By Michael Dalton Johnson

Our lives are often swept along by the duties and responsibilities we have assumed. We don’t have time to reflect on the course of our lives. If your obligations and commitments seem to control your life, you’ll find these observations useful.

You are great. You are far greater than you imagine. You are a unique entity given the power to create your own life. When you look outside yourself for self-definition you are giving your power away. However, when you understand and accept that you alone possess the power to define yourself and your life, there are dramatic changes. You will find new clarity, focus and confidence. You’ll also find that using this incredible gift is both exhilarating and challenging.

You are in charge. Think of your life as a movie. You are the writer, director, producer and star. You choose your co-stars and extras. Whether the movie is a smash or a flop is in your hands.

Your thoughts determine your outcomes. This is one of the great mysteries. There are a lot of theories about this phenomenon but no one really knows how it works. However, it does work and reveals the astonishing power of your thoughts. If you think you are average, you are. If you think you can’t win, you won’t. Conversely, if you see yourself succeeding, you will. If you expect great things to come to your life, they’re on their way.

You bring others with you. Your courage and confidence to examine your life and make changes will have a profound effect on those around you. When you lift yourself up, others are lifted up too.

Your life. Your responsibility. The first and most important rule is to take responsibility for everything that happens in your life. Following this rule puts you in command. Winston Churchill said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” While I’m certain he was talking about fighting wars and leading nations, his statement applies to your life as well.

You have the power. Life will inevitably send you your share of setbacks, problems, disappointments and losses. These things are beyond your control. How you react to them is not. Listen to the voice within you and realize you have a choice. You have the greatness to persevere, to forgive, to smile, to lift yourself and others up and to move on.

The other day I was speaking to my cousin who is one of the closest people to me and he shared a very interesting revelation. You see he has a dream to own an Audi S8 which costs over 120,000$ and thats before the local revenue boys even ask for your shipping documents. Not to mention he wants to have a net worth of about 5million dollars in the next 5years. Now thats a BHAG!

Now, he realised that to actually achieve these dreams, he needs to have a much larger Mindspace than what he currently has. What is Mindspace you ask? Well some call it mind set but i say it’s the capacity or scale of the positive and empowering thoughts and beliefs you have.

Basically as long as your thoughts and beliefs are congruent with your dreams, you will achieve them. In my cousins case, if his thoughts and beliefs allow him to comprehend flying to Germany to customize the machine he wants, wire the money to Audi, put it on a plane to deliver it, give URA another cheque of UGX 100Million, then reach into his wallet and pull out another UGX 250,000 to fill up the gas tank, well lets just say it will probably happen very quickly. His Mindspace tells him that this is as normal as putting on clothes.

However, if his Mindspace is too small, well lets just say the closest he’ll ever get to that machine is pictures and videos on the internet.

Napoloen Hill says “What ever the mind of a man can concieve and believe, he will achieve” and the Master Himself says “As a man thinketh, so is he”. The point I’m trying to make is that our mindspace dictates directly the kind of results we have in life whether they be successes or failures.

My cousin rightly realised that inorder to achieve his dreams, he absolutely needs to increase his mindspace. Further more, his mindspace has to grow so that he can also accommodate the changes necessary to actually own such a car. The house where he will park that car, the maintenance costs to run it, the amount of money he’ll need to carry in his wallet daily, the friends he’ll have(and enemies), the standing in society that he’ll project, the level of business transactions he’ll be executing.

A great Mindspace is essential for a great life!

So if you have a dream, you will have to enlarge(or shrink) your mindset to accommodate that dream and everything that goes with it. Basically wealthy, successful and happy people have very large and positive mindspaces while poor, unhappy failures have tiny dark mindspaces.

So i ask again, how’s your mindspace?

A couple of months ago, I was speaking with the Rogue King, about what drives us to do the things we do and make the choices that we do. He suggested to me that perhaps we should look deeper, to our core values.

So what are our core values? Well simple put they are the things we believe in the most that direct what and how we think about our life. There are hundreds of values that we each hold but some hold more power over us than others. For example some peoples core value is love. For others it’s family or power, money, religion etc.

It is important for us to know and choose our core values are because they color everything we do in life. It’s like our constitution. A person whose core value is Family for example will make all decisions about what they do around their need for family. The career he chooses, the car he drives, the type of person he marries. It’s all connected.

I decided to look at my own core values and I thought I’d share with you what I have chosen to be my guiding values in order to achieve my dreams and life purpose.

Love

I live and give love to all around me including myself. I give love regardless of how I feel but as directed by Gods word.

Responsibility

I am 100% responsible for my life and the results I experience. Everything I am, have or experience is a result of the choices and actions I’ve made in the past. I always have the ability to choose my response in life.

Integrity

I live congruently with my beliefs and principles and do not compromise them. My word is my bond.

Positivity

I maintain a positive attitude at all times, always looking for the upside in every situation. I believe every problem is an opportunity disguised.

Faith

I put my complete trust in God and the gifts, skills and talents he has placed in me.

Teachability

I am a constant learner, always striving to get better each day, in every way.

Courage

I stand and face my fears each and every day to accomplish great things. I seek opportunity and not security.

Compassion

I extend kindness, compassion, understanding and grace to all who need it.

Giving

I am a generous giver of my money, time and resources for the highest good of all.

Self Discipline

I maintain strong control over my will, emotions, passions and thoughts at all times keeping them focused for my greater growth

Diligence

I work hard at everything I do with the utmost care, excellence and attention to detail.

Excellence

I hold myself to the highest standards in all  that I am and do. I do not live according to the worlds standard but to Gods

Health

I work diligently to ensure y body is in great physical condition through healthy lifestyle choices

Creativity

I believe in using all of my God given creativity to imbue my life, relationships, work and passions with fun, excellence and impact

Personal Growth

I constantly seek to improve on every area of my being through learning and application. The better I am, the better my life will be.

Vision

i always have a clear Godly vision for my life which i pursue daily.

Peace

I seek to live in peace with everyone in as much as it depends on me. I gaurd my inner peace and I’m guided by it.

I am still discovering more of myself and adjusting accordingly. Some values we have don’t benefit us and it’s imperative to identify them and remove them while picking out ones that pull us forward. I’d like to hear some of your core values so drop me a line.

Shalom