Never forget the promises you made to yourself.Never!

One day I sat and wondered since when did life get so complicated, why do we have so many limitation in our dreams. Then it dawned on me that we all GREW UP, yes growing up was the worst thing that happened to our way of thinking. Think back when you were a child how many dreams you had, some might have been outright nonsensical or childish but my point is that in your mind everything was possible, nothing was beyond your reach. You believed that you could fly like Superman and reach for the stars, nothing was impossible in your mind. Your dreams were far, wide and beyond this universe. Look at yourself today you seem to have settled for far less than what you thought you could do and yet you wonder why others are flourishing.

Well your problem is that you became and adult and started to believe that certain privileges and certain dreams were not for you. You classified yourself into LSMs, Social Class, RACE, Education and so on, imprisoned and limited your mind. 

Recently I listened to my nephew who is 8 years old telling his father that he is going to own a Ferrari one day when he is old enough to drive. Most of us have said similar things to ourselves made great promises to ourselves but now all that has changed.

There are two elements I find most powerful in what my nephew said, one is VISION and the other one is BELIEF. My nephew had a clear vision of what he wanted he didn’t want to own a car but own a Ferrari but this is the easy part of his dream, the next element is what most of us dismally fail in getting it right, BELIEF.

My Nephew truly believes in what he is saying simply because he is not clouding his mind with detail and science. He is not concerned about the price of the Ferrari, he is not concerned about the HOW, he is not worrying about buying it cash or how much his monthly repayments would be on the car, he is not even worried about the insurance either, simply because he is a child and secondly he does not have that information but this actually works in his favour.

However as an adult my tip is that you should manually control and separate the negative details in your dreaming process. Sometimes these details are not entirely negative and they are the true factors that come with your dreams. The danger however in focusing on such detail is that it creates great doubt in your mind and you end up adjusting your dreams and settling for less.

Do not get me wrong I’m not saying be naive but I’m cautioning you against clouding your dreams with negative detail and end up shifting your focus towards the wrong direction. My nephew’s lack of important details such as price of the Ferrari helps him to believe in his dream without doubts.

Now few years to come do you think my nephew will own a Ferrari? We don’t know that all depends on him. It depends on what changes in his VISION and BELIEF, chances he will grow up and know how much a Ferrari costs and settle for a GTI or he might be fortunate and continue being a child in his dream process and discard the negative connections and continue dreaming. As an adult you might think it’s too late for your dream but it’s not, REMEMBER THE PROMISES YOU MADE TO YOUR SELF

The Four Seasons of Success

The Four Seasons of Success

                                                                                                                                                                      

I’m writing this with the aim to dispute the claim of overnight success that’s being sold to us on daily basis, and I think this is most dangerous phenomenon since global warming. We live in a world filled with endless possibilities; there is Lotto, Politics, Tenders and Crime that can change your status from an ordinary Joe to a millionaire or billionaire status overnight.  But I still reason  that this is not overnight success, in fact in my books overnight success doesn’t exist, let me tell you why.

One of my hobbies is people watching, yes I watch people, on TV, magazines, books and in other platforms but theres only one breed of people that interest me; Successful people. One would ask what is my definition of a successful person? To me these are ordinary people doing extra ordinary things, and leaving extra ordinary lives. These are entrepreneurs, musicians, athletes, and some of them are richest people in the world, such as Warren Buffet and Mark Zuckenburg.  Watching these so called successful people means reading up about them and their life stories. My fascination for trying to understand what sets them apart has made me come up with the concept of Four Seasons of Success.

To me success starts with a seed conceived inside you, this seed can be your talent, passion or a need to make a difference. In the topic of talent, sometimes we think a talent needs to be something that your do extra ordinary or something that exclusive to you. Let me tell you talent does not have to be exclusive, you just need to find something you are good at compared to other things, sometimes you won’t even be great at doing something but you just love it. Use that passion to drive you in the right direction.

