Control of Action: The Second Virtue of Maat

The second Virtue of Maat is control of action. This is significant as a virtue because actions, once taken, cannot be untaken. In human relations, whether personal or business, the words you speak, the deeds you do, and the negative attitude that you display through your body language can never be reversed. The old adage, “You can’t un-ring the bell,” is absolutely true here.

This virtue brings into the foreground the issue of self-discipline. Discipline is enforced obedience. It is bringing your own behaviors under control, regardless of how you may wish to behave in any given stressful situation. Controlling your action is a function of constant practice. If you are used to flying off the handle every time someone makes you angry, then you are out of control. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur and you have serious anger issues, then you are out of business. Your family may, out of love and commitment to you, put up with your bad behavior, but no customer or client will.

If you have trouble keeping your temper in check or cursing before you think, then get help. The art and science of successful entrepreneurs demands self-control in speech and behavior—even in body language!

People who are already well-off financially because they have inherited a family fortune can afford to be mean, surly, self-absorbed and rude. Keep in mind, however, that their wealth allows them to live the life they want without succeeding in starting a new business! They are not you, and you are not they!

You are attempting to create true wealth for yourself and your family. The only way you can succeed in doing this is to treat people with respect, be concerned about them, and serve them to the best of your ability—regardless of how you happen to feel about them personally on any particular day!

So, study to discipline yourself by controlling your action—your speaking and behavior. Strive to become a virtuous successful entrepreneur who works on yourself to bring your thoughts and actions under control so that nothing you think, say, or do becomes a stumbling block to your continued success as a human being and an entrepreneur.

Ultimately, you are not what you merely intend: you are only what you think and what you do. When the good you intend to do aligns with your thoughts, then you  become the wise master of yourself. Think well, do well and you will succeed in business and in life!

Control of Thought: The First Virtue of Maat

Long years before the Torah was written, Maat was the moral and ethical system used in ancient Kemet (Egypt) more than 4,000 years ago. Maat has multiple meanings, but according to The Husia, its sacred text, it essentially means moral and spiritual rightness in relation to the Divine, nature, and other humans. It is also an interrelated order of rightness which requires right relations with and right behaviors toward the Divine, nature and other humans.

According to Maat, there are 10 Virtues that define an ethical person, the first of which is control of thought. This ancient virtue is especially important for people today who seek to be entrepreneurs, because how one thinks and what one thinks determine what one does. In accord with the ancient Kemetic understanding of the importance of controlling one’s thoughts, modern business leaders and coaches stress the importance of a successful person’s control of thought as the key to business and personal success. Modern business leaders are not alone in their urging the necessity of a person’s control of thought.

Quantum physicists have shown that thoughts are the creative force in the universe. In other words, all created things were once conceived in thought before their appearance in material form. So, if one’s thoughts are negative, the universal Law of Attraction will draw negative created things, persons and circumstances to that one. On the contrary, if one’s thoughts are positive, serving the needs of others and tend toward doing right, then that same universal Law of Attraction will draw positive created things, persons and situations into that one’s orbit.

The first leadership lesson for the aspiring entrepreneur to learn here is that all thoughts of impossibility, doubt and failure with respect to starting a business—whether starting from scratch or buying a franchise or license—must be eliminated from your mind. You create your own success or failure by what thoughts you allow to stay in your head.

The second leadership lesson you must learn is that you must compete against yourself. Your true opponent does not exist outside yourself. You are the only one who can be your worst enemy by failing to believe in yourself and your capacity to succeed. Fight every thought that comes to you saying, “you can’t,” “you don’t have what it takes,” and “don’t take the risk.”

Dare to control your thoughts and you will control your world!

The 12 Components of True Wealth

   True wealth is much more than financial wealth, although financial well-being is definitely a significant part of it. The first and most important component of true wealth is having a positive mental attitude. People who lack a positive mental attitude are miserable, despite whatever money they may have accumulated, while people who maintain a positive mental attitude attract wealth to themselves.

   The second and next most important component of true wealth is sound physical health. You can lose all your money and recover more than you lost, but if you lose your health you’ve lost something that may never be regained. Spend time on maintaining and sustaining your health by eating healthy food and exercising often.

   The third component of true wealth is harmony in human relations. Harmonious and peaceful relationships, both in the family and then with business associates, lead to good will, a good reputation, cooperation and peace of mind—a personal state of well-being.

   The fourth component of true wealth is freedom from fear. No fearful person can enjoy life or its perks. Fear robs you of the ability to enjoy life to your fullest capacity and imprisons you in a dark place where there is no peace of mind or joy in being alive.

   The fifth component of true wealth is the hope of future achievement. It is this component that gets you out of bed every morning to pursue your dream of success. Without hope for the future, you are poverty-stricken even if you are sitting on millions of dollars.

   The sixth component of true wealth is the capacity for applied faith. The capacity for applied faith is your ability to believe in the dream you have for success to such an extent that you actually do something to make it happen. Applied faith is acting to make your dream a reality, while unapplied faith is merely wishing for something to happen for or to you without doing anything to make it happen.

   The seventh component of true wealth is willingness to share your blessings. You cannot have true wealth if you’re stingy and completely self-absorbed. The truly wealthy person gives to and helps others achieve their goals.

   The eighth component of true wealth is to be engaged in a labor of love. True wealth is only experienced by those who are doing something good that they love. There is nothing in the world more satisfying than being able to do what you love and know that what you are doing is benefitting other people.

   The ninth component of true wealth is to have an open mind on all subjects and toward all people. The truly wealthy person does not think that the world is only as she believes it to be. She is open to learning from others, listening to their opinions, and not judging them for not seeing the world as she does or believing in the same things as she does. She accepts people for who they are, not for what she believes they ought to be, in her opinion.

   The tenth component of true wealth is complete self-discipline. The truly wealthy person is self-directed. He is not driven by the whims and demands of other people, but by the goals he has set out to achieve. That is why he has mastered complete self-discipline: he refuses to allow any outside influence to distract him from the task of achieving his goals.

   The eleventh component of true wealth is wisdom with which to understand people. Your life in the world, in your family and in your business consists of interacting with people. To gain true wealth, you must first study the people with whom you interact. But studying them will not give you the wisdom to understand them. The only way you can gain the wisdom to understand people is to put yourself in their place and deal with them from their—not your—point of view.

   The twelfth and final component of true wealth is financial security. It is not an accident or an oversight that financial security is the last component of true wealth. Every component that comes before it paves the way for financial security and guarantees that once you have the financial status you desire, you will be able to maintain it by treating everyone by the standard of the Golden Rule.

   True wealth begins on the inside spiritually before it manifests outside materially. Strive to accumulate spiritual wealth internally, and as you do, you will accumulate material wealth externally.

How to Get to Effective Communication

There are always two problems that threaten to derail effective communication. The first problem is Perception—how we perceive the world and what’s going on in it around us.

The ancient aphorism, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” teaches us that we do not see the world as it really is, but as WE ARE! So, in order to communicate effectively with another person, we must strive to see the world as that other person IS! We must, at the very least, attempt to walk a mile in that other person’s shoes in order to see the world as that other person IS. We fail as leaders the moment we are deluded into thinking that what WE ARE is reality, and everyone else’s view of the world is twisted at best, and utterly warped at worst.

The second problem we must overcome in order to communicate effectively is the issue of Credibility. In a disagreement, each person believes that he or she is right and the other person is wrong. What makes things worse, each person knows that she or he is right and can’t trust the other person because of this false knowledge.

The first way to overcome both problems is to develop God-Attitudes about people by: 1) Assuming the other person’s good faith, sincerity and sanity; 2) Caring about the relationship with the other person; 3) Desiring to resolve the differences by seeking to see from the other person’s viewpoint; and 4) Being prepared to change!

