In his international bestseller, The POWER of POSITIVE THINKING, Norman Vincent Peale has touched many lives through his unique formula for overcoming a spirit of defeat and inadequacy.
Today, we shall look at one of his topics: Effective prayers for extraordinary results. His book radiates a rare sense of optimism and faith that knows no bounds. Many have described him as the father of positive thinking.
Prominent business leaders have attested their success in business to the positivity principles Norman mentions in his bestseller. Actually, Donald Trump acknowledges the teachings of Norman Vincent Peale to his success in entrepreneurship. Back in the 1990s, the media described Trump as a flamboyant entrepreneur.
Trump does not fail to recognize the fact that the teachings of Norman Vincent Peale instilled a sense of positivity in him and made him the person he is today.
10 Rules for Effective Prayers for Extraordinary Results
Reading through Norman’s book, he outlines 10 rules for effective prayers for extraordinary results, and you better know them for a success story in your life.
Set aside a few minutes every day. Do not say anything. Simply practice thinking about God. This will make your mind spiritually receptive.
Then pray orally, using simple, natural words. Tell God anything that is on your mind. Do not think you must use stereotyped pious phrases. Talk to God in your own language. He understands it.
Pray as you go about the day’s business, on the subway or bus, or at your desk. Use minute prayers by closing your eyes to shut out the world and concentrating briefly on God’s presence. The more you do this daily, the nearer you will feel God’s presence.
Do not always ask when you pray, but affirm that God’s blessings are being given, and spend most of your prayers giving thanks.
Pray with the belief that sincere prayers can reach out and surround your loved ones with God’s love and protection.
Never use a negative thought in prayer. Only positive thoughts get results.
Always express willingness to accept God’s will. Ask for what you want but be willing to take what God gives you. It may be better than what you ask for.
Practice the attitude of putting everything in God’s hands. Ask for the ability to do your best and leave the results confidently to God.
Pray for people you do not like or who have mistreated you. Resentment is blockade number one of spiritual power.
Make a list of people for whom to pray. The more you pray for other people, especially those not connected with you, the more prayer results will return to you.
Final Thoughts
If you really want a productive prayer life, I suggest you read Norman Vincent Peale’s rules on useful results from prayer over and over. Ensure you also get yourself a copy of his international bestseller, The POWER of POSITIVE THINKING, and your life story will be pleasant news to many.
How is your prayer life? If you want to attain effective prayers for extraordinary results, study more on Norman Vincent Peale’s teachings.
Growing up as a child is fun and full of fond memories that travel years back to when we were just teenagers.
Children are known to be playful, adventurous and mischievous. They can go the extra mile in pursuit of that thing that will give them joy and pleasure, including swimming naked in a crocodile-infested river.
However, that is not what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about what money was like to you during childhood. A child or young teenager rarely thinks about money, first because they live comfortably (it could also be uncomfortable) with their parents who provide, have no financial obligations to anybody, and are told to study hard in school.
The subject of money between teens and their parents is hardly talked about.
Most of these subjects, when mentioned by teens, most parents usually reprimand them or for instance, ask them what they want money for. Nevertheless, it is written in the good books that train a child how he should go and will not depart from it.
Most parents shy from the subject of sex in most homes and do not want their children or teens to talk about money either with the assumption that they will love money and not study hard in school. How wrong!!
As such, we grow up with sketchy and shallow financial knowledge. We learn about saving and investing in our 20’s when years have already flown by.
Against this backdrop, I want to mention 5 things your parent never told you and should have told you as a teenager.
1. Have Financial Discpline
As a child and teenager, you were always reprimanded and whacked for indiscipline and petty mistakes like failing to follow instructions, noise-making, stealing food, fighting e.t.c
You did all these and were caned because your parent, guardian or teacher loved you and wanted to instill discipline in you.
However, there is a discipline that many parents usually forget to instill in their children; that is financial discipline. Every time we would hear about money as teenagers were when we were sent to the shops to buy bread.
Unfortunately, most of our parents were under tough financial burdens and were not themselves happy either to talk about money.
Subsequently, one grows up to be a good, law-abiding citizen espousing the highest form of integrity and honor. On the other hand, this law-abiding citizen is a reckless spender with no savings or investment.
This citizen ends up struggling financially simply because no financial virtues of living below your means, saving and investing were ever instilled in him.
King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 21:20 that he who sets money aside daily saves big money in the long run, but a foolish man spends up everything. Lack of setting aside 10% of our income to save for the future has led to many facing financial walls and struggling with life due to a lack of a cushion to fall back on.
Secondly, no savings and no investments. Your savings are able to save you on a rainy day, help you start a business or clear a loan.
2. Learn to Say No
Parents love their children and want the best for them; therefore, parents protect, guide and provide for their children. They tell them what is considered good behavior and bad.
Most parents discourage their children from eating in neighbors’ homes; tell them to say no to strangers and bad company.
Despite their willingness to give better, parents fall short of telling their kids to say no to activities and behaviors that will darken their financial future, such as gambling, alcoholism and casual teen sex.
Activities such as this will end up enslaving teenagers to behaviors that will or might render them broke, addicted and sick.
As such, teenagers must be made to understand what is good, what is bad and what is morally acceptable.
This puts them in a good position to rationalize issues, make informed decisions about anything they want, and say no to whatever is bad and destructive.
3. Do Not Love Sleep and Pleasure
Sleep and pleasure are two surefire ways of staying broke and begging. Anyone who has chosen to live above his means because of pleasure does not have the future in mind but only the present.
The wise in Proverbs 6:5 writes that sluggards should learn from the ants, consider their ways, and they will be wise. Punctuality is an important habit for success.
Pleasure takes or comes in many forms, including drinking and partying, lying idle, buying expensive shoes and clothing, going for tours, site seeing and vacations to your dream destination.
However, too much of something is poisonous. Even billionaires go on vacation once in a while, but the rest of the time, they are busy sowing wood.
Teenagers with lazy parents learn from what they see and hear and pick the cues from their parents.
