A New Year Message to you

A New Year message to you

This year is a gift to you. It is a gift that many had hoped to obtain but never did. Many started last year confidently hoping to see this year and even the next. It is a precious gift because it is the key with which you will unlock and shape the entirety of your very existence. It is not a coincidence you made it this far just as it is not a coincidence that you are the maturation of that sperm that made it ahead of 3 billion others who also tried to get to that egg in the quest to form the union that will become you. You are formidable, a warrior and a conqueror achieving what billions of others cannot. Your track record is there for all to see.

Once again you are at the beginning of another year holding in your hand that which you will use to engage and accomplish. It is not new to you, every year you have done this. This time you are going to do more because of the experience you have gained in this world and the many advantages you have ahead of others. It begins with your uniqueness. There is something special about you and that thing is your advantage that will enable you to accomplish that which no other person can achieve.

You have an existence and it is not a coincidence. It is one that was carefully planned and orchestrated for victory by a maker who makes only the best. Your task is to maximize this existence to the best of your ability and your key is your occupation. The one thing that occupies you the most is the vehicle with which you will get to the goal. And so you will handle it with the utmost care and work it with all the power in you. No other person can do it but you. Because you are unique—built specifically for this mission.

You will meet obstacles on the way. But those are not the problems because you are equipped to rise above them. And if they hold you down, be not afraid to reach out to your maker who will without fail rescue you and put you back on your feet. He will empower you more than ever and your race will be smoother. There have been several others in similar a position as yourself. Never has he failed those who live by his instructions and know to call on him when the need arises.

The apostle Paul was one such man. In Hebrew 12:1, he talked about this race that we must all run and went further to state how we should run it. He said we must shed the weight of such things as sin if we are going to run effectively. Sin becomes the liability that holds us back and slows us down. I therefore implore you to do your utmost best not to pick up any unnecessary weights or liabilities along the way so that you will finish well with full power. So that the lord your God will say to you; well-done faithful servant. Paul points us to Jesus as the example we must follow if we are to make any progress. He of course was the most accomplished individual to ever walk the earth and his mission was always to show us the way. The great way! The one you must follow if we are to accomplish.

Paul spoke also in 2 Timothy 4:7. He said he has fought the good fight and kept the faith and looks forward to his reward. There is a reward awaiting you and I am not talking only about the afterlife. For us as Christians the reward is twofold. To serve the purpose for which God created you has its earthly as well as heavenly rewards. So you must run your race very well knowing that it is not in vain. And if for any reason you wonder about your capability or the support of God, let me remind you about what God said to Moses when he expressed fear seeing that he was going to face a super-power like Egypt. Only one question turned the whole thing around: what is in your hand. As Moses’ staff turned into a snake, that occupation in your hand will become something phenomenal beyond your wildest dreams. It begins with your understanding of the power of the staff in your hand and the one who put it in your hand. You have an omnipotent and omniscient power at your disposal. I encourage you this day to use it to the best of your ability.

I cannot end without taking a lesson from the wisest man who ever lived. In Ecclesiastic 9:10 Solomon admonishes us, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do with all they might. What marvelous words of encouragement from the man who was a custodian of divine wisdom. He of course was referring to your occupation. Like Moses, It is what is in your hand at the moment. Put everything you have into it. For whiles your goal might be beyond it, it is the vehicle that can get you there. May the God of Jacob, Isaac and Abraham guide and protect you while empowering you with wisdom knowledge and understanding in order to accomplish in this year more than you have ever accomplished in any year. It begins where you are now. The bridge between your location and your destination is your performance in your occupation. Be more this year and may His Favour, Grace and Mercy never depart from you.

This message is a refined version of my short exhortation at Fast Track Financial Services limited during their end of year get-together and awards night. I thought it will be good to share with you as well. Please accept it as my New Year message to you. I suspect I will be using it in a few other places before the end of the month.

Plan your year with the special tool created with you in mind and accomplish more this year. The road is easier travelled with a map in your hand. Configure will help you in that direction. Download it now for free

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Jael to empower the world with KOB

Every now and then you encounter something that inspires you to do something new and exciting. We have all had that moment at some point in our lives but creative people experience this the most. Regardless of the depth of talent you might have, inspiration can trigger a powerful engagement for you. Talent will remain a potential until engagement but engagement has driving forces and inspiration is one of them. During engagement, it is also what we believe, think and feel that ensures that we stay engaged and ensures we are able to be the best that we can be.

