What You Don't Count 'Counts'

By Paul Vandi

I have a very simple intention for writing this article; my intention is you: To help you look beyond the surface of some soft but subtle subjects that can salvage the objects that matters most in your life. My Intention is to help you diversify your attention, catch what escapes your retention, so you can give the right proportion of concentration to the little and big issues of your life.
In the last article, I asked a few questions; Let me ask you some more: Have you ever ran pass what you were looking for because you ran too fast, only to come back and discovered that you left it far behind? How did you feel? Like beating yourself i guess? Have you ever misplaced a thing only to find out after looking for it for so long that it was in front of you all the while? What did you think happened? How about sitting in a conference room listening to a speaker, but totally absent minded? Oh! how so very often we dissipate energy and reduce the quality of our lives because we are not cognizant of the things that really counts.

Some Things That Counts;
- PRIORITY: How much you accomplish in life is determined by your priorities. If you put first things first and last things last, even if you don't accomplish all, you will finish the ones that matter most. Priority gives you authority to handle the majors and manage the minors with dexterity. The reason many people don't prioritize is because they think they have it all figured out mentally. Whatever you don't put on paper has the permission to exit your life. Plan around your priorities, it is the easiest way to manage stress and enhance rest.

-SLEEP: Sleep is a good therapy. it has the capability to boost creativity and harness the strength we need to be more effective at what we do. Sleeping helps the body to re-create and heal itself from the trauma of stress. In as much as it is good for an average adult to sleep six to eight hours per day, I believe one can train his body to do other-wise. Sleep is good, but can be very killing if abused. Don't take sleep for granted, or it will bring everything around you to a halt in just a matter of time. Sleep counts! use it wisely.

- NOISE: Consistent noise over a long period of time can make a man deaf. Many people feel that working in a noisy place doesn't count, but it sure does. Perpetual noise can make you stop listening to yourself and loose concentration of the small things that affects the big ones. The body system doesn't like noise, that's why the nerves fights it like they react to stimuli. If you allow noise for too long, you weaken the nerves and cause damage to the body.

- DELEGATION: Learning to delegate effectively can help you focus on your areas of strength. When you empower people and give up control, you reduce competition and harness all the energy within your organization. If you refuse to delegate, even your most competent people will loose momentum when they get caught up within too many things. And that way, productivity is thwarted. No matter your level of energy, learning to delegate can help you channel that energy in a more productive way.

- GRATITUDE: Lean to say 'thank me', it counts to appreciate yourself for being disciplined enough to reach the goals you set. It encourages you and increases your optimism. Also, lean to say 'thank you' to the people around who help you in anyway. Gratitude can change people's negative attitude. Gratitude can increase the turn-over in your family and factory. Gratitude should also go beyond 'thank you' to reward. Reward yourself, give everyone a raise.

what you don't count counts!

what you don't count counts! By Paul Vandi

How often do you negociate the major and neglect the minor?
How many times do you forget to say 'thank you' to your child
for helping you solve a problem? How many times did you for-
get to close a deal because you got carried away? Why do you
forget to keep the promises you make to your spouse? How
many times have you packed to go on a journey, only to reach
there and discovered you left the little thing that would make
all the difference?
We are in a world that increases it's pace by the day. people
no longer give attension to the whole matter. selfishness has
taken the place of selflessness and savings has taken the place
of service. Many refuse to plan, waiting for the Pension scheme
only to end up living in Tension.
I have a suggestion! lets all calm down and re-enforce our lives
with the things we have neglected that we know means a great
deal. It will do us one great good; it will help us accomplish the
things we should finish and leave the ones we might never
accomplish.

LEADERSHIP CODE

LEADERSHIP CODE

By Paul Vandi

Sometimes ago in a village in Adamawa State, Nigeria. A man discovered that the farmers in that village were poor because they produced in low scale, just for their families. So he negotiated with a friend in the city if he could help them supply their Agricultural products in the city. Instead of taking advantage of the opportunity alone, he advised all the farmers to start a large scale production. For those who were reluctant, he motivated them by buying from them.

That was how all the people in that network became financially independent because someone took initiative to help as a leader. Even without a position he changed the people’s situation.

