#Article (Archive)

You make it happen

Jun 3, 2011, 4:16 PM

It's the beginning of June and I can practically smell the damp. The change is coming, out with the dry and in with the wet, another season, possibilities and how to tap into them by believing in and motivating self. This is what I want to dwell on today. Not the rainy season which is almost upon us. Maybe the weather has something to do with it, or not, but I had a breakthrough two nights ago I believe and it got a bit brighter the next morning.

It was about a new beginning, ending something which has matured and moving on to the next potentially fulfilling ambition. Perhaps Oprah Winfrew's retirement from hosting her own talk show after twenty-five years has a lot to do with it. A little known fact, she is most likely one of if not the most inspirational woman of the twentieth and twenty first century combined. But the element that got me spinning and moving is the fact that she did not phase out. No, she phased into something else, a phenomenon which has the potential of becoming much greater, her own cable network, OWN (The Oprah Winfrew Networks).

Amazing, isn't it? I think so too. But much greater is the tale of how she got from where she was to what she became all through self drive and refusing to give in.

Over the last few years, she had progressively and consistently stressed the need for every single individual to 'live their best life'. This is profoundly quite deep. It goes over and beyond the routine day to day dawn to dusk drill which the average person goes through to the point of being mechanical. No, it is about something much greater and one that has to be initiated by the concerned person.

She believed in success fuelled by passion and self drive and motivation, and I strongly subscribe to that concept too.

I realized that true accomplishment is forged from within, the core of us. If we truly believe that we can achieve and are willing to give it a hundred and eighty percent, not stopping when road blocks or obstacles are put in our way to distract of veer us off course (and trust me a lot of them will litter the road), then it is just a matter of time before it truly happens. Waiting for a third person to 'jump start' your dream is always the wrong way to go.

Some of the obstacles to success are the ones we unconsciously or deliberately put in place. Some are quite visible with obvious ones being laziness, unwillingness to go over and beyond mediocre, unprofessionalism, lack of drive to innovate. However, I want to dwell on the psyche. This is the core. We talk about self-belief and it is all about the mind. If the mental philosophy is negative, the whole person is affected. The brain is the mind central.

There are quite a few things that we do or let happen that prevent us from being the stellar human beings we were meant to be. Denial is one of those, the inherent inability for most people to take responsibility for their actions or intentions. We must always own up before we can own us.

Also, always 'take responsibility for the energy you bring into a space'. What do I mean by this? Demeanour, mood, attitude, all of the fore mentioned. It has been said that there is a right attitude for success. This is true. One has to carry themselves in a manner and project the kind of energy which is positive. Refuse to bow down to depression just because something didn't pan out the way you dreamed it or you failed at something. Fact is, we all do at some things. Pick yourself up, keep the lesson, re-strategise and launch another attack.

           

Planning. Another reason why things don’t work out is because of lack of adequate planning. First, we have to make a 'to be list' and then a 'to do list'. Do not procrastinate! Endless 'tomorrows' is just a sure fire recipe for permanent failure. How can you ever realize anything or even learn lessons from non-successes if you do not even try. It all boils back to the right attitude.

Many have done it before us and they had been against bigger odds than some of us. Don’t mentally incapacitate yourself or deem yourself psychologically handicapped. Dream, believe, execute, succeed, inspire and live your best life.

Remember, acquire the attitude and make it happen. Who says you can’t go beyond Lady O?