Inspiration comes from all kinds of sources. Sometimes it is just something you see or hear, taste or feel. This is because we collect information through our senses and decode them with our brain bringing interpretation to the raw data. It is raw material that can be used to fuel performance. For this reason, any source of inspiration is valuable. However, like anything else, some sources can be more effective than others.

This week my attention was brought to a music video that has been making the rounds on both traditional and new media. Whiles the video is new, its main character is not new to Ghanaian and international music circles. It was the unmistakable face and figure of the inspiring and adorable Jael Wiafe-- a Ghanaian gospel artist who never forgets to add a dash of inspiration to her already exciting gospel recipe. I ran into her a few months ago at Capital TV where we naturally broke into an informal conversation about her music and ministry. She was quick to point out how important inspiration is to her. People empowerment is a major part of her ministry and she has sung many inspirational songs in the past. But this new one; keep on believing is like no other.  It is an outstanding piece of art that does more than accomplish its purpose. Anyone who hears that song and doesn't feel inspired may have a relationship of a sort with the darker side of our universe.

What is also fantastic is the video. From story-line to scenery and characters, the producers left nothing to chance. Now perhaps you are wondering about the overall effect of great music, great video and a great artist coming together into one product. The result transcends anything you have ever felt before as it comes at you through all your senses completely trans-mogrifying you into a highly inspired individual who is bound to affect others towards a more inspiring world. I guess that’s what a great product does; we all become carriers of the ripple effect that must reach the banks of the universe. Jael gave meaning to a key concept in performance theory; it is not enough to have a great product, you must also delivery it powerfully and she has succeeded on both levels scoring 2/2 on the structure and content analysis. If you have already seen the video then perhaps you won’t mind my getting all technical and analytical with it. Chances are you are just as inspired as I am.

I don’t know what is on your to-do list for tomorrow but I can promise you that if you start your day with the keep on believing video, you will go on to have a fantastic high performing day. It is not surprising then that there are rumors of the song becoming the theme song for a larger empowerment project to be dubbed KOB (keep on believing) and to be run by an organization called the EL Empowerment Center. Personally I find Jael inspiring as a person and I have no doubt that she is on her way to transforming lives through her music and empowerment ministry. Her new album promises to be ground-breaking as it features major international acts like Papa San and a host of others. Look out for the album review as I already believe it is the next big thing after Cwesi Oteng’s Mercy project. Be sure to let us know what you think by leaving a comment

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Otabil brings structure home

I experienced a surge of inspiration this morning when I tuned in to E-TV and beheld godfather; Pastor Mensa Otabil of the International Central Gospel Church delivering with incredible insight and Biblical dexterity; the very idea that have come to form the backbone of my own thinking. Look around this blog and the one thing you cannot miss is my thoughts on structure and content. Over the years I have been put in so many different situations that have afforded me the opportunity to witness from a front row seat the effect of the imbalance that without question causes failure.

He built his case on Elijah and the poor widow (1 Kings 17:7-24) who had very little oil and but soon needed extra vessels to keep the oil that resulted from Elijah’s miracle. There was a clear analysis of what the vessels represent and what the oil they contain represent. He explained that every person carries something that is their own oil but must work towards the vessels in which it will be carried and delivered. Now that is quite significant. Elijah instructed the widow to borrow vessels from everywhere including her neighbors. This he said represented how people carried and delivered their own oils i.e.; how they do things.

He pointed out that when the vessels are weak, they will not carry the oil very well. He insisted that one needs to borrow know-how from almost everywhere but we need to take precaution regarding who we are borrowing from.  He explained that some of the seemingly successes we see around are not necessarily due to good vessels. Hence borrowing from such people might lead us down the wrong road as their vessels may be weak.

In his experience most people go to borrow the oil and not vessels. When they go to a rich man they will attempt to borrow his money (the results) and not his vessel (how he has reached that result). In our context oil is what you have by way of capability -- what you are going to engage with and vessels represent how you function as a person. When the vessel is weak, the oil leaks out and the result is not the desirable. We see again that high performance is the result of a good structure and good content. Where there is an imbalance, the result is not the best it can be. However, the influence of structure on content is quite profound and hence structure becomes the more important of the two. A number of experts on the subject agree on this. I realize this needs further explanation so I shall do another post on the matter. But imagine a highly talented individual who lack the needed discipline (discipline is an element of structure) that will help him carry his capability to the best.