Sleep was only made to be understood as a tool for rest and not an enemy of success.
6 hours are recommended as the minimum a normal human being can rest. Too much sleep kills productivity and prevents one from making financial progress.
King Solomon says, a little closing of your eyes and folding your arms and poverty will attack like an armed robber. This Christian verse conveys the message that riches and sleep do not go hand in hand.
4. Walk with People of Substance
Bill Gates had a Paul Allen; Steve Jobs had a Tim Cook. In life, every single one of us is on a life journey. Destiny is in our own hands, and our daily choices shape destiny.
What you eat today, friends you have, books you read, and whatever you hear and listen to ultimately determine where you will be 5-10 years later.
Walker used to walk with a pastor friend who had another pastor friend. 7 years later, Walker became a powerful church minister and is now ordained as a bishop within the church denomination.
Here is a story you want to hear about,
27-year-old Martha is a law graduate. She intends to get married to Amos, an accountant. However, Martha’s friends are mostly in their 30’s and most of them are single and divorced. They say a thing like “men are dogs,” “I cannot be a housewife,” and “marriage is terrible.”
It was not long before Martha broke up with her handsome boyfriend and started singing the same tune as her friends.
2 years later, Amos was married with a kid, while Martha was still single and whining.
Birds of the same feather flock together. Who is your best friend?? If all friends you know are losers in one way or another, you would rather walk alone.
5. Have a Mentor
Rather than learn from mistakes in your own life, it is prudent to learn from the mistakes of those who have lived ahead of you.
A mentor is not your biological dad or mum (they could also be); he is like a living parent to you. He guides and takes you through the stages of life with a lot of counsel, wisdom and understanding whenever you fall.
For us to avoid the many traps and ensnares set before us in our finances, career, relationships and life at large, we need a life coach to see us through.
Our parents never talked about mentors in our lives, but as one grows into a young adult, life becomes ridden with puzzles that call for wise counsel. In life, it is always important to get good advice from others.
Add any other thing not mentioned that our parents never told us as teenagers and leave a comment.
Overcoming your limitations is possible with the right mindset. Under the sun, limitations are inevitable unless you are not moving. The difference between the winners and losers is that winners choose to overcome their limitations while losers reside in fate.
The flesh of this article today is predicated on our human limitations and our ability to overcome them. Come to think of it; our limitations kick off right from the time we are born. You don’t choose where you are born and whether you came from a rich or a dysfunctional family; it’s upon you to handle every limitation as it comes in the journey of life.
An inspiring figure that we can draw some lessons from is the first African-American President, Barack Obama.
A Sneak Peek at His Life
Born in a multi-racial family -He had to deal with social perceptions.
His parents divorced a few years after he was born, and he had to live with a step-father – Lacked parental love at some point.
The power couple suffered a miscarriage in their young marriage – Michelle had to conceive her daughters via in-vitro fertilization.
The young Obama struggled with a smoking habit – Michelle later confessed he quit.
Barack Obama wasn’t raised in a religious household. – He is a devout Christian today
Despite his racial background, he was elected the first black President of the United States.
That being said, not everyone is born or destined to be President. Still, you can decide to overcome your limitations today and be an agent of change in your community or society. Barrack’s life gives us a taste of what it feels like being at the bottom low and rising to the mountain peak.
Do you know your limitations, and have you purposed to overcome them? Whether it’s a limitation in your education, health, or a bad habit, you have the willpower to give yourself a better life.
5 Lessons About Overcoming your Limitationsfrom the Obama’s
1. Obama was Born in Multi-racial Set-up but Overcame Them
Barrack Obama I https://www.brainpickings.org/
Born in a country known to have a history of racism, it is clear that Obama had to fight the social perceptions that come with being born to an African father and a white woman.
Like Obama, you could be facing a family limitation today, regardless of which part of the world you live in. Yours could not necessarily be a case of different races, but maybe you truly know that you could be facing some limitations in a close to a dysfunctional family. Society always has typical stereotypes about such situations.
Take solace in the fact that we don’t choose our parents, but we can choose to overcome our family limitations.
2. Raised with a Step-Father
Young Obama and family I https://www.reuters.com/
The harrowing tales of children in the hands of their step-parents don’t portray anything good from such a family setup. However, your case could be different. This is an encouragement to children living with step-parents; you happened to be raised in such a family or facing the ripple effects of divorce.
Additionally, there is a rapid increase of children being raised by single mothers who may not be comfortable revealing the identity of their children’s fathers to their kids for reasons they know best. That is a limitation you will need to overcome not to hinder your progress in life. Of course, it’s disheartening and disturbing knowing that your father is walking across the face of the earth, yet you don’t know them.
Face life with optimism and refuse to be limited by your family setup. It’s one thing to have a parent and lose them, and it’s another to have them, yet you don’t know about them. On the positive side of things, you could get that lost parental love from a guardian, mentor, or father figure in your life.
3. Struggled with a Bad Habit and Overcame it Eventually
It’s said that Obama had a bad smoking habit. It isn’t clear how long he wallowed in smoking. Bad habits enslave and could make you miserable in the long run, not to mention their long-term effects.
If you are struggling with a bad habit today, you need to know that it’s quittable. The power to do that rests in your mind. I’m not privy to how exactly he went about quitting smoking, but the truth is, he made that deliberate change to be a better version of himself.
Think about what becomes of you in the next decade if you continue encouraging your bad habits. You, too, can make a change for the better.
4. The Power Couple Had to Overcome their Limitations to Child Bearing
Obama and family I https://www.cnbc.com/
The knowledge that you cannot sustain a pregnancy or sire children is devastating. But how exactly do you overcome this? Luckily for the power couple, they could fix their situation.
Someone once said no problem has no solution. And if it has no solution, it can be managed. The inability to raise children does not hinder you from showing your parental love to children or rather enjoying the warmth and love of a family setup.
This has been made possible through the possibilities of adopting children and raising them as your own. I may not have the best answer here, but with faith, hope and optimism, you can choose to live above your current limitation in light of this context.
