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4 April 2017

The bond between the Pursuit of Happiness and the Success Pathway

What is happiness? What causes happiness?

Before we can try to define ‘happiness’ first, we should try to figure out what Happiness is Not!
‘You cannot buy happiness’
This old adage has a more meaningful and deeper truth to it. Though the presence of money and other material things can ease one’s life, however, they cannot fulfil what the soul needs. So no, wealthy is not happiness – it is means to happiness but not happiness.
No person can ever find themselves having arrived to Happiness final destination therefore, one does not wake up one day and say, “Are we there yet?” because happiness takes effort to maintain it. The sources of short-term happiness such as getting a new job usually fade with time once the receivers get used to them.
So what is happiness?
Happiness is a choice – you can either choose to be happy or choose not to be! Stress is part of life but how one let it affects them is also a choice. An individual’s reaction to stress and other negative emotions will either give power over their happiness to external factors or reclaim it – depending on their actions.
Through time, science has tried to define happiness and since the beginning, religion has told people what happiness is but through all this, it can be revealed that happiness does not fall in the ‘one size fits all’ mould. One man’s definition of happiness differs from the next individual’s definition, in other words, our mental mind-sets dominate and characterise our outlook on happiness.

Happiness and Success

Success is a moving target.
For motivated people, target never stands still and therefore as people, we should avoid measuring our happiness by our success but rather it should be the other way around; happiness should precedes success. A driven person will always move their success target once they reach their set goal e.g. getting a job promotion will results in one wanting to get to a higher office position or even wanting to own one’s business and therefore basing one’s happiness on the level of one’s success will most of the time result in disappointment. Any happiness that is born of success will only lasts until the adrenaline of the success evaporates.
The number one goal for most of people is to be ‘happy’ but the definition of happiness is different from each individual.
Happiness should be constructed and rooted within for it to have a major impact in an individual’s life. People who visit their inner being to develop their happiness usually have better chances of making it out stronger when faced with hardships than those who base their happiness on circumstances’ outcomes. There is no argument that happiness and success are connected but none can replace the other.
Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present. - Jim Rohn

Habits and Happiness

Our day-to-day habits act as our happiness investment – is how we react to stress, how much we value ourselves and our significant relationships that build or break our happiness voyage and therefore have a massive impact on our success outcome.
A recent neuroplasticity research pointed out that the ability of the brain to change even in adulthood demonstrate that as humans develop and acquire new habits, their brain is also rewired and as such, one can train their brain to be positive. Old habits are hard to break as they have become part of our lives through automation for example, if every time you are thirsty you unconsciously reach for soda instant of water that is an acquired habit – a negative one! To break this habit, one can slowly introduce water by making sure that they drink a glass of water before bed and first thing when they wake up then they can introduce a third glass of water at noontime then from there on they can take it to another level by drinking a glass of water before every meal. It may take time to break this habit but one should remember that this habit was not formed overnight and so it will take time to end it.
Happiness is a form of art that can be learnt.
Try to invest in your happiness by training your mind to focus on one positive thing every day for the next three weeks and see the impact it will have in your overall life outlook. By focusing on positive things in your life, you create your own world – a world you have a powerful saying in it. Activities that can fuel your positive mindset:
  • Meditate for at least 5 minutes every day;
  • Include exercise in your daily route;
  • Go over the things you are grateful every day before bedtime and every morning when you wake up;
  • Try to compliment at least one person everyday;
  • At the end of your day, try to go over ‘life lesson’ you learnt from your daily experience;
  • Dedicate at least four days in which you eat healthy thus a day every week totalling 48 days a year of healthy eating.
  • Keeping a gratitude journal as a form of a technique to explore happiness in different forms.
So how do you train your mind new and positive habit? Repetition. Repeating a behavioural pattern will result with the behaviour getting engraved in one’s ‘neural pathways’. And that is the best way to develop and maintain a new habit.
Choosing the ‘right’ habit should start with the question, ‘why?’ Why do I want to meditate 5 minutes a day? Why do I want to include exercise in my daily route? Asking this question will help one determine whether they are developing a habit for the right reason or not.
The success journey is a learning curve that should bring an individual happiness as they learn new and valuable habits that lead to meaningful life therefore it is with gradual developed, positive, and mindful habits that one can attain true happiness.

16 February 2017

Motshelo Savings Account Can Lead to Success

(Motshelo Account Part 2)







Each year all individuals are presented with a blank-life diary filled with 12 months in

which the first 11 months are set for all to write their success story and the last month is

for all individuals to look back and make evaluation of their journey. The final page of

the Success Life diary Most successful people have come to realise that to attain

success in life, one needs to focus on the next action steps in order to accomplish their

goals.


