SELF-AWARENESS

Self-Awareness is the first component of intrapersonal intelligence. To maximize your potential, you need to first know what you have the potential to do. A lot of people don’t have a clear and accurate knowledge of themselves and what they can do, so they are moving to-and-fro in life!

Yes it’s true that you know the top 10 successful business people in the world; the top 10 celebrities in the world; the top 10 richest people in the world; the top 10 investors in the world. You have read about them, you have heard about them and you have listened to their programs. But do you know yourself? Your first step to bring the best in you is to develop self-awareness. It is to know the great potential in you and to bring it out! It is know yourself!

Daniel Goleman, the bestselling author of “Emotional Intelligence” made it clear that self-awareness is the first skill set that makes up emotional intelligence. In his research and book, he showed that successful leaders in the world first of all have levels of self-awareness.

Self-awareness is the ability to recognize and know your beliefs, thoughts, emotions, strength, weakness and your sense of worth. Oprah Winfrey said, “You become exactly what you believe and is not just your shadow beliefs but your subconscious beliefs.” In order words, self-awareness helps you to recognize the subconscious beliefs and thoughts ruling your life, so you can make changes to them and change your life!

Image Source: Confidence Is Quiet

According to Daniel Goleman’s research, self-awareness has three components: emotional awareness, accurate self-assessment and self-confidence. The more you know your emotions, beliefs and thoughts, the more accurate knowledge you develop about your strengths and weaknesses. And the more you know your strengths and weaknesses, the more confidence you will be about your life and in doing what you do best!

To know yourself and discover the treasures within you, take time and engage in self-reflection. Use the following questions as yardstick in making your personal reflection.

1. Who am I?

2. Where am I in life?

3. What on earth am I here for?

4. What am I capable of doing?

5. Where am I going to or what is my destiny?

These five questions will help you know yourself better and to unleash the potential within you. They will help you to develop self-awareness and live a more successful and happy life!

Written by Francis Sabutey,

Content Writer & Content Marketer,

Accra-Ghana.

THE 7 COMPONENTS OF INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE

To lead and manage yourself, you’ve got to develop the 7 components of intrapersonal intelligence. Intrapersonal Intelligence is simply the ability to understand, manage and lead yourself well. The 7 components of intrapersonal intelligence form the foundation for personal and career success.

In order to succeed in your personal and career life, you have to know yourself. Somebody said, “ Know Thyself”. You can’t lead yourself, without understanding yourself and you can’t understand yourself if you don’t study yourself and finally you can’t study yourself without the 7 components of intrapersonal intelligence.

So what the heck are the 7 components of intrapersonal intelligence?

1.    Self-Awareness: this is simply how well you know yourself. It’s you ability to study and know your strengths and weakness. Highly successful people have a high sense of awareness. Because they know who they are, what they like, what they don’t like and where they’re going in life. It guides them to lead themselves well.

2.    Self-Reflection: To know yourself, you have to review your thoughts, intentions, feelings and abilities. By constantly examining yourself, you’re able to know who you are and this help in your daily decision making.

3.    Self-Control: This is the ability to make yourself do the right thing, whether you feel like doing it or not. You control and discipline your feelings and simply do the right thing.

4.    Self-Motivation: To achieve success in life, you need to be motivated from within to do things. You need a vision and a purpose to drive you to do things. Purpose oriented people are highly self motivated people who become leaders and entrepreneurs in the world.

5.    Self-Confidence: To do what must be done, you need confidence and bravery. When you know who you are, you’re brave and that gives you the courage to excel in whatever you’re trying to do.

6.    Self-Esteem: Many people in life look down on themselves with inferiority complex. The think and feel that they’re not “Good enough!” So they don’t achieve much in life. So achieve greater levels of success, you must develop your self esteem and have superiority complex.

7.    Self-Responsibility: If you know yourself, you have self-confidence. These give you the ability wake up and take full responsibility for your life. You make no excuses, you blame no one, but what you do is to simply take responsibility and change your life and circumstances.

