Real success: It always goes back to what you're good at
Until you find the purpose for life, your plans for success will always frustrate you. This is because the best, unrivaled and unsurpassable success is tied to your purpose for life, and your purpose is tied to a gift you have.
Success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Your gift is the inherent capacity (natural talent) to fulfil an aim or purpose. You can automatically see from these definitions that success is connected to purpose, and that purpose is connected to a gift you own. Again, it is fair to say that most of us were not informed about this or did not complete tertiary qualifications to gain knowledge on how to fulfil a purpose. We went to study for self-sustenance and self-sufficiency, not because of the empowering and the awakening of our gifts. We then found out that going to university and getting a degree does not make you successful; it only allows you to sustain yourself by giving you a skill or competency.
The biggest key to success in my opinion is the following schematic:
This fundamental truth will forever stand and will always be the same. This is because successful people are good at what they do. Period! And the world pays them handsomely to do what they are good at. In which area are you excellent, superior, competent, magnificent, exceptional and brilliant that you would like to refine? I am sure you have lived long enough to recognize such an area in your life. If not, Chapter 7 of this book will help you at discovering your gift.
Once I started my studies at university, I realized that knowing my gift before I got to university was crucial and should have been what I was aware of in the first place. I went to university and refined the wrong thing.
What determines success? Value.
When Jesus sent his disciples to preach, he told them where to go (all over the world) and He told them the message to preach (preach the Kingdom) but He didn’t tell them how to do this. This, in my opinion, is because the “how” was associated with each one of His disciples’ gifts. Jesus knew that each of his disciples would reach different markets with their individuality, singularity and distinctiveness and they in fact did. Below is an account (KEN CURTIS, 2010) of where some of their distinctiveness landed them and where they eventually died.
Peter and Paul
Both martyred in Rome about 66 AD, during the persecution under Emperor Nero. Paul was beheaded. Peter was crucified, upside down at his request, since he did not feel he was worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord.
Andrew
Went to the "land of the man-eaters," in what is now the Soviet Union. Christians there claim him as the first to bring the gospel to their land. He also preached in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, and in Greece, where he is said to have been crucified.
Thomas
Was probably most active in the area east of Syria. Tradition has him preaching as far east as India, where the ancient Marthoma Christians revere him as their founder. They claim that he died there when pierced through with the spears of four soldiers.
Philip
Possibly had a powerful ministry in Carthage in North Africa and then in Asia Minor, where he converted the wife of a Roman proconsul. In retaliation the proconsul had Philip arrested and cruelly put to death.
Matthew
The tax collector and writer of a Gospel, ministered in Persia and Ethiopia. Some of the oldest reports say he was not martyred, while others say he was stabbed to death in Ethiopia.
Bartholomew
Had widespread missionary travels attributed to him by tradition: to India with Thomas, back to Armenia, and also to Ethiopia and Southern Arabia. There are various accounts of how he met his death as a martyr for the gospel.
James
The son of Alpheus, is one of at least three James referred to in the New Testament. There is some confusion as to which is which, but this James is reckoned to have ministered in Syria. The Jewish historian Josephus reported that he was stoned and then clubbed to death.
Simon the Zealot
Ministered in Persia and was killed after refusing to sacrifice to the sun god.
Matthais
Was the apostle chosen to replace Judas. Tradition sends him to Syria with Andrew and to death by burning.
John
Is the only one of the company generally thought to have died a natural death from old age. He was the leader of the church in the Ephesus area and is said to have taken care of Mary the mother of Jesus in his home. During Domitian's persecution in the middle 90's, he was exiled to the island of Patmos. There he is credited with writing the last book of the New Testament--the Revelation. An early Latin tradition has him escaping unhurt after being cast into boiling oil at Rome.
From this account you can see that their gifts took them to different places where they were eventually murdered. In fact Jesus warned them that they would be murdered for the Gospel, and they indeed were.
