

****

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THE GREATER YOU

**THE**

**GREATER**

**YOU**

**JOIN THE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN**

**TRANSFORMED BY READING THIS POWERFUL BOOK.**

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_Whatever is within your view is within your reach. If it's not within_

_your view, then it's beyond your reach. What you cannot see, you_

_cannot touch. Your view determines your reach in life. You are not_

_with this book without a reason. This book is a tool in the hand of_

_the Creator that will illuminate your life to discover who you are,_

_what you can do, and where you belong in life and destiny. Never_

_sleep and wake up daily without an agenda, goal or purpose._

\- _**Ekundayo Michael Temitope,**_

_CEO Cornerstone Success Educational Limited_

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THE GREATER YOU

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## DEDICATION

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This book is dedicated to as many that wil read through its

pages and be challenged to discover and unlock their true

potentials, develop them, and harness them in pursuit of

purpose.

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THE GREATER YOU

****

**Copyright © 2016 by NEWTON KING**

****

Al rights reserved. No portion of this book may be used,

reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in

any form or by any means without written permission from

the publishers with the exception of brief excerpts in

magazines, articles, reviews, etc.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are

taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and

authoritative information with regard to the subject matter

covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher

is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other

professional advice. If legal advice or other expert

assistance is required, the services of a competent

professional person should be sought.

This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk

purchases, for information, call ****

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THE GREATER YOU

**CONTENTS**

Acknowledgments......

Preface......

Introduction......

Part 1. **THE GREATER YOU......**

Chapter 1. You are great.

Chapter 2. You have unlimited powers.

Chapter 3. You are created to dominate.

Chapter 4. You are born to lead.

Part 2. **POTENTIAL DISCOVERY......**

Chapter 5. Concept of potential.

Chapter 6. Discover your purpose.

Chapter 7. Seek help from above.

Chapter 8. Identify and concentrate your powers on your

passion.

Part 3. **AWAKEN THE CREATIVE FORCES......**

Chapter 9. Visualize yourself as you long to be. ****

Chapter 10. Have a positive increase expectation.

Chapter 11. Believe in yourself that you can.

Chapter 12. Locate the best.

Chapter 13. Put your best in whatever you do.

Chapter 14. Know and fol ow your path.

Chapter 15. Be inquisitive.

Chapter 16. Get and implement knowledge.

Chapter 17. Practice.

Chapter 18. Get creative.

Chapter 19. Test your ideas.

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THE GREATER YOU

Chapter 20. Don't accept failure as an option.

Chapter 21. Move with God and with the right company.

Chapter 22. Learn the habit of happiness.

Part 4. **POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT......**

Chapter 23. Concept of development.

Chapter 24. Set goals in line with your potentials.

Chapter 25. Plan your way through life.

Chapter 26. Make good use of your time.

Chapter 27. Learn how to learn.

Chapter 28. Discipline yourself.

Part 5. **ENERGY BARRIERS......**

Chapter 29. Sin.

Chapter 30. Lack of true knowledge.

Chapter 31. Complacency.

Chapter 32. Undeveloped skills.

Chapter 33. Lack of commitment.

Chapter 34. Laziness.

Chapter 35. Evil communication.

Chapter 36. Wrong environment.

Chapter 37. Wrong association.

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Part 6. **SUCCESS VITALITY......**

Chapter 38. Put God first.

Chapter 39. Gain control of your life.

Chapter 40. Know exactly what you want.

Chapter 41. Leave your comfort zone.

Chapter 42. Be diligent.

Chapter 43. Have a correct set of belief system.

Chapter 44. Enrich others.

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THE GREATER YOU

Chapter 45. Express gratitude to God always.

Part 7. **THE ERRAND......**

Chapter 46. Create and add value.

Chapter 47. Build better relationships.

Chapter 48. Take action.

Chapter 49. Master change.

Chapter 50. Give more.

Conclusion......

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**ACKNOWLEDGMENTS**

Al glory be to God for making this project an outstanding

success. It's been God's grace all the way.

This book is a synergistic product of great minds. I am

grateful for the wisdom of great writers and speakers who

has inspired me and contributed to the success of this

project.

For writing and developing this book myself I feel a deep se

nse of gratitude and fulfillment.

To my good friend, Boluwatife Olawumi, who helped me go

through some of the manuscript and making necessary

corrections, I thank you.

To my beautiful queen, Blessing Enejo, who has always

been there for me, encouraging me and also assisted with

editorial suggestions and production help, your love is my

strength.

To my parents, brothers, sisters, relatives and in-law who

have constantly shown me love, I am eternally grateful.

To my workforce group, who remained devoted to the

vision that what we were doing would make great impact

to the world, despite the challenges, at all times, remaining

cheerful and supportive, I salute you.

To students, friends and colleagues in Young Adults

Organization, and for the thousands of youth and adults

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THE GREATER YOU

who have read through this material and have given

feedback, I am so grateful.

And finally, thank you to a whole host of behind-the-scenes

folks who supported me. God bless you all.

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THE GREATER YOU 

## PREFACE

A lot of people are living a limited life because they lack

the understanding of the mechanism of life and how they

are supposed to live. Almost everyone is looking for

something that is not lost. And this has always been the

major problem of humanity – _SELF DISCOVERY._

In this book are powerful thoughts, stories and life changing

principles, which are wel explained and simplified that will

help you eradicate ignorance and come up with ideas that

will brighten your path to great achievement.

This book is important for personal development. It is simple

and summarized. It is readable for all categories of people

most especially those that are young at heart.

If you have encountered failure in life or have had difficulty

in advancing to a greater level of success, your freedom is

found in the pages of this book. I boldly tell you, that after

reading this book, all your fears, worries and doubt in life

shall be gone forever.

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**INTRODUCTION __**

_Greatness is determined by internal_

_content not physical appearance._

\- _**Newton King**_

_****_

A man was selling bal oons on the streets of New York City.

He knew how to attract a crowd before he offered his

wares for sale. He took a white balloon, filled it up, and let it

float upward. Next he filled a red balloon, and released it.

Then he added a yellow one. As the red, yellow and white

balloons were floating above his head, the little children

gathered around to buy his balloons. A hesitant black boy

looked up at the bal oons and finally asked, "If you fil ed a

black bal oon, would it go up too?" The man looked down

and said, "Why, sure! It's not the color of the balloon; it's

what's inside that makes it go up!"

Greatness is determined by internal content not physical

appearance. It's what's inside of us that determine whether

we'll achieve peak success or experience failure in our

lives. And we all have greatness within us. It's in our DNA.

I believe we all are placed in this world to contribute

something unique irrespective of our different colors, sizes,

shapes and locations. Inside of us lies a special gift, a talent,

which when developed, will take us to the level and place

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THE GREATER YOU

where God wants us to be. It might be a special way of

speaking, singing, designing, organizing, sel ing, innovating,

or reaching out in your business, career or whatever it is. We

all have something inside of us that can make a difference,

that can touch others in a special way, and that can make

the world a better place. But unfortunately, only a few

recognize and work with their powers.

Have you ever asked yourself: Why people like Isaac

Newton, Albert Einstein, Alexander the great, Rosa Parks,

Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Edison, Mother Teresa, Kenneth

Hagain, Hellen Keller, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Rosaline

Franklin, Shakespeare, Napoleon Hill, Leonardo Da Vinci,

Martin Luther King Jr., Henry Ford, Nick Vujicic, and some

few others do what they do? Is it that these human beings

are created specially and are different from the others?

How is it that some people from poor families and

devastating background manage in spite of it all to create

lives that inspire? What makes some people's lives an

example and others a warning? What is the secret that

creates productive, successful and fulfilled lives in many?

The simple answer to these questions is that these people

discovered, unlocked, developed and harnessed their

powers. The same power and strength that was available to

them is also available to you if you are willing and

courageous to claim it.

God (our Creator) is not partial; He created everyone in a u

nique way but with equal opportunities for experiencing life

to its fullest, that's why we must work very hard to exceed o

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ur previous performance and climb higher on our success la

dder because of who we are, the strength we have and th

e giant capacity we can immediately command.

Every reasonable and positive person will say in his or her

own unique way: "I am God's child, success and fulfillment

is my right." We are not just human beings trying to make it

in this world. We are spiritual beings going through human

experience on the way toward complete expression and

fulfillment. Therein lies the seed of greatness. Not through

religion per say, but by being in tune with the infinite – the

imprisoned splendor seeking expression.

Do you want to be great? Then know that you are. Let go

of the ego and focus on truth. Turn to success by turning to

the light. Center yourself within the universal flow of all

good. God comes to the hungry in form of food.

Consistently ask yourself these two questions:

**1.** How good can I be?

**2.** How far can I go?

The answers can be found as you read through the pages

of this book. This book has been designed not merely to be

read but to be experienced. To experience, you must

creatively respond to the information in its pages. Acquiring

information itself is passive. Experiencing it is active. It is only

when you put into practice what you've learned that it will

produce results for you that are irrevocable.

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I'm not here to explain to you some dull points of theology,

or to tell you theories extracted from some kind of positive

thinking books. No! I'm basically here to neutralize some of

your incorrect belief systems, to tell you the truth about

yourself – who you are, what you can do and what you are

supposed to be doing with what you have, the difference

you can make, and how you can soar to a higher level of

life.

My primary aim of writing this book is to let you see how

great and powerful you are and also to expose you more

to yourself, to tap from your potentials, and to help bring

out the strength in you...

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_**It is only when you put into practice what you've**_

_**learned that it will produce results for**_

_**you that are irrevocable.**_

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## PART 1

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**THE GREATER YOU __**

_"You were put on this earth to achieve your_

_greatest self, to live out your purpose,_

_and to do it courageously."_

\- _**Steve Maraboli**_

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**1**

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**YOU ARE GREAT**

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Most people have no idea of who they really are, what

they contain and what they can produce. They are

ignorant of the giant capacity they can immediately

command. That's why they see life as a difficult task and

everything for them looks like an 'uphill battle.' What stops

us from succeeding most of the time is not what we think

we are, but what we think we are not.

Psychologists have discovered that most humans under-

rate themselves; sell themselves short because of some

factors and conditions. They tend to hide themselves under

the shadow of inferiority complex. I believe you must have

used or heard people using the word 'superiority complex.'

Actually, there is no one that is superior or have superiority

complex. People who seem to have one are actually

suffering from feeling inferior. Their superior self is a cover up

to hide from themselves and others, their deep down

feelings of inferiority and insecurity.

The big question now is, "Who really are you? How can you

actually make a true evaluation of your worth?" I'll

explain...

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The scripture tells us that God created man in his own

image, a little lower than the angels and gave him

dominion over all things. If we real y believe in the al wise,

all powerful, all loving God, then we are in a position to

draw some logical conclusions about that which He has

created. At first, you'll agree with me that such all-mighty,

all-wise and all powerful Creator would not turn out inferior

products any more than a master painter would paint

inferior canvases. Such a creator would not deliberately

engineer his product to fail any more than a manufacturer

would deliberately build failure into an automobile.

The Fundamentalists told us that man's chief purpose and

reason for living is to "glorify God" and the humanists also

told us that man's primary purpose is to "express himself

fully."However, if we agreed that God is a loving creator

and has the same interest in his creation that an earthly

father has in his children, then it seems to me that the

fundamentalists and the humanists are saying the same

thing. Come to think of it, what brings more glory, pride and

satisfaction to a father than seeing his offspring doing well,

succeeding and expressing to the fullest their potentials,

abilities or talents?

Have you ever sat by the father of a musician performing in

a concert? Or the father of a football star during a game? I

suppose you'll know what that means? Jesus expressed the

same thought when he told us, "Not to hide our light under

a bushel, but to let our light shine so that our father may be

glorified."I don't believe that it brings any glory to God

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when his children go around with 'hang-dog' expressions,

being miserable, afraid to lift up their heads and be

somebody in life.

God sees us as a tool in whom and through whom He can

do a great work. He sees us as already serene, confident

and cheerful. He sees us not as pathetic victims of life, but

masters of the art of living; not wanting sympathy, but

imparting help to others, and therefore thinking less and less

of ourselves, and full not of self-concern, but of love and

laughter and a desire to serve...

The truth is, you are not inferior, neither are you superior. You

are simply you. You as a personality are not in competition

with any other personality simply because there isn't

another person on the face of the earth like you, or in your

particular class. You are extremely unique. You are not like

any other person and can never become like any other

person. You are not supposed to be like any other person

and no other person is supposed to be like you.

God did not create a standard person and in some way

label that person by saying 'this is it.' He made everyone

individually unique. He created short, tall, skinny, large,

smal , fat, black, yellow, red and white people. He has

never indicated any preference for anyone's size, shape or

color. I disagree with Abraham Lincoln when he said, "God

must have loved the common people for he made so

many of them." There is no common man. He would have

been close to the truth if he had said, "God must have

loved uncommon people for he made so many of them."

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Please understand and look at yourself. Recognize the

possibility of change and believe in yourself that you are

and in the process of becoming. That sense of unworthiness

and failure must go. Don't believe what other people are

saying about you. Don't believe what is false about who

you are. You aren't formed accidentally. You aren't mass

produced; neither are you an assembly-line product. You

are deliberately planned, specifically gifted and lovingly

positioned on the earth by the master of the entire universe.

You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar

person called for a great purpose. You are born for

greatness and made for signs and wonders. That is what

you are – "Great."

You need to start seeing yourself as a great personality. As

Dr. Henry Emerson Fosdick equipped, "Hold a picture of

yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye and

you will be drawn towards it." If you picture yourself vividly

as defeated, or see yourself as someone that can't win,

that alone will make your victory impossible. If you picture or

see yourself as a winner, that will contribute immeasurably

to your success. Great living starts with a picture, held in

your imagination, of what you would like to be or do.

I'm not trying to flatter you or trying to get the juices in your

body flowing fast by telling you how I feel about you. No!

I'm telling you the truth about who you are. You can

become great, command things and rule in the affairs of

men if you discover yourself and work with the power that is

in you.

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THE GREATER YOU

Every one has been literally engineered for success by God

and also given access to greater power. If you were

engineered for success and happiness, the old picture of

yourself as unworthy of happiness, of a person who was

meant to fail must be in error. Steve Goodier, the author of

'One Minute Can Change Your Life' asserted, "We are

stronger than we think. We have emotional, spiritual and

even physical resources at our disposal. We may get

knocked down, but we don't have to stay down."

I believe you are greater than your present situation,

greater than what you think you are now or will be

someday, and you have infinite capacity to achieve

greatness. Irrespective of where you are coming from or

what has happened to you in the past, you can still

become what you've dreamt of becoming and even

more. You are in this world to realize your inner divinity and

manifest your innate enlightenment. Nothing can dim the

light which shines from within except you. You have all what

it takes to dominate in your world. You need to continuously

look well into yourself because there is a source of strength

and power which will always spring up. In the words of

Wendell Holmes, "What lies behind us and what lies ahead

of us are tiny matters compared with what lies within us."

Always thirst for greatness, create the kind of person that

you will be happy to live with all your life, because 'you are

the window through which you can see the world.' Make

the most of yourself by training the tiny, inner sparks of

possibility into flames of achievement. You may get

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THE GREATER YOU

knocked down on the outside but the key to living in victory

is to learn how to get up on the inside.

__

Wilfred A. Paterson, the author of 'The Art of Getting Along:

Inspiration for Triumphant Daily Living' wrote: "You hold in

your hand the camel's-hair brush of a painter of life. You

stand before the vast white canvas of time. The paints are

your thoughts; emotions and acts. You select the colors of

your emotions; discordant or harmonious, harsh or quiet,

weak or strong. You select the colors of your acts; cold or

warm, fearful or daring, smal or big. You visualize yourself as

the person you want to be. You strive to make the ideal in

your mind become a reality on the canvas of time. Each

moment of your life is a brush stroke in the painting of your

growing career. There are the bold, sweeping strokes of

one increasing, dynamic purpose. There are the lights and

shadows that make your life deep and strong. There are the

little touches that add the stamp of character and worth.

You are greater than what you think you are."

You need to continuously ask yourself these questions:

**1.** Was I created to live the way I'm living?

**2.** How can I get to the level that my Creator wants

me to be?

**3.** How can I take immediate control of my life?

**4.** What can I do today that can make a difference?

**5.** How can I expand, learn, grow and share that

knowledge, strength and powers that my creator

has given me with others in a meaningful and

enjoyable way?

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Even as you ask yourself these questions, you need to also

make decisions. I believe Tony Robbins when he said, "We

have the power to change virtually anything in our life in an

instant if we decide." It is in that moment of decision our life

is shaped. Decision was the source of John F, Kennedy's

power as he faced off Nikita Khnishchev during the tense

Cuban missile crisis and averted World War 3. Decision was

the source of Mother Teresa's voluminous impact in helping

the less privilege and the sick in the society, showing a

good example for the people to fol ow. Decision was the

source of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s power as he gave voice

so eloquently to the frustrations and aspirations of people

who would no longer be denied, and force the world to

take notice. Decision was the source of Aliko Dangote's

meteoric rise to the top of the financial and business world.

Who would have thought that the determination and

conviction of a quiet, unassuming man – a lawyer by trade

and a pacifist by principle – would have the power to

topple a vast empire? Yet Mahatma Gandhi's indomitable

decision to rid India of British rule was a virtual powder keg

that set in motion a chain of events that would forever

change the balance of world power. People didn't see

how he could achieve his aims, but he left himself no other

choice than to act according to his conscience. If we

decide to, you and I can make our lives one of these

inspiring examples.

You need to understand that the resources you need to

turn your dream into reality are within you, merely waiting

for the time when you decide to wake up and claim your

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birth right. This is mainly why I wrote this book; to challenge

you to commit to living and be more to discover, develop

and use your God-given powers. Even if you don't make

decisions of transforming the state of your life into a greater

equivalence, then you've already made a decision.

Haven't you? You are making a decision to be directed by

people, circumstances, and the nature of your

environment.

The nature and direction of my life changed in just one day

– the day I determined to know who I was created,

designed and destined to be, what I'll contribute, what I'll

like to have and what I was committed to creating. That

makes al the difference. You too can make a new decision

right now that will immediately change your life – it might

be a decision about a habit you want to change or a skill

you want to develop, or how you'l communicate

effectively to people. Maybe there's something you need

to do or someone you should call to take your career to a

greater height. It is possible to choose more joy or more

confidence or more peace of mind.

Even before you continue reading this book, you can make

use of the strength that is already in you by starting to make

good decisions of taking your life to a greater height. Start

making decisions now that can catapult you to a new level

of life. No matter where you are now, how well you're

already doing or how challenged you may be, I still believe

that your experience of life can and will be much greater

than it already is. You can still be more and do more

because our powers are unlimited.

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_**What stops us from succeeding most of the**_

_**time is not what we think we are, but**_

_**what we think we are not.**_

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**2**

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**YOU HAVE UNLIMITED POWERS**

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Our greatest fear should be that we are powerful beyond

measure not that we are inadequate. It is our powerful

creative forces that should frighten us not our weaknesses

or darkness. Most of us always look down on ourselves and

ask ourselves some disempowering questions like, "who am

I to be great, intelligent, successful, gifted and

extraordinary?" actually, who are you not to be? The

Scripture says, "Ye are of God." You are God's special

creation. Living smal or settling for less does not please God

in any way or even serve the world. There is nothing

enlightening about shrinking so that other people won't feel

insecure around you.

We are born to fulfil a creative purpose and to make

manifest God's glory. It is not what some people should do

but it is what every one should do. And as we engage

ourselves and let our light shine, we give other people

permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our

own darkness, fears or weaknesses, our presence

automatically liberates others.

Life offers us two choices. We can choose to be great or

smal , extraordinary or ordinary; we can live scurrying for

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THE GREATER YOU

survival or soar to unlimited heights. We have the power to

choose either to be like an eagle or a field mouse.

Some time ago, while sitting in a boat with a couple of

friends, I noticed a field mouse by the river. It emerged out

of its hole, darted in a couple of directions, and then

scurried back. I thought of the existence of this little

creature. Its life is spent running around, frightened and

frantic, fol owing its nose. It darts here, scurries there, turns in

circles, but never real y sees much beyond its nose. It tries to

sniff its way into some daily morsel to consume, to sustain it,

so that it can carry on for the rest of its life, frightened and

frantic. Sound familiar doesn't it?

A few minutes later I glanced up and noticed soaring high

above was an eagle. Rather than a picture of a frightened

and frantic existence, I saw a wide winged creature using

the air currents to maneuver majestically in the unlimited

heights. Rather than sniffing out a meager existence, this

keen eyed hunter with a panoramic view of the river and

lake beneath was simply waiting for the appropriate time to

swoop and capture its prey. The amazing creature, rather

than return to some tiny hole in the river bank, glides toward

a nest fashioned at the top of the tallest of trees. The

strength in its wings, the power in its talons, the amazing

capacity of its vision, the effortless capacity to soar, my

friend, it is the eagle not the field mouse that models our

human potential.

I don't know about you, but it is so easy for me to decide

which creature I want to model my life after. I want my soul

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THE GREATER YOU

enlarged, my mind expanded, my heart enlivened and my

spirit energized. I want the scurrying to stop. I want the

frantic darting about, following my nose to end. I want new

strength, fresh thinking, clear vision and resolved courage. I

want to be more and more like the eagle and less like the

field mouse, for to live like this field mouse is to dishonor my

creator and deny my true destiny.

Do you aspire to soar, to explore, to conquer, to climb

higher, go farther, dive deeper, and become more? You

can be like the eagle if you decide to or like the field

mouse. You have unlimited powers! There's nothing to fear,

you're as good as the best and as strong as the mightiest

too. You can win in every battle or test, for there is no one

just like you. There is only one you in the world today. So

nobody else you see can do your work. You're the only you

there'll be, so face the world, and all life is yours to conquer,

love and live to the fullest. You'l find the happiness that

endures in just the measure you give.

There's nothing too big for you to possess, or heights that

you cannot climb. Your power is more than make-belief or

guess. It is something you have to know and understand.

There is nothing to fear, you can and you will. For you are

the invincible you. Set your foot on the highest hill. There's

nothing you cannot do if you have faith.

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_**We are born to fulfill a creative purpose and to make**_

_**manifest God's glory.**_

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THE GREATER YOU

**3**

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**YOU ARE CREATED TO DOMINATE**

****

We all are created to dominate in our world. We are not

made to be dominated, that's why you should not allow

anything to control your life. God created you to dominate

and be the head that was why He made man in his own

image and likeness. He placed man above all to have

dominion over al things. That's why you should not permit

an external energy to stop or hinder you, no circumstance

or condition should deprive you from becoming the person

that God wants you to be. Be strong, put on the garment of

courage and the whole armor of God, so that you'll be

able to withstand al manners of limiting factors.

You are the greatest of all creatures and you have the

greater power in you. Every other creatures and things on

earth was created to be dominated by you (including

money). That means no one was made to be dominated

by anyone or anything. You were created by God to

dominate in the area of your gifting. You were not designed

to be controlled by anything. That's why you are sick when

you are dominated. Aren't you? That's why the dream of

every human being is to be death free. Why? Because

when you are free from death, you are finally back in the

spirit of dominion.

Christ is a perfect example for us to fol ow. That was the

purpose of his coming; to redeem us from death, and to

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THE GREATER YOU

show us the way to live the kind of life God desires for us. He

dominated in his world. Do you know what really attracted

the disciples to him? It wasn't love first; they didn't fol ow

him because they love him, they followed him because for

the first time in their lives they saw someone who

dominated circumstances and conditions. These men were

just like you and I. They never understood the power they

had, that they could immediately command. They were

living a wrong life.They were washing their nets close to the

river when Jesus approached them and said to them,

"Launch out into the deep." They said, "We have toiled all

night and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word we

will let down the net." Now these were men who were

professional, intellectual fishermen. They understood the

technology and parameters of fishing. They must have

concluded in their minds that there was no hope. But after

putting back their net, they caught a lot of fish that their net

was broken and couldn't contain it al .

Wow! Isn't that surprising? Jesus spoke to fish and they

responded just like what the first man did. Why did he do

that, how? He understood and recognized who he was, the

power he had and what he could command – 'Power of

Divinity.' You too can speak to those problems and

challenges you are facing and they will respond to you if

you believe, understand your true personality, identify and

connect yourself to divinity.

How surprised those men were? They had never met a man

who dominated negative circumstances. In fact, when the

disciples were surprised at what he had done, he said to

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THE GREATER YOU

them that if they will follow him, they will not be fishermen,

but they will rule in the affairs of men. Christ knew that they

were ignorant of who they were, the power they had and

can immediately command. So he asked them to fol ow

him so that he will teach them and show them the way. This

is what real leaders do, "They go the way, teach the way

and show the way." In other words, Christ came to show us

the way, teach us the way and lead us to greatness and life

everlasting. He came to redeem us and to bring alive what

is dead in us.

No wonder Napoleon Bonaparte, the French military and

political leader who rose to prominence during latter stages

of the French revolution and its associated wars in Europe,

wrote in one of his books, "The nature of Christ's existence is

mysterious, I admit; but this mystery meets the wants of

man. Reject it and the world is an inexplicable riddle;

believe it, and the history of our race is satisfactorily

explained. A man who can read the new testament and

not see that Christ claims to be more than a man, can look

all over the sky at high noon on a cloudless day and not see

the sun."

You need to understand these things......

Also, be aware that the road is not always smooth. You're

going to meet many domineering factors, conditions and

illegal people through the journey of life just as Jesus did.

Those that will stay in your way and every where else you

set your foot on. You'l meet a lot of predators who prey on

success, peace, calmness, sweetness and positivity. It will

30

THE GREATER YOU

now be your job to show them that you have greater

strength and power. Jesus was very gentle but when

problems and tough situations arose, he showed the

people that he possessed the greater power – the power to

heal, deliver, save, protect, accommodate, endure,

transform, create, and change, and the power to

dominate.

Predators want to have friends that they can dominate

over because that makes them feel strong and important.

The truth is, predators have no strength and courage

compared to the one you have inside you. It is you who is

strong and it is you who have courage. You have within you

the power to make a better world for yourself. There are

many more predators in this world, but the power you have

is greater than what they possess. So don't be dismayed.

"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them:

because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the

world."

__

_****_

_**You were created by God to dominate in**_

_**the area of your gifting.**_

_****_

****

****

****

31

THE GREATER YOU

**4**

****

**YOU ARE BORN TO LEAD**

****

We all can bring out the power within us alive and get to

the point of leading in our world. But we need to first

activate our powers, look for a way to make use of it and

also to go about making possible what seems to be

impossible. To activate your powers and genuinely lead in

your world will require you to submit to divinity. Submitting to

divinity simply means identifying yourself with God, making

Him the ruler and master over your life, and yielding totally

to His instructions. God is the giver of every good and

perfect gift. Without submitting to the divine and ultimate

source, the power within you wouldn't be activated. You

need to be under his control so that you'll get the best out

of life.

There are great rewards and accomplishments when we

connect to ultimate supremacy, identify our gift and focus

all our resources on mastering that gift. We'll become

leaders in the process. We only assume a leadership

position by discovering our purpose, knowing our gifts and

growing into the fulfillment of that purpose. When we focus

consistently on improving the quality of our gifts, we are

most likely going to develop a unique distinction on how to

make that area better.

__

32

THE GREATER YOU

One major reason why people don't achieve what they

truly want, lead lives of positivity and produce great results

is that they never direct their focus and concentrate their

powers. Most people manipulate their way through life,

never deciding to master anything in particular. They are

too involved in so many things, and as a result, they are so

busy but not productive. This is the major cause of

confusion, feelings of nervousness, hurry, anxiety. A lot of

people often fail in life, simply because they major in minor

things. For instance, a student studies and watches TV

simultaneously. A businessman, instead of concentrating

upon and trying to do the one letter that he is presently

dictating, is also thinking of all the things he would

accomplish today, or perhaps this week, and

subconsciously trying mentally to accomplish them all at

once.

Do not scatter your powers. Engage in one kind of business

only, and stick to it faithfully until you succeed, or until your

experience shows that you should abandon it. In the words

of a wise man, "A constant hammering on one nail will

generally drive it home at last so that it can be clinched.

Where man's undivided attention is centered in one object,

his mind wil constantly be suggesting improvements of

value, which would elude him if his brain was occupied with

a dozen different subjects at once."

Everyone definitely has a suitable path to follow, a spirit that

can be refined, and a body that can be trained in some

manner. A man doesn't dominate, lead and become great

in anything because he is called or has identified his gift;

33

THE GREATER YOU

but because he is trained and has exceptionally

developed himself." There is nothing training cannot do.

Nothing is above its reach. It can turn bad morals to good;

it can destroy bad principles and recreate good ones, it

can lift men to "angel-ship." If you see someone leading in

any particular area of life, please note that a lot of

adequate and proper self-development and training has

gone into making it possible. And we all have the ability to

lead.

_**We only assume a leadership position**_

_**by discovering our purpose,**_

_**knowing our gifts and growing into**_

_**the fulfillment of that purpose.**_

__

Now follow me through to the next part of this book as I

unleash to you the basic strategy to help you discover the

giant strength within you......

****

****

****

****

****

34

THE GREATER YOU 

## PART 2

****

****

****

****

POTENTIAL DISCOVERY ****

" _The greatest discovery in life is the discovery of_

_self. It is knowing who you are, and what_

_you are here on earth for."_

\- _**David O. Oyedepo**_

****

****

****

****

35

THE GREATER YOU

**5**

****

**CONCEPT OF POTENTIAL**

****

There was a man named Russell Herman Conwell, one of

the most interesting Americans who lived in the 19th century:

Russell Herman Conwell was born in 1843 and lived until

1925. He was a lawyer for about fifteen years until he

became a clergyman.

One day, a young man went to him and told him he

wanted a college education but couldn't swing it

financially. Dr. Conwell decided, at that moment, what his

aim in life was, besides being a man of cloth. He decided

to build a university for unfortunate, but deserving students.

He did have a challenge; he needed a few million dol ars

to build the university. For Dr. Conwell, and anyone with real

purpose in life, nothing could stand in the way of his goal.

Several years before this incident, Dr Conwell was

tremendously intrigued by a true story – with its ageless

moral.

The story was about a farmer who lived in Africa and

through a visitor became tremendously excited about

looking for diamonds. Diamonds were already discovered

in abundance on the African Continent and this farmer got

so excited about the idea of millions of dol ars worth of

diamonds that he sold his farm to head out to the diamond

36

THE GREATER YOU

mine. He wandered all over the continent, as the years

slipped by, consistently searching for diamonds and wealth,

which he never found. Eventually he went completely

broke and threw himself into a river and drowned.

Meanwhile, the new owner of his farm picked up an

unusual looking rock about the size of a country egg and

put it on his mantle as a sort of curiosity. A visitor stopped by

and in viewing the rock practically went into terminal

convulsions. He told the new owner of the farm that the

funny looking rock on his mantle was about the biggest

diamond that had ever been found. The new owner of the

farm said, 'Heck, the whole farm is covered with them' –

and sure there was enough of it. The farm turned out to be

the Kimberly Diamond Mine... the richest the world has ever

known. The original farmer was literally standing on 'Acres

of Diamonds' until he sold his farm.

Dr. Conwell learned from the story of the farmer and

continued to teach its moral, "Each of us is right in the

middle of our own 'Acres of Diamonds,' if only we would

realize it and develop the ground we are standing on

before charging off in search of greener pastures."

It is not what we don't have that limits us, but what we have

that we never discovered, developed and harnessed to

bring about the change we desire. Everyone already have

a destiny designed by God. You don't decide your destiny,

you discover it. A product does not determine its purpose,

the manufacturer does. God is our manufacturer and we

are His products. He has determined our purpose; all we

need to do is to discover it. Life is all about discovering our

37

THE GREATER YOU

strength and powers and taking the next necessary step to

move forward, advance, increase, multiply and to

continuously add value to nature. Everyone should live their

life in conformity with their potentials. Don't embark on

different mission at the same time or even at different times.

Just discover and do the one thing you are created to do,

give it your best, and you will be successful and fulfilled.

God our creator has stored within our minds and

personalities giant strength and creative forces that would

revolutionize our lives if discovered and awakened. But

most people don't know what is contained in them;

therefore, they never develop and put into use that which

they have to bring about the change they desire. Some of

the greatest writers never wrote a book, some of the

greatest athletes never played a game, and some of the

greatest musicians never sang a song.

The word "Potential" is used to describe the phrase

"Creative Forces." It means usable strength, ability or

resources. It is the capacity for success development,

growth and coming into being.

It is certain that not everyone will have the same potentials,

but everyone definitely has potentials. Have you discovered

your God-given potentials? Without discovering your true

potentials, there is no way you'll be able to improve,

develop outstanding success and become the person God

has destined you to be. As Dale Carnegie said, "If you are

not in the process of becoming the person you are

supposed to be, you are automatically engaged in

38

THE GREATER YOU

becoming someone else." You'll definitely end up walking

in the wrong direction and the end result of your life will be

unfulfilled. chart Tolle, the author of 'The Power of New' and

'A New Earth' asserted, "You do not become good by

trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is

already within you." You can't feature in the future that you

are not part of the picture and structure.

There's no success without ability, and there's no ability

without discovery. Every seed will produce its own fruit. If

you want to become great in life then you need to start the

process today by discovering the seeds inside of you that

will produce the fruits expected. If you have discovered it

and you don't know how to go about making the best out

of it, even as you read on, I assure you answers to your

problems. That's why I'm here with you, to help you with

strategies on how to discover and awaken the sleeping

forces within you and also to develop and use them to fulfill

purpose.

If you are familiar with Scriptures I believe you must have

read or heard of a young man named Joseph. This young

man discovered his potentials. Despite all what he went

through, he persevered and worked through until he got his

breakthrough. The pains and difficulties he encountered

helped build him up. They were just measures to train and

develop him for what God wanted him to be. It was

actually because he discovered and harnessed his God-

given potentials that he became a ruler in the land of

Egypt.

39

THE GREATER YOU

Great men and women both in the past and present

discovered, unlocked, developed and harnessed their

potentials to develop success in an extraordinary way.

In the world today, anyone who uses a computer is likely to

recognize the name 'Microsoft.' What most people don't

realize is that Bill Gates the co-founder of that company

was not some genius who got so lucky, but a person who

discovered and harnessed his God-given potential. When

he found out that Albuquerque Company was developing

something called a 'personal computer' that needed

BASIC software, he called them and promised to deliver it.

He had committed himself; he had to find a way. Many

people were just as intelligent as he was, but he used his

certainty to trap into his resources and within a few weeks

he and a partner had written a language that made the

personal computer a reality. By putting himself on the line

and finding a way, Bill Gates set in motion that day series of

events that would change the way people do business and

became a billionaire by the time he was 30years old.

You too can do a great thing like him or even more. You

can impact the world in your own way. You have the

potential to make wonderful discoveries in the pursuit of

your dream. None wil be greater than what you discover

about yourself.

Sometimes I hear people say that some people are born to

be great while others are not, or some particular set of

people are born genius while others are not. These are

wrong statements coming from a poor belief or mental

40

THE GREATER YOU

attitude. The truth is; God doesn't play favorite. We all have

within us an extraordinary ability that differs from one

another that can be used to develop success and fulfill

purpose when discovered, awaken and used. We all live

under the same sky, but we don't all have the same

horizon.

