The Beginning of a New Journey

Compliments of the New Year Friends

Year 2019 is all in the past now and we are in year 2020, and looking forward towards achieving what we could not achieve last year.

Last year you were a Matric Student and I believe you gave it your all and you are now awaiting your results. I can image how you are feeling right now. You do not need to panic, you have got this.

Needless to say the results will come in a form of a B for Bachelor pass, D for Diploma pass and H for higher certificate pass. At this point, it is important that we state that many of us have a flawed definition of success. Most people in the community believe that who one becomes in the future is largely affected by his or her Matric results. You also have people who define academic success in terms of comparing learner A results verses those of learner B. Life is too complex to subscribe to these definitions of success.

In life we are casts of the same Movie but we have different scripts. Each and every character has his or her role which is determined by the script and he or she must stick to it, and never try to imitate other characters roles. Imitating other characters might affect the whole movie production. The same attitude needs to be applied in terms of the results. The symbol you get be it a B or a D or an H should not be something that affects you personally in a sense of having a low self-esteem. You must never compare yourself with others. You are special. You are different. There is something that you can do that no one else in the entire universe can do and you task is to find ‘that thing’. In this regard, you are too great to have your destiny determined by academic grades. There is greatness innate to each and every one on earth. You can still make it no matter the level of your results.

There are learners whose key to greatness will be through unleashing their skills and talents (Soccer, Art…

There are learners whose greatness will be through academic achievements (Educator, Accountant…

All we are saying is that be true to yourself and be the person you were created to be, with or without excellent grades or matric, your destiny is calling on you. Do not let the matric results status determine your reality. If Cassper Nyovest made it big with Grade 10 as his highest school level, you can still make it. We are not promoting quitters instead we are attempting to enlighten that there are people who were called to use their gifts and talents and make a living out of them. The only issue is that they have been socialised into believing that they would not amount to anything without education or a Matric certificate. Reality has proved the previous or latter statement wrong. In this regard, we say stick to your role and focus on your script otherwise you will spoil your movie as a talented actor or actress in terms of your calling. Your success story might not happen immediately but we want to assure you that that it will definitely transpire or happen. Let them talk, let them gossip, let the laugh but your day is coming. Just go quiet let their nagging remarks fall on deaf ears and your success will be loud in its season!

The saying ‘education is key to success’ is somehow a cliché in nowadays, because we have people who had attained their greatness using their unique talents. Parents, religious and community leaders, and other important stakeholders in the society need to take it upon themselves to support and nurture learners’ talents so that they won’t disregard themselves as invalid if they fail matric ‘grade 12’. I had a friend in high school who used to be not so good when it came to class work or should I say school work. On the other side, he was an expert when it came to construction. He used to get jobs whilst at school, people complementing his great work. The houses he had built for his clients were a shining mirror of his talent. He was able to discover his talent, and made an income out of it. Today, he is a respected individual in the community due to his work. He passed with a Diploma (D) in our matric year, but never compared himself to others who obtained a Bachelor’s pass accompanied by distinctions. When others fought their way through entering universities; he was busy designing leaflets for his aspiring business.

We urge all grade 12 candidates who sat for their 2019 National Senior Certificate examinations to find their true calling, and never limit their strengths based on education. The best way to find your calling is to sit back, and ask yourself this question: What is the purpose for my life? There is something that you love, and every time you do it you lose track of time; that’s you! Do not compare yourself with your friends who dream of becoming doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers, police men etc. you may find that your talent is not taken as a stable profession; but that is what you were born to do. Many candidates are at the urge of their sits during this difficult time awaiting their results. Some even commit suicide, and leave a wide gap for their true calling.

 At the end of it all, what matters is whether you made a contribution on earth.

May peace, love and prosperity follow you in 2020.

May God’s Grace and Light Shine on You!

Khotso, Peace.

Meet your Bloggers:

M. Xaba

M. Thabana

The Power of Positive Influence

What kind of influence do you have on others?

Each day you bring the potential to influence other people whether it is positive or negative. Some of your impact on people may not be visible but one’s influence has power. Power is defined as the ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way. It is highly important that you understand the power of your influence, for it has the potential to either build up or discourage someone. The minor aspects such as your facial expressions you portray and the words you utter may affect the nature of your social life.

