Did She Really?

Conspiracy preachers theorists are at it again. This particularly American talent has found a new assignment on the airwaves. American diva and style icon,  Beyoncé, is suspected of doing the lip synch, at, of all places, the American Presidential crowning inauguration. She was up for a rendition of the American national anthem, which was well delivered in her magnificent style.

The rumour has the social media agog with the possibility, as the band at the crowning (oops, sorry) inauguration was said to have been told to step down since the instrumentation would be played from a track. There are also doubts being expressed as per whether she actually crooned to the track or just mimed her vocals.

Her performance looks real enough to me. However conspiracy evangelists theorists have been out of work for some time. They have latched on to this with as much gusto as Christopher Columbus to his quest to discover the new world.

That the singing was is commendable. Why not lets all just sit back and enjoy the musical witch-craft of a diva who has perfected her art, to all intents and purposes, for the glory of man and country.

Carry on diva! Just keep on crooning.

  The American Presidential Inauguration Speech

 ' I come to bury Obama, not to praise him'

This is how Shakespeare would have begun this article.. Indeed a lot of criticism continues to trail President Obama's Inauguration Speech, especially from the conservative right and in fact from all over Conservative America. 'Its an ode to big government'; 'this is a resurgence of activist government',;'how more liberal will Obama get', and many more of such statements rent the airwaves just hours after the inaugural ceremony.  

This is all because of the President's commitment to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and other such welfarist programs that tend to earn him the label 'socialist'. 

Oh how citizens in Third World Countries would love to exchange their lack-lustre leaders with a President Obama.  Here the leaders are detached from the socio-economic realities afflicting the average citizens of their domains.

In those countries graciously given the title 'Developing Countries' by the Western World, we would give two arms and ten teeth to have the opportunity to be governed by such a 'welfarist' or 'socialist' president. Here, we have had 'odes to big government' for decades, (and the musicians keep changing every couple of years) without improvement in the quality of lives of citizens .

Conservative America should be careful what they wish for. They just might conjure up Third World style leaders who are big on talk, big on budgets and lightweight on the primary responsibilities of government - rule of law, security of lives and property, and promotion of general welfare of its constituents.

Success Essentials This New Year (1)

It’s a brand new year and am sure you’re done taking stock of last year’s failures and successes. A wise man once said madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting changes. To attain to greater terrains this year its an imperative to change the way you carried on last year.

In the march on life its essential for one to discover oneself. What are your strengths? weaknesses? Have you done a SWOT analysis on you? (SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). Have you taken stock of you?

Its also important now to settle on your magnificent obsession – your major goal in life. What do you want to achieve in life? Time is racing by. Its all going real fast.

How do I settle on a major goal in life, you may ask. Well, that’s easy. You arrived on this planet with the necessary equipment, with an inner leading towards your major task in life, what some have called your destiny. Look inwards. Look to innate signals. Access your strengths, weaknesses. In what direction do your talents and giftings lead you? Its your responsibility to discover what you were put on the planet to achieve so discover it now, if you haven’t already.

And if you have, get to work. Visualize yourself fulfilling your goals and objectives. Take consistent action towards your magnificent obsession – your major goal in life. Action is essential; however it needs to be combined with intellect. Take intelligent actions always.

 Learn self discipline – develop the art of evaluating the consequences of your actions. Ask yourself continually – will this action advance me towards my goals, or will it detract me from it? If this action will lead me nowhere nearer my goals, I should drop it! Think ahead to the consequences of your actions. This is a major determinant of success in life.

So feel free to pursue your goals. Make your actions count this year. You will go far if you adhere to the essentials – set your goals, visualize your success, take consistent and intelligent action towards your dreams. Evaluate your actions against its  consequences continually. Don’t ever forget where you are headed.

Forgetting our objectives is the most frequent of all acts of stupidity – Friedrich Nietzsch (1884-1900). How apt. Keep your goals continually in front of you and you will achieve greatness in life.

Dinner is served. Bon appetite 

3 quotes for the road

Do unto others as you want to be remembered by.

Its not the size of a project that determines success but the size of the leader

he who a masquerade pursues should not faint; for as the mortal tires so does the immortal - Yoruba proverb, my translation.

My New Year Resolution (as new year resolutions go)

Like me, I am sure you have taken time out and a notepad to compose a new year resolution or new year resolutions, as the case may be. It is our wont to yearly write several lines, in the spirit and excitement of the new calendar, resolutions we have no intention of keeping.

Don’t get me wrong. It really is good to make resolutions, to have a direction for the new year. I preach this and live it. You need to articulate a personal mantra, a path which you will follow to better your life. Such may be that you will work harder this year, take better care of your family, save ten per cent monthly out of your income towards personal financial independence, pay more attention to detail, read at least a book monthly, etc. These are all to good intents.

However why make them annual resolutions? The problem is that the excitement with which we alight on and articulate these resolutions which have a potential to make our lives better and improve our life missions are short lived. They need to be whipped up weekly and possibly daily. Oh how much progress we would attain if we were to set these goals weekly and follow through every day of our lives.

So making new year resolutions is just the start of the journey. Are you really prepared to improve your life, to make a success out of it? Are you intent upon becoming a better father, leader, manager, worker, pastor, imam, teacher? Then you must be ready to use these to really great effects, as a general compass for the year. Set milestones and steps that must be achieved monthly, with weekly evaluation of progress being made towards the desired direction.

This calls for more hard work that you have bargained for in the area of personal success charting. Success is not by accident. You must review your resolutions daily, look at your monthly milestones weekly and break it down to specific steps that must be carried out on a daily basis. This you must do in order to avoid becoming a wandering generality in life, to use the words of Zig Ziglar.

So set to now! There’s a lot to do, a lot to achieve, a lot of steps up the mountain. But guess what? It’s good you have started by setting those annual resolutions. Make it different this year. Take a further step and determine to have a weekly review and break these down to daily actions towards your desired goal. And I tell you, with consistent attention to these, even the skies will fail to limit you.

Bon voyage

The mobile phone was made for man

Its crazy these days, the way everyone seems to have a wrong relationship with their mobile phones. You can`t even get a conversation in, before a fellow conversant escuses you to pick a call. And then there is the ever present ring ring of your mobile phone or someone else`s.

People just can`t stand their phones ringing - they must reach for it, ignoring the importance or otherwise of the matter at hand.

Pray, tell, was the phone made for man, or man for the phone? Must people always check whose call they missed, who sent them a text message, bla bla bla?

And must they reply or call back immediately?

This world is going ga-ga!