Start2Finish: Fueling Discipline, Focus and the right mindset
Start2finish is about starting a journey towards achieving fulfilment and the guidance to travel through the voyage until reaching the shores of your goals and visions. The mission is reaching the finish line in whatever endeavours of your life. Many of us lose track of our goals or abandon ship due to situations surrounding us or we lose the will power to go on. Hence regularly reminding each other of what is at stake is key to keep us going
Start2Finish: Fueling Discipline, Focus and the right mindset
Overcome the Busyness of life: Balancing Priorities and Purpose with Pastor Gwinyai Mabika
What if the secret to a well-balanced life isn't about doing more, but about focusing better? In this deeply reflective conversation, we unpack the wisdom behind managing life's competing demands while staying true to our purpose.
Using the powerful metaphor of 86,400 seconds deposited into our "time account" each day, they explore how different people approach this non-renewable resource. Some overthink and waste their time, others spend carelessly knowing more will come tomorrow, while the wise invest strategically for future growth. The question becomes: how are you using your daily deposit?
Ready to transform how you approach your time, priorities, and purpose? This episode offers practical wisdom for anyone feeling pulled in too many directions. Subscribe now and join the conversation about living with intention from start to finish.
• Commitment and passion as keys to prioritizing what matters most in our lives
• The myth of multitasking and why focusing on one thing at a time produces better results
• Each person receives 86,400 seconds daily—some waste it, others spend it, while the wise invest it
• Seeking first the right priorities allows everything else to fall naturally into place
• Physical health and exercise provide benefits beyond the physical—impacting mental clarity and focus
• Faith allows you to see what others can't see, creating vision that guides purpose and action
• Balancing principle (what you do) with personality (who you are) creates meaningful success
• Finding quiet time for self-reflection helps cut through the noise of daily life
• Small, consistent daily habits (just 30 minutes) compound into significant progress over time
Join us next time for more transformative conversations on living with purpose and intention.
Fueling Discipline , focus and the right mindset!
People with faith seem to have a different world that they see than everyone else. Where you have doubt or you don't see the same thing that this person sees. When you say they have faith, it's almost as if they're in a different realm of thinking.
Speaker 1:Some of the greats are said to have had that sort of conviction almost a delusion of sorts that a certain thing, is going to happen a certain way and they were convinced, regardless of what anyone else said, this is what was going to happen.
Speaker 1:It's almost like they saw something that no one else saw.
Speaker 1:I remember when I used to again teach young people, I used to give an analogy of this ancient Greek statue that was called Opportunity.
Speaker 1:And Opportunity had hair on the front of its head, but it was completely bald on the back, and the story, the imagery there, was that it was easy to grab opportunity when it was coming towards you because it has hair on the front. You can grab onto the hair, but once opportunity had gone past you, it was hard to now try and grab opportunity, because opportunity is bald on the back of its head. So, similarly in our own lives, that opportunity makes sense or it's easy to grasp or get a hold of when it's coming towards you, but it's possible for you to miss the opportunity and sometimes things can be so difficult to now grasp and get a hold of because they've gone past you that you actually have 86 400 seconds in a day and that it's your choice then now, how you then now how you then invest it, how you then spend it or how you then waste it, and tomorrow you're guaranteed it's going to be renewed as you do it again.
Speaker 1:So it's as if someone is depositing seconds value into your bank account and then you have to decide and determine how you use it every day.
Speaker 3:So welcome to another episode of Start to Finish, fueling Discipline Focus in the Right Mindset. I'm your host, kd, so today I'm sitting here with my pastor.
Speaker 1:Believe it or not.
Speaker 3:Pastor Gunyai Mabika and we just want to dive into some conversation. I don't know what we're going to discuss. Really, I'm bad at introductions, so I'll just allow him to quickly introduce himself, who he is.
Speaker 1:I'm equally bad at introductions. So, to be short and brief, my name is Gwinyaima Bika. I'm a pastor in Faith Ministries. I lead the Center Church, which is the Avondale congregation.
Speaker 1:I've had the pleasure of knowing Mr Kuda for a little bit of a while now. We've shared some interesting life experiences, but it's been good so far. My husband to one wife, father of three girls, so Kuda's like copying me. Everything that I do is in, is in following it. Uh, he's copying. So I think if I add another child, maybe I'll convince him to then add a fourth as well. Um, but yeah, otherwise, that's, that's who I am.
Speaker 1:Uh, I'm a pastor, dabble in business. Um, what else do I do? I coach actual sport. Yeah, that's me in a nutshell. I've been thinking a little bit about the busyness of life that we have as men, as people, as individuals, and maybe we can start a conversation around that in terms of I don't know if you're like me finding that there's a lot of things that are demanding of your attention and your time, but you don't always have the capacity or even the latitude to be able to do all of the things that you want to do. So it's amazing to me how you end up finding time to even do this, to sit up and sit down and think through and converse and communicate. So maybe we can start our conversation on how is it possible that you find balance, to be able to be all things to all men and able to do all the things that you do and do them well. So I've now turned into the interviewer, into the interviewer.
Speaker 3:So I think what I can say is I think if you find something that you're passionate about, if you have something that is important to you in life, you know, I think, you find that commitment to do that thing. So it doesn't matter, you know at what time you do it, but you just want to get around and do it. I'm a cyclist also, so I make sure I wake up as early as possible before my day starts.
Speaker 1:So what time do you wake up? I wake up at 4.30.
Speaker 3:4.30 am, then yeah, I hit the ground running. I go for cycling for about an hour 30 minutes.
Speaker 1:How many k's do you knock out in an hour?
Speaker 2:30 minutes.
Speaker 3:In an hour 30 minutes I can do 50, 60. Wow On a good day. So hour 30 minutes, I can do 50 60 wow on a good day. So yeah, so that's part of it and you know, the more you get committed to, to something you just want to see through to the end, okay, so just like starting off this podcast last year, you know, I I just started recording and I just made a commitment to myself and say you know what, throughout the business, obviously there are times when I'm doing other work, I can't be here. So I just try to make sure I record as much as I can within the capacity that I have, then just upload it and it goes on like that. But I think at the end of the day it's about that commitment. Then you get things going.
Speaker 1:I think you highlighted two things you highlighted passion and you highlighted commitment that there's things that you want to do so you make the time and you make the effort to actually do them To get them going.
