Values Series - A Blend of Passion, Gifting and Prominence

“Be my best in all I do, particularly the things I am naturally good at”

In 2013 when I started blogging, I started with a series I titled “The Value Series”. It was based on GEMSTONE’s 10 New Nigeria Values. During that phase, I wrote on five of the values. When the opportunity came for me to be a contributor for Dandymotive, I pondered on what to share with my audience here and what came to mind was to continue The Value Series.

I believe this is instructive for millenials, because our values determine how far we go in life. Let me recap a bit. What are values? Values help us to decide on what course of action to take before we encounter those situations. By values we decide before hand how to act hence we do not react to life. Values are our inner intelligence. Values define what is possible and what isn’t.

Seeing that values are powerful, it is very important that we consciously decide what our personal values would be.

In 2013, I signed up to imbibe the 10 Nigerian New Values and would like to share in this series my understanding and experience of the values with you.

To start this series, I will begin with this value – “Be my best in all I do, particularly the things I am naturally good at”.

Ever heard the story of world renowned sportsmen and women or business moguls? People like Christiano Ronaldo, Serena Williams, Strive Masiyiwa, among others. Do you wonder how they became the best in their fields? I ponder that question a lot too. From my observation and research, having a value that constantly makes you strive to be the best would definitely set you in the path of success as it has done for them.

Recall that our values guide our decision making, this means that when we find ourselves in different places, and we are faced with tasks or choices that require our effort, based on our value to be the best, we do not ever consider mediocrity, or delivering anything less than excellence. It is a decision we make even before the opportunity shows up. This value encourages us to always put our best foot forward, and to do all our tasks with such magnitude of diligence and passion for excellence that wows others.

It’s important to note that being the best is not about fierce competition, or a reason to look down on others. It’s about being the best version of ourselves always. The person we are competing with is who we were yesterday. Is it easy to constantly be excellent? The answer is both YES and NO. No because nothing great comes easily, it requires consistency, determination, a constant reminder to yourself about the pledge to be the best, and a lifelong learner. Knowledge is key to becoming the best.

However, YES is also true. This leads me to the second part of the value statement. It is easier to be the best in areas or skills that come naturally to us. Our task is to identify those things we are naturally good at and refine our ability. As it is often said that practice makes perfect. It is much easier to thrive in our area of gifting when we put in excellent work. While others are struggling, it would be totally enjoyable for us.

Discovering what I am naturally good at was a tug of war for me. You see, I am one of those people that could be termed “divergent”. Many things come easily to me because I am a fast learner, so I constantly confuse my being able to learn things quickly with being naturally good at it. I had to do a personal audit of these things, such as my ability to write, sing, design, calculate quickly, research, make presentations, strategize etc, and then decided to analyze the ones that were a natural gifting.

Finding my natural gifting of research, facilitation, planning, organizing, helped me make a career choice that in a few years since switching into, has opened doors of opportunities for me in my career. Prior to switching into a new career, I was doing well at my former career path, but I struggled to constantly be the best, and would sometimes drop the ball. However, since finding my area of natural gifting, I keep finding new challenges for myself, because I totally enjoy being the best here.

Conclusion

I want you to ponder on these questions, “What are your natural gifting and what are you going to do to constantly differentiate yourself among many people who play as your competitors?”

P.S. This article was initially written for dandymotive.com, a management consulting company. To help clients - people and businesses accelerate growth, and to raise the next leaders who would strengthen Africa's potential in the global community.