Run to Win

Life is a race and we are expected not only to run but to win. We are destined to win as God did not program any person to lose. We lose either because we are not willing to run or we are not putting in our best to win.

In their book: Positive Mental Attitude, William Clementstone and Napoleon Hill narrated the story of a thorough-bred horse. The horse was groomed for horse-race and its performance was outstanding. People were already predicting that the horse was going to have a clear victory over another horse that had remained the undisputed champion.

A day came when they presented the two horses in a horse-race to determine the champion.

The duo took off on a sound note, neck for neck and stamina for stamina. As the race progressed, the thorough-bred horse almost about to leave the current champion behind, had a mishap and nearly stumbled. It was a bad break, for it affected its speed. The other horse took advantage of this and won the race.

The defeat was a devastating blow to the potential champion, for it never had the mindset to win in subsequent races. 

This story depicts what transpires in our lives from time to time. Life is a race and we are expected to run and win. But it is either we have stopped running or we are running without the mindset to win.

Now, what can we do to run and win in the race of life? Below are three steps you can take to win in the game of life.

1.  Strive to Run and Win

In the game of life, everyone is running, but not everyone is winning. However, this is not God’s will for our lives. God expects us not only to run but to win. You are not just created to live a bare existence. God did not create you just to eat, drink and be merry only. Life is much more than that. God expects us to live life to the fullest. And to live life to the fullest, we must be the best that God wants us to be.

Mediocrity is not part of God’s plan for our lives. We must therefore shun mediocrity.  Abundant life is not the exclusive preserve of a privileged few; abundant life is for all.

So, if you have not made it yet, it doesn’t mean that you are destined to remain the way you are; it only means that your time to succeed has not come and that you must wait patiently for your time of success.

Strive, not just to live but to live life to the fullest. Be the best that God wants you to be. Let the life you live manifest the glory of God. Abundant life begins when you start touching lives with what God has blessed you with – money, knowledge, skill, experience, talent, time, etc.

2.  Have a positive Mindset

Without a positive mindset, you cannot hope to run and win in the game of life.

More often than not, what keeps people down on the totem pole is their negative mindset. Fear of failure, lack of confidence, discouragement, and despair would not make some people to run, not even to talk of winning.

We are all goal-striving organisms. At all times, we must strive to achieve our goals in life. But to achieve our goals in life, we must have a positive mindset. That is the starting point to running and winning.

If you must achieve the goal you have set for yourself, you have to change your mindset from negative to positive. You have to start believing in your ability to run and win. O yes, you can make it because God has already given you what it takes. You only need to believe that you can make it and star using your God-given abilities.

Get rid of all the negative thoughts in your mind. Fill your mind with the thoughts that you have the ability to succeed like any other person. Hold this positive thought constantly in your mind and get on the running track for a championship race.

3.  Learn to Handle Setbacks

The difference between a champion and a loser is not reall in their ability. In the horse-race story you read above, it is obvious that both horses were very good. They matched speed with speed. The champion horse was not better than the potential champion.

I think what robbed the potential champion of winning was the way it handled the setback. After experiencing the setback in the race, it lost hope and interest in winning.

Doubtless, the horse was a potential champion, but it chose to be a mediocre because of its inability to handle the setback it encountered in the race.

I want to believe that if it were the champion horse that had similar setback, it would still be running and winning. What is the point I am making here? The point is this: learn to handle setbacks. In life, anything can happen at any time. Things can go wrong any time. Sometimes, even when you have put in your best effort, you may not get the desired result.

You don’t have to get discouraged. If you don’t win today, you may win tomorrow. Downfall of a man is not the end of his life. You don’t have any excuse to give for choosing mediocrity. Shun mediocrity. You are a champion yet to be unveiled.

As long as you are alive; as long as you can still reason and think; there is hope. Setbacks are nothing but opportunities for come-backs.

Learn to handle setbacks. When you do, you will remain victorious all your life!

Eight Qualities Women are Looking for in Men

Research conducted sometime ago by some experts reveals that women desire a husband who possesses certain qualities among which are the following:

1.   Genuine Love

Women expect their partner to genuinely love them just as they love him. Their man should reciprocate the love they have for him. Genuine love should go beyond carnal love. Anything short of that would make them lose confidence and trust in their man. Love is indeed reciprocal.