Speaker 3:yeah, so you care about these things.
Speaker 1:They make your heart beat. They actually even feed you by doing them. So, in terms of making time for things that you want to do, it's important for you to be passionate about a specific thing. Second thing you said there was commitment, commitment. So there's just this drive or this desire that you know you have to do it, or something that's important. So you have to make the time to actually do it.
Speaker 1:So, like if you're spending time with your family or going to work so you can get paid. There's certain things that you have to do in order to receive something from them. Um. So now, when it comes to multitasking, um, is it actually possible to do multiple things at the same time and do them effectively?
Speaker 3:I don't think multitasking exists. Over time, I used to want to do all things all at once.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But you know, with wisdom and growing up and trying to do this experience, you notice it doesn't work. So I would rather be intentional. You know, if I'm here in this moment, I would rather enjoy that moment and enjoy the experience that comes with it. With that moment, because if I'm trying, I'm still because you know, with multitasking your mind, then say, if I I'm trying, I'm still because you know, with multitasking your mind, then say, oh, it's pulled on another direction. You're saying, oh, there's something. Did I switch off the stove?
Speaker 2:or did I do?
Speaker 3:something. You know, did I leave the car on Because your mind is all over the place? But when you allow yourself just to calm down and just say, okay, fine, right now we're doing this podcast and that's all there is to it, I'm not going to look at other aspects, then the game is is on and like, if I'm trying to think too many things, I won't get anything accomplished. Okay, so it's all about that enjoyment, that fulfillment that you find when you just start doing. You know that thing that matters to you and focusing on it.
Speaker 3:So if I say I want to spend two hours with my kids, I would rather just give all in and like I'm thinking about something else, then it means when my daughter is playing with it and dead here and I'm like, okay, don't worry, I'm texting, it doesn't work.
Speaker 1:You actually end up not doing any of the things. Well, you're trying to do all of them at the same time.
Speaker 3:I would rather be there now.
Speaker 2:One.
Speaker 1:You're trying to do all of them at the same time. I would rather be there now, One task at a time.
Speaker 3:So do this then that, and what it means is, if I do it well today, I may not need to repeat that thing tomorrow, so I'll allocate my time for something else that is of value to me. Then it continues on like that.
Speaker 1:So if I was to summarize what you're saying in a word. It might even just like that Okay. So if I was to summarize what you're saying in a word, it might even just be that word priority, priority, correct, to then be able to set something, commit yourself to that thing, then move on to do something else Then do it well, because you actually focus on what you're doing. You're able to complete the task and then move on to another task.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, and at the at time, you know I only have my 24 hours. So if that time, if I don't use that time, well, and I'm just all over the place, it, it means it can be time that's get wasted away.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but if I I allow myself to say okay, for the next two hours I'm going to be reading my bible. For the next period I'm going to be doing x amount. Maybe it may overlap beyond that time I would have said, but if it's of value to me, I think that time would have been used of, uh, you know, to achieve greatness for me and like, if I'm all over the place, it just allows me to then say okay. So you know, I've just been watching tv for the past three hours and my time is gone.
Speaker 3:You know, I've not achieved anything. So I think most of us, we always then beat ourselves up if we don't utilize our time very well. I've done it several times with I'm like what about my? Why am I doing this thing? You know why have I wasted my three hours doing this? Yeah you know, because it's not adding value to me. I know I would think that add value to me. So I guess, if you build that commitment and that passion and the follow through, just say okay, fine, let me just do it.
Speaker 1:You can get it done, then we can accomplish more. I remember sharing with some young people that in a story form that if I told you first to imagine that I was going to give you 86,400 RTGS dollars and.
Speaker 1:I deposited them into your account. How would you spend? What would you do with that money that I've given you? But the caveat is that at the end of 24 hours I'm going to it's going to be refreshed when you take away whatever you haven't used and then I'm going to give you another 86,400 RTGS, and every day I'm going to do that for you, and I always liken it to my three different children, because I think in my three different children I have one child who's very likely to spend her whole time trying to think I've got this money, what am I going to do with this money? 24 hours would actually go past without them actually having spent, or used that money Correct, then it gets refreshed and they've wasted the $86,400.
Speaker 1:And then I've got another child who is very likely to then spend on whatever she wants, whatever she desires, because she knows the next day there's going to be more money.
Speaker 2:That's going to come in.
Speaker 1:So she'll spend all of it until it's finished and then wait for another one. But then I've got another child who then will try and think about okay, then I've got another child who then would try and think about okay, since I've got this coming in and I know I've got more of it coming in every other day how can I make the most out of this so that it makes more for itself and she's more likely to invest and try and figure out how she can make more money from the money that she has, so that it can add to the more money.
Speaker 1:And I tell that story and that analogy to kind of get people to think about the time that they have, that you actually have 86 400 seconds in a day and that it's your choice then now how you then invest it, how you then spend it or how you then waste it, and tomorrow you're guaranteed it's going to be renewed, renewed and you do it again yeah, so it's as if someone is depositing seconds value into your bank account and then you have to decide and determine how you use it every day.
Speaker 1:Some of us spend too much time thinking about how this thing that we have and we don't do anything. Some of us waste spend and we expend all of it. Some of us actually then invest and try and build something that can be built upon something else.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:At the time that we have. I've got a difficult question for you, though.
Speaker 1:You brought this idea of how we're spending our time, and in Matthew 6, I think it's verse 33. Scripture tells us about how Jesus is actually speaking and he says seek ye first the kingdom and his kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. So he introduces this concept that we talked about about priority that if you put certain things first, everything else then falls into place. This verse comes after he talked about how you don't need to worry about anything. You'll be taken care of. God supplies, he takes care of your needs.
Speaker 1:Look at the plant, look at the birds. They don't worry about anything. So if you would just seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these other things will be added unto you. My difficult question Do you think there's certain things that if you prioritize them correctly, everything else can fall into place? That we're talking about balance when we're talking about expanding of energy, we're talking about using time? That there's maybe some key tenants, that if you prioritize them right, everything else then makes sense and falls into place?
