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November 29, 2018

Why Love Is Harder Than We Imagined

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Love is the biggest idea on the planet. And the hardest to do well.

I had an interesting discussion today about how as people we search for and crave a happy ending all in the name of love. Even to the point of lowering or disregarding our own standards in our quest to be loved. It made me realise that Love is such a big idea. Such a bold declaration. Such a beautiful ideal. And a huge life and leadership challenge. But what really is Love?

Our world is awash with declarations of love, opinions on love, perspectives of love, commentary about love, and celebrations of being in love. It’s the most unifying ideal we can aspire to. Because love really IS love.

Because this is true then we have a perfect window to make love even more real because when it’s real it impacts people near and far and it makes tribes work better for a better world and a better world means a better future for every single one of us. Love makes us believe in a better world. Love invites us to count the cost for that better world.

Today I realised that Love has five profound dimensions. All radically transformative, deeply challenging, astonishingly costly. Equally though, these five dimensions have points of divergence that ironically can make us truly UNloving in our motives, our speech and our behaviour.

These dimensions are:

Loving ourselves.

Loving our family or team.

Loving the tribe we belong to.

Loving the movement we believe in.

Loving the planet we both occupy, share and steward.

We are connected to each of these dimensions of love by a form of glue that is then in turn endangered by particular behaviours that invite us to practice an ‘opposite’ behaviour/attitude to make love better. At one level love is the most perfectly agreeable ideal. Until we don’t agree. Then what happens to love and how do we do it well under pressure or in the face of strong, emotional and often credible divergence? Love takes work. Work that has the humility to disagree and still love. To be angry and still love. To be wise in the application of love.

Love is the best ideal on our planet and by far the hardest to do consistently well. Love starts with self. You can only love to the extent you know you are loved and you accept you are loved. This deep truth transcends any worldview and impacts every worldview. Your ability to love others is a direct reflection of your ability to love your self. Practice self-acceptance, personal formation and cultivate a circle of people dedicated to your wholeness.

Criticism, misunderstanding and unforgiveness haven’t just caused relationships, teams and families to break down, they’ve caused war, famine, poverty and destruction on immeasurable scales. The Montagues and the Capulets may well have forgotten what they were divided over but divided they stayed until love divided them and united them even more deeply.

The best antidote for selfishness is service and sacrifice. In fact, love as sacrifice is our best motif. The servant leader, the caring teammate, the courageous soldier. Tribes with deeply embedded culture must work at the behaviours that foster connectedness, empowerment, service, championing one another, celebrating success and learning from loss. Protecting who you are in order to become who you must be.

Movements are most effective when it’s leaders practice the heart and hands of humility. Realising that we are not indispensable and our role is to be both a feet washer and a hand lifter. To guide, guard, govern and serve. To believe on the mission as passionately as we believe in the people who carry the mission forward. To remind ourselves of the why and protect against any exploitation of person or resource.

At this stage, we have one planet to occupy. One to steward. One to care for. It’s the human extremes and the human indifference that may cost us our future. Plastic filling our oceans. Poverty punishing our neighbours. War cutting short the life of children. Ego running countries. Species losing their habitats. Feeling paralysed about doing anything so we do nothing. Love begins with one. Love that starts small can stand tall and make a small difference to our big planet.

Leaders that love know both the beauty AND the cost of love. They know the gift and the dangers of love, they know the capacity for love to bring a convergence and connectedness that cannot be manufactured. They equally know the dangers, the differences, the very real cost of it going wrong. In the words resounding around the world right now and creating all sorts of loving and less than loving responses, Rev Michael Curry said this… “Imagine a world where love is the way. Imagine our homes and families when love is the way. Imagine neighbourhoods where love is the way. Imagine governments and nations where love is the way. Imagine business and commerce when love is the way. Imagine this tired old world when love… sacrificial love is the way. Then no child would go to bed hungry ever again! Love is the way that poverty will become history.”

Leaders get love, even better, leaders get to do love and try as best to acknowledge the challenges of love as mere tolerance. We should aim higher than just mere tolerance.

June 14, 2018

From Passion to Profit

Buisness, Productivity, Success business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, true 3

“If you create and market a product or service through a business that is in alignment with your personality, capitalizes on your history, incorporates your experiences, harnesses your talents, optimizes your strengths, complements your weaknesses, honors your life’s purpose, and moves you towards the conquest of your own fears, there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that anyone in this or any other universe can offer the same value that you do!”
― Walt F.J. Goodridge

Maybe you’re an expert in your field or have a hobby that you really enjoy and are very good at, the likelihood of your being able to make some money or even a full-time living from your passion is pretty high, as long as you’re willing to learn some skills and put in the work. The internet has brought the world closer and allows people to interact with each other across the globe.

