TIME STRIPS OFF THE LUXURIES OF LIFE (PART THREE)

Do you need that make up? Do you need that many clothes? Do you need this or that?  

When you one day  look in the mirror and smiles but still see an angry face looking right into your eye, that is old age catching. 

The charm of beauty vanishes into the thin air. When you are old, with that wrinkles on your body, that’s when you become bored hearing the body lotion advert for smooth skin. 

When your natural legs begin to fail you, when a stick becomes your third leg, you realize your strength is stepping aside. 

When your teeth are gone, that is when the pizza delivery man angers you. When you studied your body and your six packs has transformed into one pack, you will wonder why you spent all those time at the gym trying to impress the ladies when men were needed to do the work of God. 

When you are denied the renewal of your driving license because of poor eye sight due to old age, when you finally retire to that wheel chair because your waste is weak to link up with your legs to walk, you ponder over the value of the four wheel drive packed there for decades. 

When your time of departure draws closer and you are lying down on your sick bed knowing that upon fighting and cheating people to building mansions, you will just be placed in a coffin smaller than your kitchen cabinet. Sorrow will consume you, with regret ringing like a bell in every thought that crosses your mind. 

When you finally depart, and the Lord God calls your name and says: Hello my son, I gave you the strength to win 100 souls for me. Where are they? I gave you the finances to build & support my church. How did it go? I gave you this for that. What is the result?  

Every second will be accounted for. When the time is up, you will be left with your ideal self. You will be stripped off your luxury. No beauty or handsome charm, no riches or fame, no strength or power, it is just your deeds facing judgement.

 Use your time well. Live a life worthy of your calling. All things shall pass away but it is only the word of God that will remain forever. Be wise and choose forever over temporal.

TIME STRIPS OFF THE LUXURIES OF LIFE (PART TWO)

You are a great person and you know it. You know you need to start something today but why are you hesitating?

Is it pride?

Some many people find themselves at the receiving end of painful regret especially in their old age. Pride is a great tool to lure people off their destiny. 

When pride gets in the way, who you think you are doesn’t allow you to be who you need to be. You think you are good looking so you want to enjoy your life. When your gook looking is lost, how will you survive? These things are temporary. 
A time is coming your temporal endowments will be no more and the time you decided to follow your beauty or strength instead of your dream will begin to haunt you.

Is it procrastination?

Procrastination exposes goals or dreams to risk. Every time has its uncertain occurrence. You are in today, you know what is going on now but can you accurately tell what tomorrow brings? 

Do you know your time left on earth? So why don’t you do the hard work today. The man who died today would have created a valuable inheritance for his family. 
You might not in the position to accomplish it tomorrow. Opportunities flies up high, very difficult to catch so when you get one, make good use of it because it may not come again. 

Is it peer pressure?

Friends can ties an individual and completely influences his personal way of living. Your dream is something your life becomes dependent on. Are you going to let friends let you miss your destiny? 

You need to focus on your dream and never let anybody talk you out of it.   Note that you are different and they are different so be strong and make your dream your goal.  

Is it fear?

The moment you find a great thing to do in life, fear automatically develops. You begin to see all the ways in which you cannot succeed. But what keeps success in the right perspective is a determined mind. Overcoming your fear opens you to the path of success.
 You will begin to know how to walk your dream. Never let fear kill your dream but kill the fear in you to set your dream free.

Is it your community?

Where you are brought up can be a limitation and alter your great vision. 
When you live in a community where your dream is not familiar, people will criticize you and if you don’t stay strong, they will kill the dream even before it begins. 

But never give up on your dream. Be the first to make a change. Be strong and courageous and work hard. They can only persuade you but never be convinced. You are a genius when you follow your dream. 

TIMES STRIPS OFF THE LUXURIES OF LIFE (PART ONE)

 Your life is your time and what you do creates moments within the period. Capability at a point in time depends on the moment (time) in life you have reached. 

Each and every one on this planet has something unique that adds to his existence to make him or her special.   But ignoring your purpose for comfort hinders a successful living. 

