A little on Money, Savings, Investment

                                                    

Savings are the beginning of the journey to Financial Freedom. How much of your income are you saving currently? Where are you saving? What is the Rate of return? How secure is your money?

Before you save

First things first. You cannot save what you do not have. How are you making your money? Utilize your skills and abilities to generate as much income as possible right where you are.

Considerations

When you are looking for a place to save, it is important that you find a place with a mix of benefits to you.

Returns

Put your money where it will labor hard for you. Do not keep it where the rate of inflation will wipe away its value. Worse still, do not put it where there is close to zero in terms of return. Enlighten yourself with the knowledge you need about the alternatives you have.

Security

It is good to pursue high returns but you must also be careful not to sink your hard earned cash in a Ponzi scheme. The security of your money is and remains a key consideration.

Access

How easy/hard is it for you to access your money when you need it? It is important that you decide from the onset what your goals are with regard to your savings. Knowing the why behind your savings will dictate a lot of things. If these are emergency savings you will definitely want a place where you can access the money on short notice. If you are thinking long term you want to be in places where there are restrictions on access. Let your goal dictate the vehicle you choose.

Reputation

What is the track record of the institution you want to put your money in? Can you vouch for them unashamedly? Do you have social proof that they deliver on their promises? While some institutions rely on their good name with nothing to offer presently, skin in the game is an important consideration when you are choosing an institution. If possible seek to understand the top leadership of the institution and their track record. If they have questionable reputations, it is m=important to tread carefully because leopards rarely change their spots.

Financial strengths and fundamentals.

Are you able to tell the financial strength of the institution? Do your due diligence before you hand over your money to anyone. Make sure the institution is fundamentally sound. Look at its financial statements, line of business, associates and affiliates among many other things. They will give you a clue as to the safety of your money.

Fees involved

Seek clarity on any fees, taxes and other charges the plan attracts. Without this info, you might find yourself eating into your gains without noticing. The charges need to be as low as possible to maximize on your potential return.

The options of a saver

Money gives the possessor options. This is where the elements of financial freedom start to kick in.

With money I can set up a business responsive to my strengths and a good fit for me. When I go into a business I am well suited for, then I am no longer working but living my dream.

I could also choose to continue working where I am currently but from a position of strength knowing that should I be let go, I have a soft landing.

I have the option to buy into a portfolio of stocks, bonds, REITS and many other investments that will earn me interests and dividends. Depending on the size of my savings, I could easily replace my income with the interests I gain from my investments.

Wealth creation is a marathon. The problem with today’s generation is we want to make a sprint out of it. It is important to know that wealth that comes easy flies easy too. Wealth that respects process will outlast any shakeups.

Are you ready to start running the Marathon of Wealth Creation? Talk to me today and I will be your guide along the way. Reach out on +254725832477 or Samuel.asena@advisor.jubileekenya.com

Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

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? 

Approaches to Investment: 5 Strategies to Use

 

While savings are a great step on your wealth creation journey, there’s more to it. Savings should be looked at as a boarding stage for the crucial part of the journey. Investment is the point at which things get exciting. Get it right and you will be in a position to smile at the future. Miss the bus and you will live to rue the opportunity. Investment happens when you use the savings you have collected to generate more money. It is releasing your money into certain trusted instruments with the aim of multiplying it. At the level of an investor, you are no longer working for money but finding ways of making your money work for you. What are some of the investment strategies you can deploy to get your money working for you?

Preparation

Before we delve into that, what are the signs that you are ready for investment?

You are ready for investment if,

-You can afford to put money away

-There are no debt obligations bogging you down

-You have enough to cover your bills after investment

-You have a good risk tolerance

This is determined by a number of factors including Age, goals, lifestyle, financial situation, expected returns, income and retirement window. The young can take more risks, the old have no such luxury.

What is an investment strategy?

A set of principles designed to help an investor achieve their financial and investment goals. Some are conservative, others are highly aggressive. They are not static and can be reviewed periodically so that you adjust depending on your circumstances. The best strategies should help you meet your financial goals and grow your wealth while maintaining a level of risk that lets you sleep at night.

There are numerous strategies you can apply towards investment. They include

1)      Value investing. This is the strategy that Warren Buffet has employed to grow his wealth through 6 plus decades. With this strategy you seek out undervalued stocks of companies whose intrinsic value is greater than what the stock price is saying about it. It works from the standpoint of how the market can be irrational in assigning value to different stocks. This irrationality gives investors unique opportunities to buy highly valued stocks at discounted prices. This is a strategy for those who are keen on playing the long game. With value investing you buy a business not just the hottest stock on the market. It requires significant research, effort and patience to hack.

2)      Growth Investing. Look for investments that offer strong upside potential when it comes to future earnings of stocks. It involves evaluating the current health of the stock as well as the growth potential. It is about looking at the prospects of a stock before you buy it. You look at recent records to see evidence of growth and whether what it deals in is something the public wants and uses. It involves fundamentally analyzing financial statements and factors about the company behind the stock.

You must be ready to analyze the management prowess of the executive team of the company you are investing in. How does it achieve its growth? Through business activity or borrowing? You must also look at competitors to determine whether it is a dominant player with a competitive advantage.

3)      Momentum Investing. With this strategy buy stocks on an upward trend. The slogan is buy high and sell higher. You are strictly driven by data and look for patterns in stock prices to guide your purchasing decisions. According to Rob Arnott the fees and expenses related to momentum investing negate the gains you would expect to get from the stocks. This requires you to be constantly on, making decisions about what to buy and what to sell. It can be labor intensive.

4)      Dollar cost averaging. This strategy focuses on Making regular investments in the market overtime. You choose a regular amount to invest every month. It is a disciplined approach and you can use automated features that invest for you. It saves you from the stress of market timing. When investments happen in regular increments, the investor captures prices at all levels.

Keeps you committed to saving while reducing the level of risk and effects of volatility. Not good for those with a lump sum to invest. Ideal for those with little amounts to invest overtime. It prevents spontaneous illogical behavior.

5)      Other Worthy Mentions

Buy and Hold

Time in the market is better than timing the market. Assumption is that short term volatility will be corrected by long term returns. This is considered lazy because of its passivity.

Core and satellite

Buy a large index fund as the core element of the portfolio and other little funds as satellites. This reduces risk through diversification, achieves above average returns with below average risk.

Tactical Asset Allocation

A style where the three main asset classes(stocks, bonds and cash ) are actively balanced to maximize returns and minimize risk.

