Vision- is it enough

How many times have you heard that if you dream it, you can receive it, or heard that just setting goals will magically assist you in achieving all you’ve ever wanted?

I have been a firm believer for years in goal setting and have presented numerous speaking engagements on creating what I believed to be a clear vision, however in the last week I have been brought to a new insight. One where vision and goals are not paramount to success, but rather the importance of having clarity of vision and the accompanying goals. Let me explain by way of an incident that occurred while out on a training mountain bike ride.

On entering the Buffelsdrift Reserve we were rode into our first herd for the day. Wildebeests with young calves cantering alongside their mothers. The sun had just risen and the morning light on the surrounding bush was absolutely beautiful. The ride has a fast descent over rather rocky terrain. We were setting ourselves up for the descent when a herd of Zebra appeared a little down the track. From previous experience we knew that they might have foals with them and brought the bikes to a stop, allowing them to cross the track.

As expected there were some foals with one very young one. He could not have been more than one or two days old. On crossing the path quite close to us the foal got himself tangled in the brush. We were unfortunately very close at the time and the foal proceeded to approach us on the mountain bikes. Zebra foals stay very close to their mothers to assist them in imprinting. Newly born zebras undergo a critical period of imprinting during which they must learn who their mother is. Since the young zebra will follow anything that moves, new mothers are very aggressive toward other mares for the first few hours after they give birth. This aggression prevents the foal from accidentally imprinting upon another female.

This young fellow decided that we were going to make fine parents. Even as a wild animal its instinct to stay close to anything that moved can only be described as overwhelming. My riding partner was being nuzzled by a Zebra foal. We tried to lead it back to the other Zebras but it kept on following right up against us. At one point my riding partner, Charl led the foal around a large bush, bolted back and lay down flat in the grass. The foal found him. This was hilarious. This young foal wasn’t going anywhere. It knew it had to stay close and was not going to get separated again.

We managed to lead the foal to a large dirt road where the other Zebras and the mare were barking. I told my partner to accelerate in an attempt to leave the foal behind. Man, you should have seen the look on that foals face. I am sure it suffered psychological damage from being left behind a second time on the same day. Riding past the Zebras with the foal cantering behind did ensure that it joined up with the mare and the herd. A great ending to two very concerned riders and a foal.

Although this experience was amazing, it left me wondering about that warm fuzzy feeling that we get when we think were on the right track. This young foal had drive, commitment, perseverance and a reasonable belief that if the item was moving and bigger than him, that it could only be his mother as she would not allow anyone else near him.

I believe that our visions and goals are often set using similar guidelines. I believe that we need to re-evaluate our personal vision and goals and reduce to writing the characteristics, specifics and attributes that would enable us to not only recognize but also ensure the successful implementation of our desires, passion and intentions.
It may not be enough to only have desires, passion and intentions. Take time to identify the specifics, characteristics and attributes

Where to start when you don't know where to start

Where do you begin when you are at your wits end and your results do not seem to be working with your beliefs and the things that you seem to be certain of?

This is a question that I am sure has been asked many times by many people since the beginning of time.

The answer to the question lies in clarity and focus. Clarity and certainty of the life and vision that you have for yourself combined with a dedicated focus on the actions required to achieve your desires no matter what the intermittent difficulties may be.

We need to realise and accept that our current lives reflect what we desire and where this statement appears not to be true that we take a moment to re-evaluate our thinking and beliefs.
In my experience we only achieve the lives that we have negotiated for through stating for certain what we believe to be true. . For e.g. business is tough and I’m not sure how were going to make it, I feel tired and fat, etc etc.

I believe that its time to be certain and remove the self doubt that stops us from living the lives that we truly desire. In order to live this life that we desire we have to spend time on discovering what we desire, are passionate about and intend doing with our lives.

Our current lives are only a reflection of our past certainties and no reflection of our future certainties at all. We have to carefully consider what we are thinking and believing daily as these thought will be manifested as certainties in our lives.

