What Keeps You Going?

Good Morning Brilliant and Excellent People,

I look forward to sharing with you Brilliant and Excellent tips for attaining your goals and fulfilling your Purpose.

In today’s write up, we’ll examine the different things that keeps a man striving towards his goals when everything around him says Quit. We’ll look at several reasons people are committed  to their goals, and what the ultimate motivator should be.

To keep going is to make (someone) able to continue doing something at a difficult time. In life, I have personally realised that when you don’t have a strong reason to stand for a goal, you’ll quit on everything. You’ll never have a stable job, stable finances, a stable family or stable relationships, because you haven’t grasped a strong motivator to want more out of life.

Where are you going?

We can’t begin to talk about what keeps you going when you haven’t answered the question, where are you going? What is your goal? What do you want to achieve out of life? What legacy do you want to lay down? It is when you begin to ask these questions and find genuine answers to them that we can actually begin to understand purpose.

Unfortunately, many have regimented their life based on other people’s opinion. They are going where other people think or expect them to go. They build their goals, their family, their vision based on what the society says or what the people around them think.

Your success is entirely dependent on you and the future can only be great for people who have first created it in their minds, as a result, the question of where you are going is one that only you can find answer to.

Your motivator

Your motivator is that one thing, such that, in the face of struggle and difficulty, when you think about it, it renews your determination to achieve your goals. Some of us need to take out time and just think for a moment, what is my motivator? Why have I come this far? What fuels my passion?

The answer to that question will no doubt vary for many people. Many people’s ideal list will look like this:

1.     Family background: I need to make my parents proud

2.     To prove other people wrong and show people that I can make it

3.     I want to be a young millionaire

4.     Poverty: I want to be richer than my father and etcetera

These motivators are good reasons and in some cases important but they are not enough to keep you moving towards your goal. In time, your family will be proud and then you’re not fulfilled, other people will forget that they even challenged you once and the society will evolve into other trends.

The greatest motivator is Purpose. Purpose is defined as the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. It is also defined as a person’s sense of resolve or determination.

People like Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Obafemi Awolowo and the likes had their goals and ambitions and when the difficulty arose, they were able to persevere and keep going on regardless because they understood purpose.

When your destination is motivated by purpose, it doesn’t matter how difficult it may be, you won’t quit until you achieve it. Purpose is an underlying magnet that keeps our life in order, it gives us focus.

Today’s Activity.

Examine and decide what motivates you and keeps you going. Make this motivator a tool to your short term goals

Define your purpose ( you can contact the BPE team for help) then make this your long term/life motivator.

Have a brilliant week.

Feedback

Good Morning Brilliant and Excellent People,

I look forward to sharing with you Brilliant and Excellent tips for attaining your goals and fulfilling your Purpose.

Today, I will share a thought on the need for feedback.

I had an experience one time in which I bought an expensive shirt. The shirt was not just expensive but very fashionable. I wore this shirt from time to time as it was one of my very best.  Of course, the regular washing of the shirt made it faded and I had no idea until one day, I wore this shirt to a friend’s place. He observed it and said to me, ‘why are you wearing an “expensive faded shirt”?’

As usual, we joked about it and laughed it off. But when I returning home, I gave it a thought and decided to give the shirt to my guard. When my guard wore the shirt the next day, I suddenly realise that the joke was true.

What was interesting was that I didn’t realise this for so long until it was out of my space.

Lesson Learnt?

First, we need to give people the opportunity to give feedback on us. Just by ourselves, we don’t see the shortcomings we need to work on.

In this experience I gave, it is a shirt, other times, it is our performance that is faded, our character strength, our work performance and in some cases our relationships.

Think about it, what is the single most important thing in life closely linked to personal development? Feedback. Yes, feedback. Feedback is critical to improving performance and increasing productivity. Within our space many times, we don’t see the corrections that needs to be made. I often proofread documents and sometimes I still read over the simple errors again and again because I projected my mind into it.

Effective and timely feedback is very important to growth. Timely because some errors cannot be undone. Imagining having to re-write several pages of an article or re-do a presentation because of what was or wasn’t omitted. Imagining losing a contract for simple errors that can be avoided, Imagining projecting yourself poorly for a faded character strength that needs to be updated. For many reasons we need feedback and we need to give people the opportunity to give us feedback.

It is true that it matters who is giving the feedback. Human impression is mostly based on perception, experience or exposure and as a result can be biased. You don’t expect your junior colleagues to give you the same appraisal as your professional colleagues, in some cases, even your friends won’t give objective feedback.

The person who gives you feedback must be objective and sincere with his thoughts no matter how bad or good you may feel. The feedback must be aimed towards your development and not some get back word antics. It’s not a game of words or a competition of who does better or worse. It is an appraisal of strength and weaknesses, what has been observed, what can be done differently, what is working and what is not.

The second moral of the story is never to get attached to a phase in one’s life. In the experience I gave above, the shirt represented a phase in which everything was good and so good that you don’t want to let go. By phase, I mean a present condition in a person’s life. Often, we don’t realise how hanging on to something, no matter what it is, ruins us. We hang on to positions, to money, to prestige, to knowledge sometimes, to personal items, to a one time experience and refuse to let go and move ahead.  By refusing to let go, we close our eyes to the opportunities and better days that lies ahead.

The two lessons to take to heart in today’s write up is to learn to receive feedback and never get attached to a phase in which all you can see is yourself and nothing else. To increase your performance, you should take these things to heart.

