Results or Excuses?

It took me some time, but I learnt before too late that excuses and results (at least the kind of life-changing results we all crave) are mutually exclusive. The inclination to justify our actions or inaction is a disease we all fight with varying degrees of success. After all if I don't stand up for me, who will? It means simply, therefore, that we must make up our minds whether we want to continue to blame everything and everyone around us or we want to take responsibility for changing our circumstances.

The fact is, we can only judge a tree by the fruits that it bears. The fruit it has the potential to bear and those it is expected to bear are of consequence only as they stand in condemnation of the number it actually produces. In other words, our value to the market place is dependent on the quality of our results. In the long run it is only that which we do - our actions - not what we intended, hoped, planned or wanted to do that counts.

But oh how easy it is, in the face of challenges, to justify our inactions. How often have we told our selves with some degree of satisfaction that we do not have the resources to complete the new project at work, not enough time for exercising or regular reading or inadequate skills for tackling a task you've been wanting to get done. I'm pretty sure that at one time or another you have caught yourself saying "as soon as the weather changes," and maybe you've even gone as far thinking 'when the kids are grown." Excuses have a way of postponing, or denying us of the results we seek one small justifiable reason at a time.

So what will it be, excuses or results? Legitimate reasons for under achievement or a deliberate effort to press forward in spite of our realities? The fact is, there will always be genuine excuses waiting in the wings. Our weight loss programme can easily get shoved into the corner because of our hair concerns. Competing priorities at home are always going to impact our ability to read a book or spend time with our spouses. It is what it is. But we need to come to the place where we draw a line in the sand and say, "what will it be? Am I committed to the results I seek or will I forever justify my inaction with excuses. That power to choose is available to all us. I guess in the long run it all comes down to the results we seek.  

Let your 'WHY' lead you

It's been a long time since I have 'put pen to paper' on this blog. And it's not for lack of trying. Several times I have sat down in hopes of staying long enough with a thought to actually see it through to a paragraph. Still here I am struggling to wrap my head around something, anything meaningful about which to write. So I guess today's major lesson will be about making sure that your 'why' is bigger than the obstacles you face.....about learning to push through when it feels like you are groping in the dark, when you can't see the entire stair-case or when your life's GPS just doesn't seem to want to take you where you want to go.

So why should we  not wait til we are seized with the vibes and the energy that the task requires? Why should we not await the inspiration that is sure to come? What's the value of trudging on enduring the mental and physical exhaustion that comes from attempting to meet lofty goals? I guess its simply that some of us are not willing to risk the likelihood of our music dying within us......some of us are acutely aware of the value and urgency of momentum, of allowing our actions to keep pace with our heartbeat.  And so we press on.....in spite of our lack in the moment. We press on because our 'why' gives impetus to our actions.

The truth is life has no guarantees, and becoming a spectator to the unfolding of our own lives is certainly no way of ensuring that we win the game. Sitting out a round or two while we wait for our talents to manifest themselves, the writers block to mysteriously disappear, or an important business deal to land in our laps is certainly not the way to go. And learning to keep momentum in challenging times  requires that your purpose be more noble than your objective. That is, your motivation must be a greater push factor than the achievement of the goal itself.

 Why do you do the thing you currently struggle with? Is it not important enough to get you off your laurels and back into work mode? Does it not whisper to you a refrain of disciplined activity? Does it not say, 'it matters not that this moment of imperfection beguiles you." They say "Good is the enemy of great." I say great is, more often, the enemy of  good.  All too often the seeming enormity of the task prevents us from making that first move. "Great" intimidates us. I say anything worth doing is worth doing imperfectly for the time being. Imperfect action trumps no action any day. Today, I encourage you, by deliberate design, to rediscover your 'why,' dust it back off and make it the center piece of your life. There's no telling what you might be motivated to accomplish in spite of yourself.

Born For More Than This....

I'm not sure where or how this message will find you, but I'm kinda hoping it will find you feeling a bit like a caterpillar - knowing somehow that you were born for something more than this, not feeling too comfortable in your skin, knowing only that this place at which you find yourself  is not the end of your story, not the end of your world. Feeling somehow that there is in you a butterfly yet to be released.... from the discomfort and darkness of your current cocoon.

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." So said Henry David Thoreau. I can't help but thinking that this could not be more true now, than in the 1850s when the words were first scripted. Today, amidst the noise of phenomenal business and economic success across the modern world, thousands of men and women lead lives of disguised desperation...lost in oblivion - wanting to make a difference, longing to chase their dreams, craving a new and different experience, but instead are chained to their fears, slaves to the expectations of others...locked in the cocoon of their own limiting beliefs...never becoming the butterfly they were born to be....never blessing the earth with their beauty and grace.

