Inner Victory

Everything you achieve on the outside has first been created on the inside. The victories that the world is able to see are direct reflections of the victories that you’ve already won within yourself.

Your biggest obstacle to success can be your own inability to see yourself reaching it. Once you know without a doubt that you can do it, you will indeed make it happen.

The most important person to convince is you. Once you are truly convinced that you can do it, others will quickly be convinced as well.

Whatever you seek to achieve, achieve it first on the inside. Then, even the most formidable outer challenges will not have the power to stop you.

Inner achievement will build your confidence and fuel your persistence. Inner achievement will put the power of purpose behind every action.

Work to convince yourself of the worthiness and value of the goal you seek. And from that inner achievement, the outer achievement will surely flow.

Compliment People, Magnify their strengths, not their weaknesses.

As human beings, sometimes we get caught in living our lives through others, we want them to be like us, think like us and act like us hence we become very quick to say how something should have been done but very slow to show appreciation in the effort made by the person who did it.

Compliments and appreciation are what keep people motivated and inspired to do better than what they are doing now, a compliment is like a drug to many, the more people receive them, the more they want and their actions begin to change because they behave in a way that will encourage more compliments.

Everybody has different tastes, and we often find that some are very different to what we would choose and when that is the case the most natural thing that comes to mind is to frown upon, make a side comment or laugh right? But what if we changed our mindsets slightly, accept the variety of tastes and look for one good thing about that particular taste and tell the person just how much we like that. This will also help us to keep our minds focused on what we like rather than what we don’t which will ultimately improve our communication with ourselves and highlight clearly exactly what it is that we like and want whether it is in ourselves or others.

You may come across a person who is dressed very well but forgot to comb their hair today, instead of pointing out the fact that they did not comb their hair which will probably embarrass them slightly, rather compliment them on how well dressed they are, what that will do for that person will have a positive impact on you too because you will notice their confidence improve instantly and their day will centre around the compliment they received from you.

As people who live in a world together, we have a responsibility to use the power that we have to uplift those around us who do not know that they too have that power, to realise it themselves, it does not cost you a thing and it empowers you even more. Sometimes all it takes is a simple compliment or “thank you”, this can go a long way in boosting a person’s self esteem and approach to what they are doing. I am sure we have all experienced that when we make people feel good about themselves, we feel good about the fact that we boosted their esteem but when you laugh at and ridicule someone; we embarrass people and moments later we feel empty and sometimes bad about what we have done.

Good feelings are contagious, if we make people around us feel good about themselves then we will also feel good about ourselves and it does not even take the person returning the favour you have done for them, a simple smile and appreciation to what you have done for them will make you feel warm inside and make you want to do more for others.

In conclusion, let us all make a decision today that we are going to thank every single person that does something for us today or any individual we feel has made a positive impact in our lives at some point, let us make our appreciation of those people sincere, genuine and heartfelt, make it a habit and watch what that does for them and for yourself. Once you have experienced it, share the experience with everyone else and encourage them to do the same.

Keeping it real with 

Rori Matsetela 

Conducting Your Own Masterpiece

Conductors never go into an event unprepared or without rehearsing because they respect their craft and are considered perfectionist as even though they have plenty of instruments to manage, they are still focused on the bigger picture; which is the piece they are preparing for, thus it does not matter how good the violin is over the bass if there is no harmony in the end product.

Think of your mind as an orchestra and every thought you have representing some form of musical instrument, if you do not like a certain instrument that is playing then simply change it and find another instrument that works in your orchestra, be creative about it, give each instrument the respect it deserves and allow all of them to be used to their full potential while conducting a harmonious music piece that you will be proud to release to audiences around the world.

We always get what we put out to the universe and we are largely in charge of how the final product turns out, we are given every possible instrument to produce whatever we want, when we want it and how we want it. Along the way we realise that there are some instruments that work better than others; some just do not fit in with what we are trying to produce at the end of it all and struggle to find the right harmony among various instruments in order for them to collectively become a classic finished product. 

Remember there is no such thing as too much practise and even when you feel you have mastered anything it can still be done better, hence you find that there are different renditions of songs and some people like one over the other. This can be applied to our lives; because just like the conductor chooses which instruments to play, at what rhythm and pace they should play, you have the power to do the same with your life.

Deep down in your mind and heart, you know exactly how you would love your life to turn out, you may not be sure of how you will get there but you have an idea which is a perfect start because all great things you see around you were once just an idea in another human beings mind; so do not despair if it does not come right the first time, all great things take time and practise; so go ahead play around with different ideas that can compliment your big idea until all those little ideas find harmony with your big idea thus creating the perfect masterpiece that you will be proud to have orchestrated.

Keeping it real with 

Rori Matsetela

Place Value In Your Challenges

Challenge is life’s way of making sure that you truly desire the things you achieve. Challenge is an excellent tool for keeping you focused on the things that really matter to you.

Imagine for a moment what it would be like to live in a world with no challenge. In such a world, you could obtain anything and everything with no need for effort, discipline or commitment. Does that sound like a great setup, with your every wish fulfilled the moment you think of it? Well, it might be nice for 20 minutes or so, but it would soon grow extremely tiresome. For such a world would literally overwhelm you with meaningless triviality. Sure, every wish would be instantly granted, but it would all be painfully empty.

