UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

Problems come in various forms under different circumstances and would be felt by each and everyone of us at some point in our lives. A problem-free life will therefore always be an illusion. Life tends to reward your ability to take charge of your life and turn your circumstances around. Life loves problem solvers. Running away from your problems is one very efficient way of putting the rewards life has for you on hold. Of course, we all desire to experience life on a smooth sail. We all want to close that deal or win that all important life battle without an hitch. This is never guaranteed. As much as we do not love problems, they do have the potential to turn into stepping stones. Learning to see problems as stepping stones and not monsters from nowhere is the way to go. This is why you need to accept the problem with a desire to finding solutions to it. No problem has so much strength within it that it won't bow when the solution to it is found. The initial steps to understanding your problems are ultimately found in acceptance of such a problem. You have to admit the fact that there is a problem. Denial has never done anyone any good. The problem will be right there like a bug and gnaw at you till it leaves you helpless and weak. You need to understand that problems are fans of being treated with kid gloves. You must take them for what they are, seeing them as the perfect stepping stone to your success. After acceptance, there is no point remaining there and watch the problem consume you. You must do something about it. You have to find out what led to such a problem. This brings to the fore the need for you to develop the ability to examine yourself. This requires that you are very open to yourself without consciously or unconsciously shielding your mistakes. It is when we are open to ourselves we are able to find solutions to such problems. Many a time, we actually end up taking the wrong pill for an entirely different ailment. We suddenly become our albatross. We begin to create more problems by applying the wrong methods. You don't solve a problem of lack of confidence by seeking help from a person with a chronic case of inferiority complex. Understanding your problems will help you seek help using the right resources. The problem can only be solved by using the right resource or taking the right steps. What is the point in seeking help from persons who will not be able to help? You must understand that you are doing something wrong and retrace your steps. Often times we get caught up in trying to find solutions to our problems at any cost, we settle for half measures. It is in your best interest to find solutions to your problem with a an eye on the long-term. The problems we fail to nip in the bud now do come back to haunt us later. It gets worse if you are your own problem. Some problems do have an extraordinary ability to stick around and are quite good at popping the question. Can you get past me? This tends to create doubt within our hearts including fear and all the consequences that come along with it. This is all a farce and no matter how tough a problem may be, understand that it will only remain a problem if you let it remain so.

WHAt STEPS ARE YOU SKIPPING?

Any form of motion that enables you attain an higher understanding of yourself is great. As a matter of fact, too long a time spent in your past or in the same circumstances of your life is stagnancy at its peak. Our lives are of more use than merely being satisfied with the way things are. It is by living a dynamic life we are able to make progress in the right direction. Life is full of phases and with each move and step we take there is a lesson to be learnt within it. Every single experience or step we take in life has a lesson attached to it; one which must be learnt. Jumping steps and failing to acquire a full understanding of something you neeeded to have done earlier would sooner or later give you cause for concern. Every single lesson we learn is in some way valuable to our journey and the course of our life. Many a time, we often view these steps as obstacles; a few centimetres added to the distance to make us dispair. This is not so because every step you take has the capacity to help you. Some of them do help us attain an higher understanding of ourselves. You can never get to a state where you have a perfect understanding of yourself without going through them. They are crucial. This is the best way to act most of the time. Any other will only place you under the banner of complacency and self deceit. There is nothing so dangerous to the course of your life than being complacent about it. Taking the leap at the sight of them might seem great for it shows great reserves of energy and foresight. But what about the lesson. As much as time waits for no one, it is more added value to you when you have the patience to learn your lessons. Stages of life we skip or circumvent simply because we can could give us so much stress because eventually the chicken comes home to roost. We often end up having to learn such lessons at such uncomfortable periods of time when we could be concentrating on something more helpful. The stages you fail to acknowledge today are the stages you will need tommorow. This is often why we need to be very open about the things that go on around us. Being patient and humble enough to learn and gain the slightest of knowledge is the way to go. It is entirely your fault when you fail to realise that each shift is some good and a force for change. Change is not always easy and if you have to make that move, go with it. Don't try to circumvent it. The tough steps we have to take add bouts of knowledge and experience to us. Of course at the end of the day it turns out those little things really do matter. You would not want to find yourself in a situation where you need such experience and for all its worth, it's no where to be found. You must learn to be careful about what you ignore. Remembering, regret often hurts more when you are the very person involved in making that mistake. It is important you understand that the heights you attain do not neccessarily determine your staying power. As a matter of fact, your position has little or no bearing on how long you would be able to keep faith with your situation. It is the body of knowledge you have stored up yourself. It is the lessons you have learnt while on the way to the top that will hold brief for you. When life seems to toss its challenges at you, learning to see each step as an helpmate and not an obstacle is the way to go. Go through each and everyone of them and watch them help you achieve your desires.