The value that each human has is the gift they were born to deliver to humanity. We wouldn’t know Hugh Masekela if it wasn’t for his value (music). We wouldn’t know Joyce Meyer if it wasn’t for her value (preaching). We wouldn’t know John Kani if it wasn’t for his value (acting). We wouldn’t know Gerard Sekoto if it wasn’t for his value (art). All these people are known by what is unique about them and they are/were impossible to ignore. We follow them on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook because we love to see every move they make. The mysterious element is that they do not ask to be followed – we are the ones who pursue and shadow them because they have mastered their gift to a point where we got inspired and thus we celebrate them (celebrities). Why? Because they have discovered their gift and refined it to become experts, and so the gift becomes a function in their lives.
Rule of life: when you have what we need, you automatically become an influence to us
How many times have people walked passed you without valuing you for anything? What value do you bring to the table? Until you refine your uniqueness, we will always ignore you and take you for granted because we don’t know what you are here on earth for.
The fastest way to lose value is trough imitation. Do you want to be useless? Copy someone! The most valuable people in the workplace or in any career is the specialist. This is why, for example, a neurosurgeon is more valuable than a general practitioner (GP). Look at the irony: they used the word “general” to amplify the lack of value. When we are put in careers slots, I could argue that we really lost our value. This is unless of course one specializes in their career and it is usually always the ones who are gifted that specialize.
Even God hates imitations because nothing in creation is the same. No twins are the same and not even your eyes are the same. This proves that your Creator doesn’t want copies of anything.
Success is in problems
Take a look at the world around you. Almost everything you see was created or solved by people who were not smarter nor special than you. They just found something that they did well and kept doing it (refined the solution) until “something formed” or a problem was solved.
The story of Joseph
The following story is a short summary that highlights how Joseph used his gift to solve a problem that was in Egypt. He was a Hebrew who was sold as a slave by his brothers to Egypt.
A cupbearer and baker to Pharaoh were in jail with Joseph. One night each of them had a dream and they told their dreams to Joseph. He told the baker that his dream meant that he would be killed. He likewise told the cupbearer that he would soon be let out of jail. "Please tell Pharaoh about me, and ask him to get me out of here." Joseph said.
Just as Joseph had interpreted, the baker was killed by Pharaoh and the cupbearer was freed. When the cupbearer was freed he forgot about what Joseph did. So Joseph stayed in jail for two more years until one day the Pharaoh had a dream and nobody could explain it to him. The cupbearer then remembered what Joseph had done for him and told Pharaoh about the Hebrew boy who had interpreted his dream. Pharaoh ordered Joseph to be brought before him so that he can interpret the dreams.
"Can you understand dreams?" Pharaoh asked. "I can't, but God helps me." Joseph replied. Pharaoh then told Joseph his dreams: ‘I saw seven fat, beautiful cows. Then I saw seven very thin and bony cows. And the thin ones ate up the fat cows. In my second dream I saw seven heads of full, ripe grain growing on one stalk. Then I saw seven thin, dried-out heads of grain. And the thin heads of grain began to swallow up the seven good heads of grain. Joseph says to Pharaoh: ‘The two dreams mean the same thing. The seven fat cows and the seven full heads of grain mean seven years, and the seven thin cows and the seven thin heads of grain mean seven more years. There will be seven years when a lot of food will grow in Egypt. Then there will be seven years when very little food will grow. So Joseph tells Pharaoh: ‘Choose a wise man and put him in charge of collecting food during the seven good years. Then the people will not starve during the following seven bad years when very little food will grow. What can I do?" Pharaoh asked. "God has shown you what to do. There will be seven years before the bad years that will be very good. So good that there will be extra food for everyone. So you should save a little bit of each years’ harvest, that way you will have enough to get you through the bad years.” Pharaoh likes the idea. And he chooses Joseph to collect the food, and to store it up. Next to Pharaoh, Joseph becomes the most important man in Egypt. People came from all countries to buy grain from Joseph, because the whole world was in need of food.
The overall purpose of God maneuvering Joseph to Egypt was so that when the famine hit that part of the world, God’s chosen people would not starve back in Israel. To accomplish this, God gave Joseph a gift and this is what I will highlight.
