JAEL WIAFE #KeepOnBelieving

The Exceptional Performer

Dear lovely people,

I feature amongst those who insist that achieving success requires setting goals, working hard and remaining focused on a long-term plan. Ralph Marston says “Don't lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality.”

Get one of my secrets on a platter! Once you set out on the quest for success, working hard and focusing on your long-term plan is good because it will enable you to meet whatever agreed goals you set out to accomplish but to achieve outstanding success, you need something more. You MUST be an exceptional performer.

Exceptional performance concerns accomplishments that are new, surprising, and valuable. You MUST do more than meet your original objectives. You MUST exceed them in some way that is new, surprising and valuable. When these three characteristics come together in with your performance, there is something that is unmistakably exceptional thus making it extraordinary. Notice that I insist on the word ‘must’ because there is just no middle line, it’s it or nothing at all.

Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino who vowed to end Mayweather's unbeaten record in a $300million Fight of the Century in Las Vegas once said “Boxing is not about your feelings. It's about exceptional (my emphasis) performance.”

Whet Your Appetite for Success

Dear lovely people,

It is natural to think that something mouthwatering “wets your appetite,” but actually the expression is “whet your appetite” which in essence, instructs you to sharpen your appetite for something, as a whetstone sharpens a knife. As far as your quest for success is concerned, it is in your best interest to do those things that make you crave success even more. One of such is setting new grounds and actually breaking away from the vicious circle of “that’s the way it’s always been done” mentality.

Mark Cuban says that “Wherever I see people doing something the way it's always been done, the way it's 'supposed' to be done, following the same old trends, well, that's just a big red flag to me to go look somewhere else.” So, if you are hoping to set new performance records in sales, at your job or in whatever you do by approaching it by the same failure-prone way as has been done in the past, that will be the best way to head for a stonewall.

Success is about conquering new grounds by doing the same things that others have done differently. As a trailblazer in your field because that is what you should strive to be, you are charged with the most important responsibility of guiding your own actions to achieve success. Whatever that mark of success may be, it most definitely involves heading towards positive change. It goes then without saying that in order to be successful, you must question everything and never allow the mindset because That’s The Way It’s Always Been Done.

There is an epic story about an experiment with five gorillas in a cage. I have been unable to determine the origin but it greatly epitomizes what I am talking about. It goes thus…

… In the center of the cage is a banana, hanging at the top of the cage just out of the gorilla’s reach. Below the delicious banana is a ladder. As the fastest of the gorillas begins to climb the ladder toward the banana, all five gorillas are sprayed with ice-cold water. All of the gorillas immediately retreat to the corners of the cage at which point the water stops spraying. After a while, another gorilla began to climb the ladder and was stopped by the other four who did not want to be drenched with ice-cold water.

One of the gorillas is removed from the cage and replaced with a new one. As soon as the newbie sees the banana, he goes for it. He is attacked by the other gorillas. He has no idea why, but fully understands that he will be assaulted if he tries to climb the ladder. A second gorilla is removed from the cage and replaced with a new one. Of course, the new gorilla eyes the mouthwatering banana and makes a dash for the ladder and is attacked. The first newcomer joins in the assault, even though he does not understand the reason for it.

A third gorilla is replaced and the same events unfold, this time with the first two replacements participating in the assault with no idea why. After the last two original gorillas are replaced, no gorillas who were sprayed with water remain. The new five, with no knowledge of why they should not approach the ladder, will never touch the ladder or make a climb for the appealing banana. Why? “Because that’s the way it’s always been around here.”

Just like the gorillas, we all naturally become accustomed to our standard, repetitive duties especially within organizations. When you are new to an organization, everything repetitive to others is new to you. Once you have been there a while, you do not realize how insensible you become. The old methods of doing our duties are what yield continual inefficiencies and the mentality that resists change. I know of a musician in my country who has trained and mentored many other musicians but guess what? They sing just like him in style, genre, dressing and even mimic his voice. They have no sense of originality.

That's why every single individual on the quest for lasting success and fulfillment should associate with and actively seek out new ideas and concepts from those who are already making it because if your justification for doing something is "That's the way we've always done it," or you reject contrary ideas because "That's not the way we learned it," you're just another unquestioning monkey, and you'll always have to settle for working for bananas.

Never and never be afraid to fail and new things. Instead of following the crowd of what everyone else is doing, look at your competitors, your market, at your clients and figure out what you can do differently. Now you know why Living Lectures is a whole new concept from all the others.

Extraordinary Drive For Results

Dear lovely people,

I run my life like a business or a project. The people who know me closely will attest to this and so in order to move on with my quest for success, I frequently ask myself some questions. What makes a company great? After all, management trends come and go. Economic conditions fluctuate and market demands shift. Corporations re-structure and new owners take over. Maybe, you need to ask yourself these same questions to the point of getting obsessed with them. Henry Moore says “The creative habit is like a drug. The particular obsession changes, but the excitement, the thrill of your creation lasts.” Get the point?

From these questions, I came to realize that the one constant, the one enduring truth, is that people define the character of a company. They always have and always will. Motivated, passionate people make the difference between mediocrity and extraordinary performance. In like manner, you alone have the singular responsibility to shape your character.

There are many areas of life in which people exhibit an extraordinary drive for results, they have all the words to describe their inner motivation and even weaknesses. Recently, I met a friend – John who is planning to marry a classmate he just met and so I asked him what was so special about the lady. It was the details and clarity of his explanation that got me speechless than the reason…

“You will not understand but trust me, she is everything, everything that I’m wanting…” John told me passionately. “I’ve just known this girl in my class this school year, it’s been six months and I have a huge crush or better still, it’s an infatuation or obsession but I don’t really know where I am at between crush, infatuation and love, it might go further than a crush who knows but I am certain that I have an extraordinary crush on her. She is a smart girl, very smart I must say; she is so mature, awesome and funny. And her personality is definitely the greatest thing of her.

When I see her, I see perfection; I don’t know, but people always consider the person they love as “perfect” so this is normal even though no one is perfect. I can’t even find her flaws, it’s too hard to find them! She is flawless! She is intellectual, clever. She knows about almost everything and is absolutely knowledgeable. When I have questions about such topics, the only person I come asking for helps is her, only her. Because I know she will give me very informative answers. She is always right.

I love her smile a lot. I love when she smiles to me, it just makes me feel better. Oh God! I just want to see her smile always! And her laugh too! Maybe others consider her as “normal beauty” or whatever I don’t care, but for me, she is gorgeous and adorable. Her adorableness has given me several heart attacks! I just want to hug her, but I can’t. I don’t know her well, plus, I’m too shy and introverted, I’m painfully shy and often uneasy sharing my feelings with friends. It’s sad, but true. She helped me during my hard time, during my depression when I was down at my worst mood, when I had no purpose to live and when I had suicidal thoughts. She has helped me a lot. She is the best student of the class, people keep surrounding her, because of her awesomeness, funniness and flawlessness. Yes, she is so great. She is too awesome to be loved, contrary to me…”

Here is John, a post graduate student in one blow, giving me all the details of his new found love. From his description, you can clearly see he’s a master in the art, he does not only know the person he’s talking about but equally knows exactly what is hindering him from moving forward with his plans. I find this extraordinary, if everybody who set out to achieve a major goal in live could approach that goal with such diligence, with such vividness and drive for results, Behold, failure will go to its untimely grave forever.

When you have seen as much of life as I have (forget about age here), you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love and if that engulfing energy of an obsessive love could be channeled as well in to your quest for success, failure would never have been defined in the dictionary.

 Albert Einstein says “I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.”