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Part Two – 2 MAXIMIZE: Discover Your Innate Gift And Make The Most Of It

Read the first part here

Dear reader, I hope you have been following the progression of these posts carefully and thoughtfully. It is my wish that you become so much more than you ever thought possible and that can only happen when you’re enlightened with the right information. Merely skimming through the words in this post will do little benefit to you, because, embedded within these posts are proven life changing principles and instructions that will guide you carefully towards looking within you and harnessing the treasures there. But you can only find these treasures when you give it your attention. Treasures are not found laying careless on the ground. – Love, Mo’

Questions the “Hedgehog Companies” Answered

  1. What are we good at, that we could be the best in the world at? (Gifts)
  2. What are we deeply passionate about? (Passion
    )
  3. What drives our economic engine? (Financially Rewarded Value)

The meeting point for the answers to these questions, helped give them a working framework, for promoting their identity and ensuring continued relevance and success, through wise business decisions.

They were known for something they were good at and passionate about; also with specific solutions, people needed and are willing to reward them for, financially.

Jim and his team therefore concluded that, like the hedgehog, depending on its unique gifting and design to ensure its sustainability in the woods, these companies, created a structure and lived from that understanding, based on the answers they got from those probing and personal questions.

Transformation from good to great happens by a series of good decisions made consistently with a Hedgehog framework, incredibly well executed, accumulating one upon another, over a great period of time.

Here is the point:
For you Jane, like the hedgehog, you can simplify the complexities of life into a single organizing idea, a basic principle that unifies and guides everything else.

And what would that be, you may ask; it is functioning from your primary strengths, which are your innate giftings and the Presence of God, secondary strengths are learned abilities and the quality of relationships in your life.

Like the hedgehog, if you are going to be intentional about life, then your life approach wouldn’t just come out of nowhere. It must be deeply rooted in the understanding of yourself, what you are naturally skilled in, and the unique advantage you have by your connection with God.

This approach is more than a strategy, it’s the power of simplicity sponsored by an understanding….one thing.

Psalm 119:144b …give me understanding, and I WILL LIVE
As Apostle Joshua Selman often says, ‘Understanding is truly a miracle,’ you must desire it.

GOD WAS INTENTIONAL IN YOUR CREATION

Like the hedgehog, created with all intentionality by God, the one who predetermined its design and wiring, you were crafted uniquely as well.

And your design was dependent on the work-type and solutions you were meant to deliver to the world, for it is work and purpose that determines design.

Take a look:

Psalm 139:13-15 Amplified Bible
For You formed my innermost parts; You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was being formed in secret, And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth.

And here (Jeremiah 1:4-5), we see the tender hearted Prophet revealing God’s pattern on creation and purpose again.

Jeremiah 1:4-5 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you [and approved of you as My chosen instrument], And before you were born I consecrated you [to Myself as My own]; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

YOU NEED TO BE INTENTIONAL TOO

You need to follow God’s pattern of intentionality, for you were made in His image and likeness, therefore act like Him.

  • First of all, be certain about what you have been given as part of your unique formation.
  • Know your dominant passion (this points you to the direction of your focus, where and on what you need to deploy yourself).
  • Then have a system that ensures that your gifts are constantly worked through service and accountability, in other to guarantee freshness and cutting edge fruits.

Your gifting is like a seed, you need the right conditions of light and water (information) and nutrients (relationships) and soil (environment, both geographical and The Presence of God) to produce good fruits.

The world needs your good fruits, your fruit is the solution they need, not just your gifts. It is your fruits that brings you rewards that men are willing to pay for, whether with their time, trust or monetary value.

This is why productivity is a big deal with God. When God made man, he commanded him to be fruitful because there’s a seed in him.

And by constantly bearing fruits, he will enter the next dimension called multiplication, then subduing and ultimately dominion, for there is a dimension of dominion that comes through extraordinary fruitfulness.

Jane, I want you to come to a place of mastery in expressing your innate gifting and learned abilities through your delivered fruits. Be Creative, Be Productive!