Your destiny does not come to make you but rather you need to work hard and make your destiny worth having. 

When you are sleeping, time is running out. When you follow friends to do thing contrary to your goals and aspirations in life, time runs out. And a time will come, that valuable gift you think you have will be useless because the needed strength and discipline required was only available in your youthful days.

 That beauty you cherish so much that you look down upon other will eroded and vanished. That is when your true value will be measured. That is when your generations will assess your life.

That’s why a strong man will not continue to be strong but what he uses his strength for can remain for decades.

Today you are strong, beautiful, handsome, intelligent and so many complements. You look at yourself in the mirror and boastful smile because you think you have it all. Go out, look for old men and women on the street and ask them about how they looked in their youthful age. If you spend your life admiring temporal endowments, how will you live when they are of no use? 

Your life has a time limit and your destiny depends on what you do in every second that passes. Let what you do today connect you to who you want to be in future. Time continues, dates extend, but your life has a time limit. Don’t waste time. 

WHEN THE HURDLE IS RAISED, INCREASE YOUR JUMP

When you set a goal or develop a dream, achieve it. That’s what winners do. You only win if you want to win. Life will always doubt your ability by sweeping obstacles in your way one way or the other. You always need to keep moving forward. 

The more difficult the situation, the more matured you could become. That is a set up presented as a set back. Every level has its set of obstacles and if you want to graduate through the ranks of life to achieve your goal, you need to be prepare to face more intense challenges than you did some time ago. 

Perseverance crowns the patient heart with victory but the heart that crave for a comfortable journey throughout life is blown aside by the wind of challenge. You have been in level one for too long, it is promotion time. 

The obstacle is the test and level two is the reward. Stay strong, go through it one after the other and before you realize, your dream is materialized right in front of your doubters. 

If they build a bridge across your path, cross it, if they build a wall, jump over it, if they increase the height of the wall, fly, if they cover the sky, vanish. *Never let the obstacles keep you from moving forward. 

Once you start, never stop. Keep hitting hard and one day the hard nut will crack for you. Your dream is bigger than the problem, don’t let the obstacle of today destroy your beautiful tomorrow.  

IF YOU WILL STAY IN FAITH (TOUGH TIMES NEVER LAST BUT TOUGH PEOPLE DO)

There are times you feel like there is no hope. There are days you feel like giving up and ending everything. But if you can hold on a little, if you can be firm and have faith, the tough times will wash away like how running water washes away dirt and your life shall light up like how the sun shines to harden the soft ground. 

You shall spring out from the dark like how plant shoot out from the ground. And the whole world will rise to celebrate your greatness. Because you were like a seed stuck in the ground. No one knew you will rise again but you have. Your enemies will bow down in shame and salute you for disgracing them. 

They saw you sinking like a seed and loosing focus like a root developing into the soil while they expected you rise and they laughed. They didn’t know that you were building a strong foundation like a root. At the right time, you will rise up high. 

The root went down to fetch nutrients and gain grounds and when it developed above the ground level, the beauty is superb. So your struggle will make you strong that the enemy will hit you and they will fall down because you are now made up of experience and strength. 

If you will have faith and hold on, you will see that your best days are ahead of you not behind you. Believe. Have faith. And succeed.

THE PAIN OF SUCCESS

Everybody wants to be successful. That is the mind-set right from birth. Even a child whose mind is not well developed will tell you he or she wants to become someone great in the future. Why? 

Because there is a genius in every little one of us. Our minds conceive great things even at that tender age. But there are just a handful of successful men and women in our communities. Where did all those kids with great vision go? What happened to them? 

There is a great mystery to unravel. Success is not just something you wish and you have it. It is fiercer than a battlefield. In this life if you want to succeed, oppressors will oppress you, barriers will be built in your way and obstacles will be thrown at you. Criticisms will be aimed at you and you will be told all the reasons why you won’t succeed. 

But if you want it badly and you feel you need to get the finish line no matter what. Then you will succeed. Such people have a smiling face, a strong heart and a determined mind. They smile at the pain because their eyes are cast on the future success not today’s obstacle. They see the success after the hardship so no matter what is thrown at them, they keep moving forward.