Discipline will not only polish the talent; it will also manage it and deliver it. So that it is clear that the one who has a weak structure is not likely to succeed with his content and everyone has content.  For the vessel leaks and the oil does not get to serve its purpose. What we do at CSD Africa®  and project SPiD-UP® is structure education that is supposed to allow and enable the content that people have by nature and that which they have gained from formal education so that they can be complete. For more on structure, http://spid-up.blogspot.com/search/label/Theory. When a man of Pastor Otabil’s stature validates your thinking, you are inspired to do more. J For more otabil messages; https://www.youtube.com/user/motabil/videos    

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The one thing Steve Jobs got right

It is a deliberate thing on my part not to quote the likes of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in my work. Sometimes they seem like the extraordinary people God created for whatever reason. They seem too far away and the size of their success is hard to identify with. I find that most young people in my part of the world have this difficulty which comes from comparing their environment with the one Steve Jobs and Bill Gates grew up in. A young person in the UK or the US appears to have more advantages than those in Ghana or Nigeria. That is the kind of truth that does not allow you to see yourself being the next Bill Gates even if you are told all the time that all things are possible.

But what has value has value and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Hence my research into the life of Steve Jobs has led me to share this videos as he reiterates some of the key point I make at the SPiD-UP® workshops. Your job is referred to as occupation because it occupies your life. You spend 8 or more of your 24 hours in it and another 8 sleeping. The last 8 you use for the countless other things you do as part of your life. If you do the math right, you will see that your happiness, success, achieving your life goal etc. all depends on your job or occupation. It is that simple and apparently Steve Jobs understood this very well. If your job makes you unhappy, you will be unhappy for the rest of your life… I mean you will have an unhappy and an unfulfilled life. I am yet to meet anyone who wants that. By 8:31 he starts making this point very clearly:

"Sometimes life can hit you in the head with a brick. don't loose faith. I am convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love...and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe to be great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet keep looking and don't settle." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

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Yvonne Nelson long legs magic

Lately there have been a lot of discussions on both traditional and new media about the success of the Yvonne Nelson new movie premier and its record breaking success. While I have not seen the movie itself and I doubt if  I will, I am intrigued by the fact that she has been able to achieve what has been referred to as the highest sales of all time for a movie premier. In Ghana of course but I have no reason whatsoever why she shouldn't set a world record too if she so wishes.

Really it all comes down to how far you are willing to go and what you are willing to do. It is simply how the world works!  Setting a new record is of course taking things to the next level. Becoming the new standard and this only happens when we have done something new. As a general rule old ways doesn't bring new results. It is simply how the world works!

She had apparently taken to the streets to distribute flyers to motorist with the best of the cast and personally invited people to attend the premier. Now I have to tell you, I am not particularly an Yvonne Nelson fan per se, I don’t remember finishing a movie with her in it. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against her talent except I like a different genre of movies and she doesn't come across to me as the philosophical type. But I can assure you if she walks up to me and asked me to come to a premier, no hailstorm could have stopped me.

I am sure the whole exercise would have left her first-class-flying famous long legs with unbearable aches and pains. It shouldn't take rocket science to anticipate that but she did it anyway and she brought a bunch of her friends along with her. So here is the clearer picture

She had assets; her image, her friends, a set of long legs you want to see- and she knew how to use them. She combined them to do something new so she was bound to get new results; there is no other way around this. All of us want new results except not all of us are willing to do new things.

Higher performing people are responsible for the new achievements we see every day. Once the standard has been set, average people try to meet it until another high performer sets a new standard. Clearly it is those who are willing to do outstanding things that can bring outstanding results. It didn’t happen because she made a movie, it is because she was willing to walk the streets and invite people personally to the premier. Do something new today and get new results.#spidup wherever you are.

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Okyeame Kwame and others recognized for high performance at SPiD-UP Launch

The Center for self-development (CSD Africa), a peak performance training organization in collaboration with Capital TV, an Accra based TV station yesterday launched a project dubbed SPiD-UP® at busy internet in Accra yesterday 21^st of May, 20014. The project is designed to provide performance awareness training to the general population in three different categories.

