End the year on strong note to set stage for successful 2016

Former world marathon record holder Paul Tergat. PHOTO | FILE | REUTERS 

By CANUTE WASWA

In Summary

• Too often we underestimate our abilities. The truth is, you can push yourself harder than you think.

Once upon a time, there was a team of rivals. They battled out t the Olympic Stadium in Atlanta. The year was 1996. And the precise date was July 29. The event was the Olympic 10,000m final.

This was the race that raised the Haile-Tergat rivalry at a par with the great post-war foes. In that race, Haile Gebrselassie beat Paul Tergat — one of the world’s greatest distance runners. This was the moment that truly defined Gebresellasie as a great competitor as well as a great runner.

What he achieved in that final, agonising push for the line is what separates the magnificent from the simply great. It was a moment that defined a true legend. Gebresellasie finished strong.

Now, I don’t know what you desired when you started the year. I don’t know if you missed the obvious signs that were to guide you through the year. And I don’t know if you fell. When we are at the bottom, did you hear the familiar whispers telling you “You are not good enough” or “You’ll never be able to get back up?”

I know you started the year with great expectations. But I know life can be lonely when things are not going your way. Life is hard when you’re not getting results.

Today, I want to thank you dear reader for taking this voyage in me in 2015. Thanks for sticking with me when I write to make peace with the things I cannot control. Thanks for hanging in there as I created red in a world that often appears black and white. Thanks for discovering with me. Thanks for engaging in my dialogues. I hope that like me, you too saw the beauty out of everyday, ordinary moments.

I know a lot of my readers try to see how what I write can help them in their enterprises. But today I also want to honour those who are struggling in business. Let me let you in on a secret, if you’ve never worked for a floundering company, you don’t know what you’re missing.

When you fail, you’ve learned a sequence of things that didn’t work, but you still don’t know what will work. You won’t make the same mistakes again, but you could just as well make a different mistake next time.

If you’re going to reflect on your failures, focus improving what has succeeded in the past rather than avoiding what has failed. Nothing will prepare you better to lead like failure. And nothing will prepare you better for life.

I’ve consulted for a number of companies that, at one time or another, found themselves on the ropes and, you know what? I learned more about business, management, and leadership trying to help those companies fight it out for survival than all the rest of my experience combined.

The truth is that working for troubled firms brings out the best in people. It creates strong, resilient, adaptive leaders.

Too often we underestimate our abilities. The truth is, you can push yourself harder than you think. You have a bigger influence in people than you think. Don’t ever underestimate your abilities — you have a lot to share with the world.

You see, most people don’t finish strong, but some do. And those that do continually get the treasures of their effort. They get into the better grad schools, they get more prestigious jobs, and they develop their relationships even when it’s hard.

How do they do it? They finish strong and don’t give up. They realise it will be hard like everyone else does, but they decide to push themselves, overcome their fears of failing, and see what they’re made of.

And you know what? Overcoming obstacles becomes easier over time as the successful achievers pick up wins under their belt. Soon the people who choose to finish strong have a new swagger because they know most people will fall to the wayside.

I happen to know Tergat as a personal friend. He has spent the rest of his life knowing that he may have shared one of the great finishes in Olympic history. But he was beaten by an epic effort from a true legend.

waswa@outdoorsafrica.co.ke.