Monday, March 10, 2014

How the right company can keep you going in your journey to success

From the diamond desk of                        
I. C. Clinton                                                                   
A cure for poverty of the mind and the pocket
Subject: What successful people             
do that you too should start doing



“You are the same today that you are going to be in five years from now except for two things: the people with whom you associate and the books you read” (Charlie Jones).
 
The company you keep can either make or mar your journey to success; now that’s a fact of life!

We all know the old saying, “Life is full of ups and downs”. Yes, both the “ups” and the “downs” come every now and then in everyman’s life. In fact, the occurrence of the “downs” is more frequent than that of the “ups”, and every regular Joe as well as Winner Wolf gets his fair share every once in a while.  I for one have been having mine – maybe more than a fair share, this past week or so. But in all of my “downs” something positive has always given; I have always been helped up by one such good company.  

This is how we do it

I posted the first article on this blog on a Monday, because I had decided that I want people to have something to keep them motivated every week beginning from the first working day of the week, which is Monday. And so since Sixth-Sensing made its debut online I have always written on Mondays, but due to a lot of reasons I almost did not write today. A lot of forces had combined to force me to fail myself and you my most valued and cherished readers today, but somehow, with the help of one such good associate, I got the motivation to fight those evil forces to a standstill and made the right decision and took the step that has led to the writing of this article at this time – 11:09pm, Monday night. My initial plan was to write that much awaited article about sixth-sensing, which I said is one thing all success people do that anyone who wants to become successful must learn to do, but decided instead this evening to tell a little of my own friendship story and how keeping the right company can help you remain focused on your journey to success. I consider myself very lucky. Yes, I feel lucky because I have one of the best friends in the world. My friend is a very good intellectual whose way of life continues to inspire me. This individual is not only wise but also very humane, kind, and helpful. You should find yourself a friend like mine who listens to you with rapt attention when you have something agitating your mind that you want to talk about or ask about. This individual can be a husband, a wife, boyfriend or a girlfriend, a coach or a mentor, whichever he is, make sure he is somebody who is not only very knowledgeable and competent but who also is very truthful and has your best interest at heart. He should be somebody who knows you well and understands you and your dreams. He should be somebody who believes in your dreams and aspirations and believes in, if not who you are now, whom you are capable of becoming. Make sure this individual is somebody who has foresight and a positive mindset. Let this person into most of your thoughts and listen to him when he speaks to you.

“Tell me who your best friends are, and I will tell you who you are. If you run with wolfs you will learn how to howl. But, if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights” (John Mason).

In whatever you do, whether you will succeed or fail, will be determined largely by the company you keep. If a fantastic footballer finds himself in the wrong team, he runs the risk of being on the losing side despite being a good player. If a good man contracts marriage with the wrong woman, no matter how good and hardworking he is, while he may be able to build a house after all, he finds it difficult to build a home. If a good preacher finds himself in the wrong congregation, preaching impactful message becomes a mirage. It’s even said that it’s foolish to preach wisdom to fools. The list can go on and on.

The bottom line is:

If you want to be wise, make friends with wise people.
If you want to succeed, associate with successful people.
If you want to achieve great things, befriend great folks.
If you want to become better, keep the company of people better than you.
If you want to remain motivated, surround yourself with motivated and progressive people.

I have succeeded in writing today’s article because I chose a friend who is motivated and progressive and knows how to pull me out of the dirty well of worry and unto the path of progress. 
Who you choose to be your friends or associates is one of the most important decisions you will ever make during the course of your life. A man is the sum of the kind of company he keeps!

Proverbs says, “A mirror reflects a man’s face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.”  You will eventually become like those with whom you freely associate. So, choose wise associates and – choose them wisely!

Guess what I am doing? Well, if you stick around long enough, you will find out...

Until next time.

Your man,

- I. C. Clinton








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 www.dreamstime.com
www.shutterstock.com


Sunday, March 2, 2014

Want to solve your problems? Read this before you begin...

