It Starts with a Seed

It Starts with a Seed:

We are the prophets over our lives, not any other person or thing. It is what we accept over and in our lives that germinate and bears the fruits that become who and all we manifest. It all started with a thought, then a word and over time becomes our reality.

Everything that is visible came from that which is invisible, otherwise known as thoughts and words. If we take care of the invisible, we determine the visible. The visible is no accident of nature or any other thing. It is predetermined by the activities of the invisible - thoughts and words.

Everything produces after its kind, including thoughts and words. You cannot plant a mango seed and expect an orange tree. You cannot plant an orange seed and expect a mango tree. Every thought and word will answer for us and to us according to their kind.

To create the future of your dreams, you must plant the kind of seeds - thoughts and words - that produces them. Everything starts with a seed. You pick the seed, you pick the fruits, you pick your future. You nurture the seed, you nurture the fruits, you nurture your future.

What are you waiting for?

The Saint.

In this series:

Our Leverage.

Our Leverage:

Different animals are endowed with different things, assets, to necessitate and enable their survival. Some were given size, others strength, speed, ability to camouflage, amongst other qualities. Man (unisex) was given one thing and one thing alone, his mind. Without his mind, he is nothing. With his mind he is everything.

Our mind is our leverage position, our greatest and possibly only indispensable asset. It determines our personality, sense of self, and general disposition and outlook to life. As one who has been in depression, I know this intricately personally. In one day, I was poor. In one day, I was rich. My account balance did not necessarily change. My mind made it so.

Our mind creates our own reality. NONE of us sees the real reality. We ONLY see the map our mind creates of it. The map is never the same as the territory. It is only an interpretation of it. That interpretation is what we call perception. Perception is how reality affects us - our extraction of it, which is truly within our power.

This power is determined by the extent to which we have control of and use our mind. Our mind was given to us to use, not to be used by it. The extent to which we control and use our mind determines the soundness of it and thus our mental wellness. The extent to which it runs riot on us determines or exposes how deprecated it might be.

The call of life is to own our mind and exploit it to actualize in becoming the fullest expression of all that we have been created to be. Anything short is a failure.

Do you own your mind?

The Saint.

In this series:

Empowering People.

It Starts with a Seed.

Empowering People:

In his management classic Good to Great, Jim Collins defines the "right people" through his core principle: "First Who, Then What"—meaning you must get the right people on the bus before you figure out where to drive it. But it does not end there. The thought and action also must be right and disciplined.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, a great company needs all three. It is not enough to have one or two. Getting the right people into the bus is possibly the easiest of these. Having the discipline to release them to do the reason for their employment is where most organizations fail.

I was in a meeting the other day with a manager arguing on a position she has little to no experience on. She wanted her way, without evidence on why the alternatives will not work. It was about being the boss and pushing her way through. She is an example of a round peg in a square hole.

Organizations are bedevilled with such people who have risen into positions they lack the telemetry for. No wonder, it is said "People don't leave companies or jobs. They leave bosses." Everyone wants to be in a place where they are actualized, and their opinions and contributions are making a difference.

Are you enabling the persons working with and for you? Are you enabling yourself?

The Saint.

In this series:

The Power to Influence. 

Our Leverage.

It Starts with a Seed.

The Power to Influence:

We are each created as creatures of influence - to influence and be influenced. It follows therefore that we are each created to lead and be led. There is possibly no better place to see this than when you see two people going on a walk. They both walk at a new pace, different from their individual paces, but in sync with the terms of the engagement. Each is influencing and being influenced.

Equally true is the fact that these dual influences are not equal. One is determined by the environment one finds themselves. The other is determined by the state of the persons inner organization and war. A disorganized inner organization and a defeated person have little to nothing to influence others with.

Your power to influence and thus lead others is determined by the power obtained from organizing yourself, finding your own peace, winning the war within, and thus leading yourself.

Are you winning?

The Saint.

In this series:

Power Does Not Corrupt.

Empowering People.

Our Leverage.

Power Does Not Corrupt:

Charlie Chaplin puts it this way, "You need power only when you want to do something harmful; otherwise, love is enough to get everything done." I used to struggle with this, in time past, but no more. I have seen and experienced enough of life to be a witness to its veracity.

I have seen erstwhile, supposed, humble (truly humbled) people transform into beasts, only because they tasted power. I like to say, "everyone needs to be given power to know who they truly are." Power does not corrupt; it only reveals who a person truly is.

If you cannot lead without power, you cannot lead with power. Margaret Thatcher captures this perfectly, when she said, "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't."

Don't get me wrong. Power has its own place. It is a deterrence that needs never to be used. It comes from an inside work of winning the inner war of your being. People smell the result of the inner war. And the respect is thus reflected in the way they deal with you.

Are you truly winning?

The Saint.

In this series:

The Extra in the Extraordinary.

The Power to Influence.

Empowering People.

The Extra in the Extraordinary:

Life is about being good at what you are good at. And not assuming nor taking for granted your being good at it. 'Tis one thing to be good. 'Tis another thing to excel and differentiate yourself in the thing that you are good at. Talent is not enough. Dexterity and circumstances don't cut it on their own. Practice and diligence differentiate the extraordinary from the ordinary. 

The example that typically comes to mind for me, in this wise, is Nani and Ronaldo. Both were a cut above others. Both were Portuguese and played for Sporting Lisbon. Both moved to Manchester United at about the same time. One rose to notoriety. The other did not. One we heard of the extra he put in. The other did just what every other person did.

Which are you?

The Saint.

In this series:

Be the Best You not Another.

Power Does Not Corrupt.

The Power to Influence.

Be the Best You not Another:

If you are a fish, build excellence and performance on swimming and water related activities. Stop struggling with the monkey on climbing and jumping between trees.

If you are a monkey, build excellence and performance on climbing and jumping between trees and such related activities. Stop competing with the fish in swimming or water related activities.

What or whoever you are, be a good one and the highest expression of it. Stop playing second fiddle, when you can play first fiddle.

You were not fashioned to do all things well and or efficiently. That is why we do SWOT analysis. It is not just for organizations. It is also for individuals just as well. Every individual is an organization of internal systems.

Do you know your strengths and weaknesses? If not, why not? Is your life that cheap? If yes, what are you doing with it? Who bewitched you to not harness your strengths? Where did you get your learned helplessness from?

Time is ticking, so should you. Let’s go.

The Saint.

In this series:

Take Heed.

The Extra in the Extraordinary.

Power Does Not Corrupt.