The event was presided over by the new CEO of the National Youth Authority (NYA) Mr. Ras Mubarak who confirmed the support of the NYA for the project although he admitted his outfit may not be able to provide funding due to the limited budget. During his presentation, the project initiator and coordinator: Mr. Markus Kennedy Katey explained that the program will treat four thematic areas through the monthly workshops that will be held in various locations across the country and ultimately the continent of Africa. The four include performance theory, self-awareness, career pathways and spiritual awareness. He said there will also be a multiple intelligence test to help young people understand their areas of strength in order to align all elements to ensure a better output in both their occupations and larger life.

As part of the event, high performing individuals and organizations were recognized and awarded certificates for their contribution in their respective fields. Among them was musicians Okyeame Kwame who was cited for his performance and contribution to the music industry.  The rest include Manifest (Musician), Esi Ansah (Axis human capital), Kwame Owusu Boateng (Opportunity international savings and loans), Mawena Trebah (Ghana Investment promotion), Patrick Awuah (Ashesi University), and Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwah (Ministry of Education) Prof. Stephen Addae (). Prof. Joshua Alabi (UPSA). The award also inducts them into the SPiD-UP® Fellowship program and enables them to engage with young people to share their thoughts and experiences regarding performance during SPiD-UP® events.

Five organizations were also awarded in the high performing organizations category. These were Ashesi University, MTN Ghana, Imani Ghana, and UT Bank.

Mr. Katey also known as Hopeman told the press that the awards and fellowship program is an extremely important component of the project and therefore many more of such awards will be given during the upcoming annual international peak performance conference dubbed Tune-UP®.

Okyeame Kwame in an interview after the program expressed his excitement for having been recognized for the work he and his team has put in at one-mic entertainment and confirmed his support of the project. 
The event was sponsored by Opportunity International Savings and Loans Limited and supported by the Capital Line Group limited.

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Komla: What they are not saying

Somewhere in the very orderly chaos that resulted from the passing of Komla Dumor, I lost count of the number of glowing tributes. Everywhere I look, I saw one. Everywhere I went I heard somebody making one comment or another (not that I get out much- thanks to social media). That this young man of 42 inspires almost everyone is a truism beyond dispute. Not even his failed attempt at becoming a physician could touch him. In fact we might even point to it as another episode of great Komla lesson. A lesson on purpose and calling if you like.

With the burden of a ministry in performance on my shoulders, certain things do not escape my attention. To me the wonderful things the tributes are saying are not as powerful as what they are not saying.

Of the many glowing tributes, I have read, a majority of which were simple facebook comments, I am yet to see one that talks about how much money he made during his life time. Even the greediest of journalist (and there are more than enough of such) are talking and writing about his character as a person and most importantly how he did his work. I couldn't help but to wonder, whether we are in the same Ghana where people say everything these days is about money?

There are many who considered his presence on the BBC platform an achievement. I am compelled to agree to this simply because people are so proud of it and I really do not want to be a kill-joy. But if I were to be honest, I will say that I really do not see the big deal here. A well informed young man with a Harvard degree and many years of broadcasting excellence hired by the BBC…come on! Besides he has a great personality, character and work ethics to go with it. The BBC will have to be out of their minds not hire him. The real achievement is what he did with the opportunity.In a recent conversation with a friend of the family, I learnt something interesting; Koml’s plan was to go to the BBC and change the way they present Africa to the world. Ha! Why not for the money?

In times like these I am compelled by the forces of necessity to draw some parallels between the likes of Komla, Madeba and the Osagyefo and the likes of Mobutu, Abacha and the many others who we know were driven by money. The result is self evident and I need not elaborate. Komla leaves us not with a way to make a lot of money but many very valuable lessons on how to maximize one’s existence. By the Komla Dumor method, the greatest broadcaster in Ghanaian/African history was created. Leaving us with a powerful legacy that we need to protect with every iota of integrity we can find. If we do not see a statue being erected at the University of Ghana and another one somewhere in the Volta region and a road or monument named after him, it will be a real shame.

Of the many leaders that have been trained at our nation’s premier center of learning, too many have made their living at the expense of the people. When such men come along with such extraordinary legacy therefore, the institution must hold on to it with all it’s got as the power of Good is the only thing that can overcome its many evils.

