A lot of people act quite convincingly busier than the very effective few. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Two idle youngsters are engaged in a heated debate outside a
shop. It quickly degenerates into an argument and before they know it,
they are hurling insults at the top of their voices.
Each
party works to drown the other’s voice and when that fails to
unequivocally determine the winner of the debate turned impasse, we hear
some jostling and; “Hold me! Hold me! Somebody hold me back before I
hurt this fool!”. This is chest-thumping village-style where I come
from.
This kind of scenario does not just happen in my
village shopping centre. It plays out in our personal professional
environments on a daily basis. There are those who are constantly on the
verge of doing something.
Something more meaningful
than hurt anyone. Unfortunately, they never really do. These are the
people who simply will not shut up about being on the verge of
impressive and sometimes life-changing activities.
Many are held back from success because they do a lot more
threatening to succeed than doing the things that actually result in
success.
These are the large groups of people who know
what to do to improve their lives but do not. They nearly complete
their projects on time, they nearly get promoted and they nearly become
successful leaders. They are forever looking for drawbacks to plausibly
explain their failure.
These chest-thumpers are fairly
serious people. They are the cell-phone subscribers who are permanently
out of reach and have over-active auto-responders should you attempt
reaching them on email.
Call their offices at your
peril because all you are likely to get is a narration of how many
back-to-back meetings they are involved in day in, day out. In fact your
telephone conversation is likely to end abruptly because they are
usually getting into another meeting.
The truth is that
a lot of people are perpetually scurrying about unfocused all day
without accomplishing much. In fact, they are quite convincingly busier
than the very effective few.
They may seem very
hard-working but what they do not understand is that they do not need to
wander around aimlessly without getting any further in their quest for
success.
All
they require to do is to chart a clear course and stick to it. They do
not have to work harder. They need to work more effectively. They must
ensure that their actions are progressive. They must be high-performers,
not simply record high mileage.
High-performers
entertain ridiculously ambitious goals that inspire them to meaningfully
move ahead without hesitation. That is to say that they engage in real
work.
You know; we are not made for work. Work is made
for us. Work is where our psyche comes alive. It is our source of
satisfaction and we need that as much as the material income.
We
must be self-starters who see tasks through to the finish line. We must
bear in mind that it isn’t about what we know but what we do to benefit
the world that it rewards us for and remembers us for. We don’t get
paid for what we know.
We get paid for what we do that
adds value to others... And it is the payment in cash and in kind that
brings about our success.
The biggest reason for our
failures is seldom a lack of smarts, character or willingness. We fail
because of our inability to get things done.
How much have you done today?
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