COURAGE: UNDERSTANDING THE POWER

Martin Luther King was a man that spanned for only 39 years. He was a black man in the American society. However, he was a man that would be remembered forever. In fact, there are places in the United States of America  after him. He was a man that stood on behalf of the blacks living in America at a period in which the blacks were looked down upon by the whites. This is what is called RACISM. At this period, the blacks were inferior to the whites. They lived as slaves among the whites. In fact, it was in the law that when a black is seated in a bus while a white is standing, if demanded by the white he was supposed to stand up for the white to sit down. It was that bad. They didn't have access to the things the whites had. Their source of survival was mostly at the mercy of the whites. Oh! What a life. No freedom as a human, a black can be bullied by the white and he would still go scot-free.

I mean they made blacks saw themselves as animals whose existence was not important. As a black you couldn't fully express yourself where a white could because your words were worth absolutely nothing. This kind of life was frustrating. I can’t imagine how many blacks must have committed suicide as a result of all these humiliations. Of course, it was like they didn’t have freedom to many things and they couldn’t do anything about it. It meant anyone that tried to challenge the whites in order to claim his rights as a black man would be threatened with different things even possibly with death. Therefore, the blacks couldn’t voice out, you know, for the fear of death and other humiliations were always in their minds. They just lived a “low-key” kind of life. Fear kept on winning their freedom from them.

    

It was in the midst of all these that this man (Martin) stood up. As a black man, enough was enough! The blacks couldn’t continue living in the shadows of the whites. They were also humans just like the whites. They had mouths just like the whites, they had brains just like them and they could walk just like them. The only difference between them was their skin color. The blacks also deserved to be treated well. Even though he knew what he was to face and the fear of been killed must have been looming all over his mind, he still stood up. He began speaking publicly of how the blacks deserved to be treated equally as the whites.

Wherever he had an opportunity, he spoke out. He was popularly known for his speech “I Have A Dream”. It was a speech that shook the United States and spurred the blacks to be more daring in fighting for their rights. Martin really fought this battle against RACISM with all he had. I would like to repeat that he did this at the expense of his life. He wasn’t afraid of death. Martin was later assassinated and therefore died at the age of 39 but what he had started could not be stopped. Barack Obama, a black man, becoming the president of U.S.A is a result of Martin’s efforts.

    

The virtue in Martin that made all these possible is what I call COURAGE. Some people think courage is an absence of fear. No. The real definition of courage is the ability to still do what you ought to do even while you are afraid. Courage is overriding fear. Courage is winning the battle against fear. Courage is facing fear and doing what it doesn’t want you to do. Frantically, fear will always appear whenever we want to do things that will result into our advancement in life. 

Fear is one thing that will do us no good but to hinder us from performing great feats just like Martin Luther King. Fear will show up when you are trying to share your visions with people (the fear of people not believing in it), when chasing your visions (the fear of failure), when making tough decisions (the fear of making the wrong decision), when doing something you have never done before (the fear of failing in it), when doing something again that you have failed in several times before (the fear of repeated failure) and so on. But we can’t let it get the better of us that is why we need COURAGE.

 Eventually, it took a lot of courage for Thomas Edison to still try the 1,000th time which of course was successful after trying 999 times and failing to make an electric bulb. It took courage for Mary Slessor to be able to stop the killing of twins in Nigeria which had been a tradition for long. It took courage for Nelson Mandela to be able to fight for the independence of South Africa. In short, great people are people that perform great feats and it takes courage to do that.

F.E.A.R means False Evidence Appearing Real. Don't allow it! The only help fear can give you is to see the darkest hour, full of anxieties, doubts, frustrations and limitations. Fear is an enemy of dramatic and radical change, you must fight it now. There's no actualization of purpose or goals for a man overwhelmed with fear. It is an instrument of negativity. You can overcome it by understanding the power and essence of COURAGE OR AUDACITY. One of the secrets of great men; they turned their fear into faith, boldness and courage. Unfortunately, Fear has won a lot of people’s success from them. It has won some people’s relevance. 

Fear has won some people’s potential friends from them. It has won some people’s record breaking performances from them. Fear is always a winner, but you are the only one that can determine what it wins in your life: your greatness or nothing.

             DON'T BE MISERABLE AS A RESULT OF FEAR BUT STAY INSPIRED.

UNDERSTANDING PURPOSE

  

   He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how. Do you feel lost or as if something is missing in your life? Maybe you want to make a bigger difference in the world than you feel you are, but you aren’t sure how. So many of us walk through life, feeling numb and desperate for a deeper connection, but aren’t sure how to get it. Hear this, " You have to Live the Life of Your Dreams."