From the diamond desk of                        
I. C. Clinton                                                                   
A cure for poverty of the mind and the pocket
Subject: What successful people             
do that you too should start doing


Knowing the problem is half the cure, discovering the 4WH of a problem is 75% its solution.

My former neighbor’s sister is a nurse and so is his wife. Sometime ago, when we lived in the same building, the sister came from another city for a long vacation and stayed with his wife and him in the same apartment. At this time I had large rice and beniseed (sesame indicum) farms, and it was harvest time, and because my farmhands (including the supervisors) were engaging in sharp practices, he loaned me his sister to help out in the farm and keep my workers in check for the entire period of the harvest. The harvest spanned a period of about one month; and a few days afterwards, the young lady started experiencing body itching. Being a nurse herself and staying with another who is a nurse, they both decided they knew the solution to her condition and, acting on that conclusion, went on to purchase drugs which she started taking. Unfortunately, one week past, the itching instead of relieving her, was getting worse. It was during this time they informed me about her struggle with body itching. My first reaction was, “How the hell could a knowledgeable nurse as you attempt to treat body itching without proper diagnosis?” I advised she went for a test first. The microfilaria test report said nothing’s wrong. I wouldn’t have that, because she was still suffering from terrible body itching. So, while I am neither a physician nor pharmacist, I asked her to sit down and answer some questions. The following were my questions:

·         1. During the time you were going to the farm with me, were you at any time bitten by an insect or anything of that nature?
·         2. While in your former city, did you at any time experience body itching?
·         3. The soap and cream you use now, are they different from what you are used to?
·         4. Are you eating any type of food or fruit different from what you are used to since you arrived here?
·         5. When was the first time you noticed this itching: day, time, and all that?
·         6. Does the itching occur on a particular part or all over your body?
·         7. When the itching starts and you scratch, do you get blisters, swells, redness or any other visible signs on your body?
·         8. How does the itching start; can you describe exactly how it begins and how it behaves?
·         9. Can you cast your mind back to all the different times when the itching started and compute in your mind the periods, times, and places when it occurred the most – when does it occur the most?

     To all the Yes or No questions, she answered no. Although she explained that she had started using a particular medicated soap few days after her arrival in the current city, she had stopped using the soap when the doctor at her sister’s hospital who recommended one of the drugs she had been taking told her to stop using the soap, because he assumed she might be allergic to it. By the way, I should have told you that they had actually purchased the second round of drugs after consulting a doctor who didn’t think conducting a test before treatment’s all that important for a condition he considered too minor for such a waste of money and time (since he must have wrongly believed he’s used to such cases enough to know the cause without a laboratory test). This was way before I was informed of her condition. Interestingly, her answers to my last two questions provided viable insight into the possible cause of her condition: The itching often started or increased during or immediately after shower most of the times. And? After further investigation and subsequent tests, the source of her trouble and worry was discovered to be water. And once the discovery was made and steps were taken in the right direction? Itching was gone and the young lady was free and fine again. 

 Lesson
  
No matter how old you are, how professional you are, or how wise you think you are, never attempt to solve a problem without first asking the right questions and providing or receiving the right answers. You must seek to understand the problem in its entirety, analyse it and its possible cause or causes before attempting to proffer solution. You can learn from successful weightlifters who before attempting to lift a weight always first size it up with their eyes making sure they can see clearly its position and, once sure, balance themselves in the right position, grab firm hold of the weight on the right spot before attempting to lift it. I think this principle is equally practiced by all athletes and sportsmen. I practiced a little sport in my elementary school days, and I recall our Games Master would always command us in military-like manner saying, “If you miss the ball, don’t miss the leg!” Although at the time I would have thought he only meant we should endeavour to tackle our opponent to the ground if he dribbled past us and moved forward with the ball, now I understand better – I understand that beyond whatever we must have thought he meant, he more than anything else meant that we should never take our eyes off the ball; and that if for any reason we missed the position of the ball at any time, we should never lose sight of the leg of the opponent with the ball. If we know where the ball is, we would know how to run after it and possess it, and if we know where the leg of our opponent is and how he is handling the ball and what direction he is going with it, we would know how to mark him and stop him and take the ball from him. That’s exactly what my Games Master was trying to teach us – the right tactics to tackle a problem: To keep our eyes on it, identify its position and direction, analyse everything about it before attempting to solve it. The same tactics is exactly what I am trying to teach you here.
  
