A New Year Message to you

A New Year message to you

This year is a gift to you. It is a gift that many had hoped to obtain but never did. Many started last year confidently hoping to see this year and even the next. It is a precious gift because it is the key with which you will unlock and shape the entirety of your very existence. It is not a coincidence you made it this far just as it is not a coincidence that you are the maturation of that sperm that made it ahead of 3 billion others who also tried to get to that egg in the quest to form the union that will become you. You are formidable, a warrior and a conqueror achieving what billions of others cannot. Your track record is there for all to see.

Once again you are at the beginning of another year holding in your hand that which you will use to engage and accomplish. It is not new to you, every year you have done this. This time you are going to do more because of the experience you have gained in this world and the many advantages you have ahead of others. It begins with your uniqueness. There is something special about you and that thing is your advantage that will enable you to accomplish that which no other person can achieve.

You have an existence and it is not a coincidence. It is one that was carefully planned and orchestrated for victory by a maker who makes only the best. Your task is to maximize this existence to the best of your ability and your key is your occupation. The one thing that occupies you the most is the vehicle with which you will get to the goal. And so you will handle it with the utmost care and work it with all the power in you. No other person can do it but you. Because you are unique—built specifically for this mission.

You will meet obstacles on the way. But those are not the problems because you are equipped to rise above them. And if they hold you down, be not afraid to reach out to your maker who will without fail rescue you and put you back on your feet. He will empower you more than ever and your race will be smoother. There have been several others in similar a position as yourself. Never has he failed those who live by his instructions and know to call on him when the need arises.

The apostle Paul was one such man. In Hebrew 12:1, he talked about this race that we must all run and went further to state how we should run it. He said we must shed the weight of such things as sin if we are going to run effectively. Sin becomes the liability that holds us back and slows us down. I therefore implore you to do your utmost best not to pick up any unnecessary weights or liabilities along the way so that you will finish well with full power. So that the lord your God will say to you; well-done faithful servant. Paul points us to Jesus as the example we must follow if we are to make any progress. He of course was the most accomplished individual to ever walk the earth and his mission was always to show us the way. The great way! The one you must follow if we are to accomplish.

Paul spoke also in 2 Timothy 4:7. He said he has fought the good fight and kept the faith and looks forward to his reward. There is a reward awaiting you and I am not talking only about the afterlife. For us as Christians the reward is twofold. To serve the purpose for which God created you has its earthly as well as heavenly rewards. So you must run your race very well knowing that it is not in vain. And if for any reason you wonder about your capability or the support of God, let me remind you about what God said to Moses when he expressed fear seeing that he was going to face a super-power like Egypt. Only one question turned the whole thing around: what is in your hand. As Moses’ staff turned into a snake, that occupation in your hand will become something phenomenal beyond your wildest dreams. It begins with your understanding of the power of the staff in your hand and the one who put it in your hand. You have an omnipotent and omniscient power at your disposal. I encourage you this day to use it to the best of your ability.

I cannot end without taking a lesson from the wisest man who ever lived. In Ecclesiastic 9:10 Solomon admonishes us, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do with all they might. What marvelous words of encouragement from the man who was a custodian of divine wisdom. He of course was referring to your occupation. Like Moses, It is what is in your hand at the moment. Put everything you have into it. For whiles your goal might be beyond it, it is the vehicle that can get you there. May the God of Jacob, Isaac and Abraham guide and protect you while empowering you with wisdom knowledge and understanding in order to accomplish in this year more than you have ever accomplished in any year. It begins where you are now. The bridge between your location and your destination is your performance in your occupation. Be more this year and may His Favour, Grace and Mercy never depart from you.

This message is a refined version of my short exhortation at Fast Track Financial Services limited during their end of year get-together and awards night. I thought it will be good to share with you as well. Please accept it as my New Year message to you. I suspect I will be using it in a few other places before the end of the month.

Plan your year with the special tool created with you in mind and accomplish more this year. The road is easier travelled with a map in your hand. Configure will help you in that direction. Download it now for free

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Introducing Configure© V1.0

About Configure© V1.0

At the end of every year, millions of people set goals and develop resolutions for the coming New Year. 90% of these goals and resolutions are never attained. Configure was created to make that a thing of the past. The problem is largely due to the narrow view most people have about resolutions, goals and success in general. They do not realize that the attainment of their beautiful goals is directly dependent on their performance. New actions bring new results and in that manner the new focus on performance as the means by which one will obtain success is bound to bring new results. Configure ensures this.

