HOW TO SEE 300 YEARS FROM NOW: PART ONE

"Why 300 years"? Someone is asking. "Why in the world should I stress myself in thinking 300 years from today"? Good question if you are not a visionary. Yet that question has an answer. You are only human. How in the world can you see 300 years from today? Well, the answer is that you most definitely can.

It is more than 2000, yes a whole whooping 2000 years since the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ...and the whole wide world is still impacted by Him. How about that for a Legacy? Yet was that his sole purpose on earth? To leave a Legacy?

Nope. His leaving a legacy is simply the end result, or the benefit, or the consequence of his core vision:

"I came to seek and save that which was lost" ~ Jesus Christ

If someone asked me why I came right about now...would I have an answer? Would I say it without batting an eye? Would I say it with so much passion that those who hear it would be energized by it? Would I say it with so much belief that those who hear it would want to be part of it? Would you say that you have an answer? Think about that the whole of today please.

I have never really tangibly thought about this subject until I heard Peter J Daniels speak. Of course he is passionate about leaving a legacy and an inheritance for our children's children.

But then again, I am the C.E.O of Life Signatures. I need to ask myself some pertinent questions. How long is a legacy? How many years should it take? Those are so bold questions that people seldom ask.

By the close of the day, I need to have a number etched in my mind of how long I intend my Life Signature to live.

For the most part...we only plan for our lives. I have for example my goals for all the 8 areas of my life for this year and for the next ten years. But pray tell me...how do we plan for our children's children? Give and take...we should have a vision for the next 300 years.

A 300-year vision is not about ourselves, it is about others

A 300-year vision is not about things, it is about values
A 300-year vision is not about productivity alone, but also about priority on what really matters
A 300-year vision is about passion, pursuit and purpose.

I am thinking, the longer I project and plan in the future, the more clear and true my life signature becomes. If  you studied the lives of people who have left an impact in life for long, you will find out something interesting about them. It is the same thing for each and every one of them.

1. They never really set out to leave a legacy
2. They had one thing in mind that they focussed on
3. They were totally and wholly abandoned to their cause and even staked their lives on it (some died for it)
4. They knew that they could not do it alone
5. They deliberately trained followers

So far, there is no doubt that more and more people are interested in leaving legacies. The question today is: How do I plan for the next 300 years?

It is much simpler than people think. 

First, the creator has put everything inside of us to impact millions for years. In fact, his initial plan was that we would live meaningful lives for eternity! So how is 300 years compared to eternity?

A 300-year vision is hidden inside of you. All you have to do is start asking questions about it. What is it? How can I unearth it? How will I know this is it? Believe me, those questions have answers. The tragedy of humanity is that we do not ask the correct questions.

Start looking inside of you (assuming that you have already acknowledged the Creator's intent for your life).

We shall continue these thoughts in a latter post. So...do you have a 300-Year Vision?

THEY SAY ITS A MARATHON, I SAY ITS A RELAY!

So, here we are again, talking about life. Many people agree that we are in a race. A great visionary once said that everyone who runs in a race, they run so that they can win. But hold on just one minute...Have you ever stopped to ask yourself for a moment...what race Am I running?

Some people say that the race of life is like a marathon-long, drawn out, tedious, sweaty, yet totally rewarding in the end. Would you agree? Well, in the context of discipline and hard work, I would definitely agree. Yet, you have to notice one thing about a marathon: It is run on this mantra, "Everyone for himself, God for us all...and the devil take the hindmost!"

 Let me explain: The focus on marathons are never directly rooted in teamwork. Save from few professionals in Kenya and Ethiopia who use such methods as pace-setters. For the most part, individuals run as individuals, and medals are rewarded to individuals, not teams.

In stark contrast, the relay race is molded strongly around a team. Every member of the team has a part to play. You have strong starters, then you have strong finishers. At the end of the day, it is the whole team that is feted, not the individual who crossed the finish line first. I love this kind of a race. 

A very curious thing here though...the team that wins the race must show the baton at the finish line. In other words, if you cross the finish line first and you do not have the baton, you will not win. In real life, we get this baton for the race from our predecessors...our parents, or the generation before us.

In the adventurous race of life, we all ought to run the relay race. In other words, someone already started the race...at one point in time we are warming up at our positions eagerly awaiting for the baton to be passed to us...so we can run ours.

