The Life Purpose Podcast on Life Signatures Radio

I know one thing: That there is not a single formula for success and achievement. It is contextual and varies from one person to another even in application. That being said, there are some common denominators are critical in the success equation. These are universally accepted and applicable, that if we do away with them, we wont make it. That is why when I introduce to you something else that I call a secret, you have to be careful in application of the same. If at all it ignores any of these common denominators, you are in for trouble. That's why "The Law of Attraction" has to be put on the spot today. Listen to this.

We will always be looking for what works. We want what can help us with efficiency and effectiveness. In fact, you will excuse us for wanting to achieve things faster. The reason why many people delved into "The Secret" and "The Law of Attraction" was that it promised some of these things. It never focused on hard work, blood, sweat and tears. In fact, it taught that nature is about harmony and manifestation. That is until people started realizing that something was off. There are critical aspects in the equation of success and achievement that must be in place as you are using The Law of Attraction. In today's episode, we discuss one of those. Listen to this.

When "The Secret" came out in 2006, there was a world-wide craze about it. People wanted to know it and wanted to use it. That's a given, because human beings will always want to find the better way of doing things. I keep repeating that we cannot throw away the baby with the bath water. There are powerful teachings in there about money, about thoughts and about visualization. We learn that what we focus on becomes our reality. However, we miss a lot when we think that The secret and The Law of Attraction are all you need in order to succeed. Here is why that's a lie.

Why doesn't the Law of Attraction work? Is it working for you? I know for a fact that for a season now, the craze about "The Secret" and the Law of Attraction has tapered off. Why would that be the case? There are very great merits around The Law of Attraction as it was taught. However, I have realized in life that if someone tells you that life has only one answer, you have to think twice. Unless of course we are talking religion. However, when we are talking about success, growth, development, achieving our desires and so on, there is no one answer, there is no one secret. I explore further why I think there is little craze with the Law of Attraction anymore. Listen to this.

Let me ask you a question. Are you using the "Law of Attraction" in your life? Sometime back in the year 2006/7 thereabouts, "The Secret" documentary was unleashed to the world. It promised us that "thoughts become things", which is a fact. It promised us that what we visualise, we attract. It is also a fact. The question is: How come the same intensity of the craze we had about it has faded? How come we are looking for "other secrets" in life? If indeed this was the secret, shouldn't everything we do in life revolve around it? Well unfortunately not. This is one reason why.

When you have "Intelligence" that is the correct potent information, then that is when you can truly say that "information is power". Not all the information you have is useful. Someone should tell the school system that. Knowing all the past 45 Presidents of America by name is information...but is not intelligence that can help you become a better person in a sustainable way. But there are critical pieces of information that you do need in your life that will revolutionize it. I have just curated only 7 of them. Listen to this.

There are two critical places we can get crucial information from. This information once applied in our lives will be invaluable. It will help us grow, improve and get direction. I have been calling this kind of information, "Intelligence". This is because the world is flooded with so much noise. What we need is not a lot of information. What we need is "Intelligence" that we can use in our contexts. That intelligence can be obtained when we either reflect about our past or we project about our future through vision casting. Listen to this.

As much as we love to operate in comfort, what we need in life will have to be obtained, for the most part, through discomfort. Whatever the case, for us to progress in life, we need to know what kind of information we can work with. This is the information I have said is called, "Intelligence". Countries around the world have developed intricate security systems that can pick up "intelligence" that can be acted upon swiftly to avert crises. That is the same thing that we need to employ in our own lives. In this episode, we cover yet another form of intelligence that you need to have that will help you progress in life. Listen to this.

There are different kinds of "intelligence" that we need in our lives. When we work on this crucial information, we move the needle of our productivity and growth. When we talk about intelligence, we are not talking about all the information in the world. For example, it is useless to know how many nuclear bombs are there in the world. That intelligence is not useful to your development. However, there are specific "Intelligences" that you need to have in place in order to grow and mature and become the very best version of yourself. Such an intelligence is discussed in this episode. Check it out.

Intelligence is a crucial resource in life. It gives us needed and potent information that helps us to focus on what we can maximize in life. If you wanted to win in life, you will need intelligence. I am not talking about academic intelligence, though. I am talking about invaluable information that is potent enough when you act upon it. We live in a world that is flooded with lots of information. If you are not careful, you can get lost in it. This piece if intelligence is one of the most powerful you can ever have. Listen to this.

