Reformation Report

Spectators

Southern Africa is preparing to host the 2010 World Cup Soccer tournament to be held in South Africa. This will be one of the biggest events ever to be held on the continent. Already there is a fever pitch appearing in the media, and spilling over into the streets where conversations and even arguments about which country is going to win the coveted cup next year. Some of these discussions are so emotionally charged that you would think the fans were the ones actually playing the game.

 

What separates spectators from the players in all sports is that, the players work on a game plan preparing physically and mentally for the game. They do not just dream of being champions they also act like the champions they believe themselves to be. The fans on the other hand only hope and wish that their team will win; they are inactive participants in the game, they contribute very little to the final result.

 

If your life was a championship match -which one of these would you be; a fan in the stadium or a player on the field? Would you just be watching the game or playing the game?  Sometimes we become spectators in our life. We watch events unfolding in our lives, without the exercising our will or ability to be involved. Are we just wishing things would change without our own effort or involvement?

 

Lets not be spectators when we could be  making an effort to be active players in the greatest gift we have – our lives. We can begin today to start setting goals, implementing strategies and actually participating in making decisions that affect our lives. One speaker once said that ‘to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win and expect to win’

Isn’t it time you got on the field?

The Champion in you

I am amazed at how much effort and endurance sports personalities have to go through to become the peak performers. They put themselves through hours and hours of  grueling training trying to obtain the highest levels of expertise and excellence in their sporting discipline. These men and women aren’t born that way; they intentionally mold themselves into great sportsmen by the daily choices they make.

 

Larry Bird, an American basketball player said that “A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses his skills to accomplish his goals”. Everyone has a talent, but not everyone has developed it into a skill. Often we mistake our talents for skills. A skill is a gift or talent that has been developed to nearly its full capacity or at least to a  point, that achieves a pre determined goal.

 

‘Working your tail off’ is making a conscious decision to pursue your dreams ,to use your talent. It requires a great deal of discipline and in some cases it may take a number of years. Discipline is not a culture limited to sport; it is a tradition  of greatness in every sphere of life. The champion in you is not waiting to be born, he is waiting to be trained, disciplined, and mentored. Fortunately the only person who can make that choice to become great is you!

 

 

The Christmas List

How many of you actually took up my challenge to start working on your New Years affirmations? As we think about the way we think, I realize that there are many people who live their lives “wishing” for things to happen to them or for them. Often during the Christmas season people make a ‘Christmas Wish List’ so that Santa or someone close to you, a husband or wife will fulfill that wish. That’s okay but what about your goals and dreams for the rest of the year? Is Santa Claus or that person that is close to you going to fulfill those goals for you too?

 

We need to be constantly writing down what we want to achieve. The more we keep it in front of us, the more likely our senses are going to be sensitive to the opportunities around us. When we write things down it becomes imprinted in our minds. We always say in our ministry, "If it’s not in writing it doesn’t exist".

 

As humans we communicate on three levels - through words, pictures and emotions. Our words trigger pictures and when we get a picture in our minds it becomes imprinted on our minds. So as you write your list today - straight after this reading this blog, right? Make sure you are describing your goals in every bit of detail that you can imagine. What color is your dream house, what’s in it? How does it look on the inside? Allow yourself to dream, big, hairy audacious dreams. How does your company operate, what kind of service does it provide? What does your marriage, family or social life look like?

 

For you to realize your potential, you have to know what it is you really want. The tragedy is that most people never decide at all to write down what they really want. That’s the first step to achieving your goal. It is the easiest step to take and often the most overlooked. Don’t wait. Do it today!

 

You are going to have a wonderful New Year!

Super Hero

As a kid I used collect comic books. One of my favorite comic heroes was Superman. He was “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound".

 

He also had x-ray, heat-emitting, telescopic, infra-red, and microscopic vision, super-hearing, and super-breath, which enabled him to blow out air at freezing temperatures, as well as exert the propulsive force of high-speed winds. Sounds like a lot of power for one guy to have doesn’t it.

 

As fantastic as Superman was, l have always preferred Batman. He has no special powers, ‘other than sheer determination and intelligence. Batman had a cool Bat mobile, bat cycle and bat cave. He used a “large arsenal of specialized gadgets most which were contained in his utility belt”. Now how many of us can relate to Batman; an ordinary guy, with very powerful tools?

                        

I think we can all strive to be a Batman in our different spheres of influence. We need to acquire the right kind of tools, apply them diligently and we have to be willing to acquire the necessary skills or training. For some that might mean going back to school and studying a bit more and becoming skilled at a particular trade or profession.

 

The most important thing though is to change the way we think. Like Batman we need to develop within ourselves a desire to change, and then seek the tools that will equip us and make us the peak performers in our industry, profession or career.

 

By the way there are no “Supermen or women”!!!

 

New Years Affirmations

NO, it’s not yet December 31^st! As I am writing this my intention is not to alarm you but to help you make the most of the New Year’s Opportunity.

 

The way we leave a place (not just physical place but mental and emotional as well) determines the way we enter the next place. I am aware that at the end of every year most people review the year that’s gone by, and make New Year’s resolutions or decisions to do better next year or a commitment to reforming an aspect of their life. 

 

Most of these are set in the future tense, such as, “I will be a better husband, I will work harder”.  Sadly the year goes by and few of these resolutions are ever met. So we make new ones, or remake the old, but our resolutions largely remain unfulfilled or abandoned.

 

As we take a deeper look at those statements, notice that they are set in the future tense. They can never be fulfilled because the future never arrives. The future is always something that is going to happen. So a new year’s resolution, set in the future tense, can never be fulfilled.

 

I believe that the unprincipled are always at the mercy of the principled. Organization is a principle and so in the same way the unorganized will also always be at the mercy of the organized.

 

That is why I’m writing so many weeks before the New Year, 2010, so that we are prepared and ready with affirmations for the New Year that will change our lives positively.  

 

For affirmations to become effective we have to visualize what we want, verbalize it and then connect strong positive emotions to that affirmation. This year let us all make new years affirmations, not resolutions. As we make these affirmations, I believe we will be surprised, maybe even shocked, but we will certainly see changes we‘ve not experienced before.