May I remind you that you were born for something more than this? This common existence, this emptiness. You were created to influence, inspire and impact. You were gifted to carry out work that only you can. You were empowered to do tasks that were hand-picked for you. How dare you, in the face of this knowledge, choose a life of abeyance, of neglect and indifference? How can you be content to simply get through each day instead of intentionally getting something from each day? Why have you not hitched yourself to a star? Why have you not found the right cause, availed yourself of the right technologies, got together with the right people? Why are you content, like the caterpillar, to walk the damp dark earth, when like the butterfly you can sit atop the blossoming trees and traverse the wide expanse of blue skies? Why?

I implore you, "let others lead small lives, but not you." Let others be content to live and die with "their music still in them". But you...I hope you dance, I hope you place your hand upon your chest and feel the throb of purpose....I hope you look yourself in the mirror and realize that you were born 'for such a time as this.' And I hope the caterpillar becomes a butterfly......and soars.

Learn Your way to the Top

Genius, so said Thomas Edison, is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration....and related to that, the contemporary version - success is twenty percent inspiration and eighty percent perspiration. The implication of all this is that only hard work guarantees us the results we desire. Now who am I to argue to time-proven principles? Who am I to attempt to discredit or discount words born of experience? I wouldn't be so foolish as to attempt to.

Nonetheless both time and experience have taught me that perspiration bears good fruit only as it is tempered with learning. Thomas Edison himself (hard as it is to believe) is said to have made ten thousand failed attempts to invent the light bulb before he eventually 'happened upon' the solution. No......in fact there was no serendipity about his discovery. At the end of it all he is said to have boldly declared "I have not failed, I have just found ten thousand ways that don't work." In other words, he learned his way to the top. Every failed attempt was a learning opportunity - an eye opener that took him closer to the eventual solution. Obviously he would have had to have been intentional about grasping the lessons in order to have advanced his chances of success.

Still, (and we may not see eye-to-eye on this) I believe the greatest growth opportunities come to us through direct learning. Jim Rohn (to date the biggest human influence upon my life) is known to have said..." life puts some of the more valuable things on the high shelf so that you can't get to them until you qualify. If you want the things on the high shelf, you must stand on the books you read. With every book you read, you get to stand a little higher." Words bring light. With enlightenment comes increased capacity, and ultimately increased value.

But ultimately, whether it happens directly or indirectly, our pathway to the top of whatever field we choose must be marked by learning. The results we seek, cannot come alone by perspiration. Perspiration should, in fact, come at the back-end of learning. We call that applied knowledge. Indeed, 'better than knowledge is applied knowledge.'  It's the difference between working smarter and working harder. It's about looking for the lessons, taking them and introducing them into new, untried scenarios. It's about becoming thought leaders, satisfying curiosity and driving innovation. It's coming to understand that 'sometimes we win and sometimes we learn'.... for always there are more lessons in failure than there are in success. It's about approaching life as a student.... on your way to  mastery - learning your way to the top!

Guard Your Energies

Whether we are aware of it or not, we all have a tremendous amount of energy. For some this may, as yet, be latent energy, waiting to be discovered, harnessed and directed in ways that benefit us and society alike. But successfully harnessing our energies requires an astute awareness... a deep consciousness of these energy sources and taking steps to guard and nurture those sources while, at the same time, doing everything in our power to avoid energy leaks.

But first, we must learn how to identify our energy sources: mental energy to help us focus on the significant, physical energy to help us push through that extra mile, and spiritual energy to help us commit ourselves wholly to a cause. What is it that most empowers you? Is it date night with your spouse, time alone with God, family nights, a stimulating discussion with friends, moments of deep meditation? What is it that refills your tank? What fuels your passion for life? Who or what is it that gives flight to your dreams and raises your ambitions to heights never before known? It's time to be keenly aware of these and hold tight to them. Nurture them. Draw from them. Be deliberate about spending time with the people and circumstances that add value to your experience. 

And in the same way that we become intentional about embracing the positive energy sources in our lives, we must also be keenly aware of the points of potential leaks. The people who would engage us in meaningless debates, they who question our motives and our every decision; they who would cause us to second guess our plans - these are to be ignored and avoided. The truth is, pearls were never meant for swines. Ten 'percent-ers' will never appreciate the capacity of the one hundred 'percent-ers'. We just must stomp the dust from our feet and move on. Meaningless debates, mindless anger, seemingly harmless gossip...all are energy leaks. Activities that bear no connection to our passion, purpose and mission are but distractions. They drain our energies and cause us to take our eyes off the substantive. We must learn to rid our-selves of the busy activities we engage in an effort to gain validation from the people around us. We must, instead, engage ourselves in activities that make a difference in the lives of others, bring us significance and lasting success.

