You kick start your dreams and you are super excited at the prospect of their growth.
You know if you take your dreams to completion they will change lives or may be they will generate income that will take you out of your financial misery.
But somewhere along the way like you are held back by numerous distractions.
A day of pushing of your intentions turns into a month and into years, then frustrations of not staying on track kick in and then you decide “may be this is not for me.”
We’ve all been there.
Many of us have been there, we have started something but have been held back by so many distractions.
Just how can we stay on track?
In today’s post you will get insights from my friend Thulani Mphahlele, on starting and staying on track.
Thulani has developed a self-development tool; “Stay on Track Diary” and is an expert on goal setting.
Thulani’s “Stay on Track Diary” has been sold all over South Africa in only 3 months since its launch and reached over 10 million South Africans. Thulani has been featured in over 8 radio stations.
To the sunrise moment readers who do not know who you are please introduce yourself.
Thulani Mphahlele is an inspirational speaker, Author and Performance Strategist.
I am originally from Bloodriver, South Africa. I hold a Bachelors in Education from University of Pretoria, which I completed in 2010. The first two years of my working life marked the most important time of my life because that is when I started asking myself this question; WHO AM I and answering that question has led me to be where I am right now.
On starting;
Alberto once said, “I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we’re all cowards.” When you first started embarking in business what doubts did you have and how did you overcome them?
When I started I had doubts too. I believe that having doubts is natural and to me doubting is a sign that you are about to embark on something new and better, bigger than yourself.”
I was afraid to share my newly found passion with people in my inner circles, afraid that I might not be understood and afraid of the same question we all ask ourselves, “what if I disappoint?”
Eventually I gathered the courage to share my dreams. Although most of my friends thought that my dreams were crazy, my parents supported me.
I started to build my brand on Facebook where I shared my progress and when people saw what I was up to, they begun to appreciate my vision and believe in me.
Even after embarking on a journey, one can still experience moments of doubt every now and then, so how does you overcome doubts?
“I kick in FAITH immediately. The only solution to doubting is having faith. Doubting, fear, insecurity are all opposites of faith.
So how do I kick in faith?
The Bible says faith comes by hearing. I am very picky with what I listen to, if it is not faith filled I am not bothering myself because if I lose faith I am losing my destiny.
What would be your advice to someone taking the first steps in business or pursuing their dreams?
Fall in love with your business. Love your business like you love your partner, kids or family; you must be willing to do whatever it takes to take it where you want it to be.
Build slowly;
Do not be in a rush to make it big.
Building a business uses the same principle as building a house. Spend most of your time in building the foundation. The slow process of building the foundation is usually the time of building a firm character that will stand hardships.
Don’t fight to be out there because being out there does not necessarily mean you’re doing something of value. Work more on being excellent behind the scene.
On staying on track;
When the year begins many people are fired up, they have a resolve to take on the world and make their dreams happen. But by this time of the year many have lost track of their big goals, what would say the biggest reason for falling off track is and what would your number one advice to such?
It is natural for everyone to be inspired by new things.
So when the year starts we feel like we are opening a new page, we are easily inspired to set goals and to change our lives. The inspiration fades off by the 3rd week.
People lose track because they do not set daily strategic goals.
To stay on track use a daily process that will push you to become intentional with your daily agenda.
Small goals that feed into the big goals are just as essential.
So breaking down big goals makes them more manageable and easy to achieve.
All the same I believe that the desire to change or to kick start your dreams should not just be reserved for the New Year; all you need is to make a decision, start planning and take action.
Starting something is one thing and staying on track is another. You have recently published the “Stay on Track” Diary which everyone has reached millions in South Africa can you tell us about it?
When I started developing this tool I was designing it for learners at my school and I had no idea that I was developing it for the public at large. With time the idea grew and I realized it can serve a wider audience.
Stay on Track Diary is a simple tool for personal development.
It is a diary designed to help individuals beat procrastination, help those who have the desire to pursue bold dreams and those who want to be successful.
With the Stay on Track Diary one can track the performance of their life in real time.
Correctly used it can help individuals become better. It can help instill three most important habits essential to staying on track;
- discipline,
- focus
- and consistency.
Anyone with a dream can use this diary from entrepreneurs to university and high school students as well as professionals.
In a world full of distraction, for instance recent research shows that the average person in our society on an average day is distracted by interruptions every 11 minutes and checks their phones 110 times what would you consider the value of this tool in helping people deal with distractions?
The reason people are easily distracted is because they do not have a system in place.
They live life hoping to get things done but the truth is an average human being loves to procrastinate.
Quite often we put off the things that matters and do things which do not significantly serve our dreams, things that are more fun like scrolling on social media or watching television.
To avoid distraction one has to become INTENTIONAL with their time which is what this tool is all about, helping people become INTENTIONAL with their time.
I believe that when you start to become intentional, you become focused because everything you do is planned.
In this tool every hour is allocated to accomplishing a single task. Keeping your mind on one task every hour, helps the mind to stay tuned to the things that matter.
This is the secret of high achievers they become obsessed with one task at a time, they focus on it like everything depends on it and they say no to everything else.
It is believed we become like people we associate with, in many of my post I talk about the value of networking. I believe that networking has a significant role in helping people to stay on track and achieve their dreams, who among your network inspires you the most and why?
I have a lot of networks and just to name a few, I am inspired by my mentor Charmaine Jacobs and also a good friend of mine Khethelo Nkosi who are both Speakers in their own fields. They push me and challenge me to go bigger and become better.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5-10 years?
If I can take care of today and live it to its fullest capacity then tomorrow will certainly be mine. I plan for the future but the focus is on today because today is the day the Lord has made.
I live by the bible in a personal way. The bible says many are the plans in a man’s heart but it is the Lord’s purpose that will prevails and then it also says I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. These two verses give me the confidence to say I am not worried about my future, my concern is to ensure that today is well lived.
How can we get in contact of you?
Find out more about Thulani here, website , Facebook page
To order the diary, please send an email to order@stayontrackdiary.co.za
Thank you Thulani for very insightful thoughts. Now if you have thoughts on staying on track lets continue this conversation here.