The IKTA Syndrome

By Francis Kong

Speakers like me struggle with listening to other speakers all the time.

* “Oops…he did not pronounce it right….”
* “Oh no…there is a misspelled word in his PowerPoint.”
* “That’s an old joke…”
* “I’ve heard that one already…”

This is not good. This means I will never be able to learn anything.

Sometimes when I listen to speakers speaking, mind would say: “He got this from Charles Swindoll’s book entitled “Grace Awakening” third chapeter left hand page bottom corner…”

The mind processes thoughts five to ten times faster than the human ear can ear and my mind is just so noisy.

This is what I call the IKTA syndrome.

IKTA is an acronym that means: “I Know That Already.”

Then this thing operates, it closes my mind from learning anything new.

This is not a good thing.

IKTA should be countered by another acronym BAIDI (BUT AM I DOING IT?)”

Sure. I have heard it before but have I been applying what I have heard and the next question is: “Am I already good at it?”

To learn things has to first start with having a beginner’s mind.

The word is “SHOSIN.”

This time this is not an acronym. This is a Japanese word, which means “beginners mind.” Author Shunryu Suzuki explains it this way: “This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything. It is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.” Think like a beginner, not an expert, when reading this book. Suspend what you know and empty—don’t open—your mind to the ideas in each chapter. Think about how you’ll implement these strategies. Ideas are easy. Execution is hard.

I agree but I need to qualify. I never want my mind to be running on empty. All these things about meditation and emptying of the mind are not my cup of tea. I have always believed in the seriousness of critical thinking.

Having the ability to think is not the same as having an open mind all the time. If your mind is too open your brains may fall out.

What I mean is not to let pride seep into the mind and convince me that I am so good or in fact better than the speaker such that what he or she says is far inferior to what I know.

I need to remind myself that when I was in High School, I graduated in the part of the class that made the top half possible.

I need to be a life long learner. And even if the speaker is saying something I have heard before, it should be treated as a reminder for me to put it into practice.

My audiences are kind. Many of them have heard me many times. They may have heard the same thing, the same funny stories, the same jokes and they would tell me, “Francis I have heard you at least 4 times and even though I have heard the same funny lines…I still laugh every time you say it.”

Now that’s their polite way of saying, “Francis why don’t you update and upgrade your stuff?”

This is why I attend seminars, I go back to school, I read books and I listen to Audio CD’s in order to learn and to equip myself with new stuff. And I need to be humble enough to understand that the day I stop learning from a 6 year old boy is the day I am finished.

This is also the reason why I have read the entire Bible for so many times cover to cover yet I feel like I have not known anything. Try it for yourself. This is why we need a lot of humility and courage to admit this. I know I do.

Become an Enlarger

By Francis Kong

Dr. John C. Maxwell is a very prolific author. Our company Inspire Leadership Consultancy has been licensed to do his leadership training programs here in our country. I would love to share with you an article Maxwell wrote many years ago. And as the whole country prepares to go to the polls, I hope that the new set of elected officers would learn from the lessons presented here. Maxwell writes:

Before the NBA ever heard of Shaquille O'Neal, Dikembe Mutombo or Tim Duncan; back before anyone knew the name Hakeem Olajuwon; in the days before Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ruled the hardwoods, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell changed the nature of professional basketball with the way they played the center position.

Chamberlain was a great scorer and Russell was known more for his defense, but no matter which end of the court they were on, they played above the rim like no centers before them ever had.

Russell, however, is best known not for his offense or his defense but for something else - winning. His No. 6 jersey was retired by the Boston Celtics in 1972 to honor his contributions as the anchor to teams that won nine consecutive NBA titles. He added two more titles as a player/coach.

That's why it was such an honor to meet him at a recent NBA All-Star game, and that's why I wasn't surprised to hear what he said about great team players: "The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I'd made my teammates play."

One of the qualities of a great team player, you see, is that they enlarge others. Bill Russell isn't just a large man; he's a man who enlarged others. He made them better.

Here are five characteristics of people who enlarge others.

1. Enlargers value their teammates.

When you think about your teammates, place a "10" on their heads. If we think of others as 10s, we'll do everything to add value to them. Our behavior is totally different when we think of someone else as a two. Seeing others in the very best light makes the entire team better because usually our level of performance equals the level of value placed on us.

2. Enlargers know and relate to what their teammates value.

Here's how you can tell if you value people: Do you value people who won't benefit you or only those who might contribute in some way to your success? Great team players truly value others as people, and they know and relate to what others value. When I want to know and relate to others, I look for five things. I want to know their dreams, values, skills, attitudes and life questions. We all have questions, by the way. If you can find the pathway to a person's questions, you can always find the pathway to a person's heart.

3. Enlargers add value to their teammates.

Whatever the project, task or situation, enlargers find ways to make others around them better because they approach life as a win/win situation. They realize that making others better isn't just better for others; it's better for everyone. As the old adage goes, a rising tide lifts all boats.

4. Enlargers make themselves more valuable.

You cannot give what you do not have, so self-improvement precedes team improvement. The first step toward improving the team is to improve yourself. The only way I can keep leading is to keep growing. The greatest way that I can add value to my team is to make myself more valuable. If I can become a better player, if I can continually increase my skills, if I can continually become enlarged within myself, then I have the capacity to enlarge others.