2.   Romance 

Women expect their man to be romantically attracted to them. Romance is an expression of full love for both partners. Romance is a means of procreation. It is meant to fulfil God’s mandate to man to “multiply and replenish the earth.” Romance is therefore an essential ingredient in a thriving relationship (i.e., relationship between legally married couple).

3.   Finance

 

Unless a man appears to have a great future and is working towards it, women don’t ordinarily want to tie the knot with the man. A poor man who cannot take good care of himself will not be able to take good care of his wife.

Women want to marry a man who is at least financially secure (not necessarily the richest man in the society). Financial insecurity is one of the reasons couples don’t enjoy happy marriage. Women want a man that can take good care of them.

4.   Respect 

Women want a man who will see them not as a property or a slave, but as a partner, friend, or helper. Women want a man who will respect them and treat them nicely. They hate bullies and wife-beaters who will subject them to physical torture.

Many divorce petitions in courts are filed by wives who maintain that they are fed up with their husband’s assault and battery and want a dissolution of their marriage.

5.   Tolerance

 

Women want a man who is tolerant, a man who knows that no one is perfect, a man who knows that no marriage can thrive where both spouses cannot exercise some tolerance.

6.   Friendship 

Women want a man who will treat their union as a friendship affair. They want their husband to relate with them as a friend and not see them as a subordinate. Although they don’t dispute the role of a man as head of the family, they however want a man they can share their thought, feeling, apprehension, etc with as a friend.

7.   Education

Women want their future partner to be an educated husband. Even illiterate women in the countryside wish to marry a man who is educated. This does not mean that when a man is not educated women don’t like him. If a man is uneducated but can cater for them or is well-to-do, women would still want to tie the knot with him.

8.   Companionship 

Women want companionship with their husband. They don’t want a man that will marry them, dump them at home and move to foreign land in search of “gold.” They don’t want to be left at home for years. They want intimate relationship, and anything short of that is tantamount to desertion. Cases are rampant of women who call it quit (divorce) on ground of desertion on the part of the husband.

NB: Please watch out for my article titled, “Eight Qualities Men are Looking for in a Woman. Don't miss this.

How to Write and Sell Your EBook on Your Blog

One of the quickest ways of making money online is selling information products. Information products include books, eBooks, and Instructional CDs/DVDs – written, audio, and video.

In this information age, people are looking for products that teach knowledge and skill they want to acquire. It is true that on the internet one can find the information one is looking for- free of charge. But the question is: How many people are willing to spend hours on the internet looking for the right information they need?

That is why information products still sell on the internet. People will readily buy the information they need online rather than spend some hours browsing the web for the free information which they may not find easily.

So, if you can package knowledge and skill, you can actually market them online. There are thousands and even millions of people online who are desirous of buying information product dealing with the knowledge and skill they want to acquire.

How to Write

If you can read and write, you can definitely package your knowledge and skill into a product. You don’t need to go to writing school or attend a special training before you can write.

The important thing is being able put your thought into writing. If you can write simple and correct English language, you can actually package an information product. You need not be a degree holder.

When writing, you need to however keep making corrections. You need to edit and proofread your work. Better still, you may need a professional proofreader that will put finishing touches to your eBook. When your eBook is error-free, it will enhance its marketability. You can get quality proofreading service from my blog, www.proproofreadingcentre.wordpress.com at an affordable fee.

What to Write

 You can write on any subject you know very well. You can write on the knowledge and skill you have acquired over the years. There is the saying that you cannot give what you don’t have. It is what you know that you can write and talk about. So, start with what you know.

On the other hand, if you know of a subject or a topic people are looking for, you can go online and research on it. Even if you don’t know it, but you can research, you can definitely package a bestselling eBook.

In the same vein, if you have written and posted many articles on your website/blog, you can select from them and package them as an eBook. If the articles are original and render genuine value, people would not hesitate to buy.

Why EBook?

In this information age, eBook is becoming more popular. Those who have computers now find it convenient buying and reading eBooks; while others buy eBooks online and print them out.

Here are some merits of being an eBook writer:

• It is very easy to create eBooks. If you can read and write simple English language, you can package a hot selling eBook.

• It is cheap to create eBooks. You don’t need to pay printing cost. If you have a personal computer, you may not pay a typesetter to have your eBook typed. You can do that by yourself. Once you have finished typing your eBook, and you have edited and proofread it, it is ready for sale. You sell your eBook in the format in which you typed it (MS Word) or you can convert it to PDF format (Adobe PDF or other PDF format). There are free softwares you can use to convert your eBook to PDF format. Go to openoffice.org to download the software, or head to createpdf.adobe.com to convert your eBook to PDF format.