Best strategy?

I wish it was easy to point at one strategy that beats all others. Unfortunately the answer to the question: what is the best strategy is it depends. It depends on the amount of time you want to use in the process of investing, what your end goal is, how much you have at hand to invest alongside many other considerations. As such, you should choose a method that resonates with you and keep adjusting through the different seasons of your journey. What strategy do you think you are going to use on your investment journey and why?

Financial Literacy Open Day coming up on 26/03/2022 at Hotel Green Court Latema Rd. purpose to be there and invite many to come alongside you.

 

 

 

 

The Beginner’s guide to savings: 6 avenues to explore

 

So you made your first dollar from a job, gig or business deal? What next for you? More often than not, it is not what we make that matters but what we keep out of what we make. Earning six figures is no guarantee of financial security. While there is a lot of good that comes with earning highly, if you don’t put systems in place, you are likely to fall into the famous rat race of trying to catch up with the bills. Clason in his timeless book, ‘The richest man in Babylon’ advocates strongly for the need to tame your needs and appetites. The way we are wired pushes us to adjust our lifestyle relative to our income and because of that it takes deliberate effort to stay on course if you are pursuing financial freedom. This is where savings vehicles come in handy. The need to tame the leakage of your hard earned money requires that you take steps to store some of it in places where it can grow to a level that will help you achieve your big goals. Here are six jars you can use to hold your monies for future use.

The Bank

Every bank I know has savings accounts that you can use to hold your money for as long as you need. I know the interest rates are abysmal to say the least but when that money is locked up in there, your chances of misusing it reduce significantly. It definitely is an upgrade from ‘mattress banking.’ I also know that many of us have savings accounts that have no savings to write home about. What you need to do is identify a bank that has accounts capable of locking in your savings by restricting withdrawals and giving you incentives to save with regularity. The KCB Goal account is a worthy mention in this regard. What other banks do you know of that offer this kind of savings accounts? When are you opening that savings account or funding the one you already have?

MMFs

Money market funds are a good place to hold your monies if your need to hold them for a relatively short duration-anything below three years. What they do is put together units comprised of shares and government papers. In buying a unit you are spreading the risk across several asset classes in a way that almost guarantees the safety of your money. The institutions which offer them will gauge your risk profile and advise you accordingly on what to buy. On average their interest rates are slightly better than savings accounts. It is also easy to liquidate them if the need arises. The CIC Money market Fund is one of the best performing ones in this category.

SACCOS

Just like the name suggests, these are outfits that help people save and borrow for both emergency and development purposes. When you get into a SACCO you buy share capital and also save through your membership. There are people who prefer to have their salaries processed through their SACCO rather than the bank. This makes it easy for you to transfer the portion you have set aside for savings seamlessly into your account. The shares earn you a dividend at the end of every financial year. This is a place you go into if you have chosen to stay long term because the share capital is non-refundable. You can only transfer it to another member if you want to exit the SACCO. Before you get into one, be sure that you want to stay long term. It is also better to be in a SACCO where you know people especially if you are thinking of borrowing for development. This is because of the need for guarantors. I belong to Stima SACCO and have enjoyed the experience so far. What is your experience if any with SACCOS? Is this a vehicle you would consider exploring?    

Insurance

Many people have had nasty experiences with Insurance companies especially in the General and medical business areas that they hardly have any time for an agent who comes seeking to enlighten them on Insurance and how they can save through policies. When your understanding of Insurance is limited to risk, you will have a difficult time understanding how a product will help you save for the future. Insurance companies have products tailored to help you in your long term savings journey including education plans and endowments. These pay a bonus every year in most cases accumulated and paid to the policyholder upon the maturity of the plan. There are added advantages including tax relief, life insurance, disability and loss of income covers. In my opinion this is one of the most underrated and misunderstood savings vehicles out there. As an insider in this industry, I can help clear the air on some of the questions you might have regarding how to use insurance as a viable vehicle for the planning of your future. Feel free to DM or ask questions in the comments for your benefit.

T bills and bonds

The government borrows from the public through treasury bills and bonds. The beauty of these papers is that they are as secure as any vehicle can be. It is very rare for the government to be incapable of honoring its obligations in paying lenders. The interest rate is also attractive. This papers fall in the category of both savings and investments because of the rate of return offered. Bills are short term while bonds are long term. Before you put in the money, be sure about when you need it out so that you don’t get stuck yet you have money trapped in places where you can’t get it out easily.

M-banking

This would have been the first option I brought up but since it is linked to a bank and I spoke about banks first, I kept it last. If you feel like you don’t have the time to go into the bank and get started, then your mobile phone is the easiest place to start. You can set up on M-shwari for example and lock your savings up until the time when you need to use them. Different banks also have apps and other platforms where you can initiate the process. There’s truly no valid reason why you cannot get started on this journey if you have the will to do it.

To do list

What other options can you add to the list? Of the six listed here, how many have you taken advantage of? Having learnt or familiarized with these six avenues, what is the next step you are going to take to boost your savings stating today? Share in the comments.

Next week we tackle  investment vehicles.

The Online Gold Mine

                      

Nearly every one of us is online at one time or another during the day. Some of us spend countless hours browsing mindlessly on Social Media. In the same breath, there are many who are making a killing and earning big bucks every time they are online. What are some of the ways in which these people are changing their financial situations and how can you get in on the action? What are they doing differently? What do they know about the online space that we don’t? How can we inculcate mindfulness into what we do online so that it brings in the big bucks for us as well? Here are a few things you can do.

Expand your mind and see possibilities

The world became a global village long ago. While it was inconceivable to work for a company thousands of miles away 30 years ago, today remote jobs are all the rage. Whether you think about it as an employee or a freelancer the opportunities are no longer restricted to your locality. That alone should tell you how unlimited the whole deal is. If you remain open minded, there are possibilities for you from all four corners of the earth.

Hone your Craft

One of the downsides of operating and competing at the global stage is that the pool is far much wider and with the best players you can imagine. Standard skill does not cut it t this level. If you want to ‘chill with the big boys’ as they say, your skill needs to be at elite level. While people competed locally in the past, today, a graphic designer can be hired from the Philippines by a Start Up right here in Nairobi.  The only way to play in the same league is to embrace the discipline of constantly honing your skill and craft. Do it by practice, study, exposure and everything you can leverage to become not just the best but the only who does it a certain way. Grant Cardone is an advocate of ‘Only Practices’ as opposed to best practices. Distinguish yourself by doing what no one else is doing in your industry or sector and people will beat the path to your door.

