The Influencer effect

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I read a chapter from an old book for one of my classes and the information in it is very eye opening. It talks about people having traits that cause them to be influential. There are people who have the ability to connect people, and we all have one or two of those in our lives. That someone through whom you are able to make other friends from, or someone who would tell his/friends about something-lets say a house-hold product and all his/her friends would act upon that information in faith. This is definitely a unique trait because not everyone has it. Funny how that book has so much relevance to the present era of social media where influencers create word-of-mouth epidemic that causes people to act upon their information. 

I used to believe that just because someone is a celebrity and they have a social media account, they are capable of influencing their followers’ decisions, however, this is not entirely true. There are certain traits that influencers have that causes them to get results from their “influencing”. 

Let’s say you have celebrity A and celebrity B. Both are given products to advert to their followers via social media, for things like shops that sell home appliances, areas where tourist can find tours and car rentals, accommodation in Dodoma or houses for rent in Dodoma and you monitor the results from each influencer based on the amount of interaction from their followers (thanks to analytics options in social media), then you see which of the two succeeded in in creating a word-of-mouth effect that led to the product advertised being talked about, bought, have the product site visited, or product being trendy. 

Reading this book made me realize just how much things are and have always been the same throughout the years with the exception of change in technology. Before, word-of-mouth used ordinary methods to go about one person to the other, and now social media is the ‘it-tool’.

Always Learn Something New

Remember I had learned about serviced apartments and then went on to write something about it a few months ago? Well I have recently learned about Insurance finance loan which in layman terms means getting a loan from (lets say) a bank to pay parts of your insurance (be in car insurance, home owners insurance, etc) that’s lets unpaid by you. Here’s an example from someone who clarified this term for me, “is when you need to buy (must buy) insurance (e.g. car insurance or fire insurance) but you don't have enough funds. So you pay let's say 20% of the premium (insurance cost) and the bank gives you a loan of the remaining 80%” Mak. 

When I read that explanation, it gave me an idea. Since I am getting myself into this credit card world - why not have some backup funds just in case that way I don’t miss a payment. This is how it will work, instead of taking an actual loan from a bank, I am taking a loan from myself by putting aside a certain amount of funds into my savings, and when time comes to pay off my credit card I will first use funds on my checking account from my paycheck to pay off the credit. But if payment is due when there’s no cash in my checking account - my savings account will kick in and pay off the debt. I felt so financially smart when I though of that idea. Don’t laugh at me!!

How To Keep Your Peace

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Sometimes, due to my unwillingness to have long conversations, I find myself saying the simplest thing that comes to mind - words like oh nice, that's good, okay, alright. Someone once told me that in conversations, I tend to think of things (like opinions) yet keep them to myself and that's not good communication, for the most part that's true. However, when I don’t want to seem critical, judgmental, or entertain a very unnecessary argument, keeping things to myself or responding with simple words is key. So I let things be and keep my peace. There's a joke that goes like this;

Man 1: how are you always able to remain calm?

Man 2: when I feel like an idiot is about to argue with me, I say okay and move on.

Man 1: That’s not possible.

Man 2: Okay

Sometimes you are better off agreeing with people just to avoid things from escalating to a verbal war, so you say as little as possible and keep your peace. But generally speaking though, if you really care for your peace of mind, regardless of the person you are talking with, agree to disagree and keep your peace. 

We all don’t and never will feel the same thing the same way, or see the same thing the same way, experience life the same way. As long as we are different, expect differences to happen.

And it’s okay! Be okay to not always win a conversation. Be okay to hear, evaluate a conversation and learn from what you can, or ignore and pray against what you think is not worth being in your head so that it doesn’t make you question your sanity.

A good example, you may have a house that has internal wooden security doors, but you decide to say your house has security doors, another person may argue your house has wooden doors, or internal doors. All view points are accepted, don't force people to see what you see, neither should you to be forced to see things the way another person sees them. This is similar to the glass is half full or half empty concept. What's important is that there is a glass and there is water, whether it is half full or half empty, it's all a matter of perspectives.

Allow your differences to be and embrace them. Grow in areas that you need to grow and don’t feel rushed to be who you are not, yet! Growth is a process. And the only way you are able to grow and embrace yourself and others is when you keep your peace and allow different views and opinions to co-exist without shaking your viewpoint.

Faithfully Broken

Lessons learned from my Bible study this week have me feeling some typa way deeeeeep doooown in my belly. See, I realized it’s easy to trust God in and for things that He has already done, but we get hiccups when it comes to trusting God for things He has not yet done in our lives (if this ain’t you - I applaud you, and please be my spiritual mentor for a minute). 

For instance, before you had a JOB you probably wondered if God will give you the job you desired or any job for that matter - then few weeks or months down the line God decides to bless you with a job that you wanted or better than what you wanted. Then you realize it’s all a miracle! Then you start having faith in God in your provision for a job. Then you believe you do not lack faith in God in any part of your life. You fully believe that your faith is intact.

But then you’ve never been seriously ill before and all of a  sudden you get a condition that seems so big that will either cost your life, on top of costing so much money to go through treatment, or one that has no cure! Then you realized even though you have so much trust in God when it comes to getting a job - and you happily shout ‘God did it before, He will do it again’. But can you say that same sentence over your medical condition? And sometimes it may be easy to have faith in God that He will do a miracle for someone else, but when it comes to your issues do you still have the same amount of faith? Or what about being encouraged by others to have faith that God will do a miracle in your life but you know that what they are asking you to trust God for is something you’ve been trusting God for - for many years, then you slowly started losing faith over God’s willingness to do a miracle for you in that area?! 

What a tough pill to swallow. That’s the moment you realize that you have been compartmentalizing God’s willingness (not ability) to bless you and there goes your faith! Interesting how losing faith can happen just like that! 

Again, this may not be you because you are a faithful warrior, however, if you are going through this, don’t worry, you are not alone. As for me though, I would not mind getting a budget a hotel in Dodoma or any type of accommodation in Dodoma and take a week off from my life and just retire from this phase of life and wake up when my faith is 100% restored. Why Dodoma? Well, it’s better to question life about it’s plans for you from a place you first came into the world. In case you were born in a car - take a road trip that’ll sort you out (I joke).

Wise Words

I don’t know who wrote this but I am blessed by it and so I am sharing it.

WISE WORDS

```In life, some may walk, others may run, but remember the Lord gave the tortoise and the horse the same days to reach Noah's ark. Your journey might be rough and tough but you will definitely get to your destination.
Jacob looked at Joseph and saw a good son! The ten brothers looked at Joseph and saw a useless dreamer! The travellers looked at Joseph and saw a slave!! Potiphar looked at Joseph and saw a fine servant!! Potiphar's wife looked at Joseph and saw a potential boyfriend! The prison officers saw in Joseph a prisoner! How wrong were all of them! God looked at Joseph and saw a Prime Minister of Egypt in waiting!! Don't be discouraged by what people see in you!! Be encouraged by what God sees in you!! Never underrate the person next to you because you never know what the Lord has deposited in that person. Your maid may be a Chief Executive Officer in waiting for a company which shall employ your child. Your garden-boy may be a president in waiting. (Remember David got the anointing of becoming a King while he was a simple child herding sheep. Esther was a simple orphaned girl yet she was a Queen in waiting). Let's share God's love and make the world a better place to live. Show that love by sharing this message with those you love.
IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW PEOPLE SEE YOU, IT MATTERS HOW GOD SEES YOU

God is God:
He doesn't care about *age*, no wonder he blessed Abraham.
He doesn't care about *experience*, no wonder he chose David.
He doesn't care about *gender,* no wonder he lifted Esther.
He doesn't care about *your past*, no wonder he called Paul.
He doesn't care about *your physical appearance*, no wonder he chose Zacchaeus
(the shortest one).
He doesn't care about *fluency in speech* , no wonder he chose Moses.
He doesn't care about *your career*, no wonder he choose Mary Magdalene; a prostitute.
All I know is that my God never changes
He never made *a promise he wouldn't keep*
He never saw *a person he wouldn't help*
He never heard *a prayer he wouldn't answer*
He never found *a soul he wouldn't love*
He never found *a sinner he wouldn't forgive*
This is the kind of God I would like to commune with every day the moment I wake up. I strongly recommend Him to you.```