As humans we must “Never underestimate the influence you have on others” Laurie Buchanan. As we have alluded, influence can be positive and negative.

Positive influence is the ability to uplift other people, and impact them to do the right things. For instance, we have a Malawian Professor Gregory Kamwendo, former Dean of the College of Education at the University of KwaZulu Natal. He was once told by his mentor that “When you dream, do not dream in black and white. Dream in colours.” Prof said these words of wisdom by his mentor kept him going to be where he is today. An African proverb reads “It takes a village to raise a child”. This is how Africans implement the power of positive influence. The Africans approach life from a sense of togetherness. We must always assist each other in order to become the best version of ourselves. We are our brother’s keeper.

Professor Gregory Kamwendo

Negative influence has with interactions that promote stagnancy, laziness, dishonesty, hate etc. Influence can also be passed on from generation to generation. A part of us believes that one of the reasons why the rich have remained rich and the poor have remained poor is because of the messages the young ones have received from their parents. The rich parents tell their young ones that the sky is the limit. The poor parents tell their young ones that their poor quality of life is all life has to offer. Once someone is negatively influenced, he or she loses focus and can end up in trouble. Today, we have people who were told that they were useless, and there would be absolutely nothing which they could do to end their misery; indeed their minds accumulated that perception about their lives. Negative influence affects the person in different ways, for example, he or she could fail to attain the best of him or herself because he was negatively influenced.

Let us share the story of the Motaung twins, Thuto and Tsepo. Thuto le Tsepo lost their parents at the age of six. They were taken to different foster parents. Thuto grew up and became a Medical Doctor whereas Tsepo ended up in jail. It is evident that Thuto had a positive influence around him which had a good impact in his future. Tsepo had a negative influence around him which had a negative impact in his future. Perhaps it is the different environment they grew up under. This story shows the power of influence. One can argue that a person’s personality is influenced by his background more than his environment; but again someone is allowed to differ on that aspect. Everyone has absolute power to determine his or her reality.

A scripture from the Bible reads ‘As a men thinks, so is he.’ Proverbs 23:7 Dr. John Tibane a speaker and author once said “Thoughts are like seeds they produce after their own kind”. We need to pay attention on what we allow our mind to entertain because it has power to determine who we become or how are we influenced. It also dictates how we influence other people.  Chilling with pessimists will make you a pessimist. Spending time with optimists will make you an optimist. Mind your company. “Life becomes easier when you delete the negative people from it.” Ben Francia. Wisdom is an attribute that makes one to influence others positively; it will also guide him or her to only entertain positive influences. Wisdom is the answer.  

There are different ways to positively influence people:

Firstly, choose to see good in other people, avoid criticizing people. If you have to criticize people go for what people call constructive criticism. Your comments to other people should build them up.

Secondly, have manners when addressing issues or situations. The first thing you say to someone sets the tone of the conversation. Your approach when resolving conflicts will determine whether a solution is found or the situation will deteriorate.

We can never talk about positive influence without mentioning positive thinking. Positive thinking also has power because it denotes that one must focus on expecting positive outcomes from life. Yes, it is possible that one may be influenced by somebody but everybody possesses the ability choose his or her thoughts. It is recommendable that everybody finds the strength to think positive regardless of the influence around them.

Your behaviour and how you treat others today will either open or close doors for you tomorrow. People you have influenced positively will never forget you. You are in their good books. People you have influenced negatively do not have any good thing to say about you. You are in their bad books. Make people to be always looking forward towards interacting with you. Remember in the end, we only regret the chances we did not take.

May God’s Grace and light shine on you! 

Writers: S, Mpungose; M, Xaba & M, Thabana.

S. Mpungose

M. Xaba

M. Thabana

Responsibility

Responsibility

Being responsible a missing act among us. When one individuals fails to be responsible that person is negatively affected and the people who attached to that particular person are also negatively affected. Being responsible means using your skill or competence; mental power and talent to respond to the demands of life. 