Consume Elite Content

We live in the best of times for anyone who wants to learn and grow. Anytime I open my Twitter timeline, I am bombarded with boatloads of wisdom from threads and singular tweets. Same happens on YouTube and a host of other platforms. This is the best age for self-directed learning. You can become adept at anything without needing to pay a penny if you are willing to put in the time and work.

Niche down

Become Super specific about what you want to be known for and good at. In a world where people are becoming pretty choosy about what they want, you want to be as specific as you can be. You shouldn’t put people in a position where they have to guess what your expertise is. When there’s ambiguity about it, it is possible for people to bypass you.

Eliminate Mediocrity and negative energy from your timeline

I love the mute button on Twitter and use it on a daily basis. All forms of Social Media have options that can help you cut off content that doesn’t add value to you. In the midst of all the noise, there are great pieces of content that would make a huge difference in your life. If you find yourself struggling to listen to what someone is saying because it doesn’t edify you, then give yourself the liberty to turn down their volume so that you have the energy to take in what is helpful.

Opportunities

There are plenty of opportunities you can take advantage of online. These include.

Content Creation

There is no shortage of opportunities to create content which can then be monetized. Content can be written, filmed or recorded. Some of the people bringing in the big bucks are into content creation. Think about bloggers, vloggers and pod casters who are making a killing in their respective areas. The key is to position yourself in a space where people need expertise and become the one who offers it. You have opportunities to earn through charging a subscription fee for your content either through a paid Newsletter, YouTube Premium among others. You can also get ad revenue once your numbers are good enough to attract the attention of advertisers. Better than advertising is paid partnerships where a company chooses to work with you because you are dealing with a demographic that captures the people they are interested in. There is a guy calling himself the farmercist on Twitter who is doing a pretty good job at this with Davis & Shirtliff. Content can also help you market your own products.

Virtual Assistance/Remote Work

The rise of Covid-19 has pushed virtual work into the limelight. While people have worked remotely for a long time, it is now becoming mainstream. Without living the comfort of your home, you can work with companies from across the globe and earn a living. There are companies that have chosen to go completely virtual while others have given their employees the option to choose whether to go back to the office or remain virtual. If you search diligently, you are likely to find a lot of companies willing to hire talent. If you are good at a particular skill, don’t limit your job search to your locality. Realize that opportunities are available on a global scale. Among the people doing a lot on virtual work in Kenya is VA Africa. You can check them out to know more.

Gig work

On sites like Upwork and Fiverr, you will find loads of opportunities to earn decent bucks. Whether you are looking for a part time engagement or want to do it full time, the number of opportunities is inexhaustible. What distinguishes you from the crowd is your level of skill and the ability to pitch for jobs. Developing these two will see you attract clients in large numbers.

Writing

There are tons of publications looking for article writers. Whether you have a way with words or not, you can develop writing skills and use them to earn a living. You can work as a ghost writer or choose to write for yourself. You can do Ebooks on topics you are proficient at and offer them for sale on platforms like Amazon Kindle and booksformysoul. The world could do with your wisdom and you could do with some extra bucks. See what a combination that makes? Walter Akolo has a very interesting and enlightening course on writing and tons of other resources that you can take advantage of.

Courses/Coaching

With everyone seeking to grow their skills, if you have something you are good at, you can find tons of clients online willing to pay top dollar for it. Identify your area of expertise and develop a course or coaching program around it. There are numerous platforms where you can put up courses for purchase. Some of the popular ones are Teachable, Udemy and Coursera. Coaching is boosted by certifications which help you stand out from the crowd.

Influencing

If there is an avenue that requires you to have a niche in order to stand out, this is it. The people who are making it big as influencers have narrowed their focus and become exceptionally good at serving their demographic. As a result, brands are willing to invest top dollar on them knowing that their word carries a lot of weight within their demographic. Is there a place where you can position yourself as the go to person? Are you passionate and willing to put in the work in a particular area? If your answer is yes, get down to work and begin to build a profile for yourself.

Sell and market online

This one is pretty old by all standards but there are people who are still leaving a lot of money on the table. If you are selling anything whether a good or service, it is important that you position yourself well digitally. Seek to understand how each medium works and how you can take advantage of it to have enough people finding you and your offers.

 

Profligacy: The Unintended Consequence of A Mindset of Abundance.

 

Whatever you take to the extremes always comes with some disadvantages. A mindset of Abundance is one of the best things you can possess as an individual. It creates endless possibilities for the possessor. However, when it is taken to extremes, it could result in profligacy. Profligacy is just a big word that means wastefulness. It is a word that is used mostly with regard to strikers in football matches. When a striker keeps squandering chance after chance, we say he is profligate.

Profligate strikers cost their teams matches, crucial points and at the end of the day trophies. How would you feel like a coach when the striker you depend on misses chance after chance and shows little to no remorse or effort to get better at taking their chances? Before long, you will be tempted to find a more clinical striker.

I am a strong proponent of people not crying over spilt water but at the same time I want them working on ensuring that I future the water spills less often. Optimal utilization of chances and opportunities happens as you take steps to get better at making the best use of them. If you are responsible for taking freekicks in your football team for example, you want to perfect and vary your technique in such a way that you are getting better at it and also reducing the possibi9lity that your opponents will figure you out. You want to maintain a degree of uncertainty in their minds concerning where and how you will place the ball. As professional footballers will tell you, this doesn’t come by chance. It takes hours upon hours of practice to become good at it. Cristiano Ronaldo who is one of the most prolific goal scorers of the modern era was known to spend a lot of time perfecting his freekick technique at Manchester United. As a result he became very good at scoring them overtime. By the time he was leaving for Real Madrid, he was the undisputed Freekick taker of the team.

No one is 100% efficient

It is true that no one can get it right all the time. You only need to listen to Michael Jordan talking about how many shots he missed. We are talking about The G.O..A.T of basketball. Here is what he had to say. ‘I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.’ We clearly see that he missed some pretty big chances in his career. Efficiency doesn’t mean that you won’t miss some. What it means is that every time you do, you check your performance with a view to doing better next time. That Thomas Edison got it wrong more than 10000 times with the light bulb doesn’t mean that he was mindlessly doing the same thing. Each failure took him closer to what he was working towards. Can you say the same about the chances you have squandered in the past?

