Let 2021 Be Your Year Of Reinvention!

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman

When you were conceived, a seed of greatness was planted in you and yours is to always water it, protect it against the weeds that are always threatening its survival and continuously eradicate these weeds in order for your seed to grow to its fruition. The weeds I’m talking about here are: self-doubt, low self-esteem, stubbornness to change for better, laziness, toxic influences around you, ego, embracing culture of mediocrity, etc. 

The key question that should be of great interest to you here and that you should seek to answer is, “What makes me come alive?” You don’t have the power to change the circumstances that will come with 2021, but of course you have the power to shine your light. This world needs people who have come alive. What makes me, Veli Ndaba, come alive? 

-       Inspiration;

-       Hope; and

-       Human potential.  

I thrive when I’m inspiring people, giving them hope and helping them discover what makes them come alive and unleash their hidden power. This sets me on fire! It took me a long time to connect to my power but I’ve no regrets.

If you do something and you lose the ability to enjoy it, then, work takes over, it becomes your master rather than your servant. When obligation overshadows inspiration, we need to stop and revisit our priorities. 2021 is upon us and we need to be more alive then ever. The most important thing to know and always remember is that the art of living is long, but life is short and so, you want to maximize your life.

 Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” I’ve learned a lot from the many giants I’ve stood on the shoulders of, in- person and many of them, virtually, in the form of books and videos. If I had to give a twenty-year old me four valuable pieces of advice to maximize his life and become the best version of himself, I would share the following:

1.   The purpose of your life is to find your gift and passion. The meaning of your life is to express and share your gift and passion to the world. This is what makes you come alive. 

2.   There are two courses two enrol for in life: a. Survival, and b. Self-mastery.

A. Survival:

The survival course is the one that helps you survive and make a living. This is a job or career. When we go to school to study the science of things – engineering, accounting, law, finance, business management, etc. This is mainly done to get a job to make a living and provide for yourself and your loved ones. 

B.  Self-mastery:

The self-mastery course is about studying self, this happens outside the classroom. This is about self-observation and deliberate consciousness on your natural abilities and passions. It is about talking less and strategically listening and soliciting more feedback about yourself in terms of your behaviour, mannerisms, strengths and weaknesses. Why is all this important, I hear you asking? Well, it’s important because coming alive is about living a meaningful life that is built around your strengths and passions, not weaknesses. 

You see, the bird is not worried about the branch breaking because it doesn’t rely on the branch but on its wings. Most people, sadly build their lives around the branch or their jobs which more often than not happens to be their weaknesses. They go to school and acquire qualifications to get jobs and they get stuck there, I was stuck in there myself. They get stuck on a survival mode hence they never come alive. This is when an obligation, which is a job/survival overshadows inspiration. An uninspired life is not worth living. 

3.   True happiness/contentment/Joy is not something to be found somewhere out there – in material things, people, places and positions of power, NO! It resides deep down within you. It is found in gratitude and your element/zone/flow. Gratitude is about acknowledging that in spite of all the sadness and shortcomings in life, you have to be grateful because it could have been worse. Joy is also found in living a meaningful and an inspired life, doing what naturally comes to you which makes you come alive and setting your soul on fire!

4.     Success is a result of two things – a. Choice and b. Personal pride.

a.    Choice. Success is something you choose. Since we are living in a world of duality, if you don’t choose success and greatness, you automatically choose failure and mediocrity. In one of my quotes, I say, “The quality of your life is dependent on the quality of your choices.” It’s not about circumstances, they happen to all of us, it’s about what you really want for you in spite of the circumstances, this is what separates winners from everybody else.  

b.   Personal pride. By this, I’m in no way referring to ego. I am talking about that pride of knowing that you deserve better. That pride of knowing that when you fall, you get yourself back up because you know you don’t belong down there, that’s what I’m talking about. This is about what you see yourself as in your mind – self-image. 

So, to live a meaningful, exciting and fulfilling life, enrol for the self-mastery course, learn all there’s about yourself because this is the course that leads you to coming alive. Don’t get stuck on the JOB/SURVIVAL mode and miss out on living your meaningful life!

Doing the above will help you stop asking what the world needs and discover what makes you come alive, what sets your soul on fire and go do that because the world needs someone who has come alive. So, come alive!

Veli Ndaba is a Professional and Motivational Speaker, Life-Coach and Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner, Author of four books (You Are Born to Win, Your Dream is Calling You and SWITCH ON! And Set Your Soul On Fire!), Newspaper Columnist and Entrepreneur. To book him to speak at your next event or to help you and your team unleash your greatness, contact him on [email protected], www.velindaba.com or +27 83 304 9773