The value of achievement is in the achieving, in the overcoming of the challenges, in the person you become as a result of going through the process. To have the reward without the effort is to have no reward at all, nothing but an empty and meaningless token.

Challenge is difficult, often painful, always demanding, and as such, challenge is what makes true value, beauty and fulfillment possible. Challenge can be tough, yet indeed it brings about the richness and fullness of life.

Create Your Own Value

The greatest thing about self worth is that you in charge of the whole process, from creating it, to packaging it and pricing it, therefore you determine your own value; people will buy into what you sell to them and treat you according to how you package yourself.

A quality product is always looked after, preserved and given the respect it deserves; such products are often the easiest to sell and often most people will even tell you that the product sells itself. Most people do not mind paying for good quality products, they are willing to make sacrifices and do whatever it takes to get that product.

How is your product packaged? Look in the mirror and ask yourself the following questions:

Who am I?

What do I want?

What do I deserve?

Am I getting what I deserve?

If you are not satisfied with the answers you get, go back to the proverbial factory and work on that product some more. Reinvent it, repackage it, and put extra time and effort in making it better, make sure it is something that you will appreciate and be proud to show off to the world. It is your value after all and the price you put on it is not determined by the state of the economy, the market or on what others are doing.

Stop giving people the opportunity to determine your worth because their value of you will never amount to quality that you possess, if you want to be treated in a certain way, behave accordingly and those that enjoy and appreciate the finest things in life will immediately see that, flock towards you and give you the respect and appreciation you deserve. 

Keeping it real with 

Rori Matsetela

Confidence overcomes Uncertainty

Whatever you set out to do, you’ll do it much more effectively when you have complete and total confidence in what you’re doing. Confidence opens doors for you. Once you get in those doors, confidence enables you to live up to the high expectations of others and the high expectations of yourself. Confidence overcomes uncertainty.

The great thing about confidence is—it truly speaks for itself. When you’re confident, you don’t need to announce it. People know. More importantly, YOU know. In fact, that’s really what confidence is, right? Knowing, without the slightest doubt, that you can do it.

Think of someone who is truly confident. Picture that person in your mind. You can tell just by looking, you can tell just by listening to what he or she says. That person is confident. You know it. Everyone around knows it.

Now let’s be very clear about one thing—confidence is not arrogance. A lot of times, people confuse confidence with arrogance. But they are completely different animals. Confidence comes from strength—real, authentic, abiding, well-founded strength. Arrogance, on the other hand, comes from weakness and insecurity. Inside every arrogant character is a frightened and insecure person. People try to use arrogance as a substitute for confidence. But it is a poor, pathetic substitute that has no real positive value. And arrogance doesn’t really fool anyone for very long. Arrogance loses its power almost immediately. Confidence, on the other hand, lasts. Arrogance runs out of steam right away. Confidence continues to grow stronger and stronger.

So don’t make the mistake of thinking you can adopt a superficial attitude of arrogance and that you’ll be able to get by with that. You won’t. Arrogance will fail you every time. It’s well worth the effort to develop the real thing, which is confidence.

Confidence is not loud. It doesn’t need to be. Confidence is quiet, and persistent, and effective. Confidence is not boastful. It doesn’t have to be. Instead of merely talking about getting it done, confidence actually gets it done. Confidence doesn’t change its course or objective with every shift in the wind. Instead, confidence enables you to adjust to whatever changes come along without having to compromise your values or intentions. With confidence, you can weather all the little distractions and disruptions and continue on the course you’ve set, continue on the course you’ve set for the long term.

So, where does confidence come from? How do you get confidence in every area of your life? Well, the thing is, you can’t really go out and GET confidence. It’s not something that can be transferred to you from someone else or from something outside of you. The only way to have the power of real confidence in your life and in your actions, is to build it yourself.

Ferraris and Ducatis

We write to change the world. We write to unleash our creativity onto a piece of paper. We write to ease a heavy burden. Many of us write to satisfy our soul. What ever reason we write for, we do it because there is a deep desire to. Many question if this is a learnt talent or a God given one? 

Why should we even question this? If you have the ability to , then just go with it. Push the boundaries of your ability and utilize it to its maximum. Don’t do it for the money or the fame. Those come with passion. Passion brings everything together. When I hear the word passion , I see images of Ferrari’s and ducati’s . Masterpieces of carbon fiber and metal. Every little piece crafted from scratch so that they all fit together. A passion to create a masterpiece is in my opinion what lead to the creation of these beauties. Here’s the question though! What spurned the start to these passionate endeavors ? How did these companies get to the standards that they are? Considering that motor vehicles have only been around for the last century .

Some say it’s a combination of a few things. Technology and chemical developments, Others say wealth structures or even consumerism. I would say it was all just a simple wish of a single man, that was so passionate that he made others believe. They stood out. They pushed the envelope . They were made special. These are things. It’s easy to make things seem special. You can hold them, touch them and feel them. 

Now here’s my the real twist in writing this piece. In writing this I want to inspire passion . Passion in people. So that their days are stronger and fruitful. Where you feel that , wow! This guy has given me something useful. How do you do this? With a few words it is not possible. A picture won’t work either. A belief would do it.

This is how pioneers did things previously. This is what leaders do. This is what makes one stand out. These men and woman believed in themselves but believed in their colleagues and team members much more. Your dreams are only possibly with the help of others. Dream big and achieve more by inspiring passion within your team.

By Nish Naidoo

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