Irrespective of our environment, condition or situation, we

can still become what we are created for if we first discover

ourselves. I am in total agreement with Marianne Crawford

when she said, "Everyman carries within him the world in

which he must live." We are indeed the window through

which we can see the world! With realization of one's

potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build

a better world.

__

_**You can't feature in the future that you are not**_

_**part of the picture and structure.**_

__

__

__

There are three major steps that will help you identify your

God-given potentials, which I'll explain in the remaining

chapters of this part. These steps are effective and certain.

They will expose you to your true and great personality......

****

****

41

THE GREATER YOU

**6**

****

**DISCOVER YOUR PURPOSE**

****

There is always a purpose for everything on earth. Without

purpose nothing would be done. Purpose is the reason for

which something is done or created, or the reason for

which something exists. It also means the object towards

which one strives. God created every living thing for a

purpose. When purpose is not fulfilled, reason is not justified.

A reason is a justification for something's existence. To know

your purpose means to know the reason for your existence,

as to the reason why God created you the way you are,

why he placed you in that environment, family, town or

city, state and country. You actually begin to live when you

know your purpose and continuously develop into fulfil ing

it. You are not self-existing; living not to fulfill purpose.

Ecology has taught us there is a purpose to everything

under the sun. The delicate balance between every earthly

element ties the whole dynamic creation together. And if

there's a purpose to the wind, water, plants, insects, and

even mice, then you can be sure there's a purpose for

humans. Without knowing your purpose, there is no

possibility of fulfilling it, and for you to fulfil your purpose, you

need to discover your potentials. Conversely, without

discovering your God given potentials, there's no possibility

of fulfil ing purpose, and to discover your God given

42

THE GREATER YOU

potentials, you need to know God's purpose for your life.

Potentials are the seed for purpose fulfillment and great

accomplishment. Therefore, knowing your purpose will give

you a general idea of the path you are to follow, what you

are supposed to do and where you are supposed to do it. It

gives you a vision and opens the door to your true

personality.

God's ultimate desire for us is to be the best that we can be

by continuously developing and improving. That is the

reason why he placed in everyone a talent to develop,

improve and harness in order to achieve success. The road

to success is always under construction. It is a progressive

course, not an end to be reached. It is the opportunity to

continually

grow

emotionally,

socially,

spiritually,

physiological y,

intellectually

and

financially

while

contributing in some positive way to humanity. Actually, it is

purpose that defines success. It points the direction of our

lives and it shows what gives God glory. Knowing God's

purpose for your life shows you what satisfies you.

Therefore, it is a good psychology, good theology, and

good biblical interpretation to say that our purpose on

planet earth is to discover, develop and use our God given

creative potential that we might truly glorify, worship and

serve our Heavenly Father. That is, to reach out, add values,

affect lives positively and impact the world with our gifts

and talents. When we do that, we make God's creation

more beautiful, and we leave the world a better place

because we lived in it.

__

43

THE GREATER YOU

We all have different areas of gifting to function in different

fields. Everybody can't be in the same field. Every field has

its own inspiration, powers and strengths. God created us

differently to function in different fields. But we are created

as one body to serve and glorify God in our different fields.

Most people out of ignorance think that life is all about

going to school to get a good degree, getting a well paid

job, establishing a good business, getting married,

producing children, having a good place to live, possessing

some properties. They think if one can accomplish these

things, one must have lived and fulfilled purpose. These

kinds of people live their life in a small circle. They live for

nothing except for themselves and their family members.

They are the group of people who only struggle for survival

to keep themselves happy. When you live for nothing more

than yourself, it is as good as not living. A man who lives for

himself is a failure and lives in a smal world because that is

not the way God defines success. To live for purpose, think

less of yourself and think more of others. Think of how to fulfill

the needs of others – this will make you happy. True

happiness only comes from squandering ourselves for a

purpose. As William Scolavino advised, "The height of your

accomplishment wil equal the depth of your convictions.

Seek happiness for its own sake, and you will not find it; seek

for purpose, and happiness wil follow as a shadow comes

with the sunshine."

Purpose simplifies, focuses, and gives meaning to life. It

motivates and produces passion. Whenever purpose

disappears, passion dissipates. Your exploitation begins the

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THE GREATER YOU

day you discover your purpose in life. If purpose is present,

nothing can block the determined soul from his rendezvous

with destiny. The purpose of life is a life of purpose!

Your progress toward success, creative accomplishment

and fulfillment begins with one critical question: What is my

Purpose? It is something you should be willing to die for. Just

as Martin Luther King Jr. has said, "If a man hasn't

discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

To discover your purpose, begin by asking yourself the

fol owing questions:

**1.** Why am I in this world?

**2.** Why was I made the way I was made?

**3.** Why has God kept me alive?

**4.** Why have I gone through the experiences that I've

gone through?

After asking yourself, then ask God the following questions

in your own way (may be through prayers):

**1.** Why did you put me in this world?

**2.** Why did you create me this way?

**3.** Why have you kept me alive till this time?

**4.** Why have you allowed me to go through all what

I've gone through?

Questions are the primary way we learn and get answers to

almost anything. God's purpose for my life was revealed to

me when I started asking these same questions. His word

says, "Ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find,

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THE GREATER YOU

knock and the door will be open." I believe when you

constantly ask the right questions, in due time you'l get the

right answers. Thinking is nothing more than asking and

answering questions. God gives answers to those who

sincerely ask the right questions. The answers may come by

revelation or by inspiration (either internal or external). I

understand that God hides things from us by putting them

close to us – the ways of God are not the ways of man. He

only gives answers to those who ask and are hungry,

sensitive and ready to claim their birthright.

Our lives should be directed towards the positive. It should

be to change bad things into good and to impact the

world in a positive way because that's the reason why we

were made. Gifts and talents are given to us not only so

that we can fulfill to the fullest the call of God upon our

lives, but also, that we can reach the souls who are

attached to those gifts.

You cannot make a mark on earth until you locate God's

unique purpose for your life. This is a practical application of

wisdom.

I once come across a poem, "What is life? Life is a gift...

accept it; Life is an adventure... dare it; Life is a mystery...

unfold it; Life is a game... play it; Life is a struggle... face it;

Life is a beauty... praise it; Life is a puzzle... solve it; Life is an

opportunity... take it; Life is sorrowful... experience it; Life is

a song... sing it; Life is a goal... achieve it; Life is a

PURPOSE... fulfill it!"

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THE GREATER YOU

_**If purpose is present, nothing can block the**_

_**determined soul from his rendezvous**_

_**with destiny.**_

__

__

__

I believe by now you must have understood clearly what

purpose is, what your life should be directed towards, and

you are on the verge of discovering your purpose (if you

haven't), because that's the most important thing to know

and do in life – that's the starting point of every greatness.

****

****

****

****

47

THE GREATER YOU

**7**

****

**SEEK HELP FROM ABOVE**

****

No one can achieve true success in this world without help

from God. The shortcut to potential discovery or purpose

discovery is to seek God. Knowing your purpose and

working on it is not even enough for you to achieve

greatness. Without divine help, direction, wisdom, power

and strength, you'll be nothing. The day and time a mortal __

man realizes the control of divinity over his life reveals the

height he can reach.

We can simply discover our potentials through God

revealing them to us. But we need to seek Him first. Joseph

discovered his potentials through revelation. God showed it

to him in a dream and that dream became a reality.

Have a pure heart and seek God, and every other thing will

be added. Sometimes our dreams might be relevant to us if

we can be sensitive and intelligent enough to use them. It is

much more likely that some indications, clues or ideas will

occur to you in your dreams. Some dreams are messages

sent by God.

I know of a friend who initial y in his early stage of life

wanted to become a medical consultant, but he frequently

saw himself in his dream ministering in songs to a multitude

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THE GREATER YOU

of people. He is someone who can sing but never wanted

to concentrate his power and settle for being a musician

but for a medical practitioner. He wanted to become what

he desired not what God has designed him to be. He

wanted to be a medical consultant, but within him lied a

great musician. He wanted to become somebody that he

was not designed to be. Deep inside of him dwelt those

slumbering powers of music revealed to him in his dreams.

But thank God somehow along the line, he later discovered

that music was part of him and that there was nothing he

could do that would bring out the best in him other than

music.

Has something of this nature happened to you? Or is it

happening to you right now? Do you see yourself in your

dreams or imaginations different from what you desire to

become? Watch out! It might just be a message. God can

use our dreams, people, or the environment we find

ourselves to show us who we really are. Be observant! If you

are confused about what your potential is, ask God. Ask

Him in faith; believing that you will get answers and he will

reveal it to you.

You need to always seek help from God because He is the

giver of every good gift. He is the ultimate source of every

true knowledge, wisdom and power. Ask Him to guide you

to the right path and He will. So many people despite

knowing their purpose, discovered their potentials,

developed it, but are stil not productive and fulfilled. The

simple reason is that they lack what is called "Ultimate

Direction." Despite having the right tools, they still do the

49

THE GREATER YOU

right thing at the wrong time and place, and they are never

successful and happy.

According to scriptures, "Paul plants, Apollo waters and

God gave the increase." It's only God that can give the

final blow. The best shortcut you can ever take is to do what

God says in His timing. Seeking God will not only help you

discover your potentials or know your purpose, but also to

live a purposeful and fulfilled life. God always gives his best

to those who leaves the choice with Him. Always seek God

and He wil make you smile.

__

__

__

_**The day and time a mortal man**_

_**realizes the control of divinity**_

_**over his life reveals the**_

_**height he can reach.**_

****

****

****

****

****

50

THE GREATER YOU

**8**

****

**IDENTIFY AND CONCENTRATE YOUR POWERS ON**

****

**YOUR PASSION**

****

Great people enjoy doing what they love and they do it

with ease 'without push or pull.' There is usually a bond that

connects their spirit, soul and body to the things they do.

These are usual y the things they have passion for. Passion

gives them the fuel that powers their success train and

causes them to tap into their potential.

It's passion that sets the actions of Christiano Ronaldo and

Lionel Messi apart from so many other footballers. It's

passion that drove Nelson Mandela through years of pain

and challenges to create the kind of freedom and

breakthrough that men and women experience in South

Africa. It's passion that motivates all the rigor of gymnastics

to which footballers subject themselves in training. It's

passion that makes an athlete like Usain Bolt wake up

before dawn even in the cold to train. It's passion that

made me spent time, resources and energy in writing this

book. It's passion that makes possible waking up early in the

morning, whoever you are, wherever you are, however old

or young because there's something out there that you

love to do, that you believe in, that you're good at

something that's bigger than you are, and you can hardly

wait to get at it again today. It's passion that gives life

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THE GREATER YOU

power and meaning. It is passion that sharpens and

motivates our love for something.

Tony Robbins wrote, "There is no greatness without a

passion to be great, whether it's the aspiration of an athlete

or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a businessman." John

Mason added, "One individual with passion is greater than

the passive force of ninety nine who only have an interest."

What is Passion? Passion simply can be defined as any

powerful and compelling emotion or feeling. It is a strong or

extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for something.

It is the unbridled power to move our lives forward at a

faster tempo than ever before. It is a force that drives us to

fulfilling our purpose. It is the motivational incentive behind

every success story. It is a critical element for anyone who

wants to achieve greatness. It is the starting point of all

achievement. John Maxwell defines it as an enthusiasm

that gives energy, focus in the present, and power to keep

moving towards the future.

Passion can add juice to anything. Passion can turn any

challenge into a tremendous opportunity. It can make a

man spend hours in a profitable exercise to achieve good

success. Just as Benjamin Disreali rightly said, "Man is only

truly great when he acts from his passion."

A pointer to your divine abilities is discovering what gives

you the utmost joy when you engage in it. What do you do

with the least effort that excites and provides you the

necessary motivation? Sometimes you may be doing

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THE GREATER YOU

something which you are interest in but not gifted for. That is

why you find yourself struggling with it and accomplishing

very little. When you locate the treasure of God within you,

you will not need to struggle; it wil flow natural y out of you.

I am not talking about your qualifications because

sometimes your qualifications can trap you into pursuing a

career for which you are not gifted. Rather, I am saying that

there is something inside you that can make you the star

God has designed you to be. For instance, there are some

people who are cut out for business – anything sells in their

hands. But they have found themselves in careers where

there is no buying and selling, others have strayed into

ministry, so they keep sweating and struggling, yet, God has

not called them to preach, therefore, the grace required is

missing. No wonder they are frustrated and are under

pressure.

A lot of people today often involve themselves in things

they don't have passion for, and in the process they end up

not being fulfilled. Most people are brought up to fol ow the

"Rat Race Recipe." That is, 'get yourself a decent

education so you can earn some good money or get

yourself a job to pay the bills and take care of the family.'

When you ask people if they really would like to do

something other than what they currently do now, the

majority says yes. To prove if I'm correct; just ask colleagues

where you work or where you school, if they should win

2mil ion dollar in a lottery would they still be working in the

same place, having the same job and doing the same

work, or will they still be schooling in the same school,

studying the same course and reading the same books?

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THE GREATER YOU

Not certain, you bet. This is to tell you that a lot of people

are just following their pay check not their passion.

Most people do what they do now because of money

instead of fol owing their inner urges. They've become

slaves to their pay check. They think if they earn good

money, they will be happy and fulfilled in the process. But

that's a lie. Money won't give you passion and fulfillment,

but passion will give you money and fulfillment. It's not

about how much change (money) you make, but it's

about how much change you make. Any business,

organization or person that makes nothing but money is

poor. Our lives worth lies in our passion not our paycheck.

Following our passion will make long lasting achievement,

improvement and impact possible, and will give our lives a

sense of meaning and purpose.

Some other people don't feel passionate about anything

because they never decide to feel it. The saddest people

I've ever met in life are the ones who don't care deeply

about anything at al . Passion and satisfaction go hand in

hand, without them any happiness is only temporary

because there's nothing to make it last. We are supposed

to discover our life's purpose on earth – to find our passion

which wil help us and every one we get in contact with.

One person with passion is Steve Jobs – the co-founder of

Apple. In 2005 he held an amazing speech at

commencement day in Stanford University. Drawing from

some of the most pivotal points in life, he urged graduates

to pursue their passion. He said, "Passion is the driving force

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THE GREATER YOU

behind any great achievement." Other very successful

people who have fol owed their passion are the Google

Founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They believed

helping people find pages with more incoming links would

be a better way to search the internet. Going into such

adventure helped them change the way people do things

using the internet – which has affected the world.

Where do we get passion from? PURPOSE! Purpose

produces passion. Whenever purpose disappears, passion

dissipates.

_Recall:_ "Purpose gives you a general idea of the path to

fol ow, what you are supposed to do, where you are

supposed to do it, how you are supposed to do it and with

what you are supposed to do it. It gives you vision and

opens the door to your true personality. Fulfilling God's

purpose will require you to use your God-given potentials

(because they are the seeds of purpose fulfillment and

accomplishment). Also discovering your God-given

potentials will require you to know God's purpose for your

life."

It therefore implies that if our passion comes from knowing

our purpose, it is most likely that we'll get to identify our

God-given potentials from those things we have passion for.

I've discovered that passion is in-born in everyone but it

differs as to what we have passion for. Everyone has the

ability to feel passionate about anything. It comes from our

God-given powers. But it only comes out when we decide

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THE GREATER YOU

to feel it. To feel it, use your physiology; visualize images

more rapidly, move your body in the direction you want to

go. Be active. Don't just casually sit and think. Passion can't

be felt if you're slumping over your desk, breathing shallowly

and slowing your speech. We get passion the same way we

get love, warmth and curiosity – we decide to feel it.

Joss Whedon, an American Screenwriter, film and television

director, comic book author and actor, wrote about

passion as fol ows: "Passion. It lies in all of us.

Sleeping.....Waiting.....And through unwanted, unbidden, it

will stir...... Open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us......Guides

us. Passion rules us all and we obey. What other choice do

we have? Passion is the source of our furriest moments. The

joy of love..... The clarity of hatred..... The ecstasy of grief. It

hurts sometimes more than we can bear. But we would be

hollow, empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion,

we'd be truly dead."

Do you feel passionate about anything? For your true

potentials to be discovered, you need to identify that thing

that makes your heart beat faster – probably that thing your

heart craves for, something you enjoy doing with ease (that

you love), that connects with your soul, spirit and body, and

then concentrate your resources, time and energy on it.

Mike Murdock remarked, "What generates passion and

zeal in you is a clue to revealing your destiny. What you love

is a clue to revealing your destiny. What you love is a clue

to something you contain." Identifying your passion is like

identifying where your potentials lie. Following your passion

is the key to finding your potentials and dominating your

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THE GREATER YOU

world. Henri Frederic Amelia asserted, "Without passion

man is a mere latent force and a possibility, like the flint

which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its

spark."

The reason some people are not successful is because they

do so many things at the same time. Their energy and

resources are not concentrated on a particular course.

Improvement comes from concentration of power.

It is not just about identifying what you have passion for that

will make you dominate your world. The greatest gain will

come when you focus on improving it to get the best out of

it. The most satisfying experience in our life is when we are

engaged

physically,

emotionally,

spiritually

and

psychologically. Life is meant to be effortless. If you're

tugging and pulling, and everything feels like an uphill

battle, then it might be that you're doing the wrong thing or

fol owing the wrong path. Then you'll need to do a research

on your life and perhaps know and fol ow the right path.

Discovering and developing your potential can mean the d

ifference between success and failure, love and hatred, bitt

erness and happiness. It also means the difference betwee

n freedom and compulsions of conformity. It can rescue a c

rumbling future, recreate a faltering career, and transform v

ictims of failure personality. Purpose to discover it now! __

_****_

_****_

_**A pointer to your divine abilities is discovering**_

_**what gives you the utmost joy when**_

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THE GREATER YOU

_**you engage in it.**_

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## PART 3

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**AWAKEN THE CREATIVE FORCES**

_I know of no more encouraging fact than the_

_unquestionable ability of man to elevate_

_his life by a conscious endeavor._

\- _**Henry David Thoreau**_

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THE GREATER YOU

**9**

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**VISUALIZE YOURSELF AS YOU LONG TO BE**

****

People who do exploits, break records and outstrip their

yesterday saw themselves becoming the person that they

want to be even when they are not. They picture

themselves as they long to be. They upgrade mentally first.

They keep a vision of themselves achieving greatness. They

consistently affirm their ability to grow, achieve, impact and

advance to their ideals.

A vision can be defined as the faculty or state of seeing. It

explains a picture that you see in your mind; something that

you imagine. It can be something seen in a dream, trance

or ecstasy; especially a supernatural appearance that

conveys a revelation. It can also be a thought, concept or

object formed by the imagination. To visualize means to see

or to form a mental image or picture of something or

someone.

The first step to my success is seeing something that I wasn't

before I was. If we ever hope to awaken the creative forces

within us and make our dreams come true, we must see

ourselves climbing, we must actually live in the conscious

realization of our ideals. This is the entering wedge that will

split the difficulties ahead of us and opening the doors that

shut us out from our own dreams.

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THE GREATER YOU

If you have experienced a lot of failures, incurred a lot of

disappointments, suffered the pangs of thwarted ambition.

If you are not doing the things you love to do, if life feels like

an uphil battle not yielding the fulfillment, success and joy

of service, if all your plans do not prosper and your goals

are not accomplished, if you are beaten hard by poverty

and hampered by a narrow, crude, uncongenial

environment, then there is something wrong with you not

with the world. It means you are not living right, thinking

right and visualizing yourself as you long to be.

We contain both ourselves and our environment, we are

true pictures of what we have thought, believed and done

in the past. We are experiencing the result of our thought

every moment of our lives. The things we act on shapes the

condition in which we live and they are the fruits of our own

motives, thoughts and actions. What we visualize, what we

expect, what we believe and what we think, shapes our

lives. Orison Swett Marden penned, "Through the control

and direction of our thoughts, backed by corresponding

efforts on the physical plane, we can attract to ourselves all

our heart's desires."

Buddha became what he did because he gravitated

towards his vision. George Washington concentrated upon

a vision of liberty and a grand democracy that would be a

model for the world, and he never ceased to struggle until

the vision became a reality. Andrew Carnegie became the

great iron master because he gravitated towards his vision,

always striving to match with reality, his dream of a

mammoth business.

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THE GREATER YOU

Why don't you use your divine strength to make yourself

what you desire to be? Why don't you visualize and cling to

the vision of yourself which you see in your highest moment

and resolve to make the vision a reality? It al started with a

vision.

****

_**The first step to my success is seeing something**_

_**that I wasn't before I was.**_

_****_

_****_

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THE GREATER YOU

**10**

****

**HAVE A POSITIVE INCREASE EXPECTATION**

****

The greatest limitation people face in life doesn't appear

physical, but they're psychological. That's because people

rarely perform better than they believe they can. 80% of

almost everything that matters in life (whether success or

achievement), is psychological, while 20% is mechanical –

physical action. For instance, to become physically fit is not

really difficult because there are thousands of classes,

courses, internet programs, and there is a gym in almost

every quarter possibly with trainers. So how come a vast

majority of people in the world are not fit physically? That's

because what it takes is will, emotional fitness,

psychological strength, positive expectation, the ability to

drive yourself to do what doesn't feel good initially but feels

incredible and outstanding on the long-term. It all begins

from within – 'internal machines.'

Before we can change our outer world, we must first

change our inner world. The extent of our performance and

advancement is determined by our expectations. Anytime

you want to make a change, the first thing you must do is

have a positive expectation towards what you want to

change or achieve on the long-term. It is true, those who

don't expect anything are never disappointed, and those

who never try, never fail.

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THE GREATER YOU

The word "Expectation" means a strong belief that

something will happen or be the case in the future. Great

people always expect things to turn out right no matter

how bleak or discouraging the outlook may be. They

always hold strongly to their faith in the final outcome. The

habit of holding a positive expectant attitude attracts the

things they long for and awakes more of their potentials.

I have discovered that our faculties work under orders, and

they tend to do or produce what is expected of them. If we

make a great demand, expect a great deal and insist on

their helping us to carry our ambition, they fall into line and

proceed to help us. But if we do not have confidence

enough to make a demand or an effort, if we doubt or

waver, our faculties will lose their courage, and our efforts

will be perfunctory, lacking efficiency.

Expectations either leverage or limit performance

depending on what you are expecting. How well you are

doing in the present is a result of what your expectation was

in the past and how far you'l go in the future is a result of

what your expectation is in the present. The lower your

expectation, the lower are your chances of tapping from

your full potentials. Conversely, the higher your expectation,

the higher are your chances of tapping from your full

potentials. Expectation makes you do more or less than is

expected.

Think of the impact made by great men and women who

had a positive expectation and acted in line with them,

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THE GREATER YOU

deciding they would not settle for less. History Chronicles

the inspiring examples of people like Leonardo Da Vinci,

Abraham Lincoln, Helen Keller, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother

Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr. Rosa Parks, Albert Einstein,

Thomas Edison, Cesar Chevez, Soichivo Honda, Henry Ford,

and many others who took the magnificently powerful step

of increasing their expectations. The same power that was

available to them is available to you if you can claim it.

The problem I've discovered that is affecting some

people's success is that they expect too low in life. Their

expectation is just to graduate from the university, have a

well paid job, get married, have children and perhaps feed

the family. That's all they think about. You should raise your

expectation more than that because that is not where life

starts or even ends. You've got more and more to explore,

reach out and affect lives in a special way.

Your potentials will not be unlocked without first increasing

your personal expectations about what is possible. If we

can learn to stop expecting impossibility, we may find the

power and happiness that has eludes us. Things won't be

better for you if you don't expect it. There is no other habit

that brings so much value to our lives than expecting that

the best will happen to us, that we are going to win in

whatever we undertake. I've met a lot of people who

failed woeful y at the very outset by expecting that they are

going to fail, thinking that the odds are against what they

are doing. When your mental attitude is not favorable to

the success you seek, you attract failure. Success or

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THE GREATER YOU

greatness is achieved mentally first. If the mental attitude is

one of doubt, the results will correspond.

You need more than a positive expectation. You must have

persistent faith, continuous confidence, and unrelentless

effort in order to win. You also need to be sensitive and

spiritual y sound to know when your expectations are met,

because God sometimes hides things from us by putting

them very close to us. They may come not packaged the

way you want it.

Here is a story that you can learn from to increase your

sensitivity on hidden incoming blessings......

There was once a man who was getting ready to graduate

from the university. For a long time, he had admired a

beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom and knowing his

father could well afford it, he told his dad that was al he

wanted. As his graduation day approached the young

man began to look for signs that his father had bought the

car. Finally on the morning of his graduation, his father

called him into his study. His father told him how proud he

was to have such a fine son like him and how he loved him.

He handed him a beautifully wrapped gift box. Curious, but

somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box

and found a lovely leather bound Bible with his name

engrossed in gold. Angry, he raised his voice at his father

and said, 'With all your money you give me a Bible?' and

then stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

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THE GREATER YOU

Many years passed and the young man was very successful

in his own business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful

family, but realized his father was very old and thought

perhaps he should go to him as he had not spoken to him

since that graduation day. Before he could make

arrangements, he received a telegram telling him that his

father had passed away and had willed all his possessions

to him so he needed to come home and take care of

things. When he arrived at his father's house sadness and

regret filled his heart. He began sorting through his father's

papers and saw the still new Bible just as he had left it years

ago. With tears in his eyes he opened the Bible and began

to turn the pages. His father had careful y underlined a

verse...... Matthew 7:11, "And if ye, being evil, know how to

give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your

heavenly father which is in Heaven give to those who ask

him?" As he read these words a car key dropped from the

back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealers name and

on the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words

paid in full.

How many times do we miss out on blessings because they

are not as packaged as we expected?

Generally speaking, our ultimate expectation should be on

God's will for our lives; simple to be prosperous, fruitful, and

to be the best we can be. Always expect the best and

remind yourself that you will succeed. Do not wobble, think

or hope. Say stoutly "I am, I can, I will, it is my right."

Constantly affirm that you will become what your ambition

indicates as fitting and possible. Do not say, "I shall be a

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THE GREATER YOU

success someday," because someday is never a day; say,

"I am a success now, success is my birthright." Do not say, "I

am going to be happy in the future." Say, "I was intended

for happiness, made for it, and I am happy now."

****

_**If we can learn to stop expecting impossibility, we**_

_**may find the power and happiness**_

_**that has eludes us.**_

****

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**11**

****

**BELIEVE YOU CAN**

A professor stood before a class of 30 senior molecular

biology students about to pass out the final exam. He said,

"I have been privileged to be your instructor this semester,

and I know how hard you have all worked to prepare for

the test. I also know most of you are off to medical school

next session. I am well aware of how much pressure you are

under to keep your GPAs up, and because I know you are

all capable of understanding this material, I am prepared

to offer an automatic 'B' to anyone who would prefer not

to take the final." The relief was audible as a number of

students jumped up to thank the professor and departed

from class. The professor looked at the handful of students

who remained, and offered again, "Any other takers? This is

your last opportunity." One more student decided to go.

Seven students remained. The professor closed the door

and took attendance. Then he handed out the final exam.

There were two sentences typed on the paper;

congratulations, you have just received an 'A' in this class.

Keep believing in yourself.

I've never seen or heard of a professor who gave a test like

that before. It seems like the easy way out of grading a

'bunch of exams,' but it's a test that any teacher in any

discipline could and should give. Students who don't have

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THE GREATER YOU

confidence in themselves and what they've learned are 'B'

students at best. The same is true for students of real life. The

'A' students are those who believe in what they're doing

because they've learned from success and failure. They've

absorbed life's lessons from formal education and the

school of hard knocks, and become better people.

Psychologists says that at the age of two, 50% of what we

believe about ourselves have been formed; at age six, 60%,

and at eight years, 80%. Wouldn't you love to have the

energy and optimism of a little kid? Knowing there is

nothing you couldn't do, learn or be. But you're a grown up

child now, and you now realize you have some limits. Don't

let the biggest limit be yourself. Take your clue from Sir

Edmund Hillary, the first person to reach the summit of

Mount Everest, "It is not the mountain we conquer, but

ourselves."

Believe in oneself is one of the most important bricks in

building any successful life. It comes from knowing what you

are real y capable of doing. Basebal Superstar Mickey

Mantle Struck out more than 1,700 times, but it didn't stop

him from excelling at baseball. He believed in himself, and

he knew his fans believed in him. Surround yourself with

positive people – they know the importance of confidence

and will help you keep focused in what you can do instead

of what you can't. Who you surround yourself with is who

you become. Also, if you want people to believe in you,

you also have to believe in them. Understand that those

around you also have much to contribute to your success,

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THE GREATER YOU

and they desire your support. Without believing in yourself

and others, success is impossible.

__

At the end of a particular frustrating practice one day, a

football coach dismissed his players by yelling, "Now all you

idiots, go take a shower!" All but one player headed

toward the locker room. The coach glared at him and

asked why he was still there. "You told all the idiots to go,

sir," the player replied, "And there sure seems to be a lot of

them. But I am not an idiot." Confident, you bet, and smart

enough to coach that team some day.

Believe even when no one else does because you may

succeed if no one believes in you but you may never

succeed if you don't believe in yourself. This powerful magic

is the first step towards producing extraordinary result.

Believe that you can, trust me, and you will be half way

there. If you increase your expectation but don't really

believe you can meet them, you're still dreaming. You

won't dare to try; because you are lacking the sense of

certainty that will allow you tap from the giant capacity

that's within you.

Tony Robbins once said, "Our beliefs are like unquestioned

commands, telling us how things are, what's possible and

what's impossible, what we can and cannot do. They

shape every action, every thought, and every feeling that

we experience. As a result, changing our belief systems is

central to making any real and lasting change in our lives."

No matter how small or big your dream is, without

developing a sense of certainty that you will achieve it,

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even if you take action, it will never come to a reality.

Action only produces great results when married to believe

and vice versa. Without believe, you can increase your

expectation as much as you like but you'll never have the

conviction to back them up.

How do you think Abraham Lincoln or Mahatma Gandhi

would accomplish their dreams if they didn't believe? Their

belief gave them access to their full potentials and enabled

them to meet the challenges that would have pendulated

an ordinary man without believe. Great personalities like

Howard Schultz, Founder and CEO of Starbucks Coffee; Ted

Turner, who changed the way television news covers the

world; and Michael Jordan, the great athlete per

excellence, were bold, aggressive and self-confidence.

They were not afraid to be generals. They were men who

had a vision, and despite discouragement and temporary

setbacks, never even thought "I can't or "I won't," but

believed strongly in their abilities, and consistently say to

themselves and to all their critics; "I will."

Swett Marden, who was the founder of success magazine a

nd a great evangelist of entrepreneurship, in his book – 'Re

al Success' wrote, "Men who have blazed new paths for civ

ilization have always been precedent – breakers. It is ever t

he man who believes in his own ideas; who can think and a

ct without a crowd to back him; who is not afraid to stand a

lone; who is bold, original, resourceful; who has the courage

to go where others have never been, to do what others ha

ve ever done, that accomplishes things that leaves his mark

on his times."

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Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common

ones and make them great. To bring out the strength in

you, start taking control of your belief system because what

you believe is what you become. Believe you can because

this sense of certainty is the force behind every great

success throughout history. Never allow anybody or any

misfortune to shake your belief in yourself. You may loose

everything or even other people's confidence, but there is

are always hope for the future so long as you keep a firm

believe in yourself. If you keep pressing on, the world will

make way for you someday.

_**Believe you can because this sense of certainty**_

_**is the force behind every great success**_

_**throughout history.**_

****

****

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THE GREATER YOU

**12**

****

**LOCATE THE BEST**

To be the best you can be, get the best tools, maps, and

the best mentors. Locate the best and find out what they

are doing. People who are the best at what they are doing

know the shortcut. Figure out what they are doing, do that,

alter it; find your own view of it. But start with what already is

working rather than starting from scratch on trial and error –

this will help you make your best better.

Model yourself after someone who is already successful in

your area of gifting. Strengthen your foundation by standing

on the shoulders of other giants. When found someone that

has already gotten the result, why reinvent the wheel?

Success leaves clues.

Almost all great personalities were mentored. Some

examples include:

 Elisha mentored by Elijah.

 The twelve Disciples mentored by Jesus Christ.

 Timothy mentored by Apostle Paul.

 Dr. Martin Luther King mentored by Dr. Benjamin E.

Mays.

 Helen Keller mentored by Alice L. White.

 Oprah Winfrey mentored by Mrs. Duncan.

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THE GREATER YOU

 Henry David Thoreau mentored by Ralph Waldo

Emerson.

 Tony Robbins mentored by Jim Roln.

 Larry King mentored by Edward Bernett Williams.

Chimamanda Adichie mentored by Chinua Achebe. Durot

oye.

Sir Isaac Newton admitted at a time, "If I could see further

than others, it was because I stood on the shoulders of

giants." Learn to study the lifestyle of your mentor or role

model. Know the possible secret of his or her success, and

understand their parameters. Then together with other

knowledge gotten from other sources, you can then fine

tune, reshape and add to improve.

Always learn from the experiences and mistakes of others.

Take what you can apply from the trials and challenges

others have overcome, tweak the process to fit into your

own situation. Think beyond emulating what the best are

doing and enhance it, this wil help you improve.

_****_

_****_

_**Think beyond emulating what the best are doing and**_

_**enhance it, this will help you improve.**_

****

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THE GREATER YOU

**13**

****

**PUT YOUR BEST IN WHATEVER YOU DO**

****

Hard work is a major key of awakening potentials. Without

hard work nothing would be achieved in the world. The

best people in every field or profession always work very

hard to do their best. They expend much effort to be the

best or get the best out of what they truly want or believe

and as a result they grow into the fullness of their potentials.

To get the best, always do your best. Most people want to

be great but are not ready to pay the price of greatness.

Some people just want to be successful but they just 'kinda'

want it. They don't want it so bad that they put all their

energy, resources and time to make their dream become a

reality. Until your best is put into a particular course, you will

never get the best out of yourself, you will never amount to

something extraordinary.

There was a man named Bob Perks who thought he had

been working too much on his job. He thought things could

have been worse. He certainly wasn't doing hard labor, but

going door to door asking questions as a representative of

the federal government wasn't the most satisfying position

for him either. It was August. It was hot. He had to wear a

tie. 'Hello. My name is Bob Perks and we are doing a survey

in this neighborhood.' 'I'm not interested! Good bye!' You

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THE GREATER YOU

can't imagine how many times he heard that. He finally

caught on and began with; 'Before you slam the door, I am

not selling anything and I just need to ask a few questions

about yourself and the community.' The young woman in

the doorway paused for a moment, raised her eyebrows as

she shrugged her shoulders confused by His rude

introduction. 'Sure, come on in. Don't mind the mess. It's

tough keeping up with my kids.'

It was an older home in a section of the valley where

people with meager income found affordable shelter. With

the little they had, the home looked comfortable and

welcoming. 'I just need to ask a few questions about

yourself and family. Although this may sound personal but I

won't need to use your names. This information will be

used...' She interrupted Him. 'Would you like a glass of cold

water? You look like you've had a rough day.' 'Why, yes!'