5. Overcame Racial Barriers to Become President of the Super Power Country
Barack Obama’s inauguration as the 44th President of U.S I https://edition.cnn.com/
I can’t describe this any better than the headlines that captured the euphoric victory of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Yes, he had developed the muscles for the presidency through his political career as a senator.
But even with that, the office he was running for needed grit, courage, and enormous resources to pull through. In his own words, Barrack says, ‘Yes you Can.’ And if you keep the audacity of hope high, your joy is bound to come in the morning.
I didn’t say you should run for the presidency in your country, even if you aren’t a politician 😁. But there is something you want, maybe in the line of your career, calling, or business, you keep feeling is bigger than you. What is so bigger than you that you feel you don’t even stand a slim chance to get there?
You can achieve it if you believe in yourself and put your mind to it. What you conceive, you achieve. Overcoming your limitations is doable.
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If you think Elon Musk is your ordinary entrepreneur, think again. The New York Times described him as “arguably the most successful and important entrepreneur in the world.” I couldn’t agree more. We have compiled Elon Musk’s lesson for your inspiration.
Elon Musk has built seven successful companies behind his back that some have since sold out: The Boring Company, Solar City, Tesla Motors, PayPal (formerly X.com), an online bank, SpaceX, Neuralink, and Hyperloop. Indeed, you wouldn’t convince me there’s nothing you can’t learn from such a massively successful person.
But at the center of all this, Elon doesn’t see himself as a business magnate or entrepreneur. Thanks to his background in engineering, science, and self-learning computer programming, he sees himself as more of a technologist.
Elon is a gifted engineer, and at one of his numerous interview sessions, this is what he had to say about his engineering skills, “I’m a naturally gifted engineer because I inherited it from my father.” So apart from his natural talent and abilities, is there anything in Elon’s life that could inspire you?
We draw some of Elon Musk’s lessons you could find helpful in your entrepreneurial pursuits. Keep reading:
Elon Musk’s Lessons
In life, we read books written by intelligent people, but we also study their lives. Luckily, we have living examples of successful people in their fields.
We could learn a thing or two from their successes. Let’s delve deeper into Elon Musk’s lessons.
1. Avoid Wishful Thinking
According to Elon Musk, most people engage in wishful thinking instead of approaching problems and solving them logically.
Though you may not be a scientist yourself like him, you could use his scientific method of coming up with an idea, starting a business, or simply solving a problem. In his pursuits, here is how Elon uses his scientific approach some in his own words
Pause a question
Gather as much evidence around the question
Develop hypotheses and assign a probability of truth to each piece of evidence.
Draw a conclusion based on cogency: Delve deeper logically, clearly, and convincingly regarding your axioms to draw a conclusion.
Attempt to disprove the conclusion.
You are probably right if nobody is invalidating your conclusion but not absolutely correct.
According to Musk, most people make conclusions based on what others are doing or aren’t doing, which isn’t the right approach. His maxim is that you should always start on a clean slate, and you shouldn’t accept any standards or practices just because other people are doing them. To Elon, it’s not about reinvention but creating the best.
2. Elon Musk’s Lessons: Our Personalities are 80% Nature and 20% Nurture.
Elon Musk was born to a South African Engineer father, Errol Musk, and a Canadian-born model and dietician mother, Maye Musk.
Elon Musk and his mother I https://africa.businessinsider.com/
Elon Musk admits he rarely saw his parents around in his childhood years. All he had around was a housekeeper who was to watch him against breaking stuff in the home.
At this stage, Elon began devouring lots of books, making explosives, and building rockets. At the age of 10, Elon was reading books that would fuel his passion for SpaceX today.
Later on, Elon’s parents split, and he and his siblings went to live with their mother. But later on, Mark felt sorry for his dad and decided to offer him company in Lone Hills, Johannesburg. He later regrets this decision.
Elon said this of his father, “He was such a terrible human being.”
Elon was the youngest and smallest kid in class for quite a long time because of being a late bloomer. This didn’t go well with the school bullies who always targeted him. According to Musk, gangs in school could literally hunt him down for a taste of what they love doing.
Elon had to learn to fight back. He enrolled in Karate and Judo classes for self-defense and went on to take the bullies down. At 17, Elon moved to Canada, his mother’s home country, and later organized for his mother and siblings to join him, But it seems this didn’t go well with his father.
The latter, as Elon recalls, “He said rather contentiously that I’d be back in three months, that I’m never going to make it, that I’m never going to make anything of myself. He called me an idiot all the time. That’s the tip of the iceberg, by the way.”
3. Know what you want and Pursue it
Elon Musk as boy I http://upriser.com/
Elon Musk graduated in 1997 from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and a B.A. degree in Physics. He later joined Stanford University for a Doctorate in Materials science but dropped it two days later.
Having been fascinated by the tech innovations at Silicon Valley, Elon decided to launch an internet startup. The rest is history. It became clear that Elon was set for other essential things, including the internet, artificial intelligence, Space exploration, and renewable energy.
His fears of human extinction and a lonely childhood contributed immensely to his entrepreneurial interests. In one interview, Elon had this to say about making the world a better place, “It would be better if we mitigated the effects of global warming and had cleaner air in our cities and weren’t drilling for vast amounts of coal, oil, and gas in parts of the world that are problematic and will run out anyway.
“And if we were a multiplanetary species, that would reduce the possibility of some single event, man-made or natural, taking out civilization as we know it, as it did the dinosaurs. There have been five mass-extinction events in the fossil record. People have no comprehension of these things. Unless you’re a cockroach or a mushroom – or a sponge – you’re fucked.” He goes on, “It’s insurance of life as we know it, and it makes the future far more inspiring if we are out there among the stars and you could move to another planet if you wanted to.”
3. Work hard and Work Very Smart
Elon Musk young I https://www.teslarati.com/
Here is one of Elon Musk’s quotes in 2015, “Work like Hell. I mean you just have to put in 80-to-100 hour weeks every week. This improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40 hour workweeks and you are putting in 100 hour workweeks, then even if you are doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve.”
