40+FAB Blog

When the night is past and the morning comes, we wake up.

When we have slept and rested from the trying day before, we wake up.

When we come to new knowledge through information or education, we wake up.

When we are geared to necessary action through kindly motivation, we wake up.

When we are delivered from trouble by timely intervention, we wake up.

Whatever the case, you must respond to the prompt to wake up and take advantage of a new day, new strength, new understanding, new inspiration and new freedom.

It’s time to wake up!

40+FAB Blog

It is a cultural and very traditional thing in the United Kingdom to make regular visits to the pub with family, friends or work colleagues.
The word pub is actually a short form for ‘Public House’. 

The origin of the public house goes back many centuries and its original purpose was to provide refreshments for travellers. Drinks such as ales were served and the pub soon became a meeting point for communities such that in his 17th-century diary Samuel Pepys described it as “the heart of England”.
The Pub has been a place to meet the human need for food, drink, community and all types of relationship for centuries.

There is another deep need which we have and that is for knowledge. As travellers through life we thankfully have a house that has been set up for us to turn into when we get weary from the ignorance on our way. We get refreshment from the information served, knowledge shared and the ideas entertained. 

The book house or Library is ubiquitous and you can access it physically at a building, or electronically through devices like your computer or mobile phone. Never has the human race had such unfettered access to information.

Make use of your nearest book house today and let it be known as the very heart of your productive centre. 

40+FAB Blog

I was at an event recently and the speaker told a story about Kanye West. From his youthful days, Kanye was known to have always been speaking about where he would be in the future. Based on all he kept saying back then, he has seen them become a reality in his life.

Could it be that we can really have what we say? I think it is a bit more than just saying it.
Another article I read pointed out one thing that the richest people had in common, and that was a healthy imagination. The ability to focus on something they wanted, simply put, they were seeing a future that had not yet happened. The article went on to say, as they kept that picture in their mind while taking action, they arrived at great success.

The formula then to arrive at that place of success would be more like, “Keep seeing it, keep saying it, keep taking action and it will be sorted”.

40+FAB Blog

Get out of your comfort zone they said, but I have come to realise that my comfort zone has never been the problem. The truth is we all desire to live a life that is, well, a little bit more comfortable. If this were not the case we would be happy in our economy class flight, we would stick with our Nokia 3310 phone, we would drive our 1983 automobile, we would eat our mass produced average grade meal. In reality, we are actually striving to get into a comfort zone. The real problem is the familiar zone. This is what we are used to, what we know and the way we think. In 2011, I was stuck at a job going on 7 years, barely getting by financially and needing a change desperately. That zone was definitely not comfortable, but I stayed with it because it was familiar. The familiar zone is seldom ever comfortable just as a comfort zone could sometimes be unfamiliar. I was scared of the unknown so it took months before I had the boldness to reach for something unfamiliar to make progress. After consultations with friends and going on a training course, something shifted in my thinking and expectations, then not too long after I was at a much better paying job. It takes great effort, and help from others who have much bigger experiences, to break out of the familiar zone. What is comfortable is usually on the outside and the familiar is on the inside. As the saying goes, you may take a man out of the slum (to comfort), but may not have taken the slum (familiar) out of the man. Strive to get out of your familiar zone and watch what progress you will make in settling into a more comfortable zone.

40+FAB Blog

One of the puzzles I enjoyed most as a child was the one with all the dots that had numbers beside them. You started at number 1 and with a pencil you would join dot 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and so on till you came to the last number.  Looking again at the page full of dots, you would clearly see a lovely sketch. One of my favourite sketches was that of a horse, which by the way I could not draw on my own, but with the aid of those dots and numbers, I created a masterpiece.

Tasks that seem impossible to achieve, when broken down into smaller steps suddenly become doable. Vincent Van Gogh the great Dutch artist said “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together”.

There is something small that you can begin to do today. There is a dot that you have come across, and it seems logical to join it to another dot you know.
The dot of my ideas, joined up with the dot of my engineering degree and I created a prototype. The dot of research, then joined with the dot of relationship and with a company we created a product. I cant wait to launch this product in the coming year.

Keep joining the dots as you find them and pretty soon, you will realise that you have created a masterpiece.

