How to Make Your Mark

It’s that time of the year again when people make new resolutions. I would like to suggest a different focus that I believe should also deliver tremendous results in 2007. How about learning to PLAN AHEAD. I have never made any new year resolutions since 1999 when I learnt about the need to PLAN AHEAD from the works of John Maxwell. Here are some thoughts on what has kepy me on track with my personal goals:

Pre-determine a course of action

This essentially means having a vision for your life. Visualizing that which you intend to attain is the first step towards being successful in pursuing it. You need to have a concise end for which you can measure your progress against. Develop a vision which will be your pre-determined course of action.

Layout your goals

Once you have pre-determined a course of action, the next step is to break it down into specific goals that can be realized. To empower your vision you need to write it down and define it clearly. Laying out your goals enables you to harness the power of visualization.

Adjust your priorities

You will need to make some changes in the new year if you hope to make it a different year from the past. This will mean being open to adjusting your priorities. Priorities are the pathway to success. Making adjustments is the key to reaching your goals.

Notify key people

We all have circles of support around us. In order to accomplish your goals you need to find those people who affirm your positive goals and share your goals with them. These people will encourage you, motivate you and keep you on the path towards success.

Allow time for your plans

Many times when we set goals we expect them to be realized within a certain time frame. While it is essential to set deadlines, we should never get married to the deadlines. Timelines should motivate us to work smartly towards our goals. If your goals are not attained within the timelines you set, don’t quit. Set new timelines and stay motivated.  

Head into action

Action is the first step towards achievement. A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Head into action. Inch by inch it’s a cinch. Action must start now! The greatest enemy of success is procrastination. In order to achieve your dreams you must be action-oriented.

Expect problems

Every endeavor that has ever been worth pursuing has always had it’s problems and challenges. Problems are a sign that you are on the right track. The absence of problems is very likely a sign that something is wrong. Problems should never cause you to lose sight of your ultimate goals. They should be a call towards being more creative.

Always point to your successes

It is easy to lose motivation when failure sets in. The key to staying focused is in pointing to your already realized successes. Your track record of past successes is the springboard for your future achievements. When failure threatens your progress, embrace the confidence that comes from your record of past achievements.

Daily review your planning

Planning is a dynamic process. Plans should be reviewed on a daily basis to ensure that you are on the right track. You must be open to changing your plans daily. Flexibility is the key to success. You must be able to revisit your plans every day. Nothing ever dominates life unless it happens daily. It is the daily habit of reviewing your plans that will determine whether you realize them or not.

For 2008, make a quality decision that you will not make any resolutions, but you will PLAN AHEAD. I’m rooting for you!

A few years ago (actually seven years ago) I made a commitment to certain personal objectives. I came up with fifty dimensions of intent which I penned in a book that I wrote for myself and titled, “My Life Vision”. One of my intentions (please review the article on Serendipity and Synchronicity from December 23) is to embrace a state of constant shift and flux in my life as I pursue my destiny.

The word shift means to change; for example to shift gears in an automobile from one ratio to another. It can also mean to move; for example to transfer from one place, position, direction, etc. Flux, on the other hand, means continuous change, passage or movement. It may also mean a constant flow. Life is in constant flow and we must learn to change in order to attain the better life. Embracing change and being open to movement is a sign of great maturity and understanding of the processes of life. In order to attain true significance, our attitude should be: “shift happens … flux is fun“. As we enter into 2008, my primary objective is to embrace great changes and allow the flow of life to lead me towards a higher dimension of my destiny.   

Organizations thrive or flounder in seasons of flux. Leaders must therefore be masters at navigating shifting winds. Organizations themselves also need to shift leaders and people around every so often (… insanity is doing the same thing - or having the same people doing the same things - all the time yet expecting different results). Flux is fun! Shift happens!

Dr. Mark J. Chironna has a little booklet titled, Tripping Over Your Treasures, that I have always enjoyed reading. He starts off by explaining the meaning of the word serendipity, saying that dreams are arrived at quite accidentally yet when one is being intentional. It may seem like a contradiction but I find this to be extremely true. When I was planning on my coming to the United States in 2001, I was very intentional about the whole process but my actual leaving of Kenya came accidentally! I also find that there is one more thing that contributes to the realization of dreams: synchronicity. Synchronicity is the coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related. I met my wife because of synchronicity. We had both signed up for the same elective course in college. Who would have thought that an elective course in school would bring two people together! 