We can easily live a flipped life where the things we are chasing after with all the urgency and strength are not those that we need to chase after all. The sad part is that we only realize this late on once we have achieved what we thought we must. That's when the feeling of emptiness comes. The worst of it all is when we have packed 6, 7, or 8 decades in life thinking that the priorities in life are all about us. And then it hits us. To live life well, we need to have the necessary intelligence that we can use before we get started and even as we keep going. One of that intelligence is a life if impact. Listen to this.

One of the greatest pieces of information we can get is what we call "intelligence". When acted upon, intelligence can either help you overcome an attack, or it can help you launch one. An effective life needs to be lived on the basis of the intelligence you have. One of the greatest mistakes we make in life is to think that this intelligence must of necessity be academic. Nothing can be further from the truth. Listen to this for the first kind of intelligence you need in your life.

There is a great sandwich in life. You are in the present, but you also have a past, and yet the future beckons. What we do today determines how the future will be, but what we do today benefits from the intelligence of both yesterday and tomorrow. Living in these two extremes is done through reflection and visioneering. It can be an absolutely powerful way to gain the much needed intelligence to do life with. Otherwise, we risk doing life as if we are on autopilot, something that the human being was never created to do. Listen to this.

There is no day like today. There never will be another day like it. Tomorrow never comes, yesterday is always dead, but today is the day of power. It is in this day that we can make alterations in our lives like never before. Perhaps one of the greatest thins we can do today is to delve into our inner selves and determine deep seated decisions that we can make to anchor our lives. This happens today. Not tomorrow. Listen to this.

What day will you discover what your purpose in life is? It will not be some day tomorrow. That day, will be a day called "Today". It is in that day that you are in control of the situations of your life. However, we tend to think that the most powerful day is tomorrow, because for some reason, we think that that is when we shall have all in place to take action. The fact is that you will discover your purpose when you make a decision today. The more you sit and wait, the more you post pone that decision, the more purpose continues being elusive to you. No one ever discovered their purpose by sitting back and waiting. Purpose is discovered while in motion. Listen to this.

Today is a gift. Perhaps the greatest gift you will ever get. It's new every morning. What we do with today is what matters the most. Why? Because tomorrow is just a promise, yesterday is gone. Today is the real deal. The earlier we recognise that, the much better for ourselves. The more we do nothing about today, the more we are feeding any fears that we might be having to unprecedented heights. But when we use today properly, we are developing courage instead. We are growing in stature. Listen to this.

The most interesting thing about our days is that today is always forgotten in that it passes, and tomorrow is always remembered in that it always will be there. However, we want to do things tomorrow and yet we ignore today. Incidentally, we have no power over tomorrow that we always look forward to, but the today that is going to pass, where we have power to decide and act is always ignored. That's the conundrum in life. However, whenever we take action and make decisions for today, we get massive benefits, even if we were afraid and unprepared to do so. Listen to this.

At times we are afraid of moving forward. So we postpone taking action or making decisions. At the back of our minds, we hope that tomorrow will be a better bet. Maybe we might be better prepared tomorrow or the environment might be more conducive then. For the most part though, that better day never really arrives. That is why we have to be crazy enough to use today even of we are still ill prepared. When we finally do get moving regardless of how we feel about it, there are greater benefits to it as compared to sitting back and wishing for better days. Listen to this.

"Today Matters" is not just a great admonition, it is also a book title. Perhaps the most forgotten of days is always the one we are present in. For some reason, we think that a better day is ahead. We encourage one another with such words. We even quote scriptures and compose songs. "My tomorrow will be greater than today". There is a place for that. However, what's wrong with today? Isn't the day that we already have, the gift of today, the most potent and powerful of all days? Don't we have it here already and have some level of control in terms of the decisions we can make and the actions we can take about it? Listen to this.

When we are waiting, time keeps moving but probably nothing changes in us. Especially if we have anxiety as we wait. Waiting can be a very retrogressive way of growth. I know it sounds weird especially when scripture asks us to "wait". There is something much, much more powerful than waiting that we should be doing each waking day. If you are looking for the alignment of your ducks and for favor and for the moment of breakthrough, you realise soon enough that you have a part to play in it. You realize that waiting is not what you need to do. Preparation is what's needed. The man who is preparing himself finds opportunities easier than the man who is waiting for all to be aligned before he moves. Listen to this.

