Power Series Summary – A Personal Story

This website is a story, a story of a young man who left Kenya in 1998 to study in Perth, Western Australia. That young man had a burning desire to succeed and overcome the myriad of obstacles that he faced due to his humble beginnings. He was so hungry yet ill prepared for success. He was talented yet naive in the ways of the world. He was strong willed but had a million character flaws.

Days in Australia turned into months, the months turned into years, the years have now turned to a decade and finally the not so young-anymore man has now decided to retrace his steps and reawaken the giant within. He has decided to cede some ground in regards to his privacy in the hope that his story will inspire you. He hopes to make a deep connection with you and  trigger you to think about issues in life that we take for granted. To help you live consciously, courageously and successfully.

Thank you for reading my story. I hope I will be able to inspire you to be the best you can be. It takes a lot of balls to relinquish the right to privacy, I am still not sure if this is the best thing to do, but at this moment in time, it is the only way I know that I can be able to connect with you deeply.

Power Series Summary

As I said when I launched this website, over the years, I have learned that to succeed or fail, is all in the mind. There are times I thought of myself as a gifted and successful person, and that I became beyond my wildest dreams. There are other times I thought of myself as a failure, with no hope and that too I became. I have earmarked 2009 as my year of exceptional personal and professional growth. I will share each of my lessons with you, so that you can take this journey too.

I am not a guru or maven in the area of personal development. I am just a regular guy with more failures than you can dare imagine. I will be exposing my failures and successes on this site as the months roll by. A dear friend has been telling me not to do it. Her reasons are very valid and well meaning. But it is my passion to inspire people and leave a timeless and inspirational body of works after I die. I am prepared to live with the consequences.

1. The Power of Visualization

I am such a dreamer. Many of my friends know I am always coming up with the next big idea. My mind works on overdrive thinking up stuff that I could do or become. One day a friend told me that I like building castles in the air, and that one day they may come tumbling down on me.

Castles and seemingly meteorites have tumbled down on me in the last couple of years. I have failed miserably on some of my dreams. But should that make me stop dreaming? Hell no! If anything I am trying to get better at dreaming and visualizing my success.

The blog post on the power of visualization was designed to encourage you to visualize success in vivid terms. If you can imagine it in your mind, you are half way there. I talked about Servicescapes and how giant companies use the power of visualization to profit massively. I am hoping to be better at visualizing all aspects of success this year. That blog post will help trigger ideas of practical areas in your life that you can apply the power of  visualization.

2. The Power of Positive Thinking

I will let you in on a secret. A few years ago I was feeling really down. I spent two years working on a piece of software for online marketing that I thought would be my lotto ticket. I spent a whole two years of work (unpaid) learning about online marketing and developing my software to fill the niche I was targeting. I was so sure that I could retire in a few years if all went to plan.

I buried myself in software development and market research for a full 2 years. I had virtually no social life save for the occasional beer with friends at the local watering hole in the city. Then I realized the nature of competition and legal framework had changed by the time I was about to go to market.

When it dawned on me that I was not going to make much money from my venture, when the reality started sinking in, I became really depressed. I was asking myself everyday, how could you be so stupid? Who wastes two years of their life? Everyone around me was telling me to find a real J.O.B. My mind started filling up with negative thoughts and emotions. I felt that I had hit a brick wall.

Then I chanced on a book by Napoleon Hill, called The Power of Positive Thinking . I read it cover to cover ten times in three months. I started listening to tapes and reading positive thinking websites. I realized how powerful my mind really is. I felt like a giant inside. In fact, I remember wanting to get a tattoo written “Giant Inside”, sort of like the computers that say “Intel Inside”, but that is another story.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you may have noticed that I use a lot of positive words. I encourage you to develop your positive words vocabulary. I remember writing hundreds of positive words and trying to interpret them in my own life. You think in words. Work on your vocabulary of positive words and you will find yourself constructing positive sentences and thoughts. Read my blog post on the Power of Positive Thinking and apply the principles.

Once I started thinking positively, I realized that my two years had not been wasted. I had through research for my software, uncovered different marketing strategies on the internet that I used to turn my life around and succeed beyond my wildest dreams.

