Tag Archives: Motivational Books

Career Development, Personal development

4 Things to Make Your Goals Achievable in 2020.

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I think I’ve mentioned this before that I started goal setting when I was seventeen. And I’ve looked at certain years with despair. Why?

After going through books like GOALS by Brian Tracy I don’t understand why my goals will not be achieved. Looking closely, you’ll see that this is one of the reasons we don’t set goals.

Yet, I still do set goals. Why? I’ve discovered these four secrets. There might be others but this is what I’ve worked with that has produced results, including this blog.

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Are your goals CONNECTED TO YOU? You don’t set goals for me. I set goals for me and you for you. Why? I know where it hits me the most. And you know where it hits you the most.

What triggers a musician might not be what triggers a salesman. Let your goals be yours. In that way, it’ll be easier to feel inspired by it.

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Are you taking strategic ACTIONS?

The universe doesn’t give you what you ask for with your thoughts – it gives you what you demand with your actions.
Steve Maraboli

Are goals animate?

SO, why do I set a goal to write a book and I refuse to put down a pen daily to write… After a while, I grumble that goal setting doesn’t work.

Setting goals without acting on them is like having a desire to cook and eat beans but then you decide to put few cups of uncooked beans inside a pot, on the stove without lighting the stove.

What will you get after 1hr?

After taking actions, are you willing to be PATIENT? I can remember my first date… Chai! I palpated that day like I was going to see a Governor. After the whole euphoria, I landed at Kilimanjaro restaurant. Guess what?

She wasn’t there. Guy, I waited o. No reason am… We die here! She finally came and we “prayed” lol! I knew my goal. I acted but see, I waited o.

Everything we do on earth has an element of time in it. Do you know when I started dreaming of having a blog?

Patience is not sitting in your house and expecting to loose 8kg. It is visiting the gym, over time, with an expectation of the result you desire.

Are you LEARNING ALONG THE WAY? If I tell you the number of blog sites I’ve created, you’ll laugh at me. The sites are on but I won’t share it now.

As a teens coach, one of the first assignments I had in 2016 was to speak to a group of teens in a school I’d not been to. See, it was so tough. I had the passion but do it nah… If I hear!

Until I started practising weekly, I was just day dreaming about speaking to teens. Today, I know I can stand anywhere to talk with teens. Why? I’ve acted on it over time and I’ve learnt what doesn’t work and what works.

I think sometimes when we don’t act on our goals, we don’t know what we need to stop doing and what to start doing.

The first feedback you get as you act on your goals is usually to differentiate what works from what does not.

As 2020 comes, please take time to apply these principles to each of your goals: make sure it’s connected to you; take actions daily – babe take action; be patient and then keep learning (the learning includes knowing when to throw away some goals).

Merry Christmas in arrears and Happy New Year in advance!

Book Review, Career Development, Personal development

FRIDAY BOOK REVIEW WITH CHUKS | GOALS BY BRIAN TRACY.

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Having a goal as a target.
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In clear words, Brian Tracy is saying this to me, you and any one who cares to listen about goal setting from his classical book:

  • Take charge of your life. Really, no one cares about you or will ever, more than you.
  • Clarify your values. What do you esteem so highly?
  • Define your purpose or mission. What’s your life’s vision even as an MTN staff or you’re working in Access Bank or in that dry cleaning firm?
  • Clarify your belief. What do you believe in? What are your convictions?
  • Write down what you want to achieve. Yes. Write down your goals. At this point it should be for 2020.

 

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  • Associate with the right people. I’m sure you’ve heard you’re the average of 5 persons you spend your time with.
  • Manage your time. Hmmm… If you have the best goals and refuse to align your time with it, you’ll most likely see no result.
  • Make a plan of action. Nothing happens until something is done.
  • Review and visualize your goals daily. This is the power of visualization. What if you keep your goals on your wardrobe door, where you can see it like I do?
  • Do something everyday. Take a step daily about your goals.
  • Remain flexible at all time. Yes! This means be ready to learn along the way.
  • Persist until you succeed. Goals need patience. Yes, they do.

Quotes!