Leadership is the ability to turn liability into an asset through an harnessed mental and physical agility. Leadership ability helps to make people independent through productivity.

Leadership Code

L - Learn: learning is the life-line of leadership. Continuous learning makes you a consistent influence.

E - Experience: Learning leads to experience, and experience is what you need to turn your ability into an asset. Undiscovered abilities is the greatest liability of our world, While a discovered but unused ability is the greatest calamity.

A - Ability: It's your in built strength.

D – Discipline: Discipline in leadership is a selfless commitment to principles and people. Discipline enhances consistency between your words and your works. Without discipline the journey of leadership becomes a mirage.

E – Empathy: Leaders must learn to Empathize more and Sympathize less with people and circumstances. That way you see the solution and not just – the problem.

R – Recognition: The ability to recognize opportunities, potential, and even possible problems can be a great asset to leaders who want to develop other leaders. A leader must develop a very active inner eyes, no matter the state of the outer one.

S – Security: Insecurity in a leader is not the real problem, it is an expression of the real problem, which is identity crises. Only secure leaders can become Transformational in their leadership Transaction. People only feel secure around a secure leader, and that is the secret to becoming a leader who builds leaders.

H – Hope: hope is what you have in the present that connects you to your future expectation. It brings optimism and joy. Leaders must always be hopeful and help others to be full of hope inspite of obvious challenges. Hope like a rope ties you to your goal and helps you to keep climbing until you reach the real thing. If you don’t have hope as a leader, you’ll soon go back home. Even life itself can not help a hopeless man. Infact, if you’re hopeless, you may soon become homeless. Leaders must have hope to be able to give it to others.

I – Inspiration : It is the reward if information. It is first intangible, then tangible if you give it flesh. Inspiration keeps a leader going and put him on the vantage side of life. Lack of inspiration can lead to expiration.

P – People: People are the purpose of leadership. Leadership that is not aimed at making people useful to themselves and their community is outright manipulation. A leader must be people oriented just as leadership must be people based.

The journey of leadership becomes easy when you decide to stay on the learning side of life, and understand that it’s not about position and power but people, it's really not about reaching greatness but achieving great things with people and through people.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

BY Paul Vandi


At the heart of every living thing is the quest for survival. The desire of every living being is to succeed. For those with the Rat- race mentality, it's a longing to just get by. For Athletes, life is a competition. For the heady, it's the survival of the fittest. For procrastinators, life is an un-ending opportunity, they can start anytime. For Clergies, it's about doing the will of God. For Actors and Actresses, life is like a movie you write, Act and determine it's End all by yourself. For Politicians, life is a Game, you play your Heart out when it's your turn. While for Leaders, it's an opportunity to help make the world a better place for people through people.

What is your opinion about life? that will determine if you will make a difference or not.
A critical view of life helps you accept the fact that you need to make a difference, irrespective
of what you do, as long as it's for the good of people and the world at large.

Here Are A Few Tips On How To Make A Difference

- PURPOSE: Purpose is the reason you are alive. And it can keep you alive when you find it out. Vision is the ability to see and pursue it. Setting Goals with dead-lines, helps you reach it. Passion and discipline are the Gas that helps you not stop half-way.

- PURITY: There must be a genuine evaluation and a purity check for every purpose. If your purpose is a duplicate of another person's own, pretty soon you'll be chasing something else. You must make sure your purpose is pure and sincere. It must emerge from your heart and not your head.

- PURSUIT: The pursuit of every worthwhile purpose is a worthwhile endeavor.The world is the way it is because many people only stop at the discovery of purpose, they don't pursue to posses and accomplish it. The discovery of your purpose might make you happy, pursuing it might bring temporary fulfillment, but only it's accomplishment will bring ultimate fulfillment and posterity.

- PERSISTENCE: Staying at your purpose helps you develop character and patience to reach the end. As a Rule in Leadership; what ever you're building must not end with you. Reaching your end should not mean the end of the Organization. If what you are building is a structure, your end should mean the introduction of a better face. You must continuously evaluate the process, checkmate unproductive projects, develop new strategies, and carry out timely implementation. Persistence is very key if you must reach the Harvest.