What do we learn from Joseph’s situation that happened 3000 BC? Lesson 1: As long as you don’t know your gift you will always be in prison. The question is: what do you have or what can you do that people will come looking for you for? If it wasn’t for Joseph’s gift to interpret Pharaoh’s dream they wouldn’t have sought him out in prison. If you don’t serve the world your gift you are no value to us unfortunately. You will stay in prison. The only way out is your gift unfortunately.
Not only did he interpret the dream but he also gave solutions as to how to solve the dilemma. Lesson 2: Your gift comes with an innate ability to solve problems in your area of gifting. Joseph was not even from Egypt but he interpreted and solved a problem that none of the Egyptians could solve.
Joseph was not Pharaoh but he ran Egypt. Lesson 3: Your gift will give you influence. Pharaoh appointed Joseph to manage the financial risks for the whole of Egypt. In today’s terminology he was the Chief Financial Officer of Egypt. This was because of the influence he had through his gift. When you have something that people need you automatically become the influence. We readily see this in America where foreigners such as Elon Musk and Trevor Noah (both from South Africa) come along and take over a specific domain with their gifts in countries where they are foreigners.
Although this is a shortened version to highlight how Joseph solved a problem, you can clearly see that he would have never got out of prison, solved the Egypt problem or been the influence if it wasn’t for his gift.
The big idea
Problems are simply needs needed to be met. It is a pleasure to solve problems in your area of gifting because you will be working in flow. Your gift allows you to be solid, tough, robust and stable under pressure. Joseph had all of these characteristics in front of Pharaoh and if he had wasted Pharaoh’s time he might have been beheaded on the spot (Pharaoh’s didn’t play in those days!). Your mental characteristics under pressure (due to your gift) will allow you to think outside the box with meaningful new ideas, resulting in innovative or different approaches to a task that you never would have in solving a problem outside your area of gifting.
Do you know why Mark Zuckerberg was successful with Facebook? He solved a communication problem by introducing a platform through which people at different ends of the globe could connect. Do you know why Christianity has the largest following in the world? According to the Bible, Jesus Christ solved the problem of death by rising again after three days, which nobody else has ever done. Nelson Mandela disentangled the problem of segregation between different races, which resulted in the rainbow nation we see today in South Africa.
Your gift has the ability and potential to answer a problem we have in this generation and you were born at the right time because you carry something WE NEED NOW! You are not remembered for the things you have avoided; you are remembered for the things you have survived and solved.
The world we live in responds well to problem solvers and can pay handsomely for solutions. Your value shoots up and the demand in your life will increase based on the solutions you provide. Below is a picture of me where I won R50000 for presenting a solution of uplifting gift guidance rather than career guidance. As you can see, money really followed a solution.
Problems are right next to us but we walk past them every day to go to a job, which I believe is partly down to how education has conditioned us as highlighted in the “Role of education” chapter.
Your gift allows you to be in flow
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, considered one of the co-founders of positive psychology, was the first to identify and research flow.
The concept of flow highlights exactly how utilizing your inherent gift allows to solve problems
If you’ve ever heard someone describe a time when their performance excelled and they were “in the zone,” they were likely describing an experience of flow. Flow occurs in those moments when you’re completely absorbed in a challenging but doable task – basically where your skill level and the challenge at hand are equal. It is that magical place where you’re completely absorbed in what you’re doing, where time seems to pass so fast it’s like it doesn’t exist at all. THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE AT ALL TIMES WHEN YOU ARE WORKING IN THE DOMAIN OF YOUR GIFT.
Looking at the picture above, the ideal place to be is, you guessed it, is in the “Flow Channel”. I believe that most people in their everyday life either have anxiety or they are bored. They are bored because they are in an environment where they have big skills with few challenges, or they are in an environment where they big challenges with no skills to solve them. A job will always put you in these two categories (very rarely do you find a job where you are in flow). I did a little experiment while in my corporate job to prove this – see Chapter 5.
Excerpt from the book HOW TO QUIT YOUR JOB AND PURSUE PURPOSE, available for R300 delivered to your doorstep. Whatsapp Sphesihle @ 0681630008 to place your order.