The word serendipity was created by Sir Horace Walpole in 1754 after having read a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. In this tale, three sons of a King were always on their way somewhere only to bump into things accidentally on purpose that helped them along the way to their next stop.  As I was thinking about this, I started seeing that in my own life I have ‘bumped’ into people and things who helped me along the way. I would never have learnt about the Honor Academy in Texas had I not volunteered to go with some American missionaries to a remote village in Northern Kenya. In Texas, I met a friend who introduced me to the family that helped me move to Colorado. While in Colorado and later in Massachussets I pursued a great friendship with a classmate at Regent University. This led to our marriage in 2004. That’s a lot of serendipity! 

The American College Dictionary defines serendipity as the faculty of making desirable but unsought-for discoveries by accident. Synchronicity on the other hand is meaningful coincidences that cannot be explained by cause and effect. Both of these words invite us to experiencing deeper lives full of meaning and richness. Let the old pass and welcome into the new. The best is yet to come! May 2008 be full of synchronicity and serendipity for you!  

Christmas is fun time. Every Christmas I always get at least one card that stands out from the rest. A couple of days ago I got a unique card from a friend who is really into personal development. What caught my attention first was it’s title: Follow Your Destiny, Wherever It Leads You! This title was powerful to me because I have always believed every human being has a special destiny. What a coincidence that I would receive a card along these same lines on the same day! This act of providence sent me a great message which was solidified even more when I read some of the words on the inside. Here’s part of what it said:

“There comes a time in your life when you realize that if you stand still, you will remain at this point forever. You realize that if you fall and stay down, life will pass you by.”

The card went on to say:

“Rather than wondering about or questioning the direction your life has taken, accept the fact that there is a path before you now. Shake off the “why’s” and “what if’s” and rid yourself of confusion. Whatever was - is in the past. Whatever is - is what’s important. The past is a brief reflection. The future is yet to be realized. Today is here.”

What a beautiful message! This card cemented for me the truth that we are engineered for greatness. We were born for accomplishment. The key to greatness is in being able to seize every single day and utlizing every single opportunity life offers you to live up to your full potential. Don’t settle for less when you can have more. You were designed for accomplishment and engineered for greatness!  

Some time last year, I received an email from a senior administrator at my former workplace. The email was a forward from another supervisor in a different department who was passing along a positive report regarding my work performance. I was tickled by the email largely because of the use of the word Kudos. Kudos is a rarely used english word that simply means giving compliments to another. Maybe the rare use of the word signifies the need for more kudos in workplaces. In an effort to contribute towards this, I would like to suggest a KUDOS formula for leaders and supervisors in organizations.

Here’s the KUDOS formula:

K - Keep your focus on finding acts worthy of encouragement in your people.

U - Underscore the vital necessity of a climate and culture of encouragement.

D - Discover the 101% principle (Find the 1 thing someone is good at and give 100% encouragement in this area.

O - Outline your expectations, knowing that people soar higher once encouraged.

S - Seek to encourage with a desire for the other person’s benefit, not your own.

Five Key Results of the KUDOS formula:

1. Increased productivity in service and results.

2. Generates motivation and keeps momentum going.

3. Cultivates energy for input of effort and hard work.

4. Maintains synergy as the power of teamwork is enhanced.

5. Leverages the final outcome of a desired target or objective.

Six years ago I left my birth country of Kenya in pursuit of the dream of a better life in America. I won’t ever forget my younger brother’s words as he hugged me and bid me farewell at the Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. He said, “Don’t let your best dreams become your worst nightmares”. These words left a powerful imprint in my heart. Throughout my entire 17 hour flight from Nairobi to Dallas, TX, I kept on mulling over these words. In the process of mulling over the words I started developing for myself a strategy for actualizing my best dreams. My strategy is captured in my first book, The Road to Arrival: Ten Empowering Principles for Actualizing Your Dreams. In this book I focused on ten power-packed principles that are essential for making dreams come true. If dreams are not pursued with massive action, they can easily become nightmares.What’s your dream? What’s that one thing you absolutely believe you were born to do? What keeps you up at night and keeps you dreaming during the day? What’s your greatest desire in terms of accomplishments? Each of us have been created with a desire for greatness. There is no human being who does not have the capability to dream big dreams. Greatness does not necessarily mean being rich and famous. Greatness is simply understanding what you were born to do and doing it to your utmost potential. All human beings have the potential to dream great dreams and achieve them. T.E. Lawrence, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, said, “All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.” Don’t let your dreams become nightmares. Back them up with massive action and sound strategies. May your resolution for 2008 be simply: to make your dreams come true. Go for it!

A coupole of months ago I found myself stuck in traffic really close to a bakery in my neighborhood. I wasn’t thinking of anything specific and allowed myself the pleasure of having my eyes roam about the neighborhood. Within a short time I learnt what had caused the traffic to build up. A bunch of people were standing in front of the bakery getting free bread for the holiday season. I could hear from the noise that they were excited. The smell of baked bread filled the area. I could easily see a crowd in the area right in front of the bakery and my gut feeling was that the bread was being given for free. Right at that moment I decided to be creative and use my time in traffic in developing some thoughts on leadership, based on what I was seeing in front of me. I was able to come up with the following four things that leaders should follow:

1. Follow your ear (I heard the noise)

Learn to act on what you hear your followers whisper. If you can act on the whispers, you won’t have to react to the screams later on. Sensitize your ear to the imperceptible cries of your people. Your ear should be able to vibrate with what is resounding from the lives of your followers. A leader should always have his ear on the ground but not all the time because if you are always bent on the ground and listening you can’t be able to see ahead. There must be a balance. The leaders ear must ring with the voices of the people. 
 
2. Follow your nose (Oh the smell of bread!)

Strive to perfect your ability to smell what is coming. I learnt this from watching leopards hunt back home in the plains of Kenya. Their main advantage is that they can smell their prey from very far. Let us endeavor to smell the future before it arrives. The better your leadership smell buds, the more accurate you will be in anticipating inevitable happenings. The leadership nose is able to determine what is good and what is bad. We like what smells good isn’t it? Leaders should be able to sense the flavor before serving their followers. That’s the key to winning their hearts. 
 
3. Follow your eyes (I saw the crowd)

This is where many leaders lose it. They leap before they look. In more adverse situations, they think before they look. I would like to change a very popular saying. They say “Look before you leap” but I say, “Look before you think and then think before you leap.” As a leader, you must be able to first analyse a situation, synthesise it and then pounce on it. Because leaders possess the big picture and see the whole view before their followers, they can easily be enticed by what looks appealing. Leaders should be able to see, then use their minds and determine the right course of action.

4. Follow your gut (I sensed they were getting free bread)

Intution is a leader’s best friend. This is something that many leaders have yet to fully grasp. You can’t teach anyone how to listen to the gut. It’s something that is cultivated personally. Just a little wisdom to help you as you do this: THE GUT SIGNAL is like red lights flashing within you. Leaders should be able to sense things so that they are not caught unawares.

Ear, nose, eyes and gut - the anatomy of leadership!

People today are consumed with the idea of going to the next level in their lives, be it in their relationships, careers, finances or other area of life. While this is great because it motivates them, I find it to be an idea that can limit our true potential. My paradigm is that we need to be consumed with the idea of the kind of legacy we will leave behind at the end of the seasons of our lives.

Thinking about your legacy every day, rather than thinking about the next level only, makes you a better leader. I also believe that thinking about a legacy makes you other-people centered while thinking about going to the next level tends to make one self-centered.

How do you transition from thinking about the next level to thinking about developing a legacy?

1. Be more focused on other people rather yourself

The idea of being a ‘people person’ has been around for a long time. Dale Carnegie’s 1936 masterpiece, ‘How to Win Friends and influence People’, has helped so many people over the years to develop a people-centered perspective that has enabled them to leave great legacies. I would highly suggest a reading of the book. 

2. Ask how you can help rather than what others can do for you.

President John F. Kennedy immediately became a world figure with his acceptance speech in which he said, ” And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you -ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” In order to leave a legacy you must ascend in thought to where you are asking what you can do for others rather than what they can do for you. 

