Elandi’s Walk Home

Dear lovely people,

Elandi was tired. After handing her bad car over to the mechanic, she decided to walk home. On her way, she observed a beautiful car drive into a gorgeous compound. A man stepped out gallantly and was welcome by most probably the wife and child and they moved into the house. Elandi was worried and resumed her regular introspection about all what was not working in her life as she moved on. She told herself that her series of misfortunes and chain of difficulties must be linked to three unanswered questions:

Firstly, she asked herself Am I a 'why bother?' person, or a 'why not?' person? What Elandi failed to understand is that problems are an inevitable part of everyday life. But how we approach them depends on our point of view of the world we live in. A why bother? Person falls back on excuses or reasons a project or task can’t be done. Maybe it’s been done before, or it will take too much time or money, so they throw their hands up in the air and say, “Why bother?” "Why not?" people, however, look for solutions in the unknown territory of life. These are the people who, instead of saying something can’t be done, say, “Watch me. Why not try? I have nothing to lose.” Instead of getting worried because you saw a successful family like Elandi did, you should focus on the things you must do to reach such a status.

Secondly, Elandi wondered aloud: Do I focus on reasons or results? I have read that, you either have reasons or results and never both. People fall into one of two categories when it comes to making their dreams come true. They focus on all the reasons their dreams can't be realized, or else the results they want to see. The only way to reach new heights in life, is to do what you haven’t done before. You have to focus on the possibilities and results possible for you. Results-driven people often make their dreams come true faster, and they are happier, healthier and wealthier for it. This, Elandi had not gotten clearly.

Lastly, Elandi wondered: Do I think 'it can't be done,' or do I find a way? Part of my work is leading teams to do assessments. Recently, I assigned a group of young enumerators to collect specific hospital data in four regions in one week. One of the enumerators quickly raised his hand during the data collection training and said "It can’t be done." I smiled and replied, "With that mindset, you are right. But if you take on the focus that it can be done, you will be able to do it." The Enumerators who thought they could do it, did it. Those who said it couldn't be done did not complete one region and their questionnaires were loaded with data collection errors.

Get it straight from me, the results we see in life are based on what we think. What you think, you become. If you want new results, look for new ways to approach old problems. And as I keep saying, extraordinary people are just ordinary people who keep doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way.