SUCCESS

According to psalms 1:3, A successful person is like a tree planted by streams of water which yield its fruit in season. If there is anything that is paramount to destiny- it is success which has a way of separating people and that is the reason why you must not allow the jet of success to leave you behind. Beloved, it is your personal responsibility to take every step to improve your life both physically, spiritually, interpersonally, in the technical know-how of your profession and in your relationship with God. Never be satisfied and be redundant at one level, there is always a better way of doing that same thing.

Principles that guarantees success or crucial steps to achieving success

1.     STAYING FOCUS: Heb 12:1 says, let us strip off every weight that slows us down and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. God has given you the two things needed to run and win your race in life “Time and Energy” and you cannot afford to waste them. There will always be more opportunities than time to pursue your dreams. Therefore, you must choose your opportunities prayerfully and wisely, know how to keep things focused and how to inspire and motivate your followers to keep pushing and do not let side issues overwhelm you.

2.     SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN AND MINIMIZE OR AVOID DEBT: To accomplish this, you need to know what you are earning and what you are spending. Make a spending plan or budget, monitor your spending. If you consistently spend less than you earn over a long period of time, you will do well financially. Spending less than you earn will help you to build savings which makes you to avoid debt because debt increases risk and reduces your ability to have more in the future.(For more details, consult December 2012 Edition of Winners Voice)

3.     A PRINCIPLE-CENTERED PERSON HAVE SUCCESS THAT LAST: When you leverage on principles to achieve success, your success is not a matter of chances. You know exactly how you got to where you are and all you have to do is to improve on whatever you did. Like the house built on the rock, there may be a down turn in the economy, the rain may fall, the winds may blow, the floods may come but your success will stand.

4.     BE A PROBLEM SOLVER AND FOCUS ON GIVING THAN RECEIVING: It is more blessed to give than to receive and the greatest investments that produce constant success is the value you add to people’s lives. Be a blessing to others, stop running after people, some need to be running after you. Refuse to be a liability; you are an asset. You can multiply your success by guiding others to do what you do. You can only rise to the highest level of success if you commit to serve people. It also begins with the ability to recognize people’s needs. So today go out of your way to help somebody because to have fulfilment, you must take others to the top with you for we are labourers together –yes but true success is shared success and it only happens when you are willing to invest in the lives of others.

5.     SOWING AND REAPING: Increase the quantity of your seed planting, you will see yourself creating another circle of success and if you do that consistently for years, you will become rich or successful [Eccl 11:1 &6].

6.     ALWAYS ACT WITH COURAGE:  Do not wait for things to happen, make things to happen, be proactive and do not live your life as a reaction. Success requires bold decision-making and daring action. One who wants to be successful must develop courage, which is the acting in the presence of fear. If you do not have fear, then you do not need courage. With courage you develop initiative, do more of action than reaction.

7.     DO SOMETHING YOU LOVE: follow your passion, doing what you love and finding a way to be paid for it is one of the smartest strategies to be successful in life. Learn to view failures as a healthy, inevitable part of success. Fear of making mistakes keep us from reaching our highest potential. To be successful, you must give the people around you the room to criticize you.

8.     DEVELOP A CREATIVE MENTALITY: You are created by God to also be a creator, have a creative mentality if you must succeed and continue succeeding in life. There are innovations, inventions and breakthrough that are still waiting to happen through you if you do not allow what stopped others to stop you. Refuse to see alongside what others are seeing if their visions are negative, see positive, say positive and act positive and you will succeed with positive testimonies. While others were seeing ghosts in matt 14:26, peter saw the Lord in verse 28 no wonder he did what others could not do.

9.     LEARN TO PRESERVE YOUR RESOURCES: Gen 4:53-54. There was an abundance of bread in Egypt while other nations were dying of famine. This was so because Joseph preserved the resources and the abundance of the seven years and stretched them over the long period of another seven years. To be successful, you have to start laying aside your abundance of today, no matter how small, against tomorrow. Do not entertain the notion that abundance will last forever. Zach 4:10 Do not despise small beginnings. Big things are culmination of small ones. So give God the tenth of your income, save ten percent and live on the rest (Prov. 3:9). As your earning grows, invest 50 percent of your increase in a financial account. Once you stop spending every penny you earn and start saving, you will be empowered financially, spiritually, emotionally etc.

10.  PREPARE FOR THE UNEXPECTED: You’ve got to position yourself to keep a couple of options so that when the door of opportunity opens, you are close enough to squeeze through. The future does not always follow a straight line. Learn more than one handiwork to avoid being locked in a single solution in order to build a platform that can be used for a number of purposes in future. Be exposed to multiple options. Note: Reading makes a whole world of difference.

11.  DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF WITH OTHERS: Your sense of success must come from within. Success is not about being like someone else, but about being the best you can be and all God made you to be. To evaluate your success accurately, you must first understand your God given purpose. When you keep comparing yourself with others, you will be denied the sense of accomplishment because you have made the benchmark to be like somebody else. You need to know that, that person you are comparing yourself with has a different skill, purpose, position, designed to fulfill his or her God given role. God has given you everything you need for the position you play and the purpose you have to be successful in life. What a liberating truth that God who gave others the ability to excel at what they do will do the same for you when you learn to focus on yourself and God -not man or others.

12.  THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU MATTER: To be successful in life, you must know the people you work with. You need to be identified and managed according to your talents and temperament. So what kind of people belong to your team? Moses needed Joshua, Ruth needed Naomi. All successful people need help along the way and only you can admit that you need help,  you will begin to look for it and that is a crucial step in achieving success. Know people’s strengths, communicating your vision on them in such a way that they buy into it, bringing out the best in them and rewarding them.

13.  LEARN THE ART OF CONTENTMENT: Does contentment mean you cannot have ambition? No, it means delaying gratification and enjoying where you are on your way to where you are going. It means I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength Phil 4:12

Nobody will agree he is successful even if he reaches the top He dreams of or goes to places he dreams to go or meet people he wants to meet or eat what he wants to eat. To everybody, success has varied confused definition but one thing that must remain constant is you finally agreeing to the fact that you have finally achieved a level of success.

14.  RECOGNIZE THAT IT IS GOD WHO GIVES YOU THE ABILITY TO PRODUCE WEALTH: Deut. 8:18. To be successful in every sphere of your life, you must practice fiscal discipline. God does not bless recklessness. Learn to depend on God rather than yourself Isaiah 46:10. God says, I make known the end from the beginning. My purpose will stand. You are going to succeed because God has already determined your destiny. God is the architect and builder of your life. He never get confused about his plan towards you. God is building a solid foundation under you so that you will be able to handle the pressures that accompany his blessing. Anything that is made well is made slowly and anything that is worth having is worth fighting for.

Knowing that God is the only true source of wealth and depending solely on him then I guarantee you success. Happy new month to you

Sis. Ndudim Amarachi