 Every dream comes with responsibility and a level of discipline. If you are battling obstacles today, be strong and persevere because overcoming the obstacle is the most important test you need to pass. Be strong because the pain is worth it.  

DRAFTING TOMORROW TODAY

What is today? Well, I will say today is a preparatory level for tomorrow. Therefore tomorrow is the result of today’s performance. This means, what tomorrow will be like is dependent on what happens today.  Yes, tomorrow is not yet up. but you are looking forward to something. 

The fact that you expect something to occur or happen tomorrow makes it your business. This mean you have moved forward into tomorrow and you have created a space for expectation there.

 To succeed, you will have to begin the process where you are, which is today. The moment a dream or goal is developed, planning should follow right away. 

It is like you seeing a beautiful house on top of a mountain and you desire to get there. You will need to make a decision whether you will climb or you will walk around it to see whether you will find a route there.

 That is,  you start planning before you begin the journey.  Sit down today, decide on what you want tomorrow, how you want it to be done, when it will occur and you are half way there. Never wait for tomorrow, let tomorrow wait for you.

WHEN THE TIME IS UP

Everything has a starting and an ending point. Your life is defined by time. When you were born, you were little. 

But you grew on daily basis to the extent that you don’t even recognize yourself growing. Every day that passes reduces the lifespan of your journey. 

When you were born, you had 100% of your time to make it up to your dream. We come to this world with a very distinct gift. We develop our goals and some beautiful dreams. Unfortunately most people are talked out of their goals because others think it cannot be achieved. 

You are your own and your dream belongs to you. You need to be firm and stand by your dream, gift or talent. You are here for a purpose different from any other person. Your purpose has its appointed time so if you deviate a little, time may catch up with you.

 We grow unconsciously and we always think there is more time. Procrastination they say is a thief of time. Time is a limiting factor and it won’t be available always. If you have it today, can you guarantee it tomorrow? 

When there is plenty of time today, work hard towards your dream because if you can do much today, you can achieve more tomorrow.

Just like a race, the starting point and the finishing line never changes. They all begin at the same time but the time period the athletes finish is what makes the different.

During an examination of 2 hours duration, when the time is up and you are not done answering the questions, you cannot continue. Even if you know the solutions to the unanswered questions you won’t be allowed. It is the same with life. If you waste your time, you are limiting yourself in fully accomplishing your dream.

When the time is up, it doesn’t matter if your dream is  accomplished or not.

 Work hard, do your best today and bring your dream closer.

YOUR FIRST STEP IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS YOUR LAST STEP

There are billions of ideas and goals sitting relaxed in the minds of people. Most people are focusing on the ending touches and refusing to consider the initial touches. 

No matter how long a road is, it begins somewhere and ends somewhere. Are you waiting for the $1,000,000 capital before you begin your dream business? Or are you waiting for everybody to support your dream before you undertake it? Well, it may or may not happen.

 If you want all conditions to be perfect before you make a move then your dream will be sidelined for long. Don’t wait for the rain to stop before you walk towards your dream. Step in the rain now and walk through it. It may stop or may not stop but if you are already in it, it doesn’t matter whether it stops or not. 

You are getting closer to your destination. Pursing a dream is like running in a race. It is mostly about how you begin and how you finish. Being a good starter gives you the urge over the others. Begin with something today. Every beginning is a revival of a dream. Because you only stand a chance of finishing if you start. 

The admiration is enough. It is time to walk your dream. Doing a part today reduces the burden of tomorrow. The ending of our dreams are always admired because it is mostly beautiful. But we forget that the ending is a finished product. It needs to be started at a certain point in time and gradually it become what is desired. 

Take note that your life is limited with time and the more time you waste the lesser you achieve. Every day you waste pushes your dream further by a day. Do yourself a favour and pull your dream closer. 

YOU FILL A SPACE ON THIS PLANET

No matter the kind of life you live, there is a space you occupy on this planet. In this world there are three kinds of people everywhere. 