 

The most unfortunate thing in life however is that many people are running individual marathons instead of a relay race. Can we blame them? I don't know. Yet I will say this: that for the next generation to make it in life, someone must oversee that intricate process of passing on the baton to them. In a real race, it takes split seconds for that changeover to take place. In real life, it takes half a life-time.

My question today is this: Are you running a marathon or are you running a relay? Would you please join a relay race? Another important question is this: For your next generation, will they be running a marathon or a relay race? That my friend, is totally dependent upon your choice! SELAH

THE FOLLY OF OUR FATHERS

Let me ask these questios: Is it true that the more things change, the more they remain the same? Is it true that there is nothing new under the sun? 

Picture this: Our fathers and grandfathers never had the internet, cell phones, iPads, iPods, tarmarcked roads, Mobile Money, sliced bread, chips and chicken, major infrastructure and all the technological advances we boast of today.

Yet come to think of it...are we any better than them? No, am not talking about technology and develpment and dispensations and revolutions. I am talking at human and individual levels...are we better than our fathers? Are we more 'impactful' in life than they were in theirs? 

In terms of significance, are we better than our fathers were? How about wealth? How about greatness? I am talking at an individual level. Take a look at your past generations: Your grand dad, and your dad for instance. If we were to draw the graph of progression from them to you...how would it look like? SELAH

These are life signatures questions that are seldom asked at many levels of development. It seems to me like we have been 'hoodwinkded' by technological and infrastructual advances. It seems to me like the more things change, the more they either remain the same or even become worse! Take a look at your Grand Dad, Dad, and yourself. Are my questions making sense?

If it is actually true (like I suspect it is with millions of families across the globe) that the graph has not been progressive, we ought to ask ourselves another question. Where is the problem? You would think that our levels of development would give us an upper hand as compared to the previous generations right? Do we really have that upper hand?

Why is it that my grand dad in his day owned a large piece of land, several herds of cattle, and some greatness and respect throughout several communities, yet that is not even half the case with nearlly all his sons and daughters? What happened to this: 'from glory to glory?' How come non of my grand dad's sons and daughters have exceeded him in terms of greatness and significance?

Where are our generations going? Are we really advancing as it were? No honestly. Take a look at yourself as an individual...not as a nation or as a generation...For real for real, are we advancing? If not, where do you think the problem is?

I will tell you where. The problem has been with our focus! What is the focus of our current generation? To answer that question, you have to go back and ask at the place where we are indoctrinated for at least sixteen years, school. What's the focus of our school systems? To answer that, you have to go to any person who is through with school. Ask them..."What now?" Their answer is almost always: "I am looking for a job". That, ladies and gentlemen, is the main focus  of multiplied millions across the globe. If there is anyone who never had that kind of a focus, would you please raise your hand up...we'll give you a standing ovation.

Granny never had a focus to look for a job! It started with Dad. My granny's focus was always about heritage and inheritence, significance and relevance in life. It is my call that the folly of my grand pa not mentoring dad and dad not mentoring me as far as the real focus in life is concerned will not be repeated again to the next generation.

Why? Because that focus of jobs is the biggest killer of potentials in many souls. That is why as things evolve, they continue remaining the same, at least for us. We got inheritance from our forefathers, yet we have little focus on leaving some for our next generation. That, my friend, is the biggest folly of our fathers, and that must of neccesity be nipped in the bud!

HOW DIFFERENCES IN PERSPECTIVES CREATED MY ACCIDENT!

I have been writing of late on a subject dear to my heart. I have titled it, "Permission For Greatness". It is a book that I will be making available in the coming days. In this book, I tell of a harrowing experience that I had some few years back in the line of duty. In a space of one week, I was involved in two accidents. One of those accidents involved rolling with a car, and coming out with few bruises here and there...the car suffered extensive damage, yours truly still lives.

The following week, this is what happened: 

 

I remember vividly the day I was driving from Kampala to Jinja in a company vehicle. Half-way through the journey, there is this spectacle that happened that thoroughly shook me. Ahead of me, I saw a group of people hurriedly crossing the highway. I wasn’t driving at top speed therefore I had no reason to worry about them. However (as I realize later on), unbeknown (Key word here) to these people who were mainly women, a little girl about two years old was closely following them. The twist of the story here is that I thought that these women knew that they were with the girl, no wonder I was not alarmed in any way. 

