Character-Resilience, tenacity, discipline

 

Goals and dreams are beautiful. The hard part is staying on course until they are accomplished. At the beginning of the journey, everyone is excited and the energy levels are very high. There is momentum and it doesn’t feel like work to get the ball rolling. As the journey progresses, fatigue begins to set in, distractions arise and your peers begin to drop off. It is at this time that you have the choice to make. Will you keep going or quit like the rest.

This is the time that reveals what you are made of. Many of us talk big in the moments of euphoria, few have the character to back it up. When challenge begin to arise; because they will, are you able to stand up for what you believe in and discipline yourself to stay on course? When you meet shiny new objects, are you able to tell what they are and cast them aside? It is easy to wake up early for a few days, the struggle comes when you need to do it for an extended duration. Do you have staying power.   

Character is about staying power. When you are able to bounce back and keep going after every setback, then we can say you have developed character. Nothing develops your character faster than the pursuit of a heartfelt dream. Think for a moment about a salesperson with a sales quota to hit. I am privileged to work in a sales environment and I can tell you, sales and targets will make you work miracles. When there is a reward attached to whatever it is you are pursuing, you will move mountains to get it done. You will not only think outside the ox but throw the box away. As a sales person, I have encountered obstacle after obstacle in the course of my work. The need to deliver has seen me go above and beyond what I thought possible and every time I have challenged myself in that way, I have received the results I was looking for. You need a certain enthusiasm to succeed in such an environment. Prospects will dismiss you, disappoint you, stand you up, take you round in circles, tell you no but you have to keep moving until you get what you are looking for. To put it plainly, there are more nos than yeses in the sales career. The trick is to move on to the next prospect with the same energy and enthusiasm you started your day with. That is what resilience is all about.

Discipline is another aspect of character. There are many forces that seek to pull you away from your pursuits in life. You should never let that happen if you are committed to the realization of your dream. Once your mind is set on the path you want to follow, don’t allow anything to stand in between you and your destination. You must become ruthless with yourself. The human mind and body prefer the path of least resistance. If you allow it, it will take you to places you never imagined you would end up in. Discipline is about being ready to pay the price. It is about walking out of your comfort zone consciously and pushing yourself towards your desired future. It will have you waking up at a specific time every morning and carrying out certain tasks religiously until you see your dreams take on life. It is that willingness to do uncomfortable, unpleasant things because they will lead you to where you want to end up. It is showing up even on those days when sleeping in would be a better option. Apostle Paul speaks about disciplining his body because he realizes that it is very easy to go off track. 1 Corinthians 9:27. You cannot permit everything and still reach your dream. Something has to give somewhere.

You also need an adaptable spirit. Some mountains need you to go through, others need you to go around while others will call for you to go over. A person with the resolve to get to the other side, will do whatever it takes no matter how difficult. When you are persuaded of the significance of your pursuit, nothing can stop you from going for it.

Character is about honoring your commitments to yourself and others irrespective of the price you have to pay. Many of us have no problem disappointing ourselves and others. It needs to pain you every time you fail to honor your word. You must become bound by every word that proceeds out of your mouth and be willing to stretch yourself to get it done.

Without a strong will, you will never be able to actualize your dreams. The amount of resistance you need to push through to come out victorious at the end is immense and only a few have what it takes to persevere. Character is about being long suffering and willing to hold out through the storm. Every dream will have to navigate through a storm of some kind before it is realized. The one thing that will keep you sane through it all is the strength of your character. More than anything else, you need to develop that grit to come out victorious when all is said and done. Dreams belong to those who will remain steady throughout the storm.

What are you adding to your character to ensure you achieve your dreams? 

What it takes: Resources

 

Resources

Every dream requires resources. Resources are the inputs you need to get the desired outcome. They could take different forms. Key resources include time, money, skills and talent. If you have these four, you are well on your way to reaching your dreams.

Let’s break it down a little bit.