The first man that The Creator created failed to act responsibly. He had to take responsibility of the earth and his wife. Everything that was on earth was his and was instructed not to do certain things. He was also expected to be responsible for his own thoughts and actions. Adam failed to act responsible and decided to listen to his heart and to be deceived by his thoughts. 

Adam, Eva and the devil (in a form of a snake) were all involved in this case. When a loud voice appeared and asked; “Adam where are you, and have you eaten (acted irresponsibly) the fruit I warned you about”, Adam’s first response was denial. He was supposed to take full responsibility for his actions but he decided to pass it on. Adam blamed Eve. Eve did what Adam did, she also passed it on too, and Eve blamed the snake saying that it tempted her.  

Human beings are always faced with situations that force them to make decisions and the decisions they make tells us whether they are responsible or not. Adam did not take the blame and so did Eve, this is exactly what is happening in life today. People do not want to admit that their actions were wrong. We have learnt many tactics to keep our names clean despite having done wrong things. 

Have you ever asked yourself this question?  Why did God ask Adam about the act of eating the forbidden whereas it was Eve who ‘took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate’? The response is simple. God expected Adam to be responsible from any forces that were likely to tempt them. Adam failed to be responsible and the consequences of his actions were dire and are still prevalent. 

When learners are grappling to grasp the content, usually the educators are like ‘these learners are not serious…’ whereas the crux of the matter is that it is the educators who are not dedicated and creative enough to allow for effecting teaching and learning process. When one educator fails to be responsible, a number of learners are affected…

There is a girl by the name of Ntle, when she was young her parents deserted her. She grew under the care of her grandmother. She finds it hard to be in a relationship in the form of dating. Whenever she is with a guy the thought that one day that guy is also going to desert her frequents her mind. Her mother and father failed to be responsible and that is has negatively affected their daughters’ life.

Jesus was a creative person. He had different approaches to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. In some instances he used parables. In other cases he told people His purpose for His existence and who He was. His methods of preaching made Him a greatest preacher that the world has ever seen. If the preachers of the Gospel of the Kingdom are responsible enough, there would be less of comments such as ‘the people are hardening their hearts’ from them. Instead the preachers will be creative just like Jesus was to ensure that the Gospel is presented property. Presenting the Gospel of the Kingdom properly means that you must firstly study the settings and context of where you want preach and prepare accordingly beforehand.

We need to be responsible in all the spheres of life. This is to say, cultivating the act of being responsible in not limited to the case studies I have shared above. 

In order to be the best that we were created to be, we must be responsible. Let us not hold others accountable for lacking the act of being responsible whereas it us who have not been faithful, hardworking, innovative and prayerful for our situations. Dear reader allow me to reiterate these words “When one individuals fails to be responsible that person is negatively affected and the people who attached to that particular person are also negatively affected”. We can also say that when one individual becomes responsible that person becomes successful in what he does and the people who are attached to that person also become successful. I am sure that if you were to start today and take full responsibility for your own actions and thoughts you would do less blaming of others and more learning and advancing to the next level. 

Thanks for allowing me to serve you. That is all from my February Blog-Post. By God’s grace each and every month this year I will be posting at least one Blog-Post per month on my blog spot.

Mastering The Art of Planning

Compliments of the season good people.

I do not like the New Years resolutions because they make us to be inclined about getting towards Johannesburg while forgetting or disregarding the departure point and what we would need during our journey.

The distinction between years 2017 and 2018 is that the first one ends with seven while the second one ends with eight. If you are one of those people who believe twenty eighteen is bringing them something great, you are deceiving yourself. To make any year a prosperous year you need to change the way you think, that is, your mindset. Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change1 Wayne Dyer. We are the results of our thoughts. You might have perceived yourself as failure last year. From today onwards you need to alter your thoughts and deem yourself a winner and you shall become one.

Year is a period between set dates... (The English Dictionary, 2017). This tells us that we have powers to design a particular period and call it a year. Going with the flow is one of the major reasons why we fail at accomplishing New Year's resolutions and other goals we have set. By this I mean when we make plans for the New Year between January and December we are setting ourselves for failure. January to December is a calendar year for general people not necessarily your year. This means in order to achieve your goals or New Year's resolutions you must have your own year. That is, a year that is going to match your life style as well as your endeavors. Your year does not need to be twelve months, it can be six months or even less. Government has its own financial year so as businesses this helps the latter and the former to function effectively and efficiently and so can you.