The truth is, Elon Musk’s lessons, like in the quote, seem superhuman. The traditional work hours for most companies is 8-10 hrs. If we break 100-hour workweeks into workdays, we talk about 14-16 hours of hard work daily.
This is no mean feat to anyone, considering that life isn’t all about working.
On the contrary, you will be way ahead of so many people should you choose this path. The gist of this is that you don’t need to do what Elon Musk recommends, but you can go the extra mile above the average Joe.
If you want to know where the future is headed, watch Elon Musk. Right from Space exploration, electric cars, and computers in the human brain, you can feel his energy and innovativeness.
Elon is not only intelligent but incredibly good at connecting ideas. Even though sometimes we may feel all our ideas have been explored in the past, that’s not the Elon Musk Spirit.
As said earlier, he starts everything on a clean slate. Add to this his creative ability to connect ideas. For instance, he connects traveling around the world with space exploration and renewable energy.
Talk about what he is doing at Neuralink. His ideas are off the books but worth exploring. Sometimes, all you need is to connect ideas and come up with something meaningful.
Even the craziest of ideas could turn you into a million-dollar business in the years to come. For instance, if you want to start a business or invest, there are many investment vehicles and business opportunities to consider.
See how to connect ideas to get yourself what you want.
6. Work with the Best People you can Find
There is no doubt in your skills and ability to achieve whatever it is you want to achieve. However, having a great team to help you accomplish your goal is of the essence.
That’s another one of Elon Musk’s lessons. You want to make sure that you get the best talent to drive your vision and goals forward. Not doing this right could cost you a lot in terms of time and resources.
At SpaceX HQ in California, Elon Musk has a team of the best engineers who help him execute his space exploration ambitions. Occasionally, his aerospace engineers sync up with him on the latest projects that Elon has to offer his final thoughts on.
Elon Musk family I https://bodyheightweight.com/
If you are an entrepreneur or business leader, you want to have the best team in place. This will even mean doing the interviews yourself to get the best team on board.
Your friends and loved ones are important people to you, but you need to assess whether they are the right people for your business or entrepreneurial endeavors.
7. Keep Learning
Elon Musk is one human being with a crazy thirst for knowledge. Forget about your college degree for a moment. This is about adding value to your life so that you can be more valuable in the marketplace.
Here is one of Elon Musk’s quotes that I find inspiring. “I read books and talked to people. I mean, that’s kind of how one learns anything. There’s a lot of great books out there and lots of smart people.”
Elon is ever experimenting with ideas about technology from the many books he reads. Finishing school doesn’t limit you from expanding your knowledge. Reading is how you get ahead of the masses by helping you acquire first-hand knowledge.
Do you have a reading habit or a personal study program? Start your journey to personal growth by equipping yourself with knowledge.
One of Elon’s Musk formulas is, “build things upwards based off the deepest and most simple physics concepts.” Sometimes, to solve complex problems, you need to go through the basics of concepts that people are running away from in the manuals.
8. Dream Big and Think Outside the Box
Elon Musk I https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
You need to look at companies Elon Musk has built and established over the years. They have revolutionized life in one way or the other.
His billion-dollar products have had a lasting impact on the industries they are created in. PayPal, for example, revolutionized the way we transact money, taking the financial sector to a digital level.
You can quickly transfer money to any part of the world via PayPal. While people were still talking about fuel vehicles, Elon brought up Tesla motor vehicles that entirely rely on electricity.
Sooner or later, shuttling to space will be a thing of the past, courtesy of his big dreams and thinking out of the box.
For the record, he decided to fund the SpaceX project using his money after investors dismissed the idea terming it a daydream. Even worse, everyone around him dismissed the project, but he chose to believe in his dreams.
Final Thoughts
That is Elon Musk in a few words, but there is a lot that could be written about the successful entrepreneur.
We hope Elon Musk’s lessons fuel you up to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams and be a great person and achiever like him or even better.
If you find this post useful, share it with the one person you care about most, and also remember to subscribe to our blog for more inspirational content. See you at the peak!
Can quotes change your life? Well, that may not necessarily be the case, but inspirational quotes could serve to spur you to work hard or persevere through pain and discomfort for a greater reward in the future.
We dug deep into quote archives to find words written by men and women of old that could fire you up for greater action. Keep reading.
Inspirational Quotes onHard Work and Perseverance
Hard work is what it is; hard work. Anybody telling you something else will be lying to your face. It’s never easy, especially when you don’t see the results coming in as fast as you want.
If you’re going to morph into a successful entrepreneuror build a successful business, hard work is a do without. Also, not everything will work in your favor.
Occasionally, you will need to look at the bright side of things and persevere when things don’t seem to be working.
Passing by an inspirational quote on social media, the web, or a book sometimes helps you see things differently. That in itself fuels you to work harder than before.
Take a look at our list of hard work and perseverance motivational quotes.
1. “An idiot with a plan can beat a genius without a plan”. – Warren Buffet
2. Be valuable not Available
3. Winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners
4. “Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds” – Gordon B. Hinkley
5. “Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the trade-off they are making to win.” – Lou Holtz
6. “Hard work compounds like interest, and the earlier you do it, the more time you have for the benefits to pay off.” – Sam Altman
7. “Hard work never killed a man. Men die of boredom, psychological conflict and disease. They do not die of hard work.” – David Ogilvy
8. “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary” – Vince Lombardi
9. “The only thing standing in the way between you and your goal is the BS story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.” – Jordan Belfort
10. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started” – Rea Lakwatsera
11. No matter how hard you work, someone else is working harder – Elon Musk
12. I attribute my success to this; I never took or gave an excuse – Florence Nightingale
13. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up – Thomas A. Edison
14. “Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.” – Oscar Wilde
15. Long live the reckless and the brave
The reckless and the brave
16. Make money not girlfriends
17. “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” ~ Vince Lombardi, Hall of Fame coach
18. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” -T.S. Eliot
19. “No one succeeds without effort. Those who succeed owe their success to perseverance.” -Ramana Maharshi
20. “Go to the ant O sluggard; consider her ways and be wise.” – Proverbs 6:6
21. “Talent means nothing while, while experience acquired with humility and with hard work means everything.” – Patrick Suskind
22. “Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.” – Thomas Jefferson
23. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts” – Winston Churchill
24. “It’s always too soon to quit!” – Norman Vincent Peale
25. “Failure is the only opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently” – Henry Ford
26. “Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No Excuses” – Kobe Bryant
27. “A bend in the road is not the end of the road….unless you fail to make the turn.” – Helen Keller
28. “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” – Walter Elliot
29. “Fall seven times and stand up eight” – Japanese proverb
30. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
That is what we have on our list of inspirational quotes today. I hope you have gotten some inspiration to soldier on in your life pursuits.
