1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,000 Hello everyone, this is Tshepang John Emmanuel Molatedi and I'd like to welcome you to another episode of Wick Guardians of Thought. 2 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:23,000 I hope that you have been well, I hope that you're weak, you're dead, your month has been full of self introspection, 3 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:37,000 full of you getting to learn more and more of yourself and discovering great things about you, moving towards that ideal character, that ideal version of self. 4 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:54,000 I'm hoping that you are doing well, if you're not, I'd like to encourage you and pass on that hope that there is always light at the end of the tunnel in each and every day that you walk through. 5 00:00:54,000 --> 00:01:20,000 If you've been planting consistently and you haven't been seeing any results or any evidence that your work, that your persistence has been actually doing something, rest assured, though it takes time, though it tarries, it shall take place and it will happen for sure. 6 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:34,000 So with regards to today, there's a topic I want to touch on and I don't know how long I'll be speaking today but this is one topic that I've kind of had some experience on. 7 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:47,000 I would say that this experience was more on the good side but I've also had that experience with not knowing how to actually use this to my advantage. 8 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,000 There's this other amazing quote that says that, 9 00:01:51,000 --> 00:02:20,000 Laws that you do not know are laws that are usually used against you. I think that is one of the last laws in 48 laws of power but also I think I've heard this being said before in financial books that those who do not know the laws of finances or financial laws are usually victims of the people who actually know these laws 10 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:25,000 and use them against those people in order to benefit from them. 11 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:37,000 So yeah, I've been a victim of this topic and I've also been someone who has benefited a lot from it. 12 00:02:37,000 --> 00:03:03,000 So in this episode I'm going to be dealing with systems and I want to tackle on how systems are vital in our lives, what systems are, what systems can provide us with and how in general we need to make sure that the systems that are running our lives are aligned to the goals 13 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:10,000 and the aspirations we have with regards to whatever we're doing. 14 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:32,000 So I think when we look at systems, most of the time this sounds like a concept that is really hard to grasp, a concept that sounds sophisticated, something that is out of reach, something that also at the same time seems like needs a lot of energy and effort to actually implement. 15 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:47,000 But one thing that I've noticed is that your current state of being or your life in general is going to be guided or led by certain things that you do in your life. 16 00:03:47,000 --> 00:04:06,000 If you have certain habits, if you have certain character traits, if you have certain things that kind of guide you through the day, that kind of lead you towards acting in certain ways with respect to certain situations, 17 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:18,000 you are most of the time going to receive certain results because of those things that you've put in place. 18 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,000 Sometimes we put things in place, sometimes we don't. 19 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:37,000 And the sad thing about this reality is that usually the results we get are dependent on the systems that we have. 20 00:04:37,000 --> 00:05:00,000 So a system generally can, we can break it down from it being the simplest things that you do within your day. Systems can relate also to how you keep yourself in check, how you keep yourself in this state of maybe being your ideal self, 21 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:09,000 how you keep yourself focused despite everything that is happening around you. And this can be emotionally, this could be mentally. 22 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:29,000 Systems are the devices and the things that you have used in your time of introspection and in your time of goal setting to kind of guide you through the day so that you focus more on actually grinding and putting more effort into your goals 23 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:43,000 rather than trying to get in the zone. So I think systems are a very fundamental thing in that regard because like I said, most of the time we spend a lot of time and energy trying to get into the zone. 24 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:55,000 And because of this energy that we waste trying to get into the zone, we do not get much work done. This is where usually procrastination kind of has its way in our lives and keeps us back. 25 00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:14,000 But one thing that I've noticed about having good systems and having good things that keep you in the right state of mind is that you get to actually bring the best version of yourself and put that best version into whatever you have set your mind to do in that day. 26 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:31,000 So when it comes to various aspects of your life, this might be, let's say for example, with regards to your mental health, with regards to your stability, one might ask themselves, what are the things that affect my mental health? 