Means Of Expressing One’s Potentials

Potentials are expressed through the following:

• Actions
• WorkOutputs
• Interactions
• Service

AVENUES FOR EXPRESSING ONE’S POTENTIALS

• The family
• The workplace
• The society
• Business ventures
• The church, associations or other voluntary societies

How can you Discover your Potential?

¡By self-examination and reflection

¡By self-expression or applying yourself in various activities

¡By being adventurous, learning from trials and errors

¡Through informal interactions with families, friends, colleagues etc

¡Through divine revelation

¡By chance and unpremeditated happenings

¡During a coaching or mentoring session

Personal Thoughts on Potential

Potentials are the gifts, the talents, the endowments, the riches, the resources as well as the blessings inherent in a human that are yet to be expressed in his/her actions, interactions and works. Once these find expression, they cease to be called potential and then become skills and abilities.– Babatunde Oladele

The fear of not 'starting rightly' is what keeps many a great man and woman from fulfilling their potential. It is what also robs us of ideas and solutions that could have made the world a better place for you and me. I will say, start; if you fail, start again and improve yourself (and your process) along the way. The tortoise makes no progress unless it juts out its head. After all, the Bible says, "the end of a thing is better than the beginning thereof." – Babatunde Oladele

Life is a marathon, but some live it as if it's a 100metre dash; that is why you see some people with so much potential in their youth looking so ordinary in midlife. They have burned out. – Babatunde Oladele

A potential is what you can become. – Babatunde Oladele

Quotes on Potentials

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. - Eddie Robinson

The potential for greatness lives within each of us. The key to achieving greatness is found when we discover and then develop our dream. - John Maxwell

Adventure isn't hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life - facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown and in the process, discovering our own unique potential. - John Amatt

No one fulfills his purpose, develops his potential, or consistently help others without goals. Your goals determine your priorities – and your priorities determine whether you’ll reach your goals. - John Maxwell

Nothing is more effective when it comes to reaching potential than commitment to personal growth. - John Maxwell

Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential. Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British prime minister during WWII

I’d rather reach 90 percent of my potential with plenty of mistakes than reach only 10 percent with a perfect score. - John Maxwell

To keep moving to a higher level and reach your potential, you… have to be willing to… trade security for significance. - John Maxwell

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential. - Ellen Goodman

How Can You Maximise Your Potential?

¡By setting life and project goals

¡By drawing up a roadmap to achieve the set goals

¡By always taking actions – instead of idling away or procrastinating

¡By holding yourself accountable for living out your potential

¡By adopting a steward’s attitude toward your potential, knowing that you will have to give account to God on whatever potential has been besotted to you (remember the parable of the talents in the Bible)

¡By making the most of time and opportunities, and wasting none

¡By giving of yourself whenever occasion demands

¡By getting a coach, a mentor or an accountability partner who will guide or hold you accountable to your ideals

In Search of Career or Business Success? Look Here:

When seeking the roadmap to success in career and business, you must essentially look in three places:

1. LOOK UP: to God for instructions, the blueprint of what you are meant to do, the direction detailing how you are to go about it, when, where, and for His favour,

2. LOOK INWARD: inside yourself and do a written inventory of your strengths, your skills, your flairs, your talents and the gifts of God in you that have commercial potential, and finally

3. LOOK OUT: for opportunities in the marketplace where the application of your endowments will prove both useful and profitable. Look out for people who can be of use to you as service providers, mentors, strategic partners, amongst others.

These three steps are by no means exhaustive in accomplishing business/career success. But they sure can get you on the path if you do them rightly.

To your success!

Babatunde

What is The Character of Success?

Success is fulfilling an identified personal life purpose with:

• The fear of God
• Integrity
• Sound Ethical Values
• A Sense of Mission
• Compassion
• Character

Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure. - Jim Rohn

If you develop the habits of success, you will make success a habit. - Michael E. Angier

The common denominator of success lies in forming the habit of doing things that failure don’t like to do. - Albert Gray

Wrong Reasons to go into Business

1. Because you are sick and tired of being told what to do

2. Because you want more freedom

3. Because you feel unappreciated or undervalued in your present job

 4. Because you want to make a lot of money

5. Because you want to improve your standard of living

6. Because your friends or loved ones are going into business

7. Because other people are doing that kind of business and making much money from there

8. Because it is the reigning business in town

Christian Entrepreneur?