Using your potentials with your goals.
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“The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good.” Brian Tracy

“You will become as large as your controlling desire; or as great as your dominant aspiration.” James Allen

“The biggest single obstacle to setting goals is “self-limiting beliefs.” Brian Tracy

“We greatly overestimate what we can accomplish in one year. But we greatly underestimate what we can accomplish in five years.” Peter Drucker

“The primary difference between high achievers and low achievers is “action-orientation”. Men and women who accomplish tremendous things in life are intensely action oriented.” Brian Tracy

“Be sure that, as you scramble up the ladder of success, it is leaning against the right building.” Stephen Covey

“Realize what you really want. It stops you from chasing butterflies and puts you to work digging gold.” William Moulton Marsden

“There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.” Napoleon Hill

Pursuing a goal
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“The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.” Richard M. DeVos

“No one is better than you and no one is smarter than you. People are just smarter or better in different areas at different times.” Brian Tracy

“Your main job in life is to create the mental equivalent within yourself of what you want to realize and enjoy in your outer world.” Emmet Fox

“Your problem is to bridge the gap between where you are now and the goals you intend to reach.” Earl Nightingale

“If you believe you can do a thing or you believe you cannot, in either case, you are probably right.” Henry Ford

“In our economic system, your income will be determined by three factors: first, what you do; second, how well you do it; and third, the difficulty of replacing you.” Brian Tracy

(I have 14 quotes already… Well, I’ll leave it still…)

Questions?

Pursuing Life goals
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  • If you knew you have six months to live, how would you spend your last six months on earth? Who would you spend the time with? Where would you go? What would you strive to complete? What would you do more of, or less of?
  • Imagine that you have all the inborn abilities to achieve any goal you want, what would you set?
  • What kind of mindset has held you back in 2019? What new information or revelation do you need to change it?
  • What price will you pay to achieve the goals that are most important to you 2020?
  • What would you do if you won a million naira cash, tax free, tomorrow? (Are you doing anything about that same thing now?).
  • Do a complete skills analysis on yourself and your work. Where are you good and where do you need to improve?
  • With what you know today, what would you not get into again if you could rewind time?
  • What one skill, if you developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on your career?
  • Who do you need to create relationship with in 2020 to improve my life?
  • Where do you need to go to more in 2020 to improve yourself?
  • Where do you need to stop going to in 2020?
  • Do you have  goals for 2020 ready? (If yes, what if you look at it everyday before you go out and before sleeping? If no, what if you write it now?).

Trust me, 2020 will be exciting if you create deliberate goals. And another year will come after 2020. So, don’t allow external pressure control you.

Shield yourself with your goals.

If you need the book, you can get it here.

 

Personal branding, Personal development

Does Motivational Books and Stories Really Work? – Pt. 2

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Motivational books: Are they relevant? Or are they lies?

Let’s see the other questions. You can read the first of this post here.

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6). ARE THERE THINGS THE AUTHOR DIDN’T MENTION?

Hmmm… Should I talk about this?

The day I heard my first book mentor, John Maxwell, talk about his challenges with his wife and then few things he failed at, I was speechless.

I use to think he’s so perfect, he makes no error until he wrote two books on lessons from failure – Failing Forward and Sometimes You Win Sometimes You Learn.

These books have made me love him more. See this:

No author’s life is as clean as the books they write.

Asking this question, “What did the author not say?” will help you think for yourself. Remember, you can’t say everything if you were the author.

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7). HOW LONG DID THE AUTHOR TAKE TO SEE RESULTS?

My generation is the instant generation – Instant Noodles, Instant Milk, Live stream and many other quick fix. Yet, life is not like that.

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest… shall not seize.

Genesis 8:22 (AMP)

There’s a space between planting and reaping. If you’ve read Think and Grow Rich, you’ll see the story of Edwin C. Barnes who wanted to be an associate of Thomas Edison.

And he did. But it took time. Chapter 8 of the same book is titled Persistence.

This is another side most authors don’t mention. The success is so sweet and hot they feel like spilling it out for us. And sure I’m grateful they do.

On this, I’ll recommend you follow the author for a while and you’ll learn the journey of their success like I’ve been doing with John Maxwell.

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8). AM I READY TO APPLY THESE PRINCIPLES?

I think this is where the real work is. Napolean Hill did not write a book and title it: I WILL THINK FOR YOU WHILE YOU GROW RICH… No!

Who is thinking? You. Who is growing? You. Who is suppose to persevere? You.

It is the principles you practise that work. I don’t care how long THINK AND GROW RICH has been in your shelf, until you begin to think it and apply it, you’ll not grow rich.

The best, today’s authors can do for you is coach you online or offline. Get your sleeve up and go to work. The result is in the doing.

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9). WHERE IS MY MOTIVATION COMING FROM?

There are basically two main kinds of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Most folks who complain about motivational books actually take these books as drugs.

So they think the motivation should be from the books. They pursue extrinsic motivation instead of intrinsic motivation. Guy, it does not work. African Queen 👸, it doesn’t. That’s why you throw it away after one week.

It’s OK to start with external or use it once in a while. I do. So does Mohamed Salah. Yet, my motivation for teens career niche coaching is inside not outside.

Jim Taylor PhD. explains this well in a post he titled Personal Growth: Why Inspirational Talks Don’t Work.

Lastly, any motivational book you read that does not paint the picture of perseverance in the story or experience of the author, in any way, is not a good one.