   Be brave enough to live the life of your dreams according to your vision and purpose instead of the expectations and opinions of others. Get your why on earth. For the two greatest days of your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out what your purpose is, but if you don’t know what your purpose is than you don’t know why you are here on planet earth, the truth is that it can be hard to keep going.

   Thomas Merton quoted, "If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for." It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters. The very reflection of your purpose to the world must not be underestimated. If you have a strong purpose in life, you don't have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there. Passion is what you love doing wholeheartedly even without reward or payment.

  Free yourself from the complexities and drama of your life. Look within. Within yourself you have the gifts and talents we need to fulfill the purpose, we've been blessed with. "I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here. I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell." Richard Feynman mused.

  Believe in your heart that you're meant to live a life full of passion and purpose. When faith replaces doubt, when selfless service eliminates selfish striving, the power of God brings to pass His purposes. Believe strongly in yourself as you take the step of purpose now. I'm giving you my word that, your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it. Find it today.

         

        DON'T BE MISERABLE BUT REMAIN INSPIRED.

THE TWO GREAT PATHS

     Discovering and knowing your Purpose in Life over the years as I have observed and listened to successful people, I have discovered a common thread: They know why they’re here. Identifying their purpose in life gives them direction and stability. And when others around them start abandoning their causes and jumping ship when life gets tough, these people use this assurance to steady the boat, to ride out the storm because they have a true North Star. It becomes an anchor in their life. 

A confidence based upon knowledge of purpose. Someone once said there are two great days in life—the day you are born and the day you discover your why. As a purpose driven speaker, I’m here to tell you, highly successful people have discovered why.

                    THE TWO GREAT PATHS

      The Great Energizer. There are two great paths you can take to discover your purpose.

The first is passion. What are you passionate about? What do you really care about? What would you live for? What would you die for? Answer these questions carefully.

Passion is a great energizer but it's not 100 percent foolproof, whereas, it will get you into what I call the location, the area, the neighborhood of what your purpose really is.

Passion is a wonderful thing; it’s what I call the great energizer. It’s no secret that passionate people have a lot of energy. That’s why when you see successful people, they are loving what they’re doing and they’re doing what they love. They never run out of energy and they can’t wait to get going. If you find a person who has passion, you find a person who has energy.

 Conversely, if you find a person who lacks passion, normally they will lack energy.

   People who are highly successful love the journey as much as the destination. And even though they haven’t arrived at their goal, that doesn’t mean they’re discouraged; it just means that they’re still encouraged because they still have fuel in their tank, because they have this incredible amount of passion.

 It’s also possible to be very passionate about something you’re not good at, and that’s not a good thing. If you don’t believe me, just watch the singing tryouts at American Idol. Bless their hearts, these kids are extremely passionate about their singing but when the sound comes out of their mouths, it’s a train wreck. Everybody—the judges, the audience—is sitting there cringing, listening to this person who has great passion about what he or she is doing. Everybody knows it’s horrible. Everybody except the person singing. 

Passion can only get you so far. It will get you into the location but it’s only about 80 percent accurate. But the next path you take to discover your purpose is 100 percent accurate, I guarantee it. Entering the Strength Zone.

     The second path is what I call your Strength Zone Path.  

Now, Discover Your Strengths and Abilities. In other words, what you’ve got to do is find the path that enables you to answer the question: What do I do well? What are my strengths? What is my giftedness? What is the talent, the uniqueness that sets me apart from everybody else? 

Look within critically and write these out. Note this; Everyone has a uniqueness about him or her that, if they could discover it, fine-tune it, work hard and grow in it, would set them apart. 

The Strength Zone Path takes your giftedness and talent and begins to lift you above the crowd. No one has ever been successful doing something that they didn’t like and no one has ever been successful doing something they can’t do well. And yet I see millions of people every day doing something they don’t like doing and they wonder why they’re not a success.

People Don’t Pay for Average. Here is the best way I could explain it. People simply will not pay for average. They never have, they never will. In fact, what amazes me about Africa is we have fallen in love with being average. But what we need to wake up to is that being average has never caught anybody’s attention and made anybody go the extra mile. Being average has never helped anyone rise above the crowd. 

Average is average. But why are we so much in love with average? Being average has never caught anybody's attention and made anybody go the extra mile.

  People don’t pay for average. So what makes one think they can have an average business or an average career or an average life and make a difference? Average doesn’t make a difference. Average is average.

Stop Working on Your Weaknesses Next, I’m going to tell you something that goes against all of the rules you have ever been taught or have ever believed about weaknesses. I know there may be some emotional resistance, but consider buying into this because it will set you free.

