Just hang in there

June 13, 2017

Hello Everyone,
Welcome to yet another week and thank you for visiting the Lion's den. This week I will share a bit about persistence. In the recent past I have had to give advice to a couple of people about how to move forward in their careers or with their businesses. This has usually happened because they had hit a road block, run into a boss who is difficult,seeing their career stall, not getting business results despite their efforts. It's made worse by the display of "artificial success" seen on social media and the increasing focus on wealth rather than showing clearly that sustainable success in any endeavor is built over time.

There is a lot more focus now on the perks associated with success rather than helping people understand the journey. Life is not a straight line graph and behind every one out there who has achieved results on a sustained basis, there is a period of building and investing in a solid foundation. I have come to realize over the course of my career that it takes time and effort to build skill and expertise. Running away from a Job, or business at the first sign of challenges does not help build resilience. Also recognizing how long it takes helps in Managing expectations. Palm trees require 5 to 7 years to grow before they start yielding fruit and go on fruiting for up to 25 years. In contrast, maize can be harvested within three months and that's it.

As a student in form 3 and learning to play football, I found it difficult to juggle the ball more than 10 times. It was easy to ignore it and just get on the field and play . My neighbor observed during my mid term holiday as I struggled with this and he said, you will never play properly if you don't learn to juggle with both feet and control the ball. I spent 4 hours every day for the next three days working at it and getting to 20 was hard until the end of the 2nd day. However after crossing that threshold I quickly got to 144 times by day 4. That simple lesson of hanging in there and not giving up because of what i wanted and measuring progress in small and sometimes unseen steps has helped me in my career growth.I have seen the same scenario repeat itself several times in my work life with more difficulty experienced when stakes are high. Napoleon Hill aptly catches some of the lessons I have learnt on persistence.

I am currently learning how to play the saxophone. It has always been a dream to play in a bar and not be stoned by people. After getting to learn to read music and starting to play a few tunes, it felt easy until recently. I reached a point where it became difficult and my teacher had to ask me to go back a few lessons and work on some skills. In his words,"you are at the point where most people give up. If you persevere and master this stage, going forward will be easier and you will make a breakthrough."

I don't intend to give up as I still intend to play in a bar someday and not get stoned. I don't know what you may be going through or how tough things are right now,I know if you just hang on for a bit longer, you may just be at the cusp of victory. Rather than focus on the frustrations of the situation, keep your eyes on the outcomes you want. Look for green shoots that reinforce that you are making progress and reach out to people who will give you genuine feedback and guide you.

I leave you with this poem I came across courtesy of Nelson Mandela. According to him, it was one of the things that kept him going when he was in jail at Robben Island.