For those of us who cannot seem to think beyond our need to eat, drink and have sex, we must see from the examples that a man with a noble ambition never lacks. Solomon didn’t ask for money, he asked for wisdom. Komla didn’t ask for money, he asked for an opportunity to change. Madeba didn’t ask for money, he asked for the opportunity to bring justice. Osagye didn’t ask for money, he asked for freedom.

It is by this means that these men have achieved immortality like the many others who lived before them and continue to live with us through their ever powerful legacies. As I write this, I am reminded of the Marcus Aurelious’ meditations and what it has to say about noble character. If you haven’t read it, now will be a good time. The path to the maximization of existence is not that hard to find. The problem is; there are not many who are willing to travel that road in spite of its many rewards.

I do not know what you do or how you do it. Or even how much of it you do and the real reason why you do it. I do not know how long you intend to exist on this plane and what your plan is towards the maximization of the opportunity. But I do know that the clock doesn't stop ticking and that there will be a time when the world will have an opportunity to make an assessment of your existence. Because it matters- you were created to serve a certain purpose.

The question is, what will the world say about you? Will you receive endless glowing tributes or will you fade into nothingness after your huge “gbonyo party” while a few members of your family go on a shopping spree at the expense of your lack of a lasting legacy? Or will you spark inspiration in the hearts of the world like Komla has done for you and the rest of us? The answer is performance. SPiD-UP.

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Money grows on trees

So I managed to convince you (or did I) a few articles ago that; clichés-- well some of them, are not very useful for your performance as they tend to have limiting effects.  The temporary solution was to discard them or better still; avoid cliché thinking no matter how deep seated they are. But that is easier said than done and I totally agree so I have been working on a better solution based on the Uptimetrics® platform. There is always a better way of doing something; you just have to find it and find it is what we did at the CSD Africa. So here is what you do:

Turn the cliché upside down  

Extract the useful information that is hidden within

Reason the useless information into something more useful

Three easy to practice to deal with clichés.  By doing this you actually correct (repair) the program (and that is what is- a program) instead of trying to remove (uninstall)it. The advantage is comparable to demolishing a house and building another one in its place as opposed to modifying a house into what you want. So let’s see it in action:

Your parents have been telling you all your life that money doesn't grow on trees and somehow you have allowed it to sink deep into your subconscious and even all the way down to your cells. And now you are acting it out before you get the chance to think about it. Experts agree that such information gives you a limiting perspective of money and negatively affect your relationship with it. (Look up money beliefs on the net. You will be amazed at what will come up)

This Cliché which in fact becomes a program in your mind (Mindapp®) is invoked every time you have asked for money to spend on some trivia (bearing in mind that your parent’s idea of trivia has never been the same as your own and that in fact they have been wrong many of the times. Let’s face it, sometimes they abuse their privilege to use such Clichés and the result is that you develop negative emotions in relation to money.)

Turning “money doesn’t grow on trees” upside down will give us

Money does grows on trees (and this is not only true, it is a super useful too)

Now reason your way to a positive end by answering the How (This is done with a tool called PSR—Positive Speculative Reason). Well we do have such things as cocoa trees that in fact produce cocoa that is sold for money. Actually cocoa along with other plants are referred to as cash crops and those who plant it do it as means of earning money- yep they literally grow money on trees. The more cocoa trees you have, the more money you have as the value of a cocoa farm is measured in money. But here is the beauty of this idea: cocoa is not the only money making crop that grows on trees. You will find (when you start thinking this way) that there are a limitless number of trees that can produce money. By doing this you have transformed a negative and limiting Mindapp® shrouded in cliché gear into a more a productive one.  

The first thing to do is to find out what information you are running on. They range from what parents and teachers have said repeatedly (sometimes whiles you are being punished) to something you picked up from a book or from conversation with friends or even people you admire. The sources are limitless and you might not remember all of them at once but they are there. Fixing such limiting Mindapps® improves your performance significantly as you are more forward and open to more options. The more blind spots you remove by using this method, the more options you open up for yourself and the more opportunities you make available to yourself. Perhaps your blind spot with regards to how trees produce money is gone. Feel free to look at trees differently from now on- they do produce money depending on how you choose to think about them.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mindapps® are small applications that run in your mind much like the apps on your Ipad or Iphone. Many of them like the malicious worms that crawl your computer have been installed there without your awareness yet are determining what you believe and shaping the way you behave subconsciously. If you have a belief or Mindapps® that’s you recognize as limiting, send us an email at spidup@csdafrica.com We might be able to help you.