 From this moment on, stop working on your weaknesses. Why? Well, it’s very simple. It’s because we are weak in our weaknesses. Our education system has totally taught us to work on our weakness. If you got an A in math but a C in English, what did they tell you to work on? That’s right, English. They say, “Get that English grade up.”

I’m here to tell you, don’t work on your English. You say, “Why shouldn’t I work on my English?” It’s very simple. You have a math mind. It’s not that you’re dumb; it’s just that your math mind is better than your English mind. You’re better at numbers than you are at words. It’s not right or wrong; it’s just who you are. It’s your uniqueness. In fact, what you should do is thank God you got a C! Take Tiger Woods for example. When he has a bad round of golf, he heads directly to the practice range and may spend two or three hours working on his swing—a perfect example of working on your weaknesses. 

I think it’s safe to say that Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer in the world. So when the greatest golfer in the world is working on his swing because he’s got a little flaw in it, he’s not working on weaknesses. He’s working on strengths. He’s in his Strength Zone working to improve his strengths. The difference is when I go to the practice range, I’m in my weak zone. For me practice makes permanent. If you’re in your Strength Zone like Tiger, practice makes perfect. When I work on my golf swing, I consistently hit a bad shot to the same place every time, which is a big help because then I know where to find it in the woods.

   What’s Your Growth Plan? Success is knowing your purpose in life. But there’s more to it than that; I know people who know theorists purpose in life but they’re not successful. 

You need aiit growth plan to help you reach your maximum potential. It’s not only knowing what you should do; it’s about growing in that area to maximize and highlight the things that you do well. That’s continual growth. Key into these paths if you desire to live a purposeful life. 

DON'T BE MISERABLE BUT BE MOTIVATED!

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS

success has a road to take.

   Success is about setting goals and achieving them. Such goals include losing weight, learning how to play an instrument,making profit in a business, and being the best in certain career among others. The secret of success, as many people will agree, is hard work. 

Success has a road, but only those who are ready wholeheartedly can walk it through. Truly, the path is rough, blurry, difficult and full of challenges, but these factors are the forces that differentiate the successful from the unsuccessful. Simply because the successful are factors takers and winners. It's a road that leads to greatness and fulfilment but full of hard works. 

No actualizer can dodge this, they can't even tell all what they faced while working in this path, but one thing set them going with focus, that which helped them was "DETERMINATION." it gives the very fuel you need to go. Build yours up today, you need it. It will anchor you and make you not only a winner but a story teller. 

Are you ready to walk in the road of success? Let's go. For I have determined not to live a miserable life but to take responsibilities and be accountable for my life. What about you?

Just keep going

  Evidently, successful people are admired in the society. In many instances, they make headlines in the mainstream media. 

However, such people are not many in the society, but you can be among the very few. Many people still struggle to achieve their goals in life. Others give up, all together, when they attempt without success to achieve their goals. Goals? Oh yes! Simply, many people are unable or unwilling to engage in hard work for them to be successful. Is It Hard Work Or Smart Work? 

Some individuals argue that an individual needs to be smart- and not hard working, for them to be successful. However, successful people narrate of instances when they did not want to pursue certain projects but pushed themselves to achieve their goals anyway. As a result, they were able to stand out amongst the crowd. Therefore, it is hard work, and not smart work that breeds success. In any case, most of the hard working and successful people are very smart.

Notably, many people give up when they do not feel like pursuing their goals or when they experience setbacks at the initial stages of a project. For instance, many people trying to lose weight may not see the results within the first few weeks of rigorous exercise and dieting. At this stage, unsuccessful people will give up.

On the other hand, hardworking people try to find ways of solving some of the setbacks- instead of giving up. More so, they put in more effort even when they realize that have slim chances of winning. Life Is Tough.

 Hard work and success go hand in hand because life is designed to be tough. Nothing is offered on a silver platter; which means that people have to keep trying to succeed. In actual sense, there are so many challenges in life that only hardworking people can overcome them.

 This explains why there are very few successful people in the world today.Some of the things that one must do for them to be successful include going through the planning process and doing some training and research. One must also have the right attitude or mindset about their goals. Unless you work hard, it is impossible for one to engage in such things. If anything, many people would rather give up than try. 

Precisely, hard work is a necessity for an individual to be successful in life. The doors of greatness and success will never open themselves to those who sit down and cry for success, but it will be opened to those who rise up every morning with dreams and burning desires to pursue. 

No one is accountable for your failure in life. Get out of the box now and aim higher. Pursuit Actualizes Dreams.

Kindly digest this and take action now.

 

                           

                                              DON'T BE MISERABLE BUT BE INSPIRED.