Life Orientation is one of the most important subjects which is offered by our Early Education Curriculum. Despite its defects my opinion remains the same. I love this subject because its purpose is to help learners to lead an orientated life, a life with direction. This subject taught (and teaches) us about goal setting; short, medium and long-term goals.

Instead of having a long list of New Years resolutions why do we not opt to design monthly goals (short terms goals)? When you manage to accomplish short term goals they float you on the road to achieving long term goals. We should take care of Cents and without doubt the Rands will take care of themselves.

Patience is term a number of people do not identify with anymore. The two minutes noodles and other instant food items have tampered with our minds. The consumption of these food items has made us to demand things to happen fast. Things were not like this in the past and should never be like these days. King or Queen so and so, do not be is such a rush to get to where you are going that you do not have what you need to stay there The latter, advocates for patience. You will succeed, not immediately but definitely. Trust the process. A number of things transpiring in this world are against humanity. With this idea in mind you are the last person to be hard on yourself. If your goal is write a book, develop a certain skill or talent, lose some weight… do something you have never tried. Do not be hard on yourself. Take it step by step, slowly but surely you will be victorious.

Make the most of each and every opportunity life affords you. If you make the most of each and every day you will have seven effective days a week, fifty four fruitful weeks will help us to term 2018 as a prosperous year. The mission is to have prosperous year but the focus is on making the most of each and every day (short term goals).

With a positive mindset you can move from zero to hero, from being ordinary into being extraordinary, from being an average student into being an A student, from being a lazy person into being hard worker, from leading a struggling business into leading a booming one In life there are no sweets without sweat. No sacrifices. No victory. Faith without works is dead (James 2:17). To make your dreams and aspiration a reality you only have one option and that is to work.

It is New Year! 2018. A year where we should aspire to be the best versions of ourselves. Let nothing stand in your quest for success. [We] have to keep on moving forward Martin Luther King, Jr. The size of movement from our comfort zone to the world of being great does not matter, what matters is the making the movement. A movement from laziness to working hard/smart Smart or hard working does not kill but laziness does. You have come too far to give up on yourself now. From 19__ to 2018 many people have fallen left and right but you are still here. There is a reason why you are still around.

Change your thoughts change your life. We can be heroes in our own lives. Every one of us, if we only have the courage to try. Do not fear the unknown. It is better to try and fail than not to try at all. Give it your all this year. Remember, to achieve something you have not achieved you must do something you have never done.

Thanks for allowing me to serve you. That is all from my January column. By Gods grace each and every month this year I will be posting at least one column per month on my blog spot.




Credits:
https://www.braiyquote.com/quotes/wayne_dyer_384143

The 2017/8 Picture: Miss Vuyile Zubane (WhatApp Profile picture)

Mhlungu, S.S.S (2015, December 27). When is the best time to set your goals. [Audio podcast].Retrieved from http://www.safm.co.za/sabc/home/safm/multimedia/details?id =ef30e9d2-5a3f-473a-b7df-b67d8c972e64&title=Podcasts

Understanding True Love

 Rethinking the concept of love utilizing the Kingdom of God lens.

If there is something that humans cannot exist without it is companionship. God created humans for a number of reasons part of them being fellowship. So when God created Adam even though he was busy working God knew that he had a void for companionship. God understanding his creature, created Eve to be Adam’s wife (See Genesis 2: 1 - 25). Everybody is affected by relationships. This is to say, if you want to put your life in order you must master the relationships. We were created to relating with one another through the vehicle of love. It is very sad to observe the fact that we do not understand love. In fact, the most misunderstood concept on earth is love. One of the reasons we do not know love is because we are relying on unauthorised sources to tell us what love is. This list includes the books and newspapers we read, songs we listen to and the movies and TV show we watch.