27 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:42,000 What is the state of my mental health? What are the things that affect my mental health? What are my thoughts? What kind of mental environment am I living in? 28 00:06:42,000 --> 00:07:05,000 Then you might ask yourself how you could possibly dissociate yourself from maybe what I would say is your current self and take a step back, notice what you want in the future and then start tweaking the things in your surrounding to make sure that you kind of stay in a path that is leading you towards an ideal self. 29 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:27,000 I hope I'm not making this too complicated. So in, I would say that in the example of maybe your mental health, you might notice that you have so many negative thoughts that are kind of prevalent in your thinking, prevalent in your everyday living. 30 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:39,000 But what are the things that you could do to probably help you stay in line or maybe things that could help you or bring you back to that equilibrium position? 31 00:07:39,000 --> 00:08:01,000 I would say that in that case, one thing that might help would be making sure that the things that you feed yourself do not add to any external voices, any negative external voices that, no, they don't add to any internal negative voices that you have already had. 32 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:22,000 Because, like I said, this kind of relates back to making sure that there's no enemy within because if you're able to kind of make sure that you have certain structures that pull you back from your negative thoughts or pull you back from swaying, 33 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:42,000 you are always going to be able to kind of control your state of mind until you get to a point where you do not need to use a lot of energy by your own, but your system kind of becomes a part of you and helps you keep on track. 34 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:55,000 So I was just giving an example with regard to maybe your state of mind, but this applies to various things in your life. This applies to your studies. This applies to your spiritual life. 35 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:10,000 This applies to things around you, things that you want to attain. If you implement systems that are going to break the barriers or make it much more easy for you to attain your goals, 36 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:16,000 it's going to be easier for you to actually put effort into your goals. 37 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:39,000 And I would say that the opposite also applies. If you have certain goals and aspirations and you do not have certain things that you have put in place to actually push you and help you or help you facilitate the birth of those goals or the birth of your efforts, 38 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:55,000 you are going to be fighting a lot of things along the way. You're going to have to do a lot of recalibration by yourself. 39 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:09,000 And this is where we kind of get into a loop of feeling like we're just tired or maybe starting new goals, sticking with them for some time, then leaving them. 40 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:22,000 The reality is that with regards to certain things, or I would say with regards to most things in life, systems will determine your results. 41 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:39,000 But then one can ask themselves, like, how do I actually come up with the right system? How do I dethrone my current system and in state, a system that will push me forward and push me towards my goals? 42 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:53,000 I feel like dethroning a system is one question and something that I feel like we have been kind of touching on here and there, but we haven't fully got into. 43 00:10:53,000 --> 00:11:10,000 And also establishing a new system is something totally different. We would actually have to make two separate recordings, I think, or even more, just touching on these. 44 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:28,000 But today I want to just focus more on just like the benefits of having a system. I would like to look at systems also with regards to spirituality and your spiritual life. 45 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:53,000 I would say that one thing that I've learned from consistent men and men who have had amazing results in their spiritual lives and in their walk with God is that they had some sort of system that they leaned on, despite how they felt physically and despite the things that were going on in their lives. 46 00:11:53,000 --> 00:12:22,000 These systems were dependent on prayer, dependent on worship. You know, we hear of Daniel, he used to pray three times a day and consistently, despite how orders were, new orders and new laws were being established to try to actually get him murdered because of his system, because of his consistency. 47 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:39,000 So I would say that one thing I've learned from these men is that systems keep you in check. Systems provide you with results that you couldn't get before. 48 00:12:39,000 --> 00:13:07,000 But also I would say that systems, in a way, with regards to spiritual life, show your complete surrender to God and to his will with regards to your life. Complete surrender towards his principles, believing that he is able to do what he has promised within your life. 49 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:20,000 So I think being in a system also protects you from the temptations that may lie on the side of your path. 50 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:39,000 It's a beautiful thing to be in a system because a system, I feel like systems are the things that make great men and walking out of systems has been the thing that has caused a fall of great men in the past. 51 00:13:39,000 --> 00:14:02,000 If we look at David, for example, I would say that David was a worshipper. David was a man of prayer. David was a prophet and a leader. And yet we look at the story of him and Uriah and Bethsheba, who was a worshipper, 52 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:24,000 did something that I would say a worshipper is not expected to do. And yes, we are human. Yes, we do err. But I feel like if we actually read the story, you'll notice that the events of the things that happened between David and Uriah and Bethsheba. 