4WH – the easiest and best problem solving formula
  
4WH or WWWW—H (WWWW extension H) is my personal invention coined as an acronym for “What, Why, Where, When, How.” This is the best information bank to consult before the World Wide Web when you want to solve a problem. Before you take the dot com route, you should first of all travel the 4WH lane, because it is the most basic resource locator for problem solving. Long before the emergence of Google, I want to believe that the best brained of our forefathers used 4WH. In fact, all inventors use it. All solution providers use it. Even Larry Page and his Google co-travellers used it to arrive at Google.
  
Is there a problem? Ask:

1)      What                 What is the problem/the nature of the problem/what caused the problem
2)      Why                   Why is it a problem/why do I have the problem
3)      Where               Where exactly is the problem or where does the problem lie
4)      When                 When did the problem start
5)      How                   How did the problem start or how did the problem come about

Before proceeding to the “How” of the solution – that is, before asking “How can this problem be solved,” you must first provide accurate answers to the 4WH of the problem. The quality of answers to 4WH questions of the problem will determine the quality of the HoS (“How” of the Solution).
 
Here is how it works:
 
WRA to 4WH = WRHS; & WRA to 4WH + WRHS = PR
RA to 4WH = RHS; & RA to 4WH   +   RHS   =   PS 

Let me explain. 
 
ABBREVIATION                 MEANING
4WH                           What, Why, Where, When, How
HoS                             How of the Solution
RA                              Right Answer
RHS                            Right “how” to solve (problem)
WRA                           Wrong Answer
WRHS                                    Wrong “how” to solve (problem)
PR                               Problem remains
PS                                Problem solved
 &                                And

If you can trace the origin of your problem, if you can provide accurate answers to the 4WH questions, you will arrive at the right “How to” of the problem’s solution. And once you can get the right “How to” solve the problem, your problem is as good as solved. Some people would say that a monkey is smart only because trees are in the bush mostly close to each other. Asking the 4WH questions and providing accurate answers before attempting to proffer solution to your problem(s) is like planting trees close to each other, in which case a monkey becomes smart; and you are brainier and smarter than a monkey and therefore will be able to solve your problem(s) faster than a monkey would jump from one tree to another in any problematic situation. With the 4WH formula now explained, it makes sense to say, 
 
Knowing the problem is half the cure, discovering the 4WH of a problem is 75% its solution

 Try it now and report back your experience.   

Guess what I am doing? Well, if you stick around long enough, you will find out...

Until next time.

Your man,

- I. C. Clinton








Pictures are from:

 www.dreamstime.com
www.shutterstock.com



Sunday, February 23, 2014

Want a way out? Marry Dr Ben Carson's mother.

From the diamond desk of                        
I. C. Clinton                                                                   
A cure for poverty of the mind and the pocket
Subject: What successful people             
do that you too should start doing



Unedited facebook conversation between two readers of SIXTH-SENSING (Kim’s statements are in red while Sophy’s responses are in blue):

Have read them sophy.. but these r ideologies by dis clinton.. but he has a point... making u think how to move from that state...

Books by Robrt Kyosaki r better.. explaining how to do it!!

You have a point, Kim. But i think its good material for those who dont have time to sit down and read a whole book.

yeah!!... giving the state of pple without getting them ways of going out of that state is not helpful.

But at least Clinton is helping us identify the problem first, and since his articles are an ongoing series, mayb and hopefully he had hopefully he has a solution somewherr along the way.”