•  Another benefit of being an eBook writer is that you don’t need storage facility for your eBook. Every eBook you write and save in your computer remains there. Any time a buyer buys a copy, he downloads it from your website/blog or you send them a copy via email attachment.

•  Again, once your eBook is ready, people from all over the world can obtain copies immediately. No courier service, no delay.   

How to Set Up Your Blog
 

There are basically two ways you can set up your blog. You can use free blog or you can go for paid blog.

1.  Free Blog

A free blog is one you don’t pay for domain name and web hosting to set it up. The platform you are using does that for you free. You only go to their portal (website) and set up your blog.

2.  Paid Blog

Paid blog is one in which you pay for domain name and hosting before you set up your blog. Setting up a blog is simple, but like any other skill, it is better to learn it from an expert than to plunge into it and try to learn it by trial and error. You need to devote few hours to learn it and thereafter, you can design your own blog yourself. 

On the other hand, you can hire a blog design expert to design one for you. Unlike website design, blog design doesn’t take time to learn. 

If you are interested in learning blog design or you want a blog design expert to design a professional looking blog, then contact me now via:

Email: conqueror.adaji30@gmail.com, or 

Phone: +2347061016859

Write a Compelling Sales Letter

Once you have set up the blog you will use in selling your eBook, you will need to

write a compelling sales letter. A sales letter is a kind of letter that is cogent, convincing, and compelling, which is aimed at helping the prospects see reason they should order your eBook immediately.

To be effective, your sales letter must explain point-by-point, the benefits your readers stand to gain from your eBook.

Means of Payment

The means by which prospects pay for your eBook should be included at the end or towards the end of your news letter. For prospect living in your country, you can simply ask them to pay into your savings account.

For other prospects worldwide, you may have to automate your blog with some online payment service providers. Paypal, for instance, is a popular online payment service provider, but unfortunately, their services are restricted to some countries. There are other means by which prospects can pay you to order your eBook. They include ATM, Master card, credit card, Visa card, Liberty Reserve, etc.  

Advertise               

After setting up your blog and posting your sales letter on your blog, you need to start advertising. Advertise your eBook and ask prospects to visit your blog to order.

You don’t need huge budget to advertise your eBook. You can start Classified Adverts in national dailies and periodicals. You pay very little for classified ad, yet the ad is very effective when properly written.

Other ways you can promote your eBook include article writing and submission to article directories online, online forum participation, and social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc). In any of these ways, you don’t advertise outrightly; but you offer GENUINE VALUE in your contribution and you put your URL (blog) at the end of your writing. This would enable people who appreciate your contributions to click and visit your blog.

When they visit your blog, they will find your sales letter and read it. If your sales letter is compelling enough, then rest assured you will make sales. 

For more information on how to make money online, you can also visit my blog, www.sunnyadaji.blogspot.com.     

Choosing the Right Partner

I must admit that I am not an expert on relationship and I don’t claim to be one. However, as a motivational expert, I have some relevant points to share with you on this topic and I believe you have one or two things to learn from this article.

Now, choosing a partner may be easy, but what is not easy is choosing the RIGHT partner. The desire of any person is to choose the right partner and enjoy a blissful relationship. But the fact is, not everybody will achieve this desire. We have heard of many broken relationships and we have heard of many marriages that have hit the rocks. 

But how can one avoid broken relationship or broken marriage? Well, I don’t think there is one special way of avoiding broken relationship. But one thing I think can help a bit is choosing the right partner. But how can one choose the right partner? This is where the problem lies. 

In his book, The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking, Norman V. Peale (a pastor and expert on relationship) narrated the story of a teenage boy who became attracted to a beautiful, well-dressed girl. They became friends. He went to his parents and told them that he had found the girl he would marry. After describing the girl, the parents said they knew the girl. They were really not pleased with their son’s decision. However, they told their son that they would consent to the marriage on the condition that he invited the girl to come and spend some time with them and thereafter, he (their son) would also go and spend some time with the girl’s parents.

Straightaway, the girl was invited to their home. Throughout the period, the girl kept herself busy watching TV, reading, and sleeping. She never participated in household chores. 

Later, it was the turn of the boy to visit the girl’s parents. After spending a short time, he ran back home. His parents asked why he was back so soon. He told his parents that he was no longer interested in marrying the girl. When asked why, he then narrated the negative acts the girl was exhibiting before her parents. 

