For many people the death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson,  came as a big shock. Up to 1 billion Jackson fans grieved over the loss of their hero. My wife also felt a sense of sadness as she considered him to be a man of impressive talent. I can concede that he had made an undeniable impact on the world of music...his talent will certainly outlive him. Personally, I have never been too much of a Jackson fan, specifically because of his very peculiar tastes and habits.

In the movie Facing the Giants, a story is told of two concerned farmers conversing about a drought they had been experiencing for some time. The farmers decided to pray for rain. Afterwards, one of the famers immediately started to plough his fields and then sow seeds in expectation of the rain to come. The other just sat back and waited, thinking that he would only start to plough the soil once the rain had actually fallen. He didn't have enough faith to put in the effort required to reap the reward. One may speculate that he was too complacent as well.

If you've had the opportunity to go on a shopping trip with your wife, you will agree that the experience can sometimes be painfully cumbersome.

We are all born with a set of gifts and talents. Hopefully, we use these gifts and talents and other resources to achieve our goals and fulfill our purpose in life. 

To reach our goals, we need to be willing to overcome all obstacles coming our way. This is often easier said than done. We sometimes become so overwhelmed by our obstacles, or shall I say, we find ourselves so deep in the middle of the swamp, with crocodiles popping up everwhere, that we become oblivious to dry land!

If this is where you are right now, then you may find these words encouraging:

Since the beginning of mankind people needed and benefited from leaders in every sphere of life; be it religion, society, family, education, government, professional or business. Without leadership there is simply no direction.

We often hear unsuccessful people say that 'success, wealth and fame' are just for the lucky few...for the ones who have been blessed with an influential family, who have special talents or maybe have had a lucky break at the right time. Excuses are often started with "But you don't understand...", and then a whole variety of reasons are given as to why they can never reach or achieve the goals and dreams they aspire to. You may hear reasons such as:

Leadership Consultant and Business Philosopher, Jim Rohn, was once quoted saying that "the book you don't read won't help".

I often ask people how many self-help or motivational books they have read and the most common answers are that they haven't read since high school or university; that they don't like reading at all or that they are too busy to read. Yet many people find it easy to spend hours watching TV or read newspapers and their favorite magazines. 

Dr Ron Jenson, author of the book Make a life - Not just a living, says:

"To be authentically successful, you must be the same on the inside as you are on the outside. This means being a person of integrity. You must align your inner, private life and outer, public life with the same principles."

John C. Maxwell says that "leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less". The greater your capacity to influence other people to move towards a specific goal or vision that will positively impact everyone involved, the better the leader you are. But people sometimes tend to abdicate their role as leaders in society, church, sport, family and at work because of e.g. laziness, comfort zones, shying away from personal accountability, fear, etc.

Famous motivational speaker, Earl Nightingale, once said that “a man’s environment is a merciless mirror of himself as a human being”. He elaborated on this statement by saying that

As human beings we have unlimited potential and can, if we choose to, soar to heights never even imagined before, but we have to believe in ourselves and our own capabilities.

How is it that there are some people living a life of success and fulfillment while others are anchored to one of mediocrity? President Theodore Roosevelt once said the following that may shed some light on this dilemma:

“Far better is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

Donald J. Trump and Robert T. Kiyosaki, authors of the latest best selling book, 'Why we want you to be Rich', state the following:

“One thing we all need to remember is that a little effort is the best replacement for excuses. If we were all to make an effort to understand what’s going on around us, to make that quantum leap to using our higher, non-complacent minds, some lucid thinking might result.”

They further state that: