Tuesday, April 24, 2018
THE FINISH LINE MATTERS
Imagine what you will become when finally you have succeeded?
If you are entrepreneur, what sort of joy will engulf you when you win that
contract that you have gone to the length to prepare? If you are an athlete,
how excited will you be to represent your country at the world stage with all
the television cameras set just to cover your victory? If you are a student,
how memorable will it be, that moment you will put on a gown holding your qualification
with a distinction? In anything that you do, how comforting will it be to hear
people mentioning your name and singing praise of you success? That is what you
should aim at – the finish line
Never lose sight of the goal. Many circumstances you
will encounter in life will by and large be curtaining your goal. Tear away the
curtains of frustrations you meet along the way, the curtains of failure, the
curtains of disillusionment. Make your goal visible to you all the times. Write
your goal on a paper and paste it at the most visible place in your bedroom so
that every time you retire to sleep you reflect on the goal and every moment
you wake up you are constantly reminded of what you want to achieve in life.
Writing on the 7
habits of the highly effective people Stephen Covey emphasizes that you
begin with the end in mind. Beginning with the end in mind gives you a clear
understanding of your destination. It means you know better where you are going
so that you understand where you are now and be able to devise that the steps
you take are always in the right direction.
Covey teaches: ‘by keeping the end clear in the
mind, you can make certain that whatever you do on the particular day does not
violate the criteria you have found supremely important and that each day of
your life contributes in a meaningful way to the vision you have of your life
as a whole.’
Focus on the finish line. Abebe Bikila won the
Olympics in 1960 in Rome and amazed the world as he run barefoot. He did not
care that people would look at him as a lunatic. He was never bothered that
those in shoes would have an advantage over him. He was focused on the finish
line and he made it. When you undertake whatever you undertake with the end
always in focus, you are destined to make it.
If you are a business person, do not waste time
blaming inflation, interest rates, tough economic environment, and all other
excuses, focus at delivering value in your business to offer your customers
best products and services so that profits rise. Businesses grow even in the hostile
Mogadishu in Somalia, what hostility are you facing? If you are in agriculture,
you do not blame the weather, in the desert Saudi Arabia they grow tomato just
as the Israelis use limited space to maximize agriculture. Seek no excuses,
focus on the finish line and you will make it.
On the men who built America, Andrew Carnagie
focused on making the cities of America stand tall on steel and he made it.
John D Rockefeller transformed the night with kerosene lamps. J.P. Morgan and
Thomas Edison made electricity light homes from coast to coast. Henry Ford made
a vehicle to be affordable to average America. William Kamkwamba built a
windmill from rudimentary products, a standard seven drop out in Mulanje made
his own radio station. People that cross seas are focused at reaching the
finish line. They care less of the circumstances they pass through – victory is
all that matters upon reaching the finish line.
