Dr. Mikel Brown

I Went To The Limit And Discovered There Is None

Dr. Mikel Brown — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:50:36 +0000

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Starting 2012 with unfulfilled 2011 resolutions, flat broke, depressed and worn out is not the ideal way to start a New Year. In fact, even if you are not financially broke, struggling financially can be an indication that your financial status is on track to change from struggling to flat broke.

Breaking free from the slavery of cynicism and incredulity is not actually difficult. What is difficult, however, is staying free from it. I learned the secret to moving beyond where I didn’t want to be, to where I did, and also how I wanted my life to be. Most people have the natural propensity to repeat the negatives of their life because of the fear of repeating them. This was me, and I wanted change, but I didn’t know exactly what I needed to change. I was broke, severely depressed and felt completely powerless to do anything about it. I was ready to give up on my dreams and get a regular job just like everyone else I knew. Until, one day, something clicked on the inside of me.

Most people who are looking for ‘how-to-advice’ are familiar with getting little, if any results. This is because they don’t take action, or if they do, they usually don’t keep striving and going-all-out after hitting the inevitable barricades. If you want to succeed, you need an open mind and an ability to try things a little different than you’re used to. If you’re simply buying “how to” information and never using it, you’re probably wasting your time. But if you’re really ready to be dedicated to getting results then you’re going to love reading further.

I thought I found the limit until I lifted my eyes.

~ Dr. Mikel Brown

I know people who have watched “The Secret”, read all the right self-improvement books, and have spent thousands on online self-help programs and courses which are full of promises and designed to help a person reach any dream endeavor. However, the only thing these people have reached is the end of their rope because none of those courses of action offer what is truly missing, and what they need more than anything—immediate results without fillers.

People are dog-tired of air pumped bags of promises which have more air than substance. They want results and they want them now! With the economy as uncertain as it is, many are wondering if it is worth it to still dream or if the American Dream, as we once knew it, is dead and gone. Is 2012 the beginning of the end, or are we at the conclusion of our beginning? I expect that the preliminaries are at a close and your real-life is in progress. The limit is not the end for the limitless; limits only apply to those who think that they are at their extremity. Nevertheless, there are those who strongly believe that their extremities are God’s opportunities to show His ability through them. Life is just starting and I am not done living it.

One day, I took a long hard look at my circumstances and decided to take action. I realized that no one can create these circumstances in my life but me. And, if I can create them, I can eliminate them. I made a conscious decision to cut the ropes of repetitive failures and strapped myself in tight, to the seat of open-mindedness that I can do all things. Since doing this, I have been on a marvelous journey and have not looked back once. With a single-mindedness and unwavering determination, I resolved that there is nothing behind me that I want in front of me. I made a deliberate move beyond my self- imposed limits and discovered that I can go as far as I prefer.

Benjamin Franklin was one such man who made the powerful discovery that his past had nothing to do with his future. If there was any one theme throughout Ben Franklin’s life, it was self-improvement. He was born into a family of seventeen children as the son of a poor candle and soap maker. He had less than two years of formal education and began his young adulthood entirely on his own in Philadelphia. Yet, he became a wealthy man by eighteenth century standards and one of the most respected intellects of the Western world.

Franklin was the prototype for the rags-to-riches story of the self-made man. Franklin’s entire life reflected his belief in self-improvement, and from adolescence until his death at eighty-four, he worked constantly to improve his mind, his body, and his conduct. Centuries before it became fashionable to be a guru of self improvement, Ben Franklin somehow understood the importance of a holistic approach toward oneself. His self-styled methods of personal improvement made an important connection between mind, body, and spirit.

If the heart of a person is empty, what is in one’s head does not matter. According to the Bible, all the issues of life flow from within a person’s heart (spirit). Mental power is not as powerful as spiritual power. Discover God, and you will discover yourself. Travel beyond your limits and you’ll be surprised at what awaits you.

In The Company of Difference Makers

Dr. Mikel Brown — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:32:29 +0000

A Difference Maker

It’s no secret that corporations look for prolific leaders to drive the corporate success van, so that means putting the right person in the right role and surrounding that person with the right personnel. By doing so, corporate decision makers can increase the chances of producing a profit for its investors and show significant growth by the end of the year. So, what should their question be before starting their hunt for such a person(s)?

The primary question should not be who is a difference maker, but rather what qualities makes one a difference maker? Once this is established, the manhunt can begin because your search will narrow in on qualities rather than a person. Many mistakes have been made by people in search of that one person that can help change things for them or a team. Whether corporate or personal, judging and sizing up a person based on their present condition or outward appearance may prove to be impractical.

People who possess qualities that make them stand out aren’t as easily discernable. One reason is that they are not ambitious nor do they have a need to have a title to define them. You may find the person who knows how to say the right words and is an over achiever, but this person is lacking in discipline and integrity. The person who is truly a difference maker is more interested in the quality of their work than their work looking as though it has quality.