The action and behavioural part of our lives is very similar to an iceberg. The part that we experience daily is the top of the iceberg that we see with the larger bulk of the iceberg underwater representing the combined certainty of our thinking and beliefs. The underwater bulk of an iceberg represents at least double the volume of the above water portion.

We often think that if we change our behaviour and work harder with more action that we will change our results. This is the easy part. If we understand that actions translated into results are the last part of the equation then we begin to understand the importance of spending much more time on our thinking, beliefs and certainties in creating a vision of the life we truly desire.

I know that when we spend time on our desires, passions and intentions that our lives reflect them.

Have a great day

What do you see around you that is reflecting your desires, passions or intentions?

With most of the country experiencing a beautiful spring day we had a wonderful opportunity to see more smiles and a generally upbeat attitude all around us.

As the weather heats up Monday nights in the gyms are already getting way busier. Supplement sales are up and folks are back in the gyms, tightening those buns for fun in the sun this spring.

Mountain bike and other riders are out there earlier than ever with more and more runners on the roads enjoying new sunshine and warmer weather.

Everywhere one looks there are loads of really white legs in ever shorter skirts, floral dresses and funky dark glasses. Spring is here.

Most gardens are experiencing a proliferation of birds with the first swallows of summer starting to build their nests. Vegetable gardens are showing real promise and most lawnmower repairman have delivered all the machines that stood in their shops all winter.

How about you? Have you felt the first rays of spring warming you? Has your spirit been lifted by those warm rays on your face?

You can use this time of renewal and growth to take a fresh look at your desires, passions and intentions. Look around you and replace the things you don't like with that which you do.

Go for a walk or a run, call that friend you haven't spoken to, send your folks a thank you card, tell you partner that you love them, smile twice, laugh once, learn a joke , tell the joke, hug someone, give anyone an honest compliment and just take the time to celebrate the awesome gift of life that you have been given.

Have a great day

The Wishbone Effect

 

 

Have you ever wondered what your purpose in life is? Or questioned just what it is that you're meant to be doing here? Many people go through life without asking the question, and then fail to understand their frustration, disappointment or short spells of success.

Then there are many who do question but believe that they do not have the resources and abilities to achieve their dreams and fulfil their purpose.

The challenge is often separating your life's purpose, that which you should achieve and that which you desire in life. I am certain that when you have the opportunity to consider your blessings in life that you may find your dreams and desires a lot more attainable. Consider this before allowing yourself to dream:

You can see… God has placed a hundred million receptors in your eyes enabling you to enjoy the magic of a leaf, a snowflake, a pond, an eagle, a child, a cloud, a star, a rose, a rainbow… and the look of love. How do you expect to see what God has in store for you if you do not appreciate the blessings that surround you? See

You can hear…you have over twenty-four thousand fibres built in each of your ears that vibrate to the wind in the trees, the tides on the rocks, the majesty of an opera, a robin's plea, children at play... and the words I love you. Listen....

 

You can speak... God has given you words that can calm the angry, uplift the despondent, goad the quitter, cheer the unhappy, warm the lonely, praise the worthy, encourage the defeated, teach the ignorant… and say I love you. Speak....

You can move. You are not a tree stuck in one spot while the wind abuses you. You can stretch and run and dance and work, for within you God has designed five hundred muscles, two hundred bones, and seven miles of nerve fibre all synchronized to do your bidding

Your heart is strong. Touch your chest and feel its rhythm, pulsating, hour after hour, day and night, thirty-six million beats each year, year after year, asleep or awake, pumping your blood through more than sixty thousand miles of veins, arteries, and tubing… pumping more than six hundred thousand gallons each year. God has never created such an awesome machine. Use it well...

