relation to what you had set to do. You need to document the deficit and explicitly explain why there was a deficit
• 4.     Rewarding: On a daily basis, what percentage did you achieve? What do you reward yourself for this achievement?

Let me guarantee you one thing: The person that will put down some structures to support his/her dreams and desires for 2014 is the one that is most prepared to be a finisher.

Once again, Happy New Year!

New Year's Message-Part 2: Desire

"The proof of Desire is Pursuit" --Dr. Mike Murdock

I think one of the most unfortunate things to happen to a human being is when they can no longer dream.

Desire is powerful. It is the attractor factor for anything we want to have, to do or to become, however big of small it might be! Tweet This Please

• ·         Without a dream, you reinforce the status quo even if you want it changed
• ·         Without a dream, you live in a dark and hopeless illusion
• ·         Without a dream, your very purpose in life is never realized
• ·         Without a dream, your potential in life (which is amazingly enormous) remains untapped
• ·         Without a dream, you are not just sleeping in life, you are actually dying
• ·         Without a dream, you are telling the world that you are no longer needed [Tweet This Please]

As we usher in 2014, I take this opportunity to address everyone setting goals and making New Year resolutions. I know.  I have been one of those who have seriously bashed people that make resolutions over the years.

Yet one thing comes to mind. Both the people that set goals and those that make resolutions operate from one standpoint: Desire! [Tweet This Please]

It is OK to Desire

I know of no human being that does not desire a thing or two. At the wake of the New Year, all of us have been given yet again another psychological start. We can start over with a clean slate. [Tweet Please]

The best way to do this is to exercise the power of desire. To desire is not to sin. The Bible says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall fulfill the desires of your heart. Notice that God is OK with us desiring. Notice also that God did not suggest how many desires we can have. He did not limit us to the size and the numbers.

But God wants and is interested in fulfilling those desires. I know over the years that people might have given up desiring altogether…but I challenge you to exercise this power one more time. Believe me, you have nothing to lose.

My Desire Came to Pass in 2001

I will never forget the year 2001. I was freshly out of college staying with a family friend in Nairobi. One day I went to the shopping center to process some paperwork. I got to this institution that looked so awesome, so pretty that I longed to work there. I admired the guys working there and really felt insignificant in their eyes. I desired so greatly to get a job at that place. I must have said a prayer about it and forgot about it.

The important point however is that I acted on my desire. I can’t remember how long it took, but it might not have been more than 3 months that I was exactly where I desired to be. That was my first job and I can tell you that I am where I am because of the foundation that I built in my career.

7 Lessons about Desire

Here are some thoughts that are critical about desire especially in 2014:

1. 1.       It is OK to have desires: Go ahead and dream. How ‘crazy’ your dream is up to you. But let me tell you that if you feel it deep inside your gut, it is a valid desire.
2. 2.       Own the desire: Let the desire you have crystallize in your mind and heart. On a daily basis, we all have things that pass our minds that we would wish to do, have or become. To own a desire means that you capture it in your imaginations and declare it worthy of a pursuit. Mental accent only will not help.
3. 3.       Verbalize the Desire: In my case, I verbalized it to God. What would man do without God actually?
4. 4.       Document the Desire: I challenge you to purchase a notebook or get a place where you can document your desires, however crazy they are. Something happens when pen is put on paper and thoughts are immortalized…it seems so simple you can neglect it.
5. 5.       Desire Daily: Remember the emotions you had when you desired what you wanted? Every single day, make sure you think about this desire and replicate these emotions as often as you can.
6. 6.       Take an Action Step: You desire to be married? Apart from praying, you can also make room for your spouse. Quit hanging around guys that are not interested in marriage. Start seeing yourself as marriage material.
7. 7.       Remain Consistent: I think the reason why New Year Resolutions do not work is because we tend to pick other desires along the way…and drop the ones we were working on. If you wanted to be successful in 2014, I challenge you to get just one thing and stick to it until it is done or achieved.

If you have given up on desiring altogether, all is not lost. You do not need a job to desire a good house. You do not need money to desire success. Desiring does not come with any pre-conditions. You can desire without strings attached. Tweet This Please

Happy New Year!