3. Be a giver more than a receiver

Nothing shapes a legacy more than the spirit of giving. When you give of yourself to others you become a part of the solution. It’s solution-centered thinking that sets the pace for the kind of legacy a person will leave behind. Again, when one is thinking of going to the next level, the pre-dominant question is “What can I get (or receive) that will take me to the next level?” When one is thinking of leaving a legacy, the pre-dominant question is “What can I give that will help others?” Be more of a giver and your legacy will be unshakable because the truth is that what we give is ours forever!

4. Be a leader more than a follower

Leaders impact and influence other people greatly. The great thing about being a leader is that you are able to take other people to the next level as you develop a legacy. What a beauty! Leaders pass along the best in themselves to other people. I’m always pleased when I hear from people I led in high school and at the university. They always say things like, “Herman, that idea was awesome. It took our group to a whole new level.” While those short-term moves were great for whichever group I led, the best thing is that a legacy was developed because even today they still talk about what we did.

Are you living for the next level or developing a legacy for and with your people? Start shaping your legacy today. 

We are told never to cross a bridge until we come to it. But look at the lives of men like Martin Luther King Jnr, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. This world is owned by men who have ‘crossed bridges’ in their imagination far ahead of the crowd. These men crossed bridges way ahead of the societies and times they lived in. Life demands of us to be prepared for our time when it comes. Nothing is more beautiful than the site of a human being fully engaged in purpose when the timing is just right for that purpose. The truth is that in order to be prepared we must be able to cross bridges before we get to them. Crossing bridges before we get to them means having a healthy imagination full of ideas on how we can solve the challenges of today and avoid the obstacles of tomorrow.

I’ve always challenged myself to continually develop the capacity to block out time in my day where I can get into my creative space and do nothing but cross bridges in my imagination. Any thinker should be able to do this. That’s the key to leadership - being able to see farther than everyone else and then communicating the dynamics to those around you. I think that we can all develop that capacity to cross bridges before we come to them. Putting in that extra effort in the beginning will save us from lots of trouble and heart-ache in the latter part of our various missions in life.

It’s a common quote: we are the masters of our own destiny and the architects of our own fortune. But the real situation is that very few people are actualizing the truth of that statement. What makes some people masters of greatness and architects of achievement while others languish in the obscurity of mediocrity? My thinking is that the main thing that separates between those who soar and those who flop in life is vision. It has been said that where there is no vision, people perish. Vision is the primary ingredient of success, the seed of greatness and the foundation of accomplishment.

The Mastery of Vision

Superb winners always show a mastery of their vision way before their competence at a task is demonstrated.  As a young teen in the late ’80s I used to enjoy watching heaveyweight boxing fights. Those were the days of men like Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, George Foreman and Lennox Lewis. What enabled me to understand each fighter’s vision for a match-up was the press conferences right before a fight. I liked it even more when it was between the heavyweight champion and a contender. The boxers would vividly describe what they would do in the ring and then it was up to them to go out and show that they could back-up their words with action in the ring.

Winners in life have a mastery of vision that is undisputable. Mastery is defined as the command, grasp or control of a subject. We love sports because we can readily see mastery demonstrated before us. Look at a bike rider like Lance Armstrong. I’ve enjoyed watching him compete in the Tour-de-France year after year and I missed him in last year’s race following his retirement. Lance was a master at teaching us the art of vision. He would train seriously in the off-season and then come out every July in-front of the world’s cameras and show that he had what it takes to win a grueling 21-day race.  

The Architecture of Vision

Architecture is simply the structure of anything. In construction circles, it is the act or process of building. The architecture of vision is therefore the act of giving structure to that which has been intangible - your vision of the future. Going back to our opening quote, we are the architects of our own fortune. Fortune is a child of vision. When it is said that where there is no vision people perish, what that really means is that where people lack hope in the future, there are no fortunes for them to reach for.

Let us briefly look at the work of an architect. An architect takes a user’s vision and brings it to life. He plans and designs that which had been conceived in the mind. Many architects are great visionaries.