Your skin is clear and a marvel of creation, needing only that you tend it with soap and oil and brush and care. In time all steels will tarnish and rust, but not your skin. Eventually the strongest of metals will wear, with use, but not that layer that I have constructed around you. Constantly it renews itself, old cells replaced by new, just as the old you is now replaced by the new

Your lungs, the portholes to life support you even in the vilest of environments of your own making, and they labour always to filter live-giving oxygen through six hundred million pockets of folded flesh while they rid your body of gaseous wastes

Within your eight litres of blood are twenty-two trillion blood cells and within each cell are millions of molecules and within each molecule is an atom oscillating at more than ten million times each second. Each second, two million of your blood cells die to be replaced by two million more in a resurrection that has continued since your first birth.

Your brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Within its three pounds are thirteen billion nerve cells, more than three times as many cells as there are people on your earth. To help you file away every perception, every sound, every taste, every smell, every action you have experienced since the day of your birth. God has implanted within your cells, more than one thousand billion billion protein molecules. Every incident in your life is there waiting only your recall. To assist your brain in the control of your body God has dispersed, throughout your form, four million pain-sensitive structures, five hundred thousand touch detectors, and more than two hundred thousand temperature detectors. No nation's gold is better protected than you.

You are God's finest creation.

You have two choices in life. Choose your own purpose and vision or realise that God has abundantly blessed you with more resources than you could ever need and has a clear purpose for you. Allow yourself to believe in the visions that you have had for yourself since birth and full fill the passions of your heart. You know them well.

 

 

 

Higher Success peaks

The Wider the base the higher the peak. Our success and failures are largely controlled by our habits. The actions we fulfill the most of (do most often) will result in the habits that we are best at.

The more you run the fitter you get. The more you complain about someone's behavior, the more irritated you become. The more you look for things to be grateful for daily, the more you see opportunities presented to you.

Consistency of good habits is the key to developing great capacity for success. Focus on the actions that you believe will create great habits leading to awesome successes and attempt to fulfill at least one new action daily.

When you’re running in circles, you have to say- I have to go now

There are times when you may feel over whelmed by all the apparent pressure on you. You're being pulled from side to side, trying to please everyone. You may be experiencing feelings of guilt at not being able to fulfil what others are expecting of you as well as an indebtedness to people that have seemingly assisted you and you don't want to let them down. All the supposedly important stuff is for someone else. Priorities set are not yours and you are wondering how you managed yourself into this position.

When you're running in circles and life just feels like it's getting too much, you need to take a look around, be brave and say – I have to go now.

What is it that you want? What is it that you need? What are your passions, desires and intentions? Have you been so busy pleasing others that you have forgotten what your dreams and goals are?

The more focused we are on other peoples goals and priorities the less time we have for our own. Surely your goals should enjoy priority in your life? Take a break and stop for a moment to appreciate the things you can be truly grateful for. There is so much going on in our lives that we forget to appreciate them. The friends, family, health, careers, fun, laughter, smiles, a full stomach and people that really want you to succeed in your goals and dreams.

You are capable of deciding your own destiny. The question is which path will you choose? Will you choose the path where you are constantly frustrated or the path that satisfies your passions and desires?

Stop, look around and say "I have to go now" and move on with your passions, desires and purpose.

Designing teambuilding programs

The team tasks and structure of a corporate team building day should be designed to help bond your team and build a team vision to take back into the workplace while having fun.

Adventure and fun are used to highlight specific learning outcomes with a team. This involves a program that not only changes the thinking processes within the team, but also looks at applying the learning back into the workplace. You work in teams and compete only with yourself to achieve your own new personal best in life and at work.

These are primarily team-building or networking outings where people can lighten up and have some fun without feeling intimidated or overwhelmed.

Team building programs should be custom built and tailor made for corporate groups. Such challenging activities promote team building, and develop staff communication, motivational skills and leadership while having fun.