I admire Kim’s boldness to express his reservations. His openness is something I cherish as much as I cherish criticism. For without criticism no inventor may gain the impetus to improve his invention! I thank Kim for expressing his disappointment and (probably) his frustration; and I would have appreciated it more had he taken the pain to express his thoughts on the comment section of the blog. That way, others would have been obliged to debate and consequently benefit from the ensuing open discussion.  However, Kim’s disappointment and frustration is, in my opinion, too premature. Now that’s because, as Sophy rightly pointed out, the article under review is an ongoing series. Kim’s thinking is a mirror of the mind of many with a “fast food” mentality and “instant noodle” philosophy. The instant noodle types do not have the patience to wait for the cooking of a home-made meal that is healthy for their health, so they settle for the less-than appropriate measures that we call “fast food.” Kim wants to know how to solve the problem but is not interested in knowing where the problem lies and what caused it. You cannot proffer a lasting solution to a situation that way. The wise tell us that “knowing the problem is half the cure.” Back in the days when the preachers of perfection and professors of accurate precision were still around, our schools used to teach something known as “Analytical Skills.” I don’t know, are such skills still relevant in our world today? Do the schools still teach them? Any good doctor will diagnose (figure out) what a condition is and analyse the cause before attempting to cure it. That is the right way to treat an ailment. That is the best way to solve a problem. If you do not know where you stand, how you came to stand there, and why you are standing there, you will not know why you need to move away from there, how you can move and where you should move to. As the old saying goes, if you do not know where you are coming from, you will not know where you are going and how to get there! You might be healed of leprosy by a spoken word of prophecy, but to be made whole, you must be soaked or immersed in water; and that immersion must be done by you and not by anyone else. For you to be made whole the healing process has to be holistic. Sophy’s reasoning is different. It mirrors the mindset of realistic treasure seekers who understand that the job of a compass is only to direct you in the direction of the treasure, it doesn’t have to dig out the treasure for you; it’s your job to do the digging. Even the shovel and digger are only tools to help you dig; they shouldn’t and of course don’t dig for you. What the teacher does is to guide the student; he doesn’t study or think for the student. Why we call smart people smart is because they don’t wait for you to show them everything before they start thinking and acting and expanding the little idea they have been given. And what I am trying to do here is to breed smart people with creative minds and emboldened spirits!

Highly intelligent people do a lot with little information; action-oriented men do much more with minor motivation.

Describing his third-grade educated mother in his famous autobiography (“Gifted Hands”), Dr Ben Carson wrote: “...Sonya Carson has the classic type A personality – hardworking, goal-oriented, driven to demanding the best of herself in any situation, refusing to settle for less. She is highly intelligent, a woman who quickly grasps the overall significance rather than searching for details. She has a natural ability – an intuitive sense – that enables her to perceive what should be done. That is probably her most outstanding characteristics.” 

A smart mind and active spirit, while he may need the details sometimes, does not wait for it before knowing what to do or trying out something. He is perspicacious and knows how to use little information as compass for self-education and personal initiative.  Dr Carson tells us the story of the other fellow when in the same book he describes his father thus: “...Intellectually, Dad didn’t easily grasp complex problems because he tended to get bogged down in details, unable to see the overall picture. That was probably the biggest difference between my parents.” 

Here is my advice to you: Marry Carson’s mother, forget his father!

What is more?

Of course my original intent’s to show you how to put your mind to good use and exercise your brain for better bargains with life so that you can get more out of living. But before I begin to do that showing, it’s only proper I show you first where your problems lie and why and how you got those problems in the first place. I have been where you are now, and I know how I moved away from there. So you can trust that I know how best to guide you out of it. We are certainly progressing to the next stage where I shall be showing you exactly what successful people do and how you can do what they do so that you too can begin to experience success. But before we get to that stage, you must not take for granted the wisdom in the preambles so far presented. They are necessary for progress to the next stage and beyond. As they say, there is no shortcut to success. 

