30 LESSONS I HAVE LEARNT IN 30 YEARS

In December 2014, I’ll be thirty years and like Jesus, I’m just beginning. I've been reflecting over my life – the valleys, the mountains, the plateaus, the people, the mistakes, the achievements, the lessons and the future.

Here are thirty lessons I’ve learnt in thirty years.

1. Conviction: Beliefs that are firmly planted in my heart will determine what I do with the resources in my hands.
2. Compromise: Values count. If I compromise my values, I will lose my promise. It is the values I hold that ultimately take me to my place of promise.
3. Character: Who I am in private speaks louder than what I project in public.
4. Control: I am responsible for the outcome of my life. I cannot blame God, Satan or people. I must take charge of my thoughts, actions and pursuits.
5. Change: Change is inevitable. To be on the right side of change, I must expect it, plan for it, create it, manage it and respond to it.
6. Connection: An experience from one area of life could be valuable in another area if I learn to link and apply the principles.
7. Conformity: Short cuts could offer nothing but quick fixes; and quick fixes expire quickly. I must seek to align my life, work and ideas to best practices.
8. Competition: I am not on earth to be better than somebody else. I am on earth to reach my God-given potential. By setting myself in competition with others, I lower the standard.
9. Conception: Vision is life’s best tour guide. If I want to see something with my eyes, I must first see it with my mind.
10. Calling: I am not on earth by accident. God designed me for a specific assignment. It is the discovery and fulfillment of God’s assignment for my life that will give me satisfaction in life.
11. Confidence: The level of my success in life will never exceed the extent to which I believe in myself.
12. Choices: The choices I make determine the actions I take. My actions produce the results I see. I must learn to choose wisely.
13. Comprehension: Without understanding, I cannot be effective. Pursuing the right knowledge will enable me to operate with understanding. Knowledge is power.
14. Competence: To produce quality, I must perform with relevant knowledge, requisite skill and right attitude.
15. Commitment: The only way to benefit from the things that are important to me is to devote my time, effort and money to them.
16. Consistency: What I do daily determines who I will be tomorrow. To see my dreams materialise one day, I must work on them daily.
17. Complacency: So long as I am alive, there is no point of arrival. No matter what I achieve, there will always be something more to strive for. The day I say I have arrived will be the beginning of my end.
18. Conflict: The battles I face are indication of the booty that lies ahead. Champions are produced only after battles are won.
19. Comportment: If I am gentle, I can control my emotions and temper; I can conduct myself in dignity in the face of provocations; I can manage my anxieties wisely.
20. Composure: Attitude is everything. My posture at the point of success will determine how long my success will last.
21. Compassion: The best way to show my love for others is to empathize with them; not to judge them.
22. Collaboration: It is not possible to succeed without people. People come in many forms – business partners, sponsors, bosses, subordinates, customers, family, friends, mentors and fans. Relationships are critical to my success. To succeed with people, I must love them, respect them, forgive them, serve them and help them.
23. Charisma: I may not appeal to everybody but I certainly appeal to the people God has called me to influence.
24. Crying: It is better to release my pain through my tears than to hold it in and suffer in silence.
25. Candor: Honesty is the best policy. Telling a lie under any circumstance is a serious breach of my honor, dignity and conscience. Speaking the truth wisely and graciously is the best way to keep my integrity intact.
26. Communication: My ability to receive and transmit facts, figures and feelings will determine what I get in life and what I give to my generation.
27. Clock: Time affords me space within which I can pursue and fulfill my aspirations. If I manage time wisely, it is most likely that my life will turn out pretty well.
28. Completion: When I begin something worthwhile, I must endeavor to finish and do so remarkably. Things done half way do not generate substantial rewards.
29. Christianity: The best way to live is to submit to the person, principles and power of Christ.
30. Contentment: Gaining everything in the world and losing my soul makes my life fruitless. True satisfaction comes by securing my soul in Christ.

  

             © 2014 Terry Mante

             CEO, Personal Development Network (PEDNET)

             Accra, Ghana

             Tel: +233.267.186.420

CONSISTENCY - doing it right every time

I had the opportunity to be part of a team commissioned to conduct a service audit of a branch of a major departmental store that operates in Ghana.

Clearly, our arrival at the premises that late morning was like the day of the Lord for the manager and staff. Although they knew we would be there, they had no knowledge of the exact day and time. So that morning was a rapturous moment for them. Their judgement day had come.

When we arrived at the store, we made some preliminary observations before revealing our identity. We discovered high room temperature which made shopping inconvenient, dirty floors, unclean product racks, empty shelves and some rotten fruits.

After we introduced ourselves, what happened in the store was fascinating. Staff got to work. All of a sudden, sales staff started cleaning. Unwholesome products were taken off the shelves and within a matter of minutes, the shop was put in good shape.

Even though they put things together, we did not assess them favorable. Against our benchmark, they scored far below average.