Adventure Team Building is an opportunity to revitalize and rejuvenate not only your team, but also the whole organization with outdoor pursuits such as archery, abseil, caving, and rock climbing, skiing, kayaking, fishing, or taking a mountain bike trek, horse riding, driving and more. There are also expeditions, gorge exploring, orienteering, scavenger hunts, rescue games and other multi-adventures intended for relaxing and team motivation. Therefore, Adventure Team Building enables staff to interact between each other, react and act accordingly in similar circumstances, turning unusual collaborative circumstances into experiential learning.

Adventure Team Building can address specific workplace issues; motivate work group understanding, collaboration and cooperation. Experts say that people learn and develop from overcoming challenges, recreational team building provide work groups with instruction and guidance to expand them through a rotation of different problem solving activities.

Outdoor adventure activities, conference energizers and team building exercises may last from a few hours up to a few days enjoying camping, shelter building, barbecues, and al fresco feasts, whilst adding priceless synergy to group dynamics.

To create successful community-building activities appears to be simple, but they require competence, practice and experience. We have found that the best results have been obtained when the program has been well-matched to the needs of the client group, be they recreational, team-building or a vehicle for another agenda.
http://www.wildafricaonline.co.za
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charles_Lubbe

Teams need common vision

The word "team" in the corporate world is one of the most abused words in the sense that what is normally referred to as a team is an amalgamation of individuals who share no common vision except that they belong to the organization with the same name.

It probably goes without saying teams need to have a common purpose. If the team leader is trying to save the world but your real goal is to make a better tennis shoe, then that's a challenge that needs to be addressed.

Team-based organizations should have teams that are entrusted with the responsibility for whole processes (outcomes) rather than isolated functions.

Complimentary skills are important too, when everyone on the team has similar skills and interests and abilities, creativity and intelligent risk-taking often get left behind.

Teams are more effective than individuals when organizing and making decisions, but our current methods of building teams continue to focus on individual accountability. Unlike traditional classroom teaching methods, teams should be given challenges to work through and outcomes to work toward.

A collaborative team is a collection of mutually trusting, respecting, and supporting individuals, who need each other's knowledge, abilities, and combined efforts of the group to effectively achieve common goals. Remember that your employees are already geared to operate in groups; all you need to do is integrate teamwork practices and the sharing of outcomes desired and common vision into your organization's operations.

If designed properly, team-based organizations with clear outcomes and shared vision will always have an upper hand in organizational performance compared to organizations where people are not working towards the same vision and goals.
http://www.wildafricaonline.co.za
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charles_Lubbe

You are the composer of the music and the director of the orchestra

 

We often take the role of spectator in our lives, sitting back and looking on in amazement and lack of understanding of what has happened and is happening to us. Often wondering how the heck we ended up in the position that we find ourselves in. It is not uncommon to hear when asking someone how they are, for them to answer, 'well under the circumstances'..... Thereby acknowledging that they have subjected themselves to their circumstances.

I recently overheard a gentleman telling a friend of his how well he was doing and that he did not understand what was happening or how he had managed it. He may have been trying to sound humble in his blessings but I had the distinct feeling that he really thought he did not know.

Our lives are a composition of our own creation. We not only chose and compose the music, but also choose the members of the orchestra that will help us perform the composition. Most people that I know will avoid music that offends their ears. People consciously seek out music that either inspires them or at the very least gets a little rhythm going. You will seldom if ever see someone subjecting themselves to a painful music experience. It stands to reason that if you can identify with music and rhythm that pleases you, that you could use the same inspiration in the various facets of your life.

Your composition can be a celebration of your life. By listening to what your desires, passions and intentions are, you start creating a composition that celebrates your purpose. You need to find the passions and desires that overwhelm you. Have you ever watched a movie where something really great happens and you are moved to tears? Your composition in life requires a similar response not only from the orchestra you have chosen to direct but also from yourself. An absolute feeling of gratitude for the beauty and blessings that surround you would generally be an indication that your composition is celebrating your life.