One of my favorite visionary architects is R. Buckminster Fuller, the creator of the Geodesic Dome. His concepts were revolutionary. The dymaxion car (contracted from DYnamic MAXimum tensION), for instance. Fuller had a superb ability to dream big and develop audacious goals. 

Success and significance in life are directly proportional to how well we act on vision. Acting on vision requires strategy. Developing goals and objectives that bring the vision into clearer focus is essential. Having a team of people who will buy into the vision is key. It’s all about mastery and architecture. May your vision come to pass!    

I’m inspired by the stories of innovators like Andrew Carnegie. Andy surrounded himself with big thinking resourceful people. How he got them is a secret that is open to all of us. Mr. Carnegie went on to become the greatest philanthropist of his generation because he knew how to get the right people and empower them for broad-based action. In other words, he had eagles around him. Eagles in this sense represent leaders of the highest calibre. The tricky thing about eagles is that they don’t flock; you have to find them one at a time. Most organizations end up with turkeys instead of eagles because they are position conscious and take whoever shows up. Eagles don’t show up. You have to go and look for them. Here are six marks of an eagle:

1. Eagles are catalysts of experiences - Eagles make things happen based on their skills and abilities. They walk the road less traveled, defying models in order to blaze new trails.

2. Eagles possess great vision and execution - Eagles don’t perch on a tree and wait for manna to fall from heaven. They go out and look for opportunities. They are not risk averse.

3. Eagles are change agents - Eagles influences others in positive ways. They are 360° influencers. Their influence is not restricted by attributes like age or profession.

4. Eagles are multipliers of value - Growing organizations have people who bring added value to the company but great organizations have people who multiply value. The average organization has people who subtract value while the mediocre organization has people who divide value.

5. Eagles empower eagles to lead - Birds of a feather flock together because only they have an uncanny ability to bring out the best in each other. Eagles don’t hang out with hawks.

6. Eagles are sources of creativity - Eagles hunt for ideas that result in quantum growth for the organization. Because of this, an organization with eagles will always be a leader of the pack.

The truth is that in order to go up you must give up. Our over-arching goal in life should be to continously move from good to great. Successful people understand that life is a journey. Any journey has intersections and those who win are the ones who make good trade-offs at the intersections of life. The New Year is a great intersection worth making good trade-offs. Bob Buford once said, “None of us know when we will die, but all of us, if we wish, can select our own epitaph”. We select our own epitaph based on the kind of life we live. Are you pursuing a better life? If not, here are ten trade-offs worth making that can qualitatively improve your life and a question after each to prompt your decision-making as you approach year 2008.1. Affirmation for accomplishment - Are you going to be one of the boys and get the affirmation of mediocrity or will you step out of the herd and blaze a trail of accomplishment?

2. Financial gain for future potential - Will you be enticed by the promises of wealth or will you live for a life of significance based on your true capacity?

3. Immediate pleasure for personal growth - Are you tempted by the life of ease and play now, or are you motivated by the desire for living your best life possible?

4. Security for significance - Do you want to live a comfortable life of comfort and convenience or will you soar towards a better life in which you make an even greater difference?

5. Acceptance for excellence - Are you going to settle for the acceptance of your peers and friends or will you aim for the excellence that comes from the pursuit of your dreams?

6. Addition for multiplication - Are you satisfied with adding value to your community or will you go for the more rewarding joy of multiplying value to the world?

7. Many things for one thing - Will you be a jack of all trades and master of none or will you stand out from the pack and be a master of one thing?

8. Quantity for quality - Are you going to fill up your life with things and events or will you go for the right things and events?

9. Stability for success - Is your prime desire to have a stable life or are you willing to tap into the success of knowing and realizing your true passion?

10. Work for family - Are you laboring at your work at the expense of your family or are you creating a legacy for those whom you love?

Only through the wise use of trade-offs can we truly reach our potential.