ARE YOU OVERTHINKING YOUR LIFE?

It is amazing how many of us believe that until the direction of our life follows a certain pattern of reality, things are not going to be alright. This might actually be true or dangerously wrong. You must understand that overthinking the direction your life will go isn't changing the course of your life without action. Remember, no matter the level of thinking, as long as it is never backed by action it is a waste of time. Of course, without the thought any form of action will never be possible. But what if the place of action has been taken over by the lenght of time you spend overthinking. You must understand that there is a need for balance when it comes to the amount of time you spend thinking especially when it isn't so beneficial. You would be surprised to know that the amount of time you spend ruminating and churning over past events could be spent rejuvenating your life. Any thought that consistently causes you to doubt yourself or places you in a condition of exceeding sorrow isn't worth wasting your thought time on. Our thoughts are investments that would bring good or bad returns in a time not too far from now. Why waste your time overthinking the negatives? The returns on negative thinking are certainly not beneficial in any way. Often times we often fall into the trap of allowing peoples actions and colourations determine our happiness. This would certainly cause problems in the long run because whether we like it or not people will always change. This is why you find yourself wondering why that favourite person suddenly ignores you all day or why a colleague had that smile off their face the moment they saw you. Is this avoidable? Yes. Overthinking is avoidable as long as you are willing to change the circumstances that led to it in the first instance. You can start that process of change by learning to reduce your level of dependence on other people. Excessively depending on other people often times places your happiness at the mercy of other peoples mistakes and indecisions. You are tempted to read meanings into every single action they take even when there is absolutely nothing in the offing. This is not how we are able to tap into the beauty that life offers. Just imagine how shallow life will be if we have to read meanings into every single thing that goes on around us. Most of the time, the persons and events we spend so much time thinking about are not even worth our while. You will be surprised to know that those circumstances thrive on your fears which only leads to more overthinking. It is in learning never to sweat the small stuff we are able to defeat some of those elements of overthinking in our lives. This means that to a large extent you must have a level of trust in the people that work with you, work for you and those you have some level of relationship with. This will help save you from worrying about a possible costly mistake. Overthinking stresses you, leaves you drained, then dumps you with tonnes of medical bills to take care of. Somehow life isn't a one way traffic and would most likely never be. Learning never to overanalyse or overcomplicates situations might just be the help you can do to your self. Remembering that no matter how much you want to be perfect, being you is your best bet.

WHAT KIND OF IMPRESSION ARE YOU MAKING?