Energy is easily depleted. Enthusiasm dies; interests wane, engagement levels weaken, people give up on their dreams. Don't let that happen to you. Plug your leaks; Worship at the shrine of the positive energy sources. And as you draw from these sources...as they pour into you, I trust you will pour your energies, your positive energies into a cause that's worth the effort. Recharge to empower!

The Path Will not Always be Clear

I have always been quietly competitive. Seems a contradiction but it's been my reality so I know. Many times I'd rather be seen and not heard, but I have never not wanted to do my best. Oh, yes, at times I have not cared as much as I could have, or should have, but for the most part I have really pushed myself to be the best that I can be. I guess subconsciously I realized early on that life was not meant to be lived without effort....that very little that is attained without effort is ever worth it. I knew that to merely go through the motions of every-day life was to invite and embrace mediocrity, yet as quiet and reserved as I have tended to be, I have never wanted to be mediocre.

Strangely, I have not always known what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be or where I wanted to go. I just knew that it was not acceptable to be stagnant. At times I have felt like my life was a whirlwind (yeah I have known what it is to feel like a dog chasing its tail), going where I was unsure of, and many times kinda out of my control. It made me uncomfortable for a while. I wanted to be in control, to know where the paths would take me, to mark the milestones along the way....to be able to tell someone the exact distance and time between landmarks. But I soon found out that the path is not always clear; that the 'obvious' way is not necessarily the best way and that the shortest distance between two points is not always that straight road. Many times, indeed, you'll feel like you're spinning on your heels. And maybe you will be. But know this, you will find later on that your spinning spirals...leading you to a higher place....a place of self discovery, personal development and opportunities you only dared dream of.

 There are precious few who can honestly tell you that the paths they initially chose are the ones they ended up walking. There are even less who can say that the path has been straight or clear. They have had detours, their journey has been obscured by the fog of huge disappointments and monumental setbacks, Many times they have disembarked, or for those who stayed on board, felt surrounded by a sea of sharks. But always they kept in the back of their heads that to cease movement is to accept the robe of 'normal'or  'average'. And normal is very rarely a feature of the lives of the purposeful or successful among us.

So move ahead. Get involved. Do something to change your circumstance. Do not be content to take life as it comes at you. Make your mark, Make your change, even if you do not know where the paths will take you. Do not be content to stay where you are. Move confidently ahead, knowing full well that however many times the road turns, the experiences gained on the way to fulfilling your dreams, on this path of self-discovery, will redound to the benefit of something bigger than your self. Keep moving!

Give yourself permission to fail....over and over again

Recently, as I stood before a group of budding entrepreneurs, we spoke of the high incidences of small business failure the world over. As the conversation progressed and I tried to 'put failure into perspective,' one bright young man asked of me....'so when then, does an entrepreneur back away? When does he say to himself that this business concept is just not gonna work? If failure is a part of the process, when is failure too much?  Without skipping a beat, and though I had never given formal thought to the question, I heard myself say, "when the fire inside him dies; when he no longer has a passion for what he's doing - then, and only then, should he walk away....for if he dares to persevere, if he soldiers on he is guaranteed success."

In our pursuit of our goals, be they ordinary or lofty, we must learn to give ourselves permission to fail...many times over. We must consider the potential pitfalls and take stock of the realities that are likely to result in failure along the way. We need to be fully cognizant that we may be required to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and start afresh. And that's okay. Let us remember this truth as well: society will never give us permission to do anything but to follow its norms and values. It will never embrace our failures. It may never provide us the environment in which to grow, but grow we must. And since failure is a necessary ingredient for growth, let's make up our minds to fail forward.

And so, let's not await the approval of others as we seek to move beyond the realms of mediocrity. Neither let us be intimidated by the likely magnitude or frequency of failure. Its lessons  have always been more instructive than the lessons of success. The pain of loss, the agony of defeat,  often become a poignant reminder and a strong impetus for action. For many people, the things they have failed miserably at in life have become the mileposts, the platform from which they afterwards launch massive success. Let us not choose to be constrained by other peoples opinions, their fears, their small-mindedness. Let us instead move forward knowing full well that failure lurks in the by-ways. But having full confidence that each failure marks an attempt, and each attempt says we are moving forward towards our desired goals.

With deliberate intent, approach each day with boldness. Walk bravely towards the fulfillment of your dreams, all the time giving yourself permission to do it as many times as necessary to get it right. Remember that no matter what conventional wisdom says...in spite of societal dicates, "failure is always an option."