By developing the 7 components of intrapersonal intelligence, you will build the foundation for your personal and career success. This will give you the winning edge in your life and in everything you do.

Written By Francis Sabutey,

Content Writer & Maketer,

Accra-Ghana.

INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE-THE KEY TO SELF-MASTERY

Becoming successful in the career world is not just about your academic results. To succeed in the real world, it takes more than being brilliant and academically wiz to make it. You need high level intrapersonal intelligence.

 Intra means “within” and personal means “self”. So intrapersonal intelligence simply means the ability to look within oneself and manage one's feelings, emotions, outlook, thoughts and motives. Interpersonal intelligence simply makes you smart and wise in leading and managing yourself.

We all know that in life if you don’t manage your feelings, your feelings will manage you. Students with high intrapersonal intelligence understand their feelings, thoughts and motives. They are clearly aware of their strengths and weakness likes and dislikes, they also have a clear idea of what they want to do in life.

Intrapersonal intelligence is the key to self mastery. Self-mastery then is the key to personal and career success in life. Aristotle said, “I count him braver who overcomes his desire than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is victory over self.”

 The reason you are where you are in life is “your-self.” If you can conquer and master your-self, then you can master the challenges of your life! But you can’t master your-self without developing your intrapersonal intelligence.

Intrapersonal Intelligence has 7 components which are well developed in students who make it in school and in the real world. The components entail the following:

1.    Self-Awareness

2.    Self-Reflection

3.    Self-Control

4.    Self-Motivation

5.    Self-Confidence

6.    Self-Esteem

7.    Self-Responsibility

All students who are looking up to surviving and thriving in this challenging world must develop and master intrapersonal intelligence. Once you master yourself, you can then master the challenges of your life and finally be successful.

Written by Francis Sabutey,

Content Writer & Marketer,

Accra-Ghana.

HOW TO DEVELOP A 20 YEAR PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE

In a youth meeting which took place on 19^th March, 2017 in my church, Global Evangelical Church-Kotobabi, the speaker was asked to speak to the youths on “ How to Develop a 20 Year Life Plan.” I thought to share the lessons with you all through this blog post.

The message was delivered by a Presbyter in our church who is also a successful banker with Zenith Bank Ghana Limited, Mr. Ewoenam Kpodo. The meeting was well attended with approximately 42 youths of the church.

The speaker spoke on three questions to be used as a guiding tool in helping to plan the next 20 years of your life. 

These questions are:

1. Where am I?

2. Where am I going to or going to be?

4. How do I get there?

Where am I?

The first step in developing a plan for your life is for you to really access where you are in life now. You’ve got to access your strengths and weakness at the moment and ask yourself what you have been sent on this earth to do. 

Establish a purpose and mission for your life. Ask yourself where you are now in relation to your academic, career, financial, ministry, and spiritual and relationships life.

Order your custom designed journal to plan your life!

Where am I going to or to be?

The next step to take after you have finally accessed where you are in life now is to “develop a clear mental picture for your life”. The speaker stressed, “One of the worst things that can happen to any man is that you have eyes but don’t have a vision”.

Ask yourself:

 “What do I want to achieve in life”

 “What 10 things am I proud to achieve in life”

 “Where do I want to be in the next 5 years”

“Where do I want to be in the next 10 years”

“Where do I want to be in the next 20 years”

“Dreams are free; Dream big,” says the speaker. It’s good to have a dream, than not having a dream. So dream big and follow your dreams. Pen down your dreams in a journal and it is also good to think about your dreams, so you can register it in your mind.

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“How much the dream has consumed you will determine the level of effort you put into achieving it,” says the speaker. So, think and meditate over the dream until it has sunken deep down into your subconscious mind.

How do I get there?

The very last thing to do  to develop a 20 year plan for your life is to make a provisional strategic plan on how to achieve your dreams and visions. List at least  7 things you will do to achieve any item on your list. And then start immediately to work on your plan to achieve your dreams.