"The best way to learn anything is to consult an expert. If we wish to improve our golf game, we go to a golf pro; if we desire to play the piano, we study under a qualified teacher. Who is the expert on love? No one understands love better than God. Not only did God create love and establish it as a central foundation stone of human experience, but according to the Bible, God Himself is love (see 1 Jn. 4:8,16). Love defines God’s very nature" by Dr. Myles Munroe

Types of love:

I love the definition of the Greeks when they describe love. They realise that it is complicated and they describe it in four different terminologies. Namely: Phileo, Storge, Eros and Agape.

·         Phileo: can simply be defined as the love of friendship. We are social beings by nature. So when we spend more time with people who share common interest with us naturally we become friends.  A negative attribute of phileo love is that it is associated with the phrase ‘You stretch my back I stretch your back’. Simply put, phileo love is love because.  This is not love at its best.

                        

·         Storge: the love of the family or brotherly love. ‘Storge describes the tender affection of parents toward their children and that of children toward their parents’ by Dr Myles Munroe. This love has defects because it is based on an assumption that since people are family they will love each other. Over and above the latter, this love puts pressure on an individual because they love, not because they want to because they have to. This is to say this love does not come naturally from an individual but from a sense of obligation. Despite this love flaws love of family is fundamental to the peace and stability of any society, because when people do not get love from the family they go to people who exploit them in the name of love.

·         Eros:  Erotic, Sexual or Lustful love. First and foremost, it is totally wrong to associate love with sex. Sex can occur without love .This is the case because love can exist without sex: the two are not dependent upon each other. Part of the reasons why we have a tainted image of what love is, is because the enemy on a daily basis 24/7 365 days – bombards our minds with eros through the media. 'Erotic love is emotional love, fuelled by feelings, and therefore rises and falls as feelings do. True love, in contrast, is constant, neither motivated nor controlled by emotions. In its selfishness, eros has no egard for the feelings or desires of the other person, being interested only in the personal gratification it can get from that person' by Dr. Myles Munroe. It is unfortunate  that in most cases when people who do not have a relationship with God say I love you they actually mean they want to relate with you with an erotic kind of love.

 

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Agape: Devine love. This is the love that we do not understand. The latter is true because the status quo has made us to relate in love expecting something in return. Agape contrary to the manner in which we understand and interpret love it is all about sacrificing. John 3:16 "For so God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" is proof that Agape is all about sacrificing. In this verse God killed or sacrificed Himself as Christ for our restoration. God was teaching us the fact that loves is not enough with words. It is proven by actions. Everyone can tell you that they love you. What you must understand is that words are cheap for love is proven when it is cruntch time. You cannot divorce love and responsibility. Agape: Devine Love has no obligation, expectations and condition like Phileo, Eros and Storge love. It is an unconditional love. God is the source of Agape, if someone does not have a relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, he or she might does fully comprehend Agape. Agape is a person – 1 John 4:16b ‘God is love’. Everything that God does to us, he does it out of love. There is a distinction between having love and being love. A number of people shed tears in different relationship because the people they relate have love and are not love. Such people should not be startled when the people they relate with fail to put their words into action to prove that they really love them. As humans beings we have limitations especially when we do not have a relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is to say when we related with people who know Jesus chances are high that they will give us Agape because they are made in God's image. Since, God their Father is Love, they will not struggle to express or prove Agape.

Three crucial attributes of true love:

Love is not emotions. Feelings are chemical reactions that change after five seconds. That is why the relationships that are based on feelings do not last long. Feelings at times are associated with the way someone looks, behaves and so on... So if you have a feeling that you love someone just because he is handsome (she is stunning) you are in a dangerous position. You can testify of the fact you will always see or meet someone who is more handsome (more stunning) than that the person you claim you love.

·          Love is a choice: while you are still baffled at my preceding point that dismissess the relationship between love and feelings - allow me clarify my position. Many people's minds are troubled when they read verses like Matthew 5: 44 "But I say love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them... Mark 12: 31 "Love your neighbor as yourself... They are troubled because they consider the practicalization of these verses as something that is impossible. Loving our neighbors and enemies shouldn't be complicated because God created us; He will never expect or demand something that we are not capable of implementing. Jesus is saying you might not feel like loving your neighbour or enemy because they have wronged you or whatever the reason. However, I Jesus say that you must ignore your feelings and choose to love them. So, if you are not getting along with someone that is a result of your choice.