-PEOPLE: All the four Tips above are very crucial to you if you want to make a difference. But it is very imperative to know that to make a difference, you need people. Why? very simple; no one can succeed alone. Every human being is a part of something whole. We are suppose to compliment ourselves. You get more out of life if you're sincere about your need for people in the pursuit of purpose. When you manipulate and use people, you truncate your Purpose, thwart your Vision, and Sabotage your Personality. When you help people, you help yourself. and when you let people help you, you help them help themselves.

By and large, making a difference doesn't begin with Big things, it starts with small things. It cannot happen in Big places until it has happened in the villages of life.
Keep your eyes where you are going, but be concerned about where you are.
Make a difference TODAY.

THE JOURNEY OF LEADERSHIP

The Journey Of Leadership.
By Paul Vandi


Every man on a journey moves from one place to another. Leadership in the same vein is not static, passive or dormant, but it's expected to be active, progressive and positive.
The question here for every leader is; Are you traveling with your people or traveling alone?
If you are traveling with your people, then you will notice that the key ingredients that makes for successful leadership are in still in place. such as; Motivation, Momentum, Structure, Security etc.
on the other hand, if you are traveling alone, the reverse will be the case.

On The Journey

- Expect Challenges: Challenges are lives test and examination. you must face and solve them to get to the next level. Without challenges, leadership can not be effective.

- Expect Change: It is crucial to know that challenges are the catalysts for change. change doesn't happen by chance, it comes by choice. Every change avoided, is advancement postponed.

- Expect Complements: As a rule, live reward the efforts you make to achieve something if you don't quit. life compliments your pain with gain, your oppositions with better positions, your delays with speed, your obscurity with limelight, Adversities with advancements and your failures with success.
The journey goes on, reaching the End is determined by the Means. Make sure you always check your means so you don't end up in a mess.

MAKE CHOICES THAT WILL ADD VALUE TO YOUR TALENT

BY JOHN C. MAXWELL (pg 53 GO FOR GOLD)

What creates the effectiveness necessary for converting talents

into results? It comes from the choices you make. Orator, attorney,

and political leader William Jennings Bryan said, "Destiny is not a

matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited

for, it is a thing to be achieved." I've discovered thirteen key choices

that can be made to maximize any person's talent:

1. Belief lifts your talent.

2. Passion energizes your talent.

3. Initiative activates your talent.

4. Focus directs your talent.

5. Preparation positions your talent.

6. Practice sharpens your talent.

7. Perseverance sustains your talent.

8. Courage test your talent.

9. Teacheability expands your talents.

10. Character protects your talent.

11. Relationship influences your talent.

12. Responsibility strengthens your talent.

13. Teamwork multiplies your talent.

Make these choices, and you can become a

talent-plus person. If you have talent, you

stand alone . If you have talent plus, you stand

out.

- Talent is never Enough

Children have talents and learn faster and

better-when they are young. Parents must
help them discover these talents early and
help them harness it until they become
independent.

These lessons By John C. Maxwell, are easier to

apply for Adult whose parents have layed the
right foundation for them in their formative
years.Make the foundation of your children
a priority today.

Grassroot Leadership

Grassroot Leadership 3 (The Team Spirit)
By Paul Vandi

The concept of leadership is essentially a concept of Influence and Follower-ship. One person creates the influence, and others are willing to follow to achieve a shared vision.
Leadership is not just about winning, it's about winning and loosing and keeping a Team Spirit. A Team Spirit is not only necessary among football, baseball, basket ball Players, Organisations, the military, or athletes, it's very needed even at the family level.
Parents must cultivate a team spirit for winning at the family level. Family members must be allowed to play from their vantage positions (their individual areas of strength), so as to harness all the energies in the Family. For the most part, the foundation of what people eventually become in life is laid at the family level.

A TEAM SPIRIT LEVERAGES ON EMPATHY

Empathy emphasizes the solution and not the problem. Empathy often tries to look through the eyes of the other person and feel what they feel. People remain where they are not because they have problems but because they overemphasize their problems at the expense of the solution. As it is said, " Too much analysis leads to paralysis." But, when we empathize as a team, we easily solve our problems together.
Every team thrives better and faster when team members are consistently concerned about the well being of other team members. This is what empathy is about.
A Team spirit shows your Victories and Hides your weaknesses, Lack of it makes both your failures and your weaknesses public.

