Just do it
Author @ Dr Wale Akinyemi wale@powertalks.biz twitter@waleakinyemi
Last week I learnt something very powerful at a team building event. It was structured in such a way that the different teams had vans and they had to drive over a 28,000 acre reserve in search of clues that would lead them to the next step. It was rigorous and extremely challenging. One of the instructions read that the teams should proceed to a particular location via another one. Each team was expected to bring all the instructions that they got along the way to the judges at the end of the contest. At the end of the event the team that came first was very excited about their win. However, their success was short lived. When the second team came they presented all their instruction leaflets. There were fifteen posts and they had fifteen leaflets. The team that came in first however could produce only thirteen leaflets. It turned out that they had missed two posts by not reading the instruction well and going via the designated location. As a result, even though they celebrated the fact that they came in first. It could not be sustained. There was something little in the past that came to destroy their joy.
Many people experience this in real life. They get to a point where they should be celebrating but their celebration is short lived because of some seemingly simple or insignificant thing that they did or left undone in the past. Their celebration is cut off because of wrong implementation of information.
We must remember that the seeds of tomorrow’s relevance or irrelevance are planted by our actions or inaction today. What is the point in capturing the present and missing the future? What is there to look forward to if our future is merely an extension of our present?
When I was younger and in school I was fascinated by the world of science. I noticed that there was what was called pure science and there was another called applied science. There was pure mathematics and applied mathematics. We can draw powerful lessons from these.
We live in the information age where there is so much information going around. Some people however are living with what I call pure knowledge. When you talk to them they always have answers. They can finish your sentences. They know the latest innovations and they know who is doing what in every area. They talk as if they were eye witnesses to the conversations between leaders. The big challenge however is that when you look at their lives, there is nothing inspiring. Yes they may excite you with the knowledge that they have but that is where it stops. These people are quick to answer but they left something vital along the way. They left the correct application of knowledge behind.
On the other hand there might be someone who does not have as much knowledge but the little that they have they have applied to something and the effect is very visible in their lives. They are not scared to say that they do not know. They get knowledge not for the sake of knowledge but for the sake of applying it. They get knowledge with solutions in mind.
I am an ardent supporter of people getting knowledge but the big question I want to ask today is, does your life reflect the knowledge you already have? If not what could be missing? Could it be that you did not get knowledge with the view of applying it? Application can be difficult. It is only those who dare to apply that aim higher. It is only those who aim higher that ever make mistakes. It is only those who make mistakes that are criticized. It is only those who can handle being criticized that eventually get celebrated.
There is a champion in you waiting to come out. Do a knowledge application table for yourself where you identify the things you learn and the ways in which you have applied the knowledge. You may be very surprised at how below potential you are operating.
Can you for one minute imagine a land where everyone is operating at full potential? You will not need to imagine for long if you start where you are. Match your knowledge with application and make sure you have left nothing behind. This guarantees that you are on your way to real sustainable winning. Many people get to the end of their lives and realize what they could have done. This is the time to apply what you know. Remember, this life that you are living today is not a rehearsal. It’s the real thing so like the famous Nike slogan says, Just Do it!
wale@powertalks.biz twitter@waleakinyemi
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