You ought to be inspired by a young man who was born Cassius Clay, but grew up to become Muhammad Ali the greatest boxer that ever lived! We learn a fundamental lesson from Ali. And that is no matter how disadvantaged you are, you can still grow up to become the best at what you do. It doesn’t take money or environment to make the difference. But if those two are available, they can make a lot of difference. The central factor to you becoming great at what you do is your mindset. You decision making ability. DECIDE INTERNALLY THAT YOU WANT TO BE A GAME CHANGER IN YOUR FIELD. Ali won an Olympic gold medal in boxing at the age of 18 and became Heavy Weight Champion of the world by beating hard hitting Sonny Liston at 25! Be a Van Gogh at what you do or the Rambrant of your trade or the Michael Jordan of whatever field you belong to. Whatever field you play in, you behaviour always matches your inner identity and your standards. So your standards are important, your standards for the quality of work you do, your standards of language use. Everything has a standard and if you really must make a difference in this world, you must work to be the best you can. We live in an age where the race is not always won by the swift, the fight is not always won by the strongest and the deal is not always won by the richest! If you can focus on your abilities, your product development and service procedures and ensure their standard is high, then its just a matter of time for you to make headway. The world is always looking out for top quality and exceptional talent. Such talent often comes from deliberate practice and planned implementation. Will the world find you, or has it already found you? You won’t always be motivated by encouraging write ups like this, so it is best to be disciplined, stick to guns at difficult times. “Impossible is potential, impossible is temporary, impossible is nothing!” said Mohammed Ali and he proved himself consistently. If you show that you wish to make it better people will discourage you.
Everything has a standard and if you really must make a difference in this world, you must work to be the best you can.
So it all begins with your mindset because a human being can never grow beyond his focus. We all face the way we are going. Our five fingers should all stand for something. The thumb is for strength and stability. Stand up, keep going on. Don’t let anything hold you down. The first finger stands for direction focus; this is where you are going. We ought to be able to point in the direction we are going. The middle finger we know what it stands for! Even though it’s abuse in some cultures it often refers to what you hold sacred. Lines you will never cross. Our ring finger, which is before the piggy, stands for relationships. If you are suffering, it could be because you have bad relationships. Whether you are working in a company, on a country or in a marriage, you can’t do a great deal with a bad partner. Our little finger, the piggy, stands for our edge. What stands you out from among the crowd? It could be something little but significant. Lower prices; Top quality; stronger customer relations; there must be something you can leverage that no other organisation has. Every entrepreneur must do something that no other does to make his standards high.
Friends and associates should not be a draw back. If people cannot promote your cause, encourage you in the process and be your greatest cheerleaders, keep them away from you! As we scale the hill of success and prosperity, we need encouragers, problem solvers and innovators who we can take with us. They will be our leaning posts on the days that the struggle is hard and the storm is most chaotic. There have to be people around us whom we can turn to for advice, comfort and encouragement. These are normally people who will show interest in what we are doing and most of all contribute to our success in one way or the other. Your friends and associates should hold you to a high standard. Possibly, a standard higher than you hold yourself, so that you can keep on getting better.
If our bodies and minds are not in good shape, everything else falls apart. Regular exercise is a treat for our body. Nobody is too busy to take a walk around the neighbourhood or go to a public park and do a few laps of a jog. Some people have taken out subscription in gyms or have installed equipment in their homes, all in a bid to stay in shape and ensure our energy level is high. Vegetables, fruits and plenty of water are important for us to maintain a balanced mechanism for the body. Ergonomics, the study of comfort in the workplace, tells us that sedentary executives eat losts of sugar, pasteries and carbonated drinks which are harmful to the body. Sitting in one position for long hours not only reduces blood circulation, but also causes strain on the joints and in the back of the individual. To mitigate this, human resource personnel in large cooperations have redesigned furniture with contours that suit the body framework, with a view to ensuring that people who have to sit for long hours are comfortable. If we do not have this furniture, standing at intervals and stretching our bodies can make the difference. Our body is the only tool we have for living on this planet, so we might as well treat it right. A sound mind can only dwell inside a healthy body so why not raise the standards of your healthy living? It really does not cost much to work and live comfortably, a dedication that will ensure that we put in our best on most occasions.
So, be the Greatest of All Times (GOAT) at whatever it is you do. My invitation to you, no matter what you do, is to raise your standards to a level of what we call world class. Your mindset must change before your standards can change.
Relationships with our loved ones are an emotional bent that can have either a positive or negative effect on our being. We ought to, with every passing day, seek to raise the standards of such relationships, especially with our spouses. Spending more time with each other and agreeing on issues when there is conflict. Knowing how to communicate with each other without distractions or noise and ensuring there are no unnecessary bumps in our rapport.
Japanese Human Resource managers fondly take the stand that an executive that is happy at home would generally be happy at work too. So it’s important for us to make our home our refuge. Even if the world is going crazy, there ought to be a corner we can go to where we can shut the whole world out and enjoy the company of our loved ones. Leaving work at the door is what it entails. Once we step out of the door to the office or workplace again, we can switch to workplace mode.
Everyone should have an incredible work ethic. When we are at work, let’s be at work, when we are at play or with our families, let us be at play. Be where you are! A little boy notices that his Daddy comes home late and always comes clutching papers he intends to work on at home. The young lad complains to his Mummy: “My Daddy never plays with me!” His mother tries to explain to him that Daddy is busy. And the young man wonders why he cannot spare time to play. A great work ethic does not mean we should be at work all the time. It simply means when we are working, we should put in our utmost. Even if you don’t like your job and lack the passion to do it, put in your very best. Make sure you meet your quotas and your hours. If the job pays for our food we ought to engrain what we do with gratitude and that comes through diligence and dedication.
So, be the Greatest of All Times (GOAT) at whatever it is you do. My invitation to you, no matter what you do, is to raise your standards to a level of what we call world class. Your mindset must change before your standards can change. Leave the herd and the crowd cult of mediocrity. Every visionary was first ridiculed before revealed. When people ridicule you because you want to get better, it means you are on the upward swing. The only time you know you are trying hard is when you push yourself to the limit, and you hardly begin to recognize what you have done is exceptional. If people have to tell you how good you are before you realise it, that is when you know your standards are high.
*Ogundadegbe is a renowned management consultant. He trains managers and executives in the arts of Customer Service, Human Resources Management and Management strategy ([email protected]).
