University of the People, the world's first tuition-free online University: Review of my experience at UoPeople

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” ~ Eric Hoffer

"This post is a Review based on my own experience as a student studying computer science at the University (UoPeople) and it is not based on hear-say. nor is it a story told to me. This is real and is for someone out there seriously trying to advance their education" but time and Money has been the major obstacle.

I know that this sounds  too good to be true! A tuition free University education in this day and age? A world Where every one has become a loan shark trying to squeeze the last buck out of every Jim and Jane. It is no further from the truth. Believe me there are people with the heart to give. The University of the People was founded by Shai Reshef in 2009 to try to help students from all over the world who have been disadvantaged by time and money for them to access Higher Education.  The university is a fully accredited online school for higher education by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), an authorized accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. The online platform was a way to offer affordable distance education to students across continents and time zones

How did I come to know about its existence? A friend of mine posted a link entitled UoPeople offering tuition free university education on a forum I had subscribed to called ‘ebrain forum’ early in 2010. I didn’t think much about it but I said well what have I got to lose by submitting an application (extra information wouldn't do me any harm). I am also sure that a lot of people saw the link when it was posted but ignored. I eventually completed an online registration form and submitted all the requirements and soon after that left my country of residence to attend another training course in the Netherlands. One requirement was to submit a short write-up on why I thought I needed the education which I did. I completely forgot about the application until when I was somewhere in Europe on official assignment that I found an email that my application was successful in the faculty of Computer Science. Well in my mind I said well bring it on hoping to see one of those curriculum that would say do that for for three months and you get our Degree! The every day Internet scams we are accustomed to see, but God! I have been shocked by the curriculum and stud delivery standards I have been exposed to, the resource materials and the lecture methods comparable to any international standards I have read about. Yes it’s purely online but you don’t even feel it’s that way.  The university is up to date with the latest technology, research materials, teaching aids, laboratory methods and market trends. to give you an idea, in most computer science training, only read about things like Central Processing units (CPU) but in my experience at UoPeople, I got to develop one and also an android mobile system commonly called (Cellular Phone). Attending class at your own time and convenience, having access to the best training materials and tools  has been fun while you continue with daily life uninterrupted has been quite empowering

The university currently offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science, Business Administration and Public Health including Master of Business Administration (MBA) 

May be you are asking what my greatest joy has been studying at the UoPoeple? Put simply ‘Information’ has been the goldmine. Gaining the most valuable up to date information has been like gaining access to the international currency. Believe me, information is the modern day product of the moment. He who pursues learning will inherit the earth and the one who thinks has learnt enough will be in charge of a world that does not exist.

Before you start arguing with me, Go find out for yourself at http://uopeople.edu/groups/tuition-free-online-degree

The Message from My "Mess"

I cursed the fact that I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet ~ Persian Proverb

"Meet Nick Vujicic (pronounced Vooyeecheech) Born without limbs due to a rare congenital condition called tetra-amelia syndrome, the Australian Nick may not look like everyone else, but he can surely have fun like everyone else. The guy can swim, dive from a diving board, play golf, kick a soccer ball, and go places" (Nick Vujicic brings message of hope to Manila).

Now Try to take a good look at yourself and give yourself one reason why you believe that you are experiencing the worst days of your life that even just a mare Flu is big enough to stop YOU from your destiny. We take things for granted until we lose them

Starting the new year and reflecting on the future, I realize that according to the divine oversight above, the worst days of my life were truly the best days of my life. I sincerely thank God for my painful PAST. It was through the persecutions of life that I learnt the wisdom of growth and persistence.  It has been the worst form of mental, physical and verbal abuse through which I have learnt the power to rise when I am down. If I still have the breath of life in me, then God's Purpose upon my life is not yet fulfilled. Therefore, its not over until its over

It was the broken person of yesterday that has given birth to the stronger me standing today. It was my failures of yesterday that has brought about the resilience in me. The loses I have suffered in my life has given me the winning ways of today such that I can testify and write about life today. The tough lessons that life has taught me that I can't help the poor by becoming one of them but only by rising above them can I be able to lift the poor from under. YES! You can't kill the rich in order to make the poor rich, its wishful thinking!!. Its easy to get stuck in the past and lose sight of the precious present and the glorious future. Stop blaming the rich for your circumstances they are just running the race in their own lane.