Let me explain what I consider to be an attribute. An attribute is a quality or characteristic of somebody or something to give credit for something such as a body of work, art, or a saying. An attribute can be considered a standard or conviction that causes a person to stand out instead of fit in. Imagine being in the company of difference makers who care more about making a difference in society and in the lives of others rather than making no difference at all.

What do you have when an entire team of people with difference maker’s qualities come together? What you have is a winning combination that can never be defeated. A difference maker is someone who is willing and able to fill all aspects of their role with confidence, one who consistently delivers on objectives, and who follows or leads their team to peak performance. They understand that their role is as essential as the next man. In many cases, a difference maker shakes things up, brings forth change, and demands results from themselves and their colleagues. They aren’t interested in being popular; they want success for the company or team even if it means not leading. With this attitude they will hit their targets and inspire their teams to do the same.

Difference makers are self-motivated. Difference makers are honest, they don’t cover up mistakes, and they are completely accountable for what works and what doesn’t work. They take full responsibility for their actions and results. You can’t tell if these people are difference makers by looking at them; their qualities are exposed by interacting with them. They are proactive, solution-oriented, and take action people. Their values align with those of their organization or team, and these values drive day-to-day behaviors that pursue excellence.

How does a company or a small business or individual find a Difference Maker? Well, you can’t find them in the Yellow Pages. In the brawl for gifted able bodies, the challenges most organizations face are not limited simply to the unavailability of competent people, but that their hiring process is not set up to properly identify those who can truly make a difference. Focusing only on the skills and experience needed, the interviewer often pay too little attention to values, motivations, habits, work styles, behaviors, and cognitive abilities. Stop qualifying a person for where your company presently is and start looking for those people who may not have all the skills, but are willing to be molded into the person you need, not just want. Don’t look for the mate who completes you, but rather look for that person who complements you.

Companies should design employment programs to become mentors to their employees instead of employers. Difference Makers are developed into their role not fitted into it.

It’s Not Over: You Can Defeat What’s Got You Down!

Dr. Mikel Brown — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:20:15 +0000

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Negatives Are All Around Us, However, So Are the Positives. You Can Always Find a Reason To Get Up After Being Knocked Down By Life.

Many people living today may not know who Bing Crosby was, but he was a well known singer from the 40’s to mid 70’s, but who is better known for his movies, “The Bells of St. Mary and White Christmas.” Bing Crosby sung a song that said, “Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative, Latch on to the Affirmative, and Don’t Mess with Mr. In Between”. This is a powerful way of saying, ‘Focus on your positives, neglect the negatives, and be decisive.’

In all fairness to those who seek for sympathy while experiencing hardship, I understand the degree of difficulty one encounters to get back on one’s feet after being knocked down. However, instead of looking for sympathy and feeling sorry for yourself, do what others have done under the same conditions or worse, and get up to fight another day. Accentuate the positive and this can help you eliminate the negative.

It has been said that when the going gets tough, the hopeful keep going. That is because hope is the great motivator as well as an activator. People with hope can activate their desire of action, because hope causes an increase of internal power, to persevere and take action to realize their goals. Many times however, the daily grind can be a hope-killer, so what’s the solution?

Coming in January is an “It’s Not Over” course, encouraging people to spend five minutes every morning with “IT’S NOT OVER: You Can Defeat What’s Got You Down”, to gain the inspiration and encouragement needed to face daily obstacles. This course is full of hope-inspiring short essays from Dr. Mikel Brown and words of encouragement from other leaders, as well as, Scripture for meditation and prayer. This quick-read provides the motivation needed for meeting your goals and fulfilling your dreams.

If your business is experiencing hits of never-ending changes, your personnel is lacking organizational skills, you have fewer employees to do the work with loyalty as if it is a thing of the past; negative comments can be a natural side-effect as a result of these negatives. Comments such as, “It won’t work…We already tried that…and…I can’t do it” become all too familiar.

Unfortunately, employee attitudes will defeat you faster than the competition. Negativity and disgruntled people are extremely contagious and result in an environment where people don’t try as hard, don’t care as much, and really don’t desire to succeed as often. With recruitment and retention so important, you must build a work environment that is alive, exciting, and positive. You must build an environment where satisfaction and fulfillment are the rule, not the exception. You must minimize or eliminate the negatives.

That’s what my course is all about. You’ll learn the essentials of getting on your feet and staying there. You’ll learn how to implement these essentials, whether it is on an organizational level, a relational basis, or even interpersonal.

This coming New Year, look to get back on your feet spiritually, financially, and emotionally, and take back control of your business because, IT’S NOT OVER: You Can Defeat What’s Got You Down.

Back on Track

Dr. Mikel Brown — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:27:07 +0000

Train on Track

Sometimes you don’t realize how far you have gotten away from the things you use to do and the person you use to be, until you look back to see how far off track you are.

Train tracks are designed to take a train to a particular designation. The train is designed to travel only on railroad tracks. The train cannot take short cuts, it cannot cut through fields, and the train cannot change its course without the conductor. Even if the conductor changes the direction of the train, the train maintains its position on the train tracks. If you see a train going down Broadway in New York, you will know that the train has been derailed.

