Instinct was an intriguing read. I am really drawn to the concept that we already have within ourselves many of the answers and powers needed to take advantage of great opportunity, and to create something special,  we just need to learn how to unleash those powers and utilize our unique abilities to impact the world around us.

 

T.D. Jakes has been a key player in an insane amount of successful as well as some unsuccessful businesses, religious organizations, plays, films, books, journalism the list seems endless. His organizations have earned over $100 million dollars his philanthropy groups are widespread and help thousands of people every year. T.D. Jakes is the perfect type of person from which we should draw wisdom. He is very successful in many ways and willing to share the golden pathways to success that he has found.

 

In his book Instinct he uses several analogies, many coming from the insights he learned while on an African Safari. He noticed how important each person was on the safari using their knowledge and instincts to play an important role. He also noticed very interesting characteristics in the animals they were able to see navigating their natural environment, using their instincts to survive.

 

We not only want to survive but want to thrive in our environment and using your instincts is a huge piece of being successful. Once again, I come back to self-awareness, which is something T.D. Jakes talks about. If you don’t know yourself, your talents and your unique abilities then how are you going to follow your instincts to create something valuable?

 

Below is a lengthy list of great quotes from the book:

 

“Following our instincts can make the crucial distinction between what we are good at – our vocation or skill set – and what we are good for – the fulfillment of our purposeful potential.”

 

I’m frequently preaching to do what you are good at, and to follow your passion. You need to find the place where the two cross paths and pursue that with your own twist. This is where you will find the purpose and strength to impact the world around you.

 

"If you don’t discover your passions, purpose, and power, then you will pursue the roles assigned by other people’s scripts. You will lose the success afforded by new opportunities if you don’t know your own priorities and preferences.Your strength is in your uniqueness. If you lose yourself just to get along with others, then you have nothing original to offer this new world of possibilities. In spy language, you have been compromised. In scientific language, you have been neutralized. In corporate language, you have become redundant. In short, you become liquidated, excommunicated, and eradicated!"

 

“Contentment comes when you find the people, places, and events in life you were created to impact.”

 

“This sense of potential being realized is more fulfilling than any paycheck. It is the feeling of fitting in, like a piece in a puzzle, to form a greater picture than what we may be doing right now. It is the innate satisfaction that comes from giving the gifts that you and you alone can contribute to the world.”

 

“I learned something that would inform my hypothesis: people adapt to their own expectations. In other words, we often behave based on our perceptions more than the reality of our actual circumstances.”

 

“Too often, we imitate others and conform to popular standards but fail to tap into our most powerful, most precious resource—our own uniqueness.”

 

“It’s simply about whether you have the courage to look within yourself and embrace all that you find there!”

 

“Nothing is off-limits as you explore. You are the most fascinating person you will ever know! So don’t cover up, deny, suppress, or pretend otherwise. Allow the true you to come out, the softer side, the edgier side, the creative side, the more organized side, the driven side, the liberated side, the “who cares what people think” side, and the “this makes me feel alive” side. This is the soil where you will discover seeds planted long ago waiting to burst through the surface of your consciousness and bear fruit. This is the galaxy of stars that can illuminate you journey through whatever darkness you may encounter. This is the area that can give you the satisfaction of knowing that you and you alone are doing what only you can do.”

 

“Remember instinct requires self-awareness and risk taking.”

 

“I’m convinced the only way you can develop your true gifts, your creative instincts, is by embracing a vision so daunting that your heart goes running up the steps like a child, screaming with delight because you have a challenge that equals your creativity.”

 

“When something you encounter resonates with you, pay attention. Become a student of your deepest passions and most persistent curiosities.”

 

“Just as it’s possible to have never been exposed to a pool but be gifted as a swimmer, you may not have discovered your arena of greatness yet.”

 

“We must remember that the person whizzing by you as you struggle to keep pedaling has just as many skinned knees as you do! Successful people follow their instincts beyond the emotions of their failures.”

 

“You see, it’s never the money; it’s the confidence you gained while getting it. It’s never the prize; it’s what it took to get the prize. It’s not the dividend; it’s the exhilarating feeling of having invested wisely. In short, my friend, it’s not the destination that matters-it’s what you see and learn while getting there!”

 

“His fear of failure compelled him to hide what he’d been given rather than risk it for increase. The thing that leaps at me in his issue is that he hid his talent and exposed his fear. How many of us are doing that in some area of our lives?”

 

“If you liberate someone’s thinking, it is only a matter of time before chains cannot hold their liberated mentality.”

 

“my thinking epitomizes my freedom. Whenever you give someone the deed of trust over your mind, they have in fact become your master. The Bible says it this way, “As a man thinketh, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). How you think about your opportunities determines how you will act on them.”

 

“People don’t follow popularity; they admire it but they don’t build on it. They do build, however, on good leadership.”

 

“Sometimes we can’t know our instincts from our insecurities until we go from the frying pan into the fire a few times.”

 

“Listening to your instincts gives you one of the best chances to make a real and meaningful difference in the world around you.”

 

“If we can strengthen what is within us, we can change that which is around us.”

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