This has also brought in the best business platform for both formal and informal service providers. If you have been struggling with the question: “how do I make money from my hobby?” We have taken a look at some of the ways you can tap into and get your piece of the internet pie. Here are five ways you can turn your passions into profits online:

1. Start a YouTube channel.

The amount of money that some people make from this channel is mind-boggling. The top YouTube earner, Daniel Middleton, made $16.5 million in one year from posting Minecraft videos. Now that’s a lot of dough! Creating a successful YouTube channel requires creating a following. This isn’t something that happens instantly but instead develops over time. And you have to work at it. But if you have a passion that displays well on video, then YouTube is a great way to monetize it. Remember you don’t have to make millions to do well on YouTube. A great example of this is the YouTube channel “Woodworking for Mere Mortals.” This isn’t one of the top 10 earners, but this guy does earn his full-time living from his passion and has built up a very respectable following of over 900,000 followers. The cost of setting this up is very minimal, but you might need to invest in good audio/video recording equipment. The idea is as much as you may have relevant content, you need to have a reasonably good quality video to get people subscribing and following your channel. Another thing is being consistent, you need to continually give people value so setting a posting structure such as once a week could work.

2. Become an Instagram influencer.

Instagram is an extremely visual platform, so if you have a passion for something like fashion, food, pets or workouts that work well in pictures or video, you can make pretty good money from Instagram when you develop a big enough following. The way many people make money from Instagram is by selling space on their Instagram accounts. These are often called “shout outs.” These can range from $30 a post for a smaller account to the whopping $550,000 a post that top earner Selena Gomez gets for a sponsored post. Instagram is also great for selling your own items, as long as you do it sparingly and with great visuals. Just like a YouTube channel, an Instagram page requires great creativity, quality photos and constant relevant content.

3. Create online courses.

Many people turn their passions into profits by creating courses that teach other people how to do what they’re experts in. This is part of the model that Woodworkers for Mere Mortals use. There are several ways to market these courses. You can do it yourself through platforms like WordPress and Thrivecart, or you can market on a platform with built-in customers like Thinkific or Udemy. Keeping your courses short and precise will also help in getting more people interested in purchasing your product. In a fast-paced world, people want information that will get them going as soon as possible so this can be helpful if you build your courses with that in mind.

4. Make money blogging.

Blogging sometimes gets a bad rap, but it can be quite lucrative if you set it up correctly. Engadget is one of my favourite blogs, and it’s estimated to make 5.5 million dollars a month, primarily from advertising revenue. If you love to write and can produce high-quality content about your passion on a regular basis then this could be a good option for you to make money from the thing you’re passionate about. You can monetize your blog with Google Adsense ads, promoting products as an affiliate, or selling your own products, such as an online course mentioned above.

5. Sell your services online.

The fastest way to make money from your passion or your expertise is to sell services. Things like writing, web design or helping people clean out their closets all work. You can do this online or off-line, but the big advantage to selling services is that it takes far less traffic to a website to get people to buy a service than it does to get people to buy a product. And since traffic is usually the hardest part of the equation in getting “eyeballs on your offer,” this is a huge advantage. You can set up a simple two-page website, create a small ad in Google Adwords and start getting clients within a week. And if you don’t want to build a website, then bidding for work on sites like FreeeUp.com or Upwork.com can be a great way to earn some cash for writing, technical work or graphic design. There are also sites and apps like TaskRabbit, Care, Fiverr or Rover where you can list real-world services for sale. Selling services is rather labour-intensive, but it’s a great way to create cash flow and earn money right away with your passion.

The biggest key to all of these ways to turn your passions into profits is traffic. Traffic is the hardest piece of any monetization method. You must get eyeballs on your content in order to make money. So, if you decide on one of these methodologies for turning your passions into profits, make sure that you focus at least 50 per cent of your time learning the traffic methodologies that go along with it. It’s entirely possible to make a good living from nearly anything that you’re passionate about. You just have to put in the time and effort to get there. Creating great content and being consistent is key. Let us know in the comments section how you have monetized your passion and how that is going for you.