Time

An investment in time will be necessary to move you from your current station to your desired end. You must be willing to give your time to the task at hand to turn the dream into reality. Businesses hire people to help them work on their desired goals. You are paid as an employee in exchange for your time. If the business owner had a way of carrying out their tasks without the need of your time, you would not have a job. Billions of people around the world are employed to give their time towards the pursuit of certain dreams. If you want to be a great musician, you will spend hours upon hours in practice to achieve it. According to those who study mastery, it is said that you need at least 10000 hours of deliberate practice to become a master at something. No goal worth pursuing will be done without a significant investment in time. In some instances, you will need to buy other people’s time to successfully actualize your dreams. If you do not have what it takes to invest some time for your dream, you can as well forget it. You must be deliberate in creating time for your dream because there are many competing interests pulling you in different directions. Since you do not have time for everything on your mind, you must decide to spend the time you have on your highest dreams to the exclusion of others.

Money

Dreams also have a money component. Different dreams have different requirements when it comes to money. While money is not everything, a lot of our dreams get derailed because we failed to plan for them financially. Jesus shares a story about a person who wants to build a tower and in it he says that it would be foolish of him not to count the cost prior to starting. This is because without a clear understanding of the amounts involved, you are likely to stare at a stalled project. In relating money and time, it is good to note that money is what the wealthy use to buy the time of others who work for them. You need enough to compensate others for their skills and time. You will also need money to buy all the other inputs towards the realization of your dream. Think about a farmer who dreams of a bumper harvest. He must think about leasing land if he doesn’t own his own land. There will be the cost of tilling and preparing the land for sowing. At the point of sowing he will need either men or machines or both. Depending on what he is planting, he will determine the kind of fertilizers he will need. Apart from that there is weeding, top dressing and many other necessary activities before the harvest is ready. All those are inputs towards that expected bumper harvest. Question is, what inputs does your dream need. How many of them include a monetary component? It must be factored in as you do your planning to ensure you succeed.

Skills and talent.

What skills do you need to realize your dream? Beyond having people available, there is the matter of the skills they bring to the table. If you don’t have people with the right skills, it is going to be difficult to achieve your goals. The loftier your goals, the more you need to bring on board specialized skills and talents. If you dream of putting together a world class medical facility for example, you will need to hire the best brains in the medical field. This doesn’t come cheap. You must think of skilled laborers as part of your inputs. Have you audited your dream to see what kind of skills you need on board? Have you acquired those skills? If not, you need to get them on board as a matter of urgency because without that, your dream will struggle to come to life. It doesn’t matter the size of your dream, there will be need for some skill if you will bring it to life.

What other resources do you think you need to actualize your dreams?

What it Takes: Bias for Action

 

Bias for action

Have you ever heard of the paralysis of analysis? Too much of anything can be detrimental in the long run. I respect thought processes and encourage people to think about what they want. I also respect the need to sharpen your tools before you set out to work. A sharp tool is vital to efficient work. However there reaches a point where action is the only thing that will move you forward.

It is necessary to prepare but it is also possible to overstay in the preparation phase. I don’t know whether there is a psychological term for it but sometimes people hide behind preparation while doing nothing constructive. All the theory you gather means nothing until you start applying it in real life situations. Dreams remain just that until you choose to step out and actualize.

Those who see their dreams become a reality have learnt to shorten the time between dreaming and action. In short, they have a bias for action. The more time you spend weighing the pros and cons of your dream the more likely you are not to get started on it. Consult as much as you want but the bottom line is that no amount of consultation will make up for your lack of action.

It is better to take that first step than to keep thinking about taking it. I agree that sometimes are better than others to get started on a certain pursuit but if you don’t have the luxury of time, it is wise to start where you are with what you have right away. Things have a way of coming together to enable the ball roll on once you take the first kick. Concerning your dream, what is the first thing you can do about it today. Forget about 100 steps ahead. What is that baby step you can take. Taking it will separate you from the club of dreamers to that of doers. Nobody will celebrate you if all you do is dream. Dreams alone don’t change the world. Action, concerted, consistent action is what gets it done.

