Be Honest with Yourself

What can I do to help people find themselves, find happiness? How can I help them unleash their joy? This platform will help people tap into their resources to help them enjoy a successful life. It will make the conscious and the unconscious shift within you to bring out happiness and joy. You will learn powerful tools and strategies to help you find happiness and develop meaningful relationships. So let us begin with:

Let us say you are walking down the street, and someone asks how you are doing, Do not beat around the bush to find a plausible answer. Just reply, “Fantastic! Great!” Your attitude spells everything. Mingle your positive attitude with your positive aptitude. Know that deep within you is potentially an ideal self, the one you would like to be, a body that encapsulates all the qualities you most admire in others around you.

Let us admit that you know your weaknesses and would be the first to recognize that you have fallen short of your ideal self. What do you do then? Be an overcomer. Try to overcome the wrong done and be mindful that every time you conquer a wrongdoing or overcome a flaw, you are helping the rebirth of your ideal self.

There is always something to be put right; something you regret saying or doing. You should have done something long ago but procrastinated and missed a great opportunity. Don’t gripe about it. Admit the fault, and make amends as much as is within you, as much as is possible.

Don’t dwell on the wrong or the past. Remember, God made you in His image and likeness. He is well able to help you triumph over your shortcomings.

As you pursue your path to success, you will realize success comes in different forms. There is worldly success which esteems position, performance, appearance, and people. Success asks what do you have? How well do you do what you have to do? How important are you? How do you look? What do people think of you? Success becomes a way of proving that people are unique and have value and worth. Success involves essential assets such as discipline, honesty, loyalty, and love.

Our misconception of success has caused us much suffering. The culture in which we live tends to be materialistic and offers a misconstrued picture of success which may be short-lived in almost all our lives.

Television and mass media try to dictate what success is – people, people seem to look happier and more successful than we are - the new car or number of cars in the neighbor’s garage or driveway, the posh houses in the area where those considered as affluent reside, the job title the other person holds, the gorgeous body the other woman flaunts around or the athletic built of that other guy– all these cause frustration, resentment, and envy. All these cause us to strive to be someone or something other than ourselves.

It could be a better job, a business deal entitling you to a handsome commission, a major promotion, or a college or university education. Maybe it's a more remarkable and understanding boss who takes his employees out for a night on the town. Or maybe it's a fancier car, the convertible you drove out of the dealership on a test drive last weekend and regretfully had to leave without it because you cannot yet afford it. (I say yet, because your eyes are on it, and someday it will be parked in your driveway, the envy of your nosy neighbors). Or could it be a more luxurious condo or apartment, or a better vacation than you took last year? You’ve always wanted to visit Hawaii, right? That is still in the pipeline. Or maybe it is that brand name article of clothing you have been admiring for some time now.

You should base your view of success on your expectations and ideals. It should lead to a life that brings joy and a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. You cannot reach that limit if you depend on what others say or think about you or your life.

Whatever you desire but is beyond your reach or unsearchable will, without a doubt, remain so unless you change your thought process. You think, “I would like my own house but do not know from where the money will come; I do not have money in the bank. My parents did not leave me any inheritance like James over there. His father left him a two-bedroom house and now he has a big bungalow. I do not have a start so how do I expect to have a home?”

You have skills. Why not use them and start somewhere? If you cannot build a three- bedroom house, why not start with one or two?

To be successful, you must utilize your skills and make every effort to take steps to achieve your goals and objectives. Therefore, you must have a vision statement, a strategic plan, and a mission in life. It would be wise if you had an idea of where you are going and how you will get there. “Without a vision, the people perish,” says the Bible.

Now, a person who succeeds in life must not only know where he is going but must have a positive mindset, and an unshakable faith that he can reach any port no matter how rough the sea may be or how far his destination. With such a mindset, he may remove any unwanted or outside influence that may attempt to bring discouragement.

Trying to be like others or to live like the Joneses won’t help. Your goal should not be to please others or live up to their standards or expectations. It would be commendable if you free yourself of the limitations and perceptions others thrust on you. You must have the audacity to step out from the crowd and be ready to capture what life holds for you.

If you only unleash your faith, you will realize that there is little you cannot accomplish. Applied faith is the voice of authority to everyone who desires to prevail, despite the odds, difficulties, or adverse circumstances in life.

Recognition of the power of faith frees one from enslavement under any circumstance. Stop running after things that don’t matter and begin to focus on what will help you move forward and upward in life.

When you reflect on your life, you may find that there were times when you invested your time, talent, money, and energies in things and or plans and projects that were not profitable or even good - things that provided no profit, no forward movement, no change, but only stagnation. All your efforts vanished into thin air. It’s like you wasted your life. It is always possible to turn the tide around. Build on the lessons you learned from your failures and rebuild your life. As Willie Jolley says, “A setback is a setup for a comeback.” Don’t stop there, move on, press forward and upward.

True success begins with a sense of worth and uniqueness from our position in Christ. We are already exceptional, created in God's image, and loved with everlasting love. Success then becomes a striving to be all that God has already gifted us to become. It is reaching toward our full potential in Jesus. It is finding our place in His plan.