Just then, the boy’s parents told him that they knew the parents of the girl and the girl’s character, but that they did not want to discourage him; and that they wanted him to discover the girl’s mannerisms by himself and that was why they made the conditionality of visiting each other's homes.

Dear reader, you may not be a teenager that requires the consent of his parents to enter into a particular relationship, but the fact is, there are several lessons you can learn from this article. Among these lessons are:

    1.   Understand Your Partner

  The starting point to good relationship is understanding your partner.  The two parties must understand each other. You have to understand your partner before you jump into serious relationship with him or her. This is important because it will help you to decide whether you can proceed with the relationship or not. 

Although no one is perfect, there are certain qualities a partner must possess which will make you to agree to the relationship despite some of his/her shortcomings. The earlier you understand your partner before going into serious relationship, the better. An African proverb says, “If you have not gone very far yet, it is still very easy to return; but if you have gone very far, it becomes very difficult and costly to return.”  

Now, how do you understand your partner? Understanding your partner goes beyond phone calls, letter writing, sending text messages, or sending emails. To really understand each other, you must be very close to each other. You must interact. You must do things in common. You must relate with each other. You can call it dating or whatever. There is no substitute for this.

The parents of the boy arranged that both their son and the girl should visit each other’s home and interact. This is a very good idea. It enabled them to have proper understanding of each other. 

I want to believe that it is lack of proper understanding on the part of both partners from the onset that is responsible for many strained relationships. If parties understood each other from the onset, perhaps, many strained relationships that have occurred might be avoided.

Of course, it is not possible to understand any person completely, no matter the number of years you stay together, but by relating with each other, you can at least have good understanding of the other partner, which would enable you to decide whether you should enter into SERIOUS relationship with the partner or not.

     2.   Don’t Be So Desperate

The problem with desperate people is that they tend to overlook some issues that are of vital importance in respect of the relationship. A marriage counsellor once said that some girls make the mistake of thinking that they would marry their partner despite his bad behaviour, hoping that after getting married, they would be able to change him. This, the marriage counsellor said, is wrong. According to her, “Nobody can change anybody. It is only God that can change a person.”

On the part of the man, physical attraction, lust, and infatuation can make a man so desperate that he forgets to take into consideration vital issues that are necessary for the relationship to thrive.

If you are not so desperate, it is easy to discover the personality of the partner, no matter how pretentious the partner may be. If you are seeing a girl for the first time and you say, “I must marry this girl. This is the right girl for me. If it is not this girl, it is no one,” the chances are, it is not love, it is infatuation. Infatuation is one of the factors that causes desperation.

Dear reader, don’t be so desperate. Relationship is not built on infatuation; it is built on LOVE. Any relationship is bound to work, if there is genuine, mutual love between the duo. So, look beyond infatuation.

3.   Don’t Look for a Perfect Partner

 The bitter truth is that there is no perfect human being in the whole world. If your aim in a relationship is having a “perfect partner”, perish the thought! There is nothing like a “perfect partner.” You are not perfect, so don’t expect to find a perfect partner. 

And if you have found a partner and you think he/she is perfect, I humbly and respectfully say you are wrong. If you have not seen any flaw, any shortcoming or weakness in your partner, it could be that you have not really understood your partner. In that case, you have to be careful.

Be patient and take time to understand your partner. Pretence can make it difficult for both partners to understand each other. But pretence doesn’t last long. Once you start finding flaws in each other, it means that you are beginning to understand each other.

I was told of a movie in which an actor (Murphy) was in a relationship with a girl. In that movie, he kept behaving in a manner that would annoy and evoke reaction from the girl. But she never reacted. She kept cool. In the end, the actor refused to marry her because he did not understand the girl. The girl was hiding her personality by pretence.

In relationship, you must not hide your feeling or pretend to be a perfect person. Express yourself where necessary.

Having understood your partner as an imperfect human being and not an angel, you can now determine if you are still compatible with him/her despite his/her flaws, shortcomings, and weaknesses.

You need to ask yourself: “Can I, despite his/her imperfection, live with him/her for the rest of my life? Can I tolerate, love, and accept him/her for who he/she is?”

The fact is, there are some things you cannot tolerate in a relationship. If in a relationship you are constantly assaulted and bullied by your partner, and you cannot tolerate it, do you think when you are into a serious relationship, he will stop bullying you? The bottomline here is knowing your breaking point. Know what you can put up with for the rest of your life. 

