Magnify: Make Your Life Matter

2. The Change That Is Long Overdue

This day and age is moving towards an awareness of personal power both individually and collectively. We are moving away from individualism and towards collectivism. We are moving away from selfish people and towards those who want to make a difference.

There is a shift from corporations that are purely profit-centric towards entrepreneurs who are heart-centric. The pull is away from materialism towards manifestation. We are pulling away from profits towards purpose.

And we are driven less by intellectualism and more by intuition. The information era is being replaced by a conceptual era. We are pulling away from religion and embracing spirituality. More than ever, we are aware of the possibility to move away from our ‘lower self’ towards our ‘higher self’.

Whether you like it or not, the wave of consciousness is coming, and the question to ask yourself is, how are you going to ride this wave?

3. Conquering Self

Many of you may already be leaders influencing others and helping them grow and develop. However, there are two critical elements to consider with leadership: it is about serving others and learning to guide yourself.

Learning to put others’ interest over your own requires conscious and deliberate effort because all of us are born with some level of innate selfishness. Understanding and accepting this leads to the realisation that problems may be more than external forces at play. They often come from personal, internal issues carried. Take responsibility, admit to yourself that you have limiting paradigms, stop blaming someone or something else, and decide to add value to others.

Leadership is about power over self, not others. It means serving others first and yourself second. It is a function, not a position.

The wonderful thing about leadership is that when we stop thinking about being a leader and dedicate ourselves to adding value, others want us to be the leader.

4. Conformity Is A Power Killer

You are unique. You are born as one of a kind; your personality signature is like no other. No one in the history of the world, or in the future of our species, will ever have the exact combination of personality characteristics as you do.

Think about this and truly realise this truth. It should make you feel special. However, for most people, the reality of being special or unique is not realised. We are conditioned to choose career paths and lifestyles that are considered lucrative or prestigious. We learn to see work as something that we have to do, instead of seeing it as a great source of satisfaction and inspiration.

We learn to conform and be like everyone else. When we succumb to conformity, we lose our personal power that makes us unique. Instead of living lives that best suit us, we end up in less meaningful careers and jobs.

It’s time to get to know yourself and start placing importance back onto what truly matters, what you really want. Listen to your heart. Have the courage to be your unique self because you will only live this life once.

5. The Crippling Effect Of Fear

Fear is one of the biggest impediments to progress and success. It slows down human development and has a thousand times more disadvantages than advantages.

Fear leads to regrets, failures, and dreams that never become a reality. Fear is one of the biggest contributors to mental problems and anguish. It is also a big influence on physical disease. Fear can appear as a false friend and is not easy to deal with or eliminate. However, if you can free yourself of fear, you can truly reveal yourself and shine.

Is fear leading you to missed opportunities and a life half-lived? Think about this. Face your fears, examine them, and deal with them. Asking yourself this question should be a daily exercise to learn to recognise your fears and when they are controlling your life.

6. Brain Versus Heart

Most of us have spent our whole lives thinking, assuming, or unconsciously believing that our most intelligent organ is our brain. If the brain is indeed where most of our intelligence resides, then how is it that, so many times, we forget our Internet banking passwords or ATM pins; yet when we are in front of a keyboard or a keypad, our fingers are magically able to figure out what numbers to punch in?

Consider this question: is it possible that we have been conditioned to place too much emphasis on developing our ‘thinking’ and not enough on developing our ‘feelings’? If we treated our hearts as the compass for our major life decisions, could this lead to a more passionate, authentic, inspired, and even successful life?

Maybe it’s time to stop looking at the brain as the only compass for our direction in life and start listening to our heart to determine our purpose.

7. Is Life Really That Difficult?

If you’re reading this, there is a very good chance you are not living in an underdeveloped Third World country. If you are living in a Third World country and reading this, you are probably one of the more fortunate ones.

If your life isn’t at the end, you’re fortunate. If you are free of critical illness, there is no imminent threat to your life, and you have freedom, you are more fortunate.

If you have people who love you; have access to basic comforts and facilities; have a job, skills, or education; can make choices about work and life; and have time on your side, you have more than what many people in this world have. If you can afford education or upskilling, have a regular income, and have opportunities to create, grow, and develop, you are one of the most fortunate ones.

So what is there really to complain about? Life is hard; however, there are so many choices available to you. There is little excuse for not developing into the best version of yourself, living an amazing life, and making a difference. So tell me, is your life really that hard?

8. The Truth About Success

As you focus on magnifying life to be what you want it to be, there are some truths to keep in mind. These truths will help motivate you and keep you focused on the goal. Life is a capricious thing. One minute it’s here; the next it’s gone. How much time each of us has is beyond our control.

The odds of you becoming successful and wealthy are not very high if you do not clearly and truly know what you want from your life and haven’t mapped out the steps to achieving your goals. You must achieve mastery of the self as well as mastery of your profession to become successful, and for this, you will need to seriously educate yourself.

No one becomes successful and stays successful by accident. It takes hard work and requires sacrifices. There are no ‘easy rides’ or ‘free lunches’ in life.

Casualness of attitude leads to casualty of outcomes. As with any financial investment made, due diligence is called for. When investing in your life plan, the same due diligence is needed to succeed.

9. Is Money Not Attracted To You?

Most of us want financial freedom or, at least, a level of financial stability. Yet financial stress seems to prevail at some point in life. While people may plan to get out of financial stress through hard work and saving money, no matter how hard they work and try to save, they never seem to get ahead because they have an inner conflict with money, which they aren’t even aware of.

Prosperity and progression rise together, whilst poverty and regression go hand in hand. What you believe and value at a deep level will always manifest in your life. Let me say that again: what you believe and value at a deep level will always manifest in your life. When people have beliefs about money that are incompatible with their inner values, they will always find themselves in a significant level of financial stress.

As you go through your day, look for signs of an inner money conflict: religious beliefs that suggest services should be given freely, spiritual principles that advocate that God wants us to struggle or that lack is better than abundance, etc.

10. Genuinely Connecting With Others

When it comes to becoming successful in your personal or professional life, your ability to influence and lead people is paramount. It is difficult to influence and lead without genuinely connecting with others.

Begin with respect. Whilst this may sound obvious, it is much harder to practise in real life. Respect is a conscious choice and takes into account people’s situations, is not judgmental, and accepts their views even if you do not agree with them.

Appreciate and acknowledge people. Everyone likes being appreciated, and most people have at least one or two qualities that are worthy of appreciation. Make sure that any appreciation expressed is sincere and genuine; otherwise, it may have the opposite effect to what is intended.

You may be surprised at the response you will get from people, and it may also make you more memorable.

11. What Do You Want To Be When You GROW UP?

It’s a shame that so many grown ups have become so good at giving up on their dreams.

Not only are they very good at giving up on their dreams, they are even better at coming up with all the justifications and rationalizations why they CANNOT, and SHOULD NOT go after what they truly want.

We ask young kids - what do you want to be when you GROW UP?

Maybe we need to start asking adults - what do you want to be when you GIVE UP?

If you are someone who has given up on their dreams, or maybe you don’t even know what your dreams are anymore…know this!

Life is temporary. Life is uncertain. Life has risks.

You can take the safest route in life and still be met with disaster.

No, I’m not suggesting you throw all caution to the wind.

I’m simply saying - seeking creative and relentless ways to pursue your dream is WORTH IT.

Never stop asking yourself - what is really important to me? And then have the wisdom and courage to build your life around your answer.

Find something that is about YOU and fulfills your soul. It is worth spending the rest of your life to seek the answer to that question. I will end this with the words by Benjamin Franklin - Either write something worth reading about or do something worth writing about. It’s not too late.

12. Mentoring

Is a mentor necessary? The answer is yes. Everyone needs a mentor.

You may not agree, but here’s the thing: a mentor doesn’t just advise and coach. A mentor transforms lives through good teaching.

Most people cannot get themselves out of a hole without the objective guidance of a competent teacher. Please don’t get me wrong. Everyone has the ability but may lack belief.

A mentor will see a situation through different eyes, allowing them to give a different perspective on things. A mentor will not have the same emotional attachment to something or someone that you do.

Rumi once said, ‘Whoever enters the way without a guide will take a hundred years to travel a two-year journey.’ It makes sense to engage with someone who understands your journey and can add value along the way, lessening the length of time it will take to make that transition.

13. Overcautiousness And Fear

What do overcautiousness and fear have in common? They are bedfellows. Overcautiousness (also referred to as ‘analysis paralysis’) stems from the inability to take action and is a form of fear – one of the biggest reasons many people do not succeed in their careers, businesses, or finances.

Many people turn their back on brilliant opportunities simply because they are disproportionately focused on the potential downside rather than the potential upside. If you come across the right idea, the right opportunity, the right plan, and everything needed to start, take action.

Overcautiousness is the brainchild of fear. It is a mental disease of procrastination, and the longer one stays in a state of immobility, the harder it becomes to take action. An overcautious person is someone basically afraid of failure. Unfortunately, no one plays a game with fear and wins.

Keeping a journal is a good tool to help reflect on situations that present themselves to you. Is it fear that is holding you back? Or is there another lack that can be filled – if you just take action?

14. Financial Conditioning

Studies in the last two decades have seen two fields of finance evolve exclusively linking our psychology and the money that we make. How we think, whether we are conscious of it or not, can literally be causing the financial mess or abundance we live with.

It would seem most people have a mindset that is not conducive to financial success. Many people have a mediocrity or poverty-conscious mindset. However, a financial abundance mindset is needed for attracting, growing, and keeping wealth.

More money does not just allow you enhanced control over your life and afford you more options but also provides you with the means to contribute towards causes and people that you care about. Until you become aware of the blocks you carry, a significant change in your financial situation is unlikely. The right financial strategies are no longer enough without the right mindset.

15. Know And Trust Yourself

Beneath the layers of false beliefs that people have inherited, there lie some universal truths. Once you tap into those truths, your success becomes inevitable.

We can all identify some of the things people have believed to be true in the past that determine thinking and behaviour: men are superior to women, white people are superior to black people, working harder is the only way to get ahead, the way to get a good job is to get good grades at school and go to university – the list goes on. However, we now know these statements are not true.

How many beliefs are you carrying about yourself that are not true but still continue to dictate your thinking and behaviour? Are you even aware of your self-beliefs?

One way to know whether your deep-rooted beliefs are supporting you is to look at your life and ask yourself the question ‘am I where I deserve to be?’ If the answer is no, your undetected beliefs may not be in alignment with your desires. It is time get rid of the old things that are holding you back.

16. Shake Your Negative Thoughts

If you wake up with negative thoughts and have tried everything to shake them off but still find yourself feeling anxious, understand this: in many cases, negative thoughts are a product of a mind that has not been trained to be positive.

Being constantly subjected to negative influences or unconsciously entertaining negative thoughts and feelings repeatedly forms a habit in the mind that eventually becomes a permanent or predominant programme. The brain starts to call the shots; thoughts and feelings produced come from the unconscious and are consistent with the negative patterns formed. Positive thinking becomes hard because these negative patterns have become deeply embedded and maintain a strong hold.

Most people consciously or unconsciously keep subjecting themselves to negative external influences, which only re-enforce existing patterns, making them even harder to break. The challenge is to learn to distinguish what programme you are working from and begin to differentiate between emotions and reality.

17. Passion, Purpose, And Profession

Passion is the only thing that can sustain you through the ups and downs of your business or career. When people commence businesses or pursue careers, with money or security being their core objective, they have a higher tendency to give up when they do not see expected results in an expected time frame. They may have the mindset of determination but lack the ‘heartset’ of passion.

Success comes through creativity and in our own unique ways of expressing our ‘self’. We all have a gift or talent to share. That gift is connected to our purpose. It may be something grand and very public or small and very private. Whatever it is you feel passionate about and you enjoy doing is your purpose.

When we do something just for money or security, we may make incremental progress in our lives and careers. When we follow our true passion and purpose, we can make quantum leaps in our lives and careers.

It has been said, ‘Follow your passion, it will lead you to your purpose and eventually it may become your profession.’ Your heart’s intuitive intelligence will lead you to a better place than your intellectual reasoning.

18. The 4 Irrefutable Laws Of Money

Did you know that most people find the world of finance and money complicated and confusing? This is because they get too caught up in all the noise and fads and they never take the time to properly understand the rules of the money game.

Here are the 4 irrefutable laws of money. They are simple, time-tested and proven.

As simple as they are, most people will breach some or all of them.

1. Spend less than you earn – if you spend all that you earn, or worse spend more than you earn, you have a problem.

2. Pay yourself first – always put a portion of your earnings aside for your future, before you pay anyone else. Why? Because after you have paid everyone else (bills, groceries, mortgage etc), you will rarely be left with anything to put aside for your future.

3. Protect your family, yourself and your assets – understand all your financial risks, including investment risks, protect, spread or mitigate those risks, and as you build your wealth, keep protecting and preserving what you have.

4. Make your money work for you – invest in high quality assets that have intrinsic value, investments that have a long term track record, are based on proven fundamentals and have potential for growth and income. Understand the difference between speculating and investing. Never speculate.

Understand the difference between savings and investing. Save for 3-6