ADMIT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THINGS HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE AND THEN ACCOUNT

There is this guy I went to college with in the early 90s and thereafter we got hired as middle school teachers by government HR agency TSM. Coincidental a decade later we also went to university together sponsored by our employer TSM. Three years after university I made a job switch – I took a position at our employer’s HQ as Assistant Director of HR.

About six years ago I came across the chap, we exchanged the usual pleasantries, and then he said to me;

“I hear you have joined TSM at HQ. You guys are there because you are sons of the system. As for me you know I have always been a rebel that no one can promote”. 

What the guy conveniently forgot was his continued absenteeism, coming to work late and in a state that bordered on drunkenness – was responsible for his apparent lack of professional progress. No supervisor would ever recommend him for a position of responsibility.

He attributed spite by the system to his apparent lack of professional progress which can be best explained by his stupidity.

What did he expect will happen to him if he came late to work? A person in control of his mind certainly knows there will be consequences. Because of his stupidity, he is harvesting what he sowed.

Well I am citing this example to encourage us to take personal responsibility for the adverse situations we find ourselves in – instead of blaming external forces.

Former US President, Harry S. Truman made popular a common saying “The buck stops here” to appeal to Americans to take responsibility for their personal lives and their country.

The need to take responsibility for our actions or mistakes is further buttressed by the saying;

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”.

It doesn’t end there; admitting responsibility and then do nothing about the situation is not good enough.

We have to take corrective action or corrective behaviour. It is through action that we account. And accountability is important in that it demonstrates we won’t repeat the same mistakes over and over.

A little disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. So for anything legal consult your lawyer before admitting responsibility.

Thank you for reading.

We are still a baby blog and therefore we value your comments and insights in matters of self-improvement.

 

Food For Thought

This week’s theme on the blog is about the power of collaboration- working together.

I read somewhere that a small startup company bid for multi-million dollar contract to clean offices and won. They had with no funds, no cleaning tools and no employees. Upon winning the contract, they approached small companies with employees and cleaning tools to work together on the project. They knew as the common saying goes; working alone is a losing game and as such they could not fulfill the contract on their own- hence collaboration with others.

As long as they are underpinned on the WIN-WIN philosophy, collaborations can be very fruitful for both parties.

Why do you think collaborations are important in today’s context?

 

WISDOM 9 BE IMMUNE TO PEER PRESSURE

If you follow the crowd, you might get lost in it – Author Unknown

We associate peer pressure with young people especially teens. With the young it is part of their growing up. I don’t know what it is with adults but what I know is adults are also heavily influenced by their peers. They choose what their peers recommend – be it clothing, relationships, how to behave in a certain way etc.

People seek advice from their peers before making decisions sometimes serious ones about their lives. Nothing wrong with that but what is wrong is when we over-rely on our peers to make decisions for us. By so doing we lose control of our lives. We don’t live life on our terms. What I have observed with people is once they have power over your decision making, they don’t give up that power easily. The safest is never to give you’re your power of decision making.  If you have given the power of decision making away to others – it is time to get it back even if it means rattling some friendship. There is nothing wrong with seeking advice but remember the people who advice may be wrong as well. I have come to be careful of some pieces of advice which society may have accepted as the truth when in fact the advice is nothing but the majority’s opinion.

As the famous Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius said;

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the masses, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane”.

If you think going your own way is risky, remember what is recommended by the peers may be wrong as well – they are people like you and me.

Think of those who went into marriages because of peer pressure? Many are divorced because they didn’t marry for the right reasons.

Be immune to peer-pressure and chart your own way forward.

The object of life is not to be on the side of peers, but to know who you are, your purpose, and to learn and do what you want in accordance with your purpose.

If you found this article interesting a comment below will be appreciated. We are still an infant blog hence we count on your support.

Thank you for reading.

 

 

WISDOM 8: SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY

After a two week hiatus, I continue with the Wisdom series of posts. Today’s post is about the family – the institution whose importance to our lives we often take for granted.

Perhaps we should begin our post with this quote from upcoming book –Something I Never Told You – to be launched in December 2019.

“In the midst of pain, suffering and helplessness, being with the family made living a really worthwhile endeavor and something worth fighting for. That kept me going. Perhaps that could keep you going in your time of difficulty. Your family becomes your faith that you cling tightly to”.

Without my family I don’t how I could have navigated the serious health and social challenges I was going through.

The quote below by an unknown author captures the feel of how important the family is more than I can with my own words.

“No amount of money or success can take the place of time spent with your family”.

Wouldn’t you agree that our families are important to us?

In his book, Millionaire Fastlane, American Entrepreneur M J DeMarco shows that for us to be truly wealthy, three things which he refers to as the 3 Fs – Family, Fitness and Freedom – must exist.

Perhaps this quote by another unknown author should serve to encourage us to treasure our families more;

“Love your family. Spend time, be kind & serve one another. Make no room for regrets. Tomorrow is not promised & today is short”.

 It doesn’t cost anything to spend quality time with our families. Underline quality. Quality time is when we are not only present but help with such as telling our children that we love and care for them, helping with school work and other impactful chores in the home.

Well this was not meant to be a long post but just inspire us not to forget we have families.

 

Thank you for reading.

 

WISDOM 7: BELIEVE IN THE ABILITY OF THE WORLD TO PROVIDE     

Mahatma Gandhi, the great Indian Leader had this to say;

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”

Obviously greed is a difficult one to be served to be quenched but as for our needs the world has the capacity to provide.

I have viewed the world as an eco-system that has the capacity to avail whatever that I want and need in life – I just have to go out there and get it legally. Whilst some environments such as a dictatorship or an ultra-conservative society or a sanctioned country may be severely constraining but generally most countries have opportunities you can make a living out of. I don’t know how much money changes hands everyday but I believe it must be in the trillions meaning the amount of money in the world is way beyond comprehension. So if there must be trillion dollars changing hands everyday then it must follow there are millions or even billions of opportunities out there – we just have to find them.

To find opportunities, we need to shift the way our minds view those opportunities because it is our minds that determines if we will find those opportunities.

I recently had conversation with one chap who told me there were no opportunities in our country as the country was corrupt and the award of bids benefitted the few. He was right; there is corruption in the award of bids. But there are areas in the economy that are open to almost all people. He needed to open his mind and himself to the world – and the world will open to him. That is what I told him.

As Canadian Author, Robertson Davies observed;

 “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend”

If the chap’s mind is prepared to see bids only then that is what his eyes will see. He won’t comprehend the scope and scale of opportunities present around him.

What I like about the world is that it doesn’t care even in the middle of hardship the world is ready to provide. As the famous Physicist, Albert Einstein, rightly said; “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”.

We step on opportunities every day demonstrating the world has the ability to provide.

Open up your mind to the world, then your eyes shall see what is in the world and the world will open up to you.

So I believe in the ability of the world that it can and will provide for me- I just have to go out there and seek those opportunities and I appreciate that it won’t be easy.

We value your comments therefore if you have time you may leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading.

Boiki

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