·         Love is the response to understanding the value of a thing: The Bible tells us that the Lamb was slain to redeem us back to God (See John 3:16-17). Jesus' death to redeem us back to God proves that God values us to the point that He killed himself for us to be reconciled with Him. This means you are worth God. The basic of this point is also reflected in the culture of the world's most respected people the AmaZulu. The Zulu's and others clans only take you serious touching the affairs love when you are willing to pay the dowry (Imali yamalobolo) for their daughter. In passing one may say, if someone says he loves you and says nothing about amalobolo… that is red flags that he after something… and more importantly, he does not value you.

·         Love is a force generated by a decision: If God responded the way He felt when we sinned against Him we would have not been redeemed. God ignored His feelings and refused to see Himself (We are made in His image) living below His potential. In this regard, true love has nothing to do with feelings; on the contrary it has all to do with a choice, valuing someone and a firm decision.  

Love is a law:

John 13: 34-35 “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another”.

Romans 13: 8 “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law”

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 As the Kingdom of God citizens, we owe people love and when we do not love other people were actually proves to people that we do not know God. Love is a law and since it is a law they are consequences if we do not obey God's law, the love a law. When you get bills from the municipality or a reminder from people owe, you do not feel like paying them but you chose to pay based on your integrity to pay the bill. Your integrity has nothing to with your feelings but it is about appealing to your conscience. Try to take feelings out of love. 

John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

John 15: 12-13 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.

 John 15:17 This is my command: Love each other.

John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

The King of Kings (Jesus) says if you love me, you will love people who hate you, you will do well to those who abuse you, you will still decide I love you.  The above verses have a mono-message and that is, love is a commandment and has no relationship with feelings.

In closing, let us understand what is Love? Not just what love is but what true love:

'Love is a decision to commit to meet the needs of another without expectations. Love is caring – anticipating a need and meeting it' by Dr. Myles Munroe. What is evident from from Dr. Munroe’s eloquent quote about love is the fact that love is about giving and responsibility. In this regard, next time you are tempted to tell someone that you love them: before  you even say the three words ask yourself this question ‘Am I prepared to take care of her?’ if the answer is no. You must postpose your plans until you have a positive answer for the latter question. Example of love by God: “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake” 1 Peter 1:20. This verse states that because God loves us, when He created us at the back of His mind He had an idea that we might fall. In response to the possibility of us falling he anticipated our need and met it. The purpose of this column was to clarify the concept of love. I am aware that I did not focus on a relationship between males and females or man and woman. This is because I am of the view that once we understand Agape: God's love, we will be in a better position to relate with others be it in form of men and women, family or friends relationships.

Remain blessed and ensure that you are in good terms with the Trinity of God and the Bible, our constitution as the Kingdom of God citizens.

Sources of information:

Munroe, M. (2002). Understanding the Purpose and Power of Love and Marriage. Nassau, Bahamas:         Destiny Image Publishers 

 SA FM's Living Sounds Show. Understanding love within a family setting (14 February 2016). [Audiopodcast].Retrievedfromhttp://www.safm.co.za/sabc/home/safm/multimedia/details?id=ef30e9d2-5a3f-473a-b7df-b67d8c972e64&title=Podcasts

The secret to the realization of your full potential.

An introduction to significant goal setting steps and the importance of setting goals within the right time-frame. 

Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails”. 

Proverbs 3: 5 -6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heat and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight".

People in the world are used to the norms of society that when another becomes innovative they are labelled as crazy or strange.  This has made people live below their potential, this should not always be the case. It is highly evident from people like Bill gates and Kenneth Makate that we can change from being normal into being extraordinary. This is possible by choosing the road less travelled.

Going with the flow is one of the major reasons why we fail at accomplishing New Year's resolutions and other goals we have set. By this I mean when we make plans for the New Year between January and December we are setting ourselves for failure. January to December is a calendar year for general people not necessarily your year. This means in order to achieve your goals or New Year's resolutions your must have your own year. That is, a year that is going to match your life style as well as your endeavors. Your year does not need to be twelve months, it can be six months. Government has its own financial year so as businesses this helps the latter and the former to function effectively and efficiently.