How long can you put up with your partner’s imperfection? You have to decide that before you jump into REAL relationship with him/her, so that you don’t regret. RELATIONSHIP IS MEANT TO BE ENJOYED AND NOT TO BE ENDURED. Know your breaking point and take decision wisely.

Finally, choosing the RIGHT partner may not be easy, but you can try the above tips.

POST YOUR COMMENT

Dear reader, I want you to post your comment. Perhaps, someone out there will benefit. What are those things that should have been deliberated upon that was not done? Do you agree with everything said in the article? What are those things you don’t agree with and why? Post your comment now. To do this, click on COMMENT below. It is at the end of this article. Click on it, type your comment, and post it.

How to Flourish in Times of Adversity

Knowing how to succeed and keeping the secret with you even after you have succeeded is very important.

This is because when adversity comes and you lose everything, you can still use the same secret to find your way back to the top.

Years ago, the BBC interviewed a nice gentleman called Paul Bagina. Bagina was a hotel manager in the country of Rwanda.

He caught the attention of BBC after saving 1,268 Rwandans in his hotel during the Tusti – Hutu civil war.

As the civil war raged on, more hardship and problem were felt. Bagina’s lucrative job was seriously affected. To survive, he became a taxi driver. Later, he bought two other cars and gave them to two men to drive for him as taxis.

Paul Bagina, who told BBC that “The best therapy in the world is to sit down and talk”, has demonstrated that it is not enough to know how to get to the top, you must also keep the secret with you so that in time of adversity, you can use this secret to get back to the top.

Now, this brings us to the question: “How can one get to the top and how can one use the secret to flourish in times of trouble?

Below are three steps you can take:

1.  Think Good Thoughts

In times of adversity, the proper thing to do is not whining, complaining, crying, or being bitter.

Unfortunately, that is how most of us react in times of adversity. And people who react in such negative manner find it difficult to survive not even to talk of flourishing in times of adversity. Some even go to the level of committing suicide.

The first and most important step to take in times of adversity is to think. Think good thoughts. Good thinking is the distinguishing characteristic of successful people. Successful people don’t keep thinking about the problems they are facing. They think about solutions to the problems. That is what good thinking is all about.

One of the greatest gifts that God give to every person is the brain, the ability to think. God gave us the brain so that we can use it to think positively. But when we use it to think negatively, that is when we get overwhelmed by adversity.

However, when you think positively, you will be able to generate ideas you can use to triumph over adversity.

The fact remains: negative thinking produces negative results while positive thinking produces positive results. The secret of overcoming adversity is to think of positive things you can do to overcome it. You cannot be thinking negatively and hope to flourish in the midst of adversity. Complaint and bitterness have never helped to solve any problems, rather they aggravate them.

To overcome adversity, sit down and think of positive ideas you can use to overcome it. Asking yourself such simple question as “What can I do to get out of this adversity?” will cause your mind to generate ways of surmounting the adversity.

2.  Drop Your Pride

In times of adversity, humility is the ladder you need to climb back to the top. Working your way up in times of adversity is like starting all over again. It is not going to be easy. But when you start now, it is just a matter of time; you will get back to the top.

For Paul Bagina, he had to abandon his position as General Manager of a hotel and become a taxi driver. He later used the proceeds he got from the cab to buy two cars which he gave to two men to use in generating income. He made it back to the top!

Humility is one of the characteristics of truly great men. They are always themselves. They don’t strive to draw unnecessary attention to themselves, yet they are noticed. Similarly, they don’t mind humbling themselves doing “menial” jobs that they know will take them to greater height.

When you are humble enough, and you think your own thoughts, without listening to the suggestion of others, you will achieve great success in life.

In times of adversity, your degrees and certificates may not be relevant, but what is relevant is humility, because that is what you need to climb to the top.

3.  Be Adaptable

We are not created to be like the fish which can live only in the water. We are created to thrive under all conditions, whether in times of prosperity or adversity.

Bagina made it back to the top because he was able to adapt to the worse conditions brought about by the Rwandan civil war.

To be adaptable, you must learn to endure hardship. It is real hardship for a hotel manager to turn to taxi driving, but he had to do that in order to overcome the adversity.

Remember, adversity is for a while. “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.” (Eccl. 7:14)

Dear reader, when you think good thoughts: when you drop your pride: and when you become adaptable to changing economic situation, you will be victorious in the midst of adversity!

Go and be victorious today!