3. The Power of Perspectives

I did bachelor of business degree and majored in Marketing & Information Systems. Some of my friends were wondering why I was doing such disparate majors. To be honest I did not see the synergy either, but later I was able to connect the dots.

When I started thinking positively, I realized that my marketing degree and information degree had instilled in me two different ways of thinking. I could think creatively as an advertiser does, and I could think in IT terms. Thinking in those two perspectives helped me shorten my learning curve on internet technologies and marketing strategies. I found that a lot of people did not either understand the marketing side of the net while others were clueless about programming, databases and networks.

The power of perspectives has helped me in business when crafting advertisements. When writing an ad, I have to put myself in the shoes of the person who will be reading that and communicate to him or her the benefits of my offer. In most cases I have to do this in less than 70 words. You really have to learn to see things in different perspectives to be able to write an highly effective advert for a dating agency in one moment and a debt consolidation one a few minutes later.

This is one principle of success that I am planning to improve upon this year. It is so powerful. Even to be able to write this blog, and to inspire you to be the best you can be, I have to try and see things in your perspective. It is not easy but can be developed with practice.

I have failed many times to see things from other people’s perspectives. That makes me angry or jealous depending on the situation. Failing to see things from another persons perspective is what causes fights, wars etc. If only more people could develop this skill. It would help people shun intolerance and hopefully make the world a better place.

The power of perspectives can help you in your life when dealing with people. You will be able to see issues as they do. You can apply this power in many aspects of your life including finances, relationships, family and careers.

4. The Power of Action

Last year I was talking of launching this blog, researching about blogging but never really got around to it until this year. You may have goals that you have been planning for ages. You may have been planning to do something but you are too afraid to do it. The blog post on the power of action will encourage you to take action.

Action is what separates dreamers from doers. Action is the difference between success and failure. If you only think big, visualize or just dream about success, you will never amount to much. It is only when you take action towards your goal that you start getting results. It is better to shoot-aim-shoot than to aim-aim-aim. It is better to act and make mistakes than keep wishing that you did something when you had the chance.

5. The Power of Hard Work

I am a lazy person by nature. Every time I find myself doing the same task even a 5 minute job everyday, the programmer in me always thinks of automating it to make it easier.  Programming is not easier either, I may spend a full day trying to automate a 5 minute job, telling myself that I am working smarter.

There are two schools of thought regarding work. Some people say that you should work hard while others say you should be lazy (read work smart). I believe you should do both with the bias towards hard work.

There is power in hard work. The harder you work, the more opportunities will seem to follow you. I have had phases in my life where I have worked for many many hours on a project and failed. But If I had to do it all over again, I would work just as hard if not harder. Nothing comes easy, even though it may look easy. Even movie stars work hard to practice their lines and to get the best possible shots. Do not expect to succeed without breaking a sweat.
6. The Power of Persistence

Persistence is my middle name. I never give up even when the going gets tough. This is one quality that I posses yet I am willing to hone it and perfect it more this year. It is something that I encourage you to develop if you do not already have it. The power of persistence has helped me overcome many obstacles. It can help you in your journey for success.

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. Calvin Coolidge

If things do not work out the first time, keep trying. Apply the power of persistence in your exercise, finances, career, health and character development. I hope to persist in running this blog. It is not going to be easy cranking out inspirational stuff all the time, sometimes I may get bored or experience writers block. But I will persist.
7. The Power of Discipline

I hated the word disciplined. I always associated discipline with punishment so I developed a not so useful skill of doing just enough to avoid discipline. I have now realized that without disciplined approach to life, we just move towards mediocrity.

I have made mistakes due to lack of discipline in business, social life and relationships. When I started being more positive in life, I realized that I have to change the attitude towards discipline. The more self disciplined I become, the more I seem to attract success and vice versa.

Discipline like many other skills can be developed progressively by applying the Kaizen form of training.
8. The Power of Commitment

I have battled commitment for many years. Maybe at 29 it is time for me to start committing. Not just in relationships but also in business, ideals and causes.

The Power of Commitment stems from the power of compounding. The longer you commit to something, the more you benefit from it. If you commit long enough to a business, you will become better at what you do and word will get out and you will get more customers. Rolling stones gather no moss. If you want to gather the benefits of compounding, you must be willing to back your investments with the benefit of time.