Those two differing perspectives created an accident! This is how it happened. It seemed to me that they had already crossed my part of the road, and were half way through the other part (for the on-coming traffic). I was therefore clear to continue. Now, the mama to this two year old child per chance looked back, and to her absolute horror, there was her dear little Resty, butt-naked trailing them on the road! The mum did what most people would do in a state of shock. She shouted at little Resty in absolute horror. The little girl was so scared that instead of running to the hands of mama, she ran RIGHT BACK onto the road! Now, this old boy who had ‘everything under control’ from my perspective did not have time enough to brake and avoid running over a poor little kid!

To this day, I cannot tell you what happened. I remember swerving. I remember braking few meters ahead, running back to see a crying Resty (thank God) sprawled on the tarmac. No, there was no blood, the kid was still alive. That that dear little life was saved from death by a car I was driving is a mystery. That this negligent mother to Resty later on wanted to cash in on this unfortunate incident is another mystery altogether, and that part of the story is for another day!

What was I talking about again? Oh yes, that little word…’unbeknown’. Unbeknown to you, little boy is watching, following, listening, learning, and slowly but surely, internalizing. That is how this thing works…you never know what they are picking up, so you better be conscious of the fact that…they will be absorbing something...unbeknown to the both of you! Accidents could be in the making in the life of a young boy or gal AT YOUR HOME because you are not conscious...and proactive.

Have a thoughtful day, wont you?

DAD'S ADVICE ON JOB HUNTING

This is another excerpt from my book, "Permission For Greatness". I thought I would share it with you on this blog. Look out for the book in the next few weeks online and in Bookshops.

“The economy will improve and you will definitely get a job” –Dad, some years back.

I was going through a transition just after my teenage years. Jobs were difficult to come by. I was disillusioned about life, fearful about the outcome of it all. My greatest fear was going back to the village to dig in order to make a living. I cannot complain that there was no one to give me guidance and solace, dad was readily available. However, dad in his pure and well meaning heart consoled me saying that the economy of the country will improve and there will be openings in the job sector soon.

Much as that calmed some nerves, it did not serve the purpose anyway. I needed something practical that I could work with. You cannot blame dad with his reasoning can you? He was and still is a victim of the 'Reverse Order'. If he had known better, he would encourage this old boy to pursue his dreams. If he had this resource (Permission For Greatness) in his hands, he would mentor me, seizing a golden opportunity of my transition. He would know that at the moment when this old boy was facing a big fear, that would be the right moment for him to sit me down and impart 'the blessing' upon my life. He would know that at that semi-traumatic moment, a serious paradigm would easily be installed in my psyche, never to be tempered with. What a chance that was for receiving 'Permission For Greatness!'

He would talk to me about wealth; he would talk to me about success, significance and wealth. Of course he would still talk to me about life itself, that the punctuation I was experiencing at that time was just that, a punctuation and not the whole story of my life.

Our focus on the government improving to create more job opportunities is good, but does not give us the direction that we need. It keeps us locked in the beckoning light of the ROLE, while at the same time totally negating the PERSON. I believe that when the ROLE is not here, we should keep working on the PERSON, specifically their potential as we ‘wait for the economy to improve’.   

This is a more powerful way of waiting for jobs, building our capacities and unleashing our potentials than dropping CVs all over the place. We need to look inside of us and around us. We need to focus more on the spark that lies within us than we focus on the government of the day improving. I believe that no government on the face of the earth is formed to specifically and directly involve itself in my permission of greatness. The best they can do is to facilitate, create an enabling environment, offer peace within the borders and regulate markets. We can therefore never fully bank on the governments of the day if we are to be great. We can never wait on them to improve, we must improve our very selves where we can.

One thing all job seekers need to ask themselves is this: What value are they adding? No, am not talking about the name of your degree; am talking about the value you are giving to the world. Please do not say you are looking for any job...that is the height of mediocrity, I tell you!

Finally, all parents out there: paradigms have shifted since the last time you were in school...do you have a different plan for your child's education or are you still waiting for the government to improve the current education system? SELAH.