Some Thoughts about Your Next Level

"The difference between seasons is an instruction" ~ Dr. Mike Murdock

Who wants to go to the next level? All of us. Without an exception. The question is how do we go about going to the next level?

Many people take the 'next level' to mean something thoroughly major in their lives. For example it was a next level for me when I...

• Got my first job,
• Got married,
• Earned a thousand Dollars,
• Got two kids,
• Was interviewed on TV stations,
• Hosted a radio program....

..and the list goes on and on.

The major thing about a next level is not just getting there...but staying there long enough to make it a platform for the next level!

Now that I got a job...do I have a better job years down the line?

Now that I got married...am I still happily married?

Now that I earned a thousand dollars...am I earning more than that or at least still earning the thousand?

Now that I have a family...are they thriving and happy that am the hubby and daddy?

Now that I was interviewed on TV...am I still sought out for my value?

Now that I hosted a radio show...am I still sought out for my impact and value I provided?

Something interesting about next levels is that very many people are frustrated not to attain them. The reason is that they take for granted very many things. If it is not a grand thing like a wedding/marriage, then people think that they have never experienced a 'next level'.

The truth of the matter is that your next level is a milli-second away...once you make a decision or you follow an instruction. 

Most people are waiting for the government to change, the spouse to change, the kids to go to college, the kids to come, and so on so they can get to the next level. There are very many areas of your life that you can experience the next level solely by your own initiative:

• You can have the next level in your spiritual life by making a decision about it...it's in your hands
• You can have a next level in your health...about how you eat and exercise,
• You can have a next level in your mental health...about how many hours you can steal from your TV and read something instructional
• You can have a next level in your marriage and relationships...deciding to make it thrive by accessing as much information that you need as possible
• You can have a next level in your life signatures by deciding to live to leave a legacy daily.

The truth is that it might take time for the next level to fully mature...but that does not mean you cannot start experiencing or walking in it today. Here is the thing though: those major next levels we normally look out for...they come from the small next levels we are able to put together consistently. That means that the small must be celebrated just as we do the major next levels.

I need you to start living your very next level in the area of your choice in life today. Can I hear an Amen?

DO YOU KNOW YOUR FORMULA?

The world is full of formulas. I can bet that anything that has a definition has a formula. A formula for its make up. A formula for its existence. It has inside of it, a formula for it's optimal existence.

You also have a formula. The question is: What is your definition? Do you know it? It is a sorry day when grown ups who can read and write have no idea what their definition is. And no, I am not talking about the biological definition of a human being in terms of Kingdom, Class...and so on. I am not talking about Zinjanthropus and all that monkey-related definition of human beings.

I am talking about one's definition in terms of essence. I am also talking of one's definition in terms of their Life Signature. Knowing one's definition is the starting point of knowing one's formula for optimal performance, and I dare say, it is the pathway of understanding the make up of one's full existence in life.

One thing about a formula is that it always works. A formula either incorporates principles or respects them. There is a formula for speed. There is a formula for climbing a high hill. There is a formula for a good marriage. There is a formula for success at the work place. There is a formula for leadership.

Here is the thing: Formulas in life are so inherently personal! This means two things:

• What works for you might not work for me, it's personal
• All formulas must be owned to work. Without a formula being downloaded in the heart and applied, it will not serve the owner!

So here is the thing. Known formulas are as useless as unknown formulas. It is applied formulas that work. That is why you will hear of there being a secret for success from just about everybody that is successful. Why is it called a secret? Simple. It was known, and applied! Period. It is secret to you because you did not know it and therefore you did not apply it!

So how do you know your formula? Three things:

1. The Heart: Everyone has one. I am talking about interests, passion, purpose and pursuits. The reasons why most people fail is because they apply a formula for success that totally excludes the heart. When you do away with the heart, you die.
2. The Hands: This speaks of taking action. Once your heartbeat is set on something, it is in the relentless pursuit of what matters to you that will sweep any obstacle off of the way and make you successful. It takes time! That is why I have been navigating away from anyone telling me that there is a shortcut for me to get rich...and obtain that which I dream of in life. We all love shortcuts, but they dispossess us of growth.
3. Momentum: Your formula will not work like a magic wand once! That is not life. Even God himself did not fill the whole wide world in a day! He started by two people...the seed principle. Your formula
   
   has to be applied again and again and again and again...the secret is in your daily routine. Secrets should not be things that are outside of us....someone else's formula. Secrets are what we know and do daily.

Everyone will tell you that there is a formula for success. What if you had your own? You would own it and use it right? You would also preach it and show it to the world, right? Right. Why? Because it worked for you.

My challenge is that we should stop chasing other people's secrets and start using what readily is available for us on  a daily basis. True, we should borrow as much as we can, but we should never be silent to that which is personal and readily available. 

7 REASONS WHY YOU MUST BE A TOUT

My excuse for using public transport is that my car got an engine knock some time back. That was a traumatic moment for me that I do not want to think about. I just would like the whole episode to be wiped out of my mind.

