A 2010 QUICK START

VISION GROWTH INTERNATIONAL
Article: 02 / 2010 (written by C.G Kanyenze)


A 2010 QUICK START

‘If the foundations are broken what will the righteous do?’ Psalm 11v 3

We are now in a new season so we need to have a very strong foundation for the
season to end right. We need some hints, tips and strategies for the 2010 season to be the most fruitful of all the seasons we have ever had. I felt compelled to give you 12 success tips for you to prosper in this year. Wallace D. Wattles correctly put it across when he wrote, ‘an ounce of doing things is worth a pound of theorising,’ reading and not attempting to implement these tips will not do you any good.

a) Life Goals – In life you need a few main goals which you should achieve
before you die. If you haven’t thought of them and if you have not written
them down then, you need to get down to serious business. Sit down and think
deeply about it. From these main goals draft the next 25 year plan, the next
decade the next 5 year plan then draft the 2010 plan. Don’t do it in the reverse.
This year’s plan must take into consideration the grand plan of your life.
Remember that not planning is planning to fail. Before Christ was born, God
already had a plan of his death as seen when it was prophesied in Isaiah 53v5, ‘…by His stripes we are healed….’

b) Fear God –‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools
despise wisdom and instruction’ Proverbs 1v7. Without fearing and pleasing
God you are too vulnerable to the sabotages of the devil and your enemies.
You need to be in sync with divinity for you to live a blessed life. By
honouring God you will be delivered from diseases, poverty and any other
schemes of the devil against your life. Godliness delivers from the snares of
life. There are certain people whom the police will not accept as suspects of
criminal activities because they live godly lives. Honouring God also demands
that you treat your neighbour as well as you want to be treated. For you to
succeed in life be good to people. Corporate organisations realised this and
they have made social responsibility a major corporate governance issue. No
one achieved greatness by disregarding the rights of his community, workers
and family. You also have the duty to be good to all people you get to interact
with including the unlovable.

c) Respect Time- ‘Redeeming the times for the days are evil.’ Eph 5 v16. This
verse is very clear in Shona it goes ‘Tichingwariririra nguva….’ We must
redeem (buying back) the time we lost by living aimless lives. We cannot
afford to lose more time by living aimless lives in 2010. We need to be more
focussed and passionate about succeeding in all our endeavours. If you ever
get involved in something, do it in the least possible time in an excellent
manner to save time. To lose time is to lose life itself because life is measured
in time terms. Have time-bound goals and respect those deadlines you set. If
you make appointments meet the time requirements. Be time conscious and
time sensitive in every task you carry out. Why should you start a task without
knowing the approximate time it will take to do a good job? Some tasks were
badly done just because people ran out of time. Slow but sure is not always the
best you can be quick and sure most of the times. The statement, ‘No hurry in
Africa,’ is taboo to a progressive, productive person but still others use it in
the way they execute their tasks. On creating the earth God did a quick 6 day
job why should you live without a sense of urgency.

d) Respect money - Take heed of the wise proverb, ‘A fool and his money are
soon parted.’ Strategise how to retain your income. It is the nature of money
that when you have it in your pocket you feel like spending it hurriedly.
Spending is a nice experience most of the time; it’s only that at times the
consequence on financial reserves is what forces us not to just use our feelings
in spending. Cut your jacket according to the size of your cloth. Live within
your means. You never need to act as if you have a lot of money in life except
in your internal faith talk. Don’t eat in restaurants which make you struggle to
the next pay day. Don’t window shop with all your salary in your wallet or
handbag because you will spend it regrettably. Don’t go to the mall without a
shopping list in order to overcome the temptation of buying every other good
thing in the supermarket. By the way with money in your pockets goods seem
cheaper and your pocket fatter only to come to face your financial reality at
home.

e) Invest and save for the future- Saving for emergencies is not an optional
idea and as long as you are growing old you need to invest for the after work
life that is, retrenchment or pension period. If your current salary is not
adequate what more when you get just a third of it with no medical insurance
company willing to enter you into its books because your bills will be too
high. The time to prepare for that is now. Remember children are not the best
insurance scheme because they might choose not to help as much as you
would want to be helped especially financially. Have a life financial goal and
from it derive your 2010 financial plan and budget. It’s not a good idea to
spend everything you earn every month, save some amount no matter how
small, half a loaf is better than nothing.

f) Read and write - In Habakkuk 2 v 1 God tells the prophet, ‘Write the vision,
make it plain upon tablets, so he may run who reads it.’ What an instruction to
visionaries? As Africans we have a problem of not reading and writing unless
we are compelled to. In African schools, for example, students only write
assignments and letters for more pocket money. To most of us Africans
serious reading ends with the end of school curriculum. In your lineage how
many people wrote their autobiographies or anything which was printed for
future generations except school notes? Great African wisdom was lost
because no one bothered to write it down. No wonder African schools are dead
through out the year only to be a hype of activity towards examinations. A few
of some who do some thick volume book reading, its unproductive literature
like Mills and Boons and none on personal development not even their Bibles.
Resolve and commit yourself to become a progressive reader. Remember
readers are leaders. Have a diary to write notable daily events to start with. Do
you know that even in heaven books are being written one of them is called
the book of life. If God has need of books what more about you. Jesus
overcame the devil himself by quoting what is written.

g) Bloom where you are planted – Before you get where you wish to be, excel where you are like Joseph in Potiphar’s house and in the prison before he
became the Egyptian governor. Wallace D. Wattles stated it precisely in his
book The Science of Getting Rich, ‘You cannot act where you are not, you
cannot act where you have been and you cannot act where you are going to
be; you can act only where you are…Do not wait for a change of environment
before you act; get a change of environment by action.’ Use your present
position as a means of getting to a better one by showing diligency, excellency
and great ability.

h) Be optimistic and expectant - ‘I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of God in the in the land of the living. (Psalm 27v13-14). In every situation even at a funeral of a beloved be very positive.When an unpleasant incident happens don’t regard yourself as an unfortunate person with a bad omen. There is always a good part to everything bad which happens, at the minimal you learn how not to do things next time. Never carry a victim mentality or entertain the thought that says, this is the end of me.Believe that heaven is working behind the scenes to make your life enjoyable.Positivity destroys invisible and visible barriers from your life. The positivity of Barack Obama rocked America that even racists forgot that they were racists and went to vote for a Kenyan by descent. Learn from employers, they will never give a job to a negative candidate no matter how qualified the
candidate might be. Seek God’s grace in prayer for you to be positive if you
think it’s impossible for you to be positive-minded.

i) Confess positively-The Bible says, ‘Life and death are in the power of the
tongue.’(Proverbs 18v21). Speak positive words even in negative situations.
Remember you were created in the likeness of God and one of the aspects is of
creating things using words like what God did in Genesis chapter 1 and 2.
Never say, ‘Zvakapressa,’ instead say my mind works better under pressure.
Do not say nothing is moving in my life say ‘Though things are slow it is well
with my soul. Instead of saying, I’m very unlucky say, ‘I am blessed, and I
cannot be disadvantaged.’ Never say, ‘I never get promoted,’ say, ‘This year is
my turn to get a promotion.’ Don’t confess what you don’t want instead,
confess what you want. God on creation did not confess darkness but spoke
light and there was light. Instead of saying, ‘I don’t want to be poor,’ say, ‘I
want to be rich.’ Speak what you want not what is likely to happen or what
you fear. Do not say, ‘This year seems to be a difficult year,’ but say, ‘If ever
there is a year which I am going to prosper it’s this year.’

j) Prepare for adversity – The mere fact that once in a while adversities occur must teach us to lean on a divine God who can rescue us from tight spots but still we have our parts to play. The word preparation is not only to be
mentioned when talking about an expectant mother but in other facets of life.
In life As responsible people we must prepare for the unlikely. It’s a reality in
life that a parent can pass on to glory (die) 5 days before your pay-day. It’s a
reality that a family member might need to see the dentist for tooth filling or
plucking off therefore get some medical insurance. Its not unbelief to have a
spare wheel, jack spanner and a wheel spanner in your boot. Famines at times
visit humanity so you always need to have food stocks strategy like Joseph did
in Egypt. Companies are not wasting by buying and servicing fire
extinguishers. Jobs can be lost and so you must think beyond your monthly
pay cheque. Accidents do happen have car insurance. Wives can die in the
maternity ward so husbands pay your in-laws their lobola. I can hear ladies
say, ‘AMEN!’ On ladies now, it’s possible that you can become a widow so
increase your earning capacity. May all husbands say, ‘Amen!’

k) Spend time, relax and have fun with your beloveds – One of the greatest gift God gave you is neither your job nor a beer hall but it’s your family.
Relax and have fun with your family. The wise wrote, ‘A cheerful heart is
good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.’(Proverbs
17v22).In I Thessalonians 5v16 the great apostle Paul said, ‘Rejoice always.’
Yes life has challenges but don’t miss the fun. A grave face is a poor show of
manhood a gentleman smiles. In that rocky marriage you can still share a joke
with your tormentor. You can still laugh lying on a hospital bed. In a job
where you are being frustrated you can still have a pleasant working
experience working with colleagues. Even when you mess up things laugh at
yourself before others do. We don’t rejoice because we have no challenges but
at times we rejoice believing we will overcome challenges. Put funny beard
shave styles for your small kids to have fun during weekends. Make those
plastic balls (hweshe) and play with your kids once in a fortnight. Your kids
will cherish those moments when they grow up. I still remember running races
with my father when I was young. Share those clean jokes you read about with
your spouse, family, friends and even strangers. If you can, be your family’s
most comic person. If you can afford it take your family on an annual holiday
even going kumusha. Is it unrealistic and impossible for you to take your one
and only spouse who you so much love once a year for a hotel dinner that will
cost you $30 and which requires you to save less that $3 a month. If your wife
insists on a birthday cake is the Baker’s Inn $3.50 cake too expensive for you?
Once in a while spoil your family. You can still afford to smile even when
your pockets have run dry.

l) Review progress - Learn from God. After each creation day God reviewed His work. It is in one of these reviews that He saw that Adam needed a suitable
helper. Just think of it; as all knowing God is, He still reviewed His work.
How much more you, an imperfect being, need to review your work life? Use
your bedroom with your spouses to review your progress in life since you got
married. To young men and young women use those slow courtship-roadwalks to review progress of your relationships. Use those evening family talks
to review the family progress. How can you achieve continuous improvement
in life when you don’t even know how you are currently performing? Life
without reviews is like a school where questions are neither asked in the
classroom nor in the final examination.

My Quotable Quote: For you to have 2010 as the best of years does not necessarily mean it will be the year with the least challenges but it can be great in that you managed to overcome them all.

Vision Growth International is a motivational company which is committed to the transformation of humanity through expression of simple yet profound divine wisdom to whosoever requires it. The wisdom presented is Bible based and it is currently circulated for free to people who aspire to be significant people in this world. All issues that affect the fulfilment of vision of each human being are addressed. The founder of Vision Growth International has been specifically called by God ‘to mentor others in these changing times.’ To receive the articles directly write to visiongrowthinternational@gmail.com or cgkanyenze@gmail.com with subject ‘Subscribe’ or ‘Unsubscribe’ if you are no longer interested. A blog is also available on

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