Once you have that seed inside then it’s time to do something about it, now you go out and hunt for land to cultivate this seed of yours.  This means finding the right environment to cultivate your talent or passion. Once you find the land, now you need to take time and look for the right spot for your seed. This is the time where you take your hands off your pocket and get down in your knees to feel the soil, touch it, and feel its roughness. This means having faith, this means believing in your dreams, visualizing your seed grow into a plant. This is the first season; this is when you start doing something, theres action taking place. This part I’m very passionate about, taking action is the number one requirement to get results in whatever you do.  

·         You need to start DOING, once you start doing you need to keep DOING,

·         Do till you start Seeing it,

·         Do some more until the results expand and blossom into a beautiful flower you can be proud of.

Now we need to find that perfect spot for your seed, finding the perfect spot for your seed is very important, different talents require different environments. You need to make sure the spot you choose will get the right amount of rain and sunshine for your seed. Now you need to collect your tools and get ready to get dirty, start digging, dig , dig.

·         Theres action going on…..you cultivating your seed, you allocating time to your talent.

 This process is very import, remember if you dig a shallow hole your seed might not make it to the next season, same as if your hole is too deep that seed might suffocate and die. Yes you cannot spend years and waiting for things to happen, that talent, that passion will die with its fruits.  It’s important that you make sure the hole is the right depth for your seed, if you are digging right now in your life you need to make sure you do it to the best of your ability. When you put that seed in that soil you need to know that your efforts were beyond great. Day in day out, you need to make sure whatever you are doing, you do it to the best your ability. This is important so that tomorrow when looking back you don’t look back with shame and guilt; you look back with pride sense of achievement knowing whatever you were doing you did it to the best of your ability.

Now you have planted your seed, but this is not the end, this is just the beginning, you can take this time to breathe for second but don’t stop. Now because you planted your seed in right land and in the right spot you trust the sun and the rain to bring it to life. For the first time you will see that first leaf, now those are small results you will start to see as you taking action in your life, a new season is upon you; the second season of success. Now you smiling but you know it’s still the beginning.

When your plant shows above the ground I call this season the season of take off. Now picture yourself in flight taking off, when a plane takes off, things start to shake, its uncomfortable. This season requires you to get out of your comfort zone, you need to buckle up and hold on tight. For entrepreneurs this is the time when you have established that business but all you do is to invest more money and you not getting any returns yet, faith and vision keep you going. This can be both a painful and a happy time, as in this point you can see some results but things are still unstable. This is the time where you take care of this plant and give it water if the rain doesn’t come.

·         Action after action, time after time you putting all the work in, that plant will grow taller and stronger.

At this point this point things are stable this is the third season of success. In this season you have processes in place, you have a time table everything is normal to you, you are doing all the right things at the right time. But this is not success yet, so you keep doing what you need to do until that plant bears it first fruit. The fourth season is the joyous season when your seed has grown into a plant and now bearing fruit, now you think you are successful. But no this is not success, success is not the results, it’s not about the fruit.

·         Success to me its action

 Success starts from the first season when you digging the hole for you seed, second, third, fourth season and beyond that is success.

Success is about you doing something with talent and your passions daily, success has no beginning and has no end.

·         Success is yesterday, today, tomorrow and beyond. Success comes in seasons, and each one requires different mind sets.

·         Couch you brain, anticipate the four seasons, be ready and leverage on your strengths.

You might read this and say there are ten or four or two seasons of success, that’s also correct as long as theres is planned action taking place I support you. Overnight success does not exist.  

“Great results are a product of a great plan well executed”

Name Your Brand, define the You Brand

Name Your BRAND

As we in the last days of 2013, milking the last of its few hours or days to death, we are all excited about the New Year.  This is the time when people start naming the New Year with all great phrases linked to a successful perfect year. We have heard of 20-great (2008), 20-Elevate (2011) and so on. Today I stand here and pleading with you not to give names to 2014, the number is just fine. How about you start naming yourself, give yourself a new name, reposition your brand, and change your status from being okay to being awesome. Stop being good and start being great, Name Your Brand, define the YOU BRAND.

We all say we want to be successful, but success means different things to different people so instead of generalizing our dreams, let’s make it personal. Leave the year alone and focus on the YOU Brand, give yourself a name, and a motto.  You might ask me why you need to name your brand when you already have a name. Well your name was given to you by your parents and you had no saying in its meaning. In many cultures parents name their children to what they wish their children to become. But we all know we don’t always share the same dreams as our parents. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying change your name but I’m saying it’s time to take yourself serious.

Most of the biggest companies in the world are built on a singular brand, so all you need in 2014 and beyond is the YOU Brand. It is very important to take time in your busy schedule and think about what kind of a brand you need to be in order to achieve your goals.  Here is the formula you can use; DR + RS+ AP+ I= YOU Brand. (Desired results + Required skills + Action plan + Implementation = YOU BRAND)

 Let me explain it is important that your brand is relevant to your needs; your brand should be the vehicle that helps you to deliver great results and achieve your goals in 2014. For me a great year it’s not only about ticking the boxes from my to-do-list but it’s about HOW I got those results. Fast forward to the end of 2014 what are the 10 most important things you wish to achieve and how do would you feel to have achieved them by design not default. Yes it’s important to do things by design not leave anything to chance where our dreams are concerned.

Now that we all agree this is the way forward for 2014 you must be asking yourself how do go about establishing the YOU BRAND. You can establish the YOU Brand in just four simple stages and these are the building blocks you need to create the wonderful YOU Brand in 2014;

1. Desired results (DR)
2. Required skills (RS)
3. Action plan (AP)
4. Implementation (I)

Desired results + Required skills + Action plan + Implementation = YOU Brand

Well the first step is to have goals, write down 10 things you would like to achieve in 2014. Then get into the details, visualize the great results you wish to have for those 10 things. You need to agree with yourself on what are your desired results. Once you have established your desired results then it should be easy for you to establish what skills you will need to learn or polish. The next two steps are very much crucial as the first two; the third step is creating your action plan, now that you know what is it that you want it’s crucial to plan on how to get what you want. This is more like your blueprint for action, a business plan if you like.

Now that you have your wonderful plan in place you can’t just sit and expect a great 2014 to happen, you need to implement what you said you will do. You need to start the engine, get your brand on the move. The last stage is the implementation stage, I call it the GSD stage.. ‘get sh**t done’. I’m not being rude but it’s as simple as that. Do something and you will achieve something? It’s the oldest scientific rule, for every action theres a reaction; you just need to make sure the reaction is exactly what you planed.

Right now you should have a name for your Brand, there are no rules on how you can do this but the name of your brand should mean something to you. Let me give you a clue, for example while I’m writing I might have branded myself as MR X the Inspirational coach. To me this is clear and explains what my brand is all about, I seek to inspire people and coach them into action so they can get the results they desire. So in just one sentence I have named my brand and defined what I stand for.  I can even make it sound cool and call my brand XIC. I am very clear in my mind I’m not a motivational speaker, I don’t believe people can be motivated. I believe you can inspire them to be motivated and that’s what I seek to do but that’s not all but I coach you into action, which will lead us into results.

 To me this is clear this YOU BRAND concept can also be used in your day to day tasks, this means you can have your permanent YOU BRAND but also create sub brands when needed to accomplish certain small or short term tasks. There is no limit what you can do with your brand, but it’s important for you to be conscious of your brand positioning and how does your brand measure up against its deliverables. Just in all great functioning organization, you need to review your brand performance regularly, is the YOU Brand performing well against the target, is the YOU Brand still relevant, what extra resources your brand needs to maintain its position or to improve its position.

Name your Brand, define the YOU BRAND

What do you call your brand? How would you describe it to your friends, family, colleagues, would you buy it if it was on sale?

 … Name it, define it…win with the YOU BRAND.