THE AMPLIFYING FACTOR

Still on fruitfulness, you remember how Aaron’s rod budded in The Presence of God, or how Mary became fruitful by the overshadowing Presence of The Holyghost, or how those five loaves of bread and two fishes multiplied and feed thousand after they were lifted up to God?

Do you see any common ground in all of these occurrences?
There was something or someone that was offered.
(Let’s call that your fruit, which is the product of a worked gift. It was bread, not flour; a damsel, not a day old baby;)

The Amplifying power of God’s Presence provoked the extraordinary in terms of fruitfulness.

Your fruit and The Presence of God is a combination that the world must acknowledge, and say, ‘we have not seen it in this fashion before.’

They said it about the Lord Jesus, they said about King David, they should say it about you too, for the world desperately needs the shine your light brings.

This is why I usually say, that everyone in Christ is a blessing to creation.
We have The HolySpirit in us!

1 John 4:15 (Amplified Bible)
Whoever confesses and acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

Have you thought about the potential effects of being God’s temple and He being your habitation?

Can you actually imagine the impact your fruitfulness will have in your territory and sphere of influence, plus the relevance your identity commands for the kingdom of God, if you are intentional about working your gifts, growing in intimacy with God, and living a life of surrender and dedication to God’s glory on the earth?

Can you? I would say limitless.

Festus A.

Concluding part will be up next week.

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MAXIMIZE: Discover Your Innate Gift And Make The Most Of It (Part One -1)

It’s not, Jane.

This issue of innate giftings and it’s connectedness to the matters of good success on the earth cannot be overemphasized. In fact, it is an important necessity to note, and one to be intentional about.

As I read through the mail you sent last week, I could see the many questions on your heart about this supposed cliché often thrown around, ‘discover your gift and work with it.’

Well, I think it’s true that what comes naturally to us, we often take for granted. And usually, in that passive state, many often think or assume that what comes easy for them is the same with others, but really, it’s not. On this matter, it’s important that you are intentional about living in an active mode, not a passive state.

First of all, I think it’s a recognition problem. And it’s good that we start from there.

Without recognizing what you’ve been given by God, nor its importance, you will not harness it, neither maximize it, talk less of being the blessing you are meant to be, through your unique life contributions.

I felt the need for us to do a review on this subject, so that your recognition system can see the light, embrace it, make solid conclusions that births conviction and set the sail in the right direction, through consistent actions that are premised on understanding of yourself, and how life has been designed by The Creator of this system we currently live in, called earth..

I truly hope that, by the provisions of grace, coupled with your committed resolve to being the best version of yourself, you can bring utmost Glory to our Maker through the associated fruits your life bears, as you work your privileged gifting in the room of diligence, responsibility and productivity.

GOOD TO GREAT (Hedgehog Concept)

Let me begin with this story, I read it some years ago from the fruit borne out of a massive research work, Jim Collins and his team did in the 90’s. It lasted about five years, and during this period, they studied 1435 companies in the U.S; examining their performance for 40years.

To do this, they reviewed case studies, annual reports, articles and books. They also examined financial analysis of each company, totaling about 980 combined years of data, conducted 84 interviews with senior managers and board members of the companies, while also scrutinizing professional and personal records of 56 CEOs.

You’d see this was a large scale study, they equally analyzed compensation plans, reviewed organization’s working systems plus the role technology played in getting the results these companies achieved.

Finally, they shortlisted 11 companies that they termed Good to Great companies, and their findings are contained in a book titled Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … And Others Don’t (HarperBusiness, 2001)

They made quite a number of discoveries, but I want to focus on a common theme they observed in the operating mode of these 11 Great companies, they called it the ‘Hedgehog Concept’

This concept is based on an understanding each organization had, a value system that helped the organization create a unique identity by which they made company decisions

The term Hedgehog concept was coined from the simple adaptive behavior of the animal called hedgehog, using its strength and abilities to thrive, survive and outwit the fox whenever the fox attacks it in the woods.

The hedgehog is a small mammal characterized by its spiky covering, and has the habit of rolling itself into a ball when attacked, thus using its spiky covering as a protective shield.