Life is surely abundant with everything enough to go round everybody such that when one becomes too rich, they never take anyone's potion. Life is fare, don't you think? I am responsible for what I need to take from life. Its easy to blame other people for everything going wrong in one's life until you realize that the blame game does not put food on the table neither can it be cashed for money at the bank. I know through the wisdom of others that whatever I am looking for, is also looking for me. Why not just get off my comfort zone and start looking. Its easier to be comfortable with the comfort zone but it is more glorious to be comfortable with being uncomfortable with one's current state. Challenging one's dreams for bigger dreams is an adventure replete with success and abundance.  

I choose to take stock of every day so that I can consciously move through my days knowing exactly what I want to achieve. What I focus on expands, therefore, I choose to focus on what I want. Its easy to sleep-walk through life and not realize it. You think you are thinking, only to realize that you are sinking. Growth will be my goal in the new year. I will strive to learn at least one new thing every day so that life does not pull surprises in my face but instead hand me a bank full of growth. If a maize seed was built with everything it needs to become a maize plant that give forth more seeds, then I know that everything I need to become the best Me is already wired in my DNA and its crying for manifestation. All I need is to provide the right environment, spiritually, mentally and through actions and daily rituals or habits to give birth to the life I desire and not the life that my society has designed for me  

Just give it a though

Living a Life of Value

You will live Life effectively with themes that you start and end your day with. When you run into the temptation to complain about circumstances, Here are 27 Powerful quotes for you to help you re-focus your attention on what matters the most in your life. These quotes will help reprogram your mindset for success rather than failure in your magnificent New Year:

1.    "I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions." -Stephen Covey

2.    They tried to burry us, they did not know we were seeds. ~ Mexican proverb

3.    Be yourself, Everyone else is taken ~ Oscar Wilde

4.    Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true. ~Leon J. Sue

5.    "I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." ~Jimmy Dean

6.    Sweat more in training and bleed less in war ~ Spartan warrior  

7.    It's not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think you're not. ~ Dennis Waitley

8.    Either you run the day or the day runs you. ~Jim Rohn

9.    Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.

10.           ~Jim Rohn

11.           Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. ~Thomas Edison 

12.           "When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." -Henry Ford

13.           "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." -Alice Walker

14.           “There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them” ~ Denis Waitley

15.           "It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light." -Aristotle Onassis

16.           "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." -Albert Einstein

17.           "When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy.' They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life." -John Lennon

18.           "The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

19.           "Control your own destiny or someone else will." - Jack Welch

20.           Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm. ~ Sir Winston Churchill 

21.           Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. ~Marcus Aurelius

22.           What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity. ~J. Sidlow Baxter

23.           If you put off everything till you're sure of it, you'll never get anything done. ~Norman Vincent Peale

24.           Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are. ~Malcom Forbes

25.           I am bigger than my problems. ~ T Harv Eker

26.           The worst thing that happens to you may be the best thing for you if you don’t let it get the best of you. ~Will Rogers

27. Don't Start something you know you wont finish. ~ Adapted from James Hadley Chase novels 

Make the year 2018 Extraordinary by the extraordinary decisions you make for your life

Cheers to your success!

What I take into the New Year

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." -Jimmy Dean

I do realize that everyone tries to blow the trumpet when a new year is about to show up with the out of date song which take the form of a resolution “It will be my best year to achieve my dreams”. However, I have more often than not seen how the majority still remain the old selves without any trace of change as the New Year progresses and ends. What is the problem? Is it the problem of the New Year or is it the person in the New Year? Whatever the answer may be for you, one thing I do know is that we get out of life who we are. Success grows only to the extent to which anyone grows to. As for me the following is what I commit to do in the New Year:

• The life around me is a reflection of the life inside me: Therefore, if I want to change the life around me, I should start with changing my beliefs and mind-set. I should control what goes into my mind and watch every thought going on in my mind. I am the one who possess my mind and therefore, I am not my mind just like I am not my leg even though I possess the leg. My mind feeds on my past and always controls my actions based on my past experiences. Therefore, 2018 I commit to be in control of my life as it is today. I will install thoughts and beliefs that support my happiness and success.
• Gratitude is the best prayer of all times. What you are grateful for will fill up your life. In 2018, I commit to start my day with a gratitude list of the things God has blessed me with. I will be grateful for everything little of significant. I will continue to do that until my life is filled with gratitude language only
• A man’s gift will bring him or her before great men and women. In 2018, I commit to build my natural gifts for others to enjoy great value from it.
• No one becomes a master of everything; I realize that one cannot undertake to travel a thousand routes at the same time and hope to get to where one is going. A thousand routes will get you to a thousand destinations. Therefore, in the year 2018, I commit to act, do, concentrate and achieve three important goals for my professional and business life. I will build habits and rituals to ensure I produce master pieces that will add value to others and earn income while doing it

• No idea will work until I work it: Therefore, I commit to do and actualize the goals I have committed to. Having an idea without working it out is being delusional.  I will invest my mind-set, heart-set and emotional capital into planning and monitoring my progress towards achieving my goals
• Everything in life takes the meaning which I give it. Fear is just a belief. Therefore, in 2018 I commit to give everything in my life the meaning that supports my happiness and success. I commit to remove words that do not empower my life.
• Toxic people or complainants will infect anyone in their environment with negative energy. Therefore, in the New Year. I commit to delete toxic relationships or people from my life. One cannot fly as an Eagle while trying to swim with ducks.
• "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou: in 2018 I commit to leave people I interact with better than I found them.
• I have learnt in life that Rich people are bigger than their problems while Poor people believe they are smaller than their problems. In 2018, I commit to be bigger than any problem and will face problems that come my way with the mind-set that I am well able to deal with them. The Bible actually declares that greater is he that is inside you than the one outside. Anything coming my way knows that I am wired with the solution already

As the year comes into effect, don't just make decisions because many are still making decisions which they have been making for the last decade and never acted on anyone of them. Commit to act by putting down your goal on paper and act on it. I believe its the cheapest way to success

I wish you all who have taken time to read my articles. I say thank you very much may the Good Lord grant you peace and prosperity in the new year

NB: If you have an article on personal development and financial strategy that you feel you want to share with others on my blog feel free to send it. Just remember to include any attribution and references including your name. Send to: brightmulenga@gmail.com

See Next Year

"Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" a T. Harv Eker Book

If you want to change the fruits, you will first have to change the roots. If you want to change the visible, you must first change the invisible.' - T. Harv Eker

The Fundamental Game Changer lesson for my life in 2017 has been the realization that if you want to have the results that Billionaires or Really Really wealthy people have, You must play the games they play, be in the rooms they are found and above all think like them. Some millionaires have been kind enough to put together their secrets in books like the "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" a T. Harv Eker Book. You don't need to go through what they went through or make the mistakes they made before they had a break through. You can read their story and compress your learning time with less pain.

You can't have a big dream yet you have a small mind. You can't have Millionaire dreams yet you walk with broke and busted friends. You can't talk big amongst mediocre friends. You can never be an Eagle walking amongst the Chicken. T Herv Eker is among the multi millionaires of the modern times and has spent his life trying to help others achieve the amazing results of abundance like he has through coaching in personal development and business principles. He is one of the believers that anybody can be Spiritual and be really wealthy at the same time. He has written a New York Times & Wall-street best seller book entitled "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind".

I was sent the link to T Herv Eker pdf version of the book to share with friends. Please click the link below and grab a copy. Read and empower your self and be the Eagle ou were meant to be.

T Herv Eker's Secrets of the Millionnaire Mind ebook- Grab your copy now

With Lots of Love in this festive season

Bright

Getting Lost in Someone else's Success is Your Greatest Disaster

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.