The second way to overcome Perception and Credibility problems is to develop God-Behaviors toward people by: 1) Listening to understand them from their point of view; 2) Speaking to be understood and not to argue or express disagreement with what the other says; 3) Starting the conversation from the common ground of agreement; and 4) Moving slowly to areas of disagreement. Don’t criticize, mock or judge the other person—be as patient with the other person as God is with you!

Finally, you must understand that the way to become effective when you communicate is to increase your influence by mastering the process of leadership development and growth. To do this, you must discipline yourself to work with a leadership coach who will help you to mastert the art of communication—One Day at a Time!

The Threat and Promise of Change

For many people, the most frightening and personally threatening thing, as well as the most exhilarating and personally satisfying thing they can experience in life, is change. Change is motion—another definition of what it means to be alive. And since change is the process of being alive, it is both a threat and a promise.

The threat of change is rooted in fear and uncertainty: uncertainty that disorients, causes acute anxiety, and raises disturbing questions about who you are. Therefore, the very notion of change in any quarter threatens to destabilize you, the way you see the world, and how you see yourself in that world. When the threat of change comes toward you, your only question is, “What will become of me?” However, there’s another side to the threat of change—its promise. When the promise of change comes toward you, your only question is, “What will I become?”

           

The promise of change is rooted in your unspoken desire to actually know, understand and unabashedly celebrate who you are, your place and space in the world, and your mission and calling in life. Therefore, the promise of change is your opportunity to experience yourself, others and the world at large first-hand and unmediated by the artificial boundaries and limitations of your upbringing, education and training. The promise of change offers you a new lens through which you can perceive what is going on around you. It provides you with choices that you never imagined you had. It offers opportunities that have been hiding from you in plain sight, and provides you with tools that can move you from where you are to where you’d really rather be.

The promise of change exploits your raw materials of fear and doubt, and from them manufactures products and services that provide you places of safety, areas of knowing and vistas of clarity. The promise of change is the hope that propels you on the quest to live a full, meaningful and productive life that you actually get a chance to enjoy.

Investing in your personal growth offers you the promise of positive change in your life, as well as the vehicle you can use to get to your destination of success. Don’t focus on the threat of change. Think about the promise of change that will come to your life as a result of seeing yourself as worthy of investment. Take the leap of faith and discover your own hidden potential.

Take Small Deliberate Steps to Accomplish Your Goal

Wherever you are on your life’s journey, do what’s at your hand to do. Don’t sit around waiting for your purpose in life to show up one day. Seek it; pursue it. The way to go after your destiny is to take small deliberate steps to explore what interests you. Some people know what their passion is early in life and are able to run with that passion. But if you happen to have several interests, none of which is so compelling that you would give every other interest up in order to follow one, then simply take each interest, one by one, and take one action each day to explore it.

Your commitment to do just one act every day related to a goal you have set for yourself has powerful significance. You may begin with only one step that you can see ahead of you. But after you take the first step—and sometimes it’s the only step you can see to take—another step, not visible to you before you took the first step, will emerge for you to take. You may never be able to fully script your life’s journey in advance, but it will always emerge as you move forward, one step at a time. It’s like driving through a thick fog that has been forecast to hang around for several days. You can decide to pull to the side of the road and wait until the fog lifts, or you can drive slowly in faith and inch toward your destination. However, unlike a fog, life does not lift in several days—it tends to go on interminably!

So, you are forced to come to grips with the Law of Faith. You can’t take a step forward in the fog or the dark or into the unknown without having accepted the Law of Faith at some level. Somewhere inside of you, you have to believe that what you’re doing will turn out right, whether you can see clearly now or not. Living by the Law of Faith means simply believing that your life has meaning and purpose, even if you don’t know what it is yet. The Law of Faith teaches you that you don’t have to know—indeed, you cannot know—everything. All you need to know is that if you muster the courage to move ahead, the way will be opened for you to advance. The Law of Faith is completely unrelated to your religion or religious preference or nonpreference—it is related to your belief in you and your knowing that you are not alone in the universe. There is help out there, waiting for you to summon it and appropriate it. The biblical definition of the Law of Faith is still true:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hebrews 11: 1-3 NIV)

Every person who has achieved success at any level has believed that whatever his or her goals in life were, they were achievable. In almost every case, great achievement has come to those who moved past criticism and the negative comments of those who kept telling them that what they were after was impossible to attain. What drove them on was their adherence to the Law of Faith.

Every solid created thing that you can see with your eyes and touch with your hands is made up of things that you can’t see with your eyes or touch with your hands. All matter is made up of elements that are made up of atoms and their three components: protons, neutrons and electrons—none of which is visible to the naked eye. In the same way, every new invention, every great idea, every forward advance in science begins in the invisible realm and only later manifests itself in the visible realm. In other words, everything that comes into existence begins with and is brought to its birth through the Law of Faith. But, that’s just the beginning—and not the end—of the story, as your own life experience and the biblical record maintain:

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:17 NIV)

So, the Law of Faith teaches you that faith alone is insufficient to get you where you want and need to be. In order for your faith to be effective, you must act—do something—that puts your faith into action. If you say that you have faith that the big chair in the corner can hold your weight, and yet you refuse to sit in the chair, then you don’t really believe the chair can hold your weight. You cannot believe yourself into success without taking relevant and timely action to get you there. Your faith is what inspires you to take one step at a time to get to your next destination. But it is your action spurred on by your faith in yourself that takes you to the next destination!

The Universal Law of Leadership

The Universal Law of Leadership teaches that your ability to develop leadership skills is crucial to becoming a person who maximizes the personal development and highest and best use of yourself, the resources you receive, and the resources you create for the benefit of yourself and your family.

Leadership has been defined by many people in many different ways. One great definition of leadership is "communicating to people their inestimable worth and unlimited potential to such an extent that they actually come to see it in themselves." (This definition of leadership is perfect for creating a healthy home environment for the entire family, and especially for raising self-confident children!) Many others have said that leadership is the function of those who guide, direct or otherwise control the activities of others.

At a fundamental level, however, leadership simply means having influence that affects the behavior and/or world-view of others within a particular sphere—whether that influence is negative or positive.

Negative leadership is coercive—i.e., it requires raw power (external force) to maintain and sustain itself. Examples of negative leadership include: 1) the power of the gun—“Do what I say or I’ll blow your brains out”; 2) the power of the law—“Do what I say or I’ll lock you up or shoot you down”; 3) the power of economic reprisal—“Do what I say or I’ll fire you—better yet, I won’t hire you in the first place”; and 4) the power of hate propaganda that exploits our fears—“Do what I say or illegal aliens, LGBTQ people, Muslims, and terrorists will take over ‘our’ country.”

Many people who follow negative leadership do so because they feel forced (threatened) to do so for personal survival, political, economic, social or religion-based reasons.

Positive leadership, on the other hand, is inspirational—i.e., it requires soul power (internal values) to perpetuate itself. Examples of positive leadership include the power of being, the power of behaving, the power of belonging, and the power of believing.

The power of being is the God-given power that you have by virtue of your having been created in the very image and likeness of God—i.e., you have the capacity (power) to bring into being what does not presently exist in the material world. You have the power of imagination which leads to innovation and drives all creativity.

The power of behaving is your ability to decide how you will act on your own and in concert with others—it is freedom, the power to choose.

The power of belonging is the strength you feel when you work together with others to accomplish goals which you could not possibly accomplish by yourself. It is cooperation which produces the power of the Master Mind—collective thinking that adds the Universal Mind to the group and empowers the group to produce new ideas, products, services and new approaches to problem-solving.

Finally, the power of believing is the catalyst that allows you to overcome every obstacle in order to achieve your goals—it is faith, the power to see and bring into being the invisible. People who follow positive leadership do so because it resonates with their own internal value system and because they choose—in freedom—to follow.

Which kind of power—negative or positive—has impacted your life more? Please write your comments below and share what you think and how you feel about negative and positive leadership. I’d really like to learn what your experience has been, so please share your thoughts with me below.