At the beginning the quality of your action is not so important. It is better to start by putting in the work then refine it as you go along. Those who wait until they can do it perfectly seldom get started. If you can put in large quantities of action, it is easy to iterate and get better as the days go by. In the tech world the mantra is ‘done is better than perfect.’ Many people are stuck pursuing perfection and they end up with ideals in their heads but nothing on the ground. Your highest thoughts amount to nothing for as long as they are not actioned.

Many times, it is never about the quality of the dream. It boils down to the quality of the execution. There is a story about Kenya and how we have some of the best policy papers anyone can come up with out there. The sad bit is that we never implement them and others come, pick them up and run with them. Results come from action not wishes. It takes massive action to change the status quo. If your dream will see the light of day, that bias for action is indispensable.  

Let me invite you to take some action right now? If you are not subscribed to this blog, then pause right now and subscribe to ensure you never miss out on anything we share. Join other dreamers on my weekly newsletter here

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 I also want to challenge you to write down the next step you can take today towards your goal. Take it then share with me what that action is. 

Till next week. 

Sam. 

What It takes: A Strong Why

 

What is your why?

If someone asked you why you are chasing your dream, what would you say? You need a compelling reason to keep grinding especially when the going gets tough. A strong why ensures that you continue plowing until you see the results you are looking for.

What is going to happen when you have done what you are chasing? What results keep you motivated to go again tomorrow. It is good to be clear on why you are pursuing a certain cause to the exclusion of others. Your why is the fuel that keeps you going when quitting feels like the better option. Your why goes beyond the surface and looks at the core of your being.

A good question to ask is the 5 whys. It is important to seek the reason behind the reasons because only then can you keep going regardless of the opposition.

A strong why is an important component of whatever dream you are chasing. It is the ultimate benefit of al your efforts. It looks at the desired end. Without a clear desired end, you won’t be sure when and where to stop. With a defined destiny, you are clear on when to call it a day with whatever it is you are pursuing. A strong why will keep you focused and make it difficult to get distracted.

One of the things you have to fight on the path to your dreams is the Shiny Object Syndrome. There will always be exciting things along your path. Many of them are meant to take your eyes off the prize. Unless you know where and why you are going, it is easy to follow the next ‘big thing’. SOS will not be able to get a hold of you if you are passionate about your pursuit. Predators like lions have learnt to focus their attention on the prey they have chosen to the exclusion of anything else. Sometimes that kind of tunnel vision is what will work for you in taking you closer to your dreams. The tunnel might be uncomfortable, stressful and taxing on you but when you remember why you are doing it, you will be driven to persevere.

A strong why builds a persistent resilient spirit. The pursuit of dreams is often met with significant resistance. If your dream is worth pursuing, it will wear you out.  You will contend with untold opposition to test your resolve. The only thing that will keep you sane is the reason for the pursuit. If your why is weak, then you won’t last a day pursuing. If you have a mind fortified by the desire to make it, then your job is mostly done.

It pushes you out of your comfort zone. All of us have a comfort zone where we apply minimal effort and see things happening. That is a dangerous place to be because it leaves you exposed should there be a change of circumstances and life begins to demand for more from you. When the reason for action is huge, you will be willing to go into uncomfortable places and do a number of unpleasant tasks to get the difficulty out of the way. We have seen people come up with ransom money simply because a loved one was about to lose their life. How come this money is always available yet under normal circumstances it is hard to come by? It all boils down to a strong why.

It unlocks your innovation and creativity. With a strong reason, you will iterate until you get what you are looking for. It is said that necessity is the mother of innovation. The reason why your innovation game is down is that you have not been put into a corner. The moment you find yourself in that place where you have to think of a way out, you will surely find it. When the consequence of not getting something done threatens what is valuable to you, you will find a way around it. The reason why you would quit on your dream is that there is no compelling reason for achieving it. If there was, you would think about it until you have a solution. 

A strong why could either be something you are trying to get away from or get towards. The question you must answer is why am I on the path I have chosen? Why should I push beyond the current resistance? Only if I know that when all is said and done, I will rejoice. Before anything else, find your why.