~Leon J. Sue

One great lesson I have learnt in the year 2018 is to choose to work on my goals in my free time away from my regular job. When I thought I did not have enough time to do the things I love to do, I realize that I actually do have the time. The biggest distraction for every one I know is social media and television. I realize that, the people we watch on television, have chosen to work on their dreams, perfected their acts and are having fun while making money doing what they love to do. To make yourself to feel better, you call them celebrities.

Do you remember your childhood dream? from which you have been distracted being busy with your current job? (the one you chose for convenience and you may not even like or love) the one you do because you need to pay bills and take care of your family. You and I still have the chance to go back to do our childhood passions. You don't even have to quit your job to achieve it. We waste a lot of time trying to watch the bad news by the media, the kind the media thinks we need! What if you chose to stop watching the bad news that you have no control over and started using your free time thinking about your dream and working on a plan of action. Remember, everything you need to achieve your dream is already wired in your DNA and ready to manifest if only you let it.  

One thing I have learnt is that watching a lot of television and movies if you like or resorting to social media fantasies is a sudo way of trying to escape from the tragedies of the goals one never made or worked on and have chosen television or social media as a relief drug to escape the pain of failure to follow one's dreams. The relief is temporary, hence, the need to watch television over and over or be on social media addiction. Think about it, How much have you earned watching television or being on social media. Of course there are also ways you can make money using social media such as selling new and second items. How much have you earned forwarding jokes on WhatsApp or Facebook. I am guessing you are now counting the cost of Internet bundles 

When you think you are enjoying a movie, comedy or talk show, remember that you are just lost in some one else's success and yours is getting delayed. Be wise, your Free time is your prime time and begin using it for your success

Stay 

Turn the Horrible 3 C’s into the Amazing 3 A’s

To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven. 

~Johannes A. Gaertner

Is it not incredible how some people wake up every morning and they easily find something to complain about? It could be a spouse, a friend, children, their house and even about themselves. Somebody joked that such kinds of people will even complain in heaven about having nothing to complain about. Some are even complaining about the year 2018 even found faults in it before it finally arrives.

Every day is a gift to everyone, the sun shines without discrimination and the wind blows in its majesty at everyone’s door without asking for our names, color or gender. We all have the liberty to choose what we want to see in the new day. What anyone chooses to see is what they get. The day is full of everything and it provides everything in abundance whatever you need based on your belief. Those who choose to see scarcity, they get it in abundance and those who choose to see the beauty in it will get exactly that.

Choose to be the leader of your day and not the victim of it. Victims have a tendency to complain, criticize and condemn anything before even evaluating the scenario. This is because victims bring their past failures, hurts and disappointments into their present and hence, loose the opportunity to see the spotless future available before them. Victims are suspicious of everyone and don’t even trust their own shadow. Victims believe everyone in their immediate surroundings is up to no good. On the flip side of things, I would encourage someone to be a leader who has the ability to see abundance in the midst of scarcity, strength in weakness and opportunities hidden in failure. A leader builds other leaders through influencing by good examples, inspiration through their passion to perform and impact through their positive results.

If you work or manage others, and sometimes feel the need to use one of the 3 C’s – complaining, condemning, and criticizing – replace them with the 3 A’s of Accepting, Acknowledging, and Appreciating. See what the 3 A’s will do to the people around you. The smiles you put on their faces will be priceless

Accept people for who they are; acknowledge them for what they do; and appreciate them for just being around. Remember that when you appreciate others, your reputation and respect appreciates too. Whatever you appreciates will also appreciates in value in your life. Always give gratitude for what is before you because, whatever you are grateful for, will fill up your life. Do you have need to fill up your life with love, show some love to others this festive season and life will reciprocate hundredfold for you. In everything you encounter, whether its people, focus on seeing the good and beauty. Don’t take wonderful things for granted until you lose them. You will never appreciate the beauty in a spouse until they are gone.

Show gratitude this season of giving. It’s the cheapest yet precious gift you can give that help you reap a harvest from heaven. Gratitude helps reprogram your brains negative bias to a positive bias. Every morning write down a list of ten things that you are grateful for. Do this every day and see how you begin to turn your life into an eternal experience of joyful events. That’s the power of GRATITUDE