All is not lost.

What makes a mindset of abundance a recipe for profligacy? I would like to emphasize that this mindset is a beautiful thing to have in spades. You do not want to be those who stare too long at a closed door while there are many other open doors ahead of you. Once you miss a freekick, penalty or big chance in life, a mindset of abundance comes in very handy in reminding you that there will be other opportunities to get it right. Those who get it wrong make one huge error. They do nothing to get better at taking their chances in the intervening period between one chance and the other. They fall for what Albert Einstein calls insanity-doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Profligacy happens when you fail to grow from your failures of yesterday. It happens when you don’t take the time to reflect on what happened the last time you squandered your chance, opportunity or moment. The best thing you can do for yourself to be cushioned against profligacy, is to get used to the idea of looking back over what happened with a view to picking the lessons you need in order to move forward. When you do that, then future opportunities are less likely to go to waste.

How to guard against profligacy

Be mindful of your performance. If you want to improve your performance, it begins with opening your eyes and paying attention to how you have done in the past and in the last time you attempted something. Whether it is a product you are developing or a goal you are pursuing, mindfulness will go a long way. A mindful attitude will help you take note of details that would escape you otherwise. It will give you what to work on in order to improve your technique.

Once you are clear on what is ailing you and your ability to take your chances, it is time to employ what is known as deliberate practice. James Clear defines deliberate practice as a special type of practice that is purposeful, systematic and requires focused attention with the specific goal of improving performance. This is one of the greatest things you can do to get rid of or reduce profligacy. When you are clear on what is missing, you are better placed to work on getting it to work so that you are functioning optimally overtime.

Be open to mistakes but seek to grow from them. It is important to note that you will not move from wasteful to efficiency in one fell swoop. It will take many little adjustments to get there. The best thing you can do is to be comfortable making mistakes and learning from them every single time. You should be ruthless enough with yourself to not allow repetition of mistakes but open to making new mistakes at a higher level.

Leverage on the failures of others. More often than not, what you are doing or trying to do has been done by others in the past. There is nothing much that comes from constantly trying to reinvent the wheel. Just because experience is a good teacher, doesn’t mean that you have to learn from your own experience. The target should be to learn as much as you can from those who have gone ahead of you so that you are starting on higher ground.

Pay attention to feedback. It is said we tend to play better when we are keeping score. Evaluation of performance is critical whether by self or others. A coach will go a long way ion helping you get better if you allow them to. Who do you listen to concerning the area where you are trying to be more efficient? It will help you to improve your performance if you are listening to someone and acting on their feedback even if that someone is yourself.

In Hot Pursuit!!!

Qualitative and quantitative adjustments for goals.

The pursuit of significant goals constantly meets obstacles along the way. The temptation is strong to quit on your goals when this happens. However, those who quit will never get to see what life is like on the other side of their goals. There is need for people to find a way to forge ahead in the face of opposition. In this article we will have a look at some of the adjustments you can make to your pursuit to increase your chances of success.

When it becomes difficult to reach your goals, don’t fall quickly to the temptation to revise them. The more prudent approach is to revise your strategy. The wisdom of Einstein reminds us that insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. Since we are clear that you are not insane, what are some of the adjustments you can make to your pursuit of your goals to help you get there faster.

I am making certain assumptions here. They are as follows. You have some goals you are pursuing. You have a strategy you are applying to help you get there.

Categories

I am looking at two broad categories of adjustments you can take and I will try to give examples in each case. Consider the case of James who is a salesperson in the financial services sector. When he started the year, he set himself an income target of Kes. 3 Million by the end of December 2021. So far he has only managed to raise 1 Million. Seeing as this is the second half of the year, he has a lot of work to do to catch up. In his strategy, he needed to see 5 people a day Monday to Friday to stand a chance of getting to his goal. James has been faithful in meeting five people for over ¾ of the time in which he has been pursuing this. His problem clearly is not in the numbers he was supposed to be racking up.

Grant Cardone in his book the 10X Rule proposes a relook at the effort we put into pursuing our goals. He opines that we often underestimate the effort needed to get us to our goals. If James was to follow Cardone’s advice, then his adjustment would need to be quantitative. He would want to try raising the number of daily appointments from 5 to 7. Whether that is practical depends on how long his meetings last and whether he has the numbers to increase the engagement. Looking at his closing ratio, it is possible that this forty percent increase in the number of people he is seeing would result in him getting as close as possible to his target by the end of the year.

Sometimes all you need is a quantitative adjustment. If increasing the quantity of your activity will get you closer to your goals, then by all means jump on board and engage more people, increase the number of hours you are at it or whatever numerical increase is represented by your activity.

James could also be having a qualitative challenge. The calibre of people he is meeting, how closely do they align with his ideal clients? For as long as they don’t qualify on a number of criteria, the battle is going to be tougher for James. His remedy will be to take a fresh look at the list of people he has been meeting to ensure that they meet the strict criteria of his ideal clients. Qualitative increase in his case means he sees more of the people who fit in with his profile and less of those who are off the mark. By applying these strict criteria, he might end up seeing fewer people but this will be the right people. Chances are high that he will close more lucrative business.

Another qualitative adjustment he can make is to improve his closing ratio by improving his closing skills. He should ask himself questions like, what can I do to increase my chances of closing more clients? Such adjustments will take him closer to reaching his goals.

Blended Approach

More often than not, we need both numerical and iterative adjustments to get us to where we need to go. What would happen to your results if you added an extra hour of activity every day? How would adjusting the number of attempts affect your outcome? If you are looking for a job and making applications, ask yourself what you will achieve if you increased the number you are sending every week. That would be a quantitative adjustment. A qualitative adjustment in your case would be refining your resume and cover letters and also filtering through the companies and positions you are applying to so that you focus on those that tally with your skills and cultural disposition. A combination of quantitative and qualitative adjustments well thought through and implemented is likely to get you to the other side of your goals faster.

Let’s experiment with one of your goals for this year. What is the goal? What strategy are you pursuing for its realization? What feedback are you getting from your action? What adjustments can you make to increase your chances of hitting the mark? Be sure to review regularly and lets see where you end up in December.