Speaker 3:all these other things will then be added to you, that's a very, very difficult question, but you know, I mean, there are key things that I truly believe that if one really focus on, you know, day in and day out, it really is going to be a game changer in the outcomes. Outcomes, you know, later on in life uh, we talk of our spirituality. You know our faith. Uh, you know, just because you see, faith is a subject of things, hopeful, the conviction of things not sin, yeah.
Speaker 3:So imagine you. You develop your faith for things that you haven't seen. You know everyone may, some may not call it faith. Yeah, but they live with faith. Imagine someone who starts a business and people tell you know this will not work, you know this thing that you're talking about actually it will not happen. Then, years later, that thing has happened. You know there was a form of faith, there was something like that just kept pushing you to say okay, fine, I need to have faith.
Speaker 3:So that's one aspect. You know, just having faith is very important.
Speaker 1:Faith, I've been finding faith very interesting, um, and it's almost as if even from scripture, even from a natural perspective, that people with faith um seem to have a different world that they see than everyone else Definitely. Where you have doubt or you don't see the same thing that this person sees. When you say they have faith, it's almost as if they're in a different realm of thinking.
Speaker 1:Some of the greats are said to have had that sort of conviction almost a delusion of sorts that a certain thing is going to happen a certain way and they were convinced, regardless of what anyone else said, this is what was going to happen. It's almost like they saw something that no one else saw. So, from a biblical point of view, people like you think about Elijah, who then had his servant come to him, worried that they were about to be killed in two kings when these armies of the enemy had come. And he says to the servant and he actually prays to God for God to open the servant's eyes so that he can see, and he prays, and the servant's eyes are opened and he's able to see all the armies of the Lord that are with them. So Elijah had faith in God, but it wasn't just an arbitrary idea.
Speaker 2:It wasn't hope, it wasn't just a concept.
Speaker 1:He could actually see those that were with them that the servant couldn't see. So his faith caused him to be able to see what others couldn't see. In a natural kind of world, people like Steve Jobs or even the Bill Gateses who had a delusional fixation on a certain thing that they were convinced that this thing would work and it had
Speaker 1:to work this way, so it's almost like they could see something that the rest of us couldn't see, and they stuck to it and they drove to it and brought it to fruition. Until now, we are seeing what they saw before it was even tangible.
Speaker 1:So sometimes I think, some of the success we need to have, some of the things that we are hoping to achieve. We have to be able to see them before everyone else sees them, so that we can be able to bring them um to light that everyone else can be a part of correct.
Speaker 3:So sometimes faith looks like delusion, delusion because you're seeing what other people don't see yeah, you know, you know it's what you are saying is it's really true? Because at the end of the day, you know people will just see you going crazy. They don't understand really why is this person doing what they're doing. So faith becomes very important to be a core foundation because I think you know, once you have a certain conviction, it just it's spiritual, it's, it's, it's in the realm of what people don't see. But that thing keeps pushing you and pushing you because others don't see it but you see it and you keep going, even if you are being told this is not going to work.
Speaker 3:You still continue to push, so I think that becomes something that is very key for someone to have, and also, just, uh, working on your health.
Speaker 3:You know, becomes very, very important. You know, because if you work on your health, you know, becomes very, very important. You know, because if you work on your health, it means you have more days, more years of doing that thing that you're supposed to be doing. Most times we don't take care of ourselves. You know, we think. You know, maybe when I make a little bit of money, or maybe when this happens, then that doesn't happen or eventually it happens later. Yeah, then, because you are not taking care of yourself, you end up having regrets. I was talking to a friend of mine recently who stays in botswana. I'm like you know what your health is.
Speaker 3:One of the most important thing yeah to you, you know, if you don't keep your mobility because the moment you are exercising, your mind is being refreshed. Your entire body is just going through a certain process, so I also think that then becomes very important to have one of those key priorities and also understanding time before we get to time. Back to this body.
Speaker 1:Because what you're saying. It's worrying me to think that it's possible that you could limit yourself in terms of what you're able to do just because your physical capacity is diminished. So if I'm not healthy, if I don't eat well, if I don't exercise, I might actually be too tired to think or brainstorm or to plan that if I don't get enough sleep in terms of my creative capacity, my creative potential is limited that there's this idea that, physically, what we how we steward our bodies then has an impact on what we're able to do, what we're able to accomplish, that I could be very smart.
Speaker 1:I could be very rich. I could have many opportunities, but failing to take care of my physical body limits what I'm then able to actually do yeah, that's, that's crazy. Yeah, it is an impact.
Speaker 3:You can go into time yeah, so understanding time is is also very important. Yeah, you know, uh, obviously there is a when the time of god meets your time and things that's exploding. But just understanding that God has given you 24 hours, you know, and they are yours, to do. What you know, from the moment we got out of our mother's wombs, our 24 started, you know, up to this point. So there's always. What's always fascinate me is there's someone who's making it and there's someone who's failing.
Speaker 1:They all have the same, yet they all have the same time.
Speaker 3:I'm quite positive that this guy started off without money.
Speaker 2:You know, most probably from zero.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, but what they had is the time. They understood the principle of time and they utilized it day in, day out, and that became a game changer. So for me, I think those aspects will really help you to, because if you change your worldview, how you see the world, how you see these aspects, I think it's a game changer. No, I think you're right.
Speaker 1:Biblically, the two words that we find for time. I think there are a game changer. No, I think you're right Biblically, the two words that we find for time. I think there are a few others, but the two that stand out is this idea of Kronos and Kairos. Kairos, yeah, when Kronos refers to time on a clock, in terms of how time moves, how we experience it, how we encounter it, but Kairos refers to seizing or taking the opportunity within a time where you have an occasion or you have a chance to do something. So missing kronos is missing the chance or missing an opportunity.
Speaker 1:I remember when I used to again teach young people, I used to give an analogy of this ancient Greek statue that was called Opportunity, and Opportunity had hair on the front of its head but it was completely bald on the back and the story or the imagery there was that it was easy to grab Opportunity when it was coming towards you because it has hair on the front you can grab onto the hair. But once opportunity had gone past you, it was hard to not try and grab opportunity, because opportunity is bald on the back of its head, okay so similarly in our own lives.
Speaker 1:That opportunity makes sense or it's easy to grasp or get a hold of when it's coming towards you, but it's possible for you to miss the opportunity and sometimes things can be so difficult to not grasp and get a hold of because they've gone past you.
