Guard Your Cup of Coffee

Poison is Poison. Sugar is Sugar.

Jim Rohn asked me a question. “If you had a cup of coffee out in the open and then someone puts in a cube of sugar, either knowingly or by mistake, what happens?” The answer is obvious, right? Nothing happens. The coffee simply becomes a little bit sweeter. It doesn't matter who puts in the sugar, whether your friend or your foe, whether a stranger or a family member, nothing happens but a little bit of sweetness.

It doesn't even matter the intention behind the action, whether someone intended for the sugar to hurt you, or cause diarrhoea, or simply wants you help you make the coffee taste better. It doesn't matter! What matters is that a cube of sugar has been put in your cup of coffee, and it'll make your coffee taste a little sweeter than you perhaps wanted. You'll be fine regardless.

Then he asked again, flipping the question: “What if someone puts a cube of deadly poison into your cup of coffee? What happens?” Again, obvious! At the very least, damage would happen to some of your internal organs, and at the very worst, you end up dead.

It doesn't matter who put it in, it doesn't matter if it was intentional or unintentional. It doesn't matter if the person who put it in is a friend or an enemy. It doesn't matter what their intention was. It doesn't even matter if it's a family member who put in the cube of poison by mistake. The fact of the case is that poison has been put into your coffee, and if you drink it, you'd kick the bucket.

When sugar is put into your coffee by an enemy who is trying to hurt you, you will be more than fine, at the very least, if you are someone who doesn't like sugar in your coffee, chances are, you are either not going to taste it (It takes more than a cube of sugar to impact a thick cup of coffee), or you would taste it and simply not like it. But you'd be fine! When poison is put into your cup or coffee, even by your very best friend who didn't know it was poison, you will be far away from fine, no matter what the intention of that friend was. You would be somewhere in between not fine and dead.

The circumstances around what you have taken into your stomach don't matter. What matters is what you have taken into your stomach!

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What's the lesson then? It's the same as the subject of this newsletter. Guard your cup of coffee! Be very strict and intentional about what you drink, what you hear, what you see, what goes through the gateways of your mind and stomach, regardless of where you are or who you're with.

It is your responsibility to guard your cup of coffee so you don't get hurt. In life, poison and sugar will be thrown from friends, family, and even enemies, either from good intentions or ill intentions. You are responsible for the one you let get into your cup of coffee and also for the one you drink!

Oh yes, it is possible to receive great advice from an enemy whose intention was to actually hurt you and make you feel like crap, but then you recognize it for the sugar or even enhancer that it is and you use it in such a way that it changes your life for good. Or have you not seen people say their life changed the day someone embarrassed them and made statements that made them take actions that ended up transforming their lives? That's sugar put into your coffee by an enemy who intended to hurt you!

It is also possible for you to receive a compliment or a piece of advice from a friend that is intended to make you feel good or keep you safe, but in truth, it is poison that will kill you if you drink it and accept it. Why are you acting like people haven't destroyed their lives just by following advice that is intended to keep them safe and in comfort, only for them to never leave their comfort zones and never grow as individuals? That's poison put into your coffee by a friend who thought he was putting sugar in it, so you can taste a nicer, sweeter coffee!

Again, guard your cup! The onus is on you to guard judiciously the things that get into your mind. You can get the best advice from a mad man, and you can get the most damning advice from a best friend. Don't just accept things from people simply because they have good intentions. What if they don't know better? Also, don't just reject thoughts and ideas from people simply because they have bad intentions or they are your enemies! What if that's the idea that you have been waiting for?

Be on guard. Be responsible, regardless of your environment. Decide strictly what you want to go into your cup of coffee, and guard against everything else that doesn't look like it. If you keep receiving poison from friends, then you now know you're in bad company. Get out!

Poison represents things that are against your values, things that won't push you closer to your goals but draw you away from them. They are things that will gradually make you forget who you are and the purpose you want to serve with your life. Make sure you guard against them.

Sugar could also represent things that align with your values, things that will draw you closer to the life of your dreams and accelerate your progress. Welcome them, or even better, put them in yourself.

For God's sake, be responsible! Be on guard! Be committed to the life of your dreams! Otherwise, what are you doing?

To your growth,
Your Coach,
Abiola Okunsanya
Handzinspired. ✨