Very many times, especially in the Christian circles, people are always looking for "Breakthrough". It presupposes that the times before the "Breakthrough" comes, we are encumbered, heavy laden and struggling. The Breakthrough is a powerful thing....and at the same time, if you lived for it, you will be disappointed. This is because the Breakthrough doesn't solve all the problems that we have as a human race. If I gave you a breakthrough, you will soon need another. So what do we do? We have to realise that what we do before the breakthrough comes is one of the most powerful things to ever do. Listen to this.

When I mention the word "Secret" especially to people who are seekers, very many will be "atuned" and "all ears" to get to find out what that secret is. We are all curious to know what works, especially if the person talking about the secret is a successful person one way or another. In life, you will soon find out that the so called secrets are not necessarily secrets. You will soon find out that they are not rocket science, grandiose and complicated nuggets. The secrets are simple, daily, mundane, common easy and readily available so much so that we do not treat them any special. We jump over them daily. Overlook them and walk away from them in a quest to find the "secrets". And all along, what we really need is lying dormant. Listen to this.

"There is a time for everything under the sun". That's what scripture says. "There is a time to be born and a time to die". Very interesting statement. Did you know that you are not in control of the time you are born, neither are you in control of the time you die? This leaves us with only one time--the dash, that gap between your date of birth and date of burial. The most powerful time is that dash. The question is: What do we do between that time? That is one of the most powerful questions we can ever ask. Listen to this.

There are three fundamental questions that you might ask that will help you to change your outlook in life. The more you ask these questions, the more you see heavy responsibility around your life. The first question is: Whom was I sent to deliver? The second question: Who is my villain? The third question: What's in my toolbox as a hero? I believe that all of us have answers to those questions. In addition to those, Dr. Myles Munroe left us with five other related but very powerful questions. I do believe that whoever answers any of these two sets of questions will have sorted out issues regarding their life purpose. Listen to this.

When one realises that it is life that asks of us, demands of us then the way we live is totally different. We come to the understanding that we are the hero that is sought, and not the other way around. Frankly, we are all heroes, if you will. I cannot reconcile myself to the fact that a God can create people that are incomplete, needy and impotent. He made us heroes. We are someone else's deliverer. If that is the case, there is one very critical question that we must answer. In this episode, we have that covered. Stay tuned.

I will say it like a broken record: In life, questions are answers. Perhaps the most successful of us are those who are willing to incessantly ask questions and wait long enough to get answers thereof. I believe it was Edison who said that the reason he was successful as compared to his peers was that he was willing to stay with problems (read questions) longer. There are perhaps just three critical life questions that relate to a life of purpose. We have already asked the first one in the previous episode. Listen to this for the second most important life question.

In life, questions are answers. The more we ask, the more we know. There is no question in life that doesn't have answer. Think about that for a minute. Even Covid19 will be answered, or is being answered. The types of questions we ask, therefore, will determine the kind of life that we are going to lead. There are some life questions that are so deep that we keep evading to ask them. Life too keeps sending those questions to us. But in this episode, I discuss what I consider to be the most important question (at least one of the most important questions) you can ever ask. This is one of the most important episodes I ever did. Listen in.

We are invariably told that the quality of our lives will be dependent on the quality of the questions that we are willing to ask, and answer. For the most part, we find ourselves evading to answer life's crucial questions. We procrastinate. We get deliberately distracted. We waive off our mandate to be reflective and curious. Until a crisis hits. That's when we are stripped of what we thought we gained and we are now forced to consider some life's important questions. Learning to be reflective is one of the most important aspects of the life of a great person. Listen to this.

There are two types of people generally in life. There are those who live their lives by default, and there are those who live their lives by design. The most interesting thing is that the creation around us is on autopilot. The sun, the moon. The hills and mountains. The revers and they skies. One can even say that the animals, the birds and the fish, they all are in an autopilot--a life of default. But not the human. That is not the way we were created to function. Listen to this.

The most uncanny thing about creation is that you will find out that the crown of creation, mankind, has very many limits. As compared to man, natural things in the universe tend to grow to their full glory. The tree, for example, grows to the tallest height it ever can muster as to the degree of potential that has been put in it. Man? We find ourselves grappling with making money...and that's just about it. It is time to change this. We are the crown of creation. It is time we grew as such and became as such. Listen to this.

Every time I ask a group of people about natural gifts and talents, I find that each group has a massive percentage of those who believe that they are not gifted. This is because they do think that gifts and talents are only for those that stand out in sports, speaking, entertainment and academics. Nothing can be further from the truth. In this episode, we let you in on some of those that are not so obvious, but they are gifts in their own right and they need careful attention and growth. Listen to this.