Speaker 1:And when we think about time more than thinking about the 24 hours. There's also, then, opportunities that exist within those timeframes that we then also need to be able to identify and take hold of. Certain opportunities in the time, of the opportunity to make the most out of all of those opportunities, thinking even of, maybe, verses like Ecclesiastes 3, verse 1, where it talks about there's a time and there's a season for everything, this idea that God then, will give you a purpose, but not just a purpose he'll also give you a time in which to do it.
Speaker 1:If you think about your own life, there were times where mapping out something like this, yeah, you couldn't even fathom because of how busy you were, or the things that were going on, but then the time then comes and the opportunity also then meets where you can carve out space and time to do things like this, and I think it's important, as people then also identify and be able to recognize what seasons of life we're in and what opportunities are coming our way, because they're not always going to be there. True, we have to make the most and seize them when it's time to make money.
Speaker 1:Make money, like you were saying, when it's time to spend time with the family yeah, being fully invested and spend time with the family To make the most of all of the opportunities and the time that we have to do what we're supposed to be doing, to be doing, to be doing that specific time.
Speaker 3:true, yeah, yeah, and. And you see, there's always this statement when people say I don't have time.
Speaker 3:You know I don't have time to do this, yeah, but you know, when you want to break down those um 24 hours, you look okay, you have your eight hours where you sleep. You most probably have your eight hours where you're going to work, maybe, let's say, with another two hours somewhere in there for travels and just doing nothing. But in between you realize you might be left with three or four hours and maybe you may want to watch TV or go on social. You're allowed to do that. This is only 24 hours. Imagine just spending 30 minutes to an hour Every single day, harnessing your skills, just every single day, and you just commit. This is my time for personal development.
Speaker 1:Just set aside time to improve.
Speaker 3:One thing, just for 30 minutes Out of 24 hours Do it for a year. What do you think will happen?
Speaker 1:I wish I was good at math so we could calculate what 30 minutes a day for 365 days equals 365 divided by 2 is 150, 60, 70, 80, 187. So about 186 hours Somewhere around there by the end of the year. If you just do 30 minutes a day, you7. So about 186 hours Somewhere around there by the end of the year if you just do 30 minutes a day you're going to spend 180 something hours on something.
Speaker 3:You want to learn a new language 30 minutes a day. You want to improve a skill 30 minutes a day. We are talking about learning. We are talking about just doing that thing. That you have a hustle, that you want to start 30 minutes a day, you commit to it through and through. You know that's the thing that changes lives, because you know sometimes you always say I don't have time where are you spending your time?
Speaker 3:have you reviewed to say, okay, fine, this is my 24 hours. We're not talking about five days or anything, just 24 hours. You look at it, how am I spending it? Can I break it down for myself? You know, okay, I'm spending it well here. Here I'm just wasting it away, and you notice most times because I was reviewing myself.
Speaker 3:I'm someone who likes watching movies, okay I can admit I, I, I, I can get glued in there and even if, when, when I'm feeling sleepy because I'm enjoying those moments, the sleep is gone, but then I always beat myself that time I already spent three hours doing this thing. I could be using that to do something else. So I think that's one of the areas for me that is very crucial and that's how we lose our lives because we don't spend our time. The same thing with wanting to mature spiritually. You know you can you. All you need to do is when you work up.
Speaker 2:You should have a structure.
Speaker 3:You should carve it out and you know when all is said and done, you get to where you want to get to, because it's practically yeah it looks like it might look like just waking up 30 minutes earlier and having that 30 minutes, or going to sleep 30 minutes later and having that 30 minutes
Speaker 1:to actually do or improve something.
Speaker 3:Improve something yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you were talking about also the downtime maybe that we have where sometimes driving kids to school. You maybe then have time where you're sitting in the car that's idle and figuring out ways maybe to then maximize to those periods where you're not just listening to radio listening to music, but maybe you're listening to an audiobook or something else, yeah, or when you're cycling and you're riding maybe then you're listening
Speaker 1:to something and you're listening to a podcast, yeah, and you're able to learn something and able to grow and then I guess, yeah, another way of maximizing opportunities is just maximizing the time in between the things that you are doing. You're doing yeah To try and be productive, to be productive Around those things, yeah.
Speaker 3:So sometimes we don't think it in that way. We just think you know, I don't have time, but when you look at it taking an audit, I think it's important to take an audit of your time it tells you a story. Whether you're going to be successful or you're going to fail, you bring me to another difficult question that I have for you.
Speaker 1:It sounds nice now when you talk about it and you say it, but it's a whole other thing to then do it In terms of these priorities or these important tenants that we think will add everything else to. To what extent, then, does a factor like discipline then play into being able to do and achieve and to be all things to all men in all these spaces that we want to be in?
Speaker 2:Because yeah, we get tired we do Things add up.
Speaker 1:There has to be a certain discipline to be able to commit to then not scrolling for that 30 minutes and catching up with all the things on Instagram, or not sleeping or just taking a break, switching off your brain and watching mindless TV. To what extent, then, does discipline play a factor, and how can one almost hack or trick themselves into being more disciplined?
Speaker 3:I think it starts with intentionality. You know, if you allow yourself to be intentional, okay, intentionality comes in in the sense that you know when you wake up in the morning or before you go to bed, what story are you telling yourself. Okay, you know, because if you tell yourself, tomorrow I must wake up and do this, already you've given your mind what to go to bed, sleeping, thinking about, given your mind what to go to bed, sleeping, thinking about, and when you wake up in the morning, automatically somehow you okay, fine, tomorrow I want to go to do cycling. You know, I've already set my mind up. Then I wake up and go. But the days that I don't tell myself what I want to do, in most cases I end up missing it.
Speaker 3:Right Now, once you get that rhythm going, then you know the issue of discipline becomes very important. The moment you tell yourself, first, I must do this thing, you wake up. Okay, fine, I'm going to work, I'm going to commit to A, b, c, d. Your mind is now there thinking about those things. Right. Then you give yourself the discipline and say, okay, fine, the alarm kicks in, now it's time to go. You start pushing yourself. But discipline, now, you know, sometimes we shoot ourselves on the foot. If maybe I've done it for one week and I'm excited, you know, yeah, then I miss a day, then that demotivates us and we go back to zero After a day, then that demotivates us and we go back to zero. After that you're like maybe I'll try it. Then you go for another week and demotivate it.
