ROAD TO SUCCESSWritten by Habeeb Adeokun
The journey to success can be likened to our daily journeys from our homes to various destinations. We all achieve success every day in our daily life mere fact that we make it out of bed and make that journey to work, college, school, and various other destinations and we never give up, for example when we get stuck in traffic, means we are successful in reaching our destination. Some people may be asking, how does a journey from your home to work compare to you achieving success in life? Well basically if we think about it, you set off on your journey to work knowing for a fact that there is bound to be some traffic or other obstacle on way to work. For example you are driving or taking train to work, you will get stopped by traffic lights, you will probably experience some traffic congestion on way to your destination, even worse there may be a diversion on you normal route and you may have to follow a different route to bypass it most of us do this every day as norm and we don’t question it. We just do it. Lets take journey by train as another example. Some trains get delayed or cancelled and you probably end up having to wait longer for next train. The train may get diverted but most of us just wait patiently until train arrives. But alas it’s not always case when it comes to achieving success. Some people give up before they even embark on journey, or at first sign of an obstacle just like a traffic light or a diversion.
| | Your Best is Not For SavingWritten by Kalinda Rose Stevenson, PhD
Your Best Is Not For Saving My mother-in-law received a set of sterling silver flatware as a wedding gift. She kept silver in a wooden box on a top shelf. As far as I know, she only used silver on rare occasions when she hosted her women’s club. Then she would spend hours polishing tarnished silver. On holidays and family birthdays, she used everyday stainless. She said she was saving sterling for “best.” And so she saved her almost- never-used sterling for more than forty years, until day a robber broke into house and stole it. The thief was never caught and her silver was never recovered. What she had been saving for “best” was gone forever. In contrast, mother of my college roommate also had a set of sterling silver flatware she received as a wedding gift. She had also kept her silverware saved in a wooden box until day she asked herself why she was saving it. Then she moved wooden box down from cupboard and put it on counter next to kitchen table. From that time on, Carolyn’s family used sterling silver flatware at all of their meals. Besides enjoying her beautiful sterling silver every day, Carolyn’s mother gained another benefit from her decision. She no longer had to polish tarnished silver. Abundance Is Now These two related stories demonstrate intersection between abundance and time. Abundance is not just about money and material goods. A mindset of abundance always includes an awareness of abundance in present moment. Abundance is belief that right now you have more than enough. The greatest difference between an abundance mindset and a scarcity mindset is not what you have. It is about enjoying what you have in present moment. Every time my mother-in-law set table with her stainless steel flatware instead of sterling silver, she was saying to herself and everyone else, “This moment is not worth best I have.” She was saving her best for some indefinite time in future, which is another way of saying that she didn’t live in “now” of her life. In contrast, Carolyn’s mother used her best every day. She lived in abundance of her present life. Is Your Best On Hold? Were you taught to put your life on hold? Are you waiting until later to enjoy what you have earned? Are you saving your best crystal and china for someday? Do you have a box of sterling silver hidden away in your cupboards?
|
