“Yesterday is not ours to recover but tomorrow is ours to win or lose”
This phrase has been a source of my bounce back in recent times. With my native name “IDIA” which means “one born to set/make things right”, I obviously need to set a lot of things right in my life before taking up the world stage and so one of my 2020 goals was to seek mentors, teachers and good counsels.
My accepting to be thought by CoachE’ was in that light and the JOY in my heart to God that I was picked can’t be explained. Ok, for the records, my name is Lisa Idia Aijanyain. (lets go on, on this gist).
I met CoachE’ at Daystar during the churches training classes in 2018. I took note of herself and her husband at our 400l (Evangelism) class.
Fast forward to 2019 where we met again at the GLS. We were seat partners and at this time I was willing and determined to get closer because I had consistently watched her from a distance. Finally, yes!!! we exchanged contacts.
Mehn, she was very serious and I didn’t even know how to go about it. I just summoned courage and spoke to her. At the end of our conversation she tagged me a bully, obviously because of my manner of approach (that was the only way I could conquer fear and speak up to her, lolz).
I knew there were lots of things I needed to learn from her, especially with my spiritual life. ( I collected her number and followed her slipstream bumper to bumper till I landed myself on her list for this training).
So for the purpose of this post, I will be sharing some practical things I learnt from my weeks in the TFS academy and how I have used them in my life in the past weeks.
1. The NO power.
Before the class you can always catch me saying yes to a lot of things especially when they are good. This usually puts me under a lot of pressure and I learnt from CoachE’ that “the fact that something is good doesn’t mean it is good for me”
That we must learn to say NO to even good things after weighing all options. She asked us to determine for ourselves which of the good will give us the best return of our time before making a decision and feel free to drop the things that are good but not the best for us at the moment.
Learning this gave me a breath of relief. I tried and still using my NO power and, it’s working for me!
2. Productivity
The 1st topic was on productivity and this stretched me so bad because we were made to track our day and subsequently send in our daily task. I enjoy doing this and although my days sometimes don’t go as planned, tracking it helps me concentrate on the “most important thing(s)” to ensure my days are productive.
I am now able to streamline my activities and avoid impromptu visits (you know those quick visit to a friend that one ends up spending long hours just gisting), I can’t be caught doing them except it’s on my schedule, because my hours aren’t enough for all the things I now have to do.
I now have a schedule for my prayers- friends, confessions, family and business. There is no more waking up to praying casually as I do before. It’s a lot better and easier now.
3. Daily- Musts
I learnt that a daily must should cover Spiritual, mental/personal development and social/ emotional activities and this has helped my productivity game!
4. Journaling
Journaling was something I improved on during this program. You just can’t be around coach either physical or virtually and not pick up this habit. I now have a journal and a pen with me every time . And Journaling is really a game changer!
5. Friendships
On friendship, I have learnt that defining your friendship with people is key because in the real sense you can’t be friends with everybody and giving people a title they really don’t fit in is setting oneself up for disappointment
I also learnt that a mentor isn’t a friend no matter how close you two become, so I must exercise wisdom in managing such closeness and relationship.
I have learnt to be deliberate about friends I keep because it makes me willing to channel my energy in nurturing the relationship. I am now an erudite scholar in this topic; friendship is for a season and so after the class I had to let go of some shaky friendship I have being holding unto before then.
In my intentionality with choosing friends I watch out for the following: how they manage their time, how seriously they take life issues, how they speak and relate to people, their desire to learn, someone who has something to offer, what I can also offer and lastly (this is a big deal for me) how spiritually grounded they are.
In all, I have learnt to not be casual about the friendships in my life and it’s been an amazing ride.
6. Mentoring
Mentoring was another topic that gave me a “gbasgbos” effect because here I was happy that I have found a mentor until this class. After coach had shared her views I became more aware of some reality: staying on my mentor’s slipstream gives me an advantage and opens door to a closer mentor-mentee relationship. So currently I am opening my tentacles for more slipstream to follow but at the same time I have learnt how to treat that form of relationship so when they come, I am ready for practical sessions. Haaaah.
This is a summary of the things I learnt but this write-up will not be complete without my heartfelt gratitude to you CoachE’. I am deeply grateful for all you’ve shared and the time spent these past weeks and more to come. You are just an answer to my prayer point since 2017. God bless you richly ma.
On this note I’ll love to encourage you reading this and myself on this points I got from toolzzzz (one of coach’smentee); “growth and comfort do not coexist”
“we are what we repeatedly do”
and lastly “excellence is not an act but a habit”.
Stretch yourself and be the best you can be!
Thank you!
P.S
The Mentoring Academy opens every quarter, and our mail list subscribers gets to know first. We have the “F.A.B mentees program” for single ladies under 30 and “GDQ Mentoring” for strictly stay at home mums .
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