Speaker 3:I think if you celebrate those wins that you have achieved, it gives you the energy to keep on trying and keep on wanting to do more. You see, and even in days when you don't feel like doing it, that's where that discipline kicks in. Ok, fine, I've done it for that week and I was excited, but today I don't feel like doing it. But I must do it because I have a goal. I've committed to say I want to achieve this thing. So I think things like discipline, intentionally taking that introspection, checking yourself, you know, becomes very important to keep the wheel spinning. If you don't allow yourself time to recalibrate and think and say, okay, fine, how far have I come? You know how far must I go, you don't ask yourself the real questions. That really triggers that you know, that drive, that you know to continue the things going then, you may lose momentum, no matter how disciplined you may be.
Speaker 3:But if you feel you know running is not going to help me in any way, you're going to sleep. But if you combine that intentionality and you continue doing it and say, okay, day one, I've done this and you have a tracker that just allows you to track what you're doing, then you continue moving forward.
Speaker 1:That's interesting, yeah, just allows you to track what you're doing. Then you, you continue moving forward, you know? Interesting, yeah, because I think what I'm hearing from you as well is this idea that, um, it's a system, um, so it's not isolated things, but the things work together together. So even in some of the priority um, the key priorities that you've highlighted um. They seem to match even the makeup of a human being in terms of spirit, soul and body. That it's important that you have, then, a spiritual grounding In our discussion here.
Speaker 1:we talked about faith which is a belief that you have in a thing that you see differently than other people and you're able to chase and see something to its end or to its fruition. Talk about the body, where we're taking care of ourselves physically, that we then have to have the capacity to be able to carry, to be able to do that which we want to do, and we must be healthy and strong in order to do that. Then I think maybe we're kind of getting to an aspect of the soul now where there's this heart, there's this will, there's this desire that then must be nurtured and worked on to be able to then have that intentionality to chase after something, to continue to do something. Um, that is a complete human spirit, soul and body. We then must be feeding all three of those aspects and taking care of them to then be able to be very effective and fully effective in what we are trying to do.
Speaker 2:To even have balance in life.
Speaker 1:We must take care of all the different aspects of who we are Some of the things that you said in terms of celebrating the wins, I think it's Stephen Furtick who talks about not skipping dessert that the thing that keeps you going to the next victory is sometimes very much tied in celebrating a previous victory and sometimes I think we move on too quickly, that something happens, we do it well, we minimize it and then we try and do the next thing.
Speaker 1:But he was highlighting some of our strength. Some of our ability to be able to tackle the next challenge comes from just celebrating the previous one that you've done, um, that we're sometimes we're too hard on ourselves, that we need to actually congratulate ourselves that well done. You got up yesterday even though you didn't today. Maybe you're able to get up again tomorrow because you're able to do it yesterday. And we're able to get energy from celebrating um other wins and our previous wins. I'd like to extend it even now that you're able to celebrate someone else's wins and be able to get energy or be encouraged or be inspired by other people. If you're able to learn not just from other people's mistakes, but even learn from other people's victories, it can energize you to be able to chase, face your own challenges as well, true, and true, it's very interesting yeah, so tied to this idea of, um, the whole person being whole, in order to then be able to be balanced and to do things feeding the spirit, feeding the soul, feeding the body.
Speaker 1:Um, I think in the soul aspect, a lot of it has a lot to do also with then, even our mindset, our mindset, um how we think about things and how we are then reshaping our mindsets.
Speaker 1:Um, I talked about being a. You talked about it being a system. Yeah, um that there's then things that we do, like you were saying about talking to yourself and how you tell yourself tomorrow you're going to do this, so you want to do this yeah, that self-talk is important. Um, there's then in that changing of mindset, there's things that we can do, that either negatively spur us on um positively spur us on and they all then?
Speaker 1:have an impact impact, I think, of Romans 12.1 that talks about giving your body as a living sacrifice. That, in its nature, when you think about a sacrifice, it's something that gets killed and is done away with once you've sacrificed it. Paul talks about us being living sacrifices. So there's almost a dying daily that we're then expected to do, that there's aspects of yourself that you must put to death, that prevent you, that limit you from being able to do what you do. In verse 2 of that same chapter of Romans 12, he then says that we would then renew our minds, that we'd then be transforming our minds, then we'd be able to identify or discern what is the perfect will of God, that it begins by being a living sacrifice, that you're continually dying to self. Daily there's aspects that you're putting to death, and that's how you will transform your mind and that's how you'll then be able to find or identify the perfect will of God, which is very interesting.
Speaker 3:It is the perfect will of God, which is very interesting.
Speaker 1:It is Things that you should be doing on a daily basis that will aid in transforming your mind Because, you see, I think victory is not from the outside in.
Speaker 3:It's from the inside out. Everything starts from the inside. Yeah, you know how you treat yourself, how you view yourself. I think it will determine what you're going to accomplish. Because you know how you treat yourself, how you view yourself, I think it will determine what you are going to accomplish Because you know, like what we are talking about. I truly believe everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve their goals. You know, but only a minority, a small group, you know, begin to understand these principles and follow through on them. The rest of us, you know we are busy sleeping. That's why I think learning becomes very important. You know, someone must learn, must understand, must look at themselves from the inside out.
Speaker 2:What can I?
Speaker 3:change about myself, to change life around me. You know, because most probably, if you don't like your life right now, if you don't like it, you look at yourself in the mirror. You don't like what you see. You can start from there. Obviously, you may not see the results that you want. Yeah, you know. But at the end of the day, if you start doing it, just commit one week To just actually doing. To doing it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And if you feel good about it and you know this thing is changing my life, then you start building on it. You know I was talking to, to, to, to my team here. I'm like you know what we need to? To have a clear plan and understanding of what we are doing. When we wake up in the morning yeah, you know, do you have a calendar of events of saying, okay, fine, this is what my day looks like? Yeah, and you refer to that current calendar. It tells you, okay, fine, you say tomorrow you want to commit two hours doing this day after you're going to do this because you can accomplish more by just having a clear plan, a roadmap, yeah, of where you're going.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and most of us, we don't have that roadmap you know, you just wake up in the morning you want to wing it and say, okay, fine, all right, I'm employed at this company, I just go to that company and just sit there. You know, and most times you get there you're a sales rep. You don't even plan to say okay, tomorrow I want to make 10 calls Because by the mere fact that you did not give yourself to that process, it means you're just going to walk in there and you sit and come a month in and say, okay, fine, how much have you achieved for us? You haven't achieved it, but it doesn't mean you don't have the capacity that's right. You just don't have. You've not allowed yourself to think it through, to develop your body, soul and mind around where you are in life, to get you to the next level.