Who in their right mind buys a train ticket to nowhere? If you will not buy a train ticket to nowhere, why would you gamble with your life by getting on a train that is not on a track? The tracks of success in any area of life are designated to take its passengers to the place of success. If the train tries a route that makes it skip the tracks, it is considered derailed. This means that your journey is disrupted, upset, spoiled or considered a major catastrophe.

When your life begins to look a lot like a disorganized or cluttered closet, the first place to start with straightening out your life and getting back on track is in the closet. To a great extent, more than you may want to realize or admit to; your closet is demonstrative of your thoughts and your life. If your closet is messy, most likely your life is as well. If your closet is cluttered, your mind is filled with things that you should let go of, but you continue to on to them for some weird reason. You may convince yourself that you don’t have enough time or enough energy to correct your mess, but force yourself to make this small fundamental change and it may reap large rewards in your life!

Nine out of ten people who talk about how much their life needs fixing, usually end up saying, “But I don’t know where to begin.” Oftentimes, it’s not they don’t know where to begin; it’s just that they are intimidated about starting in the place where they have truly lost control. It takes a lot from an individual to give up control over something they created, even if it is a mess. These people will continue to lie to themselves until they can clearly see the evidence of the mess they’ve created. As long as the mess of accumulated things are disorderly stored in the house or closet, they will always feel that it’s not that bad.

So, what do you do to get back on track and get your life headed in the right direction? Thank you for asking me. Now since you inquired, my recommendation is for you to try this. If your closet is in disarray, take and move all the stuff out of the closet and pile it in your bedroom. Once you have collected the last item from your closet, look back and scan the pile of junk you have stored in your closet with items you can no longer fit. Look at the clothing that you have been holding onto because you convinced yourself that they may come back in style. This is just one of the lies you told yourself in order to hold on to stuff you should let go of. What you refuse to let go of becomes junk in your life.

If your problem is financial, collect all your bills, sit down at your kitchen table with them piled up, and count them up comparing them to your income, and you will be able to at least see why you are experiencing financial troubles. People are usually too afraid to confront the error of their ways. If they truly discover the reason for their financial shortfall, they will not legitimately have any reason to complain. Don’t be afraid to look at the mess you’ve created. Own up to it because this will be the only way you can truly start to get your life back on track.

After you make your discovery of the things you have held onto in your closet, or the bills you have accumulated, you may feel like screaming because of how ugly it looks. Don’t worry! Seeing and acknowledging it is the beginning of destroying it. This first step to turning things around is absolutely necessary. The initial pain and hurt will be felt as a result of the change, but like a woman immediately after childbirth, the beauty of the newborn baby will cause her to forget the pain. I look forward to seeing your life back on track.

Beyond Standard

Dr. Mikel Brown — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 04:46:31 +0000

Beyond Standard

I have never met a person whose endeavor was to be average. Average is not a goal because it takes no extraordinary ability to achieve it.

Standard or minimum requirement is the new ‘average’ which is the usual, the ordinary kind, or the least acceptable quality. It is the ‘typical’ accepted by the general public. It’s like the old maxim, “It can’t be wrong if everybody is doing it.” Why accept what everyone else does? Is it because it is safe? Do you feel that if you are like everyone else, you can then avoid being negatively discussed by others? Why do you want to fit into the mode of those that are negative? The words “standard or average” can be interpreted to mean median or norm, which indicates something that represents a middle point.

“The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity…”
~Andrew Carnegie

Imagine doing your job at an intensity level of 100%. What will the world consider you as then? You have to challenge yourself to be something more than average. You possess the power to transform your life instead of conforming to the mundane status that circumferences your life. The average person doesn’t know what to do with his or her life, so they leave it in the hands of chance or fate, hoping that someone will come and inform them on what to do with their life. People do not like to rock their ‘minimum standard boat’ because they like how safe it makes them feel. Living in the middle of the road is not safe, but rather dangerous. This is where most fatalities occur. These people believe that living on the edge has a greater potential for failure or it increases the risk factor.

To the contrary, the people who live on the edge are the people who abandoned fear, kicked excuses completely out of their life and raised the standard of mediocrity to excellence. If you do not have a plan for your life, you will simply help someone to live his or her life at your expense. Today, you to have to decide that you are going to do more than exist; you are going to live and live the rest of your life on purpose. Do more than talk, communicate. Do more than grow, bloom. Do more than work, excel. Do more than wish, believe.

Average people live in the shadow of excellence, always admiring the achievements of others that are not as gifted, but apparently more daring. You don’t have to be the smartest person to achieve greatness. Have you noticed that the cleverest people in school are usually not those who make it in life? If you want to be better than what you presently are, you must do things differently or better than others whose standard is ‘just to get by’.

Aim beyond what you think you are capable of achieving. You must develop a total disregard for where your abilities end and turn enthusiasm into the energy that moves you beyond your fears. Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you. You might succeed if nobody else believes in you, but you will never succeed if you don’t believe in yourself.

Give yourself the permission to succeed! What you believe gives you the license to operate in what you believe. When you change your belief, you automatically change your performance as well.

Dr. Mikel Brown

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