The fox is said to know many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing about itself, which it uses to its advantage.

The fox spends the day planning complex strategies on how to attack the hedgehog, while the hedgehog simply goes around his own activities, when the fox finally attacks, the hedgehog simply rolls itself into a spiky ball and despite the craftiness of the fox, the hedgehog always wins with the fox retreating with a bloodied nose.


What do you see Jane? Here is a case of one simple action based on the strength the hedgehog knows it has.
Jim and team called the 11 great companies ‘Hedgehogs’ and according to him and his team, these 11 great companies had a defined identity that influenced company decisions.

But how did they get the identity, you may want to ask?
They created it by answering these three questions about their company operations, and with that answer, they created profound success..

We shall look at the questions in the next part.

Read part two Here

Festus A.

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Who Are You Becoming?

“What did you just say?” My brother exclaimed.

“What?” I asked, not looking up from the books I was arranging.

I was home from school for the mid semester break. My mom and my kid brother were in my room, helping me arrange some books.
We had been talking about random things when I subconsciously blurted out a phrase in Nigerian pidgin English (Pidgin is an adulterated form of English mostly spoken by locals in Nigeria).


“You just spoke pidgin perfectly” My brother replied.


“Did I?”


“Yes, you did” my mum answered.


“Wow” I was speechless.


Speaking pidgin is not a norm in my house. My father is particularly against any form of vernacular. We only got to start learning our own local dialect when we had passed our formative years. So hearing me speak pidgin was a big deal.


That night, I reminisced on what happened during the day and realized that I had been influenced.
Let me explain.


When my school is in session, I stay on the campus, in the hostel where I have about 5 roommates.


Now, speaking pidgin is a norm in my room and my roommates are flawless at it.
Most times when a conversation is going on in the room, I am usually the only one who sticks to normal English because I don’t speak pidgin well. But as time passed, I became accustomed to hearing them speak it, that I started getting good at it. It was so bad that I even began to think to myself in pidgin sometimes.


Recently, I’ve been learning powerfully on the power of the company one keeps. Your company greatly influences your life and destiny.


My closest friend in class made me realize this. I have subconsciously imbibed countless traits from her that I didn’t notice early. Thankfully, they were virtues and not vices.

Similarly I hear her say and do some things that I do frequently which she didn’t do before.


“You’re the average of the five people spend the most time with,” – Jim Rohn.

You must have found yourself at one time or the other speaking like your best friend, your roommate or your classmate. Maybe you even caught yourself using the words or slangs they use.
This is why; Your life mercilessly reflects the people you spend the most time with.

No matter how much you hate a person’s habit, if you consistently stay within the jurisdiction of that person’s influence, you will pick up a trait or two from them.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.


When you spend time with people, you begin to speak, act and talk like them. This is the simple explanation for we being able to identify people from specific geographical locations; their togetherness for years created a pattern and a lifestyle (what we call culture) that everybody within the confines of that place adapts to.

Why did I stress all of this?


According to research by social psychologist Dr. David McClelland of Harvard, [the people you habitually associate with] determine as much as 95 percent of your success or failure in life.”


There are certain factors that are nonnegotiable for success.
Success has a protocol and certain habits that we imbibe from people around, are repellants to it.


In places like offices, classrooms, business places and so on you may not have complete control over the people you spend time with, so you may find yourself spending a huge chunk of your time with the wrong people. In cases like this, you must be conscious about what part of them gets into you and spend any spare time you have with better people.

In many cases however, we’re at liberty to choose who we spend a bulk of our time with but because we’re yet to understand the gravity of their impact and influence in our lives, we’re careless about it.


Make a decision today, to be intentional about who you spend your time with.
Do not hang around people who you do not want to be and act like.

Instead, spend quality time with people of character and virtue and in no time, you’ll find yourself evolving. That’s why we spend time with God; so we can look and be like Him.

You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.
Charlie Tremendous Jones

Greatness is contagious. Failure is too.
Choose ye this day who you will become.

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