Who Is a Christian Entrepreneur?

A Christian Entrepreneur is a disciple of Jesus Christ who has chosen to “express himself” or fulfil his stewardship by setting up a business venture to provide essential products or services that will meet the need of, as well as add value to, an identified market (people) in the society. What Are The Qualities of a Christian Entrepreneur?

¡ He is a steward 1 Corinthians 4:2: Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful ¡ He is a Non-compromiser ¡ He is a Non-conformist with the popular conventions of business practice ¡ He is a Faithful Servant Matthew 24:45-47: Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. ¡ He is a Treasurer ¡ He is a Minister/Evangelist in the marketplace Acts 1:8: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. ¡ He personifies Love in his offerings and dealings The integrative principle that must guide Christians in the marketplace is that of love. ¡ Love compels Christians to put their faith into action and to live what they believe. ¡ Love will motivate Christians in the marketplace to follow the example of Christ in the incarnation. ¡ It will move them to identify with those who are lost and alone in a dark world. ¡ It will allow them to share in the sufferings of those they care for and by bringing the presence of Christ into the marketplace also bring transformation and hope. 

The Entrepreneurial Questions

1. What do I have the resources, ability, interest and contacts to do?

2. Do I have the necessary commitment needed to succeed in a business undertaking?

3. Am I prepared to work extremely hard, to devote long hours of labour to my business?

4. Do I have the mental stamina and concentration to meet the demands my project will impose on me?

5. Do I accept new ideas easily? Do I treat other people with respect? Am I able to make decisions right away?

6. How do I deal with problem solving: Am I prepared to spend time analyzing a problem and find a solution? Or am I the type who just closes his eyes and hope for the best?

7. Am I ready to commit to the long term, knowing that a company’s success is never an overnight miracle?

8. What back-up resources do I have? Will my family members or friends invest in my company or tide me over during a rough patch?

9. Am I good at concentrating on details?

10. Am I ready to sit down and write a careful analysis of my business prospects?

11. Am I by nature an optimist? Knowing that mistakes and setbacks are bound to occur, am I able to learn from my mistakes without getting derailed or discouraged? 

Fear Is Universal: Examples of Historical Figures with Fears

We all have fears. 9 out of 10 people are terrified by the thought of speaking before groups. Some don’t like insects. Others fear heights, deep water, financial problems, aging, or loneliness. 

• Julius Caesar, a powerful military general and Roman emperor, feared thunder. 
• Peter the Great, the czar of Russia and an imposing figure at six five feet tall, was afraid of bridges. He crossed them only when there was no other alternative, and when he did, he trembled and cried like a child. 
• Dr. Samuel Johnson, a British writer and literary critic, had a phobia about entering a room with any foot other than his left foot. Anytime he accidentally entered a room wrong-footed, he backed out and entered again with his right foot. He took wanting to put his best foot forward to a ridiculous extreme!

Quotes on Fear

Nothing is terrible except for fear itself. - Sir Francis Bacon

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. - Franklin D. Roosevelt

There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction. - J.F. Kennedy

The bottom line is that if you can overcome your fear, you can break the cycle and live to see the death of your ignorance and the birth of your success. Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed. - Michael Pritchard

Fear causes people to draw back from situations; it brings on mediocrity; it dulls creativity; it sets one up to be a loser in life. - Fran Tarkenton

Fear is interest paid on a debt you may not owe. - John Maxwell

As long as I continue to stretch my capabilities, as long as I continue to take risks in making my dreams come true, I am going to experience fear. - Dr. Susan Jeffries

The hero and the coward both feel exactly the same fear, only the hero confronts his fear and converts it into fire. - Cus D’Amato (Professional boxing manager)

The irony is that the successful person who keeps growing, taking risks, and moving forward feels the same feelings of fear as the one who allows fear to stop him. The difference comes because one doesn’t let fear dominate him while the other does. - John Maxwell

To take the plunge, to start your own company, to shed the comforts of the corporate world, takes guts… It also takes more than a bold decision. - Peter Krass

