Self-Devpt. Nuggets™

“You may be on the right track – but you will get run over if you remain there” – Anon

5 questions for you to ponder:

1. How come NOT every Harvard graduate becomes “successful” in life?

2. Why do we all have the same MS Excel software on our laptops, yet some of us (like me) can do stuff with it that most others – initially – argue are impossible?

3. Why do people attend the same learning event, get the same handouts and yet perform differently from each other afterwards?

4. Why do some people complain they achieve less than a colleague (who does the same job) because they don’t have “time” (makes no sense does it)?

5. Why do people want to learn to speak French like you, until they learn how much time and effort needs to be devoted to achieving it like you did?

The answer to all those questions is the will (or lack of it) to practice Diligent Self-Development!

That is what ultimately makes the difference between the performer and non-performer.

Or the achiever and non-achiever.

Nine times out of ten, it is what EACH individual goes out of his/her way to learn, and which s/he puts to diligent use, in addition to what s/he has been taught along with others, that gives him/her a competitive edge or comparative advantage.

Look around you at those who out-do others based on merit, in an environment devoid of deliberate manipulation by any persons with vested interests, and you will see it’s true!

Following from the above explanation, I believe the answer is already obvious. To succeed, on a continuous basis, you MUST practice DELIBERATE, RESULTS-FOCUSED Self-Development.

NB: I said “deliberate, results-focused” because too many people claim to do Self-Development, when in actuality what they do is mostly wishful thinking, with little or NO ACTION TAKING. And that of course does NOT equate to real Self-Development!

Here are 4 good reasons to practice deliberate, result-focussed Self-Development…

a. To ensure you always have an edge – a little extra where/when it matters most – to out-perform your rivals or competitors.

b. To ensure you always deliver desired results, or to be able to under-promise, so as to over-deliver, no matter the odds (well almost always).

c. To keep yourself from getting run over (or overtaken by your competitors) as this quote implies:

“You may be on the right track – but you will get run over if you remain there” – Anon

d. So you can recover quickly (“bounce back”) when things go wrong.

Success Comes “Easy” When You Practice DILIGENT Self-Development with Commitment…

Note that word – COMMITMENT!

It is the key to success in life. When you say you want something, quite often it may mean nothing, until you demonstrate that you are prepared to go out and do whatever it takes, for a long as it is necessary, to get it.

Commitment can make you stay up till 4.19a.m (like I am doing RIGHT this moment in my new apartment in Cotonou, Benin Republic) to get an article finished, and published on your blog – that should have gone out before 12 midnight, just over 4 hours ago.

Question: Why did I wait till this late?

Answer: Because I had to work over 18 hours, to put finishing touches to, and dispatch an urgent Poultry Farm Business Plan, to a Nigerian client, who has a meeting with a prospective investor less than 16 hours from now. And I made it.

Yes. You would tell yourself, I AM going to get it done no matter what. Late I may be, but it will not go undone.

In my case, recently having to meet multiple client needs, due to a rapidly growing demand for my services, and products is proving to be a new learning experience for me.

But I trained myself to be a fast learner years ago. So, it’s unlikely to be long before I develop a strategy to permanently address this new need.

Indeed, I’ve already settled on a solution I anticipate will succeed.

And it has to do with building what I call a “publish-ahead” buffer of new write-ups.

If truth be told, I always knew this time would come.

Over a year ago, when I was planning to relocate here in Cotonou, from Nigeria, I’d had to write a whole month’s worth of (Monday to Saturday) articles – about 25 – to use in case I was unable to find time to write while trying to settle down in my new country.

That turned to be a very useful proactive step. I simply used my blog “automated scheduling” feature, to set most of the articles to publish at dates I chose in the future.

During that period, I sometimes stayed 3 or more days at a stretch, without coming online, and yet my articles kept popping up as and when due, on the blog.

Plus the RSS syndication I’d set up as part of my Web Marketing system automatically republished them to my Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Most of my friends probably did not notice I was away all that time – because my wall always had new posts popping up!

Today, I now know I was practising ahead for when I would need to deal with increased work loads.

Like now.

Thankfully, I already possess the self-development discipline to drive myself to step up my game in the face of such challenges.

So, in a few weeks, I should have sorted this all out, and freed myself to be more and do more.

The message to you is that you also may need to critically examine yourself, to identify what is holding you back from getting more done than you currently do.