Saturday, 1 March 2014

THAT'S IMPACT!!!


The reason you have had a turn to be on earth is for you to also have the opportunity to make your mark. I am convinced we have showed up here on earth to transform lives, solve problems and have the story of your lives become best-selling ones. The impact stories that fill our news daily should not only inform us but as well inspire us to be the change agents for positive impact everywhere we are.

David in the bible was not a perfect man, he even killed and committed adultery, but Psalm 23 is recited everywhere in our schools in Ghana. That's Impact! In Acts chapter 2, the believers met and prayed in the Upper Room and the Holy Spirit came to earth. He's never left since. That's Impact! Paul Joined the Apostles late but wrote 13 books in the New Testament of the Bible. That's Impact!

Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in 2004 when he was just 20 years old. Today, many great people including you, billionaires and most world leaders have Facebook accounts. Don't tell me that's not Impact! What would one call it? Sujit Lalwani, a young Indian founded Inspiration Unlimited with his Team, a group that has initiated and still initiates many wonderful and life transforming projects that serve not only India but the entire world. Sujit has represented India at Switzerland, UK, Russia, Pittsburgh, Nepal and still counting. That's Impact! Karuna Rana, oh she inspires me a lot! Rana is a young lady from Mauritius, who serves the world with her gift and passion for sustainability, youth leadership and environmental education. She advocates this cause strongly and hopes her works of impact will help change the world. That's Impact! Michael Teoh Su Lim, a young Malaysian youth champ inspires the world with his passion for youth development and entrepreneurship. Michael was a global winner of the highly competitive World's largest social entrepreneurship competition 'YOUR BIG YEAR', 2011 in the UK and travelled around the world transforming lives. That's Impact!

The list of impact makers is endless! In the older generation, we can talk of Sir Richard Branson impacting the world with Virgin Group, Bill Gates transforming the Computer and Technology world, Aliko Dangote impacting Africa with his passion for entrepreneurship, Aamir Khan impacting the Indian and world movie industry with his great and influential artistry. I urge you to be the next on the World Impact List! Put your talent to good use.           
      
Leverage the power of social media and technology to your advantage. Don’t let one Google your name and have "0 results", "Page Error" or "Page not Found" as results. If you are going to make impact globally, you have to start now! Today!

Arnold Schwarzenegger rightly, "You can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in the pocket". Give yourself to the service of society. At least help change something to the better in your world. As you think genuinely about yourself, think genuinely about others. Decide to impact your home, family, friends, school and workplace. If you don’t have any plan now, think of one. Start the change you want to see. Be the initiator or be willing to assist others who have initiated positive changes. Do something worthwhile this year. Don't just live for survival but start the revival you long to see.

As you begin, continue or wrap-up with your quest for Impact, be determined to overCOME, overTURN and overTAKE any challenge that advance towards your direction. I am convinced our generation has the potential and people who can change the world. Every individual has a tool or weapon for change – our gift or talent. Discover your gift, develop it, and LEAD that gift! Let us all play our part, and that will be called Impact!

As great youth of our generation, the future is ours! Let the world look back at this year someday and say; this and that are what our generation did, and they shall call it Impact! Don’t just live. Make the earth know you came, you lived and you made a difference.

Put God first and your life will never be the same.

[Image source: a Google search from http://www.niemanlab.org/]

Maximizing Opportunities


The favorable time for doing something is the definition provided in the Concise Oxford Dictionary for the word opportunity. Kenneth A. King describes opportunities as divinely orchestrated schemes for the advancement of men. They are chances created by the Creator for humanity to change their story. Thus, each time you utilize an opportunity well, you will never return to your previous state in life.
A positive opportunity is one program God Almighty uses to effect change in His people. It is nature’s tool for change. Hence opportunities are presented to each of us to recognize them, to change our stories. Obviously then, to fail to recognize and utilize any opportunity that comes your way is to refuse change to a better state in life.

Opportunities come in various forms. I strongly believe we fail to recognize opportunities because of the nature by which they present themselves. The come disguised. This very statement is worth keeping throughout one’s life time. Opportunities don’t come gift-wrapped, looking inviting and appealing as treasures, or else every human being will be on a common pedestal in life. Instead, opportunities come sometimes looking dreadful, and apparently worth overlooking.

Thomas Edison saw rightly opportunities as scary work clothes, saying “The reason many people miss opportunities is because often, they come wearing overall and they look like work. Hence it takes a man of insight to grasp an opportunity”.