He said eagerly. Just as she returned with the water, a man

came walking in the front door. It was her husband. 'Joe,

this man is here to do a survey.' He stood and politely

introduced himself. Joe was tall and lean. His face was

rough and aged looking although he figured he was in his

early twenties. His hands were like leather; the kind of hands

you get from working hard, not pushing pencils. She leaned

toward him and kissed him gently on the cheek. As they

looked at each other, he could see the love that held them

together. She smiled and titled her head, laying it on his

shoulder. He touched her face with his hands and softly said

'I love you!'

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They may not have had material wealth, but they were

richer than most people. They had a powerful love – the

kind of love that keeps your head up when things are

looking down. 'Joe works for the borough,' she said. 'What

do you do?' He asked. She jumped right in not letting him

answer. 'Joe collects garbage. You know I'm so proud of

him.' 'Honey, I'm sure the man doesn't want to hear this,'

said Joe. 'No, really I do,' he said. 'You see Bob, Joe is the

best garbage man in the borough. He can stack more

garbage on the truck than anyone else. He gets so much in

one truck that they don't have to make as many runs,' she

said with such passion. In the long run, Joe continues, 'I

save the borough money. Man hours are down and the

cost per truck is less.'

There was silence. He didn't know what to say. He shook his

head searching for the right words. 'That's incredible! Most

people would gripe about a job like that. It certainly is a

difficult one. But your attitude about it is amazing.' He said.

She walked over to the shelf next to the couch. As she

turned, she held in her hand a smal -frame paper. 'When

we had our third child Joe lost his job. We were on

unemployment for a time and then eventually welfare. He

couldn't find work anywhere. Then one day he was sent on

an interview here in this community. They offered him the

job he now holds. He came home depressed and

ashamed. Telling me this was the best he could do. It

actually paid less than we got on welfare.' She paused for

a moment and walked toward Joe. 'I have always been

proud of him and always will be. You see I don't think the

job makes the man. I believe the man makes the job!'

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'We needed to live in the borough in order to work here, so

we rented this home,' Joe said. 'When we moved in, this

quote was hanging on the wal just inside the front door. It

has made all the difference to us, Bob. I knew that Joe was

doing the right thing.' She said as she handed me the

frame. It said: "If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he

should sweep the streets even as Michelangelo painted or

Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.

He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven

and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street

sweeper who did this job well." (– Martin Luther King) 'I love

him for who he is. But what he does, he does the best. I love

my garbage man!'

Inspiring, isn't it? If you are being forced to work, your

chance of failure is high; it will reduce in you temperance

and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness

and content, fulfil ment, and a hundred virtues which the

idle will never know. Joe was inspired, and he gave his best

despite the nature of his job. In the words of Swett Marden,

"It is only when we do our best, when we put joy, energy,

enthusiasm, and zeal into our work that we really grow; and

this is the only way we can keep our highest self-respect."

Whether you are a brain surgeon or a carpenter, be the

best you can be at it because you love it. Your enthusiasm

and love for what you do is what will make you successful in

long term. Enthusiastic and positive people attract others to

themselves.

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THE GREATER YOU

There was an elderly carpenter who was ready to retire. He

told his employer/contractor of his plans to leave the house

building business, and live a more leisurely life with his wife,

enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck,

but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor

was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could

build just one more house as a personal favor. The

carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his

heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy

workmanship and used inferior materials. When the

carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect

the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the

carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "My gift to you."

What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was

building his own house, he would have done it all so

differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built

none too well. So it is with us. We build our lives in a

distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put

less than the best. At important points we do not give the

job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the

situation we have created and find that we are now living

in the house we have built. If we had realized, we would

have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house.

Each day you hammer a nail, place a board or erect a

wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if

you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be

lived graciously and with dignity. Most people like using

problems and challenges as an excuse for not doing their

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best. Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance

to draw back, always ineffective. It is true your best is going

to change from moment to moment. It will be different

when you are healthy as opposed to sick. But the fact still

remains that every problem is an opportunity to do your

best.

Under any circumstance, simply do your best and you will

avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret. You can only

complain that a job, career, business or skill is not good if

you don't put your best into it. Every job, career, business or

skill is good if you love it and put your best into it. If you put

your conscience into your work from principle, not because

of salary or what you can get from it, but because there is

something in you that refuses to accept anything from

yourself but the best, you will be richly rewarded over time.

As an old proverb says, "A man who works hard stinks only

to the ones that has nothing to do but smell." One of the

great secret of success is 'putting your best into doing

everything as well as it can be done.' To become a better

person, you need to begin this process starting from today.

Don't forget what you plant now, you harvest tomorrow.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it, do your

best. Boldness has genius power and magic in it. When you

have put your best to do what you can do, God will do

what you cannot do.

__

_**Until your best is put into a particular course, you will**_

_**never get the best out of yourself, you will never**_

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_**amount to something extraordinary.**_

**14**

****

**KNOW AND FOLLOW YOUR PATH**

****

Looking back at my life, I could tel that things were

different. I no longer see things in the same way. I no longer

question my journey to greatness or my ability to get there. I

am now taking one step at a time. Over the past few years

of my life, I had gradual y reprogrammed my brain to have

confidence, take control over my inner-negativity. I now

feel I finally had the answers to my success, and I'm no

longer lost in my own worries and thoughts on how to make

it in this world. I now have complete confidence in the

person I am today, and it's because I discovered my true

destiny, the path to fol ow, and I'm constantly building

myself to get to my promise land.

Life is a journey. Every journey has a route, and every route

leads to a destination. It all depends on the journey you are

taking and the route you are fol owing or the journey you

want to take and the route you want to fol ow. Not

everyone wil have to follow the same route to get to a

particular destination. There are specific pathways to every

achievement. We all have different paths to fol ow to

produce the results we desire and that is required of us.

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It is obvious that every great destination has a great path,

and every great path leads to a great destination. It then

implies that for you to be great, you have to follow the right

path that will lead you to greatness. Ultimately, you have to

pursue your own path, not someone's idea of the right

path, and stay on it. There is a saying, "If you don't know

where you are going, you'll probably end up somewhere

else." You'll probably be directed by anyone. A vision and

a mission without a direction is an illusion. __ Knowing where

you are going will help awaken your personal powers and

drive your mind towards what is possible. __ If you are walking

down the right path and you're willing to keep walking,

eventually, you will make progress. __

Becoming the best will require you to know where you are

going, know if it is the right path or not, because it is better

to walk in light than to walk in darkness. To do this, you need

to consistently seek God and ask yourself these questions:

**1.** What is my mission?

**2.** What do I stand for?

**3.** Is where I'm heading to making God and the

people that love me happy?

**4.** Am I real y moving towards my success or my dead

end?

**5.** Am I seeing my end from my beginning?

I believe the primary way to get answers to any problem is

to pray and ask questions. When you pray and

acknowledge God in all your deeds, He will direct your

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paths. It is written, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and

lean not unto thine own understanding. In all your ways

acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." There are

no better ways of getting it right, fulfil ing purpose or

becoming great other than leaning on God and asking him

for directions.

God will help you find the right path as you seek His

guidance. But you must know that after seeking God, you

must get off your knees and start doing something positive;

head in the right direction! He wil send people along your

way who will assist you, but you must be doing your part as

well. Achievement must be directed towards the desirable

and the positive. A man of light always walks in light and

not in darkness. He is always directional. He is never

distracted by external forces.

And finally, you can't achieve what you are trying to avoid.

Know the right path, leave your comfort zone and be

courageous to fol ow it. Distractions might surface during

the process, but if you are focused, you will get to your

destination.

_****_

_**A vision and a mission without a**_

_**direction is an illusion.**_

****

****

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**15**

****

**BE INQUISITIVE**

****

One way to ignite the fire in you is to be inquisitive. The best

in every profession are always inquisitive. They aim to retain

throughout their life, that eager desire to see, learn or know.

They tend to have a habit of curiosity that leads them to

give searching attention to what interests them.

To be inquisitive means to have a desire of acquiring

knowledge. It is synonymous to curiosity. "Curiosity is one of

the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous

intellect," said Samuel Johnson. The Greek philosopher,

John Locke added, "Curiosity is an appetite for knowledge.

I've discovered that every one on earth is born curious. Isn't

it curiosity that compels children of all ages to touch, taste,

smell, and explore the world around them? Without

curiosity, there's little impetus to discover or explore. Kids

are the most inquisitive people in the world, and they are

masters at asking questions. How many millions of questions

do they constantly bombard us with as they grow up? Why

do you think that is? Is it just to drive us crazy? We need to

realize that they're constantly making evaluations as to

what things mean and what they should do. They're

creating 'neuro-associations' that will guide their future and

their learning machines.

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One major way to develop your curiosity is to begin to ask

questions. Questions are the primary key to improvement.

Thinking itself is nothing but the process of asking and

answering questions. Questions direct our focus, how we

think and how we feel. Thinking is a way of finding out

things for yourself by asking and answering questions. If you

blindly accept what others told you, there would be

nothing to be inquisitive about. Questioning, if carefully

done helps you distinguish between what is known and

unknown, and the way to learn to think, to make new

connections, is initiated by questions – either questions we

ask ourselves or others.

Questions are the primary way in which we learn virtually

anything. The better your questions, the better the answers

you'll get, and the better you'l become. The difference

between people who are successful in any area and those

who aren't successful is that successful people ask better

questions, and as a result, they get better answers. Quality

questions create quality life.

Businesses succeed when those who make the decisions

that control their destiny ask the right questions about

markets or strategies. Relationships flourish when people ask

the right questions about where potential conflicts exist and

how to support each other instead of tearing each other

down. Politicians win elections when the questions they

raise (whether explicitly or implicitly) provide answers that

work for them and their community. When the automobile

was in its infancy, hundreds of people tinkered with building

them, but Henry Ford asked, "How can I mass-produce it?"

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Mil ions chafed under communism, but Lech Walesa asked,

"How can I raise the standard of living for all working men

and women?"

I encourage you to become more by constantly asking

better empowering questions. It's not only the questions you

ask, but the questions you fail to ask that shape your

destiny. It's time for more of you to question what you hear,

read and see, to wonder and ponder out loud, and to

engage in learning. The world needs now a generation of

people who have grown up asking questions, who are

experienced in finding answers and creating solutions;

people who aren't afraid to get hurt, fall or fail, people for

whom the greatest, most dangerous and most exciting

innate human trait we have – curiosity – is a celebrated

way of life!

Never lose a holy curiosity!

_**The difference between people who are successful in an**_

_**area and those who aren't successful is that successful**_

_**people ask better questions, and as a result,**_

_**they get better answers.**_

****

****

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**16**

****

**GET AND IMPLEMENT KNOWLEDGE**

Knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire. It

expands horizon and gives life meaning. Improvement

comes when you start acquiring and making connections

with knowledge that appear to others to be far apart.

Without knowledge nothing would have been invented or

created. This powerful force is connected to long lasting

achievement. It is what the wise seek for and pursue with

their resources and strength. As stated in Proverbs, "The

heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the

wise seeketh knowledge." William Shakespeare asserted,

"Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing

where with we fly to heaven."

Knowledge is an important ingredient for living purposeful y,

just as water is for cooking. People often experience failure

because of lack of knowledge. You need to understand

that we are living in an information age where new ideas,

movements and concepts change the world almost daily.

In this age, only those with knowledge (information) and the

means to communicate it, dominate their world. John

Galbraith, an American economist, and the author of

'Affluent Society' and 'The New Industrial State,' said,

"Money is what fueled the industrial society. But in the

information society, the fuel, the power, is knowledge. One

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has now come to see a new class structure divided by

those who have information and those who must function

out of ignorance. This new class has its power not from

money, not from land, but from knowledge."

The key to this power today is available everywhere. Some

sources includes; internet, television, radio, books, audio

and video CDs, seminars, courses, consultants, coaches,

colleagues, customers, vendors, teachers, friends and

family, etc. Surely the kind of specialized knowledge

needed to transform our lives is available everywhere and

to everyone, but the big question is; why isn't everyone

empowered, wealthy, happy, healthy and successful? Why

do some people produce extraordinary results while others

do not? The truth is, even in this age, as important as

knowledge is, getting knowledge is not enough. If all we

needed were just ideas and positive thinking, then I believe

almost al of us would be living our dream life now. It is

action that unites every greatness. It is action that produces

results. All wish to possess knowledge, but few,

comparatively speaking, are willing to pay the price. You

must figure out to make the abstract applicable.

Beliefs become powerful when they are converted to

behavior. If you've work hard to gather knowledge, you

also need to work very hard to implement them. It's very

important to prioritize. In fact, getting knowledge without

implementing is synonymous to a man who hears but don't

listen, because you can hear good advice but if you don't

heed it, it is of no benefit to your system. Knowledge

becomes potential power when it gets into the hand of

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someone who knows how to get himself to take consistent

action. Knowledge with application is wisdom. Don't just

acquire knowledge, implement! This will help you awaken

the sleeping forces inside of you.

It is not the hearer alone that is blessed, but the hearer and

doer.

_**All wish to possess knowledge, but few, comparatively**_

_**speaking, are willing to pay the price.**_

****

****

****

****

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**17**

****

**PRACTICE**

****

I believe we learn, grow and become more by practicing,

whether it's to learn how to write by practicing writing, or it's

to learn to sing by practicing singing, the principles are the

same.

The word practice means the repetition of an activity to

improve a skill. It is the ongoing pursuit of a profession. It can

also mean to workout. I was taught by my very good friend,

Dr. Adeolu Ezekiel, a career coach, writer, that, "The only

way I can be good at anything is to practice, and then

practice some more." Knowledge is of no value unless you

put it into practice. Aristotle once said, "For the things we

have learn before we can do them, we learn by doing

them." Practice is the performance of a dedicated precise

set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes

shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, and a

satisfaction of spirit. One becomes in some areas, an

athlete of God. Shakespeare coined it as a 'continuous

performance in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision,

faith, and desire.'

Practice makes improvement possible. It is also a way of

preparation. Learn to use single concepts or techniques on

little ideas or projects. Familiarize yourself with them and

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THE GREATER YOU

ingrain them as habits. It is not necessary to have a fully

formed picture or crystal clear idea of where you are going,

or what you want to do before you start practicing,

because so little is giving to you by initial inspiration. You

may fol ow false trails; get lost and feel frustrated even to

the point of despairing. But if you haven't worked on the

edge of failure, you haven't worked on the edge of real

success.

Always be determined never to be idle. There is a saying,

"No person will have the occasion to complain of the want

of time that never loses any." It is wonderful how much work

can be done if we are always doing.

Sure, you must have heard the name, 'Michael Jackson'

even if you are not familiar with his music. He is one of the

world's greatest musician that has ever lived, and was also

a legend in the entertainment industry. Do you know how

he became known for what he does? Practice! He started

practicing when he was a little boy. Today, the world still

remembers him not for anything, but for what he had done

through consistent practice. This principle is the same for

any achievement in life. Without consistent practice, your

level of performance wil not increase; your talent will not

be announced to the world. Practice brings out the best in

you and it makes you a better person.

The more you practice your skil , the more you can, the

more you want to, the more you enjoy it, and the less it tires

you. In the words of Apostle Paul, "What you have learned

and received and heard and seen in me – practice these

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things and the God of peace will be with you." Take

advantage of every opportunity to practice your skills so

that when there are opportunities, you will have the gift,

style, sharpness, clarity and emotion to affect other people.

_****_

_**Practice makes improvement possible.**_

****

****

****

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**18**

****

**GET CREATIVE**

****

Creativity is very important for vast improvement. It is a

great motivator. It makes people interested in what they

are doing. It gives hope that there can be a worthwhile

idea. It creates the possibility of some sort of achievement

to everyone, and makes life more fun and more interesting.

To create is always to do something new. The word

'Create' is gotten from the word 'Creativity.' Creativity is

the faculty of mind and spirit that enables us brings into

existence, ostensibly out of nothing, something of use,

order, beauty or significance. It is about connecting ideas,

facts, experiences and things. To be creative means to be

in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life

enough that you want to enhance its beauty.

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc., once said, "When

you ask creative people how they do something, they feel

a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw

something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's

because they were able to connect experiences they've

had and synthesize new things." It is because of the

creativity of some people that is making us experience life

the way we are experiencing it today. Some examples of

people whose creative work has affected the world

include:

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**6.** Michael Faraday – who established the basis for the

concept of the electromagnetic field in physics,

invented the electromagnetic rotary devices and

made electricity practical for use in technology.

**7.** Sir Isaac Newton – who developed the laws of

motion and universal gravitation, built the first

practical reflecting telescope, and formulated an

empirical law of cooling.

**8.** Rosaline Franklin – who discovered DNA

(deoxyribonucleic acid).

**9.** Erna Schneider Hoover – who invented the

computerized telephone switching system.

**10.** Marie Curie – who discovered radium and furthered

X-ray technology.

**11.** Thomas Edison – who developed the ten foil

phonograph, and invented the light bulbs.

**12.** Alexander Graham Bell – who invented the

telephone.

**13.** George Washington Carver – who invented three

hundred uses of peanuts and hundreds more uses

for soya beans, pecans and sweet potatoes.

**14.** John Logie Baird – who invented the mechanical

television.

**15.** Henry Ford – who improved the assembly line for

automobile manufacturing.

**16.** Bill Gates – who co-founded Microsoft by creating

BASIC software for personal computers.

**17.** Mark Zuckerberg – who founded the popular social

network website called Facebook.

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The real beauty of your life is expressed when you use your

mind and your talents to produce something of great

value. It is the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of

people that makes you valuable. After succeeding in

creating BASIC software for personal computers, Bill gates

then asserted, "A creative person needs to be adventurous

like a resourceful explorer." Creativity will only be

recognized in you when you have transformed something

into a new creation of enduring value. God our creator is

creative. Everyone and everything in this world came from

the 'Creator trailing wisps of glory.' We came from God

through creativity. We were all born with creative abilities.

That leaves us with no reason not to be creative if really we

were made by God.

__

Here are some important tips to help you get creative:

**1. Believe**

Belief creates the actual fact. It shapes behavior. If you

don't believe you are and can be more creative, you can't

even try. Our beliefs almost always precede our

performance. ****

****

**2. Get instructions**

Libraries and bookstores are full of books that focus exclusiv

ely on creativity. Find the one that appeal to you. Also live s

eminars, videos or audio tapes training programs, can also

be of good help to you. They'l put you in the right direction

and give you practical ideas for increasing your creative qu

otient. Getting instructions provides you with logistical infor

mation about how to be creative. ****

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**3. Involve in creative activities**

Spend time in anything that will get you creative and

increase your awareness of the infinite possibilities in the

world around you. Increasing your involvement in creative

experiences will provide you with the nutrient information

you need. ****

****

**4. Stay or go to a creative environment**

Does your environment inspire you? If not, think of where

you can go to be more creative. ****

****

**5. Keep creative company**

What kind of friends do you keep? Are they the type that

will inspire you to be more creative? You need to have

creative friends if you want to be creative because when

birds of different feathers flock together, soon they'll

develop the same feather. ****

****

**6. Practice**

You've gotten the instruction and ideas, so practice the act

and apply the information. ****

****

**7. Keep a notebook**

Keeping a notebook is more than a useful habit. It is a vitally

important tool for all creative purposes. ****

****

**8. Find the best answer**

Most of the time, the right answer usual y prevents us from

finding the best answer. Once we have identified the right

answer, we just stop searching forgetting that a better

solution may be just around the corner. Creativity is all

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about identifying all of the right answers that we have to

choose from and then picking the best one. ****

Let us set high standards for creativity. If our expectations in

this area are low, we are not likely to grow into the fullness

of our potentials. In the words of Greg Anderson, "Setting

high standards makes everybody and every decade worth

looking forward to." You can be more creative in the future

than you've been in the past. If you are already creative,

then make your best better.

****

_**To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be**_

_**creative only if you love life enough that you**_

_**want to enhance its beauty.**_

****

****

****

****

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**19**

**TEST YOUR IDEAS**

****

Ideas are more powerful than guns. They are the product of

our imagination and makes up the building blocks of

creativity. Production is more than just putting parts

together. It is coming up with ideas, testing principles and

perfecting the engineering, as well as final assembling. One

way to measure progress is when ideas are being tested.

I've met a lot of people who have one incredible idea or

the other, but they aren't implementing them. They tend to

give a lot of reasons for not implementing their ideas. There

are two major reasons why people are not implementing

their ideas; because of fear, and lack of resources. Most

people will say they don't have the time, money, right

leadership, support, and energy or probably they are afraid

of a particular subject or something that they think might

run them through. Whatever your own conception may be,

it's still because of fear and lack of resources. But how long

will you continue to live like this?

Progress doesn't come easy, neat and tidy; having

everything in its place. Even the best ideas sometimes

explode. But you have to learn to put yourself in a state of

resourcefulness, develop courage to overcome fear, and

be ready to fail your way to success. When ideas are tested

there is every chance of it coming into being. Don't be

afraid to test your ideas. Don't be afraid to fail in the

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process. How are you even sure you are going to fail. And

even if you fail, how are you still sure you are going to fail

the next time, next..., and next time. Thomas Edison failed

thousands of times before he succeeded in creating the

light bulb. When asked about the many thousands of

failures he had when trying to create the light-bulb he

famously said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways

that won't work." Failure gives you more chances of

becoming better and better. It only makes you discover

better ways of doing better things. Don't be afraid! Always

implement strange or unusual techniques.

A long time ago, a young salesman in a hardware store

observed that the store had a lot odds and ends, which

were out of date and not selling. Having time on his hands,

he rigged up a special table in the middle of the store. He

loaded it with some of this unsalable merchandise, marking

it the bargain price of a dime an article. To his surprise and

that of the owner of the store, the gadgets sold like hot

cakes. Out of the experience grew the great F.W

Woolworth Five and Ten-cent Chain Store System. The

young man who stumbled upon the idea was Frank W.

Woolworth. That idea yielded him a fortune estimated at

more than $550,000,000. Moreover, the same idea made

several other persons rich, and applications of the idea are

at the heart of many of the more profitable merchandising

systems in America. No one told young Woolworth to

exercise his right to personal initiative. No one paid him for

doing so yet his action led to ever-increasing returns for his

efforts. It was just a little idea that he tested; increasing

returns nearly overwhelmed him down.

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Develop prototype rather than finished products. I know

there is an old adage that says, "You do things when the

opportunities come along." But do you have to wait always

for an opportunity? No, you don't. Sometimes, you have to

create your own opportunity. People who transformed their

world learned and started by creating the kind of

opportunity that projected them into their success train.

You can create opportunities for yourself. You can become

an 'opportuniac.' Do it or give it away for free before you

charge. Nobody will have the time to complain about a

product or service they got for free. The people you gave

stuff or render service to for free will certainly share feed

backs with you that will help you make your work better

next time. This will awaken more of the creative forces

within you.

_**People who transformed their world learned**_

_**and started by creating the kind of**_

_**opportunity that projected them into**_

_**their success train.**_

****

****

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**20**

****

**DON'T ACCEPT FAILURE AS AN OPTION**

****

Nothing succeeds like success. We learn to function

successful y by experiencing success. Memories of past

successes act as built-in stored information which gives us

self-confidence for the present task. But how can a person

draw from memories of past successful experiences when

he has not experienced failure? It is just like a young man

who can't secure a job because he has no experience,

and cannot acquire experience because he cannot get a

job. Success comes after failure even in the dictionary, just

as experience comes after securing a job.

The fear of failure is universal and it is the greatest fear

people have in life. It comes in different ways. It might be

the fear that they won't succeed if they try something new

or the fear that they might never succeed doing what they

have a passion for, or the fear that prevents them from

fol owing their dreams. Life is too short to let the fear of

failure make decisions for you. In the words of Babe Ruth,

"Never let the fear of striking out hold you back." You'll

always miss 100% of the shots you don't take, and this can

limit your creative potentials.

Don't accept failure as an option. Don't even think about it.

Those who accept failure, who gave up are losers and not

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winners. Those who give up never go up. The man who

conceived himself to be a failure-type person will find some

way to fail, in spite of all his good intentions, or his will

power, even if opportunity is literally dumped in his lap. __

Abraham Lincoln was a determined guy who never

accepted failure despite al what he went through, he

persevered until he got his breakthrough. At 22years old, he

failed in business, one year later; he ran for legislature and

lost. When he was 24, he experienced a second business

failure. At 26, the woman he loved passed away, and he

suffered a nervous breakdown the next year. When he was

29, he lost another political race, and at 34, he made an

unsuccessful run for congress. At 37, he did get elected to

congress, only to be defeated again two years later. At 46,

he lost his bid for senate, and the next year, he failed in his

attempt to become vice president. When he was 49, he

was defeated for senate again. He had four sons but only

one lived to adulthood. But at 51 years of age, Abraham

Lincoln was elected president of the United States and led

the country through one of its most difficult periods.

From age 22, he experienced multiple failures, heart-breaks,

financial imbalance until when he was 51. He never gave

up. He failed forward. He endured until he achieved his

success. Many people in his position would have given up,

but he refused to accept failure as an option. He

developed success from multiple failures. I've come to

know that the failures I had in the past were actually laying

a solid foundation for the understandings that have

created the new level of life I'm in right now.

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Isn't it true that we learn wisdom from failure much more

from success? Of course, we do. It exposes us to what we

can do by finding out what we can not do. Roger Van

Oech said, "There are two benefits of failure. First, if you fail,

you learn what doesn't work; and second, the failure gives

you an opportunity to try a new approach." For real, bad

situations and failures make the best of us. Even the

irritations of life can be useful. They may cause us to

change directions or prod us to greater achievement, or

keep us moving along when it's easier to go nowhere.

Conquering fear is the beginning of wisdom which is

synonymous to the fear of the Lord. When you fear God you

don't need to fear anything, and when you fear anything

that means you don't fear God. The Bible recognizes that

humans do fail, "For a just man falleth seven times and

riseth up again." But the most important thing is how we

handle failure. The key to victory is standing up on the inside

whenever we fall, never accepting defeat.

A father took his young son into a toy shop to give him a

chance to look at some special gifts he would like to

receive. The Father told the boy to wander around on his

own for a few minutes to see what he would like. At the

back of the shop, his young son found a statue of a man

made out of lots of colorful balloons. He looked at the

balloon man for a minute, and then he drew back his fist

and hit him just as hard as he could. The balloon man fell

back and hit the floor, then rocked backwards and

forwards, and after a few seconds he stood upright again.

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The confused boy backed off and looked at the bal oon

man and then hit him again, as hard as he could. The

balloon man fell back once more and hit the floor, but was

soon standing upright again. The father saw his young son

hit that balloon man and asked, 'why do you think he

comes bouncing back up when you hit him and knock him

down?' The boy thought for a minute and said, 'I don't

know Dad, I guess it's because he is standing up on the

inside.'

The Canadian actress Mary Pick Ford repeatedly said, "To

fall is not to fail, unless you fail to get up again." Our

greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time

we fall. The people who rarely fail are usually the ones who

never do anything. We can only avoid it completely when

we say nothing, do nothing and be nothing. A young girl

practicing figure skating to compete in the Olympics was

told by her teacher, "If you don't fail while practicing then

you are not learning enough to be a true champion."

Failure happens almost at all times in practice. What makes

you better is how you react to it.

__

One way not to accept failure is to build up confidence

and courage not to give up or let fear hold you back. To do

this, you need to consistently take action because inaction

breeds doubt and fear. It is action that breeds confidence

and courage. If you really want to conquer fear of failure,

do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

Your desire for success should be greater than your fear of

failure. Some people along the line experience defeat, and

as a result they are discouraged and immediately stop

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taking action. Defeat is not the worst of failures, not to have

tried is true failure. Discouragement and failure are the

surest stumbling blocks to growing into the fullness of your

potentials. They can stop you from achieving greatness in

life. That is why you don't need to be discouraged when

you fail. As Denis Waitley has said, "Failure is only a

temporary change in direction to set you straight for your

next success."

Every one of us is bound to fail at a particular time in our

lives. No man ever achieved worthwhile success that did

not, at one time or the other find himself with at least one

foot hanging well over the brink of failure. But you only

become a failure when you give up. Acknowledge that

anything less than your intended goals and objectives

means you need to invest more time, try different

approaches or techniques, work a little harder or persevere

a little longer.

Build on failure. Use it as a stepping stone to success. Close

the door on the past. Don't try to forget the mistakes, but

don't dwell on them. Don't give it any of your energy, time

or space. If you feel like you're in the dark, simply turn the

lights on. If you feel like you're drowning in a sea of

confusion, walk up the beach and relax on the island of

understanding. Your failures or past experiences and

adversity can create opportunities for you. It's all in how

you look at life and how you choose to use those

experiences, so that you eliminate the blocks and move on

in spite of them. Victory is yours!

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_**Those who give up never go up.**_

**21**

****

**MOVE WITH GOD AND WITH THE RIGHT COMPANY**

****

It is very important to involve God in your activities if you

want to live the best of life. The best don't move ahead or

move behind God, they move with God. God is the owner

of everything including yourself. To become al that you can

be, you must learn to work with Him. How? Simply by

studying, meditating and acting on His word. The word of

God contains powers that can awaken your creative

potential and transform your life into a greater equivalent.

As it is written, "This book of the law shall not depart out of

thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate there in day and night,

that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is

written therein: for thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and

then thou shalt have good success." Let God be the source

of your knowledge. Delight yourself in Him, and he will give

you the desires of your heart.

We are the wire, God is the current. Our only work is to let

the current flow through us to ignite the light in us. Be a

mind through which God thinks, a heart through which God

loves, a voice through which God speaks, and a head with

which God helps. __ Those who swim with God never go to the

bottom.

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Even as you move with God, you also need to be with the

right company. People who are God conscious and

positive minded are what you need, not those who

concentrate only on the negative or how to make money

alone. Watch out for great minds, don't miss the positive.

There was once a professor who took a piece of paper and

pinned it on the board in his classroom. Then with a felt-tip

pen he made a circle and colored it in with black. When he

finished, he asked his psychology class, "What do you see?"

One person said, "A black dot." Another person said, "I see

a round circle and its dark." Another one said, "I see a

round circle colored solid black." And so he went through

the class, until finally the professor said, "Doesn't anybody

see a piece of white paper?" They all picked out the black

dot. Nobody pointed to the white sheet of paper.

If most of the people you move, talk, work or live with are

negative people, they will affect your life in a negative

way, never encouraging more of your hidden powers. They

look at the faults; they pick out the shortcomings; they point

out the defects; they show the imperfections; they spot the

flaws; they focus on the wrinkles; they check the stains; they

look for the negatives. They miss everything that's positive

and great. They are your haters in disguise. They'l stifle your

growth and hinder your progress. I'm not saying you should

total y dismiss them because you can still use them as fuel,

but what I'm saying is that you should not move or

associate with them. Move only with positive people and

great thinkers – this will help you grow.

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The words, actions or contributions of positive, purposeful,

optimistic people can help awake your potentials. Discuss

your weakness with your valued colleagues or friends. Ask

for advice or guidance. Don't be too proud not to discuss

your problems. The process of improvement is most

successful when undertaken with team approach not a

one man show. A problem shared is a problem half solved

but not with the wrong company.

_****_

_**Those who swim with God never**_

_**go to the bottom.**_

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**22**

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**LEARN THE HABIT OF HAPPINESS**

****

Happiness is a good state. It is native to the human mind,

power and its physical machine. Happiness is nothing but

the feeling of being happy. It is a state of mind in which our

thinking is pleasant. To be happy means to show or feel or

cause pleasure or satisfaction.

From medical standpoint, it has been discovered that

human think better, perform better, feel better, and are

healthier when they are happy. Even their sense organs

function better when they are in a state of happiness. A

Russian Psychologist known as K. Kekcheyev tested people

when they were thinking pleasant and unpleasant

thoughts. He found that when thinking pleasant thoughts

they could see better, taste, smell and hear better, and

even detect finer differences in touch. Margaret Cobett

has found that memory is greatly improved, and that the

mind is relaxed when the subject is thinking pleasant

thoughts. Dr. Schindler has said that unhappiness is the sole

cause of all psychosomatic ills and that happiness is the

only cure. Even the very word "disease" means a state of

unhappiness – "dis-ease." Psychosomatic medicine has also

proved that our stomachs, liver, heart and all our internal

organs function better when we are happy.

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King Solomon, the wisest King ever lived, said, "A merry

heart doeth good like a medicine but a broken spirit drieth

up the bones."

It is significant that Christianity, Judaism and Islam prescribe

joy, rejoicing, thankfulness, cheerfulness as a means

towards righteousness and a good life. I totally agree with

the Old Dutch proverb which says, "Happy people are

never wicked." Isn't it true that the majority of criminals

came from unhappy homes, or may be had a history of

unhappy human relationships? If not so, then what do you

think would stimulate them to involve in criminal act except

for unhappiness? A recent investigation showed that

optimistic, cheerful people who looked on the bright side of

things were more empowered and successful than

pessimistic people.

It appears that in our popular thinking we tend to say, "Be

good and you will be happy." We say to ourselves, "If I

could be successful and healthy, I would be happy." Others

say, "Be kind and loving to other people and you will be

happy." No... it might be closer to the truth if we say, "Be

happy and you will be good, more successful and healthier,

accomplish great things, discover more about yourself, feel

and act more charitably towards others." Happiness is not

something that is deserved or earned, like most people

think it is. It is not a moral issue. If you wait until you deserve

to think pleasant thoughts, you are likely to think unpleasant

thoughts concerning your own unworthiness. In the words of

Spinoza, "Happiness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue

itself; nor do we delight in happiness because we restrain

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our lusts; but, on the contrary, because we delight in it,

therefore are able to restrain them."

__

Happiness enables us to express our potential creatively

and fulfill ourselves in helping others. It brings out the

strength in us and helps us connect with others too. "The

attitude of unhappiness is not only painful, it is mean and

ugly," said Wil iam James. Maxwell Maltz wrote, "What can

be more base and unworthy than the pinning, puling,

mumping mood, no matter by what outward ills it may

have been engendered? What is more injurious to ourselves

and others, what less helpful as a way of the difficulty? It

but fastens and perpetuates the trouble which occasioned

it; and increases the total evil of the situation." If we don't

acquire the habit of happiness, we are never living but only

hoping to live; and looking forward to always being happy.

I have found out that one of the major causes of

unhappiness among people is that they are attempting to

live their lives on the 'deferred payment plan.' They do not

live, nor enjoy life now, but wait for some future event or

occurrence. They will be happy when they get married,

when they get a better job, when they get the house paid

for, when they get the children through college, when they

have completed some task or won some victory. Invariably,

they are disappointed. Happiness is a mental habit, a

mental attitude, and if it is not learned or practiced in the

present it is never experienced. Happiness can be

developed and cultivated. Most people are about as

happy as they make up their minds to be. Psychologist Dr.

Mathew N. Chappell penned, "Happiness is purely internal,

it is produced not by objects, but by ideas, thoughts and

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attitudes which can be developed and constructed by the

individual's own activities, irrespective of the environment."

