THE SMART “START”!!!

- January 05, 2017

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Warning: DO NOT READ WITHOUT A JOTTER AND PEN!!!

A happy New Year to you all.

For some, the year has just begun, hence there’s still much time to linger. To others, the year is already far spent, no time to waste time. No matter the divide in which you fall under, you’re definitely on point. Permit me therefore to welcome you to the year.

From early “expert” predictions and analysis from local as well as international “super houses”, the year is filled with so much gloom and crunchiness, economy-wise. However, just like Walt Disney said, “I heard there’s going to be a recession, but I have decided not to participate”, I have since also decided not to participate in the recession and incoming economic holocaust. It’s with excitement that I encourage you to toe the same path of positivity. Therefore, relax and be productively expectant.

As a Christian with some basic knowledge of the greatest book ever written, THE BIBLE, I have an understanding that everyone of us as Christians have, embedded in us, a measure of priesthood and kingship. Permit me therefore to exercise mine: I welcome you to the best year of your life EVER!!! All through this year 2017, may you never know a better yesterday. May each day of 2017 unveil to you: new and amazing dimensions of God’s grace and miracles. Amen!!!

I don’t care about your background, generational trends, or your current disposition, I pray that in this year 2017, you will break forth on every side. This is your year of supernatural speed, because, your case is different!!!

Now, to the main event…

We have all started the year. Some have made numerous resolutions, others have made vows. Kudos. Many have earmarked goals and various things to be achieved this year. Great. Some have since begun to see to the actualization of these amazing dreams. Well-done. However, there’s no better way to start than to start “smart”. I hope you have started smartly. If not, read on!

Is there a way to start that seems smart? Yes.

Any “start” that is backed by the necessary ingredient of sound ‘planning” is a smart one. I have seen people start the same endeavour at the same time, with the same resources, and even with the same energy; yet, they all finished differently. The key? Having a PLAN. Not just any plan, a great plan.

No matter how lofty or enterprising that goal or dream of yours may be, if not backed by a good and robust plan, it’s sure to fall short of success, or entirely fail. Planning is vital, maybe, even more vital than the dream or goal itself.

Every enterprise is built by wise planning. It therefore makes common sense to give life to that dream, goal, or enterprise through planning. To maximize your 2017, begin with strategic planning.

Why do you need to plan?

Insight gathered through planning ensures that purpose isn’t disappointed. Where there is no planning, expect your purpose to be disappointed. Just like it is said, failing to plan, is planning to fail. That goal will be unattainable without planning, dreams will be aborted without planning. Planning is winning. Planning makes winning a sure-bet.

Planning is the cheapest way to avert wastage: in energy, resources, knowledge, dreams, relationships, money, etc. Planning conserves energy and relieves you of tension. Planning minimizes stress. Planning ensures for gallant delivery of results.

Planning keeps your goals in perspective. Planning gives focus. Planning aligns your goals to your resources, and your strategies to your output. Planning relieves you of headaches. Therefore, don’t kill your tomorrow with poor planning or the lack of it thereof.

Planning ensures that things are practical and not a product of luck. Life is practical, not mystical. A mystical approach will often result in a miserable end. A practical approach is ideal.

Planning helps you build enough capacity for the day of delivery. In 2^nd Timothy 2:15, the Apostle Paul tells us to “Study to shew thyself approved...”. That is, studying precedes any showing. You can’t study and fail to show. Studying in this context entails planning. All things being equal, you can’t plan and fail to succeed. Everything good is a product of good planning.

What is planning?

Planning is a design of a step-by-step approach for achieving a set goal. It is the ordering of one’s priorities in a bid to accomplishing a given task. It is a process of action in a quest to fulfilling a dream. It is also a roadmap to arriving at an intended destination successfully.

Realize that no one succeeds by accident. Success is a matter of luck, ask any failure. Most people are quick to allude other people’s progress to some elements of luck. The question is: why are you not lucky? Friend, luck isn’t their key, having a smart or smarter plan is.

Shallow people think of luck, great people think of cause and effect…

We see strategic planning during creation. God is a strategic planner. He made light before the firmaments, the firmaments before plants, plants before animals, animals and plants before man. Proverbs 3:19 says “The LORD by wisdom has founded the earth, by understanding has He established the heavens”. Creation is a product of God’s strategic planning!!!

Whatever you are creating must require strategic planning as a baseline…

You want to Plan? Then…

Acquire divine counsel. (Proverbs 19:21). A touch of God’s grace makes the difference. A first inquiry from God for that endeavour would enable God’s spirit to enlarge your mind and bless your memory. A blessed memory gives you a headstart.
Get your writing material. Don’t just think it, ink it!
Gather facts. Don’t plan with assumptions. Consult resource materials, books, tapes, teachings etc. in your fact finding crave. With precision, locate facts relevant to your planning process. The facts at your disposal determines the quality of your planning process. However, the source of your facts is as important as the fact itself.
Use expert judgement. In Proverbs 15:22, the bible says “Without counsel, purposes are defeated…”. Nothing is really new. For every goal, enterprise, business, or idea you may be working on, there would always be similitudes already existing. Consult people who have gone through the path you want to delve into. Seek knowledge from those who have it. If you may need to pay these “experts”, please do. It would aid commitment from both parties.
Do not copy. Anything you copy won’t work in your circumstance because the variables in the model you’re copying isn’t what exists in your place. The model has to be integrated to match the specificities of your own model. Engage your own model to create your own result and future.
Activate your intellect. Your intellectual capacity determines the quality of your plan. If you think your intellectual capacity is low, then seek to grow it. No matter the facts gathered or the knowledge acquired from experts, that idea, goal, or enterprise should have a touch of your intellect. It must carry your seed. In a nutshell, USE YOUR BRAIN. Yes! Your brain, not someone else’s. Every gain is traceable to the use of the brain. The brain is the engine room for planning. With the brain, you think out a problem, you think out the solution, and you plan the strategy.

Using the Brain…

It takes sound planning to make success. It is the use of the brain that establishes the reign of man. Every gain is the result of the use of the brain. It is the use of the senses that makes a star. It is the use of the brain that enhances the quality of our planning.

If planning is designing a rational and logical approach to achieving a given task, the raw material therefore is REASONING. Reasoning is the critical raw material for sound planning. To REASON is to engage the BRAIN in the act of logical, rational, and analytical thinking. Reasoning is strategic thinking. Every great planner must of necessity be a great thinker.

Every dedicated thinker will always emerge a great planner…

Draw maximum value in addressing your concerns through strategic thinking and analyzing of relevant information gathered from different resources. Strategic thinking culminates in strategic planning, and results in concrete results.

If you’re not committed to mental work, you will end up doing menial work…

E.W Kenyon (of blessed memory) said: “Make your brain work, it will sweat, but make it work, then it will improve, it will develop, until you become the envy of all those around you”.

There is the sweating of the brain. It is after the sweating of the brain comes the sweetness of life. It is brainwork that makes everything work. Make your brain work. Let your brain come alive.

We must understand that God’s ways are not lower but higher. Spirituality is not against reasoning. In John 8:1-11, when the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman that was accused of adultery before Jesus, and tempted Him, the bible records in verses 6 and 8 that Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground. I dare say that at those times, Jesus was reasoning the answer He would give them. We know the aftermath of that event. Spirituality enhances the quality of your reasoning capacity. This is so because via salvation, you have received a mind transplant.

In Luke 15:11-32, we also find that the prodigal son engaged in strategic thinking to get his dignity restored. He called himself to a meeting (strategic thinking) and reasoned that being even a servant to his father was better than the way he was at that time.

Friends, engage brainwork/strategic thinking and plan today, and you can afford to play tomorrow.

Resources are never the problem: if you can think enough, what you have is enough…

If you really want things to work, get started at the beginning with a plan. The best place to begin is at the beginning. The beginning is the point of planning. Every great gain begins with brainwork that culminates in a great plan.

Stop waiting for the next thing to happen. Start planning with what you have at your disposal. Your true image is your product, not your posture. Don’t be bothered about what people think, be concerned about what you think and what it takes.

Forget the output, plan first. Stop daydreaming. Many have great plans but are not committed to it. No matter how small that idea, goal, or business is, let it just have a great plan that you’re committed to following.

Always remember that everywhere waste thrives, grace fails. If you subscribe to waste, you automatically disconnect from grace. The cheapest way to guide against waste (in time, energy, resources, dreams, money etc.) is to have a plan to which you’re truly committed to.

Let me end with this:

Deep words are products of deep thoughts. Think!

Deep results are products of deep thoughts. Think again!!

Deep thoughts are products of brainwork. Think again and again!!!

To whom brain is given, sense is expected.

See you next week!

#SoloEdge

Your Friend.

Solomon C. Chinedu

scc.solomonchinedu@outlook.com
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Url: www.thebrainedge.blogspot.com
(References: The Bible (KJV), Dr. David Oyedepo, E.W Kenyon, Zig Ziegler, Clarkson Ikwunze, Walt Disney)