Passion of the Catalyst

There was a gardener who was running his family business, that had been passed down from his grandfather to his father and now to him. The staff were happy, and they had more than enough customers, and the team and business were both very successful. For as long as anyone could even remember, the current owner and his ancestors before him were always happy, positive and optimistic. Generally, people assumed that was because they were all running a very successful business.

Testament to this, there was a tradition of all the owners to wear a big lapel badge saying “Business is Great!” Generally, it was great, but there were tough times just like all businesses. The key was that no matter the success of the gardening business, the owners attitude was always the same.

The first time anyone saw the owner and the badge, they would invariably ask “What’s so great about your business?”, or make their own comments that their own companies were suffering, and they were miserable in their personal lives because of how stressed they were. What the badge was great for was starting a conversation, where the owner could then talk about all of the positive parts of the business.

how much he loved meeting and talking with new people each day

how rewarding it was as he helps staff rise to meet new challenges and experiences

being able to laugh and relax in a work environment where all the team get along

how much he loves helping people with the actual gardening

the feeling of satisfaction from finishing a job to the best of his ability

the new challenges that force you to learn something new everyday

the thought that everyone doing business is blessed, because of the opportunity that comes with being in a civilized country, where there are no real worries.

The list goes on and on. No matter how bad a mood the customer was in before walking in the store, they would leave feeling an awful lot happier just from a couple of minutes talking to the owner and being a part of the infectious positivity and enthusiasm. Asked about the key to his businesses success, and whether the badge or the attitude came first in a quiet moment the owner confides “The badge was first. The great business came after.”

The goal of this story is to encourage a positive attitude and behavior, no matter what is happening with the business or personally. Being part of a successful team is the end result, your attitude is what comes first. If you’re struggling to approach everything with positivity, learn how you can overcome this by following me and reach out for at [email protected]

Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his. Psalm 100:3

Each of us is an original from God’s hand. There are no self-made men or women. No one ever became talented, buffed, or bright all by himself or herself. God made each of us all by Himself. He thought of us and formed us out of His unspeakable love.

God made your body, mind, and soul. And He isn’t done with you; He is still making you. His single-minded purpose is our maturity: “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). God is making you braver, stronger, purer, more peaceful, more loving, less selfish—the kind of person you’ve perhaps always wanted to be.

Spiritual growth occurs when faith is cultivated.

“[God’s] unfailing love continues forever and his faithfulness continues to each generation” (Ps. 100:5 nlt). God has always loved you (“forever” goes both ways), and He will be faithful to you to the end.

You’ve been given a love that lasts forever and a God who will never give up on you. That’s a good reason to have joy and to “come before him with joyful songs”! (v. 2).

If you can’t carry a tune, just give Him a shout-out: “Shout for joy to the Lord” (v. 1).

I’m grateful, Father, that You are at work in me. I find it difficult to change and I wonder sometimes how or if I ever will. Yet I know that You are continuing Your work in me and as I look back I will see the growth You are producing. Thank You!

You are what you “were”

In other words, what you are today is a sum of the thoughts, actions, beliefs and character that you have gathered over time. If you keenly look at yourself today, you are totally responsible for where you are now and what you have become. You have accumulated yourself into your current status. This may be difficult for some of us to accept but it is the truth. It took time and lots of pain for me to see and accept this but once I did, things started changing for the better. The choices you made based on the circumstances you encountered have brought you where you are now.

The company you constantly keep shapes you into the kind of person you become. If you keep company of losers, naysayers, dejected individuals and generally negative people, you’ll eventually become like them. You may disagree and say that you are different and your energy is strong enough to resist their influence but it will tire you and most of the time after being with such kind of people, you’ll feel tired, spent and frustrated. With time your energy will be depleted and you’ll take up their negative energy. Stay away from them! It’s better to be alone most of the times than to be with negative people and energy vampires!