And for the records, no man can make you successful but you. I. C. Clinton or any other writer or motivator can only inform, encourage, and direct you; we cannot perform the act of doing or becoming for you, that’s your part to play. So no matter how many times I show you what to do as we progress in the ongoing series, you will make no progress if you do not take action based on the secrets I reveal to you as we progress in the ongoing revelation. Am I the first motivator to say this? Not at all! 

 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

After the death of Moses, God spoke to his replacement, urging and motivating him to keep faith with all the revelations he had received. He told him to follow the instructions previously received by his predecessor, Moses. The admonition was that he should never veer off track, either left or right, so as to make sure he gets to where he’s going. And that he shouldn’t for a minute let the Book of The Revelation go out of his mind. He must ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure he practiced everything written in it. Then he would get to where he’s going; then he would succeed. “Haven’t I commanded you?” He said, “Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.”
 
Please underline the statement, “every step you take”. That implies that protection and profit are guaranteed only in action and not in idleness of hand or mind. So long as General Joshua acted out/on the written script, he profited from the promise, otherwise, he became a loser.

Observation is the beginning of education. Meditation is the fuel that fires up desire. Action is the clincher for accomplishment and success. 

In the Big Book the next General was told, “Observe to do all…,” not part. He was also informed that only he could make himself prosperous – by doing all that he’s instructed to do. You don’t become successful by reading the biographies of successful people or how-to manuals and memorising the dogmas in them. You only become successful by doing what successful people do after you have learned what those things are and how to do them. Knowing how to do something without actually doing it is as unprofitable as ignorance about how to do a thing. No person or book can make you a success or a genius, only you can. Knowing the law and not obeying it doesn’t make you a law-abiding citizen. 

Robert Kiyosaki’s book or Clinton’s blog cannot make you a thinker or a winner; you only become a thinker by practicing positive thinking. You only become a winner by learning how to fight and practically fighting with a zeal for victory. Experience doesn’t come from reading, it comes from doing. What you get out of reading is knowledge, you gain experience through practice. 

While the beginning of your education is observation, the beginning of your experience is action or practice hence the admonition: “OBSERVE to DO all that is written therein; so shall YOU make your way prosperous, and you shall have good success.” The writer or the writing will not make you successful, you achieve success by using the knowledge the writer communicates in the writing as a guide to take informed action. That’s why the things the Apostles did were recorded in the Big Book as the “Acts” of the Apostles while the things John received or saw were recorded as “Revelation”. 

You don’t get out of the rat race by reading Robert Kiyosaki’s insightful and motivational book; rather, having had your rat heart transformed into a lion heart through the inspiring words of a master-motivator, you get out of the rat race by boldly walking or running out of the rat hole or cage. Only action can do that, nothing else will! You don’t become rich by reading “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” you become rich by thinking big, dreaming big, and acting big in line with the insights Kiyosaki shared in his bestselling book.

Truth is, if you cannot make effort to leave the cage after you are given a little glimpse into the freedom outside, you will likely not take advantage of the freedom outside to live freely if you ‘re taken out of the cage by means of magic.  

My advice is simple: To get out of the rat race, you need to acquire a lion heart and act boldly and promptly like a lion would. 

To move fast you need to think fast. That’s what smart people do. They think deeper than they are instructed; they look farther than they are shown; they begin before others begin; they move first and faster than others and so get there before the rest and become the leaders. Give them a mango seed and they will give you a mango tree with more than enough mango fruits to nourish your body. Give them a flimsy idea and they will run with it and turn up later to give the world a Facebook. Such people are always the pioneers of a Digital Order. That’s why we call them whiz kids!

So to the Kims of this world I say, don’t wait till you are shown everything. Do something with the little you have received and make sense of the bigger picture through perception and imagination. Yes, it will take preparation, patience and perseverance, all necessary for your journey to victory. 

To everyone I say, listen to Carson’s mother when she says, “The doors of the world are open to people who can read.” The more reason why you should marry the wise woman! Keep reading this blog, people. 


Guess what I am doing? Well, if you stick around long enough, you will find out...

Until next time.

Your man,

- I. C. Clinton








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