40+FAB Blog

They say that Rome was not built in a day. Like with all other great achievements, progress comes in little consistent doses over a long period of time.

Railway tracks were invented long before the locomotive engines and modern trains.
These tracks were used to transport really heavy goods from one specific location to another in an uninterrupted and efficient way.
As long as the goods stayed on track, they would get to their destination.
Tracks would connect the raw material to the processing plants, like was done at mines.
They also connected cities to move people and commodities between them.
Once tracks were laid, they were as good as permanent for obvious reasons like the sheer length of them which could have been thousands of kilometres. It was a well thought out plan to build a track and not something that the constructors ever thought of changing in a hurry. 

Consider the delivery of your goals and plans in terms of the railway track. There is a defined place you want to get to and there are tracks to get you there. Those tracks are not likely to change any time soon. Tracks like honesty, integrity, hard work, acquiring knowledge, service, getting a mentor, discipline etc. 

As long as you don’t loose track and keep moving, you are likely to get to your destination sooner than you think.

40+FAB Blog

You can’t help feeling the sentiment of loving New York when you walk down its streets going past magnificent buildings, shops and amazing lights, especially those at Times Square. 
That slogan has become so ingrained that it is sold on face caps, t-shirts and all types of memorabilia.

The desire for most things are really driven by what people think about them. If enough people say they like something, as humans we are usually moved by that sentiment.

Marketers play on such sentiments and use it to push their products sometimes in very unethical ways. This knowledge should however be used to influence people positively. 

You have a product that touches your world in a unique way. How will you refine it and make it the best experience for this who will use it? When you do that, then enlist those who love your product to promote it thus influencing others to try our what you have.

I love New York is a result of the product that city has become. I love “your product” can be the next thing on people’s lips if you orchestrate it wisely. 

40+FAB Blog

The last time I was in New York, I was about 7 years old. I remember being awed by the story of the Empire State Building.
For about 40 years from 1931, it was the tallest building in the world. In the early 70’s, that status was  superseded  by the  Twin Towers. 
Today, as I stand on the pier in Jersey City overlooking New York City and it’s breathtaking landscape, I can’t help thinking about the importance of personal growth because the Empire State Building is now the 45th tallest building in the world.

Sir Edmond Hilary failed to get to the summit of Mount Everest when he first tried. He was reported as saying to the mountain “you have stopped growing, but I am still growing…”
He came back months later  and climbed to the top of that mountain, and was later  honoured for this feat.

Our achievements, just like the Empire State Building will only be celebrated for a season before something else achieved by another supersedes it.
One has to keep growing and improving on the work they have done because our achievements do not grow, just like buildings do not grow.

If this is the case, then our greatest achievements are always in our future. This is why legacy is important as you leave behind your aspirations to the next generation who will go on to supersede everything that you ever did.

Always remember, buildings don’t grow, people do.

 

40+FAB Blog

New experiences have a way of changing our thinking, understanding and possibly belief which leads to a change of the seasons in our lives.  
These experiences may come through travel, meeting people, trying new things or reading.

I learnt a new way of representing myself in a CV after going on a training course. I ended up with a really good one that was able to sell my skills to employers. This got me a really good job at the time and a significant salary increase. 

The funny thing was that before my training, I had paid a company what was a lot of money for me at the time to write me a ‘winning’ CV as advertised. The only thing it won was a space in my outbox. 

Sometimes money can’t buy you what experiences can teach you.

If you feel stuck, get out of your familiar zone and go look for new experiences. You may just be an experience away from the greatest adventure in your life.

40+FAB Blog

Like most people, I love to listen to a good story and to tell one also.

The best stories are those having a hero and all the challenges they went through.

One thing which endears us to the hero is what they overcame, this means they would have had some form of a conflict, fight or battle to engage in.

It was what battle the hero chose to fight that made them stand out from the other characters.

However, winning in that battle was not always everything. Sometimes the side they chose to fight for was more important. History teaches us of heroes who lost their battle and even their lives, but we celebrate them today for what they stood for and the bravery to stand against oppression.

As you look at heroes in stories you love, be inspired and know that you are the hero of your own life and story.

Are you choosing the right battles? Are you on the right side?

Only you can answer and be satisfied with yourself that what you choose to stand for is good. This ultimately decides everything.