Most people usually start their year hyped up with ways to write their success stories

through achieving their set goals but by mid-year, the majority of them usually throw in

the towel due to lack of motivation or unforeseen demoralising circumstances and this is

where the Barclays Motshelo Savings Account comes in.


Imagine having a financial partner who keeps your funds secure and at the same time

providing you with attractive interest rate and monthly interest. This partner does exists

in the form of the Motshelo Savings Account.


This group savings account has been setup with the knowledge that life will always

present distractions to all individuals and therefore, it is there to make sure that its users

never have to worry about their motshelo contributions going missing as it offers funds

security and it also encourages its users to work toward a common goal success.



Motshelo Savings Success Stories


Below are but a few of motshelo groups that have opened the group savings account in

order to realise their common goals:


Zipporah Light Masika Motshelo Group has managed to achieve big goals for their

individual members such as building houses for ourselves, to pay bogadi, dig boreholes,

pay school fees and buy trucks for transport businesses.


Moeza Motshelo Group saved for different projects and its members have been able to

accomplish their goals such as paving our yard, buying plots, paying for school fees,

deposit for a car and settling our debts.


For Skeem Motshelo Group, most of its members wanted to build their own homes,

and they saw Motshelo as the best and most affordable solution. Currently most of the

members are pursuing building projects with the help of the Motshelo.


All Fresh Motshelo Group members’ primary savings objectives included home

improvements and other individual projects.



Youth and Motshelo Group Savings


More and more youths have seen the need and advantages of joining metshelo as a

way of improving their lives and such they should also take funds security and

accountability into consideration so that they do not become overwhelmed of

disappointed if anything untoward happens to their funds and the best way to do that is

by opening the Barclays Motshelo Savings Account.


The secret of getting ahead is getting started. – Mark Twain


There has never been any better time to open this savings account but NOW! All that is

needed to open the account are: P500 opening and operating balance, minimum of at

least three members, Omang or passports of two signatories and proof of residence and

the group does not have to have a formal constitution.


To know more about your savings options at Barclays, visit: Motshelo Account Page


Want to be a ‘Moreki’ this year, why not start your journey with Barclays Motshelo Savings Account?

22 December 2016

Motshelo Savings Account



Free funeral cover of P2,000 each for 10 nominated members. Check. Free cheque book. Check. Free SMS alert notifications. Check. Attractive interest rate for a better return on savings. Check. Monthly interest paid into the account. Check. Free cash and cheque deposits. Check. All these and many more comes with the award winning Motshelo Savings Account offered by Barclays Bank Botswana.

Motshelo Savings account was introduced in September 2012 to cater for unbanked market of traditional group savers. Though metshelo groups have been around for many years, this group of thousands of youths, elderly, underserved and more affluent Batswana did not have access to bank services. As a way of promoting financial inclusion, Barclays bank offered this service after they observed that the reports of security, lack of accountability, missing funds and lack of reconciliation within metshelo groups were on the rise.

Not only does Motshelo Savings account offer funds security and accountability but it also fosters the spirit of social relations (Kutlwano) and cooperation where members come together to pool funds towards common goal with the intention to grow interest
Metshelo groups have long been used as vehicles to pool money for common goals amongst the members and as such, any goal that requires funds to undertake can be saved for.

Importance of Saving

It is usually hard to save individually due to unforeseen spending, but most people find it more beneficial to save as a group.
  • The money is there when you need it – it offers easy access to your money.
  • Your  money works for you – the more you save the more interest for your savings you are likely to get.
  • The main objective of metshelo is to save towards common goal which can include major life-changing goals such as weddings, building a house and paying for your children’s school fees.


Requirement to open the Barclays Motshelo Savings Account

Most people are usually not optimistic about opening bank accounts because of their requirements but Barclays has simplified the process of opening the Motshelo Savings Account. It only requires P500 opening and operating balance, minimum of at three members, Omang or passports of two signatories and proof of residence The group does not have to have a formal constitution.

The benefits of starting a motshelo group are countless but saving the funds in a savings account will ensure that the benefits are maximised as it offers both protection and accountability for the funds and that is why opening Barclays Motshelo Savings account is a smart step for every motshelo group that wants to safeguard their vision and wants to see their goal for farther.

To know more about your savings options at Barclays, visit the official site here.