Every single moment of our lives we are out there making one impression or the other either consciously or subconsciously. It is this view of you that to a large extent determines how the world out there would relate with you most of the time. This automatically places upon you the responsibility to ensure that the impression you are making on people is on the positive side. This you must realise everytime you are out there, for people will only create an impression of you based on whatever they notice about you. How wonderful it will be, if the impression people have of you is on a positive side. Most of the time, in the buisness of creating the right impressions, the first impression matters a lot. Many a time, we often underestimate the very important roles the first impression we make play in the way people relate with us. Personally, i have come to realise that any other event that takes place after the first impression has been made is merely spent validating that opinion or view. Now an impression initially created that was not only negative but stuck deeply within the psyche of such an individual could offer deep-seated problems in the long run. You would find yourself having to change a completely negative impression a person has made of you. This is in no way an easy job as some of the time there might hardly be any more opportunity to change that impression of you that has been created. Some times circumstances might help with another such opportunity. But know this--consistently changing the impression people have of you would make people see you as deceitful and uncertain. No person will want to invest in an uncertain character without serious thought. It also tends to frustrate people when you are unsteady about your personality. The key to creating the right impression is to understand the person and the circumstances that govern their thought. You would find it much harder making an impression on persons with lower interest in who you are than one with shared interest. How do you srike the right cords? By becoming a high value personality such a person will be unable to resist without serious thought. This is where most people stumble. In trying to make the right impressions they try to take up an entirely different persona from who they really are. They become a sub-standard version of themselves. You must understand that anything that puts you in a situation where you are unable to express your true self is not worth creating an impression for. This false persona is hardly sustainable. Of course, it might offer benefits in the short-term but what about the long-term. You hardly know how long the people you are making impressions on will stay in your life. This is why it is important you do not hide the real you but develop yourself to such an extent where you are able to create the right impression in the right persons. It is you alone that has the responsibility to determine how people will relate with you and the positives they would add to your life. To create the right impressions within people you must be willing to invest in certain aspects of your life. This requires your willingness to bare the search light on certain areas of your life. No one is perfect and that is the beauty in life. The opportunity to change the things we do not like and the ability to improve ourselves is the beauty life offers. At the end, the key to being that individual people are attracted towards is that you never give up on yourself.

ARE YOU ASSUMING YOUR WAY THROUGH LIFE?

It is entirely your responsibility to find a way for you to emerge out of life's tussles unscathed or at least with your head above the waters. Assuming your way through life will always put you at a disadvantage most of the time denying you great life changing opportunities. It is in understanding that life doesn't just happen you are able to propel yourself forward and create the change you desire. Assumptions detest facts and are often times mistakes waiting to happen. Assumptions create a feeling of comfort where there is none and institutes a climate of fear where there is really none. These is a typical scenario especially when you fail to understand yourself and your environment. Life responds with unflinching loyalty to persons who know what they want compared to those who merely scratch the surfaces of who they are meant to be. When you assume your way through life you place everything about you at the mercy of events and circumstances. Certainly, there are always going to be times where you will barely have an idea about some things. Nevertheless, it does you better good when you realise that no matter how scanty your knowledge of certain things are, there is that capacity within you to attain a full understanding of it. All it needs is the openness and willingness to go beyond the surface level and instead seek that which you need to know. Many a time, we get really scared about things especially when they have great potential for enlightenment. We tend to see it as stressful and inconvenient, forcing us to resort to assumptions. You need to understand that most of the time the easiest option is never the best option. Assumptions tend to put you in a position where you have to work under a multiplicity of circumstances and scenarios. This tends to keep you occupied with a little mixup resulting in your plans crashing like a pack of cards. Have you ever realised how fidgety you are when you can't just point to something specific? You would save yourself all that stress when you begin to work towards a full knowledge of things instead of mere surface knowledge. All that assumptive air you carry around you tends to send a picture of one who is not diligent or bothered about the consequences of their actions. Few people would involve themselves with persons who do not care about the consequences of their actions. There is great power in certainty especially the level of assurance it brings to your life which is nothing short of phenenmenal. The actions we take and how much they will effect a change in our life must never draw their strength from consistent assumption. The fervour and zest with which you will achieve your goal must never be determined at the expense of certainty. Our lives should hold far more meaning to us than that. If you must to a large extent take the right actions at the right time, know the facts well. This is not you trying to create certainty about life. Life is not certain and would never be. Living a life free of consistent assumption is taking responsibility for the course of your life. In achieving an assumption-free life you must understand the place of diligence in moving beyond the surface to finding the facts for yourself. Going deep is not stress. Life has immense rewards for persons who have acquired a level of clarity and certainty of purpose. When you place the course of your life at the mercy of assumptions, luck becomes your best shot. Some matters of life are simply too important to depend on luck. You should let your clarity of purpose determine the things that would work for you. It is important you never see all that searching as unneccessary for we often aquire a full understanding of ourselves during such experiences.