That’s why I’ll strongly recommend Think and Grow Rich as one of the best circular motivational books on success.

And then, begin to listen to local 🎑 successful men and women as their stories will relate more with yours.

Some other time, we’ll see why it’s also important to read foreign books. I do and it’s given me huge mileage.

When next you try to read any motivational book, consider these questions.

If this has been helpful, and I know it has, you can share it.

Personal branding, Personal development

Does Motivational Books and Stories Really Work? – Pt. 1

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What has made profound books like Think and Grow Rich, The Law of Success and How to Raise Your Own Salary all by Napoleon Hill; The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason; How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie; As a Man Thinketh by James Allen and The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale remain classics after decades?

(In fact, I can bet it’s hard to see anybody who’s so successful that don’t know any of these books. It’s hard! And I hope you’ll be convinced to get them after reading this post.)

There are testimonies of what these books have done in the lives of men, women, boys, girls, Africans, Americans, Asians, Europeans… and almost all people group that have had access to these materials.

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Yet, I see folks who say, ” Motivational books are scam! It doesn’t work.” And I’m like, “Are you on this planet?”

While I understand what they mean, I still have a personal library because of a personal experience of the power of some motivational books.

I entered the office of my boss this morning at about 09:55am and guess what? He had this book in front of him: The China Strategy and trust me, I googled it instantly. Because I know the power of these materials. (That’s one secret of having a mentor.)

So, why does it feel as though these books don’t work? How can we read these books and profit from it?

What if we read these books with a mindset that ask these questions:

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1). WHAT PRINCIPLES ARE THE AUTHORS TEACHING?

There’s a difference between principles and methods.

If an author says he was able to raise $1M through personal savings and loan in six months after starting his business why will you in Ghana want to do the same thing and if it fails, you start complaining to everyone you know that these guys are lying? Why?!

My friend, calm down! I can see at least two principles from the example above: perseverance and planning.

He got his result in six months not six hours. And he mentioned at least two plans he used: personal savings and loan not empty paper with no plans at all.

So, take the principles and apply them. In your case, you can even create seven plans. Just stay there and apply it first.

You’ll see result. Sometimes even faster than the author or later.

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2). WHERE WAS THE BOOK WRITTEN?

I was speaking at a training on Employability Skills for 21st Century when I mentioned the importance of motivational books. And someone said they don’t work. I had to interrupt and was like, “It does work but the location matters.”

See, there are different kinds of tax laws, business laws and all those laws enacted by nations that control what they do. Thus, as you read such books, bear in mind the location of the author.

When I read Branding 101 and Marketing 101 by Trump University, it was so inspiring I felt like taking over the business space of Nigeria 😁.

On the contrary, when I engaged Small Money, Big Business by Akin Alabi, founder of NairaBET.com, I understood it fast. It was homely.

He dropped the cookies on the lower shelf for me like John Maxwell would say. And in my branding journey (for African Teens, African Employees and African Educators) his book has helped me the most.

Akin Alabi wrote as a Nigerian and African. Trump University gives a global view – which is also important.

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3). WHERE AM I?

Kenya? Ivory Coast? Egypt? These places are different from each other let alone European countries from where most motivational books come from.

In a large part of Europe and the US, there are lots of places where free WiFi is available and neighborhood mentorship programs for entrepreneurs.

But in Africa, we’re still on the throttle level for that. And I know we’re getting better.

So, how can a teenager who is not working, start a blog and keep it updated? How can our start-up founders get steady mentorship when most of the successful entrepreneurs are so busy to scale their mentorship programs?

Knowing where you are will help you understand your challenges as opposed to where the author is. Yet, it shouldn’t stop you.

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4). HOW CAN I APPLY THESE PRINCIPLES HERE?

After reading the books from Trump University, I asked myself this question: How can I brand myself for teens, for teachers & for employees in Nigeria and Africa using the principles I read?

My decisions for teens?

Make branded shirts which I’d wear from time to time, learn to visit secondary schools often and talk with them, share branded gift items like wrist bands…

It’s not going to be all about the YouTube thing that most books advise because most African teens have phones but not enough data. Although, I still have online plans.

For you, ask yourself same question. You’ll get answers.

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5). WHAT DO I BELIEVE ABOUT THESE PRINCIPLES?

The book, As a Man Thinketh says it so well. If after reading this and you still don’t believe these books work, they won’t. Why? The Law of Belief.

Apart from natural laws like gravity which works whether you believe or not, there are some things you can’t experience until you believe it. If by chance you see it in your life, just in a short while it’ll disappear except your mind adapts to it.

If you believe, they’ll work. If you don’t, forget it.

The other questions will come as part two of this post.

If this has been helpful, remember to share it.