53 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:37,000 The timeline of those things was actually spread over some time. I'm not sure if it was days or months. And one thing I would say is that if indeed, I think this was something that I was thinking about. 54 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:51,000 I was like, if indeed David kept towards his prayer life, kept towards worshipping as he usually did, I think some form of conviction would have hit his heart. 55 00:14:51,000 --> 00:15:02,000 And the same was that God had to send through Nathan the prophet would have not had to be sent through the prophet, but rather would have come directly. 56 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:27,000 So I feel like in a way, the temptation that acted within this event or within this time in David's life was not just the temptation of seeing Bethsheba and having his heart move towards in an adulterous fashion. 57 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:55,000 But rather it was also a huge attack on the system because it kind of broke his communion with God for some time and also blocked him from not hearing from him to an extent where the prophet that we've been talking about David was so blind to the things that he was doing that another prophet had to reveal it through a parable and not directly. 58 00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:15,000 So I think because David stood out of his system, he was easily attacked by his would say tempted by his own desires and by things that would have not usually got to him if he was still on his system. 59 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:27,000 But one thing I really love about David is that when noticing how he had air, how he had messed up, he managed to go back to his system. 60 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:34,000 He prayed to God and asked him not to move his presence for him, not to take his spirit away from him. 61 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:49,000 He kept in prayer and supplication, he kept in praying and praising and despite maybe his prayers not being answered with regards to the child that he was going to have with Bethsheba, 62 00:16:49,000 --> 00:17:01,000 even after fighting out the results of the verdict that God had given him, he still, I think he wiped his eyes and went to the house of the Lord still. 63 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:16,000 And I think this was him showing that, okay, I have kind of learned my way, I've learned my lesson, I have been found guilty of a certain crime, 64 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:29,000 but he did not let this crime kind of hold him down, but rather he used this event as a learning curve and walked back into the system that he had before. 65 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:46,000 So one thing that I have noticed also with regards to systems is that systems as we had spoken about David, prepare you for your day of adversity. 66 00:17:46,000 --> 00:18:00,000 So with regards to your life, there are going to be challenges, there are going to be things that are going to shake your faith, things that are going to have you question yourself, 67 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:08,000 have you question the people around you, have you questioned God's love, have you questioned a lot of things. 68 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:20,000 But one thing I would say is that if you continually make sure that your system, the system we're talking about is a system that keeps you in the ideal version of yourself, 69 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:29,000 if you keep in that system, you will be able to stand strong in your day of adversity. 70 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:40,000 This is a principle that I have noticed in Ephesians 6 when Paul was talking about having the four armor of God, 71 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:49,000 and when we actually break down the four armor of God, we notice that there are certain parts of the armor that relate with certain things, 72 00:18:49,000 --> 00:19:03,000 and I think by my revelation with regards to this is that all these pieces of the armor of God are systems in themselves because Ephesians itself, 611 says, 73 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:13,000 put on the four armor of God that you may take stand against the devil's schemes or take stand in the evil day. 74 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:25,000 So we have evil days in different parts of our lives. We have evil days or the evil day with regards to our academics, 75 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:37,000 with regards to relationships, with regards to so many things, but you actually put it on the armor of your system. 76 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:49,000 The armor of your system will help you to be able to stand when winds try to push you off of your path. 77 00:19:49,000 --> 00:20:07,000 So I think in general, we as young people, we as the leaders of now, are supposed to always check our systems, 78 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:16,000 see how to improve on them, see how to tweak them in order to make sure that we are getting the best versions of ourselves. 79 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:30,000 We are getting God the best versions of ourselves that we could possibly give, and this not being us trying to kind of gain favor in his sight because of our works, 80 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:44,000 because that is useless before him, but rather it is us giving up and letting him do what he has already done through the cross. 