ELIMINATING DISTRACTIONS.

There is an experience all too common with persons who have decided to launch out and that is the tendency to get distracted. Initially there is a very powerful burst of energy within most individuals when taking up a challenge at the very instant. Overtime, consistent forms of distraction will come and as always try to get you off track. As a matter of fact, issues of life and some of those things that tend to get our attention would rear their heads. Often times these distractions don't just come from nowhere and rear their heads, we actually facilitate their entry. You need to understand that anything that fails to convey value and relevance to the course of your life has become a distraction. Distractions could come in many forms and do not neccessarily retain a set value at certain points in time. Some event or attribute that once held so much good for you at a certain stage of your life could act against you at some other. This means at every point in time you should have a clear cut inderstanding of what would lead you to your goals or take you far from it. Failure to do this often puts you in a situation where even minute events become a distraction. Distractions shift your attention from the main reason why you are alive to a substitute that has little relevance to the course of your life.
The easiest way to lose your relevance and experience productivity lapses is to get distracted. Distractions take advantage of our emotions to find their way into our lives using the double edged sword of pleasure and fear. Often times we fail to realise the element of fear is distracting. That assumption is wrong. Have you ever wondered why you become incompetent when you are scared? Fear is distracting. Nevertheless, the greatest tool to distract you is through pleasures which means if those pleasures have extreme primetime in your life, you shouldn't be surprised when they lead you into downtime. This is why you owe it to yourself never to give room to any form of distractions in your life. You would not only find yourself wobbling along, you could lose out on the wonderful rewards consistent focus has to offer. To achieve consistent focus you need to achieve a level of discipline where even the 'beep beep' of your email won't entice you. Sometimes we really need to get rid of the urge to keep up with every thing that goes on around us. As much as it helps to keep up, sometimes they just distract us off the real direction our lives should go.
The social media and several other online systems of keeping up have such addictive potential we fall victim when we overindulge. When not used with some element of caution, you would be amazed at how much time you are wasting. To avoid such it helps to have some period offline where you have the opportunity to make some sense out of life. Many a time, the things that span out their lives around us do us more harm than good. Sometimes we really do not need all that files and slips around us, some could be kept in less distracting positions. These files and other stuffs around will often affect our visual concentration which needs your sight fully on ground. It would help to reduce such from around you especially when you might not be needing them for a long time to come. Getting rid of distractions is in your best interest and no matter the form it takes, a consistent dose of the distraction pill could take you completely off track. There is always a place for focus in the success race and it is your responsibility to ensure that not even you stops your run.

WHERE SELF DISCIPLINE FIXES YOU?

In the lives of certain individuals that have risen above the drawbacks of their environment, there has always been that point where such individuals have had to respond to an inner energy calling for expression from within. We all have at one point had to respond to such call by the "frantic efforts" made to heed to such call. It was that point where we took a decision to immerse ourselves in its essence till it eventually finds expression
within us. This is where most persons ended all that rhetoric and found the
mselves gnawing at stuff that should have been done away with. Self discipline is the ability to exert such control on your impulses, for as long a time as is needed to take you to that point where you desire. In as much as success is a driving force all the motivation it would leave at your disposal would come to nought if an individual fails to call up their impulses and nature towards it. A considerable display of an inability to control your emotions and desires ends up taking you down the path failure adorns. It is important to gain such level of control over our emotional state of mind for it could be the difference between moving ahead or spending more time where you are. Self discipline is the difference between where you are now and where you want to be; getting it right is an almost certain recipe for success.
The hallmark of any successful individual lies in their ability to surrender their immediate desires and needs towards fufilling a longer term purpose. In as much as we know what we want to do, how to go about it, where
to start from and all that stuff, it is you alone that holds the ace. Quite a number of times, we fail to realise how well the direction our lives go depend on the decisions we take not only on externalities but on our selves. It is when one is able to hold themselves to an high degree of responsibility, things fall in line. An undisciplined self is a liability when it comes to goals and achieving aims that have great capacity to move you forward. It will add so much colour and allure to so many unneccessaries, you would hardly see any reason to move in the direction of your dreams. The moment you are able to achieve a state of self discipline you are able to take the right actions at the right time helping you overcome procastination. To
get to that point where discipline is possible, you must learn to exercise
control over your will which is the control room of your creative genius.
You need to understand that the very essence of your being has to engage your inner weaknesses at every point in time and win before you can begin to expect success. It is always a struggle between what is right and what your weak self would impulsively want. It is that point where you are able to say no to the unneccessaries, you start yourself up on that fruitful journey towards attaining a state of self discipline. Lending volume to that weak part of you breeds problems and more problems till it becomes an unstoppable monster. This is what indiscipline causes, it accumulates more problems till it gets things all muddled up you can barely find your footing. At the end you would come to realise that these seemingly hard stuff not only reward you handsomely but shapes you. Attaining self discipline not only entails discarding the allure of momentary pleasure, it also needs you to never succumb to fear. Fear has stamped over it- failure, procastination and indiscipline and every false positive you can think of. Fear forces you into your confort zone, a very staunch foe of discipline; it forces you to submit to the emotional enzymes that permeates your being. Eventually, no matter how bad things look on the side it is import
ant that in all you do, you look at the big picture. It helps!