Ignorance is bliss. If an entrepreneur knew all the pitfalls he might stumble upon, he’d never get started. - Warren Avis

I discovered the secret of success: Plunge into the uncomfortable; push… beyond your fears and your sense of limitations. And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since, overcoming my discomfort as I go along. - Barry Diller

The largest obstacle between you and your goal is a lack of total commitment. Often we use phrases like, “I’ll try’, “I guess I can”, “I hope I can”. But commitment is expressed in two words: I WILL. - Barry Diller

Fear is the opportunity for courage, not proof of cowardice. - John McCain

Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody. - Longfellow

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7

The Fear Factor in Life (Part 2)

ANTIDOTES
Dream: Your dream is one of the most effective antidotes for fear. It can fuel the flames of desire within you until you are willing to confront and overcome your fear. Your dream can help you go where you are afraid to go and do what you are afraid to do. Your dream can provide the spark that will turn your fear to fire.

Action: Action is the only antidote for fear. Act in spite of fear, and the death of fear is certain. When it comes to dealing with fear, you have 3 choices:

1. Try to avoid it altogether. But that means staying away from every known or potential fear-producing person, place thing, or situation.

2. Hope that it will go away. But that’s like hoping for a fairy godmother to rescue you.

3. Face it and overcome it Discover the foundation of fear. Most of the fears we face every day are not based on facts. They are generated by our feelings. For example, a study conducted by the University of Michigan showed the following: 

• 60 percent of our fears are totally unwarranted; they never come to pass 
• 20 percent of our fears are focused on our past, which is completely out of our control 
• 10 percent of our fears are based on things so petty that they make no difference in our lives 
• Of the remaining 10 percent, only 4 to 5 percent could be considered justifiable.

These statistics show that any time or energy you give to fear is totally wasted and counterproductive 95 percent of the time.

The Fear Factor in Life (Part 1)

What is Fear?
The overriding cause of fear is excessive preoccupation with the Self.

Types of Fear: 
1. Fear of Failure
2. Fear of Making Mistakes
3. Fear of rejection
4. Fear of change
5. Fear of confrontation
6. Fear of loss
7. Fear of success!
8. Fear of the Unknown

The biggest barrier that most people have to overcome is fear. It is this fear (and all of its cousins like worry, anxiety, and self-doubt) that paralyses you, and keeps you from succeeding.

EFFECTS OF FEAR
No matter how foolish or humorous another person’s fears may seem to us, our own seem serious. If allowed to control our lives, fear can be a permanent detour on the success journey, stopping us from making any progress.

Fear breeds Inaction Inaction leads to Lack of Experience Lack of Experience fosters Ignorance; and Ignorance breeds Fear - John Maxwell

OTHER EFFECTS OF FEAR

• Procrastination
• Sluggishness
• Not taking Initiative
• Laziness & Indecision
• Timidity
• Introversion
• Reticence (Uncommunicative)
• Inactivity 

Problems, Solutions and Problem-Solvers

Problems and challenges abound in the world of the living. And we dare not deceive ourselves by hoping that they will all end someday. The day that one ceases to have issues to contend with is the day he bids the world goodbye. To lend credence to this fact, the Bible records in the book of Job 5:7 that man is born to trouble as indubitably as the sparks fly in no other direction but upward.

So having established the fact that problems and challenges abound in the world in different forms and sizes, how can they be solved as they arise? Where does one run to for solution when confronted with challenges?

There are a number of recourses available for men to explore in solving the various challenges of life, such as one’s learning, past experience in handling a similar situation, parents, friends and loved ones, a consultant/counselor, etc. While any or all of these measures can prove to be very helpful, however, the most effective solutions are those given by God, and the best answers to all our questions are found in the presence of God.

I derived this insight from the Holy Bible, the book of Judges Chapter 21. The Israelites were faced with a major problem; preventing the extinction of one of the 12 tribes that formed the pillars of their nation, the tribe of Benjamin.

They had themselves launched a reprisal war on the Benjamites (read Judges Chapters 19 & 20 for details) and killed hundreds of thousands of them in the war, as well as every living thing that were found on their land. Only 600 men of the Benjamites who fled from the battlefront and went to hide in the rock remained, every other person had been killed; old and young, men and women.

