I had quite an event-less Christmas. I stayed home most of the time as I tried to give my body the much needed rest after undergoing surgery a few months earlier. I would go out just for a few hours with my sisters to have a breath of the festive air and come back home to watch television and read emails.

Of course I did some few things extra but I have stressed out only these two because of some profound takeaways from these two activities.

Email from Jay Abraham

I had time to read all my email subscriptions which I normally delete without reading and I thought of sharing the an except from my email subscription to Marketing Guru Jay Abraham. This he claims he saw at a his friend’s house during the holiday. I thought of sharing it with you.

“If you get what you want in your struggle for self, and the world makes you a king for a day… Just go to a mirror and look at yourself, and see what that man has to say.

For it isn’t your father, or mother, or wife, whose judgments you have to pass. The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people may think you a straight-shooting chum, and call you a wonderful guy. But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum if you can’t look him straight in the eye.

He’s the fellow to please, never mind all the rest, for he’s with you forever, ‘til the end. And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test, if the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of life, and get pats on the back as you pass. But your final reward will be heartaches and tears if you’ve cheated the man in the glass.”

I have decided to make it a personal code in 2017, one that I will try to live by not only in 2017 but beyond.

The last Samurai – The Movie

After growing tired of Tom Cruise in the Mission Impossible series, I had continuously brushed this movie aside. I was wrong. Besides the extensive battle scenes and well-choreographed fight scenes, watching this movie was a different experience with amazing lesson for me. Algren (played by Tom Cruise) fights a child in the rain when Sanada suddenly appears and takes the position of the child making Algren fight the greatest Samurai warrior. Algren had been motivated to enter in the sword fight by Katsumoto’s son when Sanada came in. Algren was beaten to pulp. I seven times in total yet in each of those times he rose up and fought again till he could fight no more. He did not win but the lesson I learnt is, even in defeat, never ever give up. I have clipped out the 4 minute scene from the movie which I now watch occasionally to remind me to never give up no matter the circumstances. Click here to watch

This is my gift you as we begin 2017 and I will be writing to you soon…more so to explain why I haven’t blogged in a while. To your continued success.