Speaker 2:So true.
Speaker 1:You touched on too many things there. I think the first one that stuck out to me was this idea of having a plan, that it's so important that we then have a plan, something as simple as a calendar or a roadmap, where you outline the things that you want to achieve and then you do them, yeah, and sometimes just seeing something, um that I'm supposed to do this, um, then you can work backwards and have steps towards achieving that thing um. One of the things I've been working hard on lately is setting long-term visions or long-term goals. We're talking 15, 20, 30 years from now and then kind of working my way backwards from that to be like okay, so if in 15 years I want to be sending my three daughters to Harvard Medical School, that means I need to have at least 1.2 million dollars to pay for their medical school for the 4 or 5 years that they're going to medical school.
Speaker 1:What do I need to be doing now to have 1.2? Million dollars extra to my general living expenses. Then we work back year by year and we set targets and we set goals. So they're now to try, and now even drill it down to a day by day that today in april of 2025. What are the times? What are the goals? What?
Speaker 1:are the objectives to get to a million and if it's a monetary value, if it's a time thing where I'm investing in a business that I'm building and and and. To have that kind of intentionality, to then be able to review that even at the end of the year, to be like, okay, our objective was this, did we achieve it? Where do we need to adjust to? Get to 1.2 mil. I think sometimes some of us don't have enough vision to see so that we are motivated to act.
Speaker 1:Now I think back to even where we started talking about faith that there's a type of person who sees a future or even a present very different to how everyone else sees it. They're able to then act and do things now that impact and affect that future.
Speaker 3:And another aspect is someone may have a big vision, but they will decide to stay in the future instead of coming back to now. I think that's one of the biggest challenges I think that we are facing in our generation, whereby I can have a big vision. I see myself owning this big congrammerlet. But sometimes you're not supposed to stay there, as you have rightly said, you need to come back to reality and say, okay, fine, on a day in, day out, what am I supposed to do to?
Speaker 2:get to that vision.
Speaker 3:Because if you stay in your vision, you know when you feel it, when you dream, it excites you. But five years down the line, one year down the line, what have I really achieved? You ask yourself that question. Or how much have I really achieved?
Speaker 3:And you notice that you haven't really even made a dent to where you want to get to. So I think it's also very important, the balance of seeing the future and getting excited about it. Some days you just get there and live in it because you still want that energy to keep going, but at the same time then coming back to say, okay today, what must I achieve today to make sure I get there, is it? A new relationship? Yeah, is it a new sell to the job?
Speaker 1:whatever it is, you know what are those key things that I must do today to to change my future so it becomes important at the the same time to have our head in the clouds, but also to have our feet on the ground, on the ground. To somehow be living in the already, but not yet, not yet At the same time, because the work must be done. To get to, to get there this vision.
Speaker 3:That's why we say start to finish, because there's a process in between. They start to finish because there's a process in between that you must walk to get to the finish line and it's all in the in-between.
Speaker 1:It's all in the in-between. We can start, we can see a finish, but what are we doing in between?
Speaker 3:Yeah, let's get excited, let's get motivated, but let's be disciplined enough to walk the journey to get there.
Speaker 1:Okay, you know.
Speaker 2:That's interesting yeah.
Speaker 1:One more concept that you brought to my mind as we were talking there's this idea that we brought up of doing one thing, then doing another thing, then doing another thing, and then I'm thinking to kind of challenge it, but not on the same level that, yes, when you're in a moment, it's important to be in that moment and finish, but I think sometimes, as people, we use that as a limitation, that we want to do this, then we're going to be able to do that, then we're going to be able to do that, as opposed to, like we're talking about the spirit, the soul and the body. Yeah, that some might say, then let me work on my spirit first, then, once I've finished sorting out my spirit, I can then work on my soul. Once I've finished sorting out my soul, I can then work on my body. And my challenge now is that I think there's some things that are not thens but that are ands, that we don't wait to finish one thing, then we do another.
Speaker 1:But in some areas we must be doing things at the same time, at the same time, at the same time I'm reminded of Acts 1, verse 8, where it talks about the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and then you will be God's witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and in Samaria and in the ends of the earth. It doesn't say you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem then, in Judea, then in Samaria, then in the ends of the earth. It says.
Speaker 1:And so there's almost this implication that whilst you're working on Jerusalem, you're then also working in Judea, you're then also working in Samaria and you're also impacting the ends of the earth all at the same time, and I picked up on this, so I was reminded of it when you were now talking about working on yourself to then impact everything else that when you're dealing with guinea, when we're working on jerusalem, when we're improving jerusalem, it it's almost, then is a ripple effect, that jerusalem then impacts judea. That if I'm healthy and I'm happy, my family then gets to benefit from a healthy, well put together.
Speaker 1:kunyai, if my family is healthy and well and put together and doing well, then the community where I live in Avondale, then gets to experience what it means to have a good and healthy community.
Speaker 1:If that community is healthy, then the nation gets to experience and get the benefit of a healthy, well-rounded community. So this idea then now of taking care of yourself and others and other spheres of influence and impact as we go, then kind of changes our mindsets and how we think that we're not waiting to finish one thing then do another. But because we're doing this well, we're then also able to impact and influence all of these other spheres.
Speaker 1:So even when it comes to thinking about church where I work. If I want to have a healthy congregation, I need to make sure I have a healthy elders and make sure I'm healthy. If I'm good, there's certain fruit that comes out to the rest of the congregation, where certain things then fall together where all? These things are then added because the priority has been taken care of.
Speaker 1:If the eldership is healthy, if I focus on those 11 men being healthy and well and working together as a team, certain things just then overflow from that and it takes care of the rest of the congregation and I think sometimes we focus too much on finishing one thing than doing another, whereas we should be trying to do all the things at the same time but knowing what the priority is, that all the other things then get.