And since the Israelites had vowed before God not to give their daughters as wives to the Benjamites, then the tribe faced the risk of total extinction, as there were only 600 survivors left in the whole tribe, and they were all men!

This made the Israelites went to the house of God to seek counsel on what should be done. And there they found the answer to their question. Without speaking through a prophet, God gave them a circumstantial direction on what to do to get wives for the men of Benjamin without having to break their vow.

While the whole congregation of Israel was in the presence of God mourning, weeping, and offering sacrifices, the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were not represented. Therefore, in making good their word, the Israelites sent warriors to the city and killed all the children, the men and every married woman in that land. They spared only the virgins whom they brought to the camp and then gave as wives to the men of Benjamin.

Another insight I derived from this new development is that it is those who do not spend time in the presence of God that will be made to pay the price or be used as pawn to execute the solutions that those who spend time in the presence of God come up with. The people of Jabesh Gilead who were found wanting in God’s presence were the ones who forfeited their lives so that their virgins could be given to the Benjamites as wives.

This underscores the need for every one of us to cultivate the habit of spending time in God’s presence, so that we do not become perpetual tools (for the accomplishment of the purpose) of those of who do.

13 Tips on How to be a Star Performer (Part 5) By Babatunde Oladele

12. Self-discipline

All the highlighted pointers that make a star performer are a matter of discipline.After you have taken note of all the points, if you are not disciplined enough to put them into practice, they will all filter away. Self-discipline is what gets you started and keeps you going even when you don’t feel like it. In fact, one constant principle from all the books I have read on success is self-discipline.

Star performers are self-disciplined people, they don’t take nonsense from themselves, and they don’t take it from people either. They are harder on themselves than they are on people. They are driven by results; they don’t like stories and excuses. There can be a million and one reasons why things cannot or should not be done. Star performers only look for one reason why it should be done and they go ahead to do it despite the odds.

The workplace is about results and not reasons why things should not or cannot be done. People desire to associate with success, but it is not easy to be successful; there is no overnight success, the person who becomes successful has been paying prices that others have not been paying. That is why you just see him soaring above others, it is not by magic. Yes, God’s favour is key; and God will indeed favour you, as He has promised to bless the work of your hands. But if your hand is not doing much, what will be available for God to bless? It’s what you are doing that God blesses, He will not bless what has not been done.

We have passed that stage when the earth was void and it was without form, we are now in the realm of tangibles. He says,‘I will bless the works of your hands’, but if your hand is not doing something and He blesses nothing; nothing will start to multiply into more nothing.

Achievements come by self-discipline.You know we don’t like to be disciplined and we don’t like to discipline ourselves, but we have to be hard on ourselves to make any impact. Internet is a major distraction these days; for us to be focused, we have to limit our use of the internet. For the purpose of clarification, the internet can be a great tool for success, but it depends on what you are doing there. You have to be self-disciplined in your usage and activities on the internet. Star performers are disciplined people.

You usually know disciplined people from the way they talk and conduct themselves. While everyone can give excuses, it is the person that produces results that is celebrated, not story tellers. How many excuse-makers do you know that are successful? Nobody claps for what you plan or intend to do. You only get applauded for what you have done, and it takes discipline to get difficult things done because you have to take tough decisions and be rigorous in your thinking. It is not even easy to think through a process, it takes discipline.

13. The God Factor

Star performers know the place of God. You remember the story of Herod in the Bible, he talked and people started hailing him as God; then, suddenly, he was snuffed out. You have to know your source; star performers know their sources. They know where they recharge their batteries and receive inspiration. Where do you unwind, where do you get inspiration from? What makes you gel? These can be answered by knowing yourself (discussed in the first tip) and knowing your source.

Life is full of ups and downs; so there are many instances when both productive and idle people will experience highsor lows. It is the way each individual responds to these varying situations in life that usually separates them. When productive people face issues that are beyond them, they know where to turn because they know they must deliver results. The loafers, on the other hand, will merely cave in and turn back saying it is difficult because they do not think that they have to deliver. So, even as the loafer also has a source, he/she doesn’t draw much from there because it doesn’t seem to matter.

Star performers know their source and they draw strength and inspiration from there to carry on because they are committed to optimising their performance.