PS: One of the qualitative adjustments you can make is to get a coach to help you through the process of pursuing your goals. if you are looking for someone to walk with you in the pursuit of your goals feel free to reach out to me. Together we can achieve more. Email: asenasam@gmail.com

Unleash Yourself(2 of 3)

We continue from where we left off last week. We started a conversation on some of the things that hold us back from going forth and becoming all we can be. We looked at four of them including your environment, the culture in which you grow up, lies you have believed and ignorance. In this week's post we look at four more 

 Beliefs

What we believe greatly influences our action. Jesus says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. What we believe finds its way to the surface whether we approve of it or not. You can paint a different picture all you want, but your unguarded moments will reveal what your heart is made of. Our beliefs play a critical role in how we live our lives. Limiting beliefs can be a great leash holding us back from all the world has to offer. Liberating beliefs will take us beyond any obstacles and stumbling blocks along the way. A mindset of scarcity will see a dearth all around, a mindset of abundance will see possibilities all around even in the midst of a crisis.

There is an old analogy about how elephants are tamed. The process is simple. When the elephant is young, it is tied on a tree which it cannot pull free from. After several attempts, it is registered in the mind of the elephant that it can never break free from the tethering. At this point, the size of the tree doesn’t. neither does the size of the rope or the elephant for that matter. Because it has been conditioned to believe it can’t break free, even a small child with a rope can lead it anywhere and it will follow obediently.

Limiting beliefs have a similar effect on us. Today is a good day to examine what you believe in about yourself, the world, God, life and pretty much anything. Are your beliefs liberating or restricting? You will never live above your belief. You are where you are because you believe that is what you deserve. If you believed that you deserve more, you would have demanded more from yourself and your surroundings.

Seek answers about what you believe if you want to change levels. What you believe in will not take you to the next level until you change it. Break free from limiting thoughts and begin to see endless possibilities. They are yours for the taking.

Complacency

A lack of ambition can hurt your chances of finishing at the top significantly. Complacency sets in when you think you already have all you need. Are you in a place where you think your life is just fine as is and there is nothing more to strive towards? You could be suffering from a complacency crisis. There is nothing wrong with posing to enjoy what you have built. The only problem is when the pose becomes the final destination. It takes significant effort just to maintain your position as those who have risen to the top can attest. You will realize that even when you don’t have any drive to go further, if you lower your guard for too long, you won’t be able to maintain even that which you have accomplished. Harder than getting to the top is the discipline to stay at the top. Complacency will keep you from becoming all you can be. It will rob you of the exploits that are ahead of you. It will limit your experience of life. As humans we love novelty. Boredom easily sets in when we are not playing at a level that challenges and stretches our minds beyond the ordinary. Contrary to what we believe, you can only bask in your accomplishments for a while. In a few days, what looked extraordinary takes on an ordinary shine and we are left looking for the next frontier. Complacency will take you away from the zone.

What are some of the signs of complacency that you see in your life at the moment? How can you snap out of it before it is too late?

Laziness

A lazy attitude is a sure cause of a mediocre existence. If you cannot rise up and take care of the things you need to, you will be greatly limited in what you can accomplish. If you rise up and give your best every day, it will just be a matter of time before you are at the top. Laziness is a leash that is self-imposed and one of the easiest to cut off. You have a lot of power when it comes to dealing with it because only you can decide how hard you work or otherwise. Laziness has held people from accomplishing great feats. It comes to us naturally to want to be at ease with the things we are working on. We naturally gravitate towards a life of ease and little effort. This is a big issue because what it ends up doing is to leave us in a situation where our choices are limited. Hard work opens up many possibilities and takes us where we never thought possible. Laziness makes us miss out on opportunities and in some cases fail to take full advantage of the opportunities available to us. Laziness will keep us from honing our skills and competencies. It will limit our exercise of our gifts and talents and as a result we will remain stuck.  

Fear

One of the greatest leashes that keeps us from taking action to move us forward is fear. Fear is paralyzing and limiting. It often arises from a false sense of danger. For sure there are many dangers out there that we need to face and sometimes avoid but a majority of the things we fear turn out to be imagined rather than real. One of the greatest fears we have is fear of the unknown. This kind of fear keeps you in your comfort zone. Whenever you hear that you need to step out of what you are familiar with, you cringe at the thought. You have gotten used to the comfort of the crib and are unwilling to step out as a result. This keeps you  caged until you choose to act differently.

There is an interesting analogy about what Mother Eagle does to the young eaglets when she realizes that they want to overstay their welcome in the crib. At first the crib is comfortable with all the cotton and other fluffy material. As they grow, the cotton is removed and what is left is the grass. When it time for them to get out, even the grass is removed and the thorns do their trick. As a result of the discomfort that arises, they are forced to go out and learn to fly. The education goes on out there because they must also learn how to fly the hard way. This could teach us a thing or two about managing the fear of the unknown. Perhaps creating a little discomfort in our nest would push us to get out. We must engineer things such that we are never too comfortable in one place for too long.

Fear is real but even those who accomplish greater feats suffer from it in the process. Many have opined that courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to move forward in spite of the fear. Your desire to succeed must be greater than the fear you exhibit. For as long as that happens, you won’t get stuck in mediocrity.

Do you identify with any of these leashes in your life? How are you going to act going forward to cut yourself loose from these leashes? Are you keen on getting a handle on any or all of them? Make a point of reaching out to us and find help for dealing with whatever leashes are holding you back. You are meant to fly unhindered, don't let anything you can control stand in your way. Talk to  us today on +254725832477/ asenasam@gmail.com.

Unleash Yourself (Part 1 of 3)

 

What is a leash? A leash is that rope used to tie a dog when you don’t want it to wander off during a walk. A leash limits the movement of the dog to a few feet from the dog walker. To be unleashed is to be set free to wander, explore and see the world. It is a good idea to keep a dog on a leash, it is not a very good idea to keep a man on a leash. We keep dogs leashed because we don’t want them getting lost or causing harm to other people along our path. We are also trying to keep them from acting on their wild imagination.

What are some of the leashes that hold us as mankind?

Ignorance

You can choose to believe that ignorance is bliss or you can choose that ignorance is no defence. Either way you are right. Indeed there are times where what you don’t know cannot hurt you. I hear a lot of people say that it is okay when your spouse or other trusted individual is cheating on you for as long as you don’t know. So much so that Mario Winans sung “I don’t wanna know’ The problem with this though is that eventually the truth outs and the hurt is tenfold. It is better to know early on rather than live with the assumption that everything is okay only to get hit with the devastating news late in the day. I can’t honestly live in the school of ignorance is bliss. I am more of a believer in the school of ignorance is no defence. It is clear even in the law that the fact that you didn’t know it was illegal to act in a particular way does not fully exonerate you from the consequences. It might land you a milder sentence but you won’t go scot free. This is clearly alluded to even in the bible.