I will back this blog by investing my time. The longer I commit to it, the more people I will be able to reach out to. Think of all the things that you have been giving up on. Is there something that you can improve upon by giving it more time? Be it a job search, relationship, investment, business partnership etc

9. The Power of Follow Up

I used to attend the business networking meetings and get a bundle of business cards from contacts. We  would always promise to keep in touch but it almost always never happened. I was afraid of looking pushy or desperate.

A lot of people refuse to follow up because they think it is not worth the hassle. My friend listen to me, if you are not currently following up on your commitments, friends or contacts, you are losing out big time.

Commit to start following up with business leads if you are running a business. It takes more than 6 contacts for new customers to buy from you. If you have existing customers follow up with them. It is cheaper than spending a fortune getting new customers.

I have at times kept touch with people who I at the time thought would not really help me, but some of those relationships ended up being magical when it mattered most. You cannot keep in touch with everyone you meet, but I am sure you can do just one bit more to improve how you maintain relationships through follow up.

One good way of following up with people is to say thank you. You can send someone a thank you email if they go out of their way to help you. Think of the last person who did something nice to you, send them a text message, email, phone call or even better, schedule to meet them for a coffee or lunch.

10 The Power of Gratitude

I first learned of the spirit of gratitude from my father. My grand father was getting old and was in nursing home. There was one particular doctor who was very nice to granddad. He went out of his way to see that he had everything he needed and that he was comfortable. He went beyond the call of duty.

When My grandfather died, dad wrote this letter, had it typed and sent me to deliver it to the good doctor. I wondered why he would bother doing that in the middle of mourning. He had lost a father. I asked him why he bothered and he said that one of the best qualities you can develop is to be grateful for everything in life. To see the positive side of every situation. He told me thank you is one of the most powerful thing you can say to someone. People love genuine appreciation.

The power of gratitude extends to all spheres of life. If you run a business, be thankful for having a business, for the customers that you have, for the ideas that you have, for the profits that you have made or can make. Instead of constantly chasing what you don’t have, be thankful of what you have.

11. The Power of Self Mastery

I am a very ambitious person and I want to succeed in the financial sense of the word. But being the richest guy in the graveyard does not turn me on. I do not want to die without helping fellow man. One of the character traits that I want to develop is generosity. I could work very hard get to the top of my game then give it all away, but that is not how I want to do it, I want to get by giving.

I want to focus my entire business towards genuinely helping people improve their lives. I do not have the exact method I will follow, as yet, but I know that I have this burning desire to succeed by helping others. This blog is a start. I hope to inspire you to be the best you can be. You become the best through self mastery.

Self mastery means becoming the master of your own ship. It means becoming the primary guiding force to your destiny. It is the ability to reign supreme on your desires, impulses, emotions, appetite and mind. This ability cannot be bought with money or fame, but can be developed through discipline. Self mastery means being in control of yourself and not letting your emotions and impulses dictate your life.

I define success as reaching your objectives in all the spheres of life. Success is not just about material possessions. In fact you can lose everything but still be successful if you maintain the integrity and strength of your character. We shall talk in detail about self mastery in the future of this blog.

Summary

You may be reading this from Melbourne, Australia or Tampa Bay, Florida or Nairobi, Kenya or anywhere in the world. I cannot see you so the next best way of me connecting with you is by sharing my life story with you. I hope my sharing has helped you relate to the ideas I am sharing in a more personal way.

I am not an exhibitionist. In fact, the opposite is true. I have tried to do everything humanly possible to remain anonymous on the internet for 7 years. That way if I made a mistake, nobody would ever know.

I have run hundreds of anonymous websites and blogs on a variety of topics  but  none of them had my name to it. This blog has my true identity. I feel it is the only way to communicate with you in an authentic way. I want to show you my successes, failures and challenges and my ways of overcoming obstacles, hoping that it will help you improve an aspect of your life.

This power series consisted of 11 principles that I think are instrumental for success. We have looked at them in detail, but you need to apply them in your life for you to feel their power. Pick a couple of them and start implementing them in your life today, you may actually surprise yourself!

Next Series

From tomorrow, we shall be talking about people: friends, relationship partners, family, contacts and strangers. Man is not an island. We shall look at principles of living a rich life alongside others.

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