Have a lovely week.

Identifying and Maximizing Opportunities- 2018

Good Morning Brilliant and Excellent People,

I look forward to sharing with you Brilliant and Excellent tips for attaining your goals and fulfilling your Purpose.

 The privilege of life

Whether we like it or not, every single one of us has been born with certain privileges that would make our lives somewhat easier to begin. The problem is, we haven’t identified these privileges as what they are but as potential problems and a curse to be rid of.

A privilege is a special advantage or immunity or benefit not enjoyed by all, it is an advantage that you have no control over but fell into your laps nonetheless. If we agree that this definition is true, it is true then that life itself is a privilege for we had no control over when or how or even where we were to be born.

As basic as it seems, life is a privilege and it is the foundation upon which everything else is built, your dreams, visions, aspirations and ambitions.

But you’ll agree that just being born and alive is not enough to guarantee success of any kind, if that were so, we all will be successful and very well acclaimed. A privilege is supposed to be a sling, a leverage to reach your goal faster and move ahead but what life gives us, like every other person, is the beginning line and nothing more.

 The privilege of life is that we are all at the beginning line.

What puts some people ahead than others?

In a few years’ time, if you happen to look back, you’ll realise one of these truths,

·         You have moved ahead of the crew you started with,

·         The crew you started with have moved ahead and left you behind.

So, if we all had the same beginning line, what puts some people ahead of others? We have to really admit that there are “other things” aside just being born that puts some ahead, in some cases, these “other things” may not be something they have done or willed to existence.

Though not obvious as it seem, the kinds of parents you have, the choices they made, the opportunities they maximised in their days, the decisions they risked, the genes you were born with, these are the kind of things that represent the “other things”.

What choices do you have?

Against the face of the “other things” that you see in people, what choices do you have?

Just because you aren’t born with what seem like the catapulting privilege doesn’t mean you should resent those born with them. The “other things” may be a leverage to reach our goals faster than others, it is not an assurance that you’ll be happier or more fulfilled or satisfied with the results of life. As I said earlier, we all have been born with privileges one way or another but what is most important thing is what you do to set the pace of your life. Do you take charge of your life or stand back and grumble about what others have.

Understand that this write up is not to encourage supremacy in any way but to recognise our differences and the ways we can maximise the opportunities that abound around us, if and when we open our eyes and minds to them.

Acknowledging our privileges is a way to appreciate the opportunity you’ve been given and run your race from there.

Resources:

Outliers, The Story Of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

GOAL SETTING FOR 2018, IDEAS YOU NEED TO GET STARTED

Good Morning Brilliant and Excellent People,

I look forward to sharing with you Brilliant and Excellent tips for attaining your goals and fulfilling your Purpose.

In this new year, it is very important that we set goals and review achievements of 2017.  We need to set a tone for the new year and also review 2017 activities.

The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want. – BEN STEIN

Setting goals gives direction and a great sense of fulfillment upon achieving it. Goals align our lives and helps us to keep track of our successes and milestones. Goal setting is the process of deciding to accomplish a task and devising a plan to achieve it. As 2018 unfolds, the most important thing you can start with is setting goals that will put you on the path to the big future you desire.

Benefit of Goal setting

The most powerful benefit of setting gaols is not in achieving the goal itself, it is in the process of transformation, the change that you experience as you achieve the goal, that is the ultimate benefit. Goal setting provides focus, a sense of purpose and improves decision making. These things develop character and transforms you,

Other benefits include:

·        Increased productivity

·        High level of confidence and sense of fulfilment

·        Life direction and focus

A SMART goal is:

·         Specific – What is your goal? Is it specific enough or is it too broad? What needs to be done for you to achieve your goal? Why do you want to reach your goal?

·         Measurable – How can you measure your progress? How will you know if you’re on track?

·         Attainable – Can your goal actually be achieved?

·         Realistic/relevant – Can you achieve your goal? Is the goal worth it?

·         Time – What’s your time frame for reaching your goal?

Ideas for setting goals

1.    Write your goals and objectives down

Writing down the goals you have is an important step to achieving your goals, it helps you not to forget what your goals are. As the year gets busy and your schedule increases, you want to put your goal in your face and continually make plans for it.

2.    Break your goals into smaller chunks

Breaking down your goals is a way to stay motivated as you approach the bigger goal.

3.    Create a plan to reach your goal

Your plan should detail the steps you need to reach your goal, what will happen as you reach each step, when and how you will track your progress, and more. Being detailed with your plan will help you reach your goal and be successful.

4.    Be accountable

Have someone you can report the progress of your goals, someone who can encourage you from time to time and help you get back in track when you feel discouraged.

Decide to live a purpose driven, excellent and brilliant life filled with great moments in 2018. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Brilliant and Excellent People,

I look forward to sharing with you Brilliant and Excellent tips for attaining your goals and fulfilling your Purpose.

This new year, we will focus more on individual commitment to change and innovation in our various environment.

We will bring you more information on various scheduled programme. We also encourage members of the BPE team to set smaller units within their zones and communities while we will be willing to give all necessary support.

This year, we will not be waiting for opportunity but we will be creating various opportunities. 

In 2018, every member of this team will be empowered to make great change in their communities.

The BPE team and all members of Solomon's Empire appreciate your support and patronage and we are glad and committed to our promises of seeing everyone of this team enhance their brilliance and attain their purpose.

We wish you Happy new year once again.