Is positive thinking an illusion, or is it the secret to living a successful and rewarding life? Can success be linked to a negative mind? I highly doubt that. What about positive thinking quotes? Do you think we should interact with them and to what end?
To start with, some believe that positive thinking is an unrealistic way to live life. They argue it’s akin to building castles in the air. Or rather, it’s like whitewashing your problems.
But we must agree that darkness and light cannot be in the same room. Take positive thinking to be the light and the negative mind to be darkness. All these can’t be in the same person.
Of course, we will not ignore the fact that there are specific areas of your life where you could be struggling with negativity.
If you are always a positive thinker, life will turn out to be positive for you. On the flip side, a negative mind will undoubtedly attract things that border on the negative.
Trailblazers, captains of industries, and great athletes always have this one thing in common: positivity. Not that they were born with a silver spoon, but over time, they decided that in the pursuit of their goals, no matter the hurdles, they embrace positive thinking and leverage it to achieve their goals.
Suppose you are torn between positive and negative thinking and whether these two comparisons exist or work; In that case, you may want to look at our list of positive thinking quotes from different authors and maybe use them as a panacea to counter a negative life.
Positive Thinking Quotes
“A positive attitude is something everyone can work on, and everyone can learn how to employ it”.
Joan Lunden – American journalist and TV show host.
2. “It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts”.
Robert H. Schuller, American televangelist, author, pastor, and motivational speaker
3. “I was determined to share my positive approach and not let diabetes stand in the way of enjoying my life”.
Paula Deen, American TV personality, Cooking show host.
4. “Say and do something positive that will help the situation; it doesn’t take any brains to complain”.
Robert A. Cook, Pastor, Christian author, and radio broadcaster
5. “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will”.
Zig Ziglar -American author and motivational speaker.
6. “No matter what you’re going through, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and it may seem hard to get to it, but you can do it and just keep working towards it, and you’ll find the positive side of things”.
Demi Lovato, an American actress, and singer
7. “Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation”.
Michael Jordan, former professional basketball player, businessman
8. “When you wake up every day, you have two choices. You can either be positive or negative; an optimist or a pessimist. I choose to be an optimist. It’s all a matter of perspective”.
Harvey Mackay, American businessman, and author
9. “You’re going to go through tough times – that’s life. But I say, ‘Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.’ See the positive in negative events”
Joel Osteen, American televangelist, pastor, author, and businessman
10. “That’s my gift. I let that negativity roll off me like water off a duck’s back. If it’s not positive, I didn’t hear it. If you can overcome that, fights are easy”.
George Foreman, former professional boxer, entrepreneur, minister, and author
11. “Do what is right, not what is easy nor what is popular”.
Roy. T Bennett, Author of The Light in the Heart
More Quotes by Roy T. Bennett
12. “Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you choose wisely”.
13. “More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More blessed, less stressed. More love, less hate”.
14. “Don’t let the expectations and opinions of other people affect your decisions. It’s your life, not theirs. Do what matters most to you; do what makes you feel alive and happy. Don’t let the expectations and ideas of others limit who you are. If you let others tell you who you are, you are living their reality — not yours. There is more to life than pleasing people. There is much more to life than following others’ prescribed paths. There is so much more to life than what you experience right now. You need to decide who you are for yourself. Become a whole being adventure.”
15. “Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart”.
16. “Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine”.
17. “Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create”.
18. “Good consistent habits are the hallmarks of a successful life”.
Job Kiniale, Life coach and author
19. “Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind, for they are weeds that strangle confidence”
Bruce Lee, Martial Arts instructor, and Philosopher
20. “This is one of the most important themes I want you to take from me: Stay as positive and upbeat as you can possibly be. I’ll say it many times: if you can dream it, you can be it”.
John Calipari, American basketball coach, won the NCAA championship in 2012
21. “At some point, you just have to decide you’re going to be confident. Then, as you do, you’re going to have more success”.
Mike Leach, American Football coach
22. “The originality of your ideas is an expression of the fertility of your mind”.
Wale Akinyemi, Kenyan author and motivational speaker
23. ” I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter”.
Walt Disney, an American entrepreneur
24. “You have to listen to the people who have a negative opinion as well as those who have positive opinions. Just to make sure that you are blending all these opinions in your mind before a decision is made.”
Carlos Ghosn, Brazilian born businessman
25. There’s nothing more important than attitude, and it’s YOUR choice.
Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball coach
Well, at the end of the day, quotes are just quotes. The thing is, you should be your own source of positivity. Let’s say quotes just come in handy to catalyze or unleash the positivity that is already inside it. Some positive thinking quotes are going to make sense, while some will make no sense at all. You be the judge.
And that is it. Just like positivity is a choice you make, so is negativity. You can see that most of these positive thinking quotes are coming from people who have some significant success in their lives, whether in business, sports, or a calling. Join the positive champions by subscribing to our blog for more positivity tips via our free ebook.
Really? Do good things come to those who wait, or is it just one of the many statements with white lies we know of?
The other question is, wait for what things from where? BBI team? Jubilee or Uncle Sam?
The Waiting Wilderness
The world today makes you want good things thick and fast. So how in the world are you going to wait for good things to come your way?