Configure is a collection of materials (i.e. information and attached exercises) ad activities that together make a seminar designed to transform the individual into a high performing person over a set period of time-- referred to in the program as a time block. The program first and foremost treats a year as a time block and breaks it into its four quarters helping the participant to set strategic goals and developing performance strategies to ensure their goals are achieved. 

The seminar is delivered at the beginning of the year and repeated at the beginning of every quarter providing participants with guidance for the use of materials and an opportunity for quarterly evaluation and realignment. Ultimately you will achieve a better performance in your occupation as the means by which you will influence your existence. Your occupation takes most of your time and hence it is the key influencer of your larger existence and provides the only opportunity to be successful in life. There is no success without first treating performance in the one vehicle that makes success possible in the first place. In this regard configure is different from other similar programs that promises success without treating what makes it possible.

It is performance enhancement tool in short and guarantees success because success is only possible when there is high performance.

Learn how it works

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Simple’s Complexity

After my rant and rave about simplicity, I have had a few sleepless nights on the matter as is my custom when something I have said comes back haunting in karma style. I have always had a great deal of respect for people who practice what they preach and as the God of Abraham is my witness, I do make a fair attempt of my own. But my attempt at keeping things simple all the time has not always yielded the expected results. Do people really want simple? I think the answer is a YES but must be preceded with a very long …errrrrm trailed by an endless scratch on the head. Think about it carefully. Have you ever told some one that you didn't like them? You will think that will be considered honest, straight to the point and most of all; simple. Nop...you get absolutely no applause whatsoever for that kinds of comment.

No I have not made a turn around. First of all, it takes complex to (Make that the one thing you must walk away with from reading this article). What brought the iPad to its one-button simplicity is nowhere near simple. I mean think about the number of things that needed to happen for the product to be created. The years of R & D and the number of people and resources it took. Now although Steve Jobs himself is a champion of the Keep-it- simple idea, he himself was not among the simplest persons of his day. His methods from what I hear cannot be described as people-friendly. In fact an article in a recent offering of the Harvard Business review warned against replicating his methods. He was not that nice a guy and that’s the simple fact.

All the simple stuff you enjoy were made possible by very complex processes. Take a blink of an eye. You have no idea how many things have to happen for it to occur. When I learnt about the number of muscles it took to frown, I didn’t have a choice but to smile. A single step you take is made possible by very complex processes involving brains cells, bio-chemicals, muscles, bones and countless other entities you haven’t even heard about. Imagine your every single step is a project from the cells point of view. Yet you consider it is a simple matter—it is after all just a step. From all indications, this is the very character of nature itself. It is how God has created the world. It uses complexity to make things simple. An orange is a much more complex entity than the simple fruit you see.

So if the blink of an eye is such a complex event, imagine how complex a person is with his trillions of cells doing all kinds of things. With the many thoughts and emotions and the actions that result from the need to stay alive, complex doesn’t even begin to describe a human being. The more people you have in a setting the more complex things get. This is what makes socio-emotional competence possibly a harder subject in practice than rocket science.

I have tried the keep-things-simple in the social arena. Say when you don’t like something and tell the truth so you can be free. Go straight to the point and don’t waste time on useless preliminary. In my hometown, a conversation with elders must first begin with a five minute introduction and continue with an expedition into the lives of people who have no interest whatsoever in the conversation at hand. William James will make a terrible elder in Ada where going straight to the point is literally a taboo.

I cannot count the number of times I have sat there screaming in my head “why don’t you just say what it is you want” in a conversation as my counterpart continued with a well rehearse dance around the real issue. Of course these days I don’t let it out because it returns a lot of negatives and I already have too much of that. Now, I am more like give him time, he will get there eventually. Often, I have walked away from conversations without a clear picture of what had gone on-- you are not allowed too many questions either. I have to allow myself some decrypting time as it were.

I have come to respect those police officers who directly ask you for a bribe, they are easy to understand so you can figure what to do with them. I have had more trouble with those who expect you to figure things out by yourself. I have come to learn also that people are very cautious with simple. They find the complexity of pretense more comfortable. You can’t tell a woman she looks ugly. You can’t tell her, her she needs to cover some things. You can’t tell women not to come to church in topless dresses (I don’t know what else to call them).You can’t judge a book by its cover. You can’t tell a person you are tired of their company and that in fact you never liked them in the first place. You can’t tell a friend you need some me time. In effect you are in a system where you are told every day that you must tell the truth all the time. Yet you are hated for it if you even try.