GETTING NOTICED THE RIGHT WAY.

Every single being that has been able to call attention to their works, self and nature have one thing in common. It is their glaring ability to ensure that all they do draw expression from a supreme connection with their higher self. It is in being able to project your reality without having to force it out, your true self gains traction. The moment you are able to establish a connection with your higher self, you would get noticed in good time. Everyone is out there playing some sort of music and of course in an endless search for someone to dance to it. Often times we do not get the dance we want out of life simply because we are actually playing very "assaulting" music. One of the very things you must understand about getting people to notice you is that in everything you do value precedes all. Value can be offered in many ways and never needs to neccessarily revolve around a certain product or service, for you are value in yourself. You become value when people are able to see in you someone whose existence adds an element of meaning into their lives. Often times we ignore what we should offer and create such false picture of who we are simply to call attention to ourselves. You must understand that calling attention to yourself is good but the ability to call attention to who you are is way better.
It never matters whether you can categorically pin-point your strong or weak points, it is being yourself all the time no matter the circumstance that matters. It is in being true to yourself without stiffling anything, you are able to project the creative genius within you. We often times try to get noticed at all cost resorting to several ways and models of putting ourselves out there. These might help a number of times within a short term spectrum but you would be surprised to know that most of the time a notice-me view of you might not have much benefit in the long run. This is often reason why when all you focus on is you and not what you have to offer, you tend to attract wrong crowds and comments. Often times calling attention to who you are often proves rewarding, for you not only help your dreams, you attract who you are which is where the reward lies. In as much as people would like to see some semblance of colouring or packaging surrounding your personality, at every point in time whatever you have to offer has greater premium. This is more reason why trying to get noticed on a surface level without developing your value potential eventually fades away. You must understand that at every point in time offering the best of yourself will eventually take you there. It is in offering the most of yourself and in turn spurning value that you not only get the attention you deserve and but also get its rewards.
To get noticed you should be able to attain a certain level of understanding about the trends taking place within your environment. This would help place you on a higher pedestal where you are able to align your thoughts and actions with the desires of your environment. If you fail to align yourself with the desires of your environment you would certainly get noticed but you will be rejected which is not what anyone desires. This is important when the elements within your niche are needed to to make impact. This is why greater premium must be placed on a constant learning process, for the moment that grinds to a halt your ability to spurn value decreases. In all of these there is one thing that always wins and that is by giving your best to others, for it is in lighting up the life of others we light our path too.

HOW TO WRESTLE YOUR WAY OUT OF THAT SLUMP?