We live in a critical day that calls for more vibrationary leadership than visionary leadership. If you’ve seen the movie Click you may be able to discern how we need to go BEYOND vision and into a vibration mode of life. So much has been said and written about visionary leadership but few people understand vibrationary leadership. I’m calling for a new kind of leadership. I am calling for vibrationary leadership!
The difference between visionary and vibrationary leadership is that whereas visionary leadership guides and directs by the power of a compelling desire propelled by a glimpse of the future, vibrationary leadership discerns trends, senses opportunities and taps into potentialities. Understanding the heartbeat of the future is more powerful than any vision we could ever have. We learn this easily from the human body. Before thoughts are deposited in the mind, they are birthed in the heart. The heart is therefore the center of life. Out of it flows the issues of life. The seed of vision is always in the heart. That’s why a visionary has passion and fire in his soul. His heart is ablaze. Vibrationary leaders develop the ability to hear the silent beating of coming changes in society and thus strategically position themselves to make the very best of the moment.

If we are going to be precise in the 21st century, we must transition from visionary leadership to vibrationary leadership. Otherwise we shall have visions that will stall in the face of rapid societal changes. A New millenium requires a New strategy. Our organizations should be able to vibrate with the beating of society’s heart. Transitioning from vision to vibration is in essence shifting our focus from seeing to hearing. While it is essential that we be able to see what is happening in our environment, it is much more important that our ears be well tuned in order to hear the silent rumblings of change. This means that our ears should be close to society’s heart and needs. Sound is a series of vibrations moving as waves through air. Ringing a bell for example, sets off vibrations in the air. Detection of these vibrations or sound waves is called hearing. It is essential to understand how the ear works. Humans hear by bone conduction or primarily by detecting airborne sound waves, which are collected by the auricles. The auricles help locate the direction of sound. Then one turns to focus on the direction. Therefore hearing comes before seeing. This is very important.

This transition will require a change from structure to rhythm. We should be able to learn the unforced rhythm of guiding our organizations through transitionary moments. This will require a greater degree of sensitivity. Making the transition from visionary leadership to vibrationary leadership will require that we change from critical thinking to modulating. What we hear should be properly deciphered and transmitted to the masses. What are you hearing? Make the big transition - be a vibrationary leader!

Let’s face it - life is not always easy. In fact, if you’re like most people, every day you are thinking of what you can do to take yourself to the next level in life. While success looks differently for every human being, there are some general things that everyone can do to set themselves up for success. Here are four easy keys that can unlock tremendous success in life:

Create a powerful picture of your destiny

Success and greatness come to those who anticipate it. It is impossible to anticipate that which you have not visualized. Creating a powerful picture of your destiny is essential to having purpose and focus in life. The world will stand aside and let pass the man who knows where he is going. Winners start of with a powerful picture of their destiny. When you know what you would like to accomplish, very little will stand in the way of you getting there. Create a powerful picture of your destiny and you will add more power to your life.  

Leverage your potential by playing to win

Some people play not to lose. That is the prime recipe for failure. You have to play to win, not play to avoid losing. Your attitude in approaching life’s challenges and opportunities is the key to either winning or losing. When you approach a situation or opportunity with the belief that you will win, more often than not, you will end up winning. Even outcomes that would seem to be failures, will be a success to you because it’s your attitude that counts. Mentality is the key to winning, perspective is the hand that turns the key. Play to win!

Adjust your goals using proven technique

The key to continued success in life is making constant adjustments. Many of us fear making adjustments. We have an unhealthy attitude about changing anything and that affects the quality of success we can have in life. Change is not your enemy - change is your greatest friend. If you get stuck in one mode of doing things the same way you’ve always done them, you will always get the same results. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting different results. The willingness to adjust goals is a sign of maturity and confidence in yourself.

Widen your vision by developing a BHAG

You need to have Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) if you are going to live your very best life. The quality of your vision depends on the magnitude of your BHAG. People who live their very best lives, learn to think beyond their daily sustenance. They consistently develop and work on goals that propel them toward a desired future. I encourage you to do the same. Have a goal that will continuously pull you into the future. A goal is simply a dream given substance, direction and timing. Set deadlines to your dreams and endeavor to make them a reality.

You can live your very best life!

Our degree of productivity in life is directly proportional to the momentum we have going for us at any particular moment or task. Momentum is really our best friend because it enables us to enter a zone of productivity that brings out the best in us.  The momentum principle reveals that although it may take tremendous amounts of energy to overcome inertia and get going initially, it takes far less energy to keep going. The idea then, is to get started and really put our best effort in from the front-end. Activate the momentum principle in your life and you will be assured of continued productivity and results in life. 