Could they have scored better if the store was clean with products orderly arranged by the time we go there? Certainly! From what we saw, it was obvious that the store was not cleaned on daily basis. They cleaned but not on daily basis. They lacked consistency.

Consistency is doing something the same way every time. It is making the effort to do what is right each time. Sometimes we lose our guard when no one is watching. But we cannot be always certain about when our moment of opportunity will arise. You never know when your biggest client will show up. You can never predict when the tax authorities will show up to inspect your tax receipts.

Consistency makes you ready every time. It makes you predictable. It earns you trust and admiration of your customers and colleagues. To be consistent in your life, it is important to have a recipe of character and compatibility.

Character

Do you have a dual personality? Do you project an image in public that is different from what you do in private? Does what you think differ from what you say? If you have such a personality, then you will definitely not be consistent in your affairs. One day, you will be caught pants down. The reality of your life will eventually match up to what you actually keep in your cupboard.

By making a commitment to cultivate private character that is in line with public image, you position yourself to get it right every time.

Compatibility

When you ensure that what you do meets required standard, there will be no cause for alarm. In our auditing experience, we realized that personnel at the store were well-aware of the benchmark. However, they had been careless about compliance. They only made the effort to match up when they realized that they had been caught pants down.

You must always ensure that in your field of operation, you will meet the standards. Whether you are being watched or not, make it a point to perform in a manner that is at par with the requirements. Don’t wait for the moment of reckoning before you begin to do what is expected of you.

Although our people at the store attempted to do the right thing in our presence, they could not improve their ratings. If they had consistently kept things at par, we wouldn’t have rated them poorly. If you drop your guard, you may not have the opportunity to make a better impression when it matters, even if you try. Consistency is a definite way of earning credibility for what you do.

How consistent are you? Are you consistent in telling the truth? Are you consistent in dressing appropriately? Are you consistent in keeping the promises you make to others?

© 2014 Terry Mante

CEO, Personal Development Network (PEDNET)

Accra, Ghana

RESILIENCE - the art of bouncing back

ONE of the low points I experienced during my high school days at St. Peter’s in Ghana was when I dropped out of the list of top ten students in the General Arts class. This was during my second year.

Even at the nineteenth spot (out of 150 General Arts students in my batch), I was still acknowledged by many as brilliant.

For me however, moving from number two to nine and then to nineteenth was a big fall. I was on my way down and I needed to make a U-turn before the final examination administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

I tried to study harder. I found that the harder I tried, the more I realised that I had lost my sharpness. My concentration had waned. I couldn’t retain much of what I studied. I had to get help. So in the first term of my third year (which was also my final year in the school), I visited Mr Bempong in his house to seek help. Mr Bempong was the school counsellor. After a series of sessions with him, I began my journey back to the top. Learning became a passion, instead of a requirement for passing exam.

So the time to write the WAEC-administered Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations drew closer. Before that however, our school organised a mock exam. The mock exam was organised under similar circumstances as the final one by WAEC was going to be conducted. It was to assess the readiness of students for the main exam. So the results came out and here was I; back in the top ten. Eventually, when the results for the final exam were released by WAEC, I was still one of the best in the General Arts class (still in the best ten). That was how I left St. Peter’s.

Have you ever found yourself in a position where you feel you have lost your glory? Or are you presently in a situation where you look back and say “How I wish for the good old days?” Well, I have something to tell you. Don’t just look back with nostalgia. Rather look forward with hope. Engineer your way back to the days of glory. There are better days ahead.

Bounce back in 5 steps

How can you make a U-turn to better days? Here are five steps for bouncing back:

1. Acknowledge where you were: If you want to bounce back, you must make a withdrawal from your memory bank. Look back at where you used to be. Remember where you fell from. Let that memory inspire you to turnaround.                                                
2. Admit where you are: Face reality. It is very easy to live on past glory when you are down. Living the present life on the glory of the past is pretentious. If you walk that road, you will soon realize that you cannot travel a long journey with remnants of your past.                                                                                                                                                                                       
3. Anticipate better days ahead: The reason you need to bounce back is not to make a return trip to the past. It is to put yourself on a pedestal that empowers you to fulfil your destiny. I believe that the future must be better than the past and present. We must learn to stand on the platform of the past and present to engineer a future better than any experience we have seen.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
4. Ask for help: Definitely, when attempting to bounce back, there will be challenges; some of which you can surmount by yourself. For those which you cannot handle on your own, don’t be shy to ask for help from another person who is in a position to help you. Ask for help when you need to.                                                                                                   
5. Apply the lessons: Make a move. Don’t suffer paralysis over analysis. The only way to get back on your feet is to get up and start moving. Everything you learn while you are on the grass must be deployed to restore you to your graceful position.

There is nothing wrong with falling. However, there is everything wrong with staying down when you fall.

©2014 Terry Mante