No matter how inspired and motivated an individual you tend to be, there are going to be points in time where the desire seems so far away. There is no need playing to the gallery on the fact that as humans we can't help getting tired at times or even lazy on certain matters we would ordinarily pursue with gusto. It is in understanding our limitations we are able to find a way around them and create the impressions we want to see. Often times we fail to understand that no matter how exciting your dreams are, once in a while the internal energy might just go. No matter how frightened and frustrated you might feel when you encounter such a slump, you need to understand that a slump is just a phase and would pass as soon as possible. What is extremely important is that you do not stay in that hell hole for too long; you really do not need such. Phases like this really take a whole lot from us especially when it comes to achieving our set aims and goals. You end up trapped in a cycle of indecision and self pity, it is during times like this people veer of their life path. Any event or circumstance that places you in a situation where you are not able to punch above your weight or move in the direction of your dreams must be speedily outed. Never get to such an extent where you begin to evolve an atmosphere of effortlessness around you, too long a time in it will take you downhill.
The fact that things have slumped and nothing seems to excite you, as bad as it might seem do offer great opportunity for transformational change. A slump is never an indication of failure no matter how holed up you might feel, it is simply pertinent on you to take every possible step to claw your way out of such situation. Often times we fall into the trap of placing our focus on so many targets we hardly realise how much more they take out of us. These approach will many times take you down that path where your inability to meet up with such goals leaves you drained. No matter how lofty the heights, it pays to take those small steps needed to get in there rather than try to take them all at once. You must learn to pursue goals you can with a measure of confidence achieve with your very best. There is nothing so discouraging as consistently missing out on your goals, it will always hit at you. Slumps could have such a huge effect on your long term ambitions, you don't want to stay in there for too long.
It all boils down to finding something to excite you once again because as long as a life fails to find excitement within it self, it can't stop the whirlwind mediocrity brings. Slumps reduce your value to such an extent where you begin to portray a picture of one without potential and your ratings begin to take a drop. Negative trends when not done away with become a standard by which people relate with us. People tend to lock themselves up with their myriad of problems when they experience a slump; never let these happen to you. It is important you actively seek for help when needed for you need not go through this alone. You keep yourself in that slump for a longer period when you shut people out; for to a large extent people do provide some level of strength during times like this. No one remains in a situation where they are unable to make impact for too long once action is backed by purposeful desire. Find yours!

ARE YOU A CONTROL FREAK?

The kind of environment we have evolved into has conditioned us into adrenaline fuelled personalities who are comfortable only when things seem to draw their strength from us. We find ourself enmeshed in the process of trying to exercise some level of contol over our life, we hardly realise we are actually becoming an headache. You need to understand that in as much as there is every reason for you to exercise a certain level of control over your life, you must not get to such a stage where you become a stumbling block to yourself and others. Most of the time, your lack of confidence in the ability of others to do the right thing will put you in a situation where you are unable to take your hands off certain things, It is not everday that will be yours for the taking; you will have moments where your optimum performances will yield minimal results. This is more reason why you should be able to invest in the resources around you; they would save you a whole lot of stress when the time comes. You need to understand that when life begins to reward your efforts, a point in time would arise where there would be need for you to move beyond. You need to understand that if you have pushed your capacity to the limits wherein your idea can stand without you, you must be prepared to let other people in without exerting yourself on them. You must get to such level wherein you are able to look beyond yourself and see the good in people. It is what we all sign up for when we decide to break the mould and make impact. The idea grows beyond you to such extent where your capacity becomes too small to move it forward. Of course, when your capacity becomes too small to move that idea forward, you have no option but let others in or watch something you nurtured for months or even years go down the drain . Of course, by default you are going to get worried about the ability of such persons to function with such level of passion you have afterall who wants incapable hands for an help. Finding individuals who will share the same passion that fueled you to aim for better things is no mean feat because people will always act in line with their interests. Nevertheless you can always find people with shared vision acting in line with what you are meant to be. Often times we fail to recognise this fact and end up going through the stress of trying to create something good out of people who were never fit in the first place. We place our bets on persons who are overtly ambitious who find their sole expression in self. Overtly ambitious person's might help move things in the right direction but things turn awry when there is a crossroad between team satisfaction and self satisfaction. At the end it is always come down to you; that point where you are able to look beyond how attached you are to that idea and let people help move it forward without squeezing them in.