5. Enlargers initiate.

Enlargers believe in others before they believe in themselves, serve others before they serve themselves, and add value to others before they add value to themselves. See the common thread? The word "before."

They have the ability to see potential in another person before they even see potential within themselves. They have the ability to start action. They have the ability to start belief. They are initiators.

Maxwell is so right. Initiate. Enlarge. Be a great team player.

Serving others is the best way of enlarging others.

Even Scriptures say that he who wants to lead must first serve. And when we serve we do not only enlarge others, we also enlarge ourselves in a positive way.

Oh how I wish that this time, God would raise up a new set of leaders who would enlarge our country and never their own pockets.

WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN

This is one of the nicest e-mails I have seen and is so true:


I dreamed that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said,

'This is the Receiving Section.. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.'

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.

The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them."



I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing.



"This is the Acknowledgment Section, my angel friend quietly admitted to me."



He seemed embarrassed.



"How is it that there is no work going on here? ' I asked.

"So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments"

"How does one acknowledge God's blessings? " I asked..

"Simple," the angel answered. "Just say, "Thank you, Lord. "

"What blessings should they acknowledge?" I asked.

"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world ' s wealthy.

"And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.

"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness .. You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day.

"If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... You are ahead of 700 million people in the world.

"If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world.

"If your parents are still alive and still married ..you are very rare.

"If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair......."

Ok, what now? How can I start?

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you care to, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

ATTN: Acknowledge Dept.
"Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people with whom to share it. "

If you have read this far, and are thankful for all that you have been blessed with, how can you not send it on????



I thank God for everything, especially all my family and friends!!

An excerpt from Attitude is Everything

by Vicki Hitzges

Years ago, I was the public relations director for motivational guru, Zig Ziglar. At the time, he was arguably the best-known, most loved speaker in the world. When audience members heard Zig, they witnessed a man chockfull of energy, vitality and joy. Having worked closely with him and knowing him well, I can tell you that the Zig you saw on stage was the real Zig Ziglar. In fact, I can't remember ever seeing him when he was not happy and upbeat.
The Zig I knew was one carbonated guy.
Every time Zig answered his home phone, he picked up the receiver and said with gusto, "This is Jean Ziglar's happy husband!" And he meant it!
Awhile back one of Zig's closest friends and I were discussing Zig's aura of happiness. "Completely genuine," his friend said. "I have never seen him down." Then he added thoughtfully, but with love, "Hardly what you'd call normal."
"What's Zig's secret?" I asked.
"I think," he said, "it comes down to feeling grateful. Never met a guy more grateful than Zig. Period."
You'd think anyone that grateful must have had an easy life. But that's not so.
Zig started out poor. Dirt poor. His father died when he was six, leaving his mother to raise eleven children alone. The family was virtually penniless. Yet despite their poverty, Mrs. Ziglar instilled a strong work ethic in her children and raised them to believe that both she and God loved them. She also instructed her children to practice saying "please" and "thank you." Those lessons stuck. Her formula of work, love and faith made their difficult lives easier. Gratitude made their lives enjoyable.
Zig once told me, "When we neglect to require our children to say 'thank you' when someone gives them a gift or does something for them, we raise ungrateful children who are highly unlikely to be content. Without gratitude, happiness is rare. With gratitude, the odds for happiness go up dramatically."
Years ago, Zig created the popular phrase, "Have an attitude of gratitude." According to Zig, "The more you recognize and express gratitude for the things you have, the more things you will have to express gratitude for."
I know firsthand that giving thanks brings joy. Awhile back, I heard Oprah Winfrey urge viewers to keep a Gratitude Journal. It seemed pretty schmaltzy to me, so I didn't do it. But Oprah was a jackhammer. Day after day, week after week, she kept pounding on that idea. I'd catch her show here and there. Same thing: Keep a Gratitude Journal. A few months later, I was speaking to a government group and staying in a cruddy hotel. I was seated at the hotel's indoor restaurant by a swimming pool reeking with enough chlorine to purify the Love Canal. As I waited impatiently for my meal to arrive, I suddenly remembered Oprah's directive. What the heck? I had a pen and some scrap paper.
I listed my mother who spent time each day praying for me. I wrote down my father who deeply loves me. My kind, funny brother and his family. My job and the opportunity to travel and encourage people. Friends. Laughter. For the fact that I had a place to sleep that was safe. For a private bathroom. (You start listing - you begin to get thankful!) I quickly listed about 30 things and noticed that not only did I have a lot to be thankful for, but suddenly I was in a terrific mood!
Publisher Malcolm Margolin was grateful for something that's right outside our doors, but most of us have never taken the time to experience it. He wrote, "The next time it begins to rain... lie down on your belly, nestle your chin into the grass, and get a frog's-eye view of how raindrops fall... The sight of hundreds of blades of grass bowing down and popping back up like piano keys strikes me as one of the merriest sights in the world."
That might strike you as advice from a person with not nearly enough to do, but personally, I like it. If Margolin can feel joy in soggy clothes looking at wet grass, you and I can find all kinds of things for which we can give thanks!
Try it! Count your blessings. Jot them down. At least stop and think of as many things as you can that you're thankful for right now. It worked for Oprah, Zig, Margolin and me. Give it a shot. If you want to feel happy, try on an attitude of gratitude for a change in your mood, your outlook and you.