Be Careful Who You Associate Yourself With.

BE CAREFUL WHO YOU ASSOCIATE YOURSELF WITH.

Greetings one and all. I’d like to talk to you today about being careful with who you associate yourself with. Life is filled with ups and downs and twists and turns. So it is very important to have quality people in your circle. It’s very important to have people you know will be there for you in rough times. The kinda people that step in to help when everyone else in the world steps out. These kind of people are very rare and should be cherished. In Jamaica we say “ Good friend better than pocket money” . The sad thing is the only time your friendships are truly tested are in rough times. In times of plenty friends are plenty when your pockets are empty not one in twenty.

    People pretend well and they will stick around you for different reasons. In my experience my truest friends are the friends I’ve known since my childhood. You may be lucky to find a few after that along the way but the realest ones are childhood friends. I have had friends that I have been there for in their time of need and when things weren’t going too well in my life and I called these same friends and told them what was going on in my life.They started to move sideways. I never asked them for anything. Never hinted that I was begging for anything and these people became very distant. They wouldn’t even call to check if you were ok. Not even an encouraging word. This is just an example to show you that what you do for people there is no guarantee that people will do the same for you. I know many of you can relate and have many similar stories.

 Strive to have quality people in your circle. Quality people will be there for you no matter what. Leave the “Made in China” people alone. Once you find out they’re not the real deal. Just take your time and fade away from them. Life is too short to hang around messed up people. People will use you if you let them and they won’t think anything of it. Learn to stand up for yourself. Learn to sit down and assess your friendships. You are The CEO of your life. You decide who to promote,who to fire,who to layoff. You are in control of your life. You are the captain of your ship, you are the master of your destiny. No one can use you if you decide you don’t want to be used. Learn to say NO when you are not comfortable with a request from a friend. If what they’re asking or what they’re telling you to do does not sit well with your spirit. Just don’t do it. If these are true friends they will respect your decision to not participate in whatever they were asking of you.

   Learn this Acronym “O.Q.P.” Only Quality People. If you sit around with chickens you won’t go any further than chickens but if you soar with eagles you will rise to heights unknown. The quality of your friends will determine the quality of your life. If you hang around four broke people you will become number five. Your friends have the power to influence your decisions. If all you do is sit around and talk about people and talk about trivial matters that’s the level your life will stay at. However if you hang around people who are interested in growth and are always making positive plans to do great things. I guarantee you that you will see you life change for the better and you will become far more successful and learn principles and strategies that can help you to live a much better life. Hang around winners,the conversation is different. Associate yourself with good people. Life is too short to do anything else. Time wasted can never be regained. Limit your time with people who are not going in the direction you want to go. Associate with like minded people. Never forget,you have greatness within you. Go out and be great with great people. One love.

ASPIRE TO INSPIRE

I'd like to talk to you today on the topic ASPIRE TO INSPIRE. Being inspired to go after your goal is a great feeling you get up everyday with a new zeal and vigour. You have something to look forward to,you have something that keeps you going everyday. We all need that in our lives ,it is essential to daily living. Do you aspire to inspire the people around you ? If you don't, you should. It's a natural fact that people prefer to be around someone that makes them feel better about themselves,someone who motivates them,someone who helps to bring out a latent talent within themself that they might have been overlooking. When you take time out and encourage someone you in turn feel good also.“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” ~ John Quincy Adams

       We get caught up with the pressures of everyday living and survival that we often times forget to be there for each other.As the famous poem says : " No man is an island,No man stands alone, Each man’s joy is joy to me, Each man’s grief is my own,When I help my brother,Then I know that I Plant the seed of friendship that will never die." You can't live only for yourself people that's a terrible way to live. Always try to help but never allow yourself to be used because there are people out there who will take your kindness for weakness.So you will have to use your common sense and make that judgement call.

             Be a blessing to someone today. We are all feeling the pressures of the global economic crisis,this sometimes causes us to go into "self preservation" mode and just look out for ourselves but this is the wrong attitude, now is the time for us to unite and come together and help each other as much as we can. “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo Buscaglia. Try to keep a positive attitude, always try to see the blessing in the storm, there is always something to be learnt from every negative situation. So keep your head up,give a helping hand where you can..............ASPIRE TO INSPIRE.
   

A NEW BEGINNING

Have you been holding yourself back from a new beginning? Have you been  holding on to grudges and pains of the past ? Have you been trying to move on but for some reason you don’t know why you haven’t been able to move on with your life ? Well let me tell you why. Until you totally let go of the past and stop looking back at who did you wrong and who hurt you, you will never move on and be totally free of the pains of the past. If you can’t find it in your heart to forgive and forget, you will only be hurting yourself. I can bet you that whoever it was that hurt you probably doesn’t even remember what they did, but everyday you walk around with that hurt deep inside you, poisoning the good that wants to come out,. You are bleeding internally and if you do not do what it takes to stop that bleeding by forgiving those that hurt you,  that hurt will eventually make you bleed to death. Maybe not a physical death, but you’ll be walking around everyday feeling down and out, if you ask me that’s just as good as being dead. Stop holding to these pains, life is too short to live like that all the days of your life, Yes it was painful I agree, and you probably can give me a hundred reasons why you should hold on to this pain and anger, but let me tell you this for your own good, forgive them and move on. Not everyone is going to hurt you.  Stop holding yourself back from the good things that are waiting to happen. Just learn from your experience and use it the next time around to spot any irregularities fast to help you should the situation arise. Dust yourself off and try again.