Ignorance is responsible for a lot of mediocre lives out here. When you don’t know about the better world that is out there, you will be content with your mundane existence. There is an African saying that puts it aptly. ‘He who has never travelled thinks his mother is the best cook.’ A failure to be exposed to the possibilities of the world around and beyond you can limit your options a great deal. I have always joked with my wife about the fact that a woman in Turkana will hardly crave pizza during her pregnancy. Why? Because pizza is not in her consciousness. It is difficult to aspire for the things you haven’t been exposed to. Ignorance is a big leash, perhaps the biggest ever placed on us. While we cannot change where we were born and what that exposes us to initially, as we grow up our options change significantly. Thank God for Television, books, education and so much more. We know a lot more about what goes on across the world and as such we can also dare to dream the same way people from a more privileged background can. YouTube can take you to places and give you experiences that are out of this world if only you take the time to watch. Don’t allow ignorance to be your undoing, not in this information age. Take advantage of all the resources at your disposal to position yourself for great experiences.

Lies

The narratives you grow up with are very instrumental in how far you can stretch. If you grow up believing you can, your reach will be significant. If you grow up believing you can’t, you will have placed the limits on yourself already. Many people have resigned to a life that is way beneath what they can be simply because they believed certain lies about themselves. The way you interpret the events of your life is key to the lies or truth you end up believing in. Two people can go through the same experience but come out with very different results. There are people who have allowed one failure to define them and because of that they have not been able to move beyond it. Others are on the other extreme. They have allowed themselves to be lulled by their past successes and failed to move beyond them. If there is anything you have done in the past and you are living there, referring back to it in present day conversations, then you have become the victim of a lie. You have allowed yourself to be caged by that experience and find nothing interesting in what is happening today. Other lies are built up over time. When you constantly have negative experiences around a particular issue, you will learn to associate it with those experiences and never see them in any other light. I always like going back to the story of how at some point I stopped eating pork because the first time I did, I suffered tonsilitis the following day. It was very difficult for me to separate the two and for the better part of my childhood, I shunned pork. I had become a victim of that lie. I had a similar experience with tomatoes. As a result of being choked by a piece of tomato cover, I ‘broke up’ with tomatoes for a long time. Much later in my teens when I could see things differently, I started eating pork and having tomatoes in my food again. I can tell you for free that I enjoy pork probably more than any other meat today. That lie would have kept me from pork forever if I had not been willing o interrogate it when I knew better.

Such lies keep you from leaving life to the fullest. They are a tight leash around your neck telling you how far you can go and how far you can’t. Some lies are passed down from one generation to another. That is jhow stereotypes are built and established. Stereotypes are lies which have been told long enough that they take on the semblance of truth. They will keep you from marrying from certain tribes, doing business with certain groups of people and so much more. In shot they place limits on what you can do because they are such a powerful hold on your mind.

What lies have you believed in and how are they keeping you from living life to the fullest?  Pose and answer this question thoroughly in your notebook and share a summary in the comments.

Culture

Culture is a beautiful thing. It is a people’s way of life and a great determining factor of how we live our lives. A lot of what makes up our culture is good and meant to safeguard us from excesses and give meaning and identity to our lives. However, there are certain aspects of our culture which if we buy into wholesale possess the potential to rob us of a full life. While aspects of our culture might have been useful in helping us survive in times past, you would do well to question their rationale in light of where we are today. Culture is conservative in nature and this is important because =certain things need to be preserved for posterity. To condemn anyone’s culture wholesomely is a foolish exercise that amounts to nothing. I also want to add that to embrace one’s culture wholesomely without question is also foolish on the same footing.

When your culture keeps you from exploring the world that is beyond and keeps you caged within the confines of your surroundings then it limits your possibilities. Anytime you ask why some thing is and the only answer you receive is that we have always done it, it is time to question that thinking so you can come to a better conclusion. Don’t be one to blindly accept it because it is the norm. One of my Nigerian friends once said that ‘the longevity of an abnormality does not make it normal.’ Think about our pastoralist friends whose ancestors have lived on cattle rustling and it is ingrained in them from, a young age. If someone with a better understanding and intellectual capacity from these tribes still goes ahead to spend his life in the same village engaging in this practice just because it is his cultural heritage, hasn’t this person failed? Would we be right to say that he has wasted his intellect in the process? Well he could be within his rights as an individual to choose that life but the truth is that he has allowed culture to keep him caged though he knows better.

What aspects of your cultural heritage do you think has been keeping you from becoming all you can be? What do you have to celebrate about your culture in that it has made you a better person? Remember more than 80% of your culture has a lot that is good about it.

Environment

Closely related to culture is the environment in which you grow up or operate in. there are always exceptions but more often than not, you are likely to end up like the people in the environment in which you frequent.  It is said that if you visit some of the informal settlements in Nairobi, they can tell you are an outsider. The dress code and mannerism will sell you out quickly. Every neighborhood has certain quirks that distinguish it from others. If crime is the norm in your neighborhood, chances are that you will become comfortable around crime whether you like it or not. Alliance High School has been known to produce a majority of the crème de la crème of Kenya’s society. There is something that environment teaches you that you won’t find in many other places. This is such a big deal because even if you are average at best, being in that environment pushes you to level up quickly. There is a confidence that comes on you when you know that you are associated with greatness. You can’t help but be great. Living in California exposes you to Hollywood and a lot of what happens on the entertainment scene globally that it becomes natural for anyone who wants to make it big in this particular area to find their way there. We coalesce around people of similar interests because we like familiarity. You must choose your surroundings carefully because they will rub off on you whether you like it or not. This doesn’t mean that if you find yourself somewhere not suited to your ambitions you won’t make it. People have still made it but it was way harder. Designing the kind of environment that allows you to bring out the best in you will go a long way in helping you thrive. It is way easier than trying to work against many odds.

How can you change your environment to position you to bring out the best in you? What is keeping you from doing so right away?

We continue next week so be sure to catch us here. 

in the meantime share your takeaways from this first part of or discussion. 

The Man in the Mirror.

 

If it is to be, it is up to me.