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The blurred line between walk and talk

Any kind of mismatch is discord- the absence of harmony and the result is always negative. After the talk, there must be a walk and the two must match each other or output will suffer. Between the two however, the line can be very blurred for some. An alignment of the two makes full power performance possible. It is the presence of integrity which is the manifestation of a powerful structure.

You may be familiar with the phrase “talk is cheap”. Perhaps it should be followed by “walk is expensive”. Not everyone who talks the talk, walks the talk and there is a reason why. It appears though that everyone understands the importance of the talk. But a misapplication of the talk is to seek to create an image that cannot be backed by the walk that must follow. Read through a few resumes and you will see that everyone is highly efficient and willing to learn. They are all adoptive and have great interpersonal skills.  They are all great achievers and have done something wonderful for their last employers. They all have the wonderful intention of making a mark in the new job. They are all interested in helping the company achieve its goals. Of course this is what employers want to hear but does it happen when they get the job?

The case is not different when you read through corporate profiles and websites. The promises companies make hoping to entice the new client are interesting. Whether they keep these promises when given the opportunity is another story altogether. Somehow we all know what the right language is. These days you can even copy it from the big firms who have the cash to employ top experts to do their communication. It is not that hard to get the language right. The brief case businessman can sound as good as the multinational but that’s just the talk. When they get the chance to walk the talk, then there is a misalignment. The consequence for this is extremely damaging. But of course the reason behind this is the lack of understanding of the self and its capabilities. Those who hire us for a job whether we are staff or contractors want one thing-- high performance.  And since we know this we promise them that only to deliver average and less than average most of the times.

A person who wants to maximize their existence must deliver what they say and even exceed it. The reason is that to maximize our lives we need to maximize the opportunities it presents to us. To do this the integration between what we say we are and what we really are must be seamless. The line must begin to blur into nonexistence. Walk and talk are not love and hate. The talk must come from the walk. And when the two match, you deliver on promises and you have enough room for going the extra mile. Get that right and you won’t need a resume for your next job. The job will find you. When the internal you is aligned with the external you, an extremely potent force emerges- that’s what you need for full performance.

It is possible for everyone to walk the talk but the talk must start with a careful assessment of what we are truly capable of. We must build the talk around that and find exactly who it is that has a need for our true capability.

The following questions help check your levels.

Are there any gaps between your talk and your walk and how can it be addressed?

What do you think can be done to align the internal you and the external you into one powerful force?

Explain what you understand about the internal and external you?

How does it relate with the external you?

What will others who have experienced your performance say to others about you and how does that match what you say about you?

Do you really believe what you say about you?

Email the answers to  info@csdafrica.com to join our no-obligation,  one month free performance coaching program.

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A bag full of confidence

A bag-full of confidence

The lessons I have learnt from the man Usain Bolt since he got on the track is mind blowing if you consider the fact that all he has done really;  is run a race that lasted for less than a minute. This also demonstrates the quantum of meaning that can be captured from a single event. It demonstrates the infinite nature of life and learning. Nothing really has limits because within those seconds of sprinting lies a wealth of learning- I must not stray too far. This one is about confidence-- one thing Mr. Bolt has never been short of as far doing what he does best is concerned. My warning though is that this article will disappoint you if you are looking for the usual discussion on confidence.

The titans of performance theory insist that one of the key influences on performance is confidence. It is born out of the belief that one is capable and that one is doing the right thing based on the right choice. Confidence sits comfortably at the very foundation of any achievement. Now if we take away belief from most of the great achievers in the history of mankind, it is possible that the world as we know it will come crumbling down into something significantly different. Belief triggers action and confidence ensure engagement with certainty and power. So if confidence is so important why is it so lacking. Is it a deficiency from birth? In my work as a performance coach, I have had the opportunity to peek under the hood working with some individuals. Knowing that it is generated by various elements of our very being makes it almost shocking that it is in such short supply. It appears though that, we all start off with a bag-full but somewhere along the way, some loose theirs whiles others grow theirs. The factors responsible for this are both internal and external.

