Introduction
The nature of life is growth, progress and continuity. When a baby boy is born society has expectations that the boy will graduate to a man. A baby girl is naturally expected to gravitate towards womanhood. An employee works with the hope of becoming a manager and subsequently a director. Every normal teacher desires to become the head teacher. It is the hope of every ambitious Minister to ascend to the seat of either the Prime Minister or the President. In the words of boxing icon AJ, It is what it is. It is in our nature to aspire for the next level.
Limiting Factors
The top is a desirable, honourable and noble destiny. Many yearn to get to the pinnacle but very few ever get there. It is such a tragedy when you see a man die in a boy and you see a plant die in a seed. Nothing beats the agony of looking at people who were destined for greatness getting reduced to ruins of failure. Many will have gone six feet under before their times and left us wondering of destinies that could have been but never became. There is no greater killer of potential in life than a toxic friend, relative, associate or spouse. When you allow such people to speak into your life your destiny will be swallowed.
There is hope
Sometimes you find yourself on the wrong end of life and at times of the law. You get to a point where you are where you are not supposed to be. At times you feel like suicide is the way out. That is not the way to go. Where there is life, there is hope. You see life is obviously not a bed of roses. It will never give you what you deserve, but it will certainly give you what you fight for. Life is raw, and raw is war. So life will honour you when you become a fighter. Refuse to be buried alive. Just remember that sometimes life knocks you down, but you have got to keep looking up, so that eventually you get up. Legendary Nigerian Writer, Chinua Achebe has words of comfort, “He who fights and loses will live to fight another day.” Never allow any man to write your obituary while you are still breathing.
Activate the Desire
The greatest foundation of any achievement has to be your desire to succeed. No matter how low you have sunk, your desire will actually determine your destiny. A great desire will birth a champion from your failure. The sphinx usually rises from the ashes. A weak desire will birth a failure. You need to activate the desire for success which becomes an unquenchable fire inside your belly.
Learn to be decisive
A lot of people are too polite for their own good. It is this politeness that leads them to roads they never imagined. As a person you need to have boundaries as to who enters your inner circle. If you allow someone who is a troublemaker into your inner circle, when their trouble is being harvested it will spill over into your life. So learn to eliminate trouble makers from your inner circle. Ensure that you have a personal vision which becomes your life’s blue print to guide you and help moderate your actions. A vision instils a lot of discipline inside of your routine and life. It brings high levels of accountability. Do not allow friends who are negative to be around you, all they will do is turn you into a bitter person, the moment such traits show up in your friends, it’s time to kiss the relationship goodbye. Teach yourself to honour time. Time is much more important than money. Time is measured in hours, hours graduate to days, days into weeks, weeks into months and months into years. Every time you specify your age, you are simply expressing a measure of time you have been around. Do not entertain people who love to waste your time. They are in essence wasting your life. Even when you have an interview be there thirty minutes early to show that you are a professional who honours time. The reason why some people are rich while others are poor boils down to time management. How you manage your time matters and defines what it produces for you. Time is the most important resource you have, do not compromise on it. That is why employers pay you for the time you render to them.
Create and add Value
The company does not pay you according to your economic challenges. It pays you for the value you add as you solve problems. If you want to be financially well off solve big problems. Big problems will produce big payments. In order for you to solve big problems work on your biggest asset which is you. Add value to yourself so that you become more valuable. Do not be daft enough to trust your workmates with workplace complaints. Your workmates are not your friends, they are usually your competitors, so stop giving them ammunition to put you under the bus. Stop also talking about the glory of the yester years, we expect you to add value to the current dispensation.
No more excuses
Do not be a person of excuses. Do not love to be a person who has reasons why things are not working. Decision makers are not interested in your pity party story. They need results. I guarantee you this, in the corporate world you can produce either results or excuses but not both at the same time. Desire to fashion yourself as a person of action not excuses.
The Top is the place
I wish you well on your journey to the top. Let us keep moving because the top is calling us. The top requires unbroken focus and military discipline. Never forget to partner with Jesus Christ the Ultimate Leader. Follow Him and many will follow you.
On a lighter note, happy birthday to my amazing daughter, the gospel music sensation, Queen Nyasha.
Dr Ted Msipa is Pastor, Author, Visionary and Public Speaker based in Maseru, Lesotho. He writes here in his personal capacity and view shared here do not necessarily reflect those of Africa News 24. He solves organisational development challenges and leadership challenges. Dr Ted can be reached on Coachted117@gmail.com or on +266 63177309.