 

Being Awesome

Today we’re going to cover comfort – in particular, your comfort zone. When most people think about comfort they think positive thoughts. Words like ‘soothing’, ‘calming’ and ‘secure’ pop into their minds.There’s actually a dark side to comfort.Remember that your mind is desperately trying to keep you as safe as possible. It doesn’t want you to experience anything new to rock the status quo. So, you basically do the same things every day – you eat the same food, you watch TV at the same time, you drive the same route, you chat to the same friends, you do the same activities. You’re living in a comfort bubble, AND YOU’RE NOT GROWING!T. Harv Eker goes so far as to call your comfort zone your cage.He explains beautifully the idea of how, as you expand your comfort zone, you actually grow as a person to fill out these new boundaries. It makes sense. If you have a larger comfort zone, and continue to push the edges of it out, you really do grow as an individual – you have more experiences, more learning, and more wisdom.You also need to be aware that it is YOU who created the bars of your comfort cage. No one else. It’s time to take responsibility and start bending, and even removing, the bars to the cage. These bars are reinforced by the company that you keep.

DO THE FOLLOWING EXCERISES TO EXPAND YOUR COMFORT ZONE:
1. Do the UnexpectedTake a minute to think about who you are–specifically focus on your personality. Are you generally quiet and rather shy? Or are you the extrovert who loves a constant crowd? The exercise is to do something out of character. What would raise your friends’ eyebrows and make them say, “No way. ______ did that!” (In a good way, of course!). If you’re a quiet mouse, host a dinner party. For some this would be the easiest task in the world. For a limelight avoider this might be pure terror. Do it anyway! If you’re a gregarious creature and the idea of a blank social calendar causes your pulse to race, perhaps you should try going to a silent meditation retreat on your own. Wild Africa Adventures can assist you in organizing an event.
2. TravelThere is no better way to shake things up in your world than to take a trip that makes you a little bit nervous. Understand that I’m not referring to the same comfortable vacation routine that you’ve become accustomed over the last decade. I’m talking about plopping yourself down in a place where you’re confronted with a new language, foods, climate, practices, etc. You’ll soon understand how predictable your daily routine truly is .Challenge yourself to go with the flow. I have many clients that join me in Mozambique for a cultural and distressing experience that really opens your eyes to this land of milk and honey that we live in. A cage-expanding experience.
3. Eat Something DifferentWhen it comes to food, most of us are on autopilot. We cook the same meals week after week. Even when we visit restaurants (usually the same restaurants), we order the same things. This is an easy exercise: try something new! Order a vegetarian dinner.This tiny act will break up your routine. And there are other small routine-breakers you can try: take a different route to work, have lunch with a different group once and a while, and take a break from TV for a week.
4. Tackle a FearThis is probably the hardest exercise on the list. Many of you have fears. It could be anything: flying, public speaking, sharing your feelings, swimming. You’ve actually become comfortable with this fear. This fear has become a part of your identity. You fail to challenge this fear anymore. This isn’t good. Irrational fears make you weak. So, the challenge is to isolate the fear and chip away at it until you can manage it and it doesn’t manage you. Consciously confront it. If you’re petrified of public speaking, throw yourself in the ring and join Toastmasters. If you have a fear of spiders or heights, let the Wild Africa Team take you on a journey. We are controlled by fantasized expectations that appear real. (Fear)
5. Learn Something NewYou’ve probably been doing the same activities for years. That’s lovely, but why not add something new to the mix? You’re not learning and growing if you’ve been doing something for so long you can practically accomplish it in your sleep. There are so many interesting things out there to learn: pottery, languages, knitting, singing, ballet, poetry, carpentry, reflexology, poetry, cooking, karate, etc. And no, you’re not too old.. Moreover, when you take a class, you’ll meet a circle of likeminded souls: curious, fun individuals eager to learn something new. An added bonus! I lost fifteen kilograms in six months on a mountain bike.And remember, I’m not saying to discard your old way of life, the things you truly enjoy. It’s about adding to and expanding what you already have going on to ensure growth continues

Its not too late

I often hear that it’s too late and that there just isn’t enough time to do all the things I believe will make me happy. This however is why death was invented.

