Procrastination is the loser’s Game

Dear loving people,

One of the most valuable skills in the life of an achiever is the ability to consistently meet deadlines and accomplish tasks in a timely manner. The reality is that times without number; procrastination prevents many people from achieving it. Napoleon Hill says “procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.” Christopher Parker goes on to say “procrastination is like a credit card: it's a lot of fun until you get the bill. Can you immagine that? Actually, you only get to know the real damage Procrastination can cause you only when you pay the price.

Winning the battle against procrastination may seem a daunting, even unachievable goal, but anyone can do it once you focus on developing strategies to overcome it. Lord Chesterfield proposes a starting point by saying “know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”

William Barclay in “The danger of spiritual procrastination” recounts a fable of three apprentice devils who were coming to this earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan, the chief of the devils, about their plans to tempt and to ruin men.

The first said, "I will tell them that there is no God." Satan said, "That will not delude many, for they know that there is a God."

The second said, "I will tell men that there is no hell." Satan answered, "You will deceive no one that way; men know even now that there is a hell for sin."

The third said, "I will tell men that there is no hurry." "Go," said Satan, "and you will ruin men by the thousands."

The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time. Achievers must understand this and act accordingly in order to hit the summit.

Why not start now! to fight procrastination in your life, don’t wait for tomorrow, it might never come.

Develop a Success Mentality

Dear loving people,

In order to break barriers and to achieve in life, you need to adopt the correct state of mind. Everything starts in the mind; an athlete for example cannot win a gold medal until they have won it in their mind, a boxer cannot win a fight until they have won in their mind, and an actor cannot be an actor until they are an actor in their mind. Whatever it is regarding, in order to be successful, we must first succeed in our mind. Positive thinking enables us to have a positive attitude and allows our imaginations to envisage positive scenarios. Our imagination is a visualization process which is much more powerful than we tend to acknowledge.

What we imagine is what we think; as we think our thoughts, we are creating images in our mind. These images could be of things that we want or things that we do not want. Remember, our most dominant thoughts are what form our beliefs and our beliefs are the main drivers of our behavior. Therefore, as we imagine ourselves being successful, our behavior will reflect this positive mentality; this is what a Success mentality is. So, the images that we hold inside our mind can ultimately become our experience; our mind will endeavor to create the images that we hold persistently. In other words, the thoughts that are constantly running through our mind, consciously and unconsciously, are ultimately making up our experiences.

A success mentality is what I believe separates winners from losers; it is an important tool for those who want to break any kind of sustained challenge to the top. I am not sure that football is my passion but I do know that when a football team is in a relegation battle, they would play the next match as if their lives depended on it; this is exactly what should happen to the person who wants to succeed in an important task especially when that task will contribute in some way to the attainment of his supreme goal.

Start any task aggressively from the very beginning. A football team begins a crucial match aggressively; they don’t need to spend the first 45 minutes to decide or to wait for a team talk in the dresser. The entire team needs to take responsibility on the field of play for the manner in which they approach games, especially against their arch rivals! This hold same for anybody in the quest for great achievements against the arch rival - failure.

There are some fundamental elements of a success mentality that an achiever needs to develop and use systematically as they go about their daily business…

1.      Grace under Pressure: The ability to focus under pressure is a key characteristic of an achiever. In a football match for example, a good player will not get pulled off their game despite outside pressure or stimulus. They remain calm, cool, and collected. Such a player rather objectively strategizes without getting emotional. This means knowing when to attack and when to hold back. Players never quit a match even if it is not going the way they planned, this holds true for any achieve. Don’t over-pace and burn out, attempting to move on beyond your ability. You should have a deliberate strategy planned out. Know your milestones, threshold, and ability, and proceed accordingly. Stick to your path of growth and do not get pulled off your quest for any reason. Focus on the process of reaching your goal and what is going on in you and around you, not the outcome.