Ok so maybe I am overstretching the people side of things. Maintaining relationships is a complex matter of balancing subterfuge and uprightness. One of the above alone is not enough or you are bound to become a social misfit. Ironically the lesson here is simple; there are two sides to the matter, your side and the world’s side. If you present simple to the world, it will love you for it and you will make some progress. But for this to happen you need a lot of complex work done on your side of things. You cannot present simple unless you have done complex. Simple is only possible because of complex.  In business, it is important to make things easy and simple for the customer. Those who have succeeded at this can be said to have gone the extra mile. Extra mile might sound simple in concept but perhaps you now understand why many organizations and individuals find it an impossibility.

I would like to give you a simple to-do-list that will make you the best in your field. And believe me I have tried that like many motivational speakers do. The fact is that this does not really work or we will all be supermen and women by now. People who function at a high capacity have a mentality that you can’t just tell people about. They have to develop this thinking through a series of complex processes. A person’s life is made up of so many departments and unless each one functions at appreciable level, the ultimate output will not be the best. Those who are willing to tackle the complex are able to give simple and will always be ahead of those who avoid complex. So hopefully you get it; make things simple by doing the complex work.

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The Anatomy of Trapportunity

A trapportunity is a trap masquerading as an opportunity. It is not a real word. It was coined by the CSD Africa research team during the development of the Uptimetrics® training program. We were looking for a label for this phenomenon that even though so common, was difficult to define. What you cannot define is difficult to fix and our intention was to find solutions to the problem.

Clearly the phenomenon is a two part entity with each component quite self -sufficient. A trap can stand on its own (or can it?) much like an opportunity can stand on its own. But we see in practice that traps need the image of an opportunity (evil needs to mimic good). A mouse trap needs the aroma of meat much like the hook needs the covering of bait. No fish wants to sallow cold steel of course. So that one must come to the terms with the expression; not all that glitters is Gold.

With this understanding then, everything must be checked for substance regardless of how good they look. This is also the exact story of fakes and originals. The need for due diligence then is well placed as we will find that things very often must go through a certain process in order to be authentic. It is nature’s way. As soon as we detect the need to skip processes or laid down procedures that are designed to check trapportunities, red flags must be raised. For eveil by its very nature is incapable of doing the right thing. It must deceive. What trapportunity really does is to derail a goal, slow it down by misleading and many are they who have suffered major setbacks that have impacted negatively on their performance.

Some traps are so bad they will hold you forever. You feel like you are in a spiders web; helpless as you are being drained of your very essence. They come in different forms and shapes too. Sometimes it’s a person, other times it’s a job. It could even be a car. Frankly it can be anything that takes you of your course. Whiles it may be possible to get out of literally any trapportunity, the magnitude of effort often required for the recovery process can be painfully expensive and is best spent on the goal itself.

Trapportunties can occur on both macro and macro levels causing problems for your occupational and life performance alike. As we have seen, the micro things determine the outcomes of the macro things. So that if you suffer from trapportunituies in your daily activity, it will accumulate into a major setback in your quest to maximize your larger existence. This is then is how trapportunities can affect performance. The easiest way to avoid trapportunities is to stick to the procedure and always let systems run their course. Easy short cuts and superficial evaluation of things will not allow you to see beyond the bait and you will become the hook’s victim.

A person with a great future ahead of him who by some action based on what seems like an opportunity ends up in prison for the rest of their life has fallen for a trapportunity. There is a clear difference between trapportunity and self sabotage of course but I shall save that discussion for another post. In the meantime look out for the trapportunities, they are all around you. Joseph faced one in Portipher’s wife but luckily, knew what to do.

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Jael to empower the world with KOB

Every now and then you encounter something that inspires you to do something new and exciting. We have all had that moment at some point in our lives but creative people experience this the most. Regardless of the depth of talent you might have, inspiration can trigger a powerful engagement for you. Talent will remain a potential until engagement but engagement has driving forces and inspiration is one of them. During engagement, it is also what we believe, think and feel that ensures that we stay engaged and ensures we are able to be the best that we can be.

Inspiration comes from all kinds of sources. Sometimes it is just something you see or hear, taste or feel. This is because we collect information through our senses and decode them with our brain bringing interpretation to the raw data. It is raw material that can be used to fuel performance. For this reason, any source of inspiration is valuable. However, like anything else, some sources can be more effective than others.