The first is the kind of people who think they have failed sometime and therefore they give up trying. I called them, the people with failure mentality (squares in the image above). 

The second group are those who think they are not bad, neither are they the best. They try to hang in the middle to make ends meet. They are in the middle of the failures and the winners. I call them, the people with average mentality (circles in the image above).  

Finally to the last group, they are always on top because they think no matter the situation they need to rise to the occasion. They don’t give up until they are on top. I call them the victors or the successful men and women. (Stars in the image above)

THE PEOPLE WITH FAILURE MENTALITY

(The squares in the image above)

There are so many people who have totally given up on their dreams just because the road became a bit rough. These kind of people fail for some time and they admit that they are failures. They quit and stop dreaming big because they fear they might fail again. 

They live far below the heights they were supposed to be. One very painful thing in life is the pain of regret when you do not persevere. Your conscience will haunt you for the rest of your life. You will think that, what if you tried a little, maybe you were just moments a way from achieving your goal. It is indeed very painful. 

But there will always be people occupying such spaces in this word. You are better than this. The only way to be a failure is to stop trying and settling for where you are. When you give up on the future, you give up on your life. This is because it is the future that keep you up to task today so if you don’t see yourself achieving something tomorrow then today will definitely be a waste. 

If you fail the first time, get back, hit the string and rise again but this time with more strength and a better strategy. That is why I give the full meaning of FAIL as Fight Again In Life. If you can fight again, you stand a chance of winning. Keep fighting and settle somewhere higher than this category.

THE PEOPLE WITH AVERAGE MENTALITY

(The circles in the image)

These are the kind of people who only look at how far they have come not how far they want to go. Such people just want to cross the pass mark. If the pass mark is 50%, they aim at just falling anywhere from 50%. They work just to get the bills paid and for up keeping.

 They always think it is ok to be this far. But they are afraid that if they try to go higher, they may lose their current position. Some spend their entire life at doing the same thing without any increase.  In life, if you are not willing to improve and move forward you may be thrown back. Because your current position is someone’s next destination.

 You’ve got to improve and increase. You need to be better than who you were yesterday. It’s good you have come this far, but don’t settle. Make your dream a reality.  Most of these people are afraid to move higher, they are afraid to compete. But what you need to be afraid of is; if you don’t move forward you will be drawn backwards. 

Just like a bicycle, if you don’t move forward you only fall because you cannot stand still. No one is average in pursuing his own dream. It is your dream and you are the best. Nobody can do what you love better than you. Go ahead strive forward and compete. Get to the top because you are your own boss so far as your dream is concerned.

THE VICTORS / MOST SUCCESSFUL
 (The stars in the world map image)

Success is not about winning over someone. It is about winning over yourself. It is about achieving more today than yesterday. There is a long road to your ultimate dream but success comes when you do part of the big dream every day. This group of people are known for high level of faith, love and perseverance for what they do.

 These are the survivors. They go to the battle field of life and fight their way out. In order to realize your dream, you need to have a never give up mentality. You need to understand that your dream is something you will need to protect. If you can protect your dream, you can achieve it. These kind of people see the opportunity within the tough times while others see only the difficulty.

 I call them the STARS in this world because no matter where they come from they make sure they are up. You are on this earth for greatness. Don’t settle where you are. Work hard because hard work pays. Get to the top where you belong.  The world needs your talent so do not disappoint your generation.

YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES

You have everything you need to be a star. The decision is yours. Your life can only be at its best when you are able to achieve your dream. This world has squares, circles and stars. 

It is the difficulty in life that differentiate these people. If it was easy everybody will do it. Take advantage of the harsh conditions a make it to the top. There a some people at the bottom (squares) and so many in the middle (circles) but at the top, there are just few people (stars) enjoying and having all they need. 

The stars are on top because some time ago, they made a tough decision to protect their dream, work hard and persevere. When others sleep they were awake working, when others criticize, they stepped on those criticisms to rise higher. It won’t be easy but at the end, it is worth it. Make your life better, don’t follow the crowd, follow your dream.