We should be able to see every defeat we are confronted with, every adversity or negative situation as real opportunities to change our lives. We should see every termination and excommunication as a way forward in disguise. Again, we ought not to consider an opportunity to help a fellow as a burden but a seed of kindness sown to be reaped in God’s perfect time. Do you see a challenge in front of you as trouble? The truth is, each time you analyze the strength and size of your trouble, you make is double.
Even when you are certain there is no opportunity lurking around, prepare yourself for one. Henry Hartman rightly said; Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity. Preparation is indispensable to incoming opportunities.
There are numerous examples that prove the disguised nature of opportunities.
A story is told of a young man who was in serious pursuit for opportunity for greatness. Luckily enough, he found one without knowing. As he walked home in a gloomy night along a river bank, he suddenly stumbled on a pebble-like object contained in a rickety looking sack. He picked it up and began to enjoy the chemistry of the sound of the substance against the river. By the time he arrived at home, he was only left with a piece. And he decided to look in up in the light only to discover that in his hand was a raw diamond.
This young man was oblivion of the form his opportunity presented itself. This is the same way most of us stumble on raw opportunities without notice of their merit.

“What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity”. J. Sidlow Baxter.

The holy bible gives track records of a number of people who recognized and utilized one opportunity and the other, thus having their stories appearing in the bible. Abraham saw an opportunity in accompanying strangers in his house and eventually, his wife received a glorious prophesy. “Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it”. (Hebrews 13:2. GNB) David saw Goliath as an opportunity for advancement whilst the soldiers of Israel came each day analyzing the strength of their popular foe. Joseph saw the need in making useful his God-given gift in an uncomfortable prison environment. How many humans will see the prison premise as an opportune place to display their talents? Joseph ruled in prison. Nehemiah, Daniel and a lot more of the bible characters recognized and maximized their opportunities.

Opportunities fly away if we are not fast enough to cage and engage them. Therefore, to maximize opportunities in our lives, we must take advantage of whatever we have at the moment. Even the families we find ourselves in whether rich or not, provide us with the opportunity to do something worthwhile in life. Opportunities can be created, be the creator.

People who are hospitable, charitable, munificent and kind sow seeds which will certainly be reaped either directly or indirectly when they least expect. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men…” (Galatians 6:10. KJV) The harvest is always as sure as there is day.

Every person has talents and gifts within. “It is the undeveloped resource in your mind, our spirits, in the inward man that counts. Let’s go down with a flashlight within ourselves, and look for the untouched treasures that have never been touched. Then let us bring the thing up that we find and make it worthwhile” E. W. Kenyon. Your gifts and talents are for service and also present in you to change your story for the better, always.

Remember, not all opportunities are positive. Be quick to discern the right ones. Take advantage of every moment –in your life, home, family, this website, your school, work place, and your world. Be mentally awake and diligent. Put your very best in every day and in everything you do. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming. Selah. Don’t fail to recognize an opportunity due to its disguised nature. Look up for opportunities everywhere. An opportunity is close to you now in disguise, TAKE IT! And when you look around and see none, remember it’s time to create one. God bless.
[Image source: a Google search from forbes.com]




Monday, 6 January 2014

A Child's Cry...


It was a sunny day, and the scorching sun had succeeded in creating an unbearable atmosphere for most people trekking. Agitated, restless and hot, I joined a queue at a Bus Station in Accra, waiting for a vehicle to finally come and transport me home. Then the disheartening scene struck me. A layer of tear clothed my eye as I saw this little girl about 10 years of age, moving feet by feet, inch by inch, collecting empty water sachets from heaps of rubbish at the bus station. She had nothing to cover her hands and her oversized slippers, tattered clothes and sweat-drenched face composed a very demoralizing and disheartening scene.

I felt helpless when I gazed around and realized that she was just one of many more kids doing same. Many more children about her age, moved tiredly from one point to the other picking rubber from rubbish heaps. Why were these children not in school? Were they even attending school? Hmmm! Take a critical look the very next time you visit or pass by a bus station.

These children could be orphans, living on their own or living with relatives or probably ones living with very poor parents. The little girl I saw could be the next top Female Entrepreneur, Leader, or a renowned professional in her nation, but with her environment, whatever dreams she could be carrying, stood a potent threat of termination.

Hidden in those children at the lorry station, I believe, are very rich potentials whose fruits are solutions to the WORLD'S PROBLEMS. Help protect the good seed in a child today and you may be saving an entire forest of positive impact tomorrow. Cause a child to smile now, and you may be saving the cries of an entire generation in the near future.


Let us help the children to serve their generation...

[Image featured is a google search from http://childrensmileday.org/]