So this morning, as I knew my schedule was not that tight, I found a taxi from Kampala road that was plying my route. It was virtually empty. Needing some time to just relax and clear off my mind, I decided to study the attitudes of the people around me...starting with the driver of the taxi and of course the 'noisy' tout who was calling out for passengers.

In a developed public transport system, there are designated bus stops and taxi parks, thus obliterating the touting system out of the roads. That was not the system that I was using today...or any other day.

The taxi being empty did not discourage the tout from calling out for passengers. He was aggressive, and creative enough. The driver on the other hand was smart enough to act as if they would be on the way any minute...to maintain the already captured passengers who might be in a hurry.

I realized the following things:

• I would not have entered the vehicle if I didn't hear the tout calling out my route.

• More people would not have kept filling the taxi if the tout stopped touting.

• The tout seemed to have this automatic faith that at some point in time, the taxi would be filled.

• If the tout did not work (tout), he would not be paid even if the passengers got in without his efforts. And this is the most interesting fact.

• With the increase in number of passengers, it is easy to convince more to get on board since they know that the taxi would be moving on soon.

The road to success is never like the organized transport system I talked about. Success, as much as we want to organize it to comfort and less disturbance, will only thrive to the degree that we tout...think about that.

The following are seven lessons as to why all visionaries should become their own touts for their Life Signatures

1. Find a taxi to tout about: This speaks of your passion/business/job...yet we would encourage you to make sure that whatever it is, it contributes to your Life Signature. Unless you find your passion, it would be difficult to talk about your own success. It is imperative that everyone finds their 'mountain' and climb it...and like I have said it here eternally...make sure that this matters to you!

2. No matter how unlikely and empty it is, get started! We all like finished products...but somebody worked, took action to make it a reality. In my next post, I am going to talk about the beauty, safety, and advantages of obscurity. To be honest, nobody will be successful if they waited for their 'taxi' to be filled up. All successful people have one thing in common...they were obscure at some point!

3. Success is not designated, it is touted: Waiting just never works. The more you wait, the more you delay. You might fulfil your purpose in life finally but after so much wasted time. Think of how many people would have been impacted.Waiting is wasting! Then again, success is never handed to us. It never knocks on our doors. We are the ones to go after it, knock on its doors and if need be, smash its gates opened with our incessant actions. You cannot wait for success, you tout it out!
   

4. The more you tout, the faster your results: Anybody can run a two Kilometers race.There are however those who would finish that small race faster and move on to other things. Here is the thing...the more we churn out actions about our 'mountain' the more we find the ways to climb it in a shorter time. There needs to be a very small interval if any, between our last shout and our next shout about our taxis.

5. You just grow a thick skin: Do you think the tout gives a hoot what other people think? Hardly! He could not care less! His sights are set on filling the taxi with passengers...that is what matters to him now...and he is gonna get it done.  That is exactly how we should go about developing our passions. Of course there are people to please...but who cares? I am serious. If we would stop for a minute to see how many people we can please on our pursuit of our assignment, we would not succeed. That is why touting our way will make us grow this thick skin that would help us not be bothered what others might think. Just grow that thick skin as you work on your genius. By the way, it normally is an illusion that people will think, they have got enough on their plates to be bothered!

6. A bird in the hand...is worth two in the bush: Take good care of your 'acres of diamonds'...it is what you have now that attracts what you want. The most underrated thing on the face of the earth is what people already do have...relationships, talents, skills, passion, opportunities and so on. Most people want the granduear to think 'this is it!' To be honest, if you would document what you have for you now..and just use those, your taxi would be filled sooner than you think.

7. Loud and consistent: Let not a single second pass when you are quiet. Keep working on your genius...researching, reviewing, promoting, marketing, connecting, adding value...just keep doing it. Nike said it best, "Just do it!" Nothing can replace this. If that taxi  has got to be filled, that tout cannot let a single minute pass without touting. It is in one minute that a family of seven can pass by looking for your taxi while you are quiet. Keep touting! You never know who is listening! Keep working on your genius. You just have no idea how far it goes.

Sooner than you thought, your taxi is full...and when it is, there is no stopping you. We all really need to borrow a leaf from these taxi touts, don't you think?

LYING PROFESSIONALS

"It is so absurd that the man who engineered the 3 storey Ark would spend the rest of his life living in a tent" ~ Robert Kayanja

We all know about the compartmentalized life. There is the family life...and then there is work-life. Sadly, there is the church life and then there is the home-life. 

Why is it that there are compartments in people's lives. Why is it that there is a heavy leaning on one compartment and virtually total neglect of another? Why should there be compartments to begin with? And if there are compartments anyway, why should there be a dichotomy between my professional life and my home life?

A life Coach teaching people about goal-setting does not have goals himself/herself. A marriage counsellor is unmarried...or she has serious issues in her marriage. A pastor's wife envies his congregation and wishes she could get the attention they get.