There is always plenty of time when we not only identify but also set our priorities. A rather macabre statement that should inform our daily decisions.In order to be a nicely balanced person it is important to develop all the functional areas in our lives. Areas such as our health, family relationships. Social relationships, careers and spiritual environments.

We are habit forming creatures that quickly get into a sequential rut. Doing the same things daily. We get up at the same time; have coffee, shower, breakfast etc. Then we’re off to work where the same daily sequence repeats itself. After work we may be off to a gym or more routine suppers and TV, bed and up the next day only to repeat the sequence.We often end up living to work, where our work or careers seems to take up the bulk of our available time.

Its time to take a step back and review what habits you are spending your time on. Do a quick calculation by examining just one day in you life. See how much time is spent on your health, career, spiritual life, friends etc. The ideal would be to strike a balance between the various parts.At worst you should be spending an equal time between work and the other areas of your life. Our careers should be set up to enable us to participate actively in our areas of health, family etc.Your successes in the various parts of your life are in direct relationship to the amount of quality time spent on them.

It’s not too late. Start making time today

You are already successful

This principle is based on the premise that you are taking control of your environment.There are many of us that understand and apply the principles of success daily without recognising the fact that we are.

The basic principles of the successful implementation of an objective would be:
• to first identify the end result or vision (what would the end result look like);
• then identify objectives to assist in successfully delivering the vision;
• Next identify the habits required to implement the objectives;
• determine the team that would implement the habits that would assure successful implementation of the vision or final objective; and
• last but not least call to duty.

An example I would like to use is sad but very true. Recently our community policing forum was assisting the police in an operation when I observed the following:There were vagrants trespassing on private property sleeping on the ground. They had created human nests, with four to five guys sleeping together under blankets and plastic sheets. Here we had grown men that had decided the following:
Vision: That they would sleep warm in an unsuitable environment
Objectives:
• Create a clearly defined area to bed down
• Agree to bedding down time
• Who would be sleeping where in the nest?
• Duration of the sleeping arrangement
• Who would contribute resources, blankets etc to the arrangement
• What time they would meet to eat and arrange themselves in the nest
• Who would be responsible for arranging the covering when everyone was in?
• The effect of ablution arrangements on the comfort of the other guests in the nest
• Safety and demarcation of the nest when they left to go to work.

I am sure that they did not consciously set out to fulfil the objectives as I set them out, and herein lays my point.All indications were that all the nests were successful in achieving the above objectives. Although this example is a sad one, it clearly demonstrates that we all have and daily effect the habits required for success. If there is a lack then it lies within the realm of us not setting big and clear enough objectives to deliver on what we really need and want.Instead our energies are focused on what we don’t want using the same principles of success and then wondering why we get the results that we do.

This example is not unique and I see it played out everyday. Set time aside to really focus on what you want, instead of going through the actions that ensure success in the things that you don’t want.

God bless Africa

I believe that our challenge in South Africa today is not crime, poverty and unemployment, but rather a lack of pride in ourselves as a nation. I look around daily and hear the bitter complaints about the taxis riding all over the place, people throwing papers out of car windows, “gentleman” urinating next to the road and wonder how it is that as South Africans we have so little or no pride in our country.

People constantly tell me on the best authority that the world cup is going to be a gemors, that there is no future in this country and that we should get our kids out as quickly as possible.While watching a test in Mozambique not to long ago, the national anthem plays and all the guests stay seated drinking, smoking, chatting away and having a laugh. There was a time not too long ago that many of you may remember; when the anthem played we at least stood up. Today there is a whole generation that does not know the anthem. This includes the parts in their mother tongue.