Every single human being has a special and particular destiny that they were born to make a reality. In my book, Battling for Your Prophetic Desiny, I have written at length about specific strategies that can be utilized in making one’s destiny come alive. I recently developed an acronym that captures seven essential things that we can all do to make our destinies a reality. These thoughts form the acronym DESTINY:

Determine your true passions

You have to find out exactly what makes you tick. Many people stop pursuing their true passions when they get a job. A job is your pre-occupation while your true passions are your true occupation. What gets you excited? Perhaps one of the hindrances to finding our true passions is limited imagination. Edmund Burke once said, “There is a boundary to men’s passions when they act from feelings; but none when they are under the influence of imagination”. Allow your imagination to unveil new passions that will enable you to stretch yourself.

Embrace your assignment

Your true passions will reveal to you your assignment. Your assignment is that which you are meant to accomplish with your life that few others will be able to do as well as you could. Every human being has the capability of expertise. What are your talents? Your talents are the key to your potential and purpose. Use your talents to unleash all you can be, do and have. What do you enjoy doing most? That could be your assignment. Knowing your assignment in life is more important than finding a job.

Start right NOW!

Life is lived in the now. Most people’s undoing is that they live either in the past or in the future and experience very little of the now. The company that you’ve always dreamt of starting, start it right now! That song that you always wanted to compose, write it right now! Myles Munroe once said, “The richest place in the world is the cemetery, because there are people there who died with books that were never written, songs that were never sung and companies that were never started.” You’ve got to commit to living in the now! That incident that’s been lingering in your mind for months, let it go right now! Move on and experience the fullness of what life has for you.

Transform your thinking

Your thinking sets the pace for your doing. Thinking makes a great difference. You can’t experience greatness if you continue to think in the same manner that you have always thought. Don’t allow yourself to get stuck in the rut of bad or poor thinking. Elevate your thinking by associating with good thinkers. This can be accomplished in many different ways - through reading their books, face-to-face contact with people that spur your thinking, listening to audio-books or watching educational video or TV.

Identify your strengths

Winners play to their strengths. If you are going to be massively successful in life you have to start that journey of identifying your strengths. This will not only expose you to your potential but it will also aid in constructing your character. As you identify your strengths, you will definitely uncover some opportunities for improvement in many areas of your life. Strengthen your areas that need improvement and you are well on your way to a great destiny. Don’t play safe, play to your strengths. That is the key to having great outcomes in life.

Notify key personnel

You need a circle of support around you that will motivate, support and keep you accountable. Share your dreams with them. Allow them to challenge you towards realizing your full potential. They may be the key to your ability to move to the next level. Find trusted people who will become your inner circle of confidence. Build a team of people around you who will encourage you to expand your sights. Never under-estimate the power of your close associates. People who achieve greatly in life have mastered the art of notifying key people around them what they are working on and allowing these people to be encouragers of their pursuits.

Yoke with thought leaders

Someone once said that who you become five years from today is determined by the books you read and the company you keep. You have to be strategic about the environment that you invest your time in. Last month I had a post here in which I explored different dimensions of bad company and good company. I think it’s worth revisiting and really taking a good look at. Associate with thought leaders and your life will improve greatly. You can make that destiny that you dream of a reality!  

There are two planes in life - the vertical and the horizontal plane. The vertical plane allows us to peek into possibilities and use hindsight to make it a reality. The horizontal plane only allows us to see what’s happening in our lives at that particular moment. In our every day dealings, do we spend too much time on the horizontal that we fail to see our potential in the vertical? Is life all about what’s happening around us?

By getting vertical we can gain a bird’s eye view so that we have a bigger picture of what’s possible. Isn’t it instructive that surgeons are always vertical when operating on their patients? In order to perform their task with precision they need an elevated view of their subject. In the vertical we have an opportunity to be creative while in the horizontal we are always reactive. Creativity comes when we can ’C’ things differently. Notice that the difference between creative and reactive is in where you place the ‘c’. In being creative you ‘c’ first and then develop a game plan. In being reactive you ‘c’ in the midst of the situation. How do you ’c’ (see)? Do you use foresight or hindsight? Get vertical. C first! 

