Too many people tip-toe through life, to arrive safely at death 

~ Tony Campolo

I

did not want to start this article with hard hitting words, but I could not find an appropriate introduction than to re-quote (I have quoted the man countless times here) the visionary Steve Jobs. He was delivering a commencement address at the Stanford University (from where he had dropped as a student). He said the following words that are now familiar to most of us:

“Remembering that i’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in my life. Because almost everything-all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure-these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important” (Steve Jobs)

What’s Your Life About?

You can answer that question promptly by taking a look at your priorities NOW.

• Is what you have allocated the greatest percentage of your TIME attached to your productivity?
• Is what you have spent the biggest percentage of your RESOURCES attached to your purpose?
• To what extent are you dealing with DISTRACTIONS in your daily schedule?
• Is there any evidence of INTENTIONALITY in your daily endeavors?

It’s just recently that people were complaining that January has 100 days and in my opinion, it just flew past. We are already in February and people are talking about Valentine’s Day. Before long, we shall be talking about Easter Holidays. Do you realize what is happening people?

• Can you imagine it is more than 7 years since 9/11? And it seemed like yesterday
• Can you imagine that is already the second year in Trump’s Presidency?
• Can you believe that just the other day you were a child?
• Do you realize how time is flying past?
• Do we have any commensurate productivity to measure up to the time we have been alive? 

Getting Serious

You know, unless we take a serious long and hard look at our lives, chances are that we might not get the best out of it. Let us not think that the only time we need to do this is when we have an emergency or when disaster hits. Indeed there are two things that can make you get serious with life:

1. First, a life threatening experience shakes you up from a slumber. You suffer a major setback in your life that forces you to think, reflect, ponder and consider your life. This happens to all of us whether we are serious about life or not. However those who are serious about life have already built some momentum that they can use to accelerate their comebacks.
2. Secondly, you can create in yourself the urgency needed in your life by taking a personal serious introspection and then making some serious decisions. These decisions are then quickly and promptly reinforced by massive action. This is what I want us to talk about today.

Creating Urgency for Lifetime Productivity

1. Specialize

Productivity is inextricably linked to specialization. If you want the best to come out of your life this year, find one thing that you can major in. It could be the need to refine your gift, talent or ability. It could be the need to up your professional skills in a specific area that you are interested in. Whatever you do, the worst that can come out of you this year is when it ends and you are a jack of all trades and a master of none. There is no productivity and focus in being a jack of all trades.

2. Be Motivated by Fear

Let me explain in case someone thinks I am being negative. Take a look at your “comfort” of today. What if I told you that you will not have that comfort tomorrow? What if I told you that your life-style will not sustain that comfort for long? This is what will happen. You will start looking for solutions. You will start looking for avenues of alleviating the supposed pain that is coming your way. To be honest, unless you and I are financially free, we ought to be motivated thus because one day this prophecy might come to fruition. Looking at life this way inherently makes us productive.

3. Be A Consummate Planner

I personally use mind mapping each weekend to project my life, my year, my month and my week. It is amazing how a two hour session of thinking, scratching your head, mulling over issues, dreaming, goal setting, reviewing, and tracking can unearth. Life planning is not what we do at the beginning of the year. It is a lifestyle. It is something that we do weekly, if not daily. You will not get the best out of your year of your life if you are not a consummate planner.

4. Be on a Dare

This week, I heard my mentor say something so profound. He said that the reason why people are not successful is not because of lack (knowledge, resources, connections, favor…etc). He said that fear of failure is the greatest cause why people do not succeed. This morning, I saw a profound quote on social media:

“I believe in unrealistic goals. Why? Because it is realistic thinking that keeps people mediocre

The things that we keep postponing or procrastinating on are because we are afraid. As Steve Jobs said, once you know that death is coming, all the excuses are removed and if you must get something done, you will get it done. If you know the Government is coming for you because of Tax issues, you will get compliant ASAP! That’s what we need to do with our major goals. Let’s dare. Let’s get out of the normal predictable and comfortable life. This will increase your productivity in the year.

5. Form Meaningful Connections

People are one of the greatest resources after our vision and dreams in the making us productive. Therefore, it is important to find those that multiply and add to our dreams, and expand our value and capacity. The interesting thing about this is that when you are on purpose, on mission and being productive, you somehow attract these people into your life. Forming meaningful connections is as  critical as anything if  you are to up your productivity this year and beyond.

6. Serve

Serve the world with such excellence, finesse, dedication, passion and commitment that it leaves your signature behind, a Life Signature.  I am a firm believer that my current assignment is the door to my next. Deploying my all in the current assignment qualifies me for the next stage of my advancement. In so doing, my productivity is on the ascendancy.

7. Build Your Worth and Value

People pay your worth and value. My mentor Dr. Mike Murdock says that the difference between a $50 Dog and a$5,000 dog is the instructions they are equipped with to obey. If I keep building myself, accumulating value, content, wisdom, experience and service, my worth goes up. In the process, my productivity is refined. If I wanted to get the best out of the year, learning, researching should and must go hand in hand with deploying my purpose. In other words, there is no graduating whatsoever until my full potential is exploited and deployed. Ask Paul the Apostle.