     There are some of you that won’t even try to get back in relationships with other people because of hurt from past relationships and you won’t even try to start something new. You repeat these toxic statements to yourself for eg. “ They’re all the same “,” I can’t be bothered with the stress “,” All men are dogs”, ”All women are bitches” and so on, but these are not true statements everybody is different. Get to know a person, not everyone is out to get you. Some of you probably  tried your hand at business and  probably got burned in a business deal and you refuse to try again, let me tell you ,every successful business man will tell you that they made some mistakes at first even still do sometimes today, but they never gave up. Some of us give up too easily, but if we want anything good in life, its not going to come easily, you’ve got to work hard at it and pay your dues. Let go of the past, stop looking in your rear view mirror, a great future is waiting for you, don’t let your mistakes from the past affect your future learn from it and move on. Hold your head up. Stick your chest out and be proud of who you are, after all you’ve been through you’re still here, whatever you’ve been through you are now stronger and wiser. A NEW BEGINNING is waiting for you, let go of the past and move forward, get a fresh start.

BE ALL YOU CAN BE

 Are you just floating aimlessly through life,just doing the bare minimum,just doing enough to survive. Do you have plans and dreams that you have put aside,telling yourself that they will never come to reality. Well with that kind of attitude,let me tell you what is going to happen for you,absolutely nothing. If we are going to see our dreams come to reality sometimes we'll have to motivate ourselves to get where we need to be. Due to the pressures of everyday life, we sometimes tend to forget about the great power that lies within us, to be all we can be.We need to get excited about life once more.What a great feeling it is to be alive.We need to wake up in the morning with great plans for the future,we need something to look forward to,something to keep us going and hopeful towards the future.

  Whatever it is that you want to do,you need to start making plans to do them right now,get out your pen and paper start putting your mind to work,I can see the big smile on your face and if you're not smiling you should be, look at the limitless possibilities within you that are just waiting for you to just start thinking in order to become a reality.You can do anything you want to do,you just need to get serious and work out a plan to get where you want to be.Don't just go through life doing just enough to get by,be all you can be,don't hold back.
This is not a dress rehearsal you won't get a second shot at life,so make the most of what you have and always try your best to perform and be at your optimum at all times.

   Get your mind in soldier mode and BE ALL YOU CAN BE, life is short,so stop wasting time watching tv and going on facebook to catch up with the latest gossip,stop watching ppl ,you need to get serious about your own life.If you follow the tv and facebook you'll end up getting nothing done, try to manage your time better ,find sometime for your dream,get on google and do some research on what you want to do,find someone who is already on the path you want to take,ask them questions,get interested in your own dream and stop watching actors live their dreams on tv,while you sit around going nowhere fast. BE ALL YOU CAN BE !!! STOP WASTING TIME !!! TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN AND TIME LOST CAN NEVER BE REGAINED !!! SO GET MOVING !!!!

Actions Speak Louder Than Words.

   Do you get up everyday and just talk about doing this and doing that but never do anything ? Are you just a talker ? Well actions speak louder than words so you better shut up and start actually doing something.If you just talk the talk and never walk the walk people will never take you seriously.How can anyone take you seriously if you don't take yourself seriously and further more "talk is cheap".We have to take action people,we can't go through life just talking and wishing that things will happen.If we don't get up and start doing what needs to be done,it'll never get done.Life is short folks stop putting off stuff,never put off what you can do today for tomorrow.Make up your mind to start doing what needs to be done today.
   You see my friends although things may seem impossible at first,the minute you make a serious decision to go after what you want in life,doors that were closed will start to open,you will start to meet people who can and are willing to help you do what needs to be done.Many successful people will tell you their lives changed the moment they started to take responsibility for their lives.We must take full responsibility for our lives and stop expecting others to do things for us.Taking responsibility is vital to achieving our goals in life,nothing will happen unless we take responsibility and start getting things done.Take time out to plan and organize,if you fail to plan,you plan to fail.We all want success in life,but success won't come if we continue to sit down.So get up,stand up !!! Start doing what you know deep down in your heart you want to do,stop listening to the nay Sayers,dig your heels in deep,stop talking and start doing.As we say in Jamaica,"ACTION !!!  NOT A BAG A MOUTH."
     The bible says "Faith without works is dead." So even if you believe,you still have to get up and do something,there will be no manna falling from the skies.So make a decision right now to start today,start dreaming,start planning,start believing,start doing.Make "Action"  the keyword  in your life.

DO YOU BELIEVE ?

Do you believe you can do what you want to do ? Is there any doubt in your mind ? What is it that is causing you to not believe in yourself ? These are all necessary questions that you should ask yourself,because if you are going to achieve your dreams and your goals the first person you will have to convince is yourself.If you don't believe in yourself,how do you expect other people to believe in you.So the million dollar question is how do you get your mind in a state of belief ? Well there are a few basic steps that you can take,you will however have to be committed to these steps or they won't work.
 Firstly you will have to sit by yourself and do some soul searching,do a self evaluation of the root cause of your non belief in yourself,maybe it's something that someone said,maybe it's something that someone did,no matter how bad it was it can be turned around into a positive.Don't allow negative people to get you down.After you dig deep and find what's been holding you back,the next step is to now do something about changing all of that.Remember whatever it is that is troubling you,no one can change it but you.You now get your pen and paper.Divide the page in two by drawing a line through the middle,on one side you have PROBLEM and on the other side you have SOLUTION. You now write down all you think is holding you back on the PROBLEM side and really think about what can be done to turn this around on the SOLUTION side.Every problem has a solution and most times we know the solution to our problems but we're just afraid to confront the real issues and get rid of them once and for all.If you're having trouble coming up with solutions you might have to get a trusted friend to help you with this sometimes two heads are better than one to think stuff through.
   Secondly you will have to develop your TENACITY, the V2 Vocabulary dictionary defines TENACITY as follows "Persistent determination in holding to something, especially opinions, valuables, and routines." You will have to develop a thicker skin so that no matter what anyone does or says to you in the future you will under no circumstance lose sight of your goal.You may have to start reading some inspirational/motivational  books to help you in this step,if you can even get your hands on some inspirational/motivational tapes while you drive or workout to help build you up that would be great also.
 Thirdly you will have to surround yourself with positive people who are willing to help you overcome your fears and people who encourage you and genuinely want to see you succeed. You might have to get rid of some of the friends you have now,some of these people are very toxic and they carry a very negative energy with them,they never have anything good to say about anything or anyone.You will have to move away from that type of environment.You might not realize it,but they are hurting you even more than you think.They flood your mind with negative emotions,and the thing about it is, a negative habit sets in easier and quicker than a positive one.
     You will have to commit to change,change won't come easily.In order to get where you want to be you must believe you can get there,so put the above steps into action and I'm sure you'll see a positive change and you will start to believe in yourself and your abilities a lot more.

LIVING LIFE YOUR WAY

Are you living your life the way you want to ?. Are you depending on someone too much for every decision that you make ?.Are you constantly seeking the approval of others for things that you do ? Do you always think about what people might say before you buy something even though you like it ? If you said yes to any of the above you are not “ LIVING LIFE YOUR WAY ” .This kind of life is not the best,because you are never being yourself. You are not the individual you were created to be, you are being a FOLLOWER. LEADERS do not behave this way,LEADERS do what they want to do and if you want to follow that’s up to you and if you don’t well that’s okay too.When you live your life this way you are constantly bound to the opinion of others and if you really want to live a free life you won’t care what others think.As long as you know that you are doing the best you can do for you and your family it shouldn’t matter what other people think.

Don’t allow yourself to fall in the trap of trusting your friends more than you trust yourself,sometimes your friends really don’t want to see you excel,so they will say and do things to keep you down with them,even though you know that particular thing maybe right for you.What is good for you will not always be good for them.You have to weigh the pro’s and cons of the situation and make up your own mind.Sometimes you may even lose some of your friends when you are forced to take a stand for yourself and say what you truly feel. I think it’s far better to live life by your own rules and not follow the rules of someone else. Never try to please people too much,cause if you live your life that way people will catch on and they will try to take advantage of your kindness.A lot of people out there take kindness for weakness,they don’t understand when people are being genuine and are trying to help them,they only see an opportunity to try and take advantage of a situation.Sometimes you have to please yourself and not care what people think or say.Some of the people you are going out of your way for,if you really check it out they would never go out of their way for you,but sometimes you want to be their friend so much that you lose yourself and become their personal slave without even realizing what you’re doing.(A lot of fellas fall victim to some females this way and a lot of ladies fall victim to the fellas this way.)

NEVER WASTE YOUR TIME ON A PERSON WHO IS NOT WILLING TO WASTE THEIR TIME ON YOU. You’re too old for that,this is not primary school or High School you are an adult and you should behave like one.Don’t waste your time trying to win someone over who isn’t even giving you the time of day.There are a lot of people out there who are willing to accept you as you are.Without you having to transform into someone you’re not everytime they come around.You will just have to accept the fact that not everybody is going to like you.If you are in a relationship and every day things are bright and beautiful and you never argue with your mate and you’re constantly walking on egg shells to keep that person happy.That relationship is superficial because you are not free to be yourself. THE GREATEST PERSON YOU CAN BE IS YOURSELF.because there is no one like you. Be yourself and stop following the crowd. We should all try to “LIVE LIFE OUR WAY”. So at the end of the day we can sing like Frank Sinatra and say “ I DID IT MY WAY.” Never let people control your life,if you do you’re going to have a long hard life.