81 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:57,000 So I think from henceforth after this recording, I think it is very important for us to sit down, look at some of the goals in our lives, 82 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:11,000 and check the systems that we have. I have at times failed to fix up some of my systems, and that has led to me with regards maybe to my academics having to put all-nighters. 83 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:20,000 I don't think I'm the only one who has done this. I would say with regards to certain things, I have maybe not taken care of my system, 84 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:32,000 maybe with regards to self-improvement, and I've had to maybe have a day where I had to like read for 4 hours to try and make up for the week, 85 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:42,000 even sometimes I've had weeks where I didn't manage to actually push with regards to self-improvement as much as I wanted to before, 86 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:50,000 and that's something that I feel shows the faultiness of the system that you have. 87 00:21:50,000 --> 00:22:00,000 But then again, we do have evil days, and one thing I can say is that the days that you have within those evil days or your days of testing 88 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:09,000 are not the same as your days outside of testing. The days outside of your testing are the days in which you are supposed to keep in your system. 89 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:21,000 You're supposed to grow within your system, but your days of testing, your days of trial are the days where the system that you've been using all this time 90 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:28,000 is supposed to work for you, and it's supposed to show the results of your labor. 91 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:36,000 Systems are like, I likened unto this parable that I have heard time and time again. 92 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:48,000 They're like, they're like, what? Likened unto the water cycle in a way, because when it starts off, you have all this evaporation, 93 00:22:48,000 --> 00:23:00,000 and usually with regards to evaporation, it is very hard to see evaporation itself, but we know that this is an ongoing process. 94 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:09,000 And then from evaporation, or at the same time as we have evaporation, we have this process of condensation. 95 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:25,000 And after a while, when you have had a lot of condensation and your clouds are fully pregnant with the water that has been accumulating in them, 96 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:37,000 we get the process of rain. So your system is not just something that keeps you in check, but it is something that is supposed to give you fruit 97 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:42,000 and something that is supposed to turn up for you in your day of trial. 98 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:52,000 It is something that is supposed to keep you in line and something that is supposed to bring the current version of you to the ideal version. 99 00:23:52,000 --> 00:24:04,000 Systems are essential. Systems run our lives, and systems are the key things that are going to help us to actually attain our goals. 100 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:12,000 Now I feel like I am going to touch more on systems with regards to internal systems. 101 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:20,000 These are systems that are going to deal with our thoughts, our subconscious mind, and the conscious mind, 102 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:34,000 because I feel like there is a lot I have learned about how much power your subconscious mind has over your daily routines. 103 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:43,000 It in itself, your thoughts and your beliefs within your subconscious will govern your life and will lead you to having certain results. 104 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:51,000 You will also be able to look or consider them a system in a way. Then we will also talk about external systems, 105 00:24:51,000 --> 00:25:01,000 which might be the habits, some of the things that you do to try and push you towards your goals. 106 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:10,000 We will also talk about abolishing old systems, then actually building new systems. 107 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:23,000 I hope that this recording was a blessing. I hope that God continues to reveal himself to you in ways that blow your mind. 108 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:29,000 I hope that his love continually guides you through each and every season of your life. 109 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:38,000 In seasons of darkness and seasons of light, I pray that let him, let his love, let his word 110 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:45,000 be the thing that leads you, be the thing that gives you life, be the thing that gives you nourishment. 111 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:58,000 That gives you the joy that he has promised us, the joy that he has fully and freely given us through his Son, Jesus Christ. 112 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:06,000 I would like to thank him for giving me this message and for pushing me through this recording. 113 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:11,000 I would like to thank him for what he is doing in your lives. That is all that I have heard for today. 114 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:18,000 I hope you guys are blessed. I hope you are chilling. I will see you guys next week. 115 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:23,000 This is your boy, Tapanjon Malatedi. Tapanjon Emmanuel Malatedi. 116 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:36,000 I would like to say take care from the family at WIC, Guardians of Thought.