Although, no one can be 100% happy at all times. To a

large extent, we all react to petty annoyances and

frustrations, and become unhappy in the process. Like,

someone interrupts and doesn't pay attention while we are

talking; someone doesn't come through for us as we think

he should; the bus we wanted to catch had to be late; it

had to rain when we had plan to go for the event; traffic

had to get into a snarl just when we needed to go early for

the meeting... and so we react with anger, resentment or in

other words – unhappiness. Irrespective of all these, we

should learn to always be happy by constantly thinking

pleasant thoughts towards any unpleasant situation. As

George Bernard Shaw has equipped, "We would probably

be miserable if we were, but we can by taking thought and

making simple decisions to be happy and think pleasant

thoughts a large share of time, regarding the multitude of

little events and circumstances daily living which now make

us unhappy." Learning the happiness habit wil make you a

bright person. You'll become a master instead of a slave. It

will enable you to be free from the domination of predators

and introduces you more to your creative potentials.

In regards to tragic conditions, we can still be happy by not

adding to the misfortune our own feelings of self-pity,

resentment and our own adverse opinions. "How can I be

happy?" The student who has lost count seeking admission

into higher institution asked me. "I don't know," I said, "But

you can be happy by resolving not to add resentment and

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self-pity to your misfortune." A young businessman asked,

"How can I ever be happy? I have just lost over $100,000 in

the stock market. I am ruined and disgraced." "You can be

happy," I said, "By not adding your own opinion to the

facts. It is a fact that you lost 100,000. It is your opinion that

you are ruined and disgraced." I suggest that you

memorize a saying of Epictetus, the Greek philosopher,

which has always been one of my favorite, "Men are

disturbed not by things that happen, but by their opinion of

the things that happen."

When I announced that I want to be a professional speaker

and life coach; training and empowering people for

greatness, and to start up an organization that entails

empowering the youths by organizing seminars and various

training programs, I was told that this could never be,

especial y in Ilorin (where I started). They said, "Because

there are no sponsors and the soil had no money, neither

do they encourage such things." It was only an opinion that

I could never dominate in Ilorin, and that it was impossible

for a young guy like me, an outsider from Delta State (Warri

to be precise) to go into that kind of business. I did all these

things (although along the way I experienced a lot of

difficulties and failures) and one of the things that helped

me was that I kept reminding myself that all these

impossibilities were opinions, not facts. I not only managed

to reach my goals, but I was happy in the process – even

when I had to pawn my overcoat to equip myself and do

without lunch in order to sponsor some little activities at the

beginning. I fell in love with a beautiful girl. But she left me

for someone else. These were facts. But I kept reminding

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myself that it was merely my opinion that this was a

"catastrophe" and that there are no true love anywhere. I

not only got over it, but it turned out that it was one of the

luckiest things that ever happened to me.

Happiness is a symptom of normal, natural functioning, and

when man is functioning as a goal-striver, he tends to feel

fairly happy, regardless of the circumstances. My young

business executive friend was very unhappy because he

had lost $100,000 in the stock market. Thomas Edison lost a

laboratory worth millions of dollars in a fire, with no

insurance. "What in the world wil you do?" someone asked.

"We will start rebuilding tomorrow," said Edison. He was still

goal-oriented despite his misfortune. And because of that it

is a good bet that he was never totally unhappy about his

loss.

Looking back at my own life I can see that some of the

happiest years were those when I was struggling through as

a young guy, and living from hand to mouth in the early

days of my career. Many times I was hungry. I was cold and

lonely. I worked hard a minimum of 8hours a day equipping

myself. I started with absolutely nothing. I worked hard and

smart. Many times I did not know from month to month

where the money was coming from to solve my problems.

But I did have a goal. I have a consuming desire to reach it,

and a determined persistence which kept me working

towards it. I was happy through those moments despite the

nature of things, and that in turn helped me discover and

awaken more of my creative potentials.

__

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As I round off this section, my advice for you is that you

should learn to form the habit of reacting positively towards

threats and problems. Form the habit of 'keeping goal-

oriented' all the time regardless of what happens. Do this

by practicing a positive aggressive attitude, both in actual

everyday situations, and also in your minds-eye. Always see

yourself in your imagination taking positive, intelligent

actions toward solving a problem or reaching a goal. See

yourself reacting to treats, not by running away or evading

them, but by meeting them, dealing with them, and

grappling with them in an intelligent manner.

And finally, never let anyone tell you that you can't make it

in this world, wherever you are. If you have a dream, you

must protect it and guard it with all diligence, and see how

high you'll rise and great you'll become.

_**If we don't acquire the habit of happiness, we are never**_

_**living but only hoping to live; and looking**_

_**forward to always being happy.**_

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## PART 4

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**PROCESS OF POTENTIAL**

**DEVELOPMENT**

_"If you are under the impression you have already_

_perfected yourself, you will never rise to the_

_heights you are no doubt capable of."_

\- _**Kuzuo Ishi**_

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**23**

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**CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT**

****

An Austrian monk, when he was young wanted to change

the world. He later found that it was difficult, so he tried to

change his nation. When he found that he couldn't

change his nation, he began to focus on his town. He

couldn't change his town, and as an older man, he tried to

change his family. Now, as an old man, he discovered that

the only thing he can change is himself, and suddenly he

realize that if long ago he had changed himself, he could

have made an impact on his family. Both he and his family

could have made impact on their town. Their impact could

have changed the nation, and he could indeed have

changed the world.

Changing your world will require you changing yourself,

and it begins from within. Developing your potentials will

require you to develop yourself spiritually, psychologically,

emotionally, financially, and physically. Merely unlocking

your potentials won't be enough to dominate your world.

You need to consistently develop them by feeding them

with the right ingredient. This process is ongoing (i.e. it is a

constant) until you have fulfilled purpose (i.e. until death).

Personal development is nothing but the process of

achieving and expanding your full potential. It is a path to

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personal greatness, and a way to be your best. It is a

journey, not a destination.

The purpose of developing your potentials is to improve and

be the best that you can be. Just as the body needs a

balanced diet (the right food ingredient) to stay healthy

and grow, so does your potentials, they need the right

ingredient for proper development.

The word 'Development' can be defined as the process of

changes that occur within a specific period of time. It is the

process of growth. It is also a process of improvement.

Improvement means a progress towards what is better. It is

a process of advancement. It also means to replace

something existing with something better.

It is important for everyone to develop continually. We are

supposed to improve during the process of living and be

the best we can be. Most people are satisfied to achieve

their goals and objectives, once they've accomplished

their objective, they consider themselves through. But this is

not purpose; it is an ongoing process of growth and coming

into being. It defines success. The most successful and

fruitful people are never satisfied with their state of being.

They always pursue purpose until it is fulfilled. They go on to

set and achieve higher goals. They are committed to the

pursuit of their true potentials. They always aspire to be the

best.

Development starts from the inside and ends with an

extraordinary life. T. Harv Eker, the author of 'The secret of

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the millionaire Mind' said, "If you want to change the fruits,

you will first have to change the roots. If you want to

change the visible, you must first change the invisible." You

need to first develop and awaken your mind to it, and then

make it a reality in every area of your life. The price of

development is paid with effort and the end result is

rewarding. This opportunity is open freely to anyone willing

and ready to pay the prize and earn the reward.

We experience improvement all the time, don't we? Isn't it

true that our world, country, state, city, town, village and

neighborhood are improving? Technology is advancing all

the time. Haven't you noticed that when you download

software for your smart phone, there will be a new and

improved version within 6 months or there about? The 4.0

version will inevitably upgrade to a 4.2 or 4.7 version or

beyond. This is improvement and the process is infinite.

There was once an oyster who found that some sand had g

otten into its shell. It was only a grain, but it gave it great pai

n, for oysters have feelings although they're so plain. Now,

did it berate the harsh workings of fate that brought it to suc

h a deplorable state? Did it curse at the government, cry fo

r election, and claim that the sea should have given him pr

otection? No. it said to itself as it lay on a shel , since I canno

t remove it I will try to improve it. Now the years have rolled

by, as the years always do. And it came to its ultimate desti

ny, a stew. And the smal grain of sand that had bothered h

im so was a beautiful pearl all richly aglow.

Now the tale has a moral, for isn't it grand what an oyster

can do with a morsel of sand? What can't we do if we'd

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only begin with some of the things in us or that get under

our skin?

You can choose to make better your life than this. You can

improve on anything your hand finds to do. It may be

products, services, ideas, health, relationships, career, life-

style, business, etc. the quality of your life only gets better

when you consistently develop yourself. In the words of Fela

Durotoye, "It is not what we don't have that limits us, it is

what we have but don't know how to use." It is what we do

with what we have that makes al the difference. Your

present situation is where you are now at the moment.

You need to ask yourself these three important questions:

**1.** How can I make my best better?

**2.** How can I grow to a higher level?

**3.** How can I use more, be more and give more?

Whatever level you want to reach, wherever you want to

go and however it will cost you to get there, you need to

have this at the back of your mind that you have infinite

opportunities to develop yourself.

****

****

**REASONS WHY YOU NEED TO DEVELOP YOURSELF**

****

There is always a reason for everything in life. There is

nothing that has happened in the past or will happen in

future or is happening now without a reason. No matter

what you do, where you are, there are still better things to

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do and better places to go. Where you are now is not the

final place or level God wants you to be. Your past has

nothing to do with your future. Your past is not a criterion for

failure. Just because you haven't gotten what you desired

in the past doesn't mean you can't in the future. Also, no

matter what you have achieved in the past, you are still

capable of achieving more in the future. You can improve

more on any area life.

Every one can't be in the same field. Every field has its own

inspiration. Don't try to do what someone is doing or try to

copy their strategy when you know it's not your field. God

created us differently with different potentials to serve for

different purpose. Discover your own potentials! Unlock

them! Develop them! Improve on them! Look for your own

inspiration! Study the methods rather than just the results!

Development requires motivation. Without a strong reason

to do something all techniques wil be of no use.

Here are some major reasons why you need to develop

yourself:

**1. God wants you to**

It is God's desire for you to develop and prosper. Without

developing your potentials, you won't be able to reach out

very well to others. God wants you to develop yourself so

that he can use you as a vessel to reach out to others in a

positive, impactful way. He ultimately wants you to grow. ****

****

**2. Your loved ones expect it**

In the world today, no reasonable person wants the

notable people in their lives to be less than anything they

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can be. Your family and friends will want you to become

the best you can be if they really love you, despite your

flaws. The more you grow, the more they'll expect. The

better you get, the higher they'll expect. When they expect

more, is either you get it for them, or get left behind. ****

****

**3. To survive**

The best aspire to prevail. To prevail requires constant

development. In life, it's either you are getting better or

getting worse. Surviving in this competitive world will require

you to develop and get ahead not to talk of dominating it.

If people are improving and you choose to stay the same,

you are actually losing ground. ****

****

**4. Because of the lives of others**

Great people in any field or profession have a responsibility

to be a positive role model. Any society's role model shapes

that society's future. Success increases responsibility. The

more you succeed, the more others will depend on you.

God has placed some people around you so that you can

be of help to them. Without you being incredibly successful

and consistent in upgrading, you'll be of no help to them. ****

****

**5. Because the world is continuously developing**

Today's success can be tomorrow's failure. This is so

because there is improvement in your competition. The

world is wildly competitive. To survive in this competitive 21st

century will require you to learn more than one skill, more

than one language and learn to affect other people with

your skills and languages. ****

****

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**6. It's your duty**

Just as I have explained in the first part of this book, there is

no one that is born empty. Everyone is born with raw

materials called potentials, which are also called usable

strength and powers. God gave everyone the potential to

create and to fulfill a creative impulse. We all have the

opportunity to create, to make of ourselves all that we can

be and to develop qualities and characters that are noble.

But the question is; are you ready to create the kind of life

that wil inspire and affect others in a way that God and

those you love will be proud of? Creativeness and a

creative attitude to life as a whole is not man's right, it is his

duty.

****

I believe by now you have understood the meaning of pote

ntial development as well as personal development, and th

e reasons why you need to develop your potentials. No dou

bt, you are ready to start the process that wil bring about m

assive change in your life.

Now let's begin.....

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**24**

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**SET GOALS IN LINE WITH YOUR POTENTIALS**

Setting goals are very essential for potential development. It

is the first step in turning the invisible into visible. The majority

of people I've met dream of a future, but in most cases,

that's all it will ever be – just a dream. A lot of people have

dreams, some are stil dreaming, but only a few are living, or

will live their dreams. What do you think is the cause?

Successful people turn their dreams into goals and they

pursue it with all their strength and resources, and turn those

goals into reality. Unsuccessful people hope and pray their

dreams become a reality someday, never deciding to do

anything or commit themselves about making it come to

pass. Thomas Edison dreamt of a world in which electric

energy would light up the night. George Stephenson

dreamt of an engine that would pull trains and eliminate

the backbreaking labor of men. Ludwig Van Beethoven

dreamt of music that would make the spirit soar. But did

they stop there? They transformed their dreams into goals,

then to a plan and they took consistent massive action to

make that dream become a reality.

Dreaming isn't limited to some kind of people. It is for

everybody. Every man's success starts from a dream, or a

hope. But successful men and women have report that it all

started with a dream, which led to a goal, which led to a

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plan of action, and inevitably to achieving the goal. I

believe you have a dream. I don't care how difficult you

think it will be transforming that dream into reality. I'm here

to tell you that it's possible. But it will require you to first

transform your dream into a goal and fol ow the process...

What does it mean to set goals?

To set goals means to aim at achieving a particular thing

for a particular purpose. It is the key to personal and

professional development and accomplishment.

Effective goals make use of the **SMART** technique as fol ows:

**7. Specific** – stating exactly what to be accomplished.

**8. Measurable** – ways to show progress.

**9. Action-oriented** – specifying things to be done. ****

**10. Realistic** – within reach if you stretch and work hard. ****

**11. Timely** – achievable within a reasonable period of

time. ****

****

Now let me introduce you to the models for setting goals...

What we yearn for, earnestly desire, and strive to bring

about tends to become our reality.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the muscle man, entrepreneur,

and movie star converted dreams to goals and then into

great accomplishment. When Arnold first came into the

public eye, nobody would have guessed that he was

destined to be the great success that he has become. After

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all, he was nothing more than a guy with a great physique –

"the male equivalent of the beauty queen." But Arnold was

not a typical muscle man. He was a man with dreams and

goals, and he achieved them to become a very wealthy

businessman, and also one of the highest paid movie stars.

Success in the movies did not make him complacent. He

set new goals for himself. He said, "I wanted to conquer the

business world. I wanted to build real estate empires. I

wanted to build restaurant chains. I can tell you that on the

way to achieving my dreams, moving up and turning those

visions into reality, I had the most wonderful time, the most

incredible experiences, and the greatest joy that you can

imagine." As his successes mounted, he also added to his

high priority goals service to the community.

In an article in Personal Excellence, he commented: "I

consider my biggest accomplishments to be those things I

have done for the community. The most wonderful thing

you can experience is to give back to the community. I

love the feeling that I get each time I travel around the

country to promote health and fitness for our youth. I love

going to the inner cities and touching those kids, having an

effect on those kids, and inspiring them to get off the streets

and to get away from the violence and crime, and to say

no to drugs, no to guns, no to gangs, and say yes to

education, yes to hope, yes to life. I love the feeling I have

when I help the special Olympians. My greatest joy are not

to conquer Hollywood, not to do big movies, not to build

my estate, but to put time and effort back into the

community. A person's life is judged by how it touches the

lives of others. It is what we leave behind, and how much

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positive effect we have on a community, how much we

help others, especial y those who can't help themselves. To

have great joy, you always have to fol ow the philosophy of

the strong helping the weak, the rich helping the poor, and

the fortunate helping the less fortunate."

Here are some tips to learn from Arnold Schwarzenegger:

**1.** In setting goals, you are not limited to only one area.

**2.** Learn from your success, and transfer this

knowledge to other aspects of your life.

**3.** Do not be discouraged by criticism.

**4.** If you have a dream and set your mind to make

your dream a reality, you are on the first ring of the

ladder to success.

**5.** Visualize where you want to be, what kind of person

you want to become. Know exactly where you

want to go, and focus on getting there.

**6.** Set goals in line with your potentials and work to

meet that goal, then set and work toward higher

goals.

**7.** If you can't do it alone attract good workers and

encourage them to grow and develop with you.

**8.** Don't let early defeats keep you from working to

reach your goals.

**9.** Even in a highly competitive world, if you provide

quality, people will buy into it.

**10.** When circumstances change, you must change.

**11.** Make goal setting an integral part of your life.

__

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Set goals that are not so easy and also not so difficult so

that they won't stretch you to the breaking point. But aim

high. Aim for the moon, and even if you miss you'l still be

counted among the stars. Goals that are hard to meet are

usually goals that can project you into the environment of

success.

Some people don't achieve their goal or live their dream

because they are too busy giving excuses. Some folks will

say it is because of their family background – the way their

parents treated them, or because of the lack of

opportunities that they experienced, or because of their

education – probably the course they studied in school or

their degree level, or because they're too old, or because

they're too young. Al of these excuses are nothing but poor

belief system. And they are not only limiting and

destructive, they kill dreams. Instead of complaining and

giving excuses, ask yourself these questions:

**1.** What do I really want to do with my life?

**2.** If I have $250,000 to live for only 5years what will I do

differently?

**3.** If I have all the necessary requirements (no

limitations) for success, what will I do with them?

**4.** If I am to live forever, what will I live for?

These questions will move you to set goals. Mind you, if you

don't set goals for your development, you are already

setting goals for failure and to settling for less.

Buy a notebook and write in it goals you want to achieve

within the next day, week, month and year. Constantly

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write your goals everyday without going back to the

previous ones. Monitor them, watch how they grow,

develop and change them over time. Define your goals.

Most people never reach their goals because they don't

define them, or never seriously consider them as believable

or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going,

what they plan to do along the way, and who will be

sharing the adventure with them.

The discipline of goal setting has transformed the lives of so

many far faster than they had ever imagined. Also, when

setting any goal, you must make sure they synchronize with

your personal powers. Because if you set goals that are not

aligned with your potentials, you'll end up being busy,

stressed up, but not necessarily productive, or you might

even accomplish a great deal but you won't feel any sense

of fulfillment in the things achieved. So to avoid that:

**5.** Take time to organize your governing values in their

order of importance. Once you've identified them,

the next step is to:

**6.** Prioritize them in their order of importance. If you

don't rank your values, you may unintentionally

spend time on something of low value at the

expense of something of immense importance.

Generally speaking, your career is the area in which most of

your time should be invested. Thus, if you fol ow a career

choice which is not in line with your potentials, you will also

be stressed, unfulfilled and may not be productive. This

frustration can accumulate over the years, and this can

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cause you to have a major meltdown at critical times. Set

goals that synchronize with God's purpose for your life so

that you won't pull and tug your way through life. Set it

high, and don't stop til you get there.

After setting your goals, try asking yourself:

**7.** What knowledge and skills will I need to achieve

these goals?

**8.** How will I acquire that level of knowledge and skill?

**9.** What must I do now to set out on this path?

_**Aim for the moon, and even if you miss you'll still**_

_**be counted among the stars.**_

This will require you the next process.....

****

****

****

****

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**25**

****

**PLAN YOUR WAY THROUGH LIFE**

Daily planning is another way to vast improvement. It is an

act of deciding in advance what should be done, why it

should be done, where it should be done, when it should be

done, who should do it and how it should be done. By

knowing where you are going and how you want to get

there, you will focus your time, energy, resources, emotion,

and start on the right track towards reaching those goals.

Like they say, "A life well lived is a life well planned." From

research, it has been discovered that every minute spent in

planning saves ten minutes in execution. The more you

plan, the better are your chances of reaching your goals,

make good use of your time, and the more you'l grow and

accomplish.

Do not be ignorant of the fact that, "He who fails to plan is

planning to fail." It isn't enough just to set goals or probably

want something. You've got to ask yourself, "What am I

going to do to get the things that I want?" This will require

you to plan. Your challenge is to bridge the gap which

exists between where you are right now and the goals that

you want to reach. With a definite, step by step plan, you

cannot fail, because each step will carry you along to the

next step, like a track. Al you need is the plan, the road

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map, and the courage to press on until you get to your

destination.

Come to think of it, why dream when you cannot convert

your dreams to goals, and why set goals when there are no

plans on how to reach those goals? Plan your life well,

prepare and possess what is rightful y yours in the universe.

Plan effectively on how you can use your powers the right

way in order not to use the right tool to produce wrong

results. Abraham Lincoln asserted, "Give me six hours to

chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening

the axe." Antoine de Saint-Exupery echoed, "A goal

without a plan is just a wish." If you will just take 10-20

minutes everyday to plan your day, everyone you know will

be surprised at how much you are able to achieve with

your life. If you can employ study, thinking and planning

time daily, you will develop faster and use the power that

will change the course of your destiny.

Stop giving excuses for failing to plan. You might say; "I

have no time to plan, I already know what I need to do, I

have too many interruptions, I feel tied down with long to

do lists, or I don't know how to plan effectively." But the

truth stil remains that there is no one person on earth who

cannot find 15minutes a day to sit down and plan out his or

her next day. The more time we spend on planning a

project, the less the total time required for it. But what do

most people do? They spend very little or no time on

planning, and spend more or all the time trying to execute,

and they end up producing results that are not effective.

The success of any project will depend critically upon the

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effort, care and skill you apply in the initial planning. More

time should be spent on planning. Don't let today's busy

work shove planning time out of your schedule. __

__

How do you plan? To plan:

**1.** First, find a place where you wouldn't be interrupted.

**2.** Review your objectives.

**3.** Be realistic.

**4.** Set specific daily goals for tasks.

**5.** Tray and anticipate any obstacles that wil come up.

**6.** Prioritize your daily tasks.

You can use planning diaries or whatever thing you know

that suits your personal style. Also, you must make sure your

daily planning reflects on two things:

**1.** Your highest priorities.

**2.** What you value the most of these priorities.

You can further refine and improve your daily planning

session by creating a meaningful prioritized daily task list by:

**3.** Making a list of everything you would like to

accomplish that day, including tasks that are not

urgent.

**4.** Assign a value to each item on the list with an 'A' for

something vital, a 'B' for something important and a

'C' for something relatively trivial.

**5.** Give a numerical value to each item on your A-list.

Then do the same for your B-list and C-list.

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Now you have a prioritized list that specifies which tasks are

worth finishing first. You can then focus on your A-1 until

that's achieved and then move on to your A-2 and so on.

However, these planning are simply enhancers. The

greatest single gain in improvement and productivity will

come from working according to your plan each day you

plan regardless of the exact accessories used.

Working without a plan is as foolish as going to a sea withou

t a compass. A ship with broken rudder may keep a full hea

d of steam, but never reach any port, unless by accident; a

nd if it does find a haven, its cargo may not be suited to the

people, the climate, or the conditions. The ship must be dir

ected to a definite port for which its cargo is adapted, and

where there is a demand for it. It must aim steadily for that

port through sunshine and storm, through tempest and fog.

If you would succeed, you must not drift about regardless of

the ocean of life. You must not only steer straight toward yo

ur destined port when the ocean is smooth, when the curre

nts and winds serve, but you must keep your course in the v

ery teeth of the wind and tempest, and even when envelo

ped in the fogs of disappointment and mists of opposition.

_****_

_**Working without a plan is as foolish as going**_

_**to a sea without a compass.**_

It is indeed of a great importance to careful y examine

whatever is your potentials and start planning on how to

develop them in order to bring about the reality you desire.

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Because personal growth is nothing but the process of

constantly improving the quality of whatever is your

potential. Now, for your planning to produce result, you

must learn how to.....

****

****

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**26**

****

**MAKE GOOD USE OF YOUR TIME**

Life and time are connected together as both of them are

precious and necessary for a person. If there is no time,

then life is nothing, and if life is not there then what is the

use of time. What we make out of our lives is determined by

what we do with our time and vice versa. Everything has its

time and there is time allocated to every living thing on

earth. To live the best of life will require you to make the

best use of your time.

The real objective of any successful time management is to

become more. The best perspective from which you can

accomplish it is to stop thinking of how you can 'manage

time' and instead think of how you can explore your

potentials by control ing events. Because some people get

so caught up trying to manage events over which they

have no control of, and in the process, they get

discouraged and become conditioned to accept less than

they could be. Some other people live their entire lives

thinking that at some unspecified time in the future, they're

going to have more time to do what real y counts. And as a

result, they end up not doing anything. While some others

will say they don't have enough time. Don't say you don't

have enough time. You have exactly the same number of

hours per day that was given to the great men and women

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you know today. Eric Thomas, the hip pop preacher,

repeatedly said, "You have 86,400 seconds in a day and

each one of them represents an opportunity to make your

dream become a reality."

The truth is there is no stage or time in life when people will

accept that there is enough time to do a great thing, but it

all depends on what you are doing with the one you have.

If you are waiting for a perfect time or perfect moment, you

may have to wait for the rest of your life. But all you need to

do is to create the perfect time or moment to work with

and make your dream become a reality.

What you'l become tomorrow is determined by what you

are doing with your time now. Procrastination can

deactivate potentials. People who dominated their world

started one day at a time by making the best use of their

time. There is actually time for everything but there's also no

time for nothing.

__

The real advantage of time management is that the

greater the amounts of control you have over those things

that are most important to you, the better are your chances

of success and personal development. Rather than thinking

of how you can manage time or get more time, instead ask

yourself these questions:

**1.** What are my highest priorities?

**2.** What do I value the most of these priorities?

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Once you have identified that, the issue then becomes

how to go about getting control of the events. Begin by

making a list of everything that you have to do. Organize

the list before starting work. Use the ABCDE method to set

your priorities as follows:

**3.** A – must do (serious consequences for non-

completion)

**4.** B – should do (mild consequences for non-

completion)

**5.** C – Nice to do (no consequences for non-

completion)

**6.** D – Delegate (everything you can to free up more

time)

**7.** E – Eliminate (everything you can to free up more

time).

Discipline yourself to concentrate on the 'A' task until it is

100% complete. And don't forget that time management is

an exercise of trying to spend the maximum amount of time

on those things that are most important rather than most

urgent, because there is a difference between something

that is vital and something that is urgent. An urgent task

demands immediate attention, but may not necessary be

very important. Some of the most important tasks in life are

never urgent, even though they are extremely vital. Other

tasks may never be important but wil appear urgent.

Identify your most vital activities (i.e. what will make you a

better person). Instill them with a sense of urgency so that

they can compete effectively with the numerous urgent but

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unimportant tasks that will come along everyday of your

life. Screen out every activity that will take away your time

without adding value to your life. Always have at the back

of your mind that time flies and you're the pilot.

The way you spend your time is a result of the way you see

your time and the way you real y see your priorities. If your

priorities grow out of a principle centre and a personal

mission, if they are deeply planted in your heart and in your

mind, you will see them as a natural, exciting place to

invest your time. Personal and professional success is

majorly determined by time usage. You get to decide

where your time goes. You can either spend it moving

forward, or you can spend it putting out fires. You decide

now!

Get your priorities straight. Spend your time, talents, and

resources with the people, activities or things that are

meaningful to you. Time is the only commodity that when

taken can never ever be gotten back. Be wise! Stop

wasting time on your cell phone chatting that is bringing

you nothing but a bill. Stop spending time with people that

are adding no value to your life, but al they do is gossip

about other people's progress or welfare. Stop investing

your time on things that are not fruitful but keep you from

moving towards your dreams. Time waits no man. Make the

best of it!

_****_

_**Always have at the back of your mind that**_

_**time flies and you're the pilot.**_

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Now you know the importance of time and how it is

connected to life. In order for improvement to occur

continually, you need to find the ideas that fuel infinite

development. To do this, you need to.....

****

****

****

****

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**27**

**LEARN HOW TO LEARN**

****

Everyone actually is supposed to be a learner. The day one

stops learning, one starts dying. Living life to its fullest will

require you to constantly learn. As Dr Carl Rogers has said,

"The only true educated person is the one who has learned

how to learn." Learning is a process of making new

associations in our minds and creating new meanings. It is a

critical means to an important end. It is the beginning of

wealth. It is the beginning of life change. It requires

dedication and consciousness. It takes time.

Every great result was produced from learning simple things.

Successful people have learned how to learn. They

understand the principles and techniques that enable them

to learn whatever is important to their development. They

learn not just to know more, but also to be more.

Picasso was sitting at a café enjoying the summer morning

sun one faithful day, when a lady came up to him and

asked him to sketch a portrait of her. "Oui Madam" he

replied, reaching for his drawing book. Within a matter of

minutes he had finished the rendition of his subject, and

turning the page to show her, scribbled his price for the

portrait on a napkin. She replied! "You must be crazy,

asking that much! It took you 3 minutes to draw my

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portrait!" "Yes Madam" Picasso replied in a slow drawl, "but

it took me 40years to learn how."

To earn more, you must learn more. You must consciously

and continuously learn. It is not enough for you to be good

at what you do; you must learn how to be the best at what

you do. You must work hard on your potentials as you do on

your work.

__

Here are some effective ways in which you can learn:

**1. Have a prepared mind**

Fortune sometimes happen unpredictable without

discerning human intension or observable cause. Such

accident tends to happen to those who deserve them.

Don't wait for them but learn how to watch out for them. As

Louis Pasteur, one of the founders of modern microbiology,

once said, "Where observation is concerned, chance

favors only the prepared mind." Having a prepared mind

will expose you to opportunities which can create an

environment for learning, growth and success.

**2. Be curious**

Curiosity is a characteristic of a vigorous intellect. It is the

'mind on tip toe.' It is the faculty that brings learning into

the hands of anyone that possesses it. The best in every

profession have a habit of curiosity that leads them to give

searching attention to what interest them. Develop the

desire to observe, listen or know more about anything that

comes across your way so that you can make application

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or contribution when needed. Don't forget, "To be ignorant

is like being an il iterate."

**3. Do research by reading**

Reading is an important way to learn. It exposes one to

various minds, experiences and ideas. It makes one see

opportunities before they become obvious. We live in a

world where people don't read the way they are supposed

to. We have more talkers, actors, doers, and less of people,

who read, meditate, listen and plan. Everyone is claiming

they know too much when in the real sense, they don't

know as they are supposed to or probably don't know at

all. Isn't it a way of grouping "bunch of fools?" In this

century, the future only belongs to those who see

opportunities before they become obvious; those who can

understand and prepare for it more thoroughly than others.

As they say, "Great people are readers," but being a

reader won't necessarily make you great, but great people

are committed to reading as a means of personal and

professional development. Develop the habit of reading

everyday at least 90 minutes on any subject, and read at

least 120min everyday in your field. This will help you grow

fast intellectually.

**4. Listen for ideas**

Have you ever asked yourself why God gave you two ears

and one mouth? Sure, it is not for decoration. God wants

you to listen more than you speak. But what do we see in

our daily lives? People speak more than they listen. Almost

everyone wants to speak, but only a few are willing to listen.

No wonder majority of people are suffering from lack of

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ideas. Your priority should always be to have a grasp of the

nature and significance of what is being said to you. Seek

to understand before trying to be understood. Listen in

order to get potentially relevant facts and information.

Never miss the chance to shut up. The word listen contains

the same letters as the word silent – when you are silent you

listen. It cost more to listen than to speak. Oliver Wendell

Holmes equipped, "It is the province of knowledge to speak

and the province of wisdom to listen." Listen to good CD's,

attend seminars and take courses given by experts in your

field. This will help you learn and develop. Give everyman

your ear but few your voice. Talk less, observe more and

listen more – this is the slogan of the wise.

**5. Ask good questions**

Always ask questions to elicit the full meaning of something.

Understanding comes before evaluation or calculation.

Question everyone you come in contact with hoping to

identify new ideas, useful information and best practices

that can add to your learning arsenal. Remember, "Quality

questions create quality life."

**6. Seek the truth**

Act on factual information rather than speculation and

conjecture. Conjecture can be very poisonous to growth.

Acting on the wrong information in form of rumor or hear-

say will diminish your capacity to develop. People will want

you to believe a lie because they want it to be true or they

are afraid it might be true. But the best always believe what

is true. Search the truth out for yourself. Be a seeker of truth

not of lies.

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**Think for yourself** Nature suggests models and principles of s

olving our problems if we can think and act on them. Don't

just take what someone else says. Think and ponder on it, c

heck if it makes you wonder, if it makes you think. But make

sure what you agree on is the product of your own conclusi

on, not someone's idea of what it should be. Take advice b

ut not orders. Don't let anybody order your life. Ask lots of q

uestions, but don't accept what you learn at face value. Kn

ow the importance of thinking for yourself. Ask yourself, "Wh

at are the implications for my career and life?" Challenge t

he source of information to see if you reach the same concl

usions.

**7. Study for the future**

Be futuristic. Learn to study for the future not the past. You

can learn for the future by identifying your limiting factors or

weaknesses, and your strongest assets or strengths. Then

develop your learning agenda around what you will need

to know to develop yourself and be successful.

**8. Pay attention to what's most important**

In learning, don't strive to know the most about anything;

but pay attention to the most important in the present and

nearest future so that you can be fast in learning. The future

belongs more to those who learn fastest, than to those who

learn the most.

**9. Keep a notebook or journal**

Keeping a notebook is more than a useful habit; it is an

important tool for a creative purpose. In the words of

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THE GREATER YOU

Francis Bacon equipped, "A man would do well to carry a

pencil in his pocket and write down the thoughts of the

moment. Those that come unsought are commonly the

most valuable and should be secured because they

seldom return." The purpose of writing down a quotation or

passage, fact or information, is to meditate on it and to

appropriate it personally so that it can grow into being a

part of you, not to abandon it somewhere after writing

without going back to it like what most people do.

**10. Design your own learning curriculum**

Decide what you'll learn and how it will cost you. Design

your own reading plan. Draw a scale of preference on how

you'll learn each day. Have your own learning agenda. This

will help you grow. An idea can save you years of hard

work. With additional knowledge and skills, you can apply

them to get better results. Work and invest on yourself

because your future depends on it. And don't forget that

the future arrives everyday and it is your responsibility to live

the best of life.

_****_

_**Every great result was produced from**_

_**learning simple things.**_

Now that you have been equipped on how to get the

ideas that fuel infinite development, you consistently need

to regulate your behavior so that the equilibrium of life wil

shift to the side of your success. This will require you to

absolutely......

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**28**

****

**DISCIPLINE YOURSELF**

Without discipline there is no life at all. A man without

discipline is without honor. With self-discipline anything is

possible. It is the most important single quality you can

develop for great personal achievements. Your ability to

develop this quality will contribute more to your

development than any other character. Thomas Kempis

said, "He who lives without discipline is exposed to grievous

ruin." Scott Peck added, "Discipline is the basic set of tools

we require to solve life's problems. Without discipline we

can solve nothing. With only some discipline we can solve

only some problems. With total discipline we can solve all

problems." To advance from your current state of living to

your desired state requires absolute self-discipline.

To be disciplined means to be self-controlled. It is a set of

rules regulating behavior. Self-discipline means self-mastery

– the act of training and taking complete control of one's

self. Elbert Hubbard defined it as, "The ability to make

yourself do what you should do, when you should do it,

whether you feel like it or not." It is the quality that enables

one to persist in adversity, disappointment and temporal

defeat that are absolutely indispensable for the

achievement of any great success.

