Equipping young women professionals with young families to find fulfillment, contentment and joy as mothers and home makers without losing sight of who they are as women.

Volume 13, Issue 17: The Power Within

When I look at our teenagers today with their lofty ambitions to make it big in the world, I sometimes wonder if they have it in them. I see the talents and the brilliance, but wonder if they have the mindset, character, attitude, work ethic, grit and resilience to overcome adversity and failure in order to succeed at the highest level of their craft.

I enjoyed reading these words from Jon Gordon last week. He was describing what coaches should look for when determining which of the most talented high school and college baseball players have what it takes to make it to Major League Baseball. This is what he advised the coaches and players.

"Are they someone who has discovered the power inside them? Are they someone who realizes that there's greatness within them? Do they know they are more powerful than their circumstances? Have they tapped into the love, joy and goodness within them? Do they feed the positive or negative inside them? Do they allow fear to inhibit them or love to propel them?"

Gordon continued to reiterate, "Everyone has this power inside them. Everyone has the power to work hard, be resilient and gritty, live with character and integrity, stay positive and be an overcomer. The ones who thrive are those who tap into it and unleash it".

Tap into the greatness within you by having a high state of mind. You have inside you everything you need to be your best. Know that power and utilize it. Then mentor the teenagers and youth in your life to do the same.

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi

Volume 13, Issue 16: Reflected Experience

Experience is not the best teacher, reflected experience is. What do we have if we do not learn from our experiences? We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.

Sometimes life is forgiving enough to bring us the same challenges. We must endeavor to learn from our experiences such that the next time the same challenge that we didn't handle well the last time we faced it comes around, we tackle it like a pro.

The same challenge the second time around should not master us. But it will master us not only the second time around, but also the third and fourth times around if we don't stop to reflect on the experience.

I was reminded of this the other day when I was faced with a challenge of the exact nature I faced a year ago. Back then, that challenge took me by surprise and I handled it the best way I knew, to the best of my understanding. But I later realized that I handled it all wrong. I was ignorant of how to handle situation and as a result I made a mess of things. It took me awhile to clean up my mess after.

This time around I know better. I stopped myself when I began to panic. Then thought through the right course of action from what I learnt from the last experience. I have purposed to follow through this right course of action until the situation is resolved.

Have you ever faced a similar challenge more than once and handled it the same incorrect way and ended up with unsatisfactory results each time? Take time to reflect on those experiences with the intention to learn from them.

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi

Volume 13, Issue 15: Pick One

What's the one thing you can focus your attention on to perfect or to get a better handle of this week that if you did, would give you the most sense of satisfaction?

Sometimes we find that we struggle to perfect a number of things all at once. Weeks come and go and we regret that we have not attained 100% success at any of them. When this happens week after week, it comes a time when we need to decide to go for gold for one pursuit at a time.

This doesn't mean we stop working on the other pursuits. It just means that we prioritize one and give it our all until we master it. Then pick the next one and do the same.

Let's have the mindset that it's all or nothing in the pursuit of our goals. A little bit of success is not success. Getting it right one day and missing the mark the next two days is not success. It is mediocrity. Successful people set achievable goals, they go after them and achieve them. That's who we are, and we are going to do just that.

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi

Volume 13, Issue 14: Pursuing Improvement

One evening last week I wrote, "I thought I had a better handle of today but here I am again settling down at almost 8pm, an hour late. But I am not giving up. I have taken a mental note of the tasks I embarked on after dinner that don't belong in that time slot. I am not giving up. I will get it right".

I certainly had a better week after that recording. But still not where I want to be. Is there something you are trying to perfect but you still don't have a good handle on? A routine maybe, or a new habit? Keep trying. Keep showing up. Take note of the hindrances to your success and work at eliminating them.

Success is not easy. But the interesting thing is that when you attain success at something you have worked hard at, it feels as if you always had it. You will seamlessly ease into the new rhythm. Even so, don't forgot what it took you to get there. Celebrate the achievement and register the milestone somewhere memorable.

Just like each day is an opportunity to do better, each week affords us a new opportunity to pursue improvements in our undertakings. Use the beginning of each week to reflect on the past week and consider ways in which you could do better in the new week. Let's be determined to make improvements each week.

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi

Volume 13, Issue 13: Schedule It

I have found that what gets scheduled and consistently pursued gets done. If there's something you really want to be doing consistently but struggle to actually do, your best bet is scheduling a set time for it when your attention will not be distracted by other things.

For a long while I wanted to read for an hour every day. But each week, I ended up sitting down to read only a few times a week for a few minutes, and sometimes not at all. It was only after I reorganized my daily calendar and activities that reading every day became as regular as having breakfast.

When you try to get a habit down for so long unsuccessfully, it's easy to give up on it and pursue other easy things. The secret is to persist. You may keep falling, but keep getting right back up. Keep trying until you finally get it right. However, it's not enough to persist. You also have to keep your mind open to new ways of trying.

You have a better chance at succeeding if you try methods that work that just trying. They say it's insanity to keep doing the same thing and expect different results. So if the method you have employed hasn't worked, try another method, and another, until you land on the one that works.

What I have found to be work for me is scheduling activities and honoring my calendar. If the calendar says it's time to read, I am not doing anything else. I am reading. It helps to make sure your calendar caters to all your needs so that you don't feel like something else needs your focus and attention when you want to read or to do a workout or to talk to your spouse.

As you gear up, be patient with yourself. It took me a long while before I could honor my calendar. Accept that you are work in progress and celebrate the fact that you are getting better every year. Let this be the year you master scheduling the things you want to do and honouring your calendar.

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi