The Art of Achievement and Fulfillment: Fundamental Principles to Overcome Obstacles and Turn Dreams into Reality!

The ART of Achievement and Fulfillment

______________

The Fundamental Principles to Overcome Obstacles and Turn Dreams into Reality!

By

NKEM MPAMAH

Copyright © 2013 Nkem Mpamah.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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ISBN: 978-1-4525-6570-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-6572-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-6571-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012923833

Balboa Press rev. date: 01/29/2013

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Introduction

Part 1: Decisions and Destiny

Chapter 1: Be a Good Decision Maker

Chapter 2: Believe in Yourself

Chapter 3: Set Realistic Goals

Chapter 4: Focus on the Important Things

Chapter 5: Discover Your Abilities

Chapter 6: Develop New Skills

Part 2: Values and Beliefs

Chapter 7: Understand Your Values and Beliefs

Chapter 8: The You Factor

Part 3: Time and Life Management

Chapter 9: The Art of Achieving More in Less Time

Chapter 10: The Principles of Time and Life Management

Chapter 11: How to Achieve More in Less Time

Part 4: Transformational Leadership

Chapter 12: Leadership and Management Explained

Chapter 13: The Challenges of Leadership

Chapter 14: How to Become a Transformational Leader

What Successful Leaders Are Saying About The ART of Achievement and Fulfillment

This book will show you how to think, reason, decide and act with greater power, purpose and clarity – enabling you to achieve all your goals faster than you ever thought possible. – Brian Tracy, CEO/Founder of Brian Tracy International and bestselling author of Eat That Frog.

"The ART of Achievement and Fulfillment offers a solution to bridge the gap between where you are now, and where you want to be. Discover, Connect, Design and Implement!" – Bev James, serial entrepreneur, business coach, and bestselling author of Do It! Or Ditch It!

"Heartfelt, inspiring, simple and clear. The ART of Achievement and Fulfillment reveals a new approach for leaders and entrepreneurs who want to accelerate their breakthroughs and make a difference. It will help you achieve your dreams." – Marcia Wieder, world-class inspirational speaker and founder of Dream University.

An inspiring, passionate and detailed approach to experiencing transformational breakthrough and fulfillment… on every possible level.

– Matt Morris, self-made millionaire, international speaker, and bestselling author of The Unemployed Millionaire.

Nkem Mpamah has demonstrated that building your career and business from your soul’s highest priority is the way to experience increased performance, financial success and everyone’s ultimate goal…fulfillment.

– Christine Kloser, award winning author and creator of TransformationalAuthor.com.

The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat. – Napoleon Hill

Acknowledgements

T o my wonderful parents, De Paul Mpamah and Mama Abigail Mpamah, for giving me such a disciplined upbringing. You laid the right foundation for me.

To my angel and wife, Glory (Onyii Babe) Mpamah. I remain ever so grateful for your love and belief in me even at the most critical times of my life, when the path we walked together was long and arduous.

To our amazing children—Blessing (Mom), Nneka (Nne), Chidera (‘Dera), Chinomnso (Chino), and Chiamaka (Abinnem). You are bundles of joy and inspiration to me.

To my three loving sisters—Rose Okugo, Gladys Mbagwu, and Glory Ochiobi, for your continued prayer and encouragement.

Special thanks to my immensely talented editor Thomas Hauck for his hard work, professionalism, and tremendous faith in this project.

And to God Almighty—My Strength, my Light, and my All!

About the Author

N kem Mpamah was born to poor parents in Umuakwu, a small town near Aba, the commercial center of Nigeria, West Africa. With no hope of obtaining education, in order to earn a daily wage Nkem worked as a custodian, errand boy, and manual labourer carrying mixed concrete two stories up on construction sites.

Nkem seemed destined for a life of hard work rewarded by poverty.

As a result of his limited background Nkem experienced disappointments and frustrations, and he could not provide the basic needs of life for his wife and five children. At one time they lived at the mercy of friends and concerned charities.

Through persistent dedication to personal development, continuous learning, and modeling of successful people, Nkem defied the odds and rose to recognition. He entered the financial services industry, where he worked for more than fifteen years, leading teams of accountants for many large financial institutions in Africa and United Kingdom.

In May 2000, Nkem qualified as a chartered accountant. Despite success in his career, Nkem constantly searched for deeper sense of fulfillment, believing that he was not born to be an accountant as the profession did not primarily align with his true life’s purpose of creating sunshine in the lives of individuals, leaders, and organizations. This discovery led him to further research into why some people succeed while others struggle. In the course of his study, Nkem also qualified as a Certified Life and Business Coach at two leading institutes in the United Kingdom and the United States.

His experiences challenged him to discover, fine-tune, and apply the principles he has shared in this book to help you to transform and live a life of freedom and happiness with your family.

Presently, Nkem is the CEO and founder of Cognition Global Concepts, a Cambridge-based firm with the mission to inspire organizations and leaders to create transformational breakthroughs and sustainable growth. He has worked successfully with many individuals to bring their ideas into reality. In his work with businesses and organizations, Nkem provides optimum turnaround and peak performance results based on vivid vision, simple business strategies for growth, and disciplined execution. He specializes in executive leadership development and team alignment to drive peak-performance accomplishments.

Nkem is married to his angel, Glory Mpamah. Both are blessed with three charming girls and two handsome boys—Blessing, Nneka, Chidera, Chinomnso, and Chiamaka.

Introduction

I had just lost my job—the only source of income for my wife, the three little children we had at the time, and me. It was the experience of a lifetime. It seemed as though my whole world had collapsed. Every source of help I thought was available suddenly disappeared, and the only friend I had to share my pains, disappointment, and grief was my wife.

I believed that I did not deserve to be laid off and that if there were anyone to be affected by company downsizing, it would not be me. I had worked an average of eighty hours a week, sacrificed most of my weekends and holidays, and deprived my family of having fun and sharing love in a relaxed atmosphere.

I thought I was the only one caught up in this kind of situation until I discovered that at some point in their lives most people experience pain, disappointment, and frustration resulting from the loss of a job, problems with family and health, the fear of the unknown, an inability to make quality decisions, lack of productivity, and much more.

If this sounds like you, then you’ve come to the right place.

The ART of Achievement and Fulfillment is a self-help manual written with you in mind. It’s intended to address your personal and organizational issues, your challenges, pain, limiting beliefs, fears, procrastination, and frustrations. This book will help you create the passion and momentum you need to move your life to an all-time high performance and achievement if you commit to mastering its principles.

It’s a great resource with carefully selected strategies and tools to help you eliminate those inner conflicts that hold you back, enable you to make quality decisions, and develop a laser-like focus towards creating the goals that are most important in your life.

This is not a storybook or just another motivational and inspirational book. I have personally experienced the fear and frustration caused by financial need, especially as a husband and father when I could not provide the basic needs of life for my family. Those were embarrassing times for my family as we lived by the charity of friends and other concerned citizensthat is, until I discovered, fine-tuned, and applied the principles in this book to create the freedom I enjoy with my family today.

The ART of Achievement and Fulfillment also draws from the life experiences of many of the most successful people in the world. I have fine-tuned these principles to make them adaptable, so that you can apply them and get immediate results in your life. They have worked for me and I have no doubt in my mind that they will work for you. They are the natural principles that will ultimately help you identify your priorities and achieve the results you seek.

I don’t know your situation right now. You may be starting something new in your life and everything seems quite overwhelming to you, or you’re looking for a change from old habits or an outdated way of thinking and doing things; whatever that moment is for you, understanding the art of focusing will help to move your life to the next level. I have personally transformed my life and the lives of many other individuals and businesses that I have worked with, and we have achieved remarkable breakthroughs by consistently applying these principles.

You’ll witness tremendous positive turnaround in your life if you stay within your circumference of power. This is the hub of your high performance, which is driven by the physiological processes of your core values and beliefs. Your behaviour, your habits, your performance and accomplishments in life all respond to your values and beliefs. They are the reasons you behave the way you do, and are responsible for how much or little you will accomplish. This book will teach you how to clearly identify your values and help to reprogram your beliefs so that you’ll begin to see your life’s purpose in a more positive and fulfilling way.

Inside this book, you’ll learn:

• The art of achieving peak performance results.

• Proven ways to make life-changing decisions and abide by them.

• Confidence-building mastery and how to believe more in you.

• How to set and achieve challenging goals with my step-by-step guide.

• Easy-to-implement techniques of focusing on what matters the most.

I’ll also reveal the simple strategies to re-program your belief system and open the door to breakthroughs in your life. You’ll see the effect of other peoples’ opinions and why you should let go, learn the techniques of achieving more in less time, and discover how to become a transformational leader.

I congratulate you on your investment in this book and the commitment you’ll make in applying these same principles that took me from humiliation and despair to recognition. I believe in my heart that if you apply them, these principles will work to create unimaginable breakthroughs in your life and those around you. They are the guidelines you need to overcome your fear, low self-esteem and lack of focus, indecision, procrastination, and anger that are often the result of lack of achievement.

My utmost desire for you as you read this book is to live a fulfilled life and a life without limitations.

God bless you.

Part One:

Decisions and Destiny

Chapter One

Be a Good Decision Maker

At any moment, the decision you make can change the course of your life forever. – Anthony Robbins

E very human being has the innate ability to make a choice. Choices are the decisions we make every day about the things we want to be, have, or do. They can be good or bad, and to a large extent they determine our actions and successes. Decisions are important to life, and it’s practically impossible for anybody or organization to survive a day without making one form of decision or another. Our choices range from the simple—what to eat or drink, the type of dress to wear—to the more complex, such as what sort of work to do.

Decision-making is self-fulfilling and can result in either the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the decision maker. A good decision resolves an issue, but a bad decision leads to making more decisions to correct the error in the earlier decision.

Whenever you make a decision and follow through with action, you’ll enjoy a feeling of confidence and responsibility. You’ll feel in control and satisfied with the choice you have made. These feelings help to stimulate your passion to do more and achieve more.

Many people fail in their careers, business and relationship, and others get stuck because of their inability to make quality decisions. Some have suffered many negative consequences arising from wrong decisions, while others have recorded new levels of success as a result of making good and timely decisions.

Sometimes, people wonder why they are not making significant progress in their lives. They cite examples of other people—perhaps their friends, colleagues and relatives—who are making more progress than they, yet they shy away from making decisions about moving their own lives forward. They are unaware of the principle that our individual performances and personal achievements depend on the quality of decisions we make about ourselves. This is because it’s our responsibility to make decisions on how to lead our lives successfully and prosper in the things we are committed to do.

Decision-making is a way of life. It affects human existence and is important in determining how successful you can be. Good decisions shape our lives; they bring happiness, fulfillment, and a sense of endorsement of our self-esteem.

Your ability to solve your own problems and the problems of those around you depends very much on your determination to make quality decisions and follow through on them. This is why most employers prefer to work with employees with great decision-making capabilities. It increases productivity and leads to the promotion of such employees.

When I was younger, I thought I needed to attain a certain age and position before I could make significant decisions. As I began to grow up, I discovered that decision-making is a part of everyday life, regardless of age or class. In the early years of my childhood, my parents made most of my decisions for me. They decided on the appropriate time for me to start school and what friends to play with. Being poor, my parents chose the college I attended, selecting a vocational school with an affordable tuition rather than a more expensive secondary school. Their intention was for me to study typing and shorthand; I would guess that they were molding me towards secretarial work.

A few years prior to the completion of my vocational studies, my parents made another decision and enrolled me in a Christian preparatory class, after which I was baptized.

Until I matured and became responsible for myself, that was the pattern of my life. In retrospect I would say that most of my parents’ decisions made a positive impact on my life. I love my parents and have never questioned their judgment, save oncewhen I wanted to get married. Guess what? As usual, my father wanted to choose a wife for me. As much as I loved and respected my parents, I disagreed with them on this and it took much communication, explanation, and assertiveness on my part for my father to concede that it was up to me to make the decision about whom I should marry.

Being my hero, although not educated, my father is endowed with natural wisdom, foresight, and the ability to communicate and lead very effectively. As I write this book, my father is about ninety-one years old, still strong, and going to the farm without any form of support.

I’m grateful to say that my father helped to mold my life by the right choices he made on my behalf during my early years.But it frightens me now to think of what my life would have become if those decisions were made wrongly. This experience taught me two lessons:

Lesson One: Decisions can be imposed on you without your consent.

Lesson Two: If you don’t make a decision to lead your life in a particular way, Lesson One will go into effect and someone else will make decisions on your behalf.

Many people struggle because they follow other people’s decisions. They do not have a goal for their lives and are not executing any action plan towards achieving the things they desire. They thoughtlessly put their lives at risk by placing themselves in the hands of others.

This in itself is a decisionand a bad one.

Quality decisions are critical to the well being of both individuals and organizations. They go a long way in determining the survival of those individuals or organizations in times of competition. It’s a paradigm that shifts the course of life and destiny. A person’s ability to decide on one thing will usually lead to several fundamental outcomes that will invariably alter the thoughts, behavior, and performance of that person. In most cases, the decision of one person affects and alters the lives of the people around him or her, including family members, community, and colleagues at work. Decision-making shapes the future. For example, the decision to marry ultimately alters the lives of couples and imposes on them the responsibility to live together as husband and wife for the rest of their lives. By this choice, both parties become accountable to one another. Not only