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Lack of discipline is the reason men who possesses "Stores

of knowledge" fail in everything they do. It is also the reason

people give up early on their journey to success. It takes

discipline to set goals, plan your work and then work your

plan. It enables a person to persist through difficult times. No

doubt, lack of discipline is the reason people don't reach

their goals. In the words of Robert Wil iam, "Discipline is the

difference between what we want to be and what we

actually become."

Self-discipline is a habit anyone can develop with consistent

practice. Sometimes you can learn the habit faster, and

sometimes it will take longer. It all depends on your

determination. The result for this practice is immediate and

profiting. Whenever you discipline yourself to do the right

thing, whether you feel like it or not, you will like and respect

yourself more. Your self-esteem wil increase. Your self-

image wil improve. You will actual y produce a positive

result every time you 'hold your feet to the fire.'

Doing some research, I came across an amazing story:

There was a disciplined Philosopher who was reputed to

hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance

met the great Philosopher and said, "Do you know what I

just heard about your friend?" "Hold on a minute," the

Philosopher replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you

to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test." "Triple

filter?" "That's right," The Philosopher continued. "Before

you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to

take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's

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why I cal it the triple filter test." "The first filter is Truth. Have

you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell

me is true?" "No," the man said, "Actually I just heard about

it and..." "Al right," said the Philosopher. "So you don't

really know if it's true or not." "Now let's try the second filter,

the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me

about my friend something good?" No, on the contrary..."

"So," The Philosopher continued, "You want to tell me

something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true."

"You may stil pass the test though, because there's one

filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me

about my friend going to be useful to me?" "No, not

really..." "Well," concluded the Philosopher, "If what you

want to tel me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why

tell it to me at all?"

__

Every aspect of our lives requires discipline, in our words,

actions, style of life, whether spiritual, psychological,

emotional, physical, moral or financial. You need to

consistently practice self-discipline if you want to develop.

****

**MAJOR AREAS YOU NEED TO DISCIPLINE YOURSELF**

****

**SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE**

****

Spiritual discipline entails spiritual exercise and proper

spiritual feeding. These are exercises done or proper spiritual

foods taken to develop spiritually. Just as our physical body

needs exercise and proper feeding to stay fit, sound and

healthy in order to be active, so also does our spiritual life.

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The need for spiritual discipline is to aid development in

every other area of our lives. It is how we are spiritually that

actually determines the state of our mind. Within our mind

are all of the resources needed for successful living. Our

actions are a product of our thoughts, and our thoughts are

a product of the state of our mind. As God's word

commands, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your

mind." Ultimately, that's where personal greatness begins –

the mind. One importance of spiritual discipline is to

stimulate creative ideas. Be careful of what goes into your

mind because that's what determines your thoughts. A wise

man once advised, "Careful y watch your thoughts, for they

become your words. Manage and watch your words, for

they will become your actions. Consider and judge your

actions, for they have become your habits. Acknowledge

and watch your habits, for they shall become your values.

Understand and embrace your values, for they become

your destiny."

God wants us to continuously grow spiritual y by constantly

feeding our minds. It is only when there is a transformation in

our minds that every other areas of our lives wil be

affected. The actions people take to produce the result

they experience is as a result of the state of their mind.

People who lived responsibly were healthy spiritually.

People who produced positive and fantastic results were

organized spiritual y. People who transformed and

dominated their world were matured spiritually. When a

man is spiritually matured, he is most likely going to be

psychologically coordinated, emotionally balanced and

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physically organized, and the world around him will begin

to move.

To improve the quality of whatever your potential is will

require you to discipline yourself spiritual y. As Enoch

Adeboye said, "When people are around, be on your

guard. But when no one is around, increase your spiritual

vigilance."

Here are effective ways to discipline yourself spiritually:

**1. Create and spend time studying God's word**

God's word is the key to a well developed, successful and

a fulfilled life. It is where we get instructions to live the kind

of life God wants us to live. God's word is God instructing us.

It is our spiritual food. As stated in scriptures, "As newborn

babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may

grow thereby." Just as we need good food to stay alive

and healthy, so also is the word of God to our spirit. Our

spirit needs it to stay alive and grow healthy. When God's

word comes into the heart, it illuminates you. The key to

good success comes from constant study, meditating and

acting on His word. Don't just read it like you're reading a

novel, study it, meditate on it and live it. It is the hearer and

doer that is blessed not the hearer alone. Create at least

45mins to study God's word every day. Include it in your

daily planning and goal setting, and don't forget that the

growth and benefit wil only radiate in you if you act on it.

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**2. Pray always**

The only way to reach out and connect to God in our spirit

is through prayer. Prayer is a spiritual exercise. It is a way to

get God's power released into our lives. It is the only key

that can open all locked doors. Seven days without

effective prayer makes one weak. Prayer may not solve all

your problems, but it gives you strength to deal with them. It

invites God to let His presence suffuse your spirit, to let His

will prevail in your life. In the words of Swett Marden, "Prayer

cannot bring water to parched fields, or mend a broken

bridge, or rebuild a ruined city, but prayer can water a soul,

mend a broken heart, and rebuild a weakened will." Men

ought always to pray and not to faint. A prayer less person

is a power less person. There is much power in prayer even

the devil knows that. And that is the major weapon he is

most afraid of, and he will do anything to reduce this

faculty in man. But do not be a victim. Prayer can change

things, protect, save and heal. Prayer can release you from

the bond of failure and demonic manipulations. Discipline

yourself to pray at least 3 times daily. Pray continuously to

stay strong in your spirit.

Here are ten suggestions to help you make prayer an

effective part of your life:

**3.** Pray each day when you arise.

**4.** Pray before starting a new project.

**5.** Talk to God in your own way.

**6.** When you complete a task, thank God for its

success.

**7.** Pray with the belief that sincere prayers can help

you, your loved ones, and all those for whom you

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pray.

**8.** Always express your willingness to accept God's will.

**9.** Accept that God alone can do your work for you.

**10.** Pray for others: friends, family, strangers, and even

enemies.

**11.** When retiring at night, pray again to thank God for

bringing you safely through the day and giving you

the health, the talent, the power, the motivation to

accomplish your day's work.

**12.** And finally, pray as if everything depended on God;

act as if everything depended on you.

Don't forget the words of A.J Gordon, "You can do more

than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more

than pray until you have prayed." Frequent kneeling to

pray will keep you in good standing with God. Don't miss

the shot!

**13. Learn to fast**

Fasting is a very powerful spiritual exercise. It is the most

powerful spiritual discipline. It is a way of depriving the flesh

of its needs in order to aid spiritual growth. Fasting is done

not to change or move God but to aid our spiritual growth

and to put ourselves in a state where we can hear God or

relate with Him. The level of our relationship with God is

determined by the level of our spirituality. Through fasting

and prayer, your life can be energized. Fasting and prayer

can also bring about a change in the state of your life,

family, country and the fulfillment of the great commission.

It is very important to fast at least once a week.

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Note – all these spiritual discipline are intended to make

you grow and develop spiritually and also to improve and

develop every other aspects of your life. Remember,

"Before we can change our outer world, we must first

change our inner world."

**THINKING DISCIPLINE (PSYCHOLOGICAL)**

This aspect of discipline requires the use of the brain in

processing, connecting and building bridges of ideas. I've

discovered that one of the things some people find very

difficult to do is to think. Most people take action before

they even think about it. That's the major reason why so

many people make lots of mistakes and end up regretting

them. Thinking is nothing but asking and answering

questions to create a sense of certainty. It is a discipline we

all need to develop if we must grow. Nature suggests

models and principles for the solutions to our problems if we

can think and act on them.

An old proverb says, "Stop for a second, think for a minute,

before acting." Think through critical problems in your life.

Sit quietly for twenty minutes in the morning to think (just

before you leave for work) and ten minutes every evening

(just before you go to bed).

In the morning, ask yourself these questions:

**1.** What am I happy about in my life now?

**2.** What am I excited about in my life now?

**3.** What am I grateful for in my life now?

**4.** What am I proud of in my life now?

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**5.** What am I committed to in my life right now?

**6.** Who do I love? Who loves me?

In the evening, ask yourself:

**7.** What have I given today?

**8.** What did I learn today?

**9.** How has today added to the quality of my life?

**10.** How can I use today as an investment for my future?

These questions are called, "The morning and evening

power questions." They will help you think and examine your

life properly to know if you are developing or not. They are

designed to make you experience more happiness,

excitement, gratitude, joy, commitment, and love everyday

of your life. Remember, quality questions create a quality

life.

Practice solitude regularly not just in the morning and

evening alone. The primary use of education is to aid us in

thinking. Always go into the silence, put aside every

unbroken chunks of time. Do not be so quick to take action.

Fast people's decisions are usually wrong people's

decisions. Whenever you practice solitude, you re-create

your conscious mind and trigger your intuition. You'll get it

right from the still small voice called 'the voice of truth.' The

more you think about your experience, the more vital

lessons you will gain from them, and the more you'll grow.

**COURAGE DISCIPLINE (MORAL)**

****

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People are made of flesh, blood and a miracle fiber called

courage. Courage is an in-depth force of every human

being. It is something we can develop if we discipline

ourselves.

From research, it has been discovered that the greatest

challenge that man will ever face in life is the conquest of

fear and development of the habit of courage. As Winston

Churchill once wrote, "Courage is rightly considered the

foremost of virtues, for upon it, all others depend." Rol o

May, author of 'The Courage to Create,' added, "The word

courage comes from the same stem as the French word

Coeur, meaning "Heart." Thus, just as one's heart, by

pumping blood to one's arms, legs, and brain enables all

the other physical organs to function, so courage makes

possible all the psychological virtues. Without courage other

virtues wither away into mere facsimiles of virtue."

By definition, courage means the quality of a confident

character not to be afraid. It also means 'a strong desire to

live taking the form of readiness to die.' Courage requires

that you make yourself to do what you should do, that you

deal with your fears rather than avoiding them. When we

develop the habit of courage, a new world of possibilities

will automatically be open to us. Imagine: if you are not

afraid of anything in the world, what would you dare to

dream, do or become?

The biggest obstacle in life has always being the fear of

failure, expressed in the feeling that, 'I can't do it.' Franklin

D. Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear

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itself." Fear depresses, suppresses and strangles. It makes

people hesitate, become indecisive, procrastinate, make

excuses and find reasons not to move ahead. It kills dreams,

hope and can put people in the hospital. If it be indulged

in, it wil change a positive, creative mental attitude into a

non-productive negative one and this is fatal to

development and achievement.

Courage is a habit you can develop by practicing courage

whenever it is required. To develop courage, learn to feed

your love and passion. The more passion grows, the less fear

develops. An old man said to his grandson, "Boy, I have two

tigers caged within me. One is love and compassion. The

other is fear and anger." The young boy asked, "Which one

will win, grandfather?" The old man replied, "The one I

feed." I'm not saying that fear doesn't exist in humans. As a

matter of fact, even all intelligent people are afraid of

something, but the courageous person is not a person who

is unafraid but the person who is resistance to fear. Mark

Twain said, "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear

not absence of fear." The big question is not whether or not

you are afraid because we all at some point are afraid. The

question is how to deal with fear? Simply, by being

courageous – going forward in spite of the fear.

Make a habit of confronting your fears rather than avoiding

them. When you confront your fear and move towards it, n

o matter the situation, the fear gets smaller and you'l beco

me braver, your self-esteem increases, as bravery is the only

one who knows you are afraid. The simple word to say to d

evelop courage is, "I can do it." Identify your fear and disci

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pline yourself to deal with it by building up courage.

The master of fear and the development of courage are

essential prerequisites for a developed, happy, successful

and productive life.

**PERSISTENCE DISCIPLINE (MORAL)**

****

The greatest self-discipline is when you persist in the face of

adversity, and you drive yourself to complete your tasks no

matter how you feel. Courage has two parts, "The first part

is to begin, the second part is the courage of endurance to

persist, when you feel discouraged and want to quit."

Persistence is the fundamental difference between a

successful outcome and a failed outcome. Isn't it

persistence that made Helen Keller, who despite being

deaf and blind from the age of 19months, wrote 12 books,

various articles and was the first blind person to receive a

Bachelor of Arts degree? What do you think would have led

Ludwig Van Beethoven to impact the world, despite his

condition, if not for the fact that he was persistent? He

became deaf at the age of 30 and composed most of his

beloved works after he lost his hearing. Napoleon Hill

penned, "Persistence is to the character of man or woman

as carbon is to steal." You actually make yourself better by

persisting when you feel like quitting (irrespective of your

condition).

Persistence means an act of obstinately refusing to give up

or let go. It is a firm or obstinate continuance in a course of

action in spite of difficulty or opposition. Your persistence is

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the measure of your faith in God, belief in yourself, and in

what you are doing. The more you believe in what you are

doing, the more you will persist. The more you persist, the

more you will tend to believe more in yourself and what you

are doing and the more you'l grow and achieve.

Persistence is actually self-discipline in action. Self-discipline

leads to self-esteem – a great sense of personal power,

which leads to greater persistence, which then leads to

even greater self-discipline in an upward spiral.

Here is a powerful quote by Calvin Coolidge which aptly

sums up the quality of persistence, "Nothing in the world

can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is

more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius

will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education

will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence

and determination alone are omnipotent."

The slogan "Press On" has solved and always will solve the

problems of the human race.

**INVESTING AND SAVING DISCIPLINE (FINANCIAL)**

Avoid going into dept and become financially

independent. Your goal in this area is to develop and

achieve financial independence. This will require you

persistent financial discipline with every of your earnings.

You need to learn how to save more, invest better and

search for answers that make sense. Don't be so fast in

spending all that you earn. The key to financial

independence is, "Spend less than you earn and invest the

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difference." Peradventure, if your money is not enough for

the investment, then learn how to save at least 20% of your

income and discipline yourself to live on the balance.

Replace your thinking from 'I enjoy spending' to 'I enjoy

saving.' Instead of spending more, save more. Read books

on financial intel igence. Educate yourself on how to save

and invest money. No one is too big or too small to invest.

But make sure you do a proper investigation before

investing to avoid loss.

There are lots of people just like you who managed to

accumulate great sum because they discipline themselves

financially. First Oseola McCarty, the most impressive

example of how someone can do with very little. She

worked doing other people's laundry and never earned

more than $9,000 in a year. Yet she managed to save more

than a quarter of a million dol ars. Another financial hero is

Genesio Morlacci, a dry cleaner who became a part-time

janitor in retirement; he died at age 102, leaving $2.3 million

to a local university. He had only a third-grade education,

but was good with numbers. He invested in real estate,

bonds and some stocks. Investment success comes from

avoiding mistakes. Learn to invest enough much time in

studying the investment as you invested to earn the money

in the first place.

The primary essence of saving and investing is to grow

financially, respond positively, and provide answers to

problems. Remember, money answers all things. If you

can't save money and become financially independent,

the seeds of greatness are not in you.

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**HEALTH HABITS DISCIPLINE (PHYSICAL)**

Good health is the greatest gift anyone could ever get. It is

health that is wealth not pieces of gold and silver. To count

a man's wealth, you must first know the state of his

conscience and health. Arien Specter, the author of

'Never Give in,' said, "There's nothing more important than

our good health – that's our principal capital asset." Even if

you discover your purpose or potentials without the energy

and vitality to develop and use them, they are of no use.

It's funny how some people spend time taking care of their

spiritual being without taking proper care of their mental

and physical being. They fail to realize that one cannot do

without the other in this world. The spirit, soul and body

makes up the man. Three of them make life in this world.

They need to be taking proper care of in order for

productivity to occur. For maximum productivity, a man is

supposed to develop his spirit, mind or brain (soul) and his

body. The spirit is developed through fellowship with God;

the mind is developed through mental processing of ideas;

the body is developed through bodily exercise and proper

diet. Your goal should be to live to 100% in superb physical

health just as it is in the spiritual and mental. The author and

business person, P.T. Barnum equipped, "The foundation of

success in life is good health: that is the substratum fortune;

it is also the basis of happiness. A person cannot

accumulate a fortune very well when he is sick."

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The key to good health can be summarized in just seven

words, "Eat proper balanced diet and exercise more."

Develop the discipline of exercising everyday, even if all

you do is go for a walk. To enjoy the glow of good health,

you must exercise. Exercise is best done in the morning

before you have time to think about it. If you do this for a

month, it will become part of your regular routine for the

rest of your life. In addition, eat more fruits, vegetables and

lighter foods. Take more water. Get regular medical

checkups. Discipline yourself on having excellent health

habits.

With robust health and a strong determination you can

accomplish wonderful things; but no matter how much

ambition you have, if you ruin your health by bad habits –

by leading an abnormal or irregular life – you cut off your

greatest chance for accomplishing anything great.

Begin today to practice self-discipline in every area of your

life. Remember, "Without discipline there is no life at al ."

Every aspect of life requires discipline to develop and be

fruitful. Persist in this practice until self-discipline comes to

you automatically as easy as breathing in and out. I assure

you that you shall develop endlessly and become

great......

In conclusion, making your mark in life will require you to

continuously develop your potentials. Always feed and live

on something stronger to help bring out the strength in you.

Always get involved in something big enough no matter

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when you overcome it. Practice serendipity. Until you give

yourself to some great course, you haven't really started

living. Development entails feeding on and doing things

that will develop success.

Start developing your potentials because your future depen

ds on it! ****

_****_

_**He who lives without discipline is**_

_**exposed to grievous ruin.**_

_****_

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## PART 5

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**ENERGY BARRIERS**

****

_**Real success is only developed when**_

_**energy barriers are overcome.**_

_**11. Newton King**_

_****_

It is often said that everyone have weaknesses, but there

are some barriers that block the way to success. These

barriers are called the 'energy barriers or limiting factors.'

They inhibit success and drains energy. They prevent us from

discovering, awaking, developing and harnessing the

creative potential God has placed in us. One way to

overcome these barriers or constraints is to begin by

identifying them. This part of the book contains some major

barriers limiting success development that you can

overcome. Do an audit to determine what barriers,

obstacles or constraints are preventing you from becoming

the person that you are designed to be and try to surpass

them.

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**29**

****

**SIN**

****

Sin is nothing more than violating God's principles, hurting

ourselves and others. It is a major hindrance to divine

rejuvenation. God hates sin so much that he sometimes

rebukes the sinner. The devil is the founding father of sin. He

is a perfect description of total and absolute darkness. For it

is written, "For every one that lives in sin hates light." God is

light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Working in the

light means living life according to divine principles, and be

free from sin. For the wages of sin is death.

So many people today are finding it very difficult to be

successful despite their hard work. They have done all they

can, and given all they have to make sure things work out

well for them. But it seems the reverse is the case. This is so

because they still struggle with one particular sin or the

other. They don't love God as they claim. What does it

mean to love God? To love God means to live life

according to divine principles, this is to live a righteous and

purposeful life. It is vital for you to know that without

confessing your sins, turning away from them, and giving

yourself total y to God's light, it will be difficult to be a light

to the world.

From the laws of physics, a bulb only produces light when

there is a current passing through its wires. It's like this – we

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are the wire, God is the current, and our potential is the

bulb. Our work is to let the current pass through us so that

our bulb will be illuminated. We can only do this by

submitting completely to His light. And His light is His word

given to us to guide our path. One way to keep yourself far

from sin is by constantly feeding on God's word. God's

word will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from God's

word. When you feed on God's word regularly, you'll

experience spiritual growth continuously, and you'l find it

much more difficult to fall to sin. The word of God will

strengthen you to overcome sin and show you the right

path to follow. Other ways to keep yourself far from sin is to

get involved in godly activities, read godly books, listen to

godly music and messages, and keep godly company and

relationships. If you want to live a fulfilled life, you must

completely eliminate any form of sin from your life. If you

mistakenly commit any sin, ask for God's forgiveness and

turn away from it. In that way, God in His infinite mercy will

forgive you and help you through the journey of life. No one

is perfect, but His grace is sufficient. There is no sin too big or

smal for God to forgive, but you will have to learn to forgive

others who offend you, so that God will also forgive all your

sins.

In another dimension, some sins have their own

consequences. Because a lot of us consciously commit sin

thinking if we ask for forgiveness, God in His infinite mercy

will forgive us. What most of us also fail to be aware of is the

fact that we might still have to face the consequences of

our sins under natural law even if God or the person you

hurt forgives you. A lot of people have lived a short, wasted

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and unfruitful life because they had to face the

consequences of their sins. There is always a prize to pay for

any harm done because you won't just be hurting others,

but you will also be hurting yourself as well. So it is better you

discipline yourself to avoid sin than to face the pain, shame

and disgrace of its consequences.

There was once a little boy who had a bad temper. His

father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time

he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the bark of

the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the

fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his

anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually

dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his

temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally, a

day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at al . He

told his father about it and the father suggested that the

boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to

hold his temper. The days passed, and the young boy was

finally able to tell his father that al the nails were gone. The

father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.

He said, "You've done well, my son, but look at the holes in

the fence, the fence will never be the same. When you say

things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can

put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how

many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is stil there and a

verbal wound is just as bad as a physical one."

Scan your life and see if you are living a sin free life. If you

are not, repent and turn away from your sins. It is only a life

that is sin free that will have a place in God's kingdom. I

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encourage you to avoid the devil by avoiding all forms of

sin so that you can dominate here on earth and have a

place in God's kingdom.

_****_

__

__

_God's word will keep you from sin or sin_

_will keep you from God's word._

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**30**

****

**LACK OF TRUE KNOWLEDGE**

True knowledge is love, light and vision. It is the key to a

fruitful, successful and fulfilled life. It literally means the sum

of what is known. It is a theoretical or practical

understanding of a subject. It is the source of every creative

accomplishment. Lack of true knowledge hinders spiritual y,

psychologically, emotionally and physically. It makes one

powerless. It places one in the danger of mediocrity and

poverty. For it is written, "My people are destroyed for lack

of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will

also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seing

thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy

children."

The difference between genuine successful people and

others is not lack of strength, but lack of true knowledge.

Without proper understanding of life and how you are

supposed to live, you cannot produce fantastic results,

despite working very hard. In order words, if the information

or knowledge you are exposed to is not the truth about

how you are supposed to live the kind of life God wants,

instead of you to prosper, you'll end up decreasing in life

content. Many people are in bondage today because they

are exposed to the wrong information. There are false

teachers, preachers, so called motivational speakers, books

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and tapes everywhere that can make us do the wrong

thing if we are not careful enough.

Almost everyone I meet is curious about being successful.

Success is being talked about everywhere and it is in the

mind of the people. Unfortunately, it is not everyone that is

successful or will be successful (although we all are born to

succeed). It's only those who know the divine principles of

success and are willing to work hard to claim their birth

rights will be successful. We are living in an information age

where new ideas and concepts change the world daily.

Only those with the right information dominate their world.

Today, the largest source of power is derived from

specialized knowledge.

Lack of knowledge of God's purpose, will and promises for

our lives can hinder our development. You need not just to

know about anything unknown but also to always inquire

the truth about anything. And the truth can be best found

in God's word. Beware of people spreading false

knowledge. If you are not careful enough, you might stick

to their wrong information and walk on the wrong path.

Know God's word concerning your life. David inquired of

the Lord and he was richly blessed. Fear God and obey his

commandment because that's where the source of all

knowledge is. The wisest king the world has ever known,

king Solomon wrote, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning

of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

Don't be a fool.

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Most of the time what causes lack of knowledge in

people's life is the fact that some people think they know it

all. They think there's nothing new to know about something

they've already known. But that's not true. Knowledge is

the bridge of life. Knowledge is linked. You can acquire

new knowledge of something from another thing. I believe

Thomas Jefferson when he said, "He who knows nothing is

closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with

falsehoods and errors." When you know a thing, to hold not

that you know it all is knowledge. Also, when you do not

know a thing, to al ow you do not know it is also knowledge.

_****_

_**The difference between genuine successful people**_

_**and others is not lack of strength, but**_

_**lack of true knowledge.**_

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**31**

****

**COMPLACENCY**

****

It has been said that what kills passion most is self-

satisfaction, which is, having a feeling of fulfillment of a

need or desire. When this feeling comes into the mind, it

stops the flow of energy within its circles and hinders self

motivation to take action. This feeling of self-satisfaction,

especial y when one is unaware of upcoming trouble is

called Complacency. It breads failure. When you feel

satisfied with an achievement and think you have arrived,

the desire to develop and achieve more wil not be in you

anymore.

Familiarity breeds complacency. As Timothy White has said,

"You need to have a redesign because familiarity breeds a

kind of complacency." Sometimes when we get too

familiar with our every day life whether it is with our families,

friends, or our place of work, we sometimes become

complacent. When we are in this mode, we always expect

things to remain the same, never realizing that life is

dynamic not static. When there is a change, we often find

ourselves feeling like something or someone is trying to

make our lives more difficult than they are supposed to be.

But the only thing absolutely certain in our world is change.

So start implementing your own positive change before

negative change finds you.

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Dare to grow. Dare to get out of your comfort zone. Don't

be complacent. Dare to be incredibly successful because

you are built to be and do more than you think you can.

Complacency can ruin your life. No matter the height

you've reached, there are stil better and higher heights to

reach. That is how God wants us to live; to continuously set

goals, develop and add values to the lives of many. Don't

be proud because you have reached a particular level of

success. It is said that a conceited person never gets

anywhere because he thinks he is already there. The reason

pride lifts you up is to let you down.

One way to avoid being complacent is to forget yourself

and focus on other people. The letter 'I' is in the middle of

pride, sin and anxiety. A self-centered man never grows; he

is a man that holds himself up as a self-made success,

measures himself by himself and is pleased with the results.

The man who lives for himself is a failure and lives in a very

small world. Don't think too much of yourself. Selfishness

always brings its own revenge. Try to cultivate the habit of

thinking of the needs of others; this will reward you.

Remember, the needs of others are never satisfied. The

more you improve and achieve, the more the needs of

others rise. By this you'll never be complacent. You'll have

an unending desire to become more and more and

more... Don't forget one of the great prizes of victory is the

opportunity to do more.

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****

****

_**The reason pride lifts you up is**_

_**to let you down.**_

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**32**

**UNDEVELOPED SKILLS**

A skill is a profession, facility, or dexterity that is acquired or

developed through training or experience. It is a learned

ability to carry out a task with predetermined results often

within a given period of time. Skills are very important for

success development. One of my objectives of writing this

book is to get you to develop your skills by practicing. Every

one has a specific skill, whether acquired, discovered or

developed, that is very useful, and naturally comes to him

than it would for another. He excels best in his niche. Be

wise to know your skills and develop them. Have enough

sense to know ahead of time when your skills wil not extend

'wall papering.' Take advantage of every opportunity to

practice your skills so that when important occasions arise,

you will have the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the

emotions to affect other people in a positive way.

In all works of life, there are different skills required for

different purposes. For success to be developed, some

basic skills must be acquired. Lack of or undeveloped skills

can hinder personal and professional success.

Here are five essential skills for success that everyone needs

to acquire:

**1.** Skill of Focus – concentration

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**2.** Skill of Organizing – organization

**3.** Skill of Creating – innovation

**4.** Skill of Communication – communication

**5.** Skill of Learning – learning.

Larry Bird once said, "A winner is someone who recognizes

his God given talents, works his tail off to develop them into

skills, and uses those skills to accomplish his goals."

Successful people make a living by expressing what others

can't through developed skills, while unsuccessful people

struggle for survival by expressing what others can through

undeveloped skills. Undeveloped skills explode! It deprives

us from growing into the fullness of our potentials.

So many people think being educated means having

developed skills. No, that's not true. Education only makes

visible what is hidden as a seed. It is training that develops

skills or abilities. Developing your skills requires testing your

skills towards some meaningful purpose. God requires that

we use our skills. Train yourself or attend training to develop

your skills. Without developing your skills there are no way

you'll be able to accomplish your mission here on earth.

_****_

_**Successful people make a living by expressing**_

_**what others can't through developed skills, while**_

_**unsuccessful people struggle for survival by expressing**_

_**what others can through undeveloped skills.**_

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**33**

****

**LACK OF COMMITMENT**

One reason so many people find it very difficult to improve

and be successful is as a result of not being steadfast and

committed to a particular course, they are just interested. It

takes commitment and relentless effort to overcome.

Without commitment there is no abiding success. The

quality of a person's life is a direct proportion to their

commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field

of endeavor. Commitment means being bound spiritually,

physically, emotionally or psychologically to a course of

action. It is an act, not a word.

There is a difference between being interested in

something, and being committed to it. Many times people

say things like, "I real y would like to be rich," or "I'd like to

be known for what I'm doing," or "I'd real y like to make a

difference in the world." But these are just mere statements

but not commitments at all. It's merely stating a preference,

saying, "I'm interested in having this happen, if I don't have

to do anything." That is a weak prayer made without even

the faith to launch it. Commitment denotes consistent

action. Productivity requires commitment. Productivity is

never an accident in any way, but it is always the result of a

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commitment to excellence, intelligent planning and

focused effort.

A lot of us make plans without being committed. Unless

commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes

but no plans. The only limit to our impact is our imagination

and commitment. Most times, the reason people are not

committed is because a spirit called discouragement has

attacked them. Discouragement is a spirit that attacks

people. It is the most dangerous feeling, because it is the

most insidious. It is capable of providing evidences why one

should give up. Generally looked upon as harmless, it is for

that very reason it is more sinister. For failure and success

are oftentimes separated by only the distance of that one

word – Discouragement.

There is an old-time fable that the devil once held a sale

and offered all the tools of his trade to anyone who would

pay their price. They were spread out on the table, each

one labeled – hatred, malice, envy, despair, sickness,

sensuality – all the weapons that everyone knows so well.

But off one side, apart from the rest, lay a harmless-looking,

wedge-shaped instrument marked "Discouragement." It

was old and worn looking, but it was priced far above all

the rest. When asked the reason, the devil replied,

"Because I can use this one so much more easily than the

others. No one knows that it belongs to me, so with it I can

open doors that are tight bolted against the others. Once I

get inside I can use any tool that suits me best."

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No one ever knows how small the margin between failure

and success is. Ask the Fords, the Edison's, ask any

successful man and he will tell you how narrow is the chasm

that separates failure from success, how surely it can be

bridged by perseverance and faith. Discouragement works

hand in hand with fear. Fear leads to discouragement and

vice-versa. Before fear hits you, you wil either hear or see

something. If you can watch what you see and hear, you

can overcome fear. To overcome discouragement, you

need to focus on God's promises towards you, and you will

overcome. Never let discouragement hold you back. Resist

the failure by resisting discouragement.

_****_

_****_

_**The only limit to our impact is our imagination**_

_**and commitment.**_

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**34**

****

**LAZINESS**

****

Laziness is like a disease. It can infect one. The result of the

infection is failure. Laziness is nothing more than the habit of

resting before you get tired or the habit of procrastinating. It

is also the habit of sleeping even when you are not

supposed to sleep. One major difference between the best

and others is that the best work more and sleep less, while

others work less and sleep more.

Laziness has deprived many of producing fantastic results

and developing success. It may appear enjoyable but it

kills. It deprives you of using time. "Know the true value of

time," Lord Chesterfield said, "Snatch, seize, and enjoy

every moment of it, no idleness, no laziness, and no

procrastination: never put off til tomorrow what you can do

today." __ Robert Half added, _"_ Laziness is a secret ingredient

that goes into failure. But it's only kept a secret from the

person who fails."

Laziness is not a personality disorder. It's just a habit. It isn't

something we're born with. It's a behavior we learn along

the journey of life. To become mentally tough, we need to

overcome such obstacle that can keep us from achieving

our goals. When you start the day by sleeping past the

alarm or cutting corners in the morning, you're more likely

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to continue that slothful attitude later in the day. For

example, perhaps you have a choice to wake up early in

the morning to do some exercise and thereafter fix a

healthy meal to eat before leaving for work, but it became

too much time and trouble because you overslept. Instead,

you only stop at a restaurant on your way to work to buy

yourself a breakfast meal reasoning that you'll start over

tomorrow. There's a good chance you'll oversleep again

tomorrow and then the cycle starts all over! It might not be

with food or exercise; tomorrow might be that you're too

tired to read, make phone calls, so you put off again some

important tasks for a day, and ends the day with low

productivity.

Are you lazy? Do you sleep a lot? Are you sluggish in your

work or business? Laziness will do you no good but bring you

less than you ought to be. If you are not producing

outstanding positive results in your life it may be because

you are lazy. Step up! Be hard working. Nothing good

comes easy. Hard work is the basis of all great success.

Learn to replace laziness with productivity. Stop being your

habit. You're not lazy, you just adopted lazy habit. Start

seeing your habit as just a behavior you can change.

Practice getting 7-8 hrs of sleep, do regular exercise, and

eat healthful y so that you will be filled with energy. Get in

the habit of making to-do lists, prioritize tasks, and work

through them. You return calls and email promptly. Keep

your body and your surrounding clean. Every one of these

new behaviors counteracts a lazy behavior.

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Laziness actually starts from the mind. Project yourself in

your mind being productive. Highlight specific key scenes,

such as getting up when the alarm first goes off, completing

tasks early in the day, maintaining energy in the middle of

the day, and finishing the day strong by wrapping up on

time. Visualize the positive feeling that results from being

productive. Certainly, overcoming laziness and becoming

productive takes hard work. If it is easy everybody will do it,

but it's not.

The only true obstacles in life are self-imposed. You always

have the choice to choose between success and failure,

and to see yourself not as lazy, but as a focused,

purposeful, driven and energetic. I encourage you to be

diligent and steadfast so that your success won't be

hindered.

__

_**One major difference between the best and others is**_

_**that the best work more and sleep less, while**_

_**others work less and sleep more.**_

__

__

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**35**

****

**EVIL COMMUNICATION**

****

Communication is an important ingredient for success just

as it is with failure. But it al depends on the nature of

communication. Evil communication retards success

growth. It is a key factor of failure. Learn to separate

yourself from those people who always converse negatively

because they will alter your behavior and hinder your

development. In the words of Mark Twain, "A man's

character may be learned from the adjectives, which he

habitually uses in conversation." Communication can add

to the nature of your life personally or professionally. Evil

conversation produces sin and in turn leads to stunted

growth and failure.

I've discovered from observations that any problem, big or

smal , always seems to start with bad communication. Some

people may say, "It is an ordinary conversation, it is just a

joke," or "If I discuss it, it doesn't change any part of me."

The truth is immediately you get involved in such

conversation, you'll begin to change gradually. More than

70% of people led astray today were involved in fruitless

and destructive conversation. There is more power in words.

You can change your world by changing your words...

Remember, death and life is in the power of the tongue.

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The nature of your communication and who you

communicate with can go a long way in affecting what

you'll become. Your communication in the external and

internal world will determine your level of success spiritually,

physically, psychologically, emotional y, socially and

financially. Build relationships with people that can inspire,

challenge, provoke and make you a better person and

challenge you to become more. Let your conversation be

mainly on how to fulfill a creative purpose and accomplish

a smart goal. Only great minds discuss ideas. Don't forget,

"Your conversation reveals whether you are a winner or a

loser." Communicate wisely!