If I put something in a gadget, I expect that gadget to be optimally used by exploiting the features that I built in it. You don't buy a TV set for decorating your house primarily, even though it can work that way. That is the same thing with our natural gifts and talents. They are not there for decoration. They are there to primarily be used so we can operate as optimally as possible. If you wanted to nurture those natural gifts and talents, there are some things that you need to do. Here are 9 of them in summary, and the tenth fully explained.

Growth and development of gifts and talents is not linear. It is not assured unless it is intentional. There are several things that you can do to make sure that your gifts and talents are developed. However, one must first acknowledge that the gifts and talents have an integral part to play in their lives and in their future. This is the greatest omission on earth. Why would your creator give you a particular gift? Why would he create you in the first place? There has got to be a reason for it. This realization should put us on high alert to start developing our gifts and talents. Listen to this.

The greatest omission in the world today is the development of gifts and talents. For some reason, and I do not know why, we have not created an environment on earth where these can flourish. We somehow have our own "priorities". However, if you know how critical the gifts and talents you have been given are, whether spiritual or natural, you will want to move heaven and earth to develop them. Some of the answers we are seeking in life from elsewhere are right within us, with our gifts and talents. There are several things you can do to grow your talents. This is just one of them. Listen to this.

I cannot over-emphasize the power of gifts and talents. I do believe that there is nobody God made that is not gifted in one way or another. The biggest mistake we make is to think that the gifted are only those with an ability in sports, entertainment or other facets that are obvious. Nothing can be further from the truth. I think it is a great responsibility that all of us have to make sure that what we have been bequeathed with in terms of gifts and talents must be developed to the core. Here is one more way to develop them. Listen to this.

One of the biggest mistakes we do with raw talent is to over-emphasise its importance to us monetarily so much so that we put undue pressure on it and it ultimately doesn't develop. When people realise that there is potential somewhere with a natural gift and talent, they see only what they can benefit from it. They start counting the millions even before that gift has been nurtured to maturity. When it comes to developing natural gifts and talents, maturity is of great essence. Instead of seeking prominence, seek obscurity as you develop. Listen to this.

Patience, they say, pays. That cuts across just about every strata of society and most especially when it comes to deploying our natural gifts and talents. Unfortunately, we live in a world that is so demanding of the now. We have the urgency of the now to pay bills and take care of things. That set up does not bode well with the gospel of developing our gifts and talents. Why? Because it takes time to grow a mango tree. It takes time to develop a natural gift to the level that it is fruitful and beneficial not just to you, but to the world. So people would rather be distracted with this and that in order to "eke out a living" than to grow their potential. Listen to this.

Natural gifts and talents are like our acres of diamonds, for the most part. We find ourselves looking for the spectacular answers to our lives while all along we are oblivious that we are gifted and talented. The answers that we are looking for in life are seldom out there in another continent. Some clues to our life's greatest breakthroughs could be right where we are or maybe even within us in terms of our natural gifts and talents. But for some reason, we choose to look elsewhere. For the converted though, we learn that there are some things that we ought to do in order to develop our gifts. Here is one of them. Listen in.

It is an open secret, even though many people are not bold enough to agree, that natural gifts and talents are important in society. Not just for hobbies, but also for personal and national economies. In the mainstream, it is hard to find a system that has been institutionalized and set aside specifically to nurture gifts and talents. Many have the gifts but they are struggling to make ends meet. We need to have ways that we can develop these natural gifts and talents. Before that though, we have to be bold enough to acknowledge the fact that natural gifts and talents have a firm place in society. After that, we need to build systems in place to oversee their development. Listen to this.

The most common thing you will find about people is their uniqueness and their giftedness. A vast majority of people in any gathering are gifted. If anything, I do believe that all of us have gifts and talents. We do not recognize this on a large scale because we tend to think that it is a domain of sportspeople, entertainers, orators and highly gifted academicians. Nothing can be further from the truth. Once we have realized the fact that we do have natural gifts and talents, it then follows that we have to find a way to develop them. This, I believe is one of the most potent of them all. Listen to this.

When I build something to function in a particular way, I will place in it the capacity to do so. I will "tool" it accordingly. The same thing is true with humans. We have natural gifts and talents as our "tooling" so we can be naturally predisposed to function in a certain way. Sadly, we ignore these natural tools that are within us and we run helter skelter trying to eke out a living. Let us find out one of the ways we can use to nurture raw gifts and talents.