Speaker 3:You are very right, because we don't, you know, we don't live in a bubble you know, we are, we are not. We don't live in a bubble, we don't live in a vacuum. There's always people to impact. Whilst you are working on that, even that one thing.
Speaker 3:It allows you to connect in certain places and then deliver change, as you're rightly saying. For example, for me, when I'm I, I enjoy cycling. Okay, you realize, because I do it consistent enough. Yeah, people see me and say someone says, no, you know, I'm trying to join in cycling, can you recommend bikes, can you do this? Someone says, oh, I already have a bike, I just need someone I can partner with and do this thing.
Speaker 3:So the moment, because I'm doing that, I'm already doing that thing, already there are partners, there are people that will just come in alignment and then we start creating communities because of those dynamics. Yeah, so that's also how then I look at it. Very interesting To say you can drive that goal of yours, but it allows you to just connect.
Speaker 3:For example I want to grow the business, so I'm not going to be in a vacuum Right now. I've gone back to golf as well, so it means I'm building more network, I'm connecting with more people, I'm talking to more people, and this allows me to impact them how they think, because of the values that is already in me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, them how they think because of the values that are, that are, that is already in me, yeah, and I'll give you maybe it's it's uh going offside. But you know, I I played golf with these guys, three guys, you know. I know one of them is my mentor in business, you know, and through knowing him he then said I know I've got my guys that I play golf with. You guys can join us if you want. So I've joined them a couple of times, so quite recent, you know we were on course. I asked him so how guys, how have you guys known? How long have you guys known each other for? Yeah, and guess what? 58 years being friends, 58 years, that's a lifetime. That's a lifetime of just inspiring each other, of just you know. And now it's coming to our heads what is the recipe of keeping such a long-time relationship? Because I know, friends-ish, you have the time, you know you're doing two years, then it's on and off.
Speaker 3:And sometimes you don't even you know you're no longer friends anymore. Just because you don't even you know you're no longer friends anymore Just because you don't spend time together. So that then becomes a level of impact that you can find around you and you can also give to others when you continue relating.
Speaker 2:It's very interesting.
Speaker 1:It's taking me back again, I guess, to this Matthew 6.33, in terms of seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things being added. It's taking me back again, I guess, to this Matthew 6, 33, in terms of seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things being added unto you that even in our seeking are we seeking the right things, cause you're just describing a people who, a group of men who sought just friendship and, like you're saying, when you're seeking the right thing, other things then get added on in terms, even then connection, even then business deals and others.
Speaker 1:So other things then come come as part of seeking this thing and your consistency to able to maintain, to be able to do this one priority that you set up to just be friends and seeking that right thing, you get all these other things so, even for bringing it back to physical fitness or exercise, that in seeking one thing, to be physically yeah, healthy fit.
Speaker 1:There's so many other things that then come, your body releases certain endorphins that make you feel a certain way, that give you energy throughout the day. Um, you then have not just the more energy, but your more articulate, your mind works better simply because you've been excited.
Speaker 1:So there's so many other things that come with the layers they're seeking the one thing, like you're saying, in a business context, where you engage and you meet with other people and then there's other opportunities and other occasions that then open up to it when you're seeking one thing I think it's just very interesting, then, to then consider how often we are seeking the wrong thing and what are the things that we should be seeking and chasing for instead of chasing the other things.
Speaker 1:What things should we be seeking first that then will bring all these other things? Because sometimes, when people set goals, the goal is to buy a gd6 or to buy a certain vehicle vehicle, yeah, and that's the thing that they are seeking when my challenge would be no, those are the other things. Yeah, your goal possibly should be even in doing running a business, your goal might be to get a certain amount of money or get a subject no, no your goal should be to provide value possibly correct.
Speaker 1:You're seeking that, all these other things will be added unto you. And maybe then refining again back to reviewing what are the things that we are seeking. That then give us all the other things, and when you seek the right thing, all the other things will be added to you.
Speaker 2:But if you seek all the other things.
Speaker 3:All you're going to get is all the other things, but when you seek first, or sometimes you may not even get all the other things, because you're seeking the wrong thing. You're thinking of a.
Speaker 2:GD6.
Speaker 3:When you should be. You know what I want to create value. I want to make an impact that then becomes. It then ties down with purpose. Yeah, you see, because the goal has to have purpose. That's right, you know. It's not just a goal to make money or to feed yourself, Because if it's like that, then it becomes selfish.
Speaker 3:So, when your goal aligns with purpose, with making an impact, with transforming even if you are going to transform two, three people, you know that then becomes a game changer to touching lives and making a greater impact to Judea, samaria and the end of the earth. So that's where it starts off with that's good. Yeah, how does it coincide having the principle and the personality of Christ? Because sometimes we, okay, we want God's blessing, but we don't operate in the principle. Okay, Right.
Speaker 3:Then we operate in the personality. You can be a great person, you can be a prayerful person yeah right. But if you don't understand the principle of giving, of tithing, of working, then at the end of the day you know you can be this person who is full here and still saying god, god, why am I not blessed? Because the word tells us to I'll bless the works of your hands. Yeah Right, if you use your hands, I'll bless them. The only way I'm able to give in church is because my hands are blessed. I'm using the tools that I have, you know, for God to bless me. Once I'm getting blessed, then I bless others.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, if I fold my hands and say you know what God will provide, you know, then at the end of the day I might just miss the point in terms of receiving what God wants me to give, because now it goes back to wisdom. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, all right, no, I'm with you.
Speaker 1:I'm with you, I'm with you. I'm with you, I'm with you. Bible teachers like Bill.
Speaker 1:Johnson will often then describe Christ as perfect theology. To say it another way, that if you wanted to understand the fullness of God's thinking, he exemplified and expressed and he showed it to us in Christ. That Christ in himself, with a personality or application or principle, gave us the full picture. In faith ministries we have a principle, one of our ten principles of ministry. We say that the model of ministry is Christ Almost this idea that we want to see, you want to understand anything. Um, we can look at christ and he'll give us the perfect model of how something should be done. So, like you're describing, principle is one thing, personality is another thing, and christ embodied both of them perfectly correct um, if makes sense.