With confidence, you have won before you have started - Marcus Mosiah Garvey

Information is a key trigger that releases confidence. When we see somebody with extreme confidence we must begin to ask; what does this person know or perhaps a more loaded question will be; what he or she is thinking? On the part of the honorable Bolt, being raised in a country that produces more world class sprinters than most nations is a key driving factor although not the only one. He has the benefit of many forerunners. Besides that he also has feedback from his trainers, friends and family that ensures his certainty about what he is involved in.

In a documentary I saw recently, Bolt made a profound statement about how having a capability like his can help him play his role in society. The depth of his awareness was interesting given he was only twenty three years old when he made the statement. Most importantly it seems he understood the idea of “Autonomy within integration”. Does this build confidence? The untrained mind could easily be fooled into saying no. But the kind of power such an almost esoteric idea holds is incredible if you understand it correctly. I shall address the matter in a later writing but here is what it means to have confidence based on your integration with a larger whole.

To get the most out of ourselves, we must first understand that:
We all have roles to play and we do need to identify this role in order to fulfill the grand mission that though we are a part of, is beyond us (please do not say this is confusing). We need to acknowledge the unity of all things and how the whole is greater than ourselves- an idea which was captured beautifully by Ken Wilber’s and his Holons idea. This demands that we have a good understanding of ourselves as units of a larger whole with a purpose we must serve in order for the whole to work. This makes us important instantly. Any level of distortion in this area will lead to ambiguity and confusion; and confusion saps confidence and negatively affects performance. We need clarity of purpose, and an awareness that transcends everything else in order to formulate the basis of our very existence. Knowing what power we posses and how to use it; builds confidence, self appreciation and the self esteem we need to engage with power. Confidence rest within the bigger picture of thought in which there is such a thing as internal dialogue. So that what we tell ourselves plays a role but its true source of power is knowledge of ourselves and the larger system we are a part of as well as the certainty of our roles in the larger scheme of things. This is what I have broken down in my writing as occupational and life performance.

If we truly understand the nature of our being as spirits in material bodies, we will know what we are capable of. This is an experience like no other. If we lack confidence therefore, we need to know that it is an absence of self knowledge, and that we are capable of correcting this by changing the images we have of ourselves.

We also need awareness of the much talked about incredible power that lies within and what it is capable of and how to activate it. We need to know the mechanism we posses that can enable the expression this power. We need to know that the use of this power is not just about us; but feeds into a larger picture. And that we are interconnected with everything else as we are made of the one substance. And that our reward depends on the extent to which we have served our purpose in the grand scheme of things as it comes from the larger entity (please do not say this is confusing either).

We need to know; that our very existence depends on the existence of others and as such, there is no need for losers. That we are not here to serve the same purposes, our unique combination will depict a unique mission very different from the next person and therefore we cannot be in competition with each other. Instead, serving each other is where our survival truly lies. Goals must not in any way go against the progress of humanity as a whole as it will mean defect and the effect cannot be a good one. In order to reach high performance therefore, we must live a mission that serves the larger purpose. Living a mission in my experience makes life painless and almost effortless, for every single step you take feels good because it is purposeful. The mission must excite you enough to wake you up in the morning on the right side of your bed almost every day. Your attitude towards this mission must be outrageous in a good way and your high level of discipline must be almost by default.

People around you must be amazed because they cannot understand why you can be so into something they might consider worthless. They don’t understand why walking in the forest all day can be a sensible thing to do. They don’t understand why a certain river is of such concern to you. They don’t understand why a grown man can spend so much time with children. They don’t understand why that building fascinates you so much. Of course they don’t.  They can’t. Yet your confidence that the one thing you must do is spend all your time studying one building must remain intact courtesy internal dialogue. Nothing can shake it. No one can see what you can see. It is a lonely yet exhilarating journey full of certainty.

It is then and only then that the building will begin to reveal its secrets to you. It is then that any occupation will start rewarding you with its treasures. The more you get out of the building or the occupation, the more your confidence will grow. Many only saw the Bolt when he ran in the Beijing Olympic. He has been running much longer than that. He has faced many challenges including loosing races he was expected to win. Some people lose their confidence at that point.

If you have trouble believing how delicate this confidence issue can be, scan through the list of world class athletes, politicians, and others you think of as great people. Find out how many challenges they have had and how their confidence has failed them in the most crucial moments. And how they have had to be rescued by those who understand what is happening to them. Anthony Robbins is in possession of such a list. There is a reason why you are weird and you understanding of it will give you the confidence you need.

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