Generally, the world currently leans more towards negativity hence the need to be constantly on your guard against allowing negative energy, thoughts and people near you. Surround yourself with success and people, things that compel you to be successful. Success needs a mental workout just like growing muscles need a physical workout. Workout on success, it will never disappoint you!

Achieving success in life is not something one gets by fluke or luck but is something for which a combination of skills, timing, hard work and luck is needed. Successful people share many common habits with each other and this is enough to prove that success may have a certain recipe and path.Some of the habits of highly successful people include tracking progress, learning from mistakes, thinking of long term goals, being humble, taking risks while maintaining balance in life, being organizational, embracing changes and handling problems well.

Is it a lack of money, free time, or opportunities at work? Have you not achieved your goals because of the economy, what your business colleagues have done (or not done), or the lack of motivation among your employees? Perhaps you place the blame on how you were raised or on your family for not giving you the proper amount and type of support.

If you responded to my question with a laundry list of reasons why you aren’t where you want to be, you’re not alone. Most people automatically find excuses and blame others when things don’t work out the way they want. This seems to be particularly true in the United States, where many people buy into the myth that we are entitled to success and happiness – that someone else should be giving us what we want.

However, if unlimited success is your goal, looking outside of yourself is a strategic error. The most important lesson you must understand that you are 100 percent responsible for your life – the good and the bad.

The formula I like to use to explain this concept is:

E + R = O 
(Events + Responses = Outcome)

The basic idea is that every outcome you experience in life (whether it’s success or failure, wealth or poverty, wellness or illness, intimacy or estrangement, joy or frustration) is the result of how you have responded to an earlier event in your life. Likewise, if you want to change the results you get in the future, you must change how you respond to events in your life … starting today.

What Most People Do

When people don’t like the outcomes they are experiencing, most choose to blame the event (E) for their lack of results (O).

Lions love to eat gazelle meat. But it’s very difficult for lions to catch gazelles because the latter run so fast. So instead of trying to catch their quarry, a group of young lions will form a line and try to herd them in a particular direction. The gazelles easily outrun the lions, heading in the opposite direction towards supposed safety.

Except they are unknowingly being steered towards a deep, grassy area where a group of older lions are hiding. The older lions are too old and tired to be part of the chase; many are missing teeth, and would never be able to catch their own meat.

But when the gazelles are driven within close range, the old lions jump up and ROAR loudly. The startled gazelles, responding immediately to a new threat of imminent death, turn and run in the opposite direction. Right back into the mouths of the young lions.

“The moral is that running from your fears and not facing them can often lead you into real danger and worse outcomes. In day-to-day life, the lions lying in wait may not be life threatening, but they are often false fears.

Running away may mean we remain stuck and unhappy for a long time or until we face and move through our fear.”

There is reason and purpose and harmony in the Universe. We are a part of all that, and a great amount of our work in this life is to learn that lesson.

We define life in terms of our body. You may like or hate your body, but it is the mechanism that defines what we call life. Most of us start out believing that we are our body, and it takes considerable effort on our part to overcome the complications of that misunderstanding.

We are here to learn lessons. That is what life is about. Each day we will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or you may think them stupid or irrelevant.

There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error experimentation. The experiences that we label failures are as valuable a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately work.

 

A lesson is repeated until it is learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have completely learned a lesson, you will then go on to the next one.

Learning lessons does not end. This is what life is about; as long as there is life, there are lessons.

What you make of this life is up to you. You already have everything you will ever need to learn your lessons. There is nothing you have to do first.

Every thing you experience in life is neutral. The only value of anything outside yourself is determined by the way you experience it.

When you have learned that lesson, it will be a powerful tool you can use to set up more lessons.