Someone the other day was wondering why I haven’t bought a car yet. It
In fact, I’m tempted to believe that today’s social norm is not about being rich but about looking rich. It’s about the perception you are rich.
So, all a young man needs to do is buy a fancy car? Some fancy clothing and build some mansion in the village or a suburban plot of land somewhere and bam! You are damn rich men! Even with no money in your bank account or valuable assets.
Yet society will perceive someone walking in faded blue denim jeans and a Jubilee Tuko Pamoja T-shirt as poor. 😂😂
The irony is this guy could be yule msee when you are cash-strapped, and all your friends and enemies have turned their backs on you. Ye ana mali but hucheza chini, you get?
Yeah, the aforementioned scenario accurately reflects the happenings in society today. Instant gratification, over-expectations, and flamboyancy dot the material world of vanity.
You are entitled to your opinion, but the wisest man to have lived saw all these, and he wrote in his book of Proverbs 13:7 (NIV):
One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
A young man from University wants to be paid Kes 60,000/ USD600 on their first job. Bro! I like your ambition, but people begin from the bottom and rise the ladder.
Sit and Wait or Act and Wait?
The statement “good things come to those who wait” shouldn’t be understood to sit, do nothing, and wish for some miracle to happen.
While waiting, you invest in yourself and build good habits that will make you a better version of yourself.
What are your dreams? or what is your purpose? Who do you want to become?
Are you serious about your dreams and what the future holds for you? Then you should learn to wait. Fast or quick isn’t always right. Well, it could also be right but not the best for you.
Waiting doesn’t mean drowning in alcohol and indulging in sensational sex to feel you belong.
It’s all about taking responsibility for your life and making every decision you make the count.
How to Wait for the Good Things
Photo by James Wheeler
1. Get Busy and Productive
I will use a common saying here again – An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.
You have 24 hours in a day. You can choose to get engaged and productive or idle and destructive.
I have seen young people getting busy and avoiding activities that would destroy them. Similarly, I see young people who keep destroying themselves.
Jack, a young man I know, is a great footballer. Daily except for Sunday, he is always on the football pitch training for the next tournament. Rarely do you find him sleeping in bed idle?
In three words, he is fit, disciplined and focused.
He knows he can be a great footballer, so he invests time in fine-tuning his gaming skills.
Mary and Ian
Mary is in the Praise and Worship team in their church. Often, when you look for her or ring her, she will tell you she is singing or praying at church.
How about Ian? He is always in his father’s business stall, helping him run the family business. He has little time for reckless and irresponsible living.
Ian is learning to be a businessman, doesn’t he?
A Stark Contrast
On the other hand, Allan is the exact opposite of the two above. He eats large chunks of food, but he is very idle. And have you noticed how idle people get hungry very fast? —-
Allan can spend the whole day binge-watching movies on a laptop or the TV set and chatting with ladies on the phone.
Mark you, we live in a time and age where you can read Personal Development books on your Smartphone or study a free course online.
Farming today is no longer a reserve of the old in society. Young people can embrace it, and Allan is no exception.
Because of his untapped strength and idleness, Allan occasionally fornicates with young girls in the neighbourhood. Ignoring the fact that he could contract STDs, get impotent or killed with Viagra or sire a baby he isn’t ready to take care of.
He also secretly goes to house parties, smokes weed, and drinks alcohol. Ooh, poor boy! Bad habits die really hard.
And I don’t hate men; ladies have their fair share too. Laura has been caught severally by her parents sneaking. She does this in the wee hours of the night.
And for what reason? To drink and sleep with her boyfriend, old enough to be her father. Pathetic!
2. Keep Good Company
Guys! The truth is simple and plain or plain and simple? Ni kizungu ilikuja na meli but you get my point, don’t you?
Have you noted that if someone is trying to explain something simple to you in so many words, he is lying or not sure what he is saying?
I come to tell you, “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
In the waiting period, learn to keep good company. Learn to walk with people you admire and aspire to be.
Even amongst your peers, some are better than you in life skills. You can learn something from them, right?
Good things come to those who wait by keeping good company.
3. Pray Without Ceasing
A prayer is a form of communication.
But in this case, you are not communicating to your friend but a higher power or deity – God.
I know young people who pray. But a majority don’t. How I wish they could learn the secrets of prayer early in life and build this habit all the way.
Prayer invokes the power of God over natural situations in your life. It generates tremendous power to cause seismic shifts in your destiny and moulds you into the person your maker wants you to become.
Prayer aligns you with the vision and purpose of God over your life.
In your waiting time, don’t sit idle. Join prayer caravans and seek God with all your heart. Walk with the prayer warriors and see your life get transformed.
And for the record, you don’t have to be in church to pray. Are you travelling? Pray. Seated somewhere? Pray. Walking in a park? Pray. If you can communicate when driving, it means you can pray when driving.
Wrap Up
I feel I haven’t written enough of this post. But I hope you understand it the way I’m trying to. Good things come to those who wait, and you better learn to wait.
Life is a journey, and you must enjoy your time in the waiting wilderness. Because you will remember those days when you get over with them.
Life on earth could be tough, but not as tough as living on the moon, right? You want to consider taking due life process vs taking shortcuts in life, pursuing your goals and dreams. What do you think works out best for you in the long run?
The Guiding Principle Vs. Shortcuts in Life
Regardless of the toughness, life is all about sowing and reaping. And according to the good book in Genesis 8:22, this idea has never been emphasized enough. As long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest time will never cease.
That being said, life calls for working hard. In fact, working hard is fast becoming a cliché, and many people would rather talk about working smart.
Does the World Mirror this?
In the world, we have trailblazers, pacesetters, accomplished technocrats, award-winning artists, poets, and writers. We can’t close the list without mentioning influential and powerful political leaders.
On the other end of the tunnel, we got educated fools, quack practitioners, serial dreamers, and blatant losers.
What would make such a vast difference between these two groups of people? Is it their education, family, career, or a matter of fate, chance, or luck?
