Success – Life Lessons

It’s How You Finish

Most people in this world start out with a pretty rough patch, but I’m here to testify that it doesn’t have to end that way. As long as you’re living, your story is still being written. As long as you’re spiritually grounded, you are receiving God’s gifts. As long as God is your strength, he’ll keep fighting for your peace every day. And as long as you’re winning, God is gaining all the credit.

Your Story, God’s Glory

Whether you grew up in the projects, scattered-sites, or suburbs, everyone has a story to tell. Therefore, you can never assume someone necessarily had it better than you because of where they grew up. It’s about how they grew up.

Someone growing up in the projects may have had to duck from bullets in their bedroom. Someone growing up in the scattered-sites may have had to duck from punches while their parents were fighting. Someone who grew up in the suburbs may have had to duck from the bully at school. Nowadays, anything can happen anywhere.

Either you are motivated to change the course of your life or continue to live in your past. You only get to create one story of your life, but each chapter doesn’t have to tell the same story. Don’t let your upbringing be an excuse for failure. Use it as ammunition to keep fighting. The beauty of it all is that you’ll never have to fight alone.

Your Plight, God’s Fight

Everyone faced some trials and tribulations to get where they are today. There were times you felt like giving up but God helped you keep going. There were times when the burdens felt too heavy to carry alone, but God lent you a hand or took them away. There were times you put on your boxing gloves and swung with all your might, but God hit the target and ended the battle. That kind of peace triggers unspeakable joy!

God’s Gifts, Your Blessings

Any time you complete an important assignment, project, or goal, don’t you feel like celebrating? You might throw a party, take a trip, or simply treat yourself to a bottle of wine and relaxation. That feeling of relief is priceless! But shortly after, it’s back to the rat race as usual.

Gifts from ourselves or others are great, but the feeling isn’t everlasting. That’s why for every step you take towards any achievement, you should count it as a gift from God. When you make it to the finish line, tally up each gift and you will see the blessings unfold right before your eyes. That feeling is not only priceless – it’s breathtaking!

God’s gifts cannot be broken, destroyed, or transferred and always lead to blessings. Your partner bought you a ring, but God blessed you with a marriage. The school honored you with a scholarship, but God blessed you with an education. The bank approved your loan, but God blessed you with a home. Your significant other gave you his seed, but God blessed you with a child. Your parents gave you DNA, but God paved the way for your success!

Your Win, God’s Gain

When we finally make it to the finish line, we give God all the glory because the road trip wasn’t easy. In fact, it was filled with blood, sweat, tears, and loss for some, including setbacks, restarts, and extensions…everything but excuses. All that matters is you made it.

Now that you’ve won. God feels like his work is done for that chapter in your life. He too feels accomplished for walking you through a challenging time in your life. It is said that what is hard for us is easy for God, but I believe it’s just not as hard for God as it is for us.

While God is working overtime in your favor, the devil is busy setting up traps for you to fail, so he can win you over. That’s why some things take longer than expected. Have you ever taken a road trip that should’ve only taken eight hours but took 12 instead? Perhaps you suddenly ran into unexpected traffic, roadblocks, bad weather, a mechanical breakdown, or some other delay? What about the debt or discrepancies you had to resolve before getting approved for your mortgage loan? To my graduates, have you ever had to postpone your graduation date because life got in the way?

It’s always something, isn’t it? That something may not always be the devil though. Sometimes that something is just life happening to you or the result of having a life. No one ever said it would be easy or fair. Nonetheless, God is that someone who delivers us all. When you count your blessings, count God three times.

“From the moment you discovered who you are, troubles seemed near, and blessings seemed far. Trust the process. The sky is the limit. It’s not how you started, it’s how you finish.”

-Bianca A. McCormick-Johnson ✍🏽

Compete with a Purpose

Everyone has a mission specific to the individual. If people would focus most of their time and energy on finding their own purpose in life, then they would not bother to keep up with what someone else is doing. Competing can actually be a major distraction in one’s life. While wasting time trying to stay ahead of the competition, one’s purpose is losing its value.