__

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_****_

_**There is more power in words. You can change**_

_**your world by changing your words.**_

__

__

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**36**

**WRONG ENVIRONMENT**

Al living things are bound to adapt to their environment

whether good or bad. Our environment can improve the

quality of our lives or stifle our success development. Be

careful with the environment you choose for it will shape

you. The places you go can affect your way of thinking as

well as your lifestyle. Analyze your life in terms of its

environment. Are the things around you helping you

towards your growth and success? Or are they holding you

back? Napoleon said at a time, "We begin to see,

therefore, the importance of selecting our environment with

the greatest care, because environment is the mental

feeding ground out of which the food that goes into our

minds is extracted."

Environment modifies life but does not change its content. It

is true the soul is stronger than its environment, but our

environment can shape our life style and can go a long

way in affecting the results we'll produce. Your location

determines your progression. Places that will make you

grow mentally, emotionally and spiritually are where you

need to go to or dwell. Attend empowering programs and

seminars. Get involve in one or various activities in line with

your potentials. Let your life be governed by divine

principles. Avoid going to places that will lead you to sin.

Avoid friends that stay or go to such places. Sin is a major

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factor that makes people unfruitful. I advise you change

location or movement towards such places if you want to

develop and become great. You know where I'm talking

about, don't you?

Don't forget, you are a product of your environment, so

choose the environment that will best develop you towards

your objectives.

_****_

_****_

_**Your location determines your progression.**_

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**37**

****

**WRONG ASSOCIATION**

****

The type of friends you make or group you associate with to

a large extent determines the type of life you'll live. You'll

truly become like those you associate with. The best way to

become a thief is to associate with those who steal, and

also the best way to become a gossiper is to associate with

those who gossip. Conversely, the best way to become

great is to associate with great people or people aspiring to

become great. I'll define good company as the company

of clever, well informed, purposeful and optimistic people

who have a great deal of conversation.

The best in every profession has always been known as

those who keep good company of friends that leads to

their development. Eagles don't fly along with parrots or

cuckoo, neither do they do anything or plan anything with

them because they are not of the same class. Eagles fly

with eagles. An old proverbs states, "Birds of a feather flock

together." But I tell you, "When birds of different feathers

flock together, soon they'll develop the same feathers."

Here is a story that changed my life at a time when I was

associating with the wrong company:

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THE GREATER YOU

A farmer took his young son on a hike and they tramped

through the meadows and woods. They hiked through the

pines and up over the hills. They climbed the steep

mountains and finally, high above the timber line, scaled

the crags and peaks they saw a giant eagle soaring

overhead. They scammed the cliffs and finally located the

eagles nest. The boy climbed up the cliff to where the nest

was located. He reached into the nest, which rested on a

ledge, and pulled out an egg, which he put inside his shirt.

Then he climbed carefully back down the cliff. He and his

father returned home, and the boy put the egg in a nest

where a hen was brooding over her eggs. By and by, when

the eggs were hatched, each delivered a smal chick

except the one from which a young eaglet was hatched.

Months passed and the eaglet matured.

After the eagle was full grown, a naturalist was driving

down the highway out in the country. As he drove by the

farmer's yard, he saw the giant eagle. He slammed on his

brakes, got out of the car, and went over to the fence. He

could hardly believe his eyes. He opened the gate, walked

into the yard, and found the farmer. "Where did you get

that eagle?" He asked. The farmer said, "It's a chicken."

The man responded, "I am a naturalist. I know al about

these things, and I tell you that is an eagle." Further-more,

I'll prove it. He picked up the eagle, put it on his arm, and

said, "Thou art an eagle – fly." The eagle hopped off his arm

and began to scratch in the dirt like the chickens. The

farmer said, "I told you it was only a chicken." The naturalist

asked for a ladder. He leaned it against the barn. Then he

carried the eagle up on top of the barn. He stood at the

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THE GREATER YOU

peak of the roof on the barn, placed the eagle on his arm,

and said, "Thou art an eagle – fly." The eagle swooped

down into the yard below and began scratching in the

gravel. The farmer hollered up, "I told you it was a chicken."

The man climbed down off the barn.

He made an agreement with the farmer and the next

morning, bug before sunrise, he picked up the eagle. He

carried it through the woods and over the meadows. He

continued up into the hills and the pines, onward, upward,

above the timberline to the peaks and crags and pinnacles

of the mountains. He arrived at the mountain top just

before dawn. As the first rays of sun began to streak across

the sky, he put the eagle in his arm. The fresh, cool winds

came through the valleys and trees below and swept up to

the cliff where the naturalist stood. The eagle breathed

deeply. The first streaks of sunlight caught his eye. He

stretched his giant wings, almost six feet across. The

naturalist said, "Thou art an eagle – fly." The eagle slowly

lifted off the naturalist's arm. It ascended into the sky. It

soared higher and higher, and further and further. It saw

more in an instant than its companions had in an entire

lifetime, and from that time forth it was never again content

to be a barnyard fowl.

This is the powerful effect our companions or environment

can have on us if we don't wake up and separate

ourselves. You may never discover your true potentials and

soar like the eagle if you don't separate yourself from the

companions of chickens. Ask yourself, who are my friends?

Are they really adding values to my life? What am I really

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learning from them? Are they producing good fruits? If you

keep friends that are not adding values to your life, then,

they are subtracting. Make friends that are dream chaser;

friends that can contribute meaningfully to your life. Some

friends are like catalyst – dream facilitators. Some others are

like inhibitor – dream killers. By their fruits you shall know

them. The lives of ordinary fishermen where transformed by

contact with Christ. Frequenting the company of virtuous

people leads to a share in their qualities. As it is written in

scriptures, "He that walketh with the wise men shall be wise:

but a companion of fools shal be destroyed."

__

A wise man once said, "Show me your friends and I will tell

you who you are." Choose your friends for yourself, ones

with sound and a God oriented minds, that are hard

working. Avoid the company of bad friends so that you can

develop and achieve your dreams much faster than you

can ever imagine. You can't keep negative friends and

expect to live a positive life!

****

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_**Frequenting the company of virtuous people**_

_**leads to a share in their qualities.**_

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THE GREATER YOU 

## PART 6

****

**SUCCESS VITALITY**

****

_"Before success, you must be ready to climb the_

_Iroko tree of life called ACHIEVEMENT. Be ready to_

_swim in a deep river called INTEGRITY. Be ready to_

_work on a street of gold called INTELLIGENCE. Be_

_ready to uphold the sweetest policy called_

_HONESTY. Be surrounded with a cloud called_

_CHARACTER. You will have to go through the_ ****

_primary school of life called TRIAL. A secondary_ ****

_school of victory called BATTLE. And a_ ****

_university of joy called GOAL."_ ****

\- _**Newton King**_

_****_

I can't remember meeting anyone in life who wants to be a

failure, but virtual y everyone I've met wants to be

successful. But what and who we'll become is not based

upon what we say or know, but rather it is what we do. It is

our lifestyle that determines the level of success we'll enjoy

or failure we'll experience.

The word "SUCCESSFUL" is a popular word used by many

and a lot have mistaken its true meaning. Being successful

has nothing to do with prestige symbols, but with creative

accomplishment and purpose fulfillment. No one should

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THE GREATER YOU

only strive to be a success because it is a point to be

reached, but every one should strive to be successful by

continuously adding value to life. Noah Webster defined

success as 'the satisfactory accomplishment of a goal

sought for.' But living successfully is a different thing.

Continuously and creatively striving for a goal that is

important to you as a result of your own deep felt needs

and aspirations (and not what other people want or expect

you to display) is what defines living successfully. This will

bring to you happiness as well as success, because you will

be functioning as you were meant to function. Man is by

nature a goal-striving being, and because man is built that

way, he is not happy unless he is functioning as he was

made to function – as a goal striver.

Trying to be a success in terms of acquiring certain wealth

or wearing certain badges leads to neuroticism, frustration

and unhappiness. Striving to be successful brings not only

material success, but satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness.

Thus, becoming successful or attaining true success and

happiness in life will require you to abide by the fol owing

basic rules......

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**38**

****

**PUT GOD FIRST**

****

One of the major causes of struggles people face in life is

the inability to recognize and accept God in their activities.

A lot of people do things on their own way without involving

God. They fail to recognize the fact that even the life they

have was given to them, and they are alive because of

God's grace and infinite mercy. Some people wil say,

"Let's leave God out of this and let's face reality." What

does this mean? Removing God out of anything is simply a

negative affair. What is reality without the ultimate supreme

God? It is God that makes nothing to be something, makes

life reasonable, sensible, profitable, and meaningful. A

molecule of matter without God in it is unimaginable

because God is the reality, the soul of every created thing.

Al beauty and truth, every manifestation of kindness, love,

helpfulness and good in any form is an expression of Him.

Without God we'll truly not be alive today. As a matter of

fact, we all got everything we have today by receiving

from God. To quote the Scripture, "For who maketh thee to

differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not

receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as

if thou hadst not received it?"

Putting God first in everything is very important if you must

become highly prosperous. No one can succeed genuinely

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without the help of God. Most people consciously go to the

devil for help, thinking their problems wil be solved. One

major difference between God's blessing and that of the

devil is that, "God's blessing is genuine and everlasting,

while that of the devil is fake and ephemeral." The end

result of the devil's blessing is eternal destruction. Can we

really cal that a blessing? No, it's obviously a curse. "For

what shal it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world,

and lose his own soul?" God has blessed everyone on earth

with a talent to develop and harness to bring glory to his

name. But some people are using their God-given talents to

glorify the devil by promoting all kinds of evil deeds,

increasing immorality, forgetting that there is a life after the

life we live here on earth. Some other people consciously

sell their soul to the devil on a platter of gold. Life is fleeting,

death is inevitable. Every one of us on earth will face

judgment and surely give an account of how we live our

lives here on earth, and what we did with our God-given

potentials – don't forget this truth. For it is written, "I call

heaven and earth to record this day against you, (that) I

have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:

therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live."

So which would you choose? The decision is yours to make.

Decide to put God first in everything you do so that you

can dominate in this world, have life everlasting and a

place in God's kingdom, or choose to neglect divine

standards and principles of living, pursue earthly success,

and face condemnation in the pit of hel . God's desire for

us is to become successful, but the question is: "Do you

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THE GREATER YOU

want to be successful and fulfill purpose?" If you want to,

then submit to divinity. You can do this by:

**6.** Establishing daily habits of fellowship and prayer

with him.

**7.** Consistent time spent in His word.

**8.** Getting instructions from Him.

**9.** Worshiping regularly.

Make it a priority to have an intimate relationship with God.

Let Him into every area of your life. "Of all human activities,

man's listening to God is the most supreme act of his

reasoning and will," said Pope Paul VI . A person's power

depends largely upon his or her partnership with the

creator. The closer the relation, the closer the person's God-

consciousness of his or her oneness with the One, the more

power that person can express, because he or she draws

upon the limitless resources of an infinite partner.

When you make that decision to serve God with your whole

heart, your soul will prosper, you shall have good success

and your joy and peace will increase. Don't live for Him in

your own strength or abilities. Remember, without God, you

wil be nothing even if you do something or have

something. Here is the conclusion, "Fear God, and keep his

commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

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THE GREATER YOU

_****_

_****_

_**Life is fleeting, death is inevitable. Every one of us on**_

_**earth will face judgment and surely give an account**_

_**of how we live our lives here on earth, and what we**_

_**did with our God-given potentials.**_

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**39**

****

**GAIN CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE**

There comes a time in life when everyone eventually

reaches the point where they feel responsible for

themselves. At this point, every person is responsible for

whatever results they produce regardless of their

background, conditions or any other factors. Some people

try and let their family members, social climate in which

they live determine what they will become. Eventually,

these external pressures diminish and every person ends up

accepting responsibility for their own lives. Those who al ow

others to determine the way they live their lives will produce

results that will benefit others not themselves.

I've come to realize that in life every person acts in a numb

er of different roles. In each of these roles, every person has

the potential to excel. The only path to our success is to set i

deals permanently in our minds and then refuse to compro

mise them, instead, work steadily towards accomplishing ou

r goals. Whatever is our potential will directly influence our p

ersonal self esteem, but every person can only excel if they

work towards their potentials. Whenever a person tries to res

pond to that which goes contrary to their potential, they inv

ariably become unproductive, confused and miserable. Th

e only way to experience true success is to direct your focus

towards your desired goals, and control your life in the dire

ction or path you want to fol ow, not someone else's or som

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THE GREATER YOU

eone directing or control ing your life.

I believe every person is unique, that's why you should

never attempt to imitate by becoming a dull reflection of

anyone else's personality. Imitation causes limitation. True

success in life comes from being true to the unique

personality traits within you.

Once a king came to a garden and saw fading and dying

trees, bushes and flowers. An oak said that he was dying

because it can't be as high as a pine. Turning to a pine

tree, the king found her falling down because it can't give

grapes like a grapevine. And the grapevine was dying

because she couldn't blossom like a rose. Soon he found a

single plant, pleasing heart, bloomy and fresh. After

questioning, he received the fol owing answer: "I think it's a

natural event, because when you planted me, you wanted

to get joy. If you would like to grow an oak, grapes or rose,

you would put them. So I think that I can't be anything else

than what I am. And I try to develop my best qualities. This is

how our Creator has planted us; to bring joy and glory to his

name by functioning best with our abilities and qualities.

Look deeply and closely into yourself. You can only be

yourself. It is impossible for you to become someone else.

You can enjoy and blossom or you can fade if you do not

accept yourself. Say to yourself everyday: "I am a child of

God. I am made in His image and likeness. I am a partaker

of all His divine qualities. Therefore I have divine power; I

have strength and ability to do what I long to do. I am

strength. I am ability. I am self-confidence. I am success. I

can do what I wil to do, and I will no longer suffer this

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timidity to rule me. I will never again by self-depreciation

and self-effacement deny my divinity. I will never al ow the

conditions around me to prevent me or others talk me out

from what I want to do. I wil never again shrink from

assuming any responsibility that comes to me. I have plenty

of ability to do what I long to do, to be what I long to be. I

will no longer go about as if I were inferior to others. I will

express my opinion and assert myself whenever necessary. I

am facing life with a self-respecting, confident attitude,

with a hopeful out look; for I know that as a child of God I

am organized for victory. Lack of faith in myself is nothing

but lack of faith in Him. I wil cut doubt out of my life, for I

am that which I think I am. I owe this to myself. I am taking

full control over my destiny."

To really live, you must gain control of your life; you must

have an adequate and realistic self image that you can

live with not someone else's. You must find yourself

acceptable to you. You must have a wholesome self-

esteem. You must have a self that you can trust and believe

in. You must have a self that you are not ashamed to be,

and one that you can feel free to express creatively rather

than to hide or cover up. You must have a self that

corresponds to reality so that you can function effectively in

a real world. You must know yourself – both your strengths

and your weaknesses and be honest with yourself. Yourself

image must be a reasonable approximation of you, being

neither more than you nor less than you.

Love what you do and do what you love. It is better to fail a

t something you love than to succeed at something you hat

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e. Stop doing things just because others expect you to the

m; your heart must be in it to finish the race. When you do t

hings because you 'should', you eventually reach a place

of resentment, anger and rebellion. Ask yourself, "What do I

really want in my life?" don't lie to yourself. Separate your "s

hould have's" from "ought to's" and decide on what real y

matters to you the most. Know your true potential, develop i

t, pursue it with all your strength and never look back.

_****_

_****_

_****_

_**True success in life comes from being true to**_

_**the unique personality traits within you.**_

****

****

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**40**

****

**KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT**

****

A student was told that he must get in mind a clear picture

of the things he desired, so that the creative thought of

them might be impressed on formless substance. He was a

very poor young man, living in a rented house, and having

only what he earned from day to day; he could not grasp

the fact that all wealth was his. So, after thinking the matter

over, he decided that he might reasonably ask for a new

rug for the floor of his best room, and a standard cooking

gas to prepare his meal. Following the instructions given in

this book, he obtained these things in a few months; and

then it dawned upon him that he had not asked enough.

He went through the house in which he lived, and planned

all the improvements he would like to make in it; he

mentally added a bay window and a room, until it was

complete in his mind as his ideal home; and then he

planned its furnishing. Knowing exactly what he wants,

holding the picture in his mind, he began living in the

certain way, and moving toward what he wanted. He owns

the house now, and is rebuilding it after the form of his

mental image. And now, still with larger faith, he is going on

to get greater things. It has been unto him according to his

faith, and it is so with you and with all of us.

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You must form a clear and definite mental picture of what

you want to become or achieve in life; you cannot

transform an idea unless you have it yourself. You must have

it before you can give it. Many fail because they have only

a vague and misty concept of the things they want to do,

to have, or to become. It is not enough that you should

have a general desire for greatness or success or wealth;

everybody has that desire. It isn't enough that you should

have a wish to prosper, travel, see things, and live more,

etc. everybody has those desires also. I want to ask you a

question: if you were going to send a wireless message to a

friend, would you send the letters of the alphabet in their

order, and let him construct the message for himself? Or

would you take words at random from the dictionary. No!

You would send a coherent sentence; one which meant

something. Same with what you want. When you try to

impress your wants upon substance, remember that it must

be done by a coherent statement; you must know exactly

what you want, and be definite. You can never be

successful, or start the creative power into action by

sending out informed longings and vague desires.

Go over your desires just as the man I've described went ov

er his house. See exactly just what you want, and get a clos

er mental picture of it as you wish it to look when you get it.

See it continually in your mind, as the sailor has in mind the

port toward which he is sailing the ship. You must keep your

face towards it al the time. It is not necessary to take exerci

ses in concentration, nor to set apart special times for praye

r and affirmation, nor to go into the silence. But the key to y

our success is to know what you want, and to want it badly

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enough so that it will stay in your thought and then you live i

t. Unless you really want to be successful, so that the desire i

s strong enough to hold your thoughts directed to your purp

ose as the magnetic pole holds the needle of the compass,

it will be difficult for you to try to carry out the other rules an

d instructions that I wil give you in this section.

The more clear and definite you make your picture, the

more you dwell upon it, bringing out all its delightful details,

the stronger your desire wil be; and the stronger your desire,

the easier it will be to hold your mind fixed upon the picture

of what you want. However, something more is necessary

than merely to see the picture clearly. If that is all you do,

'see the picture.' You are only a dreamer, and will have

little or no power for accomplishment. Behind your clear

vision must be a purpose to realize it; to bring it out in

tangible expression. And behind this purpose must be an

invincible and unwavering faith that the thing is already

yours; that it is at hand and you have only to take

possession of it. Jesus has said, "Whatsoever things ye ask

for when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye

shall have them."

See the things you want as if they were actually around you

all the time; see yourself as owning and using them. Make

use of them in imagination just as you will use them when

they are your tangible possessions. Take possession of it, in

mind, in the full faith that it is actually yours. Hold to this

mental ownership; do not waver for an instant in the faith

that it is real. You do not need pray repeatedly for things

you want; it is not necessary to tell God about it everyday.

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"Use not vain repetitions as the heathen do," said Jesus,

"For your father knoweth that ye have need of these things

before ye ask Him." You do not make it or get what you

want by repeating strings of words; you make it by holding

the vision with unshakable purpose to attain it, and with

steadfast faith that you do attain it. The answer to prayer is

not according to your faith while you are talking, but

according to your faith while you are working. Most people

think they can impress the mind of God by setting apart

Sabbath days to tell Him what they want forgetting Him

during the rest of the week. That won't work. Some other

folks think by having special hours to go into the closet and

pray, and then dismiss the matter from their mind until the

hour of prayer comes again that will move God. I'm afraid

that alone won't make things work. Oral prayer is well

enough, and has its effect, especially upon yourself, in

clarifying your vision and strengthening your faith; but it is

not your oral petitions which can get you what you want or

make you successful. In order to be successful, you do not

need a "sweat hour of prayer." You need to "Pray without

ceasing." Yes, and by prayer I mean holding steadily to

your vision, with the purpose to cause its creation into solid

form, and the faith that you are doing so.

Know exactly what you want. Think and speak of all things

you want and have asked for in terms of actual present

ownership. Imagine a successful environment and have all

the time in that imaginary environment. Hold to the faith

that the imaginary is being realized, and to the purpose to

realize it. And don't forget that it is faith and purpose in the

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use of the imagination which makes the difference

between the scientist and the dreamer.

_****_

_****_

_**Many fail because they have only a vague and misty**_

_**concept of the things they want to do,**_

_**to have, or to become.**_

****

****

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**41**

****

**LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONE**

To pursue purpose and reach any significant goal, you must

leave your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is a place

where there is compatibility, pleasure, satisfaction,

relaxation and fun. It is an environment surrounded with

clouds of comfort. Many people don't like to leave their

present comfort zones, and therefore never set goals. By

failing to set goals, they also fail to ever make any

meaningful progress. Achieving any goal means leaving

the familiar and venturing into the unfamiliar. In the words

of John Marsden, "The biggest risk is to take no risk." Being

confined in your comfort zone is the same as putting a

restriction on your skills and capabilities.

Our environment is part of our motivation. The more

comfortable you are, the less are your chances of working

hard and this in turn can decrease your ability to become

successful. Many men and women do not become the

champion that God created them to be because of

'pleasure of the moment.' It is only champions that seek to

forfeit the pleasures of now in order to gain the future while

a failure will forfeit the future for the pleasures of now.

Comfort zones limit your full potential, because after all,

why seek change when comfort feels so much better?

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There are five common obstacles to leaving your comfort

zone:

**1. Peer pressure** – you may be afraid of what your

friends, family or loved ones will think, therefore you

try and live in harmony with their values rather than

fol owing your inner urges. ****

**2. Walls** – you may feel that circumstances beyond

your control make it impossible to set out in a new

direction. ****

**3. Fear of change** – you would rather live with a

familiar problem than try to change and risk coming

into contact with a new and unfamiliar problem. ****

**4. Laziness** – you may be too lazy to work and

challenge situations. ****

**5. Fear of failure** – you may be afraid to leave your

comfort zone due to the fear that you might fail or

fear of withstanding difficulties. ****

****

To make your mark in life, you must not allow fear to stand

in your way when setting goals which will enable you follow

your dreams. You must go out to face your challenges.

Challenges build us and make us stronger. Once a small

gap appeared in the cocoon, through which the butterfly

had to appear. A man, who accidentally passed by,

stopped and watched how the butterfly was trying to get

out of the cocoon. It took a lot of time, the butterfly was

trying very hard, and the gap was as little as before. It

seemed that the power would leave the butterfly soon.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a

penknife and cut the cocoon. The butterfly immediately

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got out, but its body was weak and feeble, and the wings

were barely moving. The man continued to watch at the

butterfly, thinking that now its wings would spread and it

would fly. However, that did not happen. The rest of its life

the butterfly had to drag its weak body and wings that

weren't spread. It was unable to fly, because the man who

wanted to help it did not realize that an effort to enter

through the narrow gap of the cocoon was necessary for

the butterfly, so that the life-giving fluid would move from

the body to the butterfly's wings and that the butterfly

could fly. The life forced the butterfly to leave its shell with

difficulty, so that it would become stronger and would be

able to grow and develop.

If we were allowed to live without meeting difficulties, we

would be viable. Life gives us challenges to make us

stronger. Always be determined to face the difficulties of

life because that's the only way you can be your best.

"There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or

control the firm resolution of a determined soul," said Ella

Wheeler Wilcox. Sometimes present failures and difficulties

are not the end of the world, and you have the opportunity

to come back again next time smarter and better

prepared to succeed. A bend in the road is never the end

of the road except you fail to make the turn.

Here are three major reasons why leaving your comfort

zone is vital to your success:

**1. Comfort zones change the inherent nature of who**

**you are**

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From physiological study, it has been discovered that if you

are accustomed to being lazy more than you are active;

your brain will fol ow the old neuron connections, the old

and worn out synapses. These worn out synapses create

more comfort and laziness to do the same thing you've

always done. But each time you choose to be active rather

than stay stagnant, you will develop and strengthen new

neuron connections and new synapses to support your new

behavior. As you work towards changing this habit of yours,

the strength of your old synapses in your brain may give you

the urge to revert back to your former self. But don't let it.

This physiological component of your habitual behavior

makes change difficult to achieve, but it will only get easier

each and every time you decide to go against your old

ways of doing things. I think if you ever stop pushing

yourself, you would revert quickly to quite repetitive,

restrictive behavior. But in pushing yourself and

concentrating on what you can do, you can contribute to

society and do exploits. And that gives you the desire to

keep pushing, to see what you are capable of.

**2. Comfort zone delay or hinder growth**

You cannot simply be satisfied and improve at the same

time. You are either uncomfortable and growing, or

comfortable and stagnant. You're either becoming the

person you need to be, or you're staying in one place. The

faster you leave your comfort zone, the sooner you'l reach

the success zone! Continually make choices that will put

you against your own comfort zone. As long as you're

uncomfortable, it means you're growing.

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**3. Comfort zones cause laziness**

Show me one person who has succeeded in their comfort

zone, and I will show you a liar. The only thing great about

the comfort zone is that you don't have to do anything!

Whenever I find myself wasting time, it tells me that my

comfort zone has snuck back into my life. When I regress

back to my former self, I know something needs to

change... time is one thing you'll never get back, so don't

waste it. Leaving your comfort zone does not necessarily

mean you should leave a particular location to another or

a particular country or state to another. It can be as simple

as changing your daily routine, doing things differently, or

even doing the opposite of what you've been doing thus

far. But the important thing is to be comfortable with being

uncomfortable. Get used to change because without it

you'll get what you've always gotten!

_**It is only champions that seek to forfeit the pleasures of**_

_**now in order to gain the future while a failure will**_

_**forfeit the future for the pleasures of now.**_

****

****

****

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**42**

****

**BE DILIGENT**

****

Diligence is the mother of good fortune. It is one of the

seven heavenly virtues. It is the conscientiousness,

determination and perseverance applied in doing

something. To be diligent means to perform with intense

concentration, focus and responsible regard. There's no

true success or riches without diligence. It is the antidote for

poverty.

Here are some few proverbs on diligence:

"He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand; but the

hand of the diligent maketh rich." – Prov. 10:14

"The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but

the soul of the diligent shall be made fat." – Proverb 13:4

"The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but

of every one that is hasty only to want." – Prov. 21:5

"The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall

be under tribute." – Prov. 12:24

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"The slothful man wasteth not that which he took in hunting:

but the substance of the diligent man is precious." – Prov.

12:27

"Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shal stand

before kings; he shall not stand before mean men." – Prov.

22:29

Diligence is a compound word that has various elements.

Namely: focus, determination, hard work, onscientiousness,

perseverance and patience. These are the six elements of

diligence. There is no one who has succeeded genuinely or

will succeed genuinely in life that has not or will not pass

through these six walls of diligence.

Focus + Determination + Hard-work + Conscientiousness +

Perseverance + Patience = Diligence

Now let me explain each of these elements accordingly...

**FOCUS**

How we feel about things, the results we produce and the

meaning of a particular experience is all dependent upon

our focus. Whatever we focus on becomes our ideal reality.

Let's assume that you are the president of a particular

organization or CEO of a particular company. If you've

scheduled a particular meeting, and someone is not there

on time, how you feel is based on what you focus on.

Wouldn't you be upset with them when you assume in your

mind that the reason they are not there is that they don't

care, whereas the real reason they were late is that they

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were having great difficulties in getting to the meeting? Or

wouldn't you be happy with them when you represent in

your mind that they were fighting to get a better bid on the

business proposal they were bringing you? Whatever we

focus on will determine our state, how we feel, our

reactions, and also what we'll produce. You act and feel

not according to what things are really like, but according

to the image your mind holds of what they are like. We all

have certain mental images of ourselves, our world, and

the people around us, and we believe as though these

images were the truth, the reality, rather than the things

they represent.

By definition, focus means a concentration of attention,

imagination or power. It is what drives people to

preparation, and it is the major driving force of success. A

man known as Leo Babanta coined focus as a simplicity

manifesto in the age of distraction.

One major difference between those who produced

fantastic results and those who didn't is that, "Those who

produced great results concentrated all their imagination,

energy and resources on a particular course, while those

who didn't, never concentrated their powers on anything."

God has given us different abilities which when mastered

will develop good success. But when we are not focused

on them, we easily change our course of action every time

we are distracted, and at the end of the day we often find

ourselves wallowing in deep waters. We can't depend on

our eyes when our imagination is out of focus. Alex Morrison

advised, "You must clearly see a thing in your mind before

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you can do it." Warren Buffet added, "If you imagine it,

focus on it, then you can do it."

The reason why you have not achieved what you truly want

may be because you have never concentrated your

powers, you stil get involved in different things on your way

through life or you have never decided to master anything

in particular. Or it may be that you are focusing on the

wrong thing. It also follows that if your imagination, minds or

mental images concerning yourself is distorted or unrealistic,

then your reactions or actions to your environment wil

likewise be inappropriate. Napoleon Hil , for example

practiced soldiering in his imagination for many years

before he went on an actual battle field. Webb and

Morgan in the book 'Making the most of your life,' tell us

that the notes Napoleon made from his readings during

those years of study filled when printed four hundred pages.

How did he do that? He imagined himself as a

commander, and drew maps of the 'Island of Corisca'

showing where he would place various defenses and

focused on making all his calculations with mathematical

precision. Also, Warren Buffet has said that each of his

business accomplishments was realized in his imagination

before it appeared in reality.

I feel deep down in my heart that most people are ignorant

of the giant capacity they can immediately command

when they focus al their resources on mastering a single

area of their lives. That's why I'm here to challenge you to

wake up and start focusing on the 'Greater You.' When you

are focused, you cannot be easily distracted or misled by

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anyone or factor that can take you out of place because

focus has power. Always learn not to dwell on what went

wrong or your fears, instead focus on your imagination,

where you want to go, or what to do next. Expend your

energy on moving forward toward finding the answer.

Despite what you are going through or will go through, if

you are focused, you'll surely get your breakthrough.

__

Focus on what's really important. Focus on God's promises

and will for your life irrespective of what the circumstances

may be. It is during our darkest moments that we need to

focus more so that we'll see the light. Think of how you can

be a change initiator, how you can affect lives positively

and be of service to humanity. When you do that, you will

always be blessed in abundance. Concentrate your

powers on what matters!

**DETERMINATION**

****

As he was a kid, his father as a horse trainer was moving

from stable to stable, from ranch to ranch, training horses.

Thus, the boy's school career was constantly interrupted.

One day, when he was a senior, a teacher asked him to

write about what he wanted to be when he grew up. He

did not hesitate a minute and wrote seven-page paper

about his aim to be an owner of a horse ranch, he wrote

many details and drew a location of buildings and stables

and even a detailed house plan. Two days later he

received his paper back with letter "F" on the front page.

After class he came to the teacher and asked, "Why did I

receive an F?" the teacher responded, "This dreams is so

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unrealistic for a boy like you, who has no money, no

resources and who comes from itinerant family. There is no

possibility that you will reach your great goals one day."

Then the teacher offered him to rewrite the paper with

more realistic attitude. The boy went home and asked his

father, how he should act. The father answered, "This

decision is very important for you. So you have to make

your own mind on this." After several days the boy brought

the same paper to his teacher. No change was made. He

said, "Keep the F and I will keep my dream." Monty Robert

later had 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of 200-acre

horse ranch and he still has that school paper, which now is

framed over the fireplace.

Monty Robert was determined to succeed despite the odds

from his teacher and the situation surrounding him. He

fol owed his dreams, pursued it with all his heart and made

them become reality. If you must be successful, you have

to be determined and never let anyone take your dreams

away.

Determination means the act of making or arriving at a

decision. It is the firmness of purpose. It is a quality that

makes you to continue trying to do or achieve something

that is difficult. It is also the quality of mind which reaches

definite conclusions; decision of character; resoluteness.

A determined man will win even if he fails along the way.

What qualifies one to be a failure is not failing but giving up

on failing. Failure will never overtake you if your

determination is strong enough. Failure can be success if

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THE GREATER YOU

we learn from it. Great successes like Abraham Lincoln and

Thomas Edison were determined even through failures. I

assume you already know their story. After the many failure

Abraham Lincoln had in politics, he later became the

President of the United States. During an interview with him,

he advised, "Don't give up until you make your last

attempt, and don't make your last attempt until you have

succeeded." You too can overcome obstacles and be

more if you are determined to succeed irrespective of the

conditions and circumstances around you.

As God's creation, we are to persevere through trials and

setbacks. These we can do once we are determined. Focus

and determination is the key to overcoming any obstacle.

No matter your condition, don't give up. Develop this force

called determination and hold fast to your faith. Who

knows, you might just be closer to your success if you give

up. Don't forget those who give up never go up. If you

want to soar, then be determined.

**HARD WORK**

****

Hard work is the basis of every great success. It is the price

anyone has to pay to be successful. We were taught by the

great Apostle Paul that without hard work, there is no good

earning. In scriptures, we were given a perfect example of

a hard worker – the ant, "Without having any chief, officer

or ruler prepares her bread in summer and gather her food

for harvest." Work means the application of ability, while

hard work explains the application of ability with focus and

intensity in order to get the best result. Without working

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THE GREATER YOU

hard, you won't become an outstanding success or

achieve greatness in life. The best in every profession are

always hard working.

God rewards honest labor. In the words of Theodore

Roosevelt, "It is only through labor and painful effort, by

grim energy and resolute courage that one moves on to

better things." Develop a reputation for being a hard

worker. The harder you work, the luckier you get. The more

you work, the closer you get to your success. Mark Hughes,

founder and CEO of Herbalife, is someone who started with

nothing but an idea, dedication and hard work. By

concentrating his efforts to achieve his goal, he built

Herbalife into the one of the largest network marketing

organization in the world. Hughes attributes the success of

his company to the hard work and concentration that he,

his staff and his distributors put into the business over the

years. He noted, "We also have time for fun, for our families,

and for other interests, but we concentrate our energies on

building our business and serving our customers, and it has

paid off."

From research, it has been said that an average person

wastes 50% of working in idle chatting, watching movies,

sleeping, or in fruitless discussions. Time is not there for you to

waste, but for you to use. Ask yourself: what is the most

valuable use of my time right now? Work on that every hour

of the day. If you get distracted, or interrupted, repeat over

and over, 'back to work.' To have more, you simply need to

do and become more. I encourage you to be very hard

working if you want to live a successful life, not just on your

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job but on yourself. Jim Roln once said, "If you work hard on

your job you will make a living, but if you work hard on

yourself you will make a fortune." Hard work really pays.

__

**CONSCIENTIOUSNESS**

This means the act of being careful and thorough. To be

conscientious means to be careful about doing something

in order for it to be done correctly. Some people do things

inappropriately and expect to produce fantastic results.

Scriptures reckoned in the beginning that God created

man in His own image and likeness, by carefully molding

man from dust. He also created other things but not as He

created man. This is the reason man is the most advanced

and powerful creature on earth despite being the last

created. We were careful y and wonderfully made. I

believe God actual y wanted the best that was why He

created man by molding man in His own image and

likeness. He was careful and thorough in the process.

It's not how far but how well. Those who often produce

outstanding success are not always so much in a hurry. They

are always careful and thorough in their business. The best

always come from the most used time. Whatever your

potential is, take your time to work on it. Develop it. You are

not running a rat race. You are not in competition with

anybody. Take your time to plan and strategize. Don't be

faster than your shadows. The future doesn't belong to

those who produce good results, but those who produce

the best result. What is yours will be yours if you fol ow the

right path and do the right things. What is not yours will

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never be yours even if you go the extra mile. So take your

time. People are not interested in how long it will take but

how great it will be. Always be careful and thorough in

doing what needs to be done.

