Know when it is the right time to quit, and pass the button, with clear understanding that your earthly mission is accomplished.
“Purchase no more goods. Institute immediately whatever plans are required to sell everything that is mine and convert all of it to gold.”
A solid mastermind alliance, essential to success, is in place when members benefit from one another’s resources, including spiritual powers and prioritize an ally’s welfare as one’s own
“It is your character, Erasmus, that your concern should be for me instead of yourself. Have you no thoughts for your own future when our trade Empire is disbanded?” [Hafid]
“We have been comrades together for many years. How can I, now, think only of myself?” [Erasmus]
Knowledge and wisdom are far more valuable than any accumulation of material riches.
“Were this room filled to its beam with diamonds, its value could not surpass what your eyes behold in this simple wooden box. All the success, happiness, love, peace of mind, and wealth that I have enjoyed are directly traceable to what is contained in these few scrolls. My debt to them and to the one who entrusted them to my care can never be repaid.”
Know your DESIRE, know what it takes to achieve that DESIRE and know, clearly, the role models you look up to in your journey to your DESIRED destiny, and let that fuel your ambition.
“It is my desire to become a seller of your goods instead of being only your camel boy. I wish to become as Hadad, Simon, Caleb and the others who depart from our baggage wagons with animals barely able to crawl from the weight of your goods and who return with gold for thee and gold also for themselves. I desire to improve my lowly position in life. As a camel boy I am nothing, but as a salesman for you I can acquire wealth and success.”
In every vocation, know the purpose, understand your calling, and understand that service is more central to your success than are the rewards.
“Hafid closed his eyes and sighed. Then he walked swiftly toward the small family, knelt on the straw besides the infant, and gently removed first the father’s tattered cloak and then the mother’s from the manger. He handed each back to its owner………… Then Hafid opened his precious red robe and wrapped it gently around the sleeping child.”
Determination will help you stay on the job until you deliver the goods.
“Failure will never overtake you if your determination to succeed is strong enough.”
Everyday is a new beginning. Your past is your past. Begin everyday with optimism.
“Today I begin a new life. Today I shade my old skin which hath, too long, suffered the bruises of failure and the wounds of mediocrity. Today I am born anew and my birthplace is a vineyard where there is fruit for all.”
Love for the stuff you do and the people you serve opens limitless opportunities.
“If I have no other qualities I can succeed with love alone. Without it I will fail though I possess all the knowledge and skills of the world.”
You are engineered for success and your greatness is guaranteed if you persist because persistence comes from belief.
“I will persist until I succeed. I was not delivered into this world in defeat, nor does failure course in my veins.”
Seek to be the best version of yourself because you are unique and in that lies your calling.
“None can duplicate my brush strokes, none can make my chisel marks, none can duplicate my handwriting, none can produce my child, and, in truth, none has the ability to sell exactly as I.”
Live your life in “day-tight” compartments – one day at a time by appreciating the power of “here and now.” Even the Biblical Goliath or Samson in their best days could not add the weights of “yesterday and tomorrow” and successfully bear that burden.
“Can I place tomorrow’s gold in today’s purse? Can tomorrow’s child be born today? Can tomorrow’s death cast its shadow backward and darken today’s joy? Should I concern myself with events which I may never witness? Should I torment myself with problems that may never come to pass? No! Tomorrow lies buried with yesterday, and I will think of it no more.”
It is natural for human moods to fluctuate. Master your emotions through deliberate action.
“If I feel depressed, I will sing. If I feel sad, I will laugh.
If I feel ill, I will double my labor. If I feel fear, I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior, I will wear new garments. If I feel uncertain, I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty, I will think of wealth to come. If I feel incompetent, I will remember past success
If I feel insignificant, I will remember my goals.
Today, I will be master of my emotions.”
Understand that you cannot sweat the small stuff, and in the grand scale of things, it is all small stuff.
Four words I will train myself to say until they become a habit so strong that immediately they will appear in my mind whenever good humor threatens to depart from me. These words, passed down from the ancients, will carry me through every adversity and maintain my life in balance. These four words are: This too shall pass. I will laugh at the world.”
You can make yourself into anything you want to if you commit time and study.
“Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.
A mulberry leaf touched with the genius of man becomes silk.
A field of clay touched by the genius of man becomes a castle.
A cyprus tree touched by the genius of man becomes a shrine.
A cut of sheep’s hair touched with the genius of man becomes raiment for a king.
If it is possible for leaves and clay and wood and hair to have their value multiplied a hundred, yea a thousand fold by man, cannot I do the same with the clay that bears my name?”
Once you have a goal and a plan, act urgently and massively.
“My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible. All are of no value unless followed by action. I will act now”
Fashion your skill development to align with emerging opportunities; do not stick to endless search for opportunities that suit your acquired abilities.
“I ask not for gold or garments or even opportunities equal to my ability; instead, guide me to acquire ability equal to my opportunities.”
For a continent pulsating with the energy of youth and still anchored on deep rooted value systems that have not been interrupted for generations, Africa is at great advantage. We can tap much from these principles and profit a great deal in acquiring wealth and peace of mind, especially if we can help young adults acquire skills that resonate with emerging opportunities.