When Adam was confronted by God about why he ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, he chose to make a scapegoat of his wife. When God turned to Eve, she followed suit by blaming the serpent. (Genesis 3.) While it would have been much easier to take responsibility for their disobedience, they chose to find someone to blame for failing to do what was their job. This has been the trend for a majority of us ever since. We shy away from taking responsibility for the state of affairs we find ourselves in. We look for someone to blame and pin all our failings on. That is the way of losers.

Winners think differently. They take responsibility for the direction of their lives. Life has got many variables. Some of these variables are in our control while others are not. The key to taking responsibility is in understanding the variables in our control and giving our utmost best to get things done. No one gets blamed for variables beyond their control. The biggest problem is that we don’t often tell ourselves the truth about what variables are in our control. Like Adam, we want to pin our shortcomings on someone else and we therefore try hard to find that someone when we re cornered.

What I always wonder is why Adam would hide from God if he was certain that he had no part to play in the turn of events? Every time you fail to control your variables, it is no secret even to you. You might work hard to deflect the attention from yourself but deep down you know that there was more you could have done to change the situation.

Winners look for ways to get things done irrespective of the difficulty of it all. Losers look for the easiest crutch to lean on and absolve themselves of responsibility. Everyone who embarks on a significant task must be armed with the knowledge that tough times will come. The pursuit of any worthwhile goal will often meet with sufficient resistance. The challenge you have as an individual is to rise above it and still get the job done. You have to ask yourself this question. Will I magnify my goals or my excuses?  The choice is really simple. The battle is between your goals and your excuses. Your best excuses or reasons will not get the goal accomplished. Setbacks are bound to come and the best thing to do is to prepare for them in advance. One of the things that leads people to lean on excuses is that their plans were not rooted in reality. While you hope for the best and keep an optimistic state of mind, your planning must factor in the worst case scenario. When you have thought through what to do in the worst case scenario, you are all set to go and should anything go better than your worst case scenario, you are still good to go and will find yourself accelerating faster than you thought possible.

The best way to approach any task is to pray as though everything depends on God and plan as though everything depends on you. More often than not, we get frustrated with the turn of events because in our quest to walk by faith we forget that faith without works is dead. Faith is no substitute for action. Faith calls on you to listen for what needs to be done and go out to get it done. 

Whenever you experience failure, before you look for the source of the failure anywhere else, begin with a thorough introspection. Be sure that you carried out your task to the best of your ability. Be sure that you gathered all the info you needed and the resources for the job you had embarked on. Jesus talks about the need to count the cost before you embark on a building project. (Luke 14:28) You have to pay attention to his words in this regard. Before you blame God, the devil or anyone else for that matter, ask yourself what is my role in this matter? Until you have cleared your name, do not shift the issue elsewhere.

Our success or failure in life has a lot more to do with us than we care to admit. Other people might contribute to it but ultimately, the buck stops with us. If we accept substandard performance from ourselves, it teaches others that we are okay with substandard performance and that is exactly how they will relate to us. If we hold ourselves to a high standard, the same thing will happen with others who deal with us. We teach others how to deal with us by the way we deal with ourselves.

I challenge you to look back over one of your past failures and successes. Ask yourself what you did to find yourself there. Ask why you failed or succeeded. Without a hurry reflect on it all and tell the truth to yourself. You can even enlist the help of someone who was close to you through that journey. Clarity and accuracy are critical when it comes to a deep look at yourself. Part of the reason why we fail at the same thing over and over again is that we gloss over our own contribution to the whole situation. We are also not able to win consistently because we are not clear on what we did to attain our past victories. When this happens, the truth is that our victories are a result of chance. While there is an element of luck in every breakthrough, more often than not, the consistently successful make their own luck by controlling the variables in their power. The mantra to live by is do your best and leave the rest to God.

Many of us are quick to leave to God even that which is our own responsibility. The truth is that it feels good to experience miracles and find supernatural solutions to our issues. However God spares miracles for times of desperation where nothing else can save us. This is why the children of Israel ate manna in the wilderness for forty years but the moment they set foot in Canaan, the manna ceased. (Joshua 5:12) It is not a good place to be where you are uncertain of what will happen next. Constantly living with your heart in your hand is not the way we are designed to be. The plan is to position us where we will flourish by employing what has been deposited in us.

I want to challenge everyone who is reading this to take their role in their life, business, family, ministry and wherever else with the seriousness it deserves. You are ultimately responsible for how things turn out. If you don’t like the results your life is producing and you are looking for someone to hold responsible, begin with the man/woman in the mirror. Take an active role in determining the course of your life. Become intentional in pursuing the results you are looking for. Act with integrity when it comes to your goals. Let your actions speak louder than your words. Put your money where your mouth is. Quit talking constantly about what you will do and go out there and start doing it. Let it be clear to everyone around you what result you are looking for. When people know what it is you seek, they will facilitate you to get it. When it is not clear, they won’t be sure how to help you. Believe it or not, there are many people willing to help you but you have to give them room by clarifying what it is you are going after. Don’t make the mistake of leaving to chance the thing which is your responsibility. Every evening when you go to lay down your head, purpose to conclude that there was no more that I could do today in the pursuit of my goal. Until you can say that with sincerity, there is a lot you are leaving undone daily.

Take responsibility for your life son. No one is coming from outer space to get things done for you. You are all you’ve got. From today remind yourself that if it is to be, it is up to me.

In my article next week I will be sharing on the second side of this story. Be sure to check it out.

PS: I am putting together a WhatsApp group where we discuss matters opportunities and Key life Skills you need to thrive in today's world. Drop your Digits to +254725832477 if you want to be a part of this conversation born out of our recently held Crossroads Virtual Summit. 

The Concorde

 

Have you ever embarked on a project that showed so much promise but never really took off in the long run? Are you familiar with the concept of sunk cost bias? The French and British governments went through just such an experience on a monumental scale. The Concorde was meant to be an aeronautical marvel. It had all the signs of a great undertaking. Who wouldn’t want to do a cross-Atlantic trip in half the time a traditional airplane would take? Surely the rich would find this very convenient. While the rest of us worry about the cost, they would be thinking about how much time they would save by choosing the Concorde. For some reason however, the project never picked up as expected. They were never able to breakeven let alone make any profit from this experiment.  For forty years, they continued to pour money and other resources into it hoping it will turn around but it didn’t. They eventually came to the painful conclusion to shut down the operation.

There are so many questions one can ask in this regard. Why did it take them forty years to shut down a leaking concern? What is it they never got right about the whole project? Millions of dollars were lost trying to make the thing work to no avail. It was a very costly experiment. There are many reasons that can be advanced as to why they continued so long in this losing position. We could talk about government bureaucracy, the fact that it was an experiment but the overarching problem was the idea of sunk cost bias.

