Skip to main content

of illusions and resolutions

Drawing depicting people overcoming obstacles to achieve a common goal
Image: Fenderbender

Overtime, I have come across two important lessons with respect to achieving goals. It is a still a struggle for me to imbibe the inherent truths in the lessons but I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that they hold the key to commitment to specific objectives

1.    1. You will never be good enough – We all have been blessed with fantastic ideas that can change and re-engineer our world. We are literally busting at the seams with life changing concepts and initiatives. But our mind never seems to agree with us. It tells us not to delude ourselves; great ideas are the preserve of an exclusive few and we are most certainly not part of that few. Even when we are convinced that we are on to something special or that has potential, our will is quickly worn down by the thought of the effort required to actualize the goal.
   
The excuses then begin to pour in, reason after reason why we are not qualified to chase that dream. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s losing weight, starting a sport, taking a professional exam or starting a business, the mind games are the same.

While I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject, I do know this happens because of the way our mind is wired. The mind has evolved to keep us safe by confining us to the familiar, to the comfortable zone; uncharted territory is always a risky affair, why risk such uncertainty?

2.     2. There’s still time – Just as you’ve managed to scale the mental hurdles your mind has presented you as to why you cannot achieve your goals and you convince yourself  ‘Yes You Can’, the illusion of ‘When You Can’ then materializes. The illusion of time often takes form in procrastination, as once again we entertain every imaginable excuse as to why we cannot start ‘now’.

 Many of us will learn the hard and painful way that there is no perfect time to begin. While there’s a place for planning and preparedness, we must be careful not to use that as an excuse to perpetuate our lack of commitment. Again it doesn’t matter what the goal or objective is, we must not buy into the time trap. It’s the oldest trick in the book.

Knowledge and action are two very different things, knowing what’s holding us back is one thing and having the courage to overcome and persevere is quite another. I’ll be the first to admit that self-doubt and procrastination are formidable adversaries that we wrestle with but it helps to know that the key to victory lies in our own hands, in our ability to act. NOW! The excuses will come, acknowledge them, but start anyway and persevere. God-speed.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#OscarsSoAmerican

Photo: Newswhip The Oscar awards are a global entertainment staple, rewarding many great actors and film practitioners over the years. A number of Nigerians were just elected into its voting board. What does this development portend for us as Nigerians and for our movie industry? The idea for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences started out as an organization to facilitate smoother working relationships within the American movie industry in the 20s. Curiously, it was to be known as the International Academy but that prefix was dropped by the time the academy was officially incorporated.   In more recent times the awards have been dogged by allegations of being too ‘white’, a fact which the academy itself acknowledged and thereafter pledged an era of greater inclusivity by rendering its voting pool more diverse across not just race but also gender, age and relevance. And so consequently, a number of our own veterans here got drafted into the voting academy, but ...
1 comment
Read more

What we can learn from Venezuela

Image: Crossed Flagpins I remember the first time Venezuela ever came to my consciousness in a significant way. It was during my teen years, following the Miss World pageants; there had been a lot of winners from South America generally but particularly Venezuela. Venezuela holds the Guinness world record for being the only country to win back to back titles in the Miss Universe pageants in 2008 and 2009. Venezuela also ranks right on top in terms of the number of International beauty pageants it has won. Here is a country that could legitimately lay claim to having the most beautiful women in the world. The former Spanish colony also boasts the largest oil reserves in the world, is a founding member of the global oil cartel, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and has consistently been one of the world’s foremost oil exporters. I want that to really sink in, ‘largest proven oil reserves’, founding member of OPEC (and why not, it has the largest freaking oil reser...
1 comment
Read more

I Am 'Brave'

Image: Expressworks I never gave much thought to the whole brouhaha surrounding Bruce Jenner’s evolution into Caitlyn, I had lumped it into the category of one of those bizarre things that happen frequently in the west. Granted, such things now happen pretty much everywhere else, but I dare say the west has always been known to glamorise such feats.  What got me thinking a little bit more about the whole story was how some groups of people started to praise Bruce for his bravery and courage.  I actually had to look up the meaning of bravery as I began to write this piece. Bravery is described as courageous behaviour or character, bravery was described with synonyms such as  brave spirit or conduct, courage, valour. Yet another source describes it as the quality that allows someone to do things that are dangerous or frightening. I did this so that I could understand why 'bravery' was most used to describe the actions carried out by this sixty five year old ex Olympian...
Post a Comment
Read more