Life and Living, it’s about Direction, not Speed!

Life is more about the direction you’re heading, than the speed at which you’re going. And a key requirement for getting your coordinates right is potential.

God is the only potentate, the word from where potential comes from. Potential is something existing in possibility, that is yet to manifest.

Inside a seed for example lies the potential for a tree and even a forest. Without focus (planting, watering, weeding etc.) on its direction (potential) though, the seed would never become a tree. The sun, the moon and all His creation were created for a purpose. The bee, small as it is, is responsible for pollination that allows plants to pollinate and grow to feed the world. So that little bee, that little seed has potential. God is a God of Purpose. All His creation is for a purpose, and He deposits the required potential to achieve that purpose in each person.

So, how does one focus on Direction?

1. Discovery
The first thing to maximizing potential is discovery. Knowing who you are. Once you discover who you are, your purpose, your potential is unearthed.
God has deposited so much potential in us. ”Ye are gods”, says God. It is never about you, it’s about Him who created you for that purpose. And He already put in you the potential for that assignment - The Direction you should be pursuing.
2. Commitment and Passion
Commitment thrives with passion, while passion births commitment. The absence of passion weakens commitment. So find your passion or at least find a passion and be committed to it. That would give direction to your life. Passion is derived from the Latin word ‘passes’, which means sacrifice. Passion involves sacrifice, such that commitment without sacrifice is unreal.
Commitment is like mountain climbing: the higher you go the more challenging. The climb enables you to scale mountains you never thought you could scale as it reduces the height of challenges to the range of possibility. In actual fact, no mountain was ever scaled which was considered too high.
3. Invest In Yourself
You will be the same person you are in five years except for the books you read and the people you meet. I used the word Invest, because the unlearning and learning required, like all education would cost you time and money. But it is an investment worth pursuing I assure you.
4. Slow and Steady.  Make haste, slowly
There are those who are quick to see and grasp ideas in advance. They have this quick ability, but what don’t they do? They do not weigh every point and apply their ideas in a way that produces the best results. If you move forward and you suddenly discover that in your hurry you’ve gone in the wrong direction, have you made progress? Not at all, you will have to retrace your steps, and you would have delayed. So stop and take time so that you don’t have to retrace your steps.
5. Pray
My mentioning Prayer last on my list of five key things that helps one focus on direction is not to diminish the significance of prayer. In actual fact, as created beings, which I believe we are, there’s nothing more important than to seek the guidance and blessing of our creator in pursuit of the direction to follow. Pray and make the God your manual to living life. 

Here are things that hinder or could limit our pursuit of direction (Potential)

1. Ignorance - You can’t benefit from what you don’t know. So again, invest in unlearning and learning every day.
2. Fear - You must rise above fear. Many are impatient. Impatience triggered by the fear that time is slipping away and that it is getting “too late”  to achieve success in life. And no one can achieve any creative thinking with a mindset of fear. Almost 99 per cent of the things we worry about DO NOT happen.  Stop trying to control every possible outcome.
3. Low self esteem - You are what you think. Change your thinking and you will change your life. To develop self-esteem, learn to do what you love doing, which would result in Passion. Manage your time effectively and seek other people’s help where needed to grow. A mentor would be a great help in this regard.
4. Seeking Acceptance or Popularity - Walking the popular path is sometimes a signal of weakness. Seeking popularity can erode your commitment to a cause. The search for popularity slows down decisions on previous commitments. Don’t seek popularity, seek impact.
5. People’s opinion - You must get to the level where you will leave above what people say to what God says. Believe in God.

Many are going nowhere fast.

As the year 2017 draws to an end, you should take the time to reflect on the direction of your life.  What values and patterns are you guiding your life by?  Is it time to alter those?

Meaning in life, in the end, is what really makes us feel fulfilled. So I ask you, what are you doing with your life?

I submit to you that, whatever it is you’re doing, it has to be about DIRECTION (where you’re going) and not Speed (how quickly you get there)

Here is a bonus video showing Ghanaian fishermen pulling in their catch from the sea in a demonstration of Direction, not speed. Click on link to view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7PIQF0hW4k&t=1s