Monday, May 22, 2017
ALL
DECISIONS ARE INVESTMENT DECISIONS
The world is moving fast now; things are changing at
an unprecedented speed. Breakthroughs of today are obsolete and archaic
tomorrow. Competition is stiff and people are thinking hard to make a
difference. But in this speeding world, most people feel disappointed that they
have been unable to achieve their dreams. Most blame the environment they live
in, the country they were born in, the politicians and many other people. It is
man’s easy escape route to run away from responsibility through seeing our
failures in the eyes of others.
It is imperative to note that life is uncertain and
this uncertainty calls for risk taking if we have to live the life of our
dreams. To most people, the only risk taken in life is that they have taken no
risk at all. If you take no risks then do not anticipate rising to glory. Be
ready to die for your dreams. Have the heart of the champion and think like a
champion. All sport champions take risks, they do the unthinkable, they do the
uncertain and they know that anything can happen.
Taking a risk is a big investment. Casper Berry was
right, ‘all decisions are investment decisions.’ We invest in our lives, we
invest in our businesses. We invest in our dreams. The big question is, ‘are the decisions you
are making, individually or with your team or family, the best decisions to get
you to wherever you want to be? Or is something stopping you from making and
taking those optimal decisions which maximize productivity and efficiency and
shorten the amount of time that it can take to get you to your destination?’
What stops most people from achieving their dreams
are internal obstacles. We lack the belief to go on in pursuit of our dreams,
we expect all we need to be easily falling in place, we expect to attain glory
at a silver platter. Life is cruel, life is uncertain, life is hard. If you are
not ready to take risks, to go deep into the inner recesses of uncertainty then
expect to achieve nothing. Everybody is working to achieve his or her dreams
and why always waiting for other people to do things for you to realise your
dream. The pace is different. Do what you fear most, challenge the ideas that
are seen to be normal then you will make it big. What is certain today and seen
as the messianic idea is obsolete tomorrow.
There is one good thing with humans and it is that
we all have greatness within us; we have the DNA for success in us only that at
times we lack the mental stamina to carry our ideas and dreams forward. We
should always remember that things are lost in the mind. If we think of an idea
and decide not to act on it then we have lost the opportunity to realise bigger
dreams. It is great to feel deep in your heart that ‘I am the one, that I am
going to do this, that if not me then who else.’ Let no one tell you that it is
not possible to achieve what you think of. As Les Brown says, ‘never let the opinions
of others become your reality.’
There is an amazing story of two teenagers who were
walking on ice. One of them stepped on thin ice and was consumed by the ice,
she sunk. The other one could see the friend but was unable to reach him to
pull him out of the sinkhole. At a short distance he saw a small tree and he
tore a branch off the tree and started beating the ice so that he could reach
the friend. As the paramedics were coming, they found him pulling the friend
out of the ice and they were amazed. One person asked, how could the young man
do that? His colleague answered, ‘because there was no one to tell him that he
could not do it.’ Most of us fail; most of us do not take risks, because other
people tell us that what we are considering is impossible.
It is appropriate to note that all things are
impossible until we make them possible. It is even impossible to read this
article until one decides to read it. It is impossible to walk any distance
until one takes the first step to walk. If anything, there is no obstacle in
life but us. When he climbed Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary said, ‘it is not
the mountain we conquered but ourselves.’ Conquer your fears and you will make
it.
Create luck. Nobody should tell you that other
people are lucky and you are not. What you consider to be luck is a result of
the realisation of dreams that one nursed for so long, one worked so much, one
persevered to achieve. When you are successful people say you are lucky. Luck
is what you create. Achieve your dreams, work hard on your dreams then luck
will follow you.