Speaker 1:Where he applied the principles he needed to apply, but he also was the person that he needed to be, and, in my experience, both need to work together to get the fullness of what they're supposed to.
Speaker 1:There's a difference even between your gifts and who you actually are in terms of personality, that as Christians, when we talk about someone who is mature as a believer, what we're looking at mostly is actually the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker 1:Whether they're patient, whether they're kind, we're looking at their personality. Maturity is very much based on personality, whereas someone can move mightily in the gifts of the spirit and not be spiritually mature where they can be unkind, where they can be unloving but still be very good at preaching, still be very good at laying on of hands and healing, and moving in the gifts, where principle isn't dependent on personality but principle is filled through personality, that there's a substance. That, then, is that backs principle. That comes from personality. To be a whole person, you need to have both principle and personality. Where the conversation can then get fun is is it possible for someone to apply principle without personality? And is it possible for me to take the principles, even of God, the same way, principles of nature and gravity, and apply them without being a certain personality and at risk of overstating. I think it is possible.
Speaker 1:I think you can apply a principle without even fully understanding it, without fully embodying what it represents and receive from the principle what it promises to give, whereas I think you miss out on the fullness of the principle if you lack the personality. I don't think the principle then does fully what it's supposed to do if the personality is absent from it.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's just a very interesting thing that knowledge of both is necessary growing in personality and being able to apply principles to then have fullness of life. So, even like the conversations we've been having now, a lot of principles have then come out, come out correct. What principles then also do, is they impact and affect personality, that, um, you're then able to become a certain person. Yeah, when you do a certain thing. Also the other way around because you're a certain person, you're able to then do a certain thing. So that's how the two interact and relate and can edify each other.
Speaker 2:But it's also possible to very much be stuck in one stuck in the other and then miss out on the fullness of the two.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because I think at the end of the day, as you are saying, it's a combination of them working together. You know you need to have empathy. If you're okay, if you operate in the principle let's say you are, your principle is adding value to you but you don't have the personality. It means you miss out on the community, you miss out on relating yeah with other people, on thinking, on serving. You know, unlike if you have both of them together. So it's important to be someone who's filled by the Spirit, to know God, to have empathy, to have love, because that's who God is, that's who Jesus is, but at the same time, god is blessing people.
Speaker 2:Based on principle.
Speaker 3:Based on principle. He's telling you. Now apply this principle for God to change your life.
Speaker 1:But yeah, that general idea I think it's important to have awareness of in terms of having your principles, applying and using them, allowing them as well to impact your personality, so that you can actually then house them well to be able to use what then comes out of them. Reminded of 1 Corinthians 13, it talks about love. Where it talks about love, initially, those first four or five verses give you kind of descriptions of someone who has something but doesn't have love, and it goes on to disqualify the thing that they have or the thing that they do if they don't have love.
Speaker 1:that even if you were to prophesy or to um preach good words or a good message but you don't have love, it's nothing even if you do moral works, if you're able to help people or give your life, even for someone else, but if you don't have love, it's useless. So it describes these things that if you do them, but you do them without love, they are meaningless and they are nothing. And I think, in this example of this conversation talking about personality and principle, that that first part talks about principle, that you have this thing, you can do this thing and you'll get the results you can be successful, yeah, but if you don't have love, you don't have an aspect of personality it, the real value that you get from it, the real value that you invest in it is taken away.
Speaker 2:It's useless it's worthless.
Speaker 1:The investment that you think you've made or have done doesn't actually register in the account. That matters that it's possible for you to be successful and not be good, not be good. Yeah, it's possible for you to be good and not be successful yeah, what's best is to be good, and and successful.
Speaker 3:That's correct. Oh yeah, it came to me is that when jesus was saying it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven?
Speaker 1:For a camel to enter the eye of a needle.
Speaker 3:The eye of a needle exactly Because this man is operating in principle as a mass, all the world. But now, you know, because there's no empathy, there's no compassion, you know you miss what you're supposed to do or leaving the purpose of god that you're supposed to live. Okay, you know, because you know you're building more on the principle and lagged on the personality and how you can relate to others with your wealth and with uh, with your um giftings that you have, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:Because the imagery I'm now getting is this idea of a needle yes, it has an eye at the top, but it has a point at the bottom. At the bottom, that it's possible for you to miss the point of success. Success it is possible that the wealth that you have, or even the good personality that you have, or even the ability to warm up a room, in terms of this, these things that you've been given by god.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's possible to miss the point of those things if you have the wrong priority, if you only focus on the principle you then aren't to those that you're supposed to be what you're supposed to be? So it's possible for you to miss out on heaven?
Speaker 2:because you've missed the point of your purpose.
Speaker 1:Yes, Wow.
Speaker 3:So yeah, you know it's been an interesting conversation, the beginning of a journey, you know, and talking about the busyness of life Not busy, but busyness.
Speaker 3:Life can be hectic, you know, it can overwhelm us, you know we without even knowing that we are, we are getting overwhelmed and we miss the point of uh, of leaving it. And there's so much noise, you know, in this world right now and uh, yet zimbabwe alone politically, economically. So much noise sometimes we we don't bring, we don't collect ourselves to find where we are in life and how we can navigate through. You know the noise that is around us. So we are talking about the busyness, so don't be found busy, you know. Find your quiet time where you begin to have a conversation with yourself.
Speaker 3:And it's always difficult for people, you know, for even for myself, just to have a conversation. I'm scared to have a conversation with myself, because I'll then begin to correct myself on the areas that I know I'm doing wrong. But I find it very important just to have that conversation and say, okay, fine, this is where I am, because sometimes we are giving too much credit to people. We are giving too much credit to people. We are giving too much credit to the bad political platform or the economic situations.
Speaker 3:What can you do yourself to just make your life better, just like what was being shared on Sunday? I mean, how can you make your life better, irregardless of situations that would have happened to you and situations that is happening in the country. Wherever someone is. You know go through these things, but what can you do yourself to make sure you quiet down all these noises and still find yourself being the best person you can be, you know, in terms of achieving your can be, in terms of achieving your goals, in terms of impacting communities and things like that. So, basically, from us start to finish with Pastor Guy, this has been the conversation, and a good one. I hope it will have an impact to you and transform your lives and change your lives, and see you in our next chat.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me.