Any successful person in whichever field will tell you how success in their lives took years of commitment and hard work.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Story
In his commencement speech to Harvard 8th graders back in 2017, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg narrated the journey of Facebook.
Unlike the movie, Social Network, which would want to make us believe that Facebook was born out of Facemash, the true story is a far cry.
Zuckerberg hilariously narrated how the advertising board at Harvard was to send him parking over the “Facemash scandal”.
But as fate would have it, he later dropped out at his own pleasure to pursue Facebook.
Given his enormous success, many would think his big idea of connecting people was an obvious instant hit. That is not the script.
The early days of Facebook had its own share of problems.
Zuckerberg and his companions just never believed they would be the guys who would connect the world. Maybe Facebook would have amounted to nothing if Mr Zuckerberg (Mark’s dad) had not taught him how to write code early.
To them, such a feat was so colossal that it was reserved for the already established tech. Giants.
The moral of the story is: that there are no shortcuts in life. Pay for it by acquiring new skillsand never stopping to learn.
Be determined, never give up and do what it takes to get there.
Never heard of a lawyer who never understood and practised law
There is no blogger who doesn’t blog
Similarly, to be a writer, write. Award-winning artists and musicians sing their voices hoarse, recording music in the studio before anything serious comes out.
The Puzzle of Life
Paradoxically, life also presents us with people who have made it to greater heights by taking shortcuts.
Paradoxically, life also seems to present us with people who have made it to greater heights by taking shortcuts in life.
What are you expected to think when your neighbour always lands with a helicopter in their palatial home?
Often, such persons are glorified and castigated in equal measure. Always referred to as the well-oiled, the wheeler-dealer in town.
Their wealth and power that they can’t be accountable for may tempt you to follow their course.
On the contrary, you could end up paying a higher and more painful price to be like them.
For you to reap the best fruits, put in the effort of planting the right seeds and tending to them.
This is one principle that is so absolute. If you choose not to abide by it, you will have no one else but yourself to blame.
Shortcuts in Life: The Consequences
For instance, if you procrastinate today, you will reap the fruits of procrastination the day after.
On the same knot, choosing to manoeuvre your way to the top by cutting dirty deals won’t keep you there long enough.
To prove this point, you need to meet with Wilkins Fadhili. He is a fraudster who became the talk of the town after his conmanship was unearthed.
Under normal circumstances, those who manoeuvre their way to the top seldom have the heart to serve or help other people. The reason behind such an attitude is simple.
They did not follow the natural due process in acquiring their assets or wealth. Thanks to their perception of life as a jungle, it doesn’t matter who you hurt or who you lose as long as you get what you want.
Before you prove me wrong or right, you need to look at billionaires who have committed to giving 90% of their wealth before their death. The likes of Buffett, Gates, and Zuckerberg, just to mention a few, are among them that have committed to the Giving Pledge.
Conversely, it’s no surprise that the list of those who have not committed to the Giving Pledge could contain billionaires with controversial sources of wealth or scanty tales of their rise to glory.
To them, whether it’s money, fame, power, or influence, its success first regrets later. They would rather kill to get to the top.
Unfortunately, many get haunted by lost spouses /family members and friends. They play hide and seek games with legal authorities. Past ruthless action always leaves them begging for more.
Bottom Line
The world would be a much better place if people learned not to take shortcuts in life. There would be less pain and more joy. Innocent people wouldn’t con you. There would be less trouble and fewer cases to solve in courts. Let’s envision a future with no shortcuts and the desire to make it a reality.
Seeking success is good, but not better when compared to seeking value. What success are you seeking in your life? Is it the perfect marriage? Do you want to get a promotion at your workplace? In fact, you have been told the sky is the limit. Right? I’m not disputing the saying, but here is a thought: don’t seek success, seek value.
In life, we pay for value. Nothing more, nothing less. Whether it is a product or service, you use it not because of anything but the value you get from it.
So, lets take a deeper dive and find out why we should seek for value and not success.
4 Reasons You Should Seek Value and Not Success
1. You Change Lives by the New You
Think about it for a second. What? Life before Facebook. Social media was unheard of. You wouldn’t imagine in your wildest dreams sharing your photo over the world save for pen pals.
There is nothing so satisfying like being an agent of change or transformation in the lives of other people. You don’t have to invent Facebook like Mark. Light kind-hearted activities like feeding the hungry, giving an attentive ear make a lot of difference in peoples’ lives.
Similarly, in your workplace rather than chasing the success of getting a promotion, how about you focus on seeking and adding value to your team? Ask yourself what you could do better to improve your team’s performance.
By serving others, you tie yourself less to your goals and aspirations. You pay more on the value you are bringing to society. This builds you in the long run.
Your way to greatness is by serving others and adding value to their lives. However, amid all these, also pay attention to how you are growing in your life.
2. It’s Value that Brings you Success and not Vice versa
We always see success all around us and you can’t deny it. Whether it’s someone driving your dream car or having a fat paycheck.
Someone is running a successful business that is flourishing. You wish you could pull off something like that too. And so, clearly, our definition of success comes from what we admire or what someone is doing successfully in our space.
However, in most cases, this serves to hurt you because you are trying to project a journey or a milestone that isn’t yours. Put another way, you are trying to be the person who created that success. You and I know it’s a wild goose chase you are up to.
Comparison is the thief of joy. And so when you compare yourself with others, it leaves you empty and disappointed.
On the flip side, don’t seek success, seek value, and provide it to others. The truly successful people are those who contribute value to others. They don’t accumulate glory for others but want to see others succeed as well.
If you have a brand that is giving back to the community, people are more likely to value you and appreciate your efforts. Moreso, they will trust your brand. They will support you and join you in your value addition efforts.
That’s exactly how you build your success. You don’t seek success; you seek value and add it to the lives of other people.
When you seek value, you will begin giving that value to others. In the process, you will change, growing and building your brand. And that will be your success.
I work for a nonprofit in Kenya by the name One Acre Fund. It began as a small social enterprise serving 38 farmers in Kenya. Today, it has spread its program across 6 countries. The Kenya program alone serves 440,000 farmers.
3. You Build an Abundant Mindset
In most cases, we always focus on ourselves. We focus on how we can take care of our daily minor problems but forget to examine our mindset.
Even so, it’s easier for you to build an abundant mindset by focusing on others. Because by helping others, your mind will begin noticing that there is the value you can offer people.
You, therefore,, start appreciating yourself for what you can do. The joy you give to others will refresh you every day and put in you in abundant disposition.
4. Value Lasts Success is Temporal
Let’s say you are successful, right? You have no problem paying the bills; you got the money. Going for vacations is not an issue of at what cost it’s about when.
But if you were to die today, all the mega lifestyle disappears. Conversely, you could run a non-profit that feeds the hunger-stricken. The contrast is clear right away.
Success dies on the day you die
The former is having the best time of his life, while the latter is changing lives.
What always lingers for long after we die is the value we offered and not the sleek machines we drove.
Therefore, get out there. Do an act of kindness, or support a social course. People rarely forget your acts of kindness. Don’t seek success, seek value.
Icons of Value in the World
The world’s greatest are not remembered because of their successes, but because of their value. Check this quick rundown of people valuable in the world.
Bill Gates -Founded Microsoft
Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook
Andrew Youn – One Acre Fund
Lewis Brown – Motivational speaker
These people are not just successful out of the blue, but they sought after a value of over the years; which made them the successful figures they are today.
Bill Gates’ obsession with computers did not begin today.
If you have been seeking success all this long! Stop in your tracks right now and change what you seek after for value. Success is short-lived, but the value will never be archaic.
You want to be that person people won’t fail to mention at an important meeting or event because of your value. With value, you can’t afford to be ignored?
Bottom Line
Seek to be a person of value and not a person of success. This begins at finding a skill or carving out a niche you can be good at. A jack of all trades was never a master at anything. Besides, your simple acts of kindness can also make you a person of value.
There are two groups of people in the world today. Those who know how to be grateful and those who know how to complain. In which category do you identify yourself?
For the last two weeks, I have a been sleeping at an exclusive guest house. While here, I have enjoyed a sumptuous supper and breakfast, all paid and taken care of.
Well, this is not something happening out of the blue. Probably many of you have had a similar or even better experience.
Similarly, an equal majority may not have had the same experience or something close to this.
I’m also aware of the many homeless and hunger-stricken who to whom life has given painful experiences. But they haven’t lost everything just yet.
Count your Blessings
In saying all this, I must emphasize that it is more important to count your blessings.
Whining and sulking is a wilderness mentality that kept the Israelites stranded in the wilderness for 40 years. Yet, their journey was to last for a mere 11-day journey to the promised land. (Canaan)
You are better off developing the culture of gratitude no matter how tough the going might be than joining a bunch of complainers along the streets, pub, church or you mention where.
You are better off developing the culture of gratitude no matter how tough the going might be than joining a bunch of complainers along the streets, pub, church or you mention where.
More to the guest house experience is also the fact that I have changed my place of residence to move closer to my workstation.
Embrace what makes you be Grateful
While many people I know were uncomfortable with my preference or choice of the place to stay, I chose not to look at things from their point of view but do what makes my heart comfortable.
I’m a firm believer in the principle of frugal living to create more avenues for saving and investing my money for the next 60 years (all factors constant) that I still have to live on planet earth.
One factor that would have turned me off from choosing this flat as a place of residence is its proximity to the office. Interestingly, though, I saw it as an added advantage to my principle of frugal living.
A few colleagues were of the opinion that it is more like living in the office from Sunday to Sunday because you are never away, literally because you live closer.
Close here is really close in the sense that when I stand at the door of my house, I’m able to see the main entrance to the office. Hahaha.
However, I saw things differently first because of my rental fee, which is way below the normal rates charged here.
More beneficial is the fact that I won’t spend a nickel and dime to get to the office, which helps to cut on my expenses even further.
Given the nose-bridge distance between my place and the office, that also means cases of being late because of busy traffic and facing a disgusted boss are now behind my back.
Let me also mention that I have a free and secure Wi-Fi connection 24/7 thanks to being a neighbor to the office.
Jim Rohn
Just yesterday I was listening to one renowned motivational speaker in the name of Jim Rohn.
Rohn says that one philosophy of success that made him rich was “wages make you a living, but profits make you a fortune”
And in saying so, Rohn mentioned the 70.10.10.10 principle of spending a dollar. That you must strive to ensure you live on 70% of what you make. The next 10%, spent it on charity and tithing.
The other 10%, put it to active investments, let’s say a business or a venture that has a quick turnover.
The last 10%, spent it on passive investments lets say buying a house and collecting assets.
Practically speaking, the money you make will never be enough to meet all your expenses and maybe take care of your savings and investments. But you can make the money be enough to cover all that if you want to. The buck stops with you.
Comparison, the Thief of Joy
Unfortunately, it is so pathetic that many of us get caught in a web of comparison, therefore, feeling our hearts with so much jealousy and “it should have been me” attitude.
Where is the joy in all that? I’m an employee, but I think most victims of this quagmire are employees.
Rarely the self-employed entrepreneurs and business people have the time for such comparisons because they are busy interacting with customers, sales, and themselves.
But they too can’t escape comparison syndrome because they are human beings with life in social media.
If you are in a social grouping of people, be alert and shield yourself against comparing yourself with other people. Run your own race.
Athletes when running stick to their lanes and focus on the finishing line without looking sideways. Why should you be the one to sabotage your own efforts to win by looking at the new mansion or BMW your neighbor gained? That should not be you at all.
Final Thoughts
I greatly so the need to exhort you this day on counting your blessings and being grateful for having them in your life. If I were to write all my blessings in this post, then I could still write them. In counting your blessings, you are not doing anybody a favor but you. Every day strive to count the three things that made you happy, or you were grateful for, and life will give you more opportunities to be grateful.