Prior to this you need to understand that “everything we do in life is a preparation,” the speaker noted. Don’t dwell on the "How" and paralyze yourself from achieving the dream. The most important thing is to have the dream, be obsessed about the dream and the “How” will come. Remember, Rome wasn't built in one day.

Schedule a Career & Personal Life Planning Session

In summary, there are 6 things you have to do to develop a 20 year plan for your life:

1. Have a dream.

2. Write down the dream.

3. Be obsessed with the dream.

4. Develop a plan on how to achieve the dream.

5. Work on your plans to achieve the dream.

6. Trust God to guide you to achieve the dream.

Order your custom designed journal to plan your life!

Written by Francis Sabutey,
Content Writer and Content Marketer.
Accra-Ghana.

HOW KEEPING A JOURNAL HAS CHANGED MY LIFE

Two (2) years ago when I was in third year in the University, I kept a particular green notebook as a journal where I documented my prayer requests, thoughts, feelings, plans, goals , life experiences with the various lessons I learnt from them and many other things of great importance to me. In the course of time, it got filled up, thus I left it and got another book for a journal.

Recently, something happened to me. I had to move to a new residence because of my work. During the period of parking and moving some of my belongings, I came across this old green journal of mine. 

Quickly I picked it and began to go through it. Wow!!! It was a nice time having to flashback on my past though it slowed down the parking I was doing.

In going through it, I saw that God had answered most of my prayer requests and that He deserved my thanksgiving.

Secondly, I realized how slightly I had gone off track with regards to some of my plans and aspirations. Immediately, I resolved in my mind the necessary steps I needed to take in order to align myself with what I had written and voila, the girl is back on track.

Lastly, my face beamed with smiles as I read my past life experiences and the lessons it taught me. The feeling was good.

This is just a few of the many reasons of keeping a journal.

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Six Things Keeping a Journal Will Do for You

Image Source: That It Girl

1.    Keeping a journal gives you the avenue to write out your goals. The importance of committing our desires to paper cannot be understated. It provides the opportunity to articulate them clearly and makes their achievement appear closer.

2.    Health wise, research has proven that keeping a journal improves ones cognitive functioning such as brainstorming, clarity in thinking and being articulate in speech. This is based on the reason that, the act of writing accesses our left brain which is analytical and rational.

3.    In addition to that, if an individual is struggling with stress, depression or anxiety, keeping a journal can help in gaining control of ones emotions leading to an improvement in the emotional and mental health of the individual.

4.    It also provides accountability. Keeping a journal allows you to track your progress, see how far you have gone and refocus you. Moreover, success attained can be quickly forgotten and so is failure thus having them documented in a journal gives you the chance to refer to them later.

Image Source: An Eclectic Mind

5.    Nonetheless, it also accelerates one's learning process in life. By writing down your thoughts, achievements, goals, experiences and others, you are taking an additional few minutes to process both what you have learnt and what you want to do and engrain it into your brain or memory

6.    Lastly, keeping a journal is like writing your story.  Thus if rightly shared, can inspire others.

Do you need a motivation to keep a journal? Then think about the following;

“You are a better student when you take notes”

“The shortest line is mightier than the sharpest memory”

“A journal is a friend you can confide in anywhere, anytime and any day without being objected or rejected”

To get your own customized journal for personal or business uses, kindly click the link below and place your order for your own customized journal!

Order your custom designed journal TODAY!

Written by Yayra E. Dordoh,

Journal Designer & Producer,

Accra-Ghana.

STUDENTS, DESIST FROM SMOKING! SECURE YOUR DESTINY!

When I was returning from Multisoft Solutions office by 1.00pm on 9^th March, 2017, I saw a mad man lying on the floor sleeping with butts of marijuana on his mouth. Shockingly I said to myself, “This marijuana has made this guy mad, As though that was not enough, he can’t even sleep without smoking it.”