May 10, 2018

5 Barriers To Success

Buisness, Habits, Motivation, Productivity, self growth, Success, Work barriers, chaser, development, Different, dream, goal, goals, growth, life, motivation, persist, personal growth, Real, self acceptance, true 0

” The cemetery is full of unfulfilled dreams…” Unknown

A lot of people are dying with unrealised potential, but that isn’t the worst of this, because there are people still living that are also failing to live their purpose.
I am often asked this question, “How do I know my purpose and how do I make it happen?” And my response is your purpose or gift is anything that comes naturally to you that everyone else struggles with or finds challenging.
I know this seems open-ended but if you take time to pay attention to yourself as you go through your likes, hobbies and strengths, you will surely find that one thing that you are so passionate about.
Though finding a purpose to me seems fairly easy, the most difficult part of this journey is getting to your promised land. There 2 critical things you need to know here, A) It’s never too late to chase a dream, and, B) There will be obstacles that stand in the way of your dream
Once you work on those critical aspects you will notice that it becomes easier to follow and fulfil your dream. So I have taken time to look at some of the major dream killers that I find very common in a lot of people and these are:

1. Laziness – I just thought we should get this one out of the way first, a lot of people will not admit to this automatically but let me show you something. If you neglect yourself, your career, family and home you run the risk of losing your security and support structure. This is a result of living in a false luxury, a world that has no form of hardworking in it and this has negative consequences in the long run. So I’d say begin by making a list of all the things that you value and are dear to you, and next to them write at least one thing you need to do daily to protect them.

2. Procrastinating – This will kill many dreams than failure ever will. Ask yourself if you are that person who has a million ideas but not one has seen the light of day, or that person with great advice that you never take yourself? Progress is not about words but about actions, no matter how good you articulate a plan, you are remembered for what you did and not what you said. There is a need for discipline to start and see things through to completion. Remember, no one will do the work for you, so it’s time to get going. Do not be all talk and no action, be a doer.

3. Feeling Overwhelmed – Life has a way of stopping people from doing exactly what they set out to do, and you know what that is very true. Things get so difficult that your only option is to STOP! This is generally because the way we plan is not adequate, and I mean we do plan but our plan is not enough. For any project or goal to be achieved you need to break it down into smaller manageable tasks, think of working on a jigsaw puzzle. It looks so big as a whole but if you break down the pieces and start working on smaller sections at a time you will realise that a thousand pieces aren’t that many.

4. Lack of Commitment – The dictionary defines the word commitment as “the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause…”, meaning there is a high level of dedication required for a dream to be achieved. This means there will be a lot of sacrifices, a lot of uncomfortable situations, there will be the risk of being misunderstood or even being alienated because of the relentless pursuit of your dream. Now I need you to take time to answer these few questions about your commitment and see how you score, Do you have a plan to help you achieve your dream? Are you willing to put in work to learn more about your dream? Are you willing to try it even if you don’t see success at first? Do you have anyone you are accountable to with your dream? Do you have anyone mentoring you or teaching you? How bad do you really want to succeed in your dream?

5. Lack of Confidence – Failure is part of the process, and if you FEAR failure you will never start anything because in your mind you are already defeated. Understand this, every dream starts as a mental construct and it is then fleshed out from there, so the mind is a very powerful tool for seeing fulfilment.
Past failures, insecurities, deep hurt and trauma can cause you to look down upon yourself or feel inadequate. I am here to tell you that you control your confidence and do not allow anything negative to immobilise your action. There are many success stories that have come out of the most adverse situations all because those people chose not to give up.
Find a mentor or person that has succeeded in the area that you wish to pursue, take time and learn from them, even by observation, gain knowledge and believe in your God-given ability to see your dream through.

No matter where you are in life today, it’s not too late to become who you are destined to be. Your current situation might not reflect it but you born to be great and you will be great if you apply yourself and overcome the barriers ahead of you. If you want to learn more about how to overcome yourself, follow this link and get a copy of World War You and begin your journey to greatness.

May 3, 2018

The Ultimate Cheat Sheet On Growth

Habits, Leadership, Productivity, Spiritual, Success bold, Dare, development, Different, goal, inspiration, life, motivation, personal growth, plans, self acceptance, true 0

“We can’t impose our will on a system. We can listen to what the system tells us, and discover how its properties and our values can work together to bring forth something much better than could ever be produced by our will alone.” – Donella H. Meadows

First thing first, I have always believed that problems are tactical or strategic by design. With that said, I also believe you cannot then solve or attempt to solve a problem without some sort of system to your method.

Over the years I have reached a loose conclusion that as people we are wired to react to situations in 3 main ways. 1. physically 2. Emotionally/intellectually and 3. Spiritually.
Now, this may seem very vague but you will notice that each of the problems we face we have applied somewhat one or all of those ways to get a solution. Watch this, if you get attacked by someone smaller than you, instinct will tell you to fight back because you believe you may be physically superior to your problem.
You get attacked by a bigger person, instinct will tell you to run or seek refuge which is an intellectual solution, but when you get attacked by someone bigger and supposedly faster than you chances are you are going to seek some kind of spiritual help. There are problems which will have you trying to fight back, running and screaming or praying. Yes, I have done all three at some stage.

This has brought me to categorise life’s challenges into the same 3 brackets, you will meet physical problems, emotional or intellectual problems then you will face spiritual problems at some stage in your life.

1. Physical Problems – Most of these are age-based, there are challenges that confront you because now you are at a certain age in life. It’s like they were just waiting for you to mature then they get at you. A classic example is paying bills and taxes, you never worried about these when you were 5/6 years old but now that you are 16 or 21 they start “showing up”. These problems wear you out physically, they could include your health, the acne, the pimples, the drugs, the alcohol etc. These problems also target your finances, you start getting loans and getting yourself into debt.
Now for you to get out of this kind of problems you need to keep a close eye on your ‘resources’, so you watch what you eat, you exercise, you learn to budget and save your money, and start investing. Generally, you take care of your physical needs to the best of your abilities. A wise man once told me you don’t spend first then budget the rest, but you maintain a budget and invest first then spend. Furthermore, with regards to spending, think of these 5 words, DO I REALLY NEED THIS?

2. Emotional/Intellectual Problems – Now these are the sneaky ones, remember how you started learning about quadratic and simultaneous equations? yeah, me too. Here you confront problems in view of your level of consciousness and awareness or how “woke” you are. These target your internal wellbeing and your balance, the plan is to keep you unbalanced and off the rails. I am talking stress, depression, abuse, toxic and bad relationships. To overcome this kind of situations you need to learn to control your emotions and your appetites (the hard part), do not feed anything that will cause you to stumble. Do not keep things internalised that will harm you, abuse of any kind should be reported, stress and depression should be checked out. Failure to do this will result in you become a miserable unbalanced version of yourself.

3. Spiritual Problems – For many, the issue of spirituality is complex but from my Christian belief I have learned that spiritual problems are about death. The bible says the devil came to steal, to kill and to destroy and that is the mandate of all spiritual challenges. The idea is to make you degenerate or regress and die, these encompass the physical and the emotional side of things. You are put through a test where your fight is to sustain and increase the life in everything around you. I am talking about job loss, chronic illness such as cancer, disability, or substance abuse. The bible says that Jesus came to give life and life in abundance, so you need to speak abundant life into your situation. So you counter death with life, your attack mode will be consistent prayer based to drive out the enemy and then pursue them so as to reclaim ALL that they have taken from you.

Your desire to overcome these problem categories determines your growth trajectory and overall success. All of us feel pain, stress and fatigue at many levels of our lives but the successful people work through the pain. The reason is that the goal is greater than the pain.
What are your growth hacks, please leave us a comment and share with us your life successes.

March 5, 2018

Be Different, I Dare You

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“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Being different is nice, it’s actually not bad at all. In a world were people judge others by their outward appearance; what they wear, complexion, what kind of job they do, their kind of lifestyle and stuff like that, it can be difficult for one to fit in if they’re different. It can also be difficult for one to feel good about themself or to have a sense of belonging in a world were following trends is considered the ‘norm’. What’s good about all this is that everybody sees the world differently from their own perspective. What works for one person may not necessarily work for another.
Rejecting or not following the trends of the world can be difficult. I believe it takes self confidence and self love to be able to stand out. If you love yourself and if you believe in yourself you can be unstoppable.
Dare to be confident-dare to be different. Being confident means accepting and appreciating yourself for who you are. It also means believing in your own skills and ability to do things iregardless of what’s going on around you. In this regard, being different or not following the trends of the world is no challenge at all. When you demonstrate certainty and belief in yourself you don’t give room for other people’s opinions and views to define or control you and or what you believe in.
I think most people end up getting caught up in the ‘web’ of following the trends of the world because of the desire they have to keep up with others. The need for love, acceptance and having a sense of belonging can contribute to that too.

I believe being confident starts from within. It starts with you. What do you think of yourself? When you look in the mirror what do you see? Do you feel good about yourself? Do you love yourself? If you feel good about yourself and have positive vibes it will be easier even for the world to love and accept you for who you are.
Dare to be confident-dare to be different. Be able to reject the trends of the world, follow your heart and soul. Think positive. Take risks and don’t be afraid to fail or make mistakes. Focus on yourself more but don’t be selfish. Do what makes you happy. Love yourself, be able to be completely yourself at all times-no pretense. Feel good about yourself. You are unique in your own way, own that! Don’t compare yourself to others, there’s nothing better than standing out from a crowd. Be yourself in a world that is trying to make you like everyone else.
Dare to be confident-dare to be different!