What is Sunk cost bias? To put it simply, we find it very hard to walk away from anything we have invested a lot of resources in.  Some projects consume us so much with the promise of great returns that we are willing to put in everything. What happens is that because you have already sunk a lot into it, you convince yourself that pumping in a little more will get it going. At the end of the day you keep sinking more into this project and it keeps disappointing you but you can’t find it within you to walk away. Saving the project becomes an exercise in futility but you just can’t let go.

The people outside can see clearly that this is not working but as the person who is in the thick of things and consumed by the quest to make it work, you might not see it with such clarity. A vanity project can end up consuming more than its fair share of resources and in the process deny other projects the funding they need. The longer it takes you to identify your vanity projects the more your critical projects will suffer. If you must indulge in a vanity project, make sure the basics are taken care of first. I guess the French and British governments realized that it is no longer justifiable to keep sinking more into the Concorde and called it in.

My question to you is what is your Concorde? What is your vanity project? What is that pet project to which you have devoted a lot of your energy? Are you/ have you become a victim of sunk cost bias? One of the things about pet projects is that the owner is more often than not blind to the fact that this is happening. You would do well to seek the input of others who can give you an objective view of things. This is where paying attention to your critics can be of help. I guess one of the best ways to protect yourself from this kind of bias is to make sure you are not surrounded by Yes men/women. You need to have around you people who can put you to task in justifying what you are trying to do. You need people who can ask you difficult questions. With that you will be on your way to fighting Sunk-cost bias.

Telltale Signs of a Concorde Kind of Project.

Unjustifiable investment of resources

Long past expected due date of return

A requirement to inject just one more round of funding yet this has been the case multiple times.

An aversion to genuine critique-You do not a=want anyone to question you.

Activity shrouded in mystery-it is not very clear what is going on.

Eating into other project(s) allocation(s)

Uneasiness with higher-ups when it comes to discussing this particular project.

Subordinates who are stressed out wondering what the whole deal is.

Victims of Concorde projects

Individuals with a big ego

Companies

Governments like our example

Churches

Non-Governmental Organizations.

Guard against Concorde projects

One Concorde kind of project is one too many. It could spell the end of dominance for an industry leading company. It could mean a redirection of resources from essential services to fund vanity projects. It could sink your entire nest egg as an individual leaving you with nothing to show for all your years of hard work. It could also lead to misplaced priorities for those in service to humanity like churches and NGO’s.

With all this at stake, what can be done to ensure you don’t become a victim of vanity projects?

To begin with you must become open to criticism from all quarters. While you don’t have to take it to heart, examine every criticism with an eye to pick the truth from the trivialities. Not all who criticize you want your downfall.  Some genuinely want you to do better or articulate your idea better.

Listen to both Higher-ups, contemporaries and reports. The people who know about the particular project are best placed to tell you whether you are onto a winner or not. You do well to pay attention to them and what they have to say. While the first remedy could be criticism from outside sources, this groups offer internal criticism. Before you dismiss your higher-ups as removed from reality, contemporaries as speaking out of jealousy and reports as speaking to matters above their pay-grade, pay attention to the merit of what they bring to you. When you realize that there are questions arising from all the groups, know that this project is a potential Concorde.

Seek justification for all expenditure. Choose to use what accountants call Zero based budgeting as proposed by Greg McKeown in his book on essentialism. This whole article is inspired by what he shares on the story of the Concorde. This type of budgeting forces you to justify every resource allocated to a project. This way your eyes will be opened to the projects which have been consuming your resources without cause and you can then cut them off.

Be ready to acknowledge you are wrong. Ego can be one of our greatest enemies. Nobody wants to be told that what they conceived is a waste of time and resources. This is why we hold on to it tightly even when it is not making any sort of sense. The only way to make amends is to be quick to see your fault and adjust accordingly. Those who are ready to admit their faults will cut their losses early on before it becomes too hard to walk away.

Look for a neutral second opinion. It is good you find people who can offer you honest opinions removed from any emotional attachment. When you are in doubt about your project, don’t hesitate to talk to someone who is as far removed from what you are doing as possible. That person will help you see things for what they really are.

 Don’t be afraid of waste. Many of us keep on walking in the wrong direction since we believe going back is a sign that we have wasted that time. We must get rid of the fear of being looked at as those who took a wrong turn. Everyone takes wrong turns in life. The problem is if you don’t accept early on, it will cost you more when you eventually have to turn around. Think about getting lost in the forest. Do you keep on walking when you are no longer sure which way you are going or do you turn back to retrace your steps? Those who keep walking are likely to end up lost while those who retrace their steps have a chance of finding the right path. No matter how much you have invested in it, when you realize it is not working, be quick to let it go.

A critical question.

How do we differentiate between a Concorde and Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb?

Many people keep flogging dead horses because they are not sure whether they are dead or alive. So how do you tell which one is alive and which one is dead? While Thomas Edison failed many times, there is something about his failure that kept him going. The concept of failing forward becomes important here. A Concorde has no meaningful sign of progress. Edison’s light bulb got better with each iteration. One of the best ways to differentiate the two is tangible progress. A vanity project shows very little to no progress while a potential project sees consistent improvement.

A budget injection moves the needle on a good project. The same injection makes very little change to a vanity project. If an escalation in resource allocation does nothing to the final output, then it is time to bid good bye to your project. If on the other hand you can see where the resources are going, keep at it even though it takes a bit of time.

What else do you think we can use to make the distinction? Let me know in the comments below.

A word of caution

This advice does not apply in all situations. Different projects have different timelines and measures of progress. Before you apply this advice be sure you are clear on the dynamics of your particular project. A good way to do this is to look at others who have embarked on similar projects. Benchmarking can help you tell whether you are on the right track or lost. I also know there are projects which are so novel that there is no existing benchmark. I would leave such projects at the discretion of the implementation team but my advice would be that you ensure you are surrounded by sober, objective people who can tell you when you are going widely off track.

As we end this, are you aware of the Concordes in your life? What are you going to do about them? Do you need help identifying and dealing with the Concordes in your life, business, ministry, family or whatever concern? Get in touch with us at Optimize Institute. Contact +254725832477 Or email me on asenasam@gmail.com 

Whatever you do, don't waste your energies on a Concorde.