These are significant goal setting steps one needs to follow:

·         Know what you want to achieve: do not be hard on yourself and do not set goals that are not achievable. Knowing what you want to achieve keeps you focused. So, you must write down you goals so that you can keep tracking your progress on a daily or months basis.

·         Set goals within a reasonable time frame: part of the reason we find it hard to achieve our goals is the fact that we set is because we focus too much on long term goals. While we doing that, we forget that our short and medium term goals should be leading us to realize our long term goals.

·         Downsize and scale-down: we should drop some things. Dropping some things needs us to reflect on things we do and have a deep understanding of our abilities and capabilities- know yourself! Be fair to yourself!

·         Be disciplined: we must stick to our plans and not be easily swayed. Disciple determines destiny. Therefore, we must be willing to pay the price in order to be successful. Mhlungu (2016) puts the premise of this point eloquently when he says it is only in the dictionary where the word success comes before work. 

·         Mind your relationships: friends who are making you to get derailed must be dropped.  Your life is more important. You must go with people who are going to uplift you in what you want to achieve.

·         Discover yourself: many of us just do things out of socialization. This point is critical because once you do something that you were created to do you will not struggle. This will be the case because you will be doing something you were wired to do. About 80% of people are doing things because they want to put bread on the table, but not necessarily what they were created to do. To be someone in life you need to undergo three births; 1- Birth to the world, 2 – Conviction birth (being born again) and 3 – giving birth to ourselves (Mhlungu, 2015). In light of the preceding statement, one can argue that our parents and God (if you are born again) have played their parts. We have not played our part by giving birth to ourselves.

·         Allocate time accordingly:  this can be achieved by ensuring that the tasks that demand your attention the most get big chunks of your time. In addition we must do things that add value to our lives. Executing what is necessary to do instead of what is nice to do will save us a lot of time. Hopefully, I am not misunderstood on this point. As humans being we must have time to recreate and refresh. We must have time with our families but again we must know our priorities. Have time with your family because they will support you one day when you happen to fall on whatever venture you are exploring. Life at times is hard no matter how faithful you try to be, life is just life, it can turn against you. 

Now the big question is, when it is the right time to set my goals for the New Year. The advantage of having your year is the fact that it will help you to take the road less traveled and accommodate your uniqueness. The good news is that the fact that only people who do things 'strange' (like dream killers put it) ever accomplish their goals. "Everyone is best at his or her uniqueness" (Mhlungu, 2016). The December to January period is a time where one should be reflecting on his or her goals. The gist of this section is that our goals should be tailored to suit our lives.

Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails”. God is saying while we may have a number of endeavors we want to pursue we must understand that His will prevail. This means for us to ensure that we prosper in all we do, we must first ask Him to reveal the treasure within us. From this verse one can say its message is that we must involve God right from the beginning pertaining achieving our goals.

Proverbs 3: 5 -6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heat and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight". The world is filled with people who are Mr and Mrs I-KNOW-IT-ALL that is why we have many individuals who have not found themselves. In light of these verses in order for us to be successful we must have faith in the Lord ‘for without faith is impossible to please God’. In addition, in all our ways we must acknowledge that He in control of everything – to make our goals a reality we are expected to allow Him to be the Captain of the Ship while we are passengers. The tragedy is that many of us have taken the position of being Captains. So, when the storms come our incompetency as captains is exposed!

Success is not about money nor is it about education. Instead, success is mostly about finding yourself. Once you are on the road to your destiny that is success on its own. The latter is true because you are doing what you were created to do. It is unfortunate that a number of us are lost and are just wasting time– what a tragedy! I do not care how much money or education you have - if have not found yourself you have not started living.

Remain blessed and ensure that you are in good terms with the Trinity of God and the Bible, our constitution as the Kingdom of God citizens.

Source of information:

Mhlungu, S.S.S (2015, December 27). When is the best time to set your goals. [Audio podcast].Retrieved from http://www.safm.co.za/sabc/home/safm/multimedia/details?id =ef30e9d2-5a3f-473a-b7df-b67d8c972e64&title=Podcasts