Many people are so committed to the 'outside life' let's call it 'professional life', than their inside life...the core of their very being. Their motivation is that there are fruits found from their professional life that would help feed the inside life. They always say that they will sort out their core life...after. After they are married, after the kids are born, after the kids go to college, after they get a better job, after they change cars. 

This is wrong thinking. This is death in installments. I have been a victim of such a way of thinking...and to be honest with you, I almost always get back to the realization that I should have focused on the inside life in the beginning.

People go in circles for decades and half of lifetimes with this kind of thinking- chasing after fruits. Most of them are an emotional wreck after the curtain closes in on them. Their greatest regret is 'If only I had done what matters!' 

You see, what matters now, that small silent nudge about the focus on our core will at the close of the curtain condemn us. Then we will be helpless. Yet what matters right now is the scrawniest of lives across the globe, the most starved, the most procrastinated on. 

Ironically, what matters is what was intended to feed the professional life. What matters creates principles, values and frameworks upon which the fruit we chase daily can be replicated again and again.

Why should a talented writer neglect that talent and pursue other things? Why should a gifted orator neglect that gift in pursuit of daily fruit?

These are the lying professionals of today...and they are in droves across the globe.

It is time to stop lying on ourselves!

Have a reflective week, wont you?

LINKEDUP

Tony Robbins is a movement in the Personal Development and Human Potential Industries, no doubt. One of his most quoted quotes is "Success Leaves Clues". He speaks of the premise that the people who have made it are happy to Tell Their Stories. That is why you will find books written by such people as Robbins himself, Jack Canefield, Yoweri Museveni and so on. In fact, of late, I have been teaching and speaking passionately on the Subject of Personal Branding. I normally tell people to brand themselves in regard to where they are coming from (what they have done and achieved), and in regard to where they are going (Their passion). This branding is normally in form of stories. This is how you leave clues. There are many people out there looking for clues. In fact it is my belief that with the information age, the question that is most asked on Google starts with "HOW?".

I am an ardent believer that the easiest way to succeed is to link up with these clues that have been left behind. For example, If my passion is public speaking, the easiest way to develop this passion is through linking up with a Public Speaking Trainer. Better yet, I can attend motivational speaking events and for one hour or so, 'apprentice' myself with the motivating speaker. Mark how he moves, mark his intonations, mark his format and then go and use what I have seen as a benchmark to improving my passion.

Those staying in East Africa will be aware of Tusker Project Fame. This is a project that is geared towards unearthing East Africa's raw musical talents. At the onset of auditions, you can laugh your ribs off when people ladden with so much passion courageously show up for auditions. From people with crazy costumes (trying to duplicate Michael Jackson), to others trying to sing exactly like Lucky Dube, there is no question about the passion that is exuded by them.However, turning passion into a strength takes a process of development, mostly through 'linking up'. 

Today's message is about 'linking up' your personal life. You see, in my interactions with people, I have come to realize that the biggest trouble they have is not necessarily lack of money. The biggest trouble people have is that they are not LINKED UP IN THEMSELVES. What does this mean? Simple. Pursuant to the last post, our greatest achievements come in small degrees albeit 'linked up'. I have always looked at one's life from eight angles: Family, Relationships, Spiritual, Business, Mental, Finances, Lifestyle, and Health. 

When you meet someone who is having trouble, definitely their main area of focus is always their finances. However, in solving someone's trouble (especially for the long run), you will realize that focusing just on Finances could be a major miss. They say show a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. 

Normally, I give such a one an 'assessment' that determines their level of performance in each of the eight areas of life. What we normally find out is a state of INCOMPATIBILITY. They are not congruent. My advice to them is normally simple. Take some time and focus on your Congruency. Yes, you need finances right now. However, did you know that your next break in financial windfall could be through RELATIONSHIPS? What are you doing about your relationships? Better yet, what are you doing about your BUSINESS? Business here includes professional careers. The problem with focusing on solving the 'now' burning issue is that we create mirages. What we actually do is band-aiding. As long as we remain in-congruent, today's financial trouble will most definitely show up same time next year...bigger and better as sure as inflation goes up yearly!

Like we stated on the One Degree Change, a small tweak here and there in focus to your eight areas of life will be what will give you congruency and success.Believe it or not, we all operate through all the eight spheres of life that I have outlined. It is our continual daily focus on these eight areas of life that will ultimately give us BALANCE. Of course this is in assumption that a Visionary already knows his or her calling in life and is in constant state of pursuit and alignment to see that vision or calling a reality.

My challenge to people today is to take time and assess yourself. Gauge to know how you are faring on. If your finances are not in place as they should be, maybe your family and relationship spheres have been neglected. Maybe your business sphere has been neglected. Maybe your health sphere has been neglected. You see it is all about being LINKED UP.

So, are you linked up? Will you take the challenge today and seek some 'balance' in your life?