This week my attention was brought to a music video that has been making the rounds on both traditional and new media. Whiles the video is new, its main character is not new to Ghanaian and international music circles. It was the unmistakable face and figure of the inspiring and adorable Jael Wiafe-- a Ghanaian gospel artist who never forgets to add a dash of inspiration to her already exciting gospel recipe. I ran into her a few months ago at Capital TV where we naturally broke into an informal conversation about her music and ministry. She was quick to point out how important inspiration is to her. People empowerment is a major part of her ministry and she has sung many inspirational songs in the past. But this new one; keep on believing is like no other.  It is an outstanding piece of art that does more than accomplish its purpose. Anyone who hears that song and doesn't feel inspired may have a relationship of a sort with the darker side of our universe.

What is also fantastic is the video. From story-line to scenery and characters, the producers left nothing to chance. Now perhaps you are wondering about the overall effect of great music, great video and a great artist coming together into one product. The result transcends anything you have ever felt before as it comes at you through all your senses completely trans-mogrifying you into a highly inspired individual who is bound to affect others towards a more inspiring world. I guess that’s what a great product does; we all become carriers of the ripple effect that must reach the banks of the universe. Jael gave meaning to a key concept in performance theory; it is not enough to have a great product, you must also delivery it powerfully and she has succeeded on both levels scoring 2/2 on the structure and content analysis. If you have already seen the video then perhaps you won’t mind my getting all technical and analytical with it. Chances are you are just as inspired as I am.

I don’t know what is on your to-do list for tomorrow but I can promise you that if you start your day with the keep on believing video, you will go on to have a fantastic high performing day. It is not surprising then that there are rumors of the song becoming the theme song for a larger empowerment project to be dubbed KOB (keep on believing) and to be run by an organization called the EL Empowerment Center. Personally I find Jael inspiring as a person and I have no doubt that she is on her way to transforming lives through her music and empowerment ministry. Her new album promises to be ground-breaking as it features major international acts like Papa San and a host of others. Look out for the album review as I already believe it is the next big thing after Cwesi Oteng’s Mercy project. Be sure to let us know what you think by leaving a comment

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When big is not better

There are two kinds of people in the world. Actually that’s not exactly true. How many kinds of people there are in the world or the whole of the universe is directly dependent on the system you use and there are countless number of systems that attempts to categorize people.  In this article however, I am concerned with the big picture and small picture people idea. For me any attempt to bring structure  to anything (or systematize it)is a fantastic idea. And it is not necessarily because the structure is a good one but I have a firm believe that a bad system is by far better than no system as an existing system makes for easy trouble-shooting. You can fix something that doesn’t work well because it exists and it is identifiable.  

A typical Big Picture person sees things in large pictures. But of course it is expected. They are visionaries who see the larger system than the small details. If you are a big picture person;

You can quickly see patterns in complex problems
You like to come up with new ideas and new projects
You have a low tolerance for busywork, tedious errands, and filling out forms.
You are great at outlining what needs to be done, but filling in the details can feel painfully exhausting.
You are a visionary in fact as you can see far into the future

Small picture people also referred to as details thinkers are almost the opposite of the big picture people. Whiles big picture people tend to be messy, small picture people see the details and like to keep things tidy. They are orderly and are good at running systems. What big picture people find difficult to do, this bunch will do with incredible ease. It is in their very nature to dot the Is and cross the Ts even when it seems unnecessary. If you are a small picture person then

You think about things in great detail and sometimes miss the big picture.
While you are certainly smart, others may joke that you lack common sense.
You would prefer to edit or tweak a plan than to come up with it from scratch.
Highlighting study notes doesn’t work for you, because you end up highlighting everything.
You have excellent attention to detail and you always spot the small errors that big picture people miss.

While the two may seem like opposites and may lead to conflict when working together, they work incredibly well when people understand their nature and how they complement the nature of others. One is not superior to the other although big picture people may often be the leaders because of their visionary nature. Nevertheless, they need the details to be filled in by small picture people in order for the mission to be accomplished.Small picture tidy up things and make them work. The dynamics of the two are called into play very often in entrepreneurship. Many people have not understood the fact that creating a venture is significantly different from presiding over the day-to-day detailed administration of it. And that in fact the two task may not manifest at their best in the hands of one person.

This is one of the many reasons why self-knowledge is an important component of the SPiD-UP® workshops. The many systems you are tested in reveals you in new ways and allows you to understand yourself better. So whether you are a big picture or small picture person is really not important. What is important is that you know which one you are and how to apply your strength whiles tapping into that of others. Understanding which of the two you are will have a great influence on your performance as it will point you to the strength which you must function by. Don’t forget peak performance is possible only when you are more of what you already are.

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