__

**PERSEVERANCE**

****

Perseverance is a very important element of diligence. It is

steadiness in a course of action or purpose or state without

regard to discouragement, opposition or previous failure. It

is the quality that al ows someone to continue trying to do

something even though it is difficult. It is an act of

consistency. To be consistent means to continue in a course

of action or state without stopping.

Nowadays people find it very difficult to persevere through

difficulties. They are easily discouraged due to failures and

unwanted changes. The truth is, life is not easy for any of us

and nothing good comes easy. But we must have

perseverance and learn to comfort life's challenges. We

must believe that we are gifted for something and that

those things must be attained despite what happens. The

author and sought-after motivational speaker, Les Brown,

present a powerful plan for confronting life's challenges as

fol ows: "No matter how difficult your life may become, no

matter how hard it gets, there is always a reason to

persevere because you can survive and thrive. Failure is a

temporary condition. Transform the lessons of failure into a

formula for success. Turn away from self-destruction.

Eliminate toxic and energy-draining people from your life.

Make regular reality and ego checks. When you fail, you

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have two choices; get better or get bitter. Don't accept

the denigration of others. If you believe in yourself, you will

triumph over ridicule or condescension. Be a mentor to

those who need a boost. Treat failures and disappointments

as stepping stones on the road to success. Don't fear

breaking away from the past and moving boldly into the

future."

Joseph persevered despite what his brothers did to him. He

endured until his storm was over. Al those who developed

outstanding success persevered. Perseverance is the hard

work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you

already did. "I don't think there is any other quality so

essential to success of any kind as the quality of

perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even

nature," said John D. Rockefeller. It is only those that

endured to the end shall prosper. Through perseverance

many people attain success out of what seemed destined

to be certain failure.

Perseverance can also shape you. It can give a value and

self-esteem that is priceless. You aren't going to find

anybody that's going to be successful without making a

sacrifice and without perseverance. If you wish to succeed

in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, because real

success doesn't come on a platter of gold. Great works are

performed not by strength, but by perseverance. Keep the

faith and don't lose your perseverance. Through hard work,

perseverance and faith in God, you can live your dreams.

__

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**PATIENCE**

One reason why people give up on their journey to success

is lack of patience. Once they try things with the

expectation of having a good result, but the result seems

not forth-coming, they give up. A life of success cannot be

without a measure of failure and the word happy would

lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far

better to take things as they come along with patience.

Patience is a state of endurance under difficult

circumstances. It is the ability of being patient. To be

patient means to be content to wait. It can also mean fore-

bearance or long suffering.

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. It is very necessary.

One cannot reap immediately where one has sown. Our

real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, loses

and disappointments. But if you can be patient, you will see

them in their proper figures. For to get what you truly want,

you equal y need patience. As scripture stated, "But let

patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect

and entire, wanting nothing."

God is a God of patience, and we his children should be of

patience so that we'l get the fullness of his blessing. Our

faith will only work with patience. When you are investing in

a business or applying for a job and the result is not forth

coming, instead of changing course, all you need to do is

to check your strategies, adjust them (if need be), keep on

trying and be patient. The more you are patient, the more

you'll experience things.

__

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Let's look at job as a case study. To prove Job's faithfulness

to God, God allowed the devil to destroy everything Job

owned. But stil Job was still faithful. He knew God had a

plan and was willing to accept what God allowed in his life.

In the end, God restored to Job twice as much as he had in

the beginning. Whatever the task is that God has called

you to do; you need to continue doing the work even if you

don't see the progress you would like to see. The result of

anything usually comes after the storm, not before the

storm. Be strong and face it. Al things are difficult before

they become easy. Have patience! Al things work together

for good to them that love God.

Success has little to do with speed, but much to do with

timing and directions. It all depends on where you are

going and what you are doing presently to get there. What

benefit is running if you're on the wrong road? It is better to

walk slowly on the right road than to run fast on the wrong

road. Do the right things at the right time. Nothing

worthwhile ever happens in a hurry – so be patient. You

can't warm your hand by burning your fingers.

Colorado aspen trees grow vigorously. After the

devastation of a forest fire, frequent occurrences in the

Rockies, aspens are sometimes the first trees to return. They

re-forest an area quickly, providing shade for slower-

growing spruce and pine saplings. The ever greens grow

slower, but may live many years longer than the aspens.

Each tree grows on its own time. So does each person.

Some people come to fruition quickly; others contribute

more significantly in later years. If you've not yet come into

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your own, don't worry. Tend to your work and aspirations

with care. Don't give up; but rather be patient, for growth

can be slow. Remember, storms and diseases are

devastating, but they can also prune you and make you

stronger. With proper nurture, you will in time enjoy a full

harvest.

_**There's no true success or riches**_

_**without diligence.**_

In summary, to be diligent you will be required to:

**4.** Concentrate your imagination, resources and

energy on a particular course,

**5.** Be determined never to give up no matter what the

odds may be,

**6.** Be hard working because that's the foundation all

great successes is built,

**7.** Be careful and thorough during the process to avoid

repeated failure,

**8.** Be consistent despite the difficult, because

consistency brings about improvement and

enhances quality control,

**9.** And be content to wait until your victory comes.

****

****

****

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**43**

****

**HAVE A CORRECT SET OF BELIEF SYSTEM**

****

A shoe sales man went to Africa and contacted his

manufacturer back home, "I want to come home. Nobody

wears shoes in this part of the world." So they brought him

back home and then sent out another salesman who

shipped back order after order. He wrote to the home

office, "Everybody here needs shoes!" What is the

difference? Their belief system as to what is possible and

what seemed to be impossible. That's like seeing the cup

half ful and half empty.

It is not our environment, what has happened to us, or what

is happening to us that directs our lives, but our beliefs as to

what those things mean. Two women turn 70 years old; one

knows that her life is coming to an end. To her, seventy

years of living means that her body must be breaking down

and she would better start rounding off her life activities.

The other woman decides upon her belief that mountain

climbing might be a good sport to begin at that age. For

the next 25years, she devoted herself to this new

adventure, scaling some of the highest peaks in the world.

Today, Hulda Crooks has become the oldest woman to

ascend Mount Fuji, setting a world record.

Belief is what makes some individuals a solution, while others

a problem. It has the power to make our lives better or

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keep us behind. Our actions are the result of our beliefs.

Whatever result we produce is out of our conscious or

subconscious beliefs about what is possible or impossible.

What is a belief?

Often in life, we talk about things without having a clear

and proper understanding of what they are. A belief is a

feeling of certainty about something. For instance, if you

say you believe that you're great, all you're really saying is,

"I feel certain that I'm great." This sense of certainty allows

you to tap into resources that can produce outstanding

results. A belief system consists of what you think the world,

universe and everything is all about, what you believe will

happen after you die. It's what or who you pray to when

morning comes, night is dark and in trouble.

There is a connection between what a person does and

what they believe. Whenever a person's behavior doesn't

seem to be reflecting what they claim to believe, then

there are conflicting beliefs buried in them somewhere.

Most of our beliefs are generalizations of what has

happened to us in the past based on our painful or

pleasurable experiences. But it's not always true in all cases.

Some people develop beliefs because of their

circumstances that would limit them from becoming the

best that God wants them to be. Because they haven't

succeeded in the past, they believe they won't be able to

in the future. As a result, out of their fear of failure, they

begin to focus on being realistic. Most people who say,

'let's be realistic' are living in fear, only afraid of being

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disappointed again and they develop beliefs that will make

them to hesitate; not to give their best. This will in turn make

them unproductive.

The belief that should become true for you should be that

which allows you the best use of your potentials, the best

means of putting your virtues into action. Mahatma Gandhi

believed he could gain autonomy for India without violently

opposing Great Britain, something that had never been

done before. He wasn't being realistic, but he certainly

proved to be accurate. A prolific writer wrote, "Optimists

are those who, despite having no references for success, or

even failure manage to ignore those references, leaving

unassembled such cognitive table tops as 'I failed' or 'I

can't' succeed, instead optimists produce faith references,

summoning forth their imagination to picture themselves

doing something different next time and succeeding."

People who become successful in any area of life know the

power of continuously pursuing their vision and dreams,

even if all details and requirements of achieving it aren't

yet available. They feel certain they will succeed, even if no

one before them has ever accomplished it. The good news

is that with high emotional intensity and repetition, our

nervous system experiences something as real, even if it

hasn't occurred yet. Our beliefs are like unquestioned

commands to our nervous system, and have the power to

expand and destroy the possibilities of our present or future.

If you believe you can then you can get yourself to

accomplish virtually anything, including those things that

other people are certain is impossible.

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Beliefs also have the power to override the impact of drugs

on our body. While most people believe that drugs heal,

even scientific studies in the new 'Science of

Psychoneuroimmunology' (The mind-body relationship)

have proved that our beliefs about a particular illness and

its treatment play a more significant role than the treatment

itself. Dr. Henry Beecher from Harvard University has done

extensive research that clearly demonstrates that we often

give credit to a drug, when in reality it's the patient's belief

that makes the difference. One demonstration of this was a

ground breaking experiment in which 100 medical students

were asked to participate in testing two drugs. One was

described to them as a super-stimulant in a red capsule,

the other as a super-tranquilizer in a blue capsule. Unknown

to the students, the capsules had been switched. The red

capsule was actual y a barbiturate, and the blue capsule

was actually an amphetamine. Yet half of the students

developed physical reactions that went along with their

expectations. Exactly the opposite of the chemical reaction

the drugs should have produced in their bodies! These

students were not given placebos; they were given actual

drugs. But their beliefs overrode the chemical impact of the

drug on their bodies. As Doctor Beecher later stated, "A

drug's usefulness is a direct result of not only the chemical

properties of the drug, but also the patient's belief in the

usefulness and effectiveness of the drug. Norman Cousin

added, "Drug are not always necessary, but the belief in

recovery always is." You need to realize that your beliefs

have the capacity to make you sick or healthy, rich or poor,

important or unimportant, and make you produce

outstanding success or drown you in the river of failure.

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Do you know the old story of the four-minute mile? For

thousands of years people held the belief that it was

impossible for a human being to run the mile in less than

four minutes. But in 1954, Roger Banister broke this belief

barrier. How did he do it? He got himself to achieve the

impossible in his mind, breaking through the four-minute

barrier so many times with so much emotional intensity that

he created vivid references that became an

unquestionable command to his nervous system to

produce the result. The greatest aspect of his breakthrough

was that he also gave others the sense of certainty they

needed to overcome the energy barrier. And years after,

300 other runners did the same thing. Our beliefs are very

powerful, they shape our lives.

Beliefs can be expressed in three categories based on their

different levels of intensity and emotional certainty:

**Opinion:** this is a thought or belief about something or

someone. It is something we usually feel certain about but

can easily be altered. It is only temporary. Here is an

example, in those days when George Bush was the

president of United States, many people usually thought of

him as a 'wimp' because of his tone of voice. But when

they saw how he gained support from other leaders around

the world and effectively dealt with Saddam Hussein's

invasion of Kuwait, their opinion was altered. This is the

nature of opinion; they are easily altered and based on few

references that a person has focused on in a particular

moment.

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***Belief:** this is a feeling of being certain that something exists

or is true. It is formed when a person starts developing a

larger reference about something with strong emotion. This

reference gives an absolute sense of certainty about

something. The level of certainty here is higher than that of

an opinion. Altering people with this belief system will

require enough facts, data and effective communication

that will get them to question the references, creating

enough doubt to neutralize the old so as to allow new

input.

**Conviction:** this can be defined as a strong opinion or

belief. Guess you must have heard of people using words

like, "I am convinced about..." or "I'm not yet convinced

about..." As easy as it is, it is very powerful. A conviction is

much stronger than a *belief because of the emotional

intensity a person links to an idea. A person with conviction

feels very much certain about something that they can

even get angry if their conviction is questioned. They are

total y resistant to new input, often to the point of obsession.

For example, Muslims through the ages have held the

conviction that their view of Jesus Christ is the only correct

one, and they will do anything to maintain those beliefs.

Also, the conviction of true believers that Jesus Christ is the

only begotten son of God and except one accepts Christ

as one's lord and savior, be baptize, one cannot enter into

Heaven.

You'll agree with me now that the difference between

those beliefs is in the actions that one is willing to take. In

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fact, someone with a conviction is so passionate about their

belief that they are willing to risk rejection or sacrifice

anything for the sake of their conviction. For example,

someone who expresses great sadness or disappointment in

the leaders of his country has a belief, but someone who

probably starts an NGO to educate, build up and develop

genuine leaders that will make a change has a conviction.

Also, someone who expresses great disappointment in

public education has a belief, but someone who actually

volunteers in literacy program, trying to make a difference

has a conviction. Beliefs are like possessions and convictions

are simply more valued possessions which allow an

individual to passionately work toward either large-scale or

individual completion of goal, projects, wishes and desires.

Your strong belief (Conviction) for something will lead you t

o making a decision which will drive you to focus; your focu

s will put you in a state which will then drive you to take acti

on. In other words, the kind of results we produce is determi

ned by our state (whether emotional, psychological, spiritu

al or physical), our state is a product of what we are focusin

g on, our focus is an output of our decision and we make d

ecisions based on our belief system.

_Belief >Decision>Focus>State>Action _

You can call it **BEDEFOSTAC** when combined using their first

two letters. This is what determines the kind of results people

produce in life.

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The best thing you can do to master anything or be the

best in any area of your life is to raise a belief to the level of

conviction, because it is only conviction that has the power

to drive you to action, push you through al kinds of barriers.

For example, your conviction that you are born to win, that

you will succeed no matter what can help you through

some of the toughest times in your life. Don't be like the

majority who believe something because everyone else

believes it or are saying it. This is known in psychology as

"social proof," and it is not always correct. Some people

look to others for guidance when they are not sure of what

to do. It is not the same with conviction. Conviction is often

based on other people's enthusiasm for your beliefs. Social

proof can limit your life – to make it just like everyone else.

Don't accept everything you hear, don't accept words at

face value, instead, and consider if it makes sense to you

and if it is the truth.

**CHECK YOUR BEHAVIOR**

What you believe is a direct reflection of your personal

value system. Regardless of whether those beliefs are true

or false, you act according to the principles you consider to

be true. From that rules logical y fol ow and behavior

patterns become established. Successful people are known

from their behavior which is in direct proportion to their

belief system. They have the habit of doing things failures

don't like to do.

For your success to be developed, you need to

permanently change any behavior which is counter-

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productive. Remember, your behavior is the result of the

state you are in and to change the way you act, you simply

need to alter your beliefs until it becomes plainly in your self-

interest to make those changes. When that happens, you

will definitely make better decisions and change your

behavior for the right reasons.

Examine yourself by:

**1.** Identifying the behavior that is not producing any

positive result.

**2.** Identify all the possible beliefs which could be the

reason you're acting that way.

**3.** Project towards the ultimate results and future

behavior which will follow if you continue to act on

those beliefs. Check whether it represents the

destination God wants your life to reach.

**CHANGE INCORRECT BELIEFS**

You cannot separate what you do from what you are but y

ou can solve most of the problems in your life by attacking

and changing incorrect beliefs. When you change a man's

belief, you almost invariably change his future, his physical i

mage and you nearly change the man – his personality, his

behavior and sometimes even his basic talents and abilities.

Negative behavior is sometimes caused by trying to meet y

our personal needs with incorrect beliefs. For instance, belie

ving that taking alcoholic beverages is good when one feel

s bad or hurt will make you involve in drinking and this can c

ause you lots of damage. Due to the fact that these beliefs

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are not correct, they can't produce behaviors and results t

hat wil satisfy the unmet needs.

It is better to change an incorrect belief than to be

changed by an incorrect belief. Any attempt to amplify an

inappropriate behavior will almost irreversibly accelerate

negative results and this can lead to setback and failure.

Many negative behaviors are addictive in nature. For

example: smoking, drinking, over eating, bragging, lying,

over sleeping, gossiping, uncontrolled spending, talking too

much, anger, masturbation, inappropriate dressing, sexual

abuse. Etc. Al these negative behaviors are addictive

promoting short-term benefits at the expense of long-term

consequences. The key to overcoming these negative

behaviors is by changing their underlying beliefs.

The first thing to do to change any negative behavior is to:

**1.** Focus on the behavior you want to change and

have a crystal clear picture of what you want to

change. Next:

**2.** Get the best tools, e.g. spiritual books – bible,

inspirational books that will guide your actions,

mentors that will guide you to altering those beliefs

and be with the right company that will inspire you.

Then:

**3.** Take action – put all you've learned into practice to

neutralize the old behavior. Finally:

**4.** Link enough pain to not changing the behavior and

link enough pleasure to changing – to facilitate the

change.

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We do things either of our need to avoid pain or our desire

to gain pleasure, and if we associate enough pain to

anything we'll change. Here are some tips to help you have

the proper set of belief system and overcome negative

behavior:

**1.** Study God's word to know the truth about life and

how you are to live.

**2.** Investigate more on what you read, hear and see

before taking action.

**3.** Know and understand your purpose. The purpose of

life is a life of purpose.

In conclusion, I want you to know that beliefs are very

powerful. Not only that they alter a man's external

representations (behaviors), they also alter a man's internal

representations. Changing incorrect beliefs will positively

affect your journey to becoming successful and will

increase your chances of productivity. Remember, what

you believe is what you become.

_**Our beliefs are like unquestioned commands to our**_

_**nervous system, and have the power to expand and**_

_**destroy the possibilities of our present or future.**_

****

****

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**44**

**ENRICH OTHERS**

****

Giving is a basic principle for all success. It tells the universe

that you are provided for. It is an act of showing love,

kindness and gratitude. In the world today, no man can

become rich or has ever become rich without enriching

others. No great achievement or accomplishment was ever

attained without giving. It is more blessed to give than to

receive. There's no true happiness without giving. Happiness

consists of giving and in serving others. For it is in giving that

we receive. There's nothing that we have that wasn't given

to us, whatever life, wealth or strength. We received

everything we have from the father of light; so therefore,

we must learn to do the same.

As it is written, "Give and it shal be given unto you: good m

easure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, s

hall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure

that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." You

can't do something nice for someone without getting richly

rewarded yourself. This is one of the basic principles of givin

g and it applies to every area of our lives.

It is not how much we give but how much love and faith we

put into giving. For even as you give, you fear not,

demonstrating faith that you will remain whole, that your

coffers will be replenished, and that your love for whomever

you gave, is what's most important. Verily, as you believe

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these things to be true, you will experience such truths, and

abundance shall be showered upon you as if the heavens

had opened up. How beautiful it is to give and the

goodness of it from your heart as you do with God's love.

God loves a cheerful giver.

For so many people today, the message of service is "Do it

because it is profitable." But the true message of service is

"Do it because it is the right thing to do." It is how we are

expected to live our lives. When you do the right things,

you'll always profit from it. Your reward may not come

immediately, but having done something right or kind has

its own reward at the right time.

Many years ago an elderly lady was strolling through

Pittsburgh department store, obviously killing time. She

passed counter after counter without anyone paying any

attention to her. Al of the clerks had spotted her as an idle

looker who had no intention of buying. They made it a point

of looking in another direction when she stopped at their

counters. What costly business this neglect turned out to be!

Finally the lady came to counter that was attended by a

young clerk who bowed politely and asked if he might

serve her. "No" she replied, "I am just killing time, waiting for

the rain to stop so I can go home." "Very well madam" the

young man smiled, "May I bring out a chair for you?" And

he brought it without waiting for her answer. After the rain

stopped, the young man took the lady by the arm, saw her

off to the street and bade her good-bye. As she left she

asked him for his card.

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Several months later the owner of the store received a

letter, asking that this young man be sent to Scotland to

take an order for the furnishings of a home. The owner of

the store wrote back that he was sorry, but the young man

did not work the home furnishings department, however, he

explained that he would be glad to send an experience

man to do his job. Back came a reply that no one would do

except this particular young man. The letter was signed by

Andrew Carnegie and the house he wanted furnished was

Skibo Castle in Scotland. The elderly lady was Mr.

Carnegie's mother. The young man was sent to Scotland

and he received an order for several hundred thousand

dollars worth of household furnishings. He later became the

owner of half interest in the store. His life changed just for

what he did.

A man who shows care and love is easily cared for and

loved. Always show love and do right. This will gladden

some people and surprise the rest. Kindness in giving

creates love, and love produce success and open doors of

breakthrough.

It is our habit that shapes us. Doing things that are good will

make us good and become better. We can avoid anything

evil. We can resist selfishness or self-absorption by doing

those things that a good person would do. We can help

assist, serve, give and contribute if we choose to. They

make us better in the process. Our lives only become better

when we make better decisions. Why do you think God

commands us to give and do good? It's because He wants

us to grow and be rich. You live for purpose not for reason.

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If you were given an opportunity that made you successful,

it means that you should contribute back. If you only give

back what you took, it's a zero sum game. The plus is when

you put more than what you took out, then you'll

accomplish more by moving beyond simple success to

unselfish service. Some folks think they are being charitable

when they give away things they don't want. Don't give

what you don't have need of. The true measure of giving is

giving what cost you. Just as Mother Teresa has advised,

"Give, but give until it hurts." Give more than you were

given.

For you to be the best in your field or profession, you need

to upgrade to a level of leadership distinguished by your

service to others. You'll become well known for what you

do or probably what you've done for others than what

you've accomplished for yourself. Make use of what you

have and do so well to be of great service to humanity –

because you give little when you give of your profession,

but you truly give when you give of yourself. Don't forget,

when adding value, giving or making contributions, you

don't have to announce it or be recognized for your work

to create awareness for yourself. That's the ultimate

measure of success. Be careful how you display or carry

yourself because a person who is full of self doesn't notice

opportunity, much less being of service to humanity.

Success isn't about making money alone, it's about

becoming the best you can be and continuing to grow.

The best you can be isn't as a business person, author,

engineer, doctor, musician, footballer, fashion designer etc.

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it is about being the best human being you can ever be,

then other roles will develop proportionally.

Here are some basic principles of giving:

**1.** In order to get more, give more.

**2.** You can't do something nice for someone without

getting richly rewarded yourself.

**3.** The giver is blessed more than the receiver.

**4.** Giving doesn't tally with un-forgiveness and grudges.

**5.** Giving is a way of showing love, kindness and

gratitude.

**6.** A true giver doesn't give expecting in return.

**7.** Giving is done with gladness.

**8.** You only get more by giving more than what you

receive.

**9.** Sacrificial giving is more rewarding than un-

sacrificial giving.

**10.** Giving is not only done when there is a demand.

_****_

_****_

_**The true measure of giving is**_

_**giving what cost you.**_

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**45**

****

**EXPRESS GRATITUDE TO GOD ALWAYS**

Gratitude is a high quality substance that is highly valuable

to our creator. It is a major key to unlocking divine blessing.

It is a way of acknowledgment. It is also an expression of

thanks. This expression is not only done when conditions are

favorable or when things are going well with us. It is

supposed to be done at all times. Thankfulness is a chief

exercise of godliness in which we ought to engage in our

lives. We are supposed to offer God thanks, for His grace for

success and that he offered a way for man to return to a

positive relationship with Him.

The writer, Francis Frangipane wrote: "The very quality of

your life, whether you love it or hate it, is based upon how

thankful you are towards God. It is one's attitude that

determines whether life unfolds into a place of blessedness

or wretchedness. Indeed, looking at the same rose bush,

some people complain that the roses have thorns while

others rejoice that some thorns come with roses. It all

depends on your perspective. This is the only life you will

have before you enter eternity. If you want to find joy, you

must first find thankfulness. Indeed, the one who is thankful

for even a little enjoys much. But the unappreciative soul is

always miserable, always complaining. He lives outside the

shelter of the most high God."

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There is no racial or ethnic involvement in thanksgiving. It

has no season. It is God's wil for us; which means, we have

been recreated so that as a vessel that serves God, we will

regularly serve God thanks. Thanks provoke God to do the

unimaginable. Living successfully requires a consistent

thankful heart. Don't thank God only for what he has done,

also thank him for the things He hasn't done. Life alone is a

gift that no one can buy. We were given freely. Thank God

for His infinite mercy for making you exist in the first place.

Some people are fond of requesting and complaining

about things they need that they haven't gotten, instead of

giving thanks. I'm not saying requesting something from

God is wrong; all I'm saying is that we should develop the

habit of thanking Him regularly even for what we have not

received. Before you were born He knew you. He knows all

your needs and everything you are going through. Your

problems shouldn't overtake you to the extent of not

expressing gratitude to God. Instead of complaining, thank

God.

According to scriptures, David was a man after God's

heart. He was a man familiar with great victories, but he

also experienced many tragedies. He knew the value of

being thankful, so he wrote, "It is a good thing to give

thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O

most High: to shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning,

and thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten

strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a Solemn

Sound. For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through my work:

I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great

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are thy works! And thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish

man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this."

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you

desire, if you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something, for it gives you

the opportunity to learn. Be thankful for the difficult times,

during those times you grow. Be thankful for your limitations,

they give you opportunities for improvement. Be thankful for

your mistakes, they will teach you valuable lessons. Be

thankful when you're tired and weary, because it means

you've given your al . It's easy to be thankful for the good

things, yet, a life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are

thankful for the setbacks. To quote Melody Beattle,

"Gratitude to God unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what

we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into

acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can

turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger

into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings

peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

Here are ways in which you can express your gratitude to

God:

**11.** By worshipping and praising Him.

**12.** By proclaiming His greatness and love to others.

**13.** By deploying your potentials.

**14.** By living your life as He wants you to.

**15.** By paying your tithe and offerings.

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I assure you success in every area of your life even as you

take that decision to always thank God. And don't forget

that thankfulness is a chief exercise of godliness.

_**Your problems shouldn't overtake you to the extent**_

_**of not expressing gratitude to God.**_

In concluding this section, I'll leave you with a quote to

memorize by Ralph Waldo Emerson, "To laugh often and

much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the

affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest

critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to

appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the

world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden

patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one

life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to

have succeeded."

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## PART 7

****

****

****

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**THE ERRAND**

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_"You are not here merely to make a living._

_You are here in order to enable the world to live_

_more amply, with great vision, with a finer spirit of_

_hope and achievement, you are here to enrich_

_the world, and you impoverish yourself if you ****_

_forget the errand." ****_

\- _**Woodrow Wilson**_

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**46**

****

**CREATE AND ADD VALUE**

****

We are products of divine creation. God has deposited in

us powers to create wonderful things and to add value to

things and the lives of people. We are designed and wired

with a gift to enrich the world. We are the most valuable

creature on earth and we have the ability and capacity to

create and add value. Our job here on earth is to reach

out, add values and affect lives positively with our God

given powers, thereby bringing glory to God's name. When

God created the first man (Adam), He gave him job to do. I

believe Adam didn't call forth herbs from anywhere; neither

did he perform any magic to produce animals. But he

functioned by bringing out their best, nurturing them, and

then placing them in their various environments according

to their different levels, capacity and nature. His job was to

create a suitable pattern of life, "To dress and keep the

Garden (of Eden)," that is; adding value to other creatures

and things.

Value is a result of applied creativity. It is the degree of

importance you give to something. To add value means to

improve the quality of something. To create means to do

something new or to produce something new in your own

way, from research and discoveries from other source. To

create and add value means to produce or do something

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THE GREATER YOU

more different and better. A person can produce different

items or do something different but it might not necessarily

be valued by people. When a result produced (from an

intended action) is appreciated by someone willing to pay

for the results, then that thing has value or is valuable.

In the world today, our ability to create or add value to

anything is not bound by physical limits but by

psychological limits. That is, our ability to generate new

ideas. Ideas are the most powerful weapon in the world.

They are the products of our imagination and are very

important for a fruitful living, even more important than

money. Money is only the offspring of time and expertise.

Time is always fixed and constant. Living will require you to

use your time wisely, and extract more and better ideas

from your expertise. To generate good ideas, learn to feed

your mind with pure, powerful, inspirational messages

because you are what you are and where you are

because of what's gone into your mind. Good clean stuff

fed into your mind everyday will produce hope which

fueled with encouragement is going to produce the action

and long term result that you are seeking.

One of the most important ways of inspiring yourself is to talk

to yourself. Actually the most important conversation I have

had are the ones I had with myself, the worst opinion I have

had is the opinion I had of myself. You can take control by

directing yourself and talk in a very positive way. Man of all

creatures, is more than a creature, he is also a creator. With

his imaginations he can set varieties of goals. Man alone

can direct his success through the use of his imagination.

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THE GREATER YOU

Most people often think that creative imagination only

applies to poets, inventors, writers etc. Creative imagination

is vital in everything we do. Creative thinkers and practical

men of all ages have recognized this fact and made use of

it. "Imagination rules the world," said napoleon.

"Imagination of all mans faculties is the most God-like" said

Glenn Clark. "The faculty of imagination is the great spring

of human activity and the principal source of human

improvement...... Destroy this faculty and the condition of

man will become as stationary as that of the brutes" said

Dugold Stewart, a Scottish philosopher. "You can imagine

and create your future" says Henry J. Kaiser, who attributed

most of his success in business to the constructive and

positive use of creative imagination.

Good ideas, hard work, sacrifice, courage and

determination should be your biggest investment. It doesn't

matter how much money or education you possess, you still

have to do more work on yourself. The education that is

compulsory for everyone is self-education. Don't go to

school if formal education is not meant for you. The

greatest resource given to you by God is your brain... Train

yourself to become a creative analyst; one who can dissect

a problem, process a product or services into their smallest

component parts and then find ways to eliminate, add,

reconfigure or synthesize these component parts to do

each better, faster or different. Our brain and nervous

system constitutes a marvelous and complex "goal striving

mechanism," a sort of built-in automatic guidance system

which works for you as a "success mechanism," or against

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you as a "failure mechanism," depending on how you (the

operator) operates it and the goals you set for it.

The critical key to al success is to understand that you can

have everything in life you want if you'l just help enough

other people get what they want. You'll only begin to

achieve when you understand these principles and try to

work it out yourself. This has revolutionized the lives of many

beyond their own imagination. Don't forget, "Almost

everything comes from almost nothing."

__

In creating or adding value, you need to consider three

things:

**1. What God wants**

Know what God requires of you. Attend to His instructions,

and ask for help on what to do. Doing or creating

something that is against God's will and purpose will

definitely lead to destruction. At the end let God be your

Director General so that you'll stand out from the crowd.

There is no greater reward than that which comes as a

result of holding fast to the wil of God. ****

****

**2. If it makes sense to you**

Check if it makes sense to you and then try to explain or

show some of your good friends what you have done. If it

doesn't make sense to you, then it might probably not

make sense to your friends if you tell or show it to them. But

God must approve it first. ****

****

**3. What people are interested in**

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Find out what people want – depending on the people it

involves, whether a client, an employer, a colleague,

spouse, or a student. Ask them what they want. If it is a

product, they'll probably give you a variation. Think beyond

articulated needs. Find out the needs of people and then

aim higher. ****

****

**SIX EFFECTIVE WAYS TO CREATE OR ADD VALUE TO**

**ANYTHING**

****

**1.** Make your products or services more superior in

quality.

**2.** Make your products or services more convenient.

**3.** Charge less and deliver the same quantity of an

item or services that people could get elsewhere.

**4.** Do it faster.

**5.** If it's a service, add some fun so that people will

have fun too. This will make them enjoy the process.

**6.** Do it differently from the way others are doing it.

Think of how to add creativity rather than capital.

The greatest benefit from creating and adding value does

not go to those the service is rendered to but it comes to

the one who renders the service, in the form of a changed

mental attitude, which influences other people, more self-

reliance, greater initiative, more enthusiasm, more vision

and definiteness of purpose. Al of these are qualities of a

successful achievement. Always be conscious of the fact

that we live in a world where values are improved and new.

You've got to be able to demonstrate value by delivering

it. Those people who never do more than they get paid to

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do, never get paid for any more than they do. Value is

where you add it not where you remove it.

_****_

_****_

_**Value is where you add it not**_

_**where you remove it.**_

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**47**

****

**BUILD BETTER RELATIONSHIP**

Building relationships are very important in life. Al humans

created as social creatures. We communicate and relate

despite our background or locations. It is the state of our

relationships that determines the level of our success and

achievement in life. Success requires creating new and

better relationships, terminating negative ones and

improving on existing inactive ones. A solid and long-lasting

relationship is based on team work. Things becomes better

and easier to achieve with team approach and partnering.

Great achievers don't use people as a means to an end;

they build long-term relationships. They enlist the support

and involvement of others through passionate persuasion.

As Theodore Roosevelt rightly said, "The most important

single ingredient in the formula of success is to know how to

get along with people." In order for you to get along

successful y with people, it is very important for you to first

build a better relationship with God. The message is "If you

want to improve in every area of your life, you must first

improve your relationship with God and then with others."

The closer you are to God, the better it is for your life.

Mind you, a healthy relationship is never in the nature of

exploitation that is, exploiting someone. An individual that is

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manipulative wil use people to achieve results as rewards.

They focus only on the results they want to achieve, after

that, it's all over. A better relationship entails treating others

with dignity and respects, helping them meet their needs

not manipulating them for your own selfish gain.

**STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING BETTER RELATIONSHIP**

****

**7. Observe and meet the right people:** make the right

contact. Know the importance of taking the lead by

targeting those you want to know. Mingle and

network. Meet new people.

**8. Ask the right questions from the right people:** I've

discovered that you can develop success in life if

you ask better questions. It increases your chances

of knowing and understanding what is unknown

and creates an environment for a better relationship.

"Quality questions create a quality life," remember.

**9. Search the best:** the best look for the best in others;

the rest quickly identify the worst. Everyone has

imperfections and weaknesses, and it is easy to

detect them. Learn to unlock the best in others.

Don't quickly see problems, see possibilities. Building

relationships means building strengths.

**10. Treat others the way you'll like to be treated:** do to

others as you would have them do to you. Jesus

spoke these words. The rule is, "Do to others as they

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would have you do them just as you would have

them do to you." Find out what they like and then

provide it if you can.

**11. Seek to understand:** take your time to truly

understand the important people around you.

Understanding comes before evaluation. If you

don't understand others, their personality, views,

then you wouldn't know how to relate with them.

**12. Cooperate:**

instead

of

competing

and

compromising, why not cooperate. The win solution

is achieved through collaboration. Collaboration

takes time, but the outcome develops stronger and

productive relationships.

**13. Appreciate**

**and**

**acknowledge:**

learn

to

appreciation any effort whether big or smal . O.G

Mandino in his book, "A Better Way to Live," offers

17 principles for a fulfil ing life of exceeding success.

One of those principles is, "Treating each person you

meet as if it were their last day on earth." By doing

so, you can encourage an effective relationship.

Words of appreciation, commendation and

encouragement can achieve a lot in building your

helpers.