Unless you’re in a contest, there is no need to be in competition with someone, especially if that person does not know. You will find yourself doing all you can to keep that person out of the race. That is not how you compete with purpose. You compete with purpose only when you have a willing opponent. Your friend, relative, co-worker or anyone you have an alliance with should not be your opponent. You can damage a healthy relationship by being in secret competition with someone.

People who are in competition have one focus, and that’s winning. There is usually some reward or other type of recognition for achieving the winning title. Hard work and dedication to any given challenge or assignment warrant a generous acknowledgement. That is fair and purposeful. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re capable of until you’re thrown into the ring.

For those who fail to offer their effortless support just to keep someone from being one step ahead of them, it is shameful. Opportunities are not scarce because they are created every day by the ones who overcome doubt and fear. People are so afraid of losing that they believe they can claim a position in the economy by keeping someone out of the race. This won’t work for a few reasons: 1) it takes at least two to compete (If you are the only one competing, then there’s no competition) 2) the person has to enter the competition (Once again, the person has to be a willing participant) 3) contestants must comply by the rules (People who are focused and determined don’t play by the rules) 4) a judge has to announce the winners (Winners don’t need confirmation).

You see, while he or she is racing, the other person is pacing. The person who makes it to the finish line wins the race, but the one who makes it to his or her final destination earns the title. In the Olympics, the winner is not determined by winning one race. He or she has to compete multiple times before claiming the grand prize (title). Winning one race does not make you a solid winner. That’s called luck. You haven’t won until you’ve created a track record.

Instead of competing, collaborate. Synergy is created when teams compete, not individuals. Individual efforts can produce money, respect, and recognition, but collective efforts can produce wealth and power.

If you desire to compete, that’s fine. But when it comes to achieving life goals related to finances, you should not compete yet complete what you started in your own time and at your own pace. Take notes from those who are ahead of you, and commend them for their success or good fortune. When you make it to your destination, you will expect others to do likewise.

And remember…
“Make sense of what you do, and make every cent count.”

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear them.

Submit topic suggestions using the “Contact Me” page.

Photo 1: Flickr. Competition by Mary Beth Griffo Rigby CC
Photo 2: Flickr. Decanation Charlety 2006 by Killeur_Lapin CC

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Don’t Give Up Just Yet

Giving up is common because it is one of the easiest things to do, besides making excuses. Have you ever tried to put a difficult puzzle together? Or better yet, have you ever tried to solve Rubik’s colored cube puzzle? Seems like every time I got close, I just gave up. Life makes you want to give up sometimes. I said life makes you want to give up sometimes. I know I’m talking to somebody. I can’t be the only one who has every felt that way. Well, I’m here to tell you that usually when you give up on something, you are actually closer than you think. “When you give up on something that is important to you, you set the mark for failure” (I’m GOOD, Chapter 8, pg 125).

It’s easy to get through life without facing obstacles, but those stories are only told in fiction books. I’ve had enough setups and setbacks to make me lose my mind. I thought all my problems would be solved after I graduated from college. Not. Then, I thought I could get away from them by moving to Texas because people seem to flourish there. Nope, not for me. If you only knew how difficult it was solving the puzzle in my own life, you wouldn’t throw the towel in just yet. I’ve had more no’s than yes’s. More failures than successes. More debt than credit. Did I survive? You bet!

As stated in my book, I’m GOOD, to be released in July of 2016, “Whatever is impeding your success, it is creating substantial stress in your life. Winning is never easy, but losing is even harder. Don’t let your losses be an excuse to give up. Opportunity only knocks where there is a door. You can’t be still standing and torn down at the same time. That’s an oxymoron! If you don’t have a plan for success, you can surely plan to fail.” Yep. You will fail because you gave up on yourself. If you really think about it, life gives you more than second chances. It’s not that you kept missing the ball. You stopped going for it.

And remember…
“Make sense of what you do, and make every cent count.”

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear them.

Submit topics suggestions using the “Contact Me” page.

Photo: Flickr. Don’t Give Up by Alison Phillips

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