I have seen lots of people claim to have a vision for life but do very little in trying to make it come to pass. Having a vision is not a licence for thoughtless belief that everything’s going to be okay no matter what. Having a vision is just the first step towards achievement. It is actually a licence for action! People who go around thinking that having a vision is the be all and end all of success are misguided. It takes daily action to make vision come to pass. That is what I refer to as practical vision. Every day becomes an opportunity to make that vision come to pass. Daily action makes the possibility of vision coming to pass real.

Human beings are so designed such that they move forward based on the quality of their thinking. If our thinking is stagnant then our growth will be stunted! One of the things that keeps many people at the same level is herd-think - they go with the masses instead of using their quality of thinking to chart out a path that is truly theirs. A few years ago I enjoyed reading John C. Maxwell’s book, Thinking for a Change, which helps in developing that ability to think efficiently and correctly. I had already been practicing some of the concepts he developed in the book but he added superb insight to my understanding of the essence of good thinking. Three of his ideas stood out:

1. Good Thinking Creates the Foundation for Good Results

What do you want to achieve in life? The key to that will be in developing a reservoir of good thoughts that are well implemented. Your progress in life is directly proportional to the quality of your thoughts.

2. Good Thinking Increases Your Potential

Many of the thought leaders I have come to respect have been great proponents of the need to understand and pursue one’s full potential in life. Potential is simply the capacity that a person has for effectiveness in life. We can all attain our potential as we begin to elevate our thinking. Good thinking increases the level of results one can expect in life.

3. Good Thinking Produces More Good Thinking IF . . . You Make It a Habit

Nothing dominates life more than a habit. As you practice good thinking, you develop a foundation from which you can continue to harvest even better thinking. Internationally respected leadership authority, Stephen Covey, explains that we cannot face the challenges of today with the responses of yesterday. We have to continually raise our response - it takes a habit of good thinking to do that.

Will you climb out of the pile or will you stay rooted in it? As you climb out of the pile, remember the story of the crabs in a bucket. As one tries to climb out, the others will, without question, try to pull it back in. But know this one thing, there are encourager who will make themselves available to push you out of the pile and I’m one of them.

Success and significance in life are the offspring of good leadership skills, qualities and competencies. There must be a good leader for a team, group, department, company, constituency or nation to achieve results at whatever it sets out to accomplish. There are four levels of results in life and I’d like to explore how leadership impacts each:

1. Excellent leadership brings significance and a legacy

I want to start with excellent leadership because that should be the predominant focus of our passions. Excellent leaders get there because they work every day at making themselves better people and better leaders. Lasting excellence in leadership comes from continued study and a relentless passion for making a mark. Excellent leadership is the key to leaving a lasting legacy. 

2. Good leadership brings success and achievement

All human beings want to have success at some level or another in their lives. One must have some kind of leadership skill or competence if any success is to be attained in life. Individuals who attain success but do not continually work to become excellent leaders will achieve a lot of good things but will never be able to leave a legacy behind them.

3. Poor or Mediocre leadership leads to stability and maintenance

The majority of human beings live stable lives. The majority of organizations in society are stable. The majority of nations on earth are stable. Stable means life has very few surprises. It means one can make it from one month to the next. It means an organization does not have any major problems. It means a country is doing okay. But stable is not enough. We need to go beyond the norm. The key is to develop our leadership.

4. Lack of leadership leads to survival and struggle

Survival and struggle are the lowest levels of life. People who live at this level have nothing to look forward to - no dreams, no vision, no purpose. We should never be at this level because everybody has a skill or two that they can utilize in going to the next level. We are not designed to spend all day holding ‘help me’ signs at an intersection. Developing leadership skills is the first step towards living a successful life.

The one question that each leader needs to consistently ask herself is whether she is doing enough to go to the next level and also take others around herself to higher levels of experience in life. Leadership is more than just having the right credentials; it’s more than just reading a couple of best-selling books and gaining insight. Leadership has a lot to do with having the right vision, the courage to pursue it, the aptitude to share it and the wisdom to develop others as they join in the dream. Leadership is powerful.