**14. Be humble:** humility is not stupidity but simplicity in

relating with people. Sometimes our positions, title or

appearance can make it difficult for others to relate

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or even come close to us. But when we are humble,

it makes it easy for them. Be with people not above

them. Be humble because God resists the proud

and gives grace to the humble. Despite what Christ

was in his human nature, he was stil humble. He is a

perfect example of a leader to emulate.

****

**LEARN THE ART OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION**

****

Communication is power. Those who affect thoughts,

feelings and actions of the majority of us are those who

know how to use this tool of power. Jesus Christ was a great

communicator. Through his communication power, he

changed and impacted the world. Think of other people

like Paul the Apostle, John F. Kennedy, Thomas Jefferson,

Martin Luther King Jr., Dr Myles Munroe, Les Brown and

others. What do you think is common between these

people?

They

are

master

communicators

who

communicate their vision to others with such congruency

that they influenced the way the masses thought and

acted. Just as these people were able to move the masses

with effective communication, it is the fuel we also need to

move ourselves.

Communication is the exchange of words, ideas, thoughts

and feelings. Al behavior and feelings find their original

roots in some form of communication. It is the potential for

information exchange. The atmosphere of expression can

be exchanged if we know how to use this tool of power. This

is the key to a good and effective relationship.

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Your level of communication mastery in the external world

will determine your level of success with others emotionally,

socially and financially. More importantly, the level of

success you experience internally – the happiness, joy,

ecstasy, love, or anything else you desire is a direct result of

how you communicate to yourself. How you feel is not the

product of what is happening in your life but your

interpretation of what is happening. The most influential

and powerful managers, teachers, coaches, parents and

motivators are those who can represent the circumstances

of life to themselves and others in a way that signals success

to their nervous system in spite of seemingly helpless

'external stimuli.' They keep themselves and others in a

state of total resourcefulness so that they can continue to

take action until they succeed.

Successful people's lives have shown us over and over

again that the quality of our lives is determined not by what

happens to us but what we do about what happens.

Nothing has any meaning except the meaning we give it.

You can get so many secondary gains – attention from

others, sympathy, love, and so on if you adopt this style of

communication as your natural state of living. You can,

however, change your mental and physical actions and

immediately change your emotions and behaviors through

the way you communicate to yourself and to other people.

For example, if you wish to be compassionate, you must

simply change your physical and mental actions to match

those states that compassion requires. The same is true for

love or any other emotion. Just think of the process of

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producing

emotional

states

by

managing

your

communication.

Effective communication doesn't require communicating

more often. It's about relating well and communicating

best. One major difference between great and ordinary

personalities is that great people sell while ordinary people

tell. If you must be great, you need to learn how to

persuade, impress and influence through your work,

appearance and communication skills. Impressing

someone changes what they think of you, while influencing

changes what they do because of you. If you can't

impress, then you can't influence. It is your action that

matters most. It is what people see in you that will make

them listen to you. Your life should reflect the best and what

you claim to believe. If you real y want to be separated

from the crowd, then you need to improve your relationship

by mastering the art of effective communication.

**HOW TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY**

****

**1. Show accord in feeling or action**

People are moved more by what they see than what they

hear. There should be a congruency between what you

say, how you say it and who you are. Let your life reflect

how you communicate. Saying or telling people things that

do not correspond to your beliefs will not tally with your

lifestyle and will not directly aid effective communication.

May be you are saying or telling them things just to impress

them or to change their belief system towards you. I'm

afraid that won't help, someday they'll still have to discover

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who you really are from your corresponding behaviors.

What you should communicate to others should be

something that is working for you. People will eventually

watch what you do while they listen to what you say.

**2. Be purposeful**

Every of your communication should have a purpose and

effect. When communication is purposeful, it changes

things. Know what you want to accomplish before you start

communicating. Don't just talk anyhow. Communication

that changes things the way we intend is purposeful.

**3. Be open**

Don't communicate secretly, be open. Communication

that is effective is intended to create a desired outcome.

Giving people information doesn't mean they'll know

exactly what to do, but calling them to take action will

increase their chances of getting that result. If you want

your message to be heard, be overt, not covert.

**4. Be creative**

Creativity is very important in almost everything. A whole lot

of things were made as a result of creativity. Even man

himself is a product of divine creativity. Creativity is a new

angle on an old subject. It is also an important factor in

communicating. People tend to distant the familiar; but are

moved easily by the unfamiliar. Familiarity reduces the

greatness of things. Saying things that are strange can

restart the engines of people's mind. When the

communicator takes a slightly differently view, the listener is

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confronted with the unexpected. Once you've gotten their

attention you can now begin to persuade.

**5. Be brief and to the point**

Let your communication have properties of both brevity

and clarity. Attention in this present world is of high value.

You must learn to encapsulate big ideas in little package.

Before the important meeting or presentation, outline the

most important points you want to make and master them.

There are no benefits making points if listeners can't

remember them.

**6. Be tactical**

It is not necessary to tell people what they want to hear,

you can tell them in another form in such a way that they'll

be willing to listen. Be honest without being crude, harsh or

unfeeling in your manner of speech.

**7. Entertain**

There is a saying that if you win someone's heart, their head

isn't far behind to win. If you want to win people's heart,

learn to make them laugh. People like and want to be

entertained.

Develop

this

technique

during

communication.

**8. Tell better and interesting stories**

To make your communication effective, tell better and

interesting stories. The primary communication of Jesus

Christ was parables and stories. He didn't teach on 'dull

points of theology,' he brought divine principles to life by

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telling stories that his listeners could relate to. You also

should learn to do same.

**Don't appear to be perfect** To really influence, you don't ne

ed to show off or have to be perfect to get what you want.

People want to see you as human. There is no perfect perso

n but the best are working towards perfection. Don't talk as

if you know it all. Don't act as if you've done it al . Still give r

oom for amendment.

**9. Involve your listeners**

The best teachers are not necessarily the ones who give the

most polished lectures but rather the ones who have

discovered how to involve each student actively in the

process of learning. People want to be listened to as much

as they like listening. If you don't give them a chance, soon

they'll see no reason to listen to you. Be active and find

more ways of involving your listeners.

**10. Let it be powerful**

This is one of the greatest tools a public speaker, teacher,

preacher or a coach should possess. It isn't just enough to

have a message but it must be your message. In every

communication, your primary goal should be to break pre-

conceived thoughts and concerns. Because whether you

know it or not, each member of the audience or every

individual you meet is pre-occupied with their own thoughts

and concerns. That's why people hardly remember points,

but remembers illustrations and stories. Story is like a place

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for listeners to have ideas. Also don't forget to end with a

call to action because it is only action that produces results.

Make them clear on what they should do, not just what

they should think.

__

In conclusion, building an effective communication builds a

better relationship. And don't forget that our level of

communication with ourselves and other people

determines our level of success and achievement in life.

You have to be willing to connect and communicate if you

want to achieve greatly in life.

_**Great people sell while ordinary people tell.**_

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**48**

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**TAKE ACTION**

****

Some people often get caught in the mental trap of seeing

enormously successful people and think they are where

they are because they are called or have some special gift

or have a greater opportunity to succeed than others.

Observation shows that the greatest gift extraordinarily

successful people have over the average (mediocre)

people are their ability to get themselves to take action. It's

a gift that any of us can develop within ourselves. After all,

some other folks had the same idea that Mark Zuckerberg

had. But Mark was able to put into effect his idea and by

doing so, he changed the way many of us experience the

world. Other people than Ted Turner could have also

figured out that the cable had enormous importance. But

Turner was able to take bold action that affected the way

people viewed the world.

Action is the fundamental key to all success. It is what

produces results and 'unites all greatness.' Nothing but bold

action... It matters not whether it is your place of purpose or

not, just do the one thing that the universe has always

responded to – Action, and do your best. Most great

people started out fol owing their ambitions. Sooner their

great purpose was revealed. But they took action. They

didn't just sit down and wait for their purpose to be

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revealed to them first or for some voice to tell them what to

do. They followed their ambition at first, took personal

initiative and head in a positive direction.

When Phillip Brooks was in college, his greatest ambition

was to become a professor of mathematics. He majored in

mathematics, and as soon as he finished college, he took

up teaching as a profession. What was his chagrin, at the

end of six months he was told that he was no teacher that

his pupils had made no progress, and another would have

to take his place! He was completely discouraged. He left

his place down cast and sick at heart. For days and weeks

he moved about trying to decide what to do. At last, more

as a forlorn hope than anything else, he picked the ministry.

After the usual preparation, he was called to a little church

in Philadelphia. Strange to say, this teacher of mathematics

made an immediate spectator success in teaching the

most difficult subject – religion. People came from far and

near to hear him. His church grew, and a larger one was

built for him. He was called to the Holy Trinity church in

Boston. He was made bishop and became one of the

greatest preachers that country has known. As a

mathematics professor, 'he was a square peg in a round

hole.' As a preacher, 'he was in his right niche.' But if not for

the fact that he started out as a mathematics professor, he

may not have ended up being a great preacher. He

started by following his ambition, his inner urges – taking

consistent action to accomplish it and that helped opened

a greater purpose and gave light to his path. It required

only a little change but that little changed not only his

outlook but his whole life.

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THE GREATER YOU

Guess you know our very own Pastor E.A Adeboye. He

started out also as a mathematics lecturer in the University

of Ilorin, and he is now the General Overseer of the

Redeem Christian Church of God world wide. He is one of

those servant of God well respected all over the world.

Michael Faraday started as a preacher and became the

greatest electrical wizard of his day. Whitney was a

Connecticut school teacher, yet he invented the cotton

gin. Bel was a professor of elocution, yet he invented the

telephone. Morse, Dunlop, Gillette, Eastman, Ingersoll,

Harriman, Gary – the names of these started in wind holes

until circumstances forced them out of their wrong places,

they got nowhere. As soon as they found their right niche,

they went forward with giant strides. But one thing led them

on – ACTION.

It is the combination of knowledge and action that brings

about the results we are experiencing in the world today.

Take a look at everything around you, isn't it obvious that

they were created by someone who took action? Your

mobile phone, laptop, television set, table, tiles, paints,

clothes etc... where all created by people. No one has

ever been rewarded for good intentions but for good

actions. The glory always goes to those who achieve and

affect lives not those who conceive. But whatever you can

conceive, you can achieve if you take action. People are

not interested in how much you know or how much you

care. Moreover, nobody knows how good you were before

they met you. It is action that draws people's attention to

you and makes the universe respond to your needs. Like

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they say, "Don't tell us what you know, show us what

you've done, and we can listen to what you have to say."

As an old English proverb stated, "Knowledge is easier to

gain but wisdom is far more difficult."

A vision and mission with direction without action is an

illusion. Having a vision won't make you any different from

the ordinary person but working in line with your vision

guarantees achievement as wel as success, and will make

you different from the ordinary (mediocre) people. This is

called "Visioning." Vision is having a good idea; while

visioning is the ability to implement a good idea. Vision is

about a concept; while visioning is about activity. You will

only be known for what you do, not what you say. Once

you are exposed to a useful idea that will help you fulfill

your purpose, don't hesitate; look for a way to put it into

effect. In doing that, you will face distractions and

discouragements but don't be dismayed, cut back on your

interests, identify the distractions and discouragements.

Learn and discipline yourself not to let them distract you.

There are many things that will catch your eye on the path

to great achievement but only a few will catch your heart.

It is those that catch your heart you should consider. Track

and fol ow your commitment through because those

commitments flows an action plan. Move from "what to

do" to "how to do." My present state of self-confidence

and happiness is as a result of what I have done and

experienced, the result I have produced not what I have

learned intellectually. It is not the child who is taught about

love but the child who has experienced love that grows

into a healthy, happy and well-adjusted adult.

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Putting into effect an idea or a concept is also a way of

continuing the process of creativity. Therefore, it is not

necessary to have a fully formed picture or crystal clear

idea of where you are going before you start work.

Because much has already been given to you by initial

inspiration and resources are placed around you. During

the process, you may follow false trails, get lost and feel

frustrated even to the point of despairing. But if you haven't

worked on the edge of failure, you haven't worked on the

edge of real success. Implementation is part of creative

thinking. A good idea that isn't implemented is an exercise

of intellectual futility. You have to develop the product at

least up to a certain point.

Be committed in fulfil ing your dreams. Say what you'll do

and do what you say. Don't make promises you can't

keep. Keep your promises in synchronization with your

values. Learn the habit of doing whatever it takes to be

done. If we can consistently take action, hold the faith, we

will eventual y find the heaven prepared for us here on

earth.

**GUIDELINES TO TAKING ACTION**

****

**1. Use what you know**

As a professional speaker, entrepreneur and life coach, I've

met a lot of people in life – from working class to students all

over the world and I've discovered that almost everyone

have an idea or a plan, but only a few are trying their best

to implement them. The biggest problem I've seen in

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execution is where to begin. This can cause a delay in

action because of the inability to identify the starting point,

and delay can be dangerous atimes. Here is the simple

solution that I used that has helped me get to the level that

I am today: "Use what you know (no matter how little it is)

and start from where you are." Take note of the fact that

on the great judgment day, we shal not be asked what we

have seen, read, heard, know or even understand but what

we have done. It is our work that wil be tested not our

knowledge or dream. Talent and potentials unannounced

to the world is a waste. ****

****

**2. Ask for direction and instruction from above**

There is a need to ask for divine direction and instruction

before putting into effect any piece of idea so that you'll

produce the best results. The surest way to failure is working

outside God, while the way to genuine and long-lasting

achievement is working with God. Don't do things when

you feel like doing them, do things when it is God's time for

you to do them (but that doesn't mean you should not get

busy). Ask God for wisdom because He gives to all men

liberally. The life we live is not ours but we are responsible for

whatsoever we do with it. Involve God in every activity. Let

Him lead you to that great path and your success in

achieving greatly will be guaranteed. As scripture stated,

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine

own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and

He shall direct thy paths." God's time is always the best. ****

****

****

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**3. Look for extension**

Good ideas can often be creatively applied in several

areas of life to affect improvement. Whenever you

undertake a project or implement an idea, look for

leverage. Look for a way to extend the use and benefit

from it.

****

**4. Be consistent**

Consistency brings about improvement and enhances

quality control. Follow through is both an academic

discipline that seek the truth through reasoning and

practice. Doing or not doing what we promise is a matter of

integrity. Our reputations are not as good as our words, but

our deeds. Inconsistency between what we say and do is

deadly to integrity. The practice of consistency involves

recording and checking on commitments. Learn to be

consistent in the pursuit of your dreams. ****

****

**5. Do it as if it were your last**

Always put in your best. You will accomplish more in life if

you do your best. The best people always do their best.

Doing your best should come from within. That is, what you

are passionate about. Before undertaking any assignment

or take any action, ask yourself if you have important and

compelling reasons for doing it. If you don't, then your

chances of failure are high. ****

****

**6. Get a team if difficult to execute**

Some projects require the input and co-operation of many

people. Spend time identifying and gaining more support

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THE GREATER YOU

and commitment of those who will be necessary for the

successful execution of the task. Total solution requires

many smaller solutions and many smaller solutions are

usually possessed by different people. Even Jesus Christ had

to form a team despite his divine capability. He knew that

having a team wil make work easier for him and even in his

absence there will be people to continue his work and

keep the fire burning. The more complex a challenge, the

less likely you'l possess all the resources and expertise

required for completion. Therefore, the need for a team is

vital y important for total execution. ****

****

**7. Do whatever is required to be done**

To achieve greatness, you must do whatever it takes to be

done. Come up first with something afterwards, you can

then deal with the style, dependability, quality and price. It

will be much easier to improve what is at work than to

complete a perfect work on the first try. ****

****

In conclusion, a data is useless until it is organized.

Organized data becomes information. Information is of no

value until we understand it. Once correctly and

consistently applied, information becomes knowledge.

Knowledge does not benefit the holder until it is applied.

When applied rightly, it becomes wisdom. Wisdom is the

correct application of knowledge. Take action!

****

****

****

****

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THE GREATER YOU

****

****

****

_**My present state of self-confidence and happiness**_

_**is as a result of what I have done and experienced,**_

_**the result I have produced not what**_

_**I have learned intellectually.**_

****

****

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**49**

****

**MASTER CHANGE**

Change is one thing we can't control in this world. It is a

constant. It doesn't depend on desires or intentions. No one

is immune to this factor just as no one is immune to death. It

is inescapable. Al situations, states and circumstances do

change, whether good or bad, like it or not. But we all can

learn to adapt and make the best out of it. Remember, it is

not what happens to us that matters but how we respond.

The meaning we give to something will determine the result

we'll produce. We can't control what happens to us, but

we can control our attitude towards what happens to us.

When we do this, we'll be mastering change rather than

allowing it to master us.

Generally speaking, everyone have the capacity to resist

change, that is, we can stay in our comfort zones and

avoid the hard work that change requires. We all can

choose between success and failure, greatness and

mediocrity. It's a matter of choice. Resisting change is like

resisting our chances of achievement, because for life to

change, it entails hard work. If you don't work hard, you

can never initiate change. Irrespective of the size of your

goals or dreams, it will get smaller when you master

change. Developing achievers are not mastered by

change, they master change. They live their life by design

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not by default. They believe that in worst circumstances lies

an opportunity – the opportunity to overcome, save, and

achieve. Meeting the challenge to overcome and learn

from situations will greatly improve your life, so why try to

avoid change? Be a master of circumstances and not be

mastered by circumstances.

People who take charge of their own lives are ultimately

much better equipped to be of service to humanity. They

learn to accept responsibility that no other human being is

more responsible for them than they are. But they begin by

being true to themselves.

**HOW TO OVERCOME CHANGE AND IMPROVE ON IT**

**8. Don't wait for pain before you change:** don't wait

until when a factor or condition threaten you before

you begin to change. If you wait for that to happen,

you'll find yourself left behind and your success and

achievement race wil be delayed. Change before

pain meets you.

**9. Develop with the change:** development is a process.

No matter how good a person is, he or she can't

control all the changes that comes but can use it as

an opportunity to grow. There is no experience that

is a waste. As long as the experience is for a

particular purpose, we can improve through the

process. Every moment and every event of every

man's life on earth plants something in his soul.

**10. Use the opportunities change can create:** change

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can create some opportunities that can lead to

achievement. Identify and act on them. The best

use change to improve and stir previous

uncooperative

team

members

within

their

organizations.

**HOW TO MASTER CHANGE**

****

**1. Accept and act**

No one can predict correctly what the future holds except

God. The act of accepting what you can't avoid is very

important in adapting to change. But don't just accept

and stay there, act. Search for the correct information that

will help you anticipate change and prepare accordingly.

The sooner you do that, the faster you'll be able to adapt

to change. Always be ready, willing and able. Don't

grumble and contemplate on a change, instead act on it.

**2. Strengthen your foundation** ****

Foundation is very important in the process of living.

Whatever it is that we are into requires a solid foundation.

Change is going to shake you if your foundation on

anything is not strong. Our foundation should be built on a

solid ground for it to stand strong. Don't wait to be tested

before working on it. The foundation for dealing with

change can be built strongly upon two things: ****

****

**a. Faith:** faith is an antidote for failure. It is to see

possibility in an environment surrounded with

impossibilities. Napoleon Hill penned, "Faith is an

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element which transforms the ordinary vibration of

thought created by the finite mind of man into the

spiritual equivalent." Shelton Ken added, "There is

nothing that will so brace a person up, will so

buttress and reinforce his or her weaker faculties, as

a robust self-faith, faith in God, faith that there is a

great, magnificent force in civilization; there is a

divinely beneficent purpose running through the

universe." This faculty doubles one's power and

multiplies one's ability and without it we can do

nothing. Faith is the link in the great within that

connects us with our maker. It is the divine

messenger sent to guide men and women who are

often blinded by doubt and sin. Faith believes,

doubt fears. Faith creates; doubt destroys. Faith

opens the door to all things desirable in life; doubt

closes them. Faith is an arouser, an awakener of our

creative forces. It opens the door of ability and

arouses creative energies. Faith is your believe in a

power and purpose larger than yourself. An

unwavering belief in God destroys the greatest

enemies of achievement – fear, doubt and

vacillation. The Bible is the greatest source of

strength as you deal with change. "All things work

together for the good to them that love God......"

this is the central belief of faith. ****

****

**b. Family and friends:** your family knows, understands

and will support you because of their relationship

with you. Some friends can offer advice, counsel,

encouragement and support that will help you in

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handling change. But note that in some cases, your

family or friends might not be there for you, even if

they are, they can only assist you in dealing with

change, not to take responsibility for you. ****

**c. Be optimistic**

To be optimistic means to expect the best in all possible

ways. No matter how difficult your situation may be, there

are stil people facing much more severe problems than

you. When something bad happen to you, see it not as

fatal but as an inconvenience. Take a long view of it. Ask

yourself if the changes will still be there in 4years time. To be

optimistic requires you to be confident in your ability to deal

with change. ****

****

**d. Learn lessons**

Sometimes, change forces us to grow even if we wouldn't

want to. There is always a lesson in painful and unsuccessful

changes. Learn them and develop success from them. ****

****

**e. Always put on a smiling face**

Always smile even when you are going through tough

times. God gave us a sense of humor because He knew

there would be problems we can't solve on our own. Scott

Freidman defined a sense of humor as the ability to take

yourself lightly and find humor even in tense situations. See

something funny in whatever life throws at you everyday.

Always laugh about it even when it doesn't look favorable

so that it wouldn't affect other activities. Steve Goodier

wrote, "Laughter is a wonderful coping device. It helps us to

successful y traverse dangerous currents along life's journey,

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THE GREATER YOU

as well as assisting us fully enjoy the placed times of still

waters." Humor is something you can get serious about. It is

nothing less than an extravagant gift – to be frequently

used and shared! Billy Graham once said, "A keen sense of

humor helps us to overlook the unbecoming, understand

the unconventional, tolerate the unpleasant, overcome the

unexpected, and out-last the unbearable." The best part of

all is that you have already received the gift of laughter.

Use it! ****

****

In conclusion, always have at the back of your mind that

no matter where you are, change will always meet you. But

one thing for sure is that, when you are self reliant, positive

optimistic and you do your work with the assurance of

success, you'll magnetize conditions. You'll draw to yourself

the literal fulfillment of the promise, "For unto everyone that

hath shal be given and he shall have in abundance."

_****_

_****_

_**Be a master of circumstances and not be**_

_**mastered by circumstances.**_

****

****

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THE GREATER YOU

**50**

****

**GIVE MORE**

One of the great paradoxes of life is that the more you

enrich people, the more you achieve and become

successful long term. Without enriching others, you can't be

enriched by others. The aspect of giving not only applies to

finances and material possessions but also to talents and

other character based areas in life. The more you share, the

more you'll possess in the long-term. The world's most

influential leaders throughout history have al been good

teachers. In order words, the best leaders teach their

fol owers to grow and perform in the level God wants them

to perform. They transfer knowledge along with energy to

bring that knowledge to life. They do almost everything by

giving.

In Scriptures, there was a lame man at a place called "The

Beautiful Gate" who was begging for money from people.

His breakthrough came when he met two young men

named Peter and John. He wanted money from them but

unfortunately for him, he got something that money

couldn't give. Peter and john didn't have money or

material possessions to give to him at that time, but they

gave him what they actually had. Peter said, "Silver and

gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: in the

name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." That is

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the 'Power of the Spoken Word of God – Rhema.' Now

these two men understood what they had, the power they

could immediately command, and they gave it out. They

solved that man's problem by using their God given powers

and they expanded and achieved more.

The honest secret to living life is giving life. For you to be

blessed, you need to be a blessing. Everyone is created to

be a blessing to one another. For this reason, we all were

given different potentials and gifts so that we'll be able to

give and share with one another, thereby making the world

a better place to live in. Don't die before you live, live

before you die. Don't live your life here on earth only to

discover on that great judgment say that you have not

lived. Live while you still can. Discover yourself; develop that

talent of yours, share, affect and give. This is what living is all

about – shriving towards fulfil ing a particular purpose; and

purpose entails serving others.

Be generous in your giving. Generosity is giving more than

you can. Success becomes failure when you go on the

principle of getting all you can and giving as little as

possible in return. It is in giving more we receive more. To

get your problems solved, you need to be solution to

problems...

The other day a friend told me of a time when he was in

urgent need of $5,000. Al he had was $500 in his bank

account. He found himself holding on to that $500 like a

drowning man to a straw. For days he kept it, fearing to

break it lest he should be lost entirely. Then it suddenly

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occurred to him that he was pinning his faith to a lone $500

naira instead of to the source of every supply. He was

damming the flow of money by keeping that little

obstruction in the faucet. He sat down one day and to

show his faith, he gave that $500 to the first worthy charity

that came to his mind. Immediately his faucet opened and

the supply flowed through abundantly and never since has

it failed to respond to the same treatment.

In the words of Mother Theresa, "Many people think they

are being charitable when they give away things they

don't want. Give until it hurts." It is only when you give what

is important to you that you truly give. You need to

sacrificial y give. No more must you depend on the money

in your pocket or bank account. Use it cheerfully, freely, for

any good purpose, knowing there is infinitely more where

that came from, merely waiting for you to make room for it.

Give all you can and earn all you can. It might be in cash,

materials, words or any gift that God has given to you. You

freely received everything you own from God, you must

freely give whatever it is you have. Humanity is in need of

your service. You are born to give, share and impact the

lives of others positively. Advance from a go-getter to a go-

giver. Give more!

_**Advance from a go-getter to a go-giver.**_

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**CONCLUSION**

****

_Your task consists first of all in mastering a life that_

_is your own by discovering your true personality,_

_not a life that is imposed or prescribed by_

_someone else, no matter how noble its_

_appearance may be. We are issued one life from_

_our creator, and we don't know fully well how it_

_will end. It would be regrettable to squander this_

_one chance on someone else's appearance,_

_someone else's experience after discovering on_

_that great judgment day. ****_

\- _**Newton King**_

I once read a story about a beautiful rose garden with a

single weed growing on it. Two people went into the

garden to look at it. When the first person came out he was

asked what he had seen. "I have seen the most beautiful

roses you could ever wish to see," he responded. The

second person was asked the same question. "I saw an

ugly weed," was the reply. There are those who look at life

positively and see in it everything that is beautiful and

achievable, and those who look at it negatively and see

everything that is ugly, unpleasant and difficult. But how

can one person look at something and find it beautiful

while another person looks at the same thing and finds it

ugly? I wonder! Maybe, beauty and ugliness emanate from

the onlooker and not the object being looked at? Yeah.....

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That's it. Every man gets their reward according to their

belief system, as to what life mean to them, what they seek

for and the action they take.

I am convinced that what each of us really want deep

down in our heart is a fulfilled and enjoyed life. Happiness,

success, achievement, peace of mind or whatever your

own conception may be, is expressed in its essence as

fulfilled life. When we experience emotions of happiness,

self confidence and success, we enjoy more life. And to the

degree that we inhibit our potentials, frustrate our God-

given talents and allow ourselves to suffer anxiety, fear, self-

condemnation and self-hate, we literally choke off the life

force available to us and turn our back upon the gift which

our Creator has made. To the degree that we deny this gift

of life, we embrace death and it is worse than not being

born to life. Don't misuse your potentials or choke them,

make good use of them. Nurture them with all your energy,

resources and time. Use them to live. Live life to its fullest.

No one can go back and make a brand new start. But

anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.

There isn't promise of days without pain, laughter without

sorrow, sun without rain, success without failure, riches

without poverty, strength without weakness, but there is a

promise for the day, comfort for the tears and light for the

way. Disappointments are like road bumps, they slow you

down a bit but you enjoy the smooth road afterwards.

Don't stay on the bumps too long. Move on! A bend in the

road is never the end of the road except you fail to make

the turn. Never settle for less than you can be, feel, do,

share or give.

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There wil be a time when no matter what you'll do, you

won't get what you want, but don't stay down, just sit tight

and be happy. The key to living in victory is to learn to stand

up on the inside. Tell yourself, "I can, I will, I am..." Don't

accept failure for anything no matter what happens. Every

life event has a purpose, to teach you how to laugh more

or not to cry too hard. You can't make people love you, all

you can do is be someone people can love, and the rest is

up to the people to realize your worth. It's better to lose

your life for the things you love than to lose the things you

love because of life. We spend too much time looking for

something that is close to us thinking it's far from us, when

instead we should be perfecting the things we already

have and that which is close to us will be seen.

Never abandon yourself for someone else. You will never

find anyone who can take your place. You are a great

personality. Potentials are like wine, it gets better as it

develops. Nurture them. The ball is on your court now. You

determine what you are going to do with it. Much has been

written to you in this book as much is expected of you in life.

It's time for you to make the decision to apply the principles

you've read and deploy the greatness within you.

Lastly, we were told in scriptures that, "God shall bring every

work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be

good, or whether it be evil." My advise is, always do right

and be on the side of good. Pursue peace with all your

heart and stay faithful to God because the greatest of all

success is having a place in God's kingdom.

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_****_

_****_

_**Never settle for less than you can**_

_**be, feel, do, share or give.**_

Thank you for purchasing this book. Don't forget to apply

the principles to your life daily so that you can experience

the benefits that it will produce. You can get more copies

for those you love. Pass it on. I wish you well.

God bless you!

****

****

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THE GREATER YOU

**About NEWTON KING**

As an outstanding and one of the

world's most powerful speakers, Ekpe

Isaac Newton King is a purposeful and

dynamic personality, a professional

speaker, entrepreneur, author, life

coach, success facilitator and a

change initiator. He has not

only studied the science of

personal greatness but also

has attended the school of

life. He equips people for

greatness with divine principles and formula methods.

As a public speaker and leading authority on achievement

for thousands of people, Newton King has dedicated his life

to reaching out; empowering, training and energizing

people all over the world, by helping them discover,

develop and harness the creative forces that produce

extraordinary results and fulfillment.

He has impacted and touched the heart of many through

his outstanding motivational teachings on purpose,

achievement,

personal

development,

psychology,

creativity, communication, leadership, financial prosperity

and peak performance success.

Wel beyond the podium and public appearances, his

passion is to infuse hope in everyone he meets; his message

is to make people understand who they are, what they

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THE GREATER YOU

have and what they can produce. His charisma, drive,

carriage, energy for life, warmth and humor have

transformed ordinary people into extraordinary achievers

by using his own life experience and his in-depth study of

God's word and research on other people's challenges, to

build an understanding of what works, what doesn't work

and why.

A stumbling block in school was when he was mistakenly

declared, "unserious and dense personnel." People did not

recognize the potential of Newton King. However, he used

self-discovery, determination, persistence and belief in his

ability to move from an ordinary mediocre personality

moving with 'hang-dog' expression to an extraordinary

personality with amazing achievements.

Newton king is committed to training and empowering

today's generation (most especial y the youths) to stand out

and be great as he introduces to his audience his powerful

bestselling book, "The Greater You."

He is the Founding president at Real Kings Empowerment

Foundation a.k.a Young Adults Organization, "A non-profit

outreach organization that is established to empower, train

and develop effective people of integrity and faith to serve

and fulfil purpose." He is also the CEO at Real Kings Group,

"A multi-sector Business Company that includes Financial

Services, Information Technology, Human Resources, Real

Estate, Human Development and Life Coaching." He also

hosts various seminars, and online empowerment programs.

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THE GREATER YOU

From Warri North, Delta State, Nigeria, Newton King is born

into the family of Mr. And Mrs. Ekpe Kingsley. He lives in

Lagos City, Lagos State, Nigeria. ****

****

**Contact NEWTON KING**

To have Newton King speak at your event, motivate your

team, coach your organization or you would like to order

his books:

Please send an email to:

Newtonking4all@gmail.com

or call +2348137855070 or +2348186521048

For more details visit www.inewtonking.com

www.facebook.com/newtonking4all

www.twitter.com/newtonking04

www.instagram.com/newtonking4all

****

****

****

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THE GREATER YOU

**ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION**

****

****

****

****

****

****

****

Real Kings Empowerment Foundation a.k.a. Young Adults

Organization is a non-profit outreach organization that is

established to empower, train and develop effective

people of integrity and faith to serve and fulfill purpose.

**OUR AIMS AND OBJECTIVES**

****

1. To make people understand who they real y are,

what they have and what they can create.

2. To help people discover purpose.

3. To teach people how to live successfully.

4. To develop genuine godly and skillful leaders.

5. To encourage and infuse hope in as many that think

they are lost.

6. To connect people together.

7. To support the less privilege in the society and assist

them fulfill their dreams.

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THE GREATER YOU

**OUR VISION**

To bring out the strength in people all over the world.

**OUR MISSION**

To reach out, add value, empower, train and develop

people for creative accomplishment and purpose

fulfillment.

**OUR MOTTO**

****

Discovering! Developing! Dominating!

**OUR CORE VALUES**

8. Discipline

9. Excellence

10. Consistence

DECODE

11. Organization

12. Dedication

13. Endurance

**OUR TARGET** (picture)

Our targets are the young adults, those that desire to

become great but don't seems to find the map. For this

reason, we are popularly called Young Adults Organization.

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THE GREATER YOU

**OUR MESSAGE**

****

Our message is to inspire and teach people how to stand

out, be great, and live like a king.

**OUR ACTIVITIES**

1. We organize empowerment programs (called

Reformation) thrice in a year.

2. We organize a skill acquisition training program

once in a year.

3. We visit and distribute resources to the less privilege

in the society, those in the prison, and orphanage

homes once in a year.

4. We reach out to empower the young at heart in

various denominations, religious organizations,

associations, organized institutions, secondary

schools once in a month.

5. We reach out to empower people in their various

homes every Saturday (except first Saturdays).

6. We have our cooperate meetings every first

Saturday of the month.

7. We organize love feast for our workforce once in a

year.

8. We share inspiring articles on our blog once in every

week.

9. We share inspiring thoughts and messages on our

facebook, instagram and twitter account everyday.

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THE GREATER YOU

Sure, you will love what we do.

Be a part of us...

Support us...

Partner with us...

Follow us and like our page.... .www.facebook.com/younga

dultsworld

www.instagram.com/youngadultsworld

www.twitter.com/youngadults6

Visit our website www.yadults.org

**OUR FOUNDER AND LEADER**

The organization was founded by NEWTON KING E.I. on the

18th of August 2013 at Ilorin City, Kwara State, Nigeria.

**SUPPORT US**

****

We seek to serve and add value to the lives of the people

all over the world. We are convinced that when people

understand who they really are, what they are made of

and the inner strength they have, the likelihood of

significant purpose fulfillment and accomplishment is

greatly enhanced.

Based on this conviction, we seek for financial support and

also to form numerous partnership with individuals, NGOs,

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THE GREATER YOU

denominations, associations, interdenominational agencies,

schools and companies in our effort to reach out,

empower, train and raise up mil ions of effective youths to

stand out, affect lives and reach the nations through

different means, thereby making a better world.

We believe partnership should be formed for effectiveness,

efficiency and empowerment.

It would be a great joy and a mission fulfilled to have you

support us or partner with us financially in developing

effective youths to serve and fulfil purpose all around the

world.

Please use the phone numbers below to reach us for your

special gift.

Tel: +2348137855070, +2348186521048.

Or send a mail to youngadults222@gmail.com

Follow us and like our page.....

www.facebook.com/youngadultsworld

www.instagram.com/youngadultsworld

www.twitter.com/youngadults6

Visit our website at www.yadults.org

__

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