If someone asked you about investments, even if you are not a genius or guru in that department, you will readily have some things in mind that you might want to invest. For the most part, people think about finances, which is a great thing. However, I am afraid that we are ignoring perhaps one of the most potent investments we can make in life. All of us have that opportunity. The problem is that we are so steeped into the status quo that elevates whatever else it does, apart from our purpose, gifts, passion and talents. Fortunately, we are being found out, and we have no option but to take heed. Listen to this.

There are two major schools of thought in life. First, there is that which focuses intensely on results...in the now, immediately. Now matters more than tomorrow, for tomorrow we do not know what will happen. There is another school of thought that looks at today as a seed. It honours processes, systems, time, and patience. Few subscribe to this. Unfortunately, when it comes to nurturing gifts and talents, this is the most plausible school of thought to use. Our gifts and talents, and those of our children do have a great place in society. The problem is that we are in the "ignore" mode because someone somewhere told us that they do not make sense in life. Not anymore. Listen to this.

Could it be that all the answers we are looking for, especially in terms of economic gain are right within us and around us but we are totally oblivious of that fact? Any creator of anything will place inside of it tools, attributes, and capabilities that will enable it to function in the intended way. That includes the human being. There has to be a firm place for gifts and talents. The more we ignore them, the more we are shooting ourselves on the foot. Listen to this.

As much as we are trying all we can to change the education systems of the world, there will always be something glaringly missing and off if we will not have parents become the Life Coaches of their children. The world has changed so much that the education system as promised and as crafted has not kept up with it. For starters, not everyone will excel from the academic world. Let's just agree with that. Does that mean that such people are useless in the world? No. Big-time companies, at least in the US are no longer needing people to have university degrees to be employed. Things have changed. This episode is a close of a 14-strong episode series on the subject matter. The verdict is that you as a parent must become the Life Coach for your children. Listen to this.

Bad will be the day when all parents continue thinking that the silver bullet to the success of their children is the traditional school system. Let's just talk about the elephant in the room: It is not working anymore, at least to the extent it has been sold to work. That is why the parent is in the life of a child to become a life coach. For starters, you as a parent going through the system. It might have worked for you, but surely you saw how many victims it created too. You saw that it is not an answer to everyone. You also have realized that success is much more critical in life even without the academic qualifications. You have realized that academic qualifications only are not enough. Success does have a system. That's why you are a parent. To install that system into the psyche of the child. Listen to this.

Words are powerful. Certainly, words spoken by friends and loved ones have an impact. Words also spoken by peers do go a long way. But words spoken by a person in authority can shape and mould a life. That is why I have been encouraging us as parents to become Life Coaches for our children. I dare say that even if your child flanked the academic mountain and be in danger of losing the job avenue, Life Coaching them would go a mighty long way. A child is given "permission" to be great by parents, and at the same time, that child's greatness is also curtailed at home. Abdicating our responsibility as parents to the school system will not cut it. Listen to this.

We are told that success leaves clues. I agree. So does failure. However, why is it that we do not wake up from a pattern? Why is it that we failed from the school system but we still send our children out there thinking that they might catch a break? Where is the problem? I will tell you where. We have been sold to the fact that the school system is a silver bullet for anyone needing to succeed in life. We are finding out that it is not the case...but are we bold enough to do something about it? If we are bold enough, we shall become Life Coaches for our children. If not...we shall continue thinking that the system will help them. Listen to this.

Money is a huge topic. But don't you think it is unfair for the school system not to ably and thoroughly cover the subject of "Personal Finances" for our children? Who is to blame? Whose responsibility is it to teach them about finances? About different streams of income? About investments, treasury bills, shares and so on? Is it really the school system? Does the school system have the focus, the mandate and the will to do that? I think that as long as these things are not examinable, nobody in the school fraternity bothers. It doesn't affect the mean score performance of the school. That is where the parent comes in and becomes the Life Coach of her own child. Listen to this.

Insight is a very important thing in life. Perhaps the emptiest of life you can live is a life without insight. When we are growing up children, what insight are we teaching them to channel all their efforts towards? Better yet, what is the single insight that the school system serves? Towards what end do they go to school for two decades? The insight behind it informs how they come out of the system and how they will process life. As a parent, you can no longer abdicate that responsibility to the school system. Do it at home and this is how you install the insight into their lives. Listen to this.