I have included the words and translation to the anthem in this article and challenge you to not only read it but learn it. Be the one at the next international rugby test or soccer match that stands up and sings the anthem with pride.We have achieved so much and are such an incredible people living in an awesomely beautiful country. As a nation we need to start by extending our hands back to ourselves instead of constantly expecting government to fix our problems.We take our country back when we stand and say, I am a proud South African and demonstrate it by at least knowing the words to the national anthem. The next time someone complains about this beautiful country and her people, ask them to sing the anthem or shut up.

The National Anthem
Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,Yizwa imithandazo yethu,Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo. Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,O fedise dintwa la matshwenyeho,O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika.Uit die blou van onse hemel,Uit die diepte van ons see,Oor ons ewige gebergtes,Waar die kranse antwoord gee, Sounds the call to come together,And united we shall stand,Let us live and strive for freedom,In South Africa our land.

God Bless AfricaOriginal Lovedale English Translation
Lord, bless Africa;May her horn rise high up;Hear Thou our prayers And bless us. ChorusDescend, O Spirit,Descend, O Holy Spirit.Bless our chiefsMay they remember their Creator.Fear Him and revere Him,That He may bless them. Bless the public men,Bless also the youthThat they may carry the land with patienceand that Thou mayst bless them. Bless the wivesAnd also all young women;Lift up all the young girlsAnd bless them. Bless the ministersof all the churches of this land;Endue them with Thy SpiritAnd bless them. Bless agriculture and stock raisingBanish all famine and diseases;Fill the land with good healthAnd bless it. Bless our effortsof union and self-uplift,Of education and mutual understandingAnd bless them. Lord, bless AfricaBlot out all its wickednessAnd its transgressions and sins,And bless it.

So who is your coach?

Imagine that you have been appointed as the head coach in your life. You have been required to enter the correct competition, come up with a primary game plan, manage the players and build team confidence. It would as an example be pointless to enter your team into the Super 14 if you were only committed to the Currie Cup.

The game plan is important because your team will work best when all the team members you have selected are working together towards the same goal. As the head coach you would want to maximize the strengths of your team while minimizing the weaknesses. In order to do this you have been asked to answer the following questions before accepting the position:

• Can you enter your team into the right competition?
• Do you understand that you need a game plan?
• Are you an excellent listener, and not just everyday listening, but listening at a deep level?
• Are you willing to ask the right questions and know when to ask them?
• Are you willing to accept the answers to the questions?
• Do you love the game of life?
• Do you see potential in yourself and then hold onto that potential and do whatever you can to encourage yourself to reach it?
• Are you responsible for your life – do you know that you have the power and the choices to create the sort of life you want to live?
• Are you willing to bring credibility and resources beginning on day one?
• Are you prepared and prompt? Are you ready to work, and follow an agreed-upon plan?
• Are you willing to walk the kind of life you want to live?
• Are you willing to accept responsibility for the results of the agreements you have entered into?

If you have answered yes to all the above you MAY accept the position.The best companion on the road to a life of significance is someone who is walking that road himself. If you want to be your best companion, then you must be willing to walk the road to a life of significance.

As your own head coach you have the responsibility of entering the right competition, preparing the game plan, selecting and training the team and building team confidence. Although you carry the ultimate responsibility of being your own head coach, make sure that you include in your life people who have great skills as coaches in areas that you want to excel in.

Negotiated results

I often hear people wonder how they got into the mess that they're in. The explanation is rather simple though.

Our lives are a result of agreements made. We are party to all these agreements, and should instead of complaining about the negotiated results rather look at our contribution to the agreements reached.

When we treat life as a negotiated agreement we take back control. As long as we are a party to an agreement,( see results), we can influence the terms of agreement.

It is clearly understood that if you eat more calories than you burn , you get fat. Your whole life works on a similar principle. You will seldom get more than you deserve, but you will never get more than you expect.