A TEAM SPIRIT LEVERAGES ON THE LITTLE THINGS

Too many potentially Big families and Organizations remain small because they take the little things for granted.
Little things are those things that appear trivial on the surface, but very key if we look beyond the surface. They can Solidify things if we Use them and Liquidate things if we Loose them.

A FEW LITTLE THINGS.

- THANK YOU: It can make people feel important and needed, so they give more.

- I LOVE YOU: It has the capacity to stop suicide.

- I'M SORRY: When we say this, it does more good for us than the people we offend.

- PLEASE, HELP ME: Someone very close to you has what you need. you don't have to act begarly. just let people help you.

The world is made up of different Countries, Continents and Cultures. A team spirit is what we need to truly make the world a global village and a global family.

Grassroot Leadership

GRASSROOT LEADERSHIP 2

By Paul Vandi

At the beginning of every endeavor the foundation is layed for it's future. The height of every building is determined by the dept of it's foundation. The success of every purpose is determined by the passion for it's pursuit. The success or failure of every child, most times, is traceable to his or her upbringing. The output of Anything is regulated by it's input.

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
There is a partern for every purpose. There is a way every one should go. If the parents of a child does'nt take responsibility for his future, they leave his life to chance.

The 3 N's of Grass root Leadership

NATURE: The Nature of a thing is it's Originality, Uniqueness and Character. It is the duty of every parent to discover the real Identity of their children, so as to help them reach their full potential.

NURTURE: Until Nature is understood, Nurturing can be abused. When the Identity of a child is understood, Nurturing through the right principles becomes easy. Whatever you don't Nurture has no future.

NOTION: Notion is the understanding or Idea of something spectacular. The process of understanding the Nature of children so as to Nurture them rightly, is to help them have the right Notion about life so they can fulfill their Destiny.

A wrong Notion can badly affect Motion, just as light can determine speed.
The best Legacy for the Future Generation is the Legacy of True LEADERSHIP.

Grassroot Leadership

GRASSROOT LEADERSHIP

By Paul Vandi

The Law of Influence: "The true measure of leadership is influence, Nothing more Nothing less." John C. Maxwell

The leadership process of everyone begins in their childhood formative years. What they hear, see and do.

What they hear and see are words and actions that comes from the paradigm of the people around them , which ultimately conditions them to see life in a particular way, Base on principles or fallacies.
Parenting as a form of grass-root leadership training process for children most be done deliberately given attention to details.

The equation is very simple. A bad parent can not raise a good child just as a bad child can not become a good parent, until a deliberate approach is taking to change the paradigm of the child. And this is usually very challenging to do as an adult or a youth than it is for a child.


When you help a child understand leadership at his level by teaching him how to take responsibility in little things. You have saved a future generation from the destruction that comes through levity and frivolity.

Paul vandi.Leadership Quotes

"The only way to continuosly sharpen your initiative is to continuosly use it."


"If you don't take intiative when you should, you become an obstacle to reaching
the Pinnacle of your VISION."


"Focus can make the slowest runner come first in the Race of life, and the fastest
runner come last if he does'nt have it."


"When you have passion you don't stay obscure for too long. Passion always looks
for limelight, both of them are friends."


"Passion can help you creat a platform for your Talent."


"When you don't wait to be motivated to do what you beleive in, you become a
motivation to others."


"The only thing that most poeple need to procrastinate is sleep. make it a
necessity and not pleasure."


"If you want to sleep, do it after you have put Action Wheels on the Vehicle of the
Goals you want to acheive, after which it becomes a necessity and not pleasure."


"Instead of waiting for a good weather creat one."


"Whatever you fantasize about can become your reality if you facilitate it."


"Petrified by Fear, he suddenly became the Actor in that Movie because he took
Action."

THE CONCEPT OF SERVICE.

THE CONCEPT OF SERVICE

By Paul Vandi

" The peak of irresponsibility is when you leave a situation like you met it"

The key to success is service.

What is SUCCESS? Simply put, success is the achievement of a desired End. Since there is always a Means to an End; I'll say in my opinion that service is the Means to success as an End. Always put in mind that success is never an end in itself; What do i mean? When success leads to success, that success will lead to another level of service by showing you the NEED at that level.
So, as a Rule you should never be Successful, but rather, you should keep succeeding, So you can be succeeded by a successor when you have finally become a Testator. ( A Testator is one who is no longer around but has put down rules that must be followed over the things he has achieved.)