Do something for 21 days, this can be blogging, podcasting,making videos, eating healthy, going to the gym, reading… whatever you want to change in your life. Will be hard, yes. Will be different, yes. but force yourself to do it. After 21 days it becomes weird not to do it. Honestly try it, after 21 days of eating healthy, it will be weird to not eat healthy. After 21 days of podcasting, I can say for me personally that it was weird when I took a day off from podcasting

After 90 days, this becomes a lifestyle. You literally become a different person, and you start to manifest results in your life. Don’t focus on the first 21 days, creating the habit is just the foundation. Be consistent for 90 days and you will create a completely different lifestyle for yourself.

The story is about Pablo and Bruno who take two different paths and request for financial independence. What you are about to read, is the delightful form animated story of their adventures. So, sit back, relax, read and enjoy the life changing lessons in The Parable of the Pipeline.

“Far away, in a small village, near a beautiful valley, lived two friends – Pablo and Bruno. They are both young and dream a better life for themselves. They often discuss their dreams about how they would become the most successful men in the village. They won’t afraid of hard works. They search for opportunities to help realize their goal and achieve their dreams.

One day, an opportunity presented itself. Mayor of the village decided to hire two people to bring the water from the spring upon the mountain across the valley, back down to the village. They’ll be paid based on the amount of water delivered to the village. Bruno and Pablo enthusiastically got to work. Every day from morning to evening, they worked hard, carrying water to the village. In the evening, they returned home with their daily wages.

Bruno was satisfied with his works, and the money he earned. He would sure that with this works, he could achieve his dreams. Bruno thought that to increase his wages, he can use bigger buckets to bring more water on each trip. He believed with larger income, he was soon be able to buy a cow, and the house he dreamed about.

Now Pablo was not satisfied. At the end of the day, his back and hand ache, and he was exhausted. He was looking for an easier way to earn more. One day, an idea occurred to Pablo. He imagined building a Pipeline to deliver the water from the mountain spring to the village. With this pipeline, he can get more water to the village without carrying buckets back and forth from the spring to the village. Soon, he got very excited about his idea and began to plan.

Pablo of course shared his idea with his friend – Bruno, and asked him to join with him to work on and help build the pipeline. Bruno thought the idea was crazy. All Bruno can think about was what his money can buy today and how to get it quicker. He felt that building the pipeline will slow him down, and delay him in achieving his goals. Instead, Bruno got bigger buckets and went more often back and forth fetching the water. He would sure that with this method, he can make more money.

Pablo decided to build the pipeline on his own. He understood that would not be easy to build. And that will take time to complete the pipeline. Pablo knew that it could take several years to finish. But he set his mind on his goal. Every day he worked, and carried water like before. But at weekends and during his spare times, he worked hard to dig in the rocky soil, and build his pipeline. In the first month, there was little to show for his works.

Bruno and the villagers laughed him, teased him. They called him – Pablo the pipeline man. During this time, Bruno’s income doubled. He already bought a cow, and a bigger house. His lifestyles changed. He now spend time after work in the bar, enjoying his harder earned wages from delivery the water. What Bruno didn’t realize was that his body was starting to stop from carrying heavy buckets every day. His face looked worn and his body tired. Soon, he began to carry less and less water, due to the wear and tear of his body. Month after month, Pablo worked. Soon a year past, and then the second year. Finally Pablo finished his pipeline. He now used his pipeline to deliver water to the village instead of carrying the buckets. Pablo was now earning more money than ever before. The water continued flowing to the village while Pablo wasn’t working. While he slept and ate, the water flowed. Pablo was happy and proud of it inside. Persistent and hard work. Now his income flowed as long as the water flowed through his pipeline.”

The story of Bruno and Pablo is the reflection of life.

Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

Don’t have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment

Don’t over do; keep your limits

Don’t take yourself so seriously; no one else does

Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip

Dream more while you are awake

Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner of his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.

Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present

No one is in charge of your happiness except you

Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

Smile and laugh more

You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.unity:

Call your family often

Each day give something good to others

Forgive everyone for everything

Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6

Try to make at least three people smile each day

What other people think of you is none of your business