Stand Up and Be Counted!

“If one confidently advances in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau

This quote is one of those quotes that made me claim my greatness. That made me to throw caution to the wind and pursue my destiny. Destiny is not something that happens to you because you have passion and grand plans, but it is something that you claim by using a combination of skills. This simply means that destiny is not automatic but it is about making a wise choice and staying true to it.  

We are often told that we have to find something we are passionate about and do it and then we will be successful. Though there’s some truth in this but I don’t fully agree with it. What if you are passionate about singing, you always sing in the shower and everywhere but you don’t have a great voice? What if you are passionate about playing basketball but you are vertically challenged or short? Will you be successful? These are some of my reasons why I don’t fully agree with this saying. To me it seems to be too motivational and lack practicality. It is the same as saying you can achieve anything you want in life. I have a serious problem with the ‘anything’ part. You only have limited strengths and if you want to be a great success in this world, you need serious focus on your strengths.  

To me greatness and success come when you optimise your strengths. This means that you have to really study yourself using past successes and compliments made to you to identify your strengths. We go to school for so many years to be taught about how things work – science, mathematics, biology, statistics, management, etc. but there are no classes in our traditional schooling system where we are taught about our own strengths and abilities. This you have to do on your own, unfortunately. That is the reason why some people are known to have dropped out of traditional schools and yet they are the most inventive, richest and happiest people in the world. They didn’t drop out of traditional schools to seat around but to drop into their strengths. Successful people are the ones who have mastered this art of focusing on things where their strengths lie. When you focus on your strengths and invest more time in those identified areas, you will be so good that no one will ignore you and be rewarded handsomely as a result.

My suggestion to you is to make time and start the journey of self-discovery. Find your own strengths and abilities. You may also use some available personality tests on internet to get started on this powerful and fulfilling journey. There is no substitute for coaching - in person or virtual as well as mentor-ship. These require that you invest in yourself. If you confidently do this, the universe will conspire with you, it will send you supporters that will make it bearable for you and achieve your dreams in less the time you thought possible.   

Veli Ndaba is a leadership and Insightful Speaker, Life-Coach and Neuro- Linguistic Programming Practitioner, Author of two books (You Are Born to Win and Your Dream is Calling You), Newspaper Columnist and Entrepreneur. To book him to help you and your team unleash your greatness, contact him on [email protected], www.velindaba.co.za and 083 304 9773