2.    Learn From Mistakes: To footballers, a bad match remains bad if they do not learn from it. Keep track of the failures you register as you move on with your quest for success, this is why it is important to never quit. The team watches their past matches carefully and adapts and modifies their training to rectify their weaknesses. You must do same as an achiever. You should not be discouraged but seek the right questions and answers about your past failure. Don’t make or accept excuses. Was your poor performance due to bad decisions, wrong budgeting? Or was it right on target? In business sometimes, your decisions are correct but your rival is simply better than you at that moment in time. If that is the case all you can do is review your strategy maybe pricing, service quality etc. in order to outsmart them next time.

3.    Precision: Footballers know that winning a match involves precision. The right and timely passes, timely positioning etc. Achievers must do same. Be at the sales meeting on time, put the icing on the cake on time, serve the wine on time, plant the maize on time, have the right staff in time etc. The more guess work you take out of your system, the more performance you will gain. Do not leave anything about your quest for greatness to chance.

 

4.    Get Technical: haphazard decision making produces haphazard results just like random training by football teams produces random results but when the team maintains specific training, they obtain specific results. Do not expect to achieve success faster by simply putting the time in. Achievers plan with purpose and specificity. They seek outside assistance and employ the latest methodologies. They go for the best training in leadership for example and keep pace with evolving technology. If you really want to get fast outcomes, you need to define your limiters and come up with a corresponding growth plan. Use performance indicators to regularly track progress. 

 I strongly maintain that an achiever is anyone who has clearly visualized success in the mind, accepts the challenge of developing to their own true potential. An achiever’s mentality does not just end with moving on but extends to many areas of life. It is pride and confidence in utilizing your creative ability.

Don't Waste Your Time

Dear Loving people,

William Shakespeare, the much celebrated English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist says in his book - Venus and Adonis “Make use of time, let not advantage slip”. I wanted to dwell on it today but then, I came across an interesting article “Make Use of Time” by Ashwani Kumar - a politician from the Indian National Congress party, and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Planning. I have adapted the article for your self-edification, read on…

One of the most valuable things on earth is TIME. Everything is acquired in time; all of man's business is conducted by time. You could have food, clothing, fabulous homes, wisdom - have all you want, but if you do not have time, it means - you have nothing. Unfortunately, this is a lesson many Africans don’t yet know and are not willing to learn. The sordid concept of ‘Blackman Time’ so common in Africa says it all. On the other side, one of the worst things to happen to a man on earth is the loss of time. When you waste time, you can’t achieve anything; by losing time, you lose absolutely everything including yourself.

 

Unfortunately for the human race, time is the least valued, as a matter of fact, it’s the most misspent thing on earth. A majority of people live their lives as if they were doing an outrageous speculation, according to the accepted custom, not the least troubled about what they did with their  days  and  years  or  how  they  lived  their  lives. Sometimes we mourn over the loss of some existing bits, but we have no regrets at all, nor are we sorry, when we thoughtlessly lose not just some petty cash, but the most precious minutes of our time.

“I did not have the time”; a phrase we hear often, words we often use to justify our failures, our lack of effort to go after our dreams, words we use to justify all things not done. Many of us complain that life is unfair, that we are not born rich; there are no opportunities around us. We blame lack of money, lack of contacts and lack of resources as the reasons for not succeeding or not even starting.

You must not forget that time and not money is your greatest resource. Each individual has only 24 hours allotted to him/her each day. There might be a lot of differences between individuals with regard to money, culture and background but when it comes to time everyone is given the same quantity. In this, life shows that it is fair; it shows that nature and God do not distinguish between rich or poor. Everyone has the same amount of time.

Within the time available, few people go on to become a huge success accomplishing a lot of things in the process while many of us barely get on with our lives. A proper utilization of the time can offset the inequalities imposed by birth or by any other reason.

Your greatest advantage, resource and asset is time. Do not throw it away; do not let it slip away. Do not merely spend it, but use it efficiently and effectively to a good purpose. Many of us give the impression of being busy; we are busy in a lot of fruitless activities, in wasting time. Think about it, you might be busy but are you really accomplishing something, are you doing something worthwhile.

Do not complain that you have no time or time is short, there is enough time if you utilize it correctly and know what you are doing.

Wake up! And start living.