What pity! Even though he is mad now, there was a time in his life when he was a student. He probably engaged in smoking by then and this has led him to this drastic situation in life. Students seeking to graduate and make exploits in life must desist from smoking!

One of the things that destroys the destinies and potentials of young people is drug abuse. Drug abuse has ranged from sniffing cocaine, marijuana smoking, alcoholism and finally tobacco smoking in the school cycles. Is either you stop it or it stop you from fulfilling your potential and destiny.

The destinies of many students have been corrupted and stolen due to smoking these drugs. Students who want to make it in life must desist from smoking and focus on their books. Seek counseling if you’re already smoking and wipe your life from all kinds of drug abuse.

Remember, secure your destiny because there is greatness within you!

Written by Francis Sabutey.

Content Writer & Author of “ 7 Habits of Highly Successful Students”.

Accra, Ghana

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DIARY AND A JOURNAL: KNOW WHAT TO USE!

         

        

Today a lot of people are confused about what exactly a journal and a diary is. Though they are synonymous, there are some differences between them.

Diary

From one dictionary definition,

 a diary is a book with spaces for each day of the year in which one can write down things to be done in the day or the future.

Cover Page of an Open Diary
Source: Ebay

With this definition, it is not surprising to see that most books produced and sold on the market as diaries have the year in review written on them boldly and the book pages have the corresponding dates and days of the year already printed in them. Some of the books even have the times of the day in them.

This points out that diary writing is more of a day-to-day writing. It takes into consideration date and time.

An Open Diary 

Now, in a diary, one can record anything ranging from experiences of the day, work schedule for a period( ie. it serving as a planner), just to mention a few.

Journal

A journal on the other hand is a book used to record of  of great significance. Any book of ones choice can be used to serve this purpose. This means that , in order to keep a journal one doesn’t need to get a particular or a specific book. Once you get a nice notebook (either small or big), you are good to go.

In a journal, one can record things of value ranging from one’s self assurances, goals, plans and aims. Thus a journal can be use to evaluate the

A journal or a Note Book

life of an individual. Nonetheless, it is also used to record one’s thoughts and reflections.

This makes journaling more topical, topical in the sense that notes of specialty comprising of academics, profession, business or marriage are written in a journal. For instance, an individual can write in his journal his academic goals or marital reflections for future evaluation.

Another thing is that, one can write in a journal whenever there is the desire. And the order of writing isn’t date or time bounded( this means that notes written in them need not necessarily be in chronological order ).

An open Note Book
Source: Savvy Traveller

With these little clarification of what a diary and a journal is, you are good to decide on what you need.

Written by Yayra Dodoh,
Diary & Journal Designer & Producer

INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE: GETTING ALONG WELL WITH OTHERS

You can’t achieve success on your own. It takes a team to make a dream work. It takes cooperation to make a team work. And it finally takes interpersonal intelligence to develop a high level of cooperation between teams. To achieve your dream in life, you cannot but to develop your interpersonal intelligence.

To be successful in life, you need to learn to relate well with yourself and others. Your ability to understand the feelings of people, their mood changes, body language, intentions, the words they speak and precisely use that information to deal wisely with them is defined as your interpersonal intelligence.

Source: Arizona State University

People with high interpersonal intelligence are good at making and maintaining friends; they socialize a lot and are able to steer interactions between their peers and groups. They understand the emotions and feelings of people and are able to respond appropriately.  They enjoy being with others, make people feel high esteem by listening patiently to them and communicating appropriately with them verbally and non-verbally.

These people with high interpersonal intelligence tend to be class prefects in school, SRC Presidents, teachers’ favorites, and leaders in the corporate area.  They tend to take on careers that deal with human contacts such as teaching, manager, nurse, doctor, trainer, coach, counselor, motivational speaker, consultant, receptionist, police, and pastor.

Written by Francis Sabutey,

Content Writer & Author of “ 7 Habits of Highly Successful Students”

Accra-Ghana.