As one whose core Shine-Factor is Productivity and Professional Organizing, permit me to start by saying that you cannot showcase the best version or quality of your SHINE without being your best productive self. Now that I have successfully cleared the air on that, may I quickly add that, we are all created and called to SHINE. “It is given unto every human on earth to SHINE”.
Yes! Everyone, with no exceptions whatsoever, is pre-endowed and vested from creation, with the power and ability to SHINE. That pre-endowed power and ability to SHINE is what the Shine Strategist, Clara Rufai often refers to as your ‘Shine-Factor’. I strongly believe that there is a giant in everyone of us and we were all created to impact our world using the giant within us - our Shine-Factor. What does the word SHINE mean???
shine
/ʃʌɪn/
SHINE (noun)
quality of brightness produced when light is reflected on something.
This definition tells me that our default mode contains a quality of brightness that SHINES when it comes in contact with light (‘light’ here referring to one coming into a form of exposure, getting noticed or being the center of attention or focus) or light is reflected on it’s already existing degree of brightness. Does this perhaps mean what I think it does? That we can only SHINE if our pre-endowed brightness (Shine Factor) isn’t covered up? Therefore we have a part to play in uncovering our in-built Shine Factor so that it is exposed to the light that will ignite and activate the ultimate SHINE? Come with me and let’s take a stroll together, down SHINE Street and perhaps veer out on a Productivity Treasure Hunt, in search of the secrets of our hidden SHINE (stone) Factor.
So for starters my Productivity Treasure Map tells me that the Shine Factor though in-built, will not just happen upon us. It has to be sought out as we strive to become the best productive version of ourselves. We have to hunt for it like the treasure that it is. This treasure (the Shine Factor) is the true essence of who we are, the giant within us waiting to emerge and impact our world.
Now I grew up loving adventure, from as early as elementary school. Let’s just blame it on all the many Famous Five and Secret Seven novels I read. Lol! I was so caught up by these books that I went into investigative adventure, hunting for clues and facts here and there. This led me to often pull together a small crowd of eager recruits (of course everyone wanted to be part of Cresta’s Adventure Group back then) I gave our group an adventurous name (I don’t even recall what it was again, so please don’t ask). We had passwords for access (what was the use of passwords when all our activities were in one corner of the open school field?).
Anyway, you would whisper the password to me or whoever I put in charge and we will welcome you with open arms. Our expeditions happened during the long-break sessions and they ranged from catching butterflies or monitoring caterpillars transform into butterflies, putting tadpoles into clear jars and watching daily with fascination as they transformed into toads, etc. We sometimes hunted and dug up imaginary treasures (mostly broken bottle pieces or old shells). We also spent weeks digging (daily) at a particular termite kingdom/hole. We would discover the various termite categories from workers, to soldiers, to the King and finally the queen, who was usually protected and tucked away at the very base of the hole for utmost safety. Your intuition must be telling you by now that we got our fair share of termite bites right? You are not far from the truth.
I am sharing this experience(s) to tell you how I came about my ‘Treasure Hunting Strategy’ which has now become a very valuable tool I now use with my clients for my Productivity Strategy Sessions. It’s amazing how no experience in our life is wasted (whether good or not so good). We should glean lessons and develop useful tips from them. Furthermore, this act of learning from my life’s experiences is also how my Life Lessons With Cresta Durojaiye podcast, was birthed. Indeed, ‘waste not, want not’. Every experience in life, if we do not waste our pain, feeds into a channel that we can developed and used as a resource tool.
My personally developed Productivity Treasure-Hunting Strategy (listed below) was instrumental in guiding me step by step through my Shine-Factor discovery journey, which is ongoing and never ends.
My Productivity Shine Strategy Steps :
- Step 1: EXPLORE - Inquire, travel through and search, in order to discover your unique Shine-Factor and Life Purpose.
- Step 2: DISCOVER - Find it, fish it out.
- Step 3: DEVELOP - Grow it, build it, improve upon it.
- Step 4: PRODUCE - It begins to produce/bear fruit as it matures.
- Step 5: PURCHASE - The fully formed fruit (the best productive version of yourself) exhibits the highest level of SHINE that commands attention when seen, showcased or staged. People are constantly vying to purchase or associate with it at all costs.
Clearly the degree and quality of your SHINE can be said to be proportional to the degree of your PRODUCTIVITY. Less PRODUCTIVITY, less SHINE. More PRODUCTIVITY, more SHINE. I absolutely love the sound of ‘MORE’ so let’s strive daily towards showcasing our best productive self. It has indeed been a huge roller coaster ride of a learning curve for me, and I am still learning as I journey along. I have learned that it’s not a destination, but a lifestyle and a journey. There are melting points and high points as we journey. I have learned to celebrate my high points and chosen to see the melting points as character building moments from which I glean my Life Lessons.
BASIC NOTABLE LIFE LESSONS are that we must;
- Put in the work required
- Pay the price required
- Be interested enough to keep going. Interest is good but if it develops into passion, that’s even better.
Passion was what kept me going with my ridiculous adventures and expeditions. By the way, I didn’t exactly tell you ‘ALL’. There were some scary adventures and there was the fact that I carried on with it in secondary school. Infact joining the Girl Guides Association and the Man-O-War club gave me wings to venture further. I should possibly consider writing a book on ‘The Secret Adventures of Cresta Durojaiye’. (Lol!)
The bottom line is that the role passion plays in our individual SHINE journeys cannot be over emphasized. Passion is a very strong fueling-force that inspires the ongoing energy, that keeps your (SHINE) flame burning, like paraffin on the wick of a burning lantern.
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that life on the SHINE lane makes sense, but life on the PRODUCTIVITY SHINE lane makes the most sense and has more meaning. I am happier and feel more fulfilled, because barely a day that goes by without me impacting the world around me. I leak my SHINE and leave trails of SHEEN lights along the pathway and guides other along.
I encourage and invite anyone who is still trying to figure it all out to reach out for a hand hold and some support. We are all created and called to SHINE. We were already pre-equipped with all that we need to be the best PRODUCTIVE SHINE versions of ourselves. Get up and walk into your SHINE. Your SHINE time is HERE and NOW!
About This Contributor
Cresta Durojaiye, CPO®️ is a Certified Professional Organizer, Productivity Expert, Life Strategist, Author and Podcaster. She teaches and empowers people with practical tools and strategies to live fully and perform optimally. Connect with her at www.crestadurojaiye.com