AHEAD OF YOUR TIME

We are all unique. Uniquely created and set on our individually unique paths to success. A path that only the diligent and determined would see it's end; a finish line to welcome them and a podium on which they would get to embrace all that success has to offer.

All success has to offer...

Success means different things to different people. To some it's a well-paying job, to others it's having enough money in the bank to keep you relaxed, and then you have those who tie the level of their success to the position they occupy. The higher their title, the more successful they consider themselves.

But with our individual metrics of success, we often fail to realise that because we run different races, the requirements for success in one race is often different from the requirements in another.

A great example is found in athletics, where the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres are run on the same track even though they're different distances; and four friends could all be in the same athletics meet and each one of them would be running a totally different distance with different demands on the same track.

Think of it, the first runner only has to run a quarter of the track while the fourth friend has to run around the whole track twice! Just to be successful!

So, rationally thinking, they shouldn't be competing against each other. Not in the meet and not even in training, because each of them ought to have a different training regime, designed for the distance they're running.

But if for some strange reason one of them was a champion from the previous year, and the three others decided they were going to study the champ and completely pattern their preparation after his, what would happen is that on the day of the competition, each one would fail horribly simply because they tried to run another man's race.

Running another man's race...

Imagine the champ was the 800 metre runner and his 100 metre friend was trying to copy him. If he were to use his champ's style in his own race, all his competitors would have crossed the finish line before he gets to the 40 metre mark!

He'd come last in the race, not because he didn't prepare to run, but because he didn't prepare for the race that was in front of him. A race that required being much quicker out of the blocks and accelerating faster than a speeding bullet throughout the race.

If the roles were reversed and the 100 metre runner was the champ, with his 800 metre friend being the copycat, what would most likely happen on the day of his race is that he'd have burnt all his energy before getting to the 200 metre mark, all because he prepared to run a sprint when he had a much longer distance in front of him.

As foolish as the characters in these two illustrations may appear, their actions and subsequent failures are scenes constantly being re-enacted by people of all ages in the world we live in today.

The level of competition brought about by the rise of social media has become the yeast that makes peer pressure rise in the hearts of many.

Many are so taken back by the success of others that they've completely abandoned their own race to pursue the purpose of others without the talent and thinking to make the best of it.

Those running marathons have lost patience and can no longer keep running for hours while they watch their sprint-running counterparts get a new medal every minute.

They've become completely obsessed with the success of others instead of spending time to build proficiency in the work they have in their hands and to discover the winning formula in the race that's set before them.

The joy of having a race to run has become an ancient feeling to them, a motivational line used by coaches to give hope to the hopeless losers, whom they're determined not be.

They're going to be winners, celebrated everywhere they go, and to achieve that, they must do things exactly the way other winners did, even if it means dumping their own uniqueness.

This sad phenomenon is the reason many fail to make any sustainable mark, as they are unable to keep playing a character they weren't made for.

In the same way, many founders have been blessed with great ideas to build on, but they're so focused on all their peers who've raised money and received funding that all the inspiration to develop their product has been replaced with indignation at how those with inferior ideas are receiving more money.

Perhaps such founders should consider that those startups whose ideas they consider inferior are simply 100 metre races that their own founders have speedily completed, as against they're own 800-metre or possibly marathon invention. You shouldn't compare your path to success to that of others, so don't intermittently compare your results either.

Dear genius-in-the-making, don't concern yourself with what, when or how others are winning. Dedicate your time and energy to becoming the best at what you've been born to do and appreciate the unique talents and ideas you have. Stay so focused on what you're doing that every time you look up, you only see the finish line, not your peers on the podium.

And when you do see them from the corner of your eye, celebrate them and tell?yourself that when you're through running this race, you'll be standing there too, with the gold, silver and bronze medals hanging majestically from your neck because you'll be so unique and ahead of your time that there'll be no one close enough to share the podium with you.

To your success,

Olayinka A. Williams?

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Copyright ? 2022 Olayinka A. Williams - All rights reserved.