Today as I was going through my son’s pictures, sweet memories in deed. My son was a very calm baby, for 3 months my neighbours did not know that I had a baby because he never used to cry in a loud voice, even if you were in my house you could not hear him. I was the only one who could hear him whenever he woke up or whenever he needed anything.

Well, different kids have different ways of asking for what they need. Some really cry, others like my son are calm. Either way, kids have mastered the art of persuasion. They know what they want and do not remove their focus on what they want, no matter how people complain or even get offended. When a child want anything they ensure they get it. Whether it is through being unreasonable and continously  crying. They don’t care what people around them are saying, no amount of dismissal will stop a child from getting what they want.

I guess this innocence of a child is what made Jesus conclude that the kingdom of God is for those who are like children.

I have learned five BE ‘s  by interacting with my son.

1. Be unreasonable with your goals and expectations : kids have very high and unreasonable expectations from their parents and from the world. They expect you as a dad or mum to be a superman or super mum. They expect you to have all that they ask or need. They dont take NO for an answer. The other day somebody in our office told me that they could not do a sales job because it has no job security. Many people expect too little from themselves that they  are not even motivated to wake up. Their goal is simply to put bread on the table…period! There is nothing motivating about working for income only. If you are working just to earn a living then you have no job security. Expect and demand more from yourself and others, never expect excuses from yourself or from others.
2. Be fixed on your expected outcome: kids always focus on their expected outcome no matter what you say and try to stop them. They don’t hear anything that can stop them. You should fix your eyes on your expected outcome. If you are a sales man, focus on the closing the business despite the objections. Focus on meeting and exceeding your target, other people will say how the economy and the market is tough, close your ears, hear nothing negative. 2013 was an election year and therefore many sales people believed it was going to be a bad year for insurance sales, I decided to hear none of that and I set an unreasonable target and decided I was going to do 1/3 of the target within the first 100 days of the year,just before election. I could not allow excuses neither from myself nor from my clients and prospects. Believe me I achieved 101% of the goal I had set out to achieve. This was 300% growth from the previous year performance. If you plan to start your business and you have done your research and you know it’s the direction that you should take, start and don’t listen to the noises that keep telling you that you can’t. Yes you can, just block your ears and focus.
3. Be ready to Face and confront your fears: when my son was about 3 years, we happened to attend a burial of a close relative, I explained to him that the relative had gone to heaven to be with God. One day when we were at home, he went to the balcony and I caught him climbing the wall, I told him he would fall and if he fell he would go to heaven. Shock on me, my son told me it was okay to go to heaven because he would meet God. He insisted that he would want to go to heaven and at that point I had to change my strategy. I told him if he fell, he would break his leg and become crippled. I had to put fear in him. Fear can be good and bad depending on how you use it. One thing you need to know is that we all have fears. To succeed you need to face your fears and advance towards your goals. The more fears you overcome the more confident you become. Whenever am scared to do something, I consinder the scare or the fear as an indicator to move forward.
4. Be quick to make decisions: kids especially at age 2 are very quick. Of course they sometimes end up in danger but that does not deter them,They move fast anyway. In business and in sales, the more you delay in making the decision, the opportunity passes. My principle is always that there only two options whenever I make a decision, it is either a good or a bad decision. The faster I make the decision the better so that if it’s bad I learn faster and change course. Either way a decision will have to be made whether now or in a years time and the outcomes are the only two, good or bad, so why delay? 
5. Be Curious and eager to learn: Kids a very curious. On Saturday I attended a class for parents on children online safety by digikids. They told us on how they provided kids aged 6 to 10  with wires and transistors and told them to get a way of moving a ball without touching it.  The kids were able to make a remote control that was moving the ball. Kids are keen to discover new things and it’s no wonder they are creative. This creativity dies as we grow older, as we learn the dos and don’ts. Innovation can only happen through curiosity and eagerness to learn and discover new and different ways of doing things. If you are in sales, how about learning new ways of delivering your goods or services to your clients.