What is Service? Service is meeting Needs. It could be a conceived, perceived or an obvious Need. Service is meeting the needs of other people at the expense of your own needs. Serving is becoming a helper to someone even though you still need help. Service is the beginning of Leadership. Serving is an Act of God.

" You can get anything you want in life if you can just help enough
people get what they want." Zig Ziglar

" Money is no mystery, Money is the Reward for solving a problem."
Mike Murdock

SERVICE

S- Sacrifice: Sacrifice is letting go of something valuable, so you can make a life or circumstance better. Sacrifice is Selfless Service.

E- Experience: Experience is Experimented Knowledge. It is what you learn after you have missed it many times.
serve in the area of your Experience or Expertise. it is easy to quit if you do otherwise.

R- Reproduction: When you serve, reproduce people to do the same. it is also very key to know that you reproduce that Experience in your life when you serve. serving is like planting, there is always harvest time.

V- Verity: Service must be done in truth, As motive can determine momentum. Verity can be the Venison that makes all the difference.

I-Innovation: Be creative about the service you render. Stand out, whether you are doing it for money or for free. Make a difference.

C- Celebration: Sometimes it's not easy serving. so, celebrate while serving, because Joy can increase your speed and get you where you are going on time. When you see where you're going from where you are,it can give you Joy and help you endure present pains for future gains.

E- Eternity: In your service to Men, have a long time benefit Perspective at heart. Let your service leave an indelible impression in the hearts of Men. When you serve Men you serve God indirectly. And even in you Service to God, have the END in mind.

The Concept Of Service is as old as the EARTH and will remain relevant till it's END.

SERVE WHEREVER YOU FIND YOURSELF EVEN IF YOU OWN IT.

Paul VANDI. THE TRUE BENEFIT OF LIFE

THE TRUE BENEFIT OF LIFE


Life in itself is a challenge, and only people who face and solve it, qualify for it's reward. life is also like a gift wrapped with chains, which takes a lot of pain to unravel. But can bring a lot of gain and fame when you eventually open it.
Rewards and Benefits are actually the end result of time invested in trying to open up life as a gift. Reward is the Result, just as Benefit is the Dividend that life gives after every worthwhile struggle, and faithful fight.

Everyone is always at something or nothing at every face of their lives. For everyone also, life does not present what they want but what they deserve.
Truth is, Life is always fair and Just to everyone alike. And the True Benefit of life is given to those who Begin, Become and make life better for others. that even after they're gone, their work stays and Speaks.

THE TRUE BENEFIT

The true Benefit of life is really not what you get but what you give. And people can't give what will outlive them if they don't develop their GIFTS. As it's easier to give when you earn doing what you love than what you struggle to do.

To earn the TRUE Benefit of life, you have to discover what you want to live for and Begin the journey to making it a reality on the earth.

Leadership begins with taking personal responsibility for your Destiny. Begin and Stay until you finish. only people who finish well, qualify for LIFE'S TRUE BENEFIT.

IDENTITY AND DESTINY.

IDENTITY AND DESTINY

By Paul Vandi


IDENTITY: It's not what people say you are, It's who you know you are.

DESTINY: It's what you are WIRED-UP for, to Accomplish on EARTH.

The journey to self discovery is one of the most crucial gurney of life.
It's END depends on the MEANS.

Many have discovered their Identity, and are on the way to fulfilling their
Destiny. Some are still in the struggle of Discovering their Identity,so,
their Destiny is still a Mystery. But, Which-ever class you belong to,you
must understand that Identity is very crucial to Destiny.

WHO ARE YOU? The answer to this question is usually inside you. You discover
it by being still with yourself INSIDE-OUT.

YOU CAN DISCOVER WHO YOU ARE:
- Just sincerely follow your Heart, do the things you Love, and allow yourself
to be mentored by the people who have accomplished those things.

- Ask God.

- Ask the people who know you